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Houses of the Blooded is a roleplaying game designed by John Wick released in July 2008. [1] Its author has described it as the "anti-Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game," emphasising elements of the fantasy genre that D&D overlooks. Taking a more swords and sorcery approach (rather than "generic fantasy"), the game focuses on romance, intrigue, courtly dangers, and domain management.
Players tell the story of the tragic and doomed race called the ven, on a world called Shanri. Both Shanri and the ven previously appeared in Wick's game Enemy Gods. The ven appear much like humans, but are stronger, faster, and more beautiful. The ven are also emotional powerhouses, emphasising all emotions with capital letters (Love, Hate, Fear, etc.).
The ven were created by a mysterious race they call "the sorcerer-kings." The ven speak of this race with absolute fear, terrified their masters may return one day to enslave them once again.
Ven culture is a complicated system of extremes. "Love" and "Revenge" are the same word in the ven language, both different sides of "obsession." The law is a labyrinth of exceptions, allowing the ven to all but ignore their own laws except when it suits them to obey.
Players in Houses of the Blooded take the roles of nobles responsible for great domains. As they struggle to maintain their own standing, they must solve the troubles that arise in their lands while plotting to expand their own lands. The game system also takes a long-term view, allowing for the passage of time, giving players the opportunity to watch generations pass as characters are born, grow old, and fade away.
Wick credits the game system to two chief inspirations: octaNe by Jared Sorensen and the FATE System by Evil Hat Productions. Houses of the Blooded uses "aspects," a key element to the FATE System. Also, the use of "wagers"--a mechanic allowing players to take control of the game and the world of Shanri--are inspired by the mechanics of octaNe.
Players roll a pool of six-sided dice, adding the result so as to reach the target number of 10. Before making the roll Players have the option to discard excessive dice as "wagers". If the roll is successful the Player determines if the action succeeded or failed. If they miss the target number the Narrator decides this fact. When successful each wager allows the player to add an additional fact surrounding the result. This allows you to choose to fail in your main attempt, but in an ultimately beneficial way, or conversely succeed in your main intent, but with disastrous consequences.
Earthdawn is a fantasy role-playing game, originally produced by FASA in 1993. In 1999 it was licensed to Living Room Games, which produced the Second Edition. It was licensed to RedBrick in 2003, who released the Classic Edition in 2005 and the game's Third Edition in 2009. The license is now held by FASA Games, Inc., who have released the Fourth Edition, with updated mechanics and an advanced metaplot timeline. Vagrant Workshop released the Age of Legend edition in 2016 using alternative rules-lite mechanics.
Fudge is a generic role-playing game system for use in freeform role-playing games. The name "FUDGE" was once an acronym for Freeform Universal DonatedGaming Engine and, though the acronym has since been dropped, that phrase remains a good summation of the game's design goals. Fudge has been nominated for an Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game System for the Deryni Adventure Game.
RuneQuest is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. It was first published in 1978 by The Chaosium. Beginning in 1984, publication passed between a number of companies, including Avalon Hill, Mongoose Publishing, and The Design Mechanism, before finally returning to Chaosium in 2016. RuneQuest is notable for its system, designed around percentile dice and an early implementation of skill rules, which became the basis for numerous other games. There have been several editions of the game.
Deadlands is a genre-mixing alternate history role-playing game which combines the Western and horror genres, with some steampunk elements. The original game was written by Shane Lacy Hensley and published by Pinnacle Entertainment Group in 1996.
Legend of the Five Rings is a fictional setting created by John Zinser, Dave Seay, Ryan Dancey, Dave Williams, DJ Trindle, Matt Wilson and John Wick and first published by a joint venture between Alderac Entertainment Group and ISOMEDIA in 1995. The setting primarily involves the fictional empire of Rokugan, though some additional areas and cultures have been discussed. Rokugan is based roughly on feudal Japan with influences from other East Asian cultures such as China, Mongolia and Korea. This setting is the basis for the Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game as well as the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game. Legend of the Five Rings was also the "featured campaign setting" of the Oriental Adventures expansion to the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, though this book is now out of print.
Fate is a generic role-playing game system based on the Fudge gaming system. It has no fixed setting, traits, or genre and is customizable. It is designed to offer minimal obstruction to role-playing by assuming players want to make fewer dice rolls.
John Wick is an American role-playing game designer best known for his creative contributions to the tabletop role playing games Legend of the Five Rings and 7th Sea. He self-published Orkworld under the Wicked Press banner, and later co-founded the Wicked Dead Brewing Company with Jared Sorensen. His games under that company include Cat, Schauermärchen, Enemy Gods, and Thirty. He has won the Origins Award for Best Role-Playing Game and Best Collectible Card Game twice.
In some role-playing game (RPG) systems, the dice pool is the number of dice that a player is allowed to roll when attempting to perform a certain action.
The D6 System is a role-playing game system published by West End Games (WEG) and licensees. While the system is primarily intended for pen-and-paper role-playing games, variations of the system have also been used in live action role-playing games and miniature battle games. The system is named after the 6-sided die, which is used in every roll required by the system.
The Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game is a role-playing game originally written by John Wick and published by Alderac Entertainment Group, under license from Five Rings Publishing Group, in 1997. The game uses the Legend of the Five Rings setting, primarily the nation of Rokugan, which is based on feudal Japan with influences from other East Asian cultures.
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