Questers of the Middle Realms (2e)
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The lighter side of traditional fantasy gaming. Want to dive into the wild¸ weird world of fantasy for a while without getting bogged down in lots of rules detail? Take a look inside! The world of Median - an outline setting taking a fondly humorous look at fantasy gaming standards. The PDQ System - a simple¸ fast and flexible set of rules emphasising story more than tactics¸ and easy to pick up for a quick game. As seen in Truth & Justice and Jaws of the Six Serpents. A "build your own" approach - use the framework and add the gods¸ organisations and character types your gaming group wants in your stories. Second edition¸ eh? Questers originally came out back in 2006¸ using Chad Underkoffler's super-simple PDQ system. This is a revision and repackage really¸ but '2e' seemed more fitting as a nod to those classic fantasy games. The rules are pretty much unchanged. (I removed Virtue and Vice¸ and may have clarified a couple of things.) The main change is the layout¸ changed from Letter to Trade. There's been a print edition available through another outlet¸ but the format didn't work very well and I've long wanted a nicer one available here. It's had another editing pass¸ and the sections have been reorganised to match 'Jaws' (which benefitted from the lessons learned with Questers!). It's pulled in the mini-supplements 'Character Assistant' and 'Ten Magical Thingies'. The art has kept some pieces¸ lost some and gained some new ones. What they said about first edition Product ratings and reviews: 3.9/5. Kenneth Hite's Out of the Box Awards: Honourable Mention¸ Best New RPG of 2006 category "Bravo for creating a game world that's likable¸ amusing¸ and open for expansion. But here's the dirty little secret: you don't have to play for laughs. It works at that level¸ of course¸ but if you just need a fantasy game system that plays easily¸ encourages broad characterization¸ and doesn't bog down in details¸ pick up Questers of the Middle Realms. It's a fun game¸ a fun read¸ and a bargain too." Bob Portnell¸ Pyramid magazine "...uses the PDQ system very well to model the type of game that it's going for.... I think that it's a great design to capture that old-school fantasy gaming feel without capturing the frustration that a lot of the old-school fantasy systems brought in." Paul Tevis¸ Have Games Will Travel #75 "Questers of the Middle Realms is a well-designed game¸ with a simple and elegant rules system. The design the world as you go approach built into the game is a neat innovation¸ and it fits the style and tone of the setting perfectly. The setting itself is intentionally and cleverly cliched¸ with a bare bones level of detail reminiscent of the original D&D; campaign settings." Andrew Branstad¸ RPGNow staff reviewer