It was only later, when I realised it wasn’t from Amazon, I got a bit perplexed. The package was from Leisure Games who sell roleplaying games. I had to take a moment, because I was quite proud of myself that I had not used my credit card in months and had cleared any debt left on it. For a moment I got a little worried, did someone go a little bit further than just my Amazon Wish List? I opened it and it was a copy of Noumenon, a game I was planning to get. A roleplaying game about some really weird, Philip K. Dick kind of stuff. For a brief moment it was quite disconcerting. But once I saw the receipt I realised that it was part of an order I had made last year, and were only now sending me a copy.

Certainly it was a fitting way to start Noumenon. I really like it. A strange game where players play Sarcophagi, humanoid-insects that were once human but no longer remember who they were. They wake up in the Silhouette Rouge, guided by the voice of Logos (the voice of the Universe). The Silhouette Rouge is a house with a fixed number of rooms. Some of the rooms are described by a short story, a little abstract and strange. Some are precise. I found myself swallowing this surreal metaphorical setting with joy. However it’s not a book I’d let my young daughter flick through: insects, blood, monsters and metaphors do not, a batgirl, make.

The system is elegant and, from my reading, appears delightful. I love when games keep in theme and break from the traditional approach. Instead of dice, you use dominoes, which have their own mythos about them. I love how they are used encourages the player group to work together.

It’s not specifically horror, a genre I like but am not enthused by. I can’t picture long-term stories and games based on horror themes. Great for short once-off, creepy stuff. Noumenon has horror, but it’s not specifically about horror except as a mechanism for change. I keep thinking of Don’t Rest Your Head, which is explicitly a horror game but one also set in a mad abstract world. Don’t Rest Your Head drives the players and their characters into madness. Noumenon allows the characters to explore and journey through the horrors like a dream that flows from nightmare to dream to eventual waking. A difference of taste.

My only problem really is I don’t think I could get my group to play it. They’d just look at me, with those, “you’re not serious are you?” faces. But then sometimes they surprise me. And surprises are good, like mysterious books in the post.

However, in the end, I went with Lesiure Games, a UK based RPG shop. The reason? They had two books that Indie Press Revolution didn’t have (Magical Medley and Noumenon). BTW neither retailers had all the books I wanted - Mythic Role Playing is only available lulu.com.

When I first compare prices (including delivery) and converted to Euro, I compared only the games that they had both in common.

• The Shadows Of Yesterday
• Spirit of the Century
• Don’t Rest Your Head
• Capes
• With Great Power

I would actually save 7 euros by ordering with Indie Press Revolution and get most them as PDF too - that’s pretty nice. However the delivery time might be a while but that’s offset with PDF’s instant delivery. With Leisure Games I can also get two other books plus delivery time won’t be as long for paper back but no PDFs. That’s what sold me.

Anyway, theses are all books I wanted to get for a while.

Spirit of the Century

I’m not big into “pulp” or “adventure” type games but there seems to be so much good noise about SOTC I decided it is definitely worth checking out at least. I am already familiar with Fate from before SOTC and there was some nice ideas in the system which I would love to see taken back into the Fudge fold. I was not too big on the Fate character creation process though. I don’t know what changes are in Spirit of the Century, maybe it all makes sense then.

Don’t Rest Your Head

Another RPG from Evil Hat (makers of STOC). I only really came across it because of it’s proximity to the STOC rattle. I like the description of the setting, that slightly off-kelter world. I don’t know anything about the ruleset though, but I don’t mind so much. As I said when I wrote why I don’t like Exalted, “if a setting does pique my interest, then a broken system will not stop me trying it out…”.

The Shadows of Yesterday

There was a great discussion on the FudgeList about “Keys” and Fudge in Shadows of Yesterday. I’d like to point you to the discussion but I can’t seem to access or find the archive from before the FudgeList transitioned from just a Mailing List to a Web Forum and Mailing List format. Anyway, this discussion alone made me interested in getting my hands on The Shadows of Yesterday.

Capes and With Great Power

Two superhero games with innovative systems, specifically using cards instead of dice. Again, I’m not big on the superhero genre, however, the different systems behind these games has got me excited and I’ve been hearing good things about With Great Power.

Noumenon

An odd one here. I read the blurb and it got me excited. What I found fascinating is that it offered me as a player something new, to play a character utterly alien, not just some angle on slightly different human.

Magical Medley

This is an oldie Fudge compendium of Magic systems. It’s actually out of print nearly everywhere so I’m glad to get it. Mostly I’m getting this because I’m looking at redesigning the magic system for LH.

Oh, and it’s my birthday today, so I guess all this is my birthday present to myself.