Meme-Free Zone

This is a bundle of material for Age of Ambition, an RPG about a fantasy world trying to modernize and adapt to technology and rapid social and political changes following an alien invasion:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Ambition

  


I'm not familiar with the rules system, but it looks reasonably playable and layout is good. If you get the complete bundle you're getting a lot for your money including numerous worldbooks and adventures, and the setting is novel enough that players ought to find it interesting. 

This is a bundle of material for Mists of Akuna, a "campaign setting of Eastern fantasy noir steampunk from Storm Bunny Studios for Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition." Basically, slightly apocalyptic fantasy steampunk with Ninjas and oriental monsters and magic.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/MistsOfAkuma

  

This is another setting that doesn't interest me much - I'm not a fan of 5E and I've never really got into the oriental background much, and piling so many elements together would probably be a steep learning curve if I tried to pick it all up now. Presentation is good, with a lot of the illustrations having an anime look, and it looks like you get a lot for your money.

This is a repeat offer of the cyberpunk RPG Neon City Overdrive from Peril Planet, last offered in May 2022

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2026NeonCity

  

Last time I said "Since I received this at about midnight and it only runs for a week I haven't had much time to take a detailed look. It's a system that looks reasonably playable, it's drawing on all the usual cyberpunk sources, and it's pretty cheap. I'm not sure I actually NEED another cyberpunk game, given how many I already own, but if you just want to dip your toes in the water I think it's worth a look. The usual caveat - I get to see this stuff without having to pay for it, if you don't your mileage may differ."

Since then I've taken a more detailed look - artwork is good (and credited to humans, not AI), and mostly avoids the tropes of the genre. Layout is a bit flashy but readable, and there is an emphasis on story-telling rather than rules. I think it's definitely a good one for a quick look at the genre.

A bundle of "system neutral" material for fantasy thieves from Human Gorilla Creations

 

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/HumanGorilla

  

This isn't something I particularly need but it's relatively cheap, nicely presented (with most art apart from maps etc.) from antique sources, and seems to have a sense of fun, as witnessed by the titles of some of the books. If you're running this sort of adventure it's worth a look.

This is an offer of material from multiple publishers compatible with the RPG Shadowdark, a modernized "old school" game of dungeons, monsters, etc.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ShadowCompat

  

This doesn't include the Shadowdark rules, but you can get a free Shadowdark Quickstart Set from Drivethru RPG.

I'm not really into dungeon-bashing games any more, but Shadowdark is apparently state of the art for the genre, and this bundle adds a lot of adventures at a reasonable price. If you're into the system it's probably worth a look.

This is an offer of the Sleepy Hollow RPG from Kids in the Attic, an early 19th-Century folk horror system based on the Year Zero rules for Tales of the Loop etc. The source for it is Washington Irving's original novel, not the Tim Burton film or the TV series.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/SleepyHollow

  

Unlike Call of Cthulhu this system limits itself to a relatively small area and era, which may add more depth to games - characters will be protecting their home town, friends, and families, not the entire future of the universe. I'm probably not going to be taking on another horror system, but it looks like an interesting game and isn't incredibly expensive, if it's the sort of thing you might like it's probably worth a look.

This is a new bundle of material by  Christian Eichhorn for Mörk Borg RPG

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/EichhornMork

  

Unfortunately I'm really not the intended audience for this game - I don't do grimdark, and I usually find that the layout and typography of Mörk Borg material gives me eyestrain and headaches. This one is slightly better than others I've seen in that respect, but unfortunately that isn't saying a lot. If you like this material the price isn't unreasonable, it just isn't for me.

Two bundles for the Champions superhero game - one a repeat, the other new:

Champions 6E (repeat from 2021) - the 2009 6th edition of the game with a lot of campaign and support material:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2026Champs6E

  

Champions Strike Force (new) - A revised and expanded collection of material based on designer Aaron Allston's long-running campaign

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/StrikeForce

  

Re Champions, in 2021 I said "very good value if you're a long-time Hero System or Champions fan who has been thinking about going over to the new rules,  or adapting new material to the old rules, or a newcomer who wants to dive in with the latest revisions.

The down side to all this is that the Hero System has never been the simplest of games - the rules can get complicated and reward optimaxing. Some activities, most notably combat, play fairly slowly. In short, there are alternatives that may be more suitable for a newcomer or someone who prefers a faster style of play.

I'll be honest, I'm not enough of an enthusiast to want to dive in and learn it all over again, since I don't think I've actually played any of these games any time this century! If you're already using another multi-genre system you might do better to look at its superhero rules first, but if you're already using the Hero System this could be a very good buy."

Strike Force is new to me, and seems to have been a massively complex campaign which covered a couple of decades in playing time and game time, involving dozens of players and thousands of hours of play. The big problem, for me, is that I suspect that a lot of this was initially shaped by the personalities of a core group of players and the capabilities of their characters - while it may have broadened out considerably, some of the decisions that shaped the campaign would probably have been very different with other participants. Having said that, it's reasonably priced and you get a lot for your money including more than 7000 player handouts. Some of it has undoubtedly influenced other material published for Champions, so if you've ever wanted to see get an idea of the background that lead to the current incarnation of the game this may be very useful. However, unless you have a printer that runs VERY cheaply I'd recommend using tablets or other digital media for as many of the handouts as possible, this stuff gets SERIOUSLY expensive!

This is an offer of material for the RPG The Burning Wheel by Luke Crane. It's described as "the landmark indie RPG of dynamic characters and searing choice-driven stories."

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/BurningWheel

  

While I have no problems with indie rules systems, I'm not very keen on games that ask all of the players and referee to be familiar with the rules and avoid using "house rules" or simplifying things. I'm not playing pure fantasy games any more, so haven't gone into this one in any detail, but the general consensus I have on it from friends who have played it is that it's rules heavy and fairly complex, which really isn't my style of play. The price seems reasonable for the amount of material you get, more than 1000 pages, beyond that I recommend looking at reviews before making a decision about this one. There's a reasonable video review here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wj30rzCgO5o

This is a "meta-fantasy RPG by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans of real-world people trapped inside a magical game." In other words, a bundle of material for an RPG based on a comic about people trapped in a computer RPG and forced to play through various archetypal situations.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/DIEtheRPG


  

I'm probably not the audience this is aimed at - it feels a bit too metaphorical for me, and I'm not a huge fan of games that pit characters against each other to this extent (with the exception of Paranoia, which makes it work by being extremely silly.) On the other hand it's fairly cheap and nicely presented, and might be just what some of you are looking for.