D. Vincent Baker’s 2010 RPG, Apocalypse World, has been hugely influential. Not only was it a successful RPG in its own right, but the underlying engine has spawned a huge number of new games. I’ve covered a few of these before.
Bundle of Holding has offered a few sets of these games in the past. This latest offering has a decent selection of more recent titles split across a couple of tiers. The first tier costs $9.95 and consists of two full games and a selection of three preview editions of upcoming games:
Of these games, Last Fleet is the one I’d already heard of, having previously featured it on a 5 on Friday. At first, it sounded a little bit like Battlestar Galactica, what with the last of humanity all living on a fleet, being pursued across space by their enemy. It also claims to put a focus on action, intrigue, and drama, all staples of BSG. This is, I should point out, not a criticism; apart from some strangeness in later seasons, Battlestar Galactica is fantastic.
I hadn’t heard of Pigsmoke before. It’s all about life at a prestigious school of witchcraft and wizardry. I like that this doesn’t focus on the student point of view, but instead has you playing as the faculty. That said, as teacher, I’m not entirely sure that I want to play a game where I work as a teacher…
The remaining item is a selection of three preview editions of the games, Crossroads Carnival: One Night Only Edition, Passing, and Rapscallion.
If you’re willing to go a bit higher in your payment, you can meet the threshold price for the full bundle to unlock a further four titles. At the time of writing, the threshold is sitting at $30.14.
Again, I was only aware of one of these titles. This time, it’s Bite Marks, and again it was from featuring it on a 5 on Friday. Bite Marks is all about werewolves, though with a particular focus on pack dynamics and relationships. I’m a fan of White Wolf’s Werewolf RPGs, but Bite Marks will by dint of the PbtA engine be a lot more approachable than those games to new or casual players. It’s just simpler and I really think that the playbooks used by PbtA games are more approachable than most character sheets.
Of the other titles, The Between sounds interesting both in theme and in the combination of different systems. Thematically, the game is about Victorian monster hunters. Mechanically, the game is based on the Apocalypse engine, of course, but it then brings in the mystery system from another game, Brindlewood Bay. I like when people bring together elements of different games that work well and are able to mak them work together.
I find that Bundles of Holding tend not to bexas stuffed full of books as, say, most Humble Bundles. That said, they do seem to be quite curated. Whilst you will pay a little over $30 for the whole bundle, you will get 6 solid RPGs, all based on a similar system. If you like PbtA games, this is definitely worth a look, as there is a diversity of theming here that will give your group a lot of options.
You can click here to visit the bundle page at Bundle of Holding.
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