Eldritch Role-Playing System Core Rules (Eldritch)

[PnP News Bot]

<table><tr><td valign="top"></td><td>Eldritch Role-Playing System Core Rules (Eldritch) [Goodman Games]
by Goodman Games
Release Date: 2008-03-05
Amazon Price: <strike>$19.99</strike> $13.59 as of 03/07/2008 09:44:55 AM PST

A complete yet simple fantasy role playing system

</td/</tr></table>

<HR>Price is accurate as of the date/time indicated. Prices and product availability are subject to change. Any price displayed on the Amazon website at the time of purchase will govern the sale of this product. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT SOME OF THE CONTENT THAT WE MAKE AVAILABLE TO YOU THROUGH THIS APPLICATION COMES FROM AMAZON WEB SERVICES. ALL SUCH CONTENT IS PROVIDED TO YOU "AS IS." THIS CONTENT AND YOUR USE OF IT ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND/OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.<HR>

[fmitchell]

There is a realm where warriors brandish their swords to thwart evil, wizards bend reality to achieve the impossible, and rogues sneak past them both to claim the treasure for themselves! Eldritch Role-Playing System takes you to this realm. A complete yet simple system, this game lets your characters become powerful heroes with straightforward rules.

With no restrictive archetypes, character concept is king: cast any spell, wield any weapon desired, evoke any power imagines. Players can create detailed characters in minutes, fulfilling their destinies in a world of dream known by sages as Áinereve. So sharpen your sword, gather your will, and summon your inner strength to prepare for a new game experience…

Created by Dan Cross and Randall Petras
Developers: Larry Hols, Seth Clayton
Layout: Kosala Ubayasekara
Cover Art: Peter Bradley
Interior Art: Eric Bergeron

GMG4360, 96 pages, $19.99

[fmitchell]

Anyone gotten this? From perusing the designer notes on the web, I didn't see a compelling reason to get Yet Another Fantasy Role-Playing System (YAFRPS?), but maybe there's some hidden treasure in the book I don't know about.

[Skunkape]

Well, going to their online site, Eldrich RPG, from what I can see of what they have online, I'm not really that interested. I'm not saying it's a bad system, but I've already got plenty of fantasy RPGs to use...so...

Maybe if I was looking for a new system, I might be interested, but as you said yourself, it's a YAFRPS!

[Zig]

I read the reviews which were... not good, nothing that makes me remotely interested. my only question is why should I play this? there are a lot of fantasy systems out there, many on par with this that you can download for free. whats the point of putting this in print?

[fmitchell]

whats the point of putting this in print?

• Somebody owed somebody a favor.
  
• Given the timing, maybe Goodman were trying to grab some of the hypothetical crowd so turned off by D&D 4e that they started looking for other game systems.

Otherwise, you're right, this looks like a Fantasy Folly. (Not even a "heartbreaker"; I don't know of any cool concept in Eldritch that one could salvage.)

[wbrandel]

I don't know much about it but the basic premise is encouraging. No classes to play? sounds intriguing enough to check out (besides one can never have enough games)

[boulet]

Classless fantasy game systems have been around for thirty years, that's still not much of a particularity. I just read a rpgnet review, the game seems very bland to say the least.

[Harwel]

Classless fantasy game systems have been around for thirty years, that's still not much of a particularity. I just read a rpgnet review, the game seems very bland to say the least.

In fact, I find I tend to prefer them. Man, did I love RuneQuest way back in the Chaosium days.

I did hit the publisher's website for this and gave the "quick start rules" a once-over. At a glance, I didn't find much compelling there. Abilities are rated in dice you roll, the higher the roll the more successful.

[fmitchell]

I prefer classless, skill-based systems as well. Unfortunately, I've got scads of them: Basic Role-Playing and its relations, Warhammer, Traveller Classic and Mongoose, GURPS, Savage Worlds, Spirit of the Century, HeroQuest/Mythic Russia, the original Castle Falkenstein, several PDQ-based games, a few Tri-Stat-based games, new World of Darkness ... not to mention a bunch of indie games I haven't even read yet. I've sold off even more. I'm sick of new systems.

Give me something with lightweight rules (e.g. PDQ or Traveller), interesting mechanics (e.g. SotC or Don't Rest Your Head), or an interesting world (e.g. Warhammer's Old World or GURPS Transhuman Space) ... or better yet, a mix of all three (e.g. HeroQuest or the recent Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies). I didn't see any compelling mechanics or interesting "fluff" in the Eldritch Quickstart, nor in the RPGnet review.