Favorite RPG Companies

[Finarvyn]

They have to still be around, so don't say TSR. I was thinking about 5E and the direction that they are headed and that got me thinking about my favorite RPG companies, and why they are favorite. I think I have three at the moment, and I'd be interested in hearing about everyone else's top couple:

Troll Lord Games

I've worked with TLG going back to 2002 or so, playtested for them, and have met Steve. (He remembers me when we run into one another at Game Cons, which is cool.) He is a great guy and has a nice vision for what makes fun role playing. I know that a lot of folks have issues with the Siege Engine mechanic and the fact that TLG has a hard time fixing typos, but both Castles & Crusades and Amazing Adventures are fantastic games and deserve to get more credit for the style of play that they represent. TLG makes stuff that is very much AD&D in feel, but with modern mechanics. I feel like TLG really is interested in its customer base.

Goodman Games

Like TLG, I have worked with GG and done some playtests. I think my connection goes back to around 2010. Joseph Goodman is also a solid guy in person and I admire his enthusiasm. Dungeon Crawl Classics is also a product which ought to get more press among old school players. I love DCC's emphasis on "Appendix N" literature and how it embraces gonzo play. I love the fact that DCC has spawned a number of cool settings -- Mutants, Lankhmar, Dying Earth, post holocaust, weird west, space, and so on -- and all of the flavors play like the original so if you know one you sort of know them all. Another company that seems to really care about the customer.

Free League

This is a new one for me and my only connection is in buying stuff. I love the artwork they put into Vaesen, I love the concept of Tales from the Loop, and they have a whole bunch of games whose topics speak to me. My shelf is full of stuff I may or may not ever play -- Twilight 2000, Blade Runner (well, not quite out yet), Mork Borg, and so on -- but I love to read. They are on my list because of the variety of coolness they make, and I keep buying their stuff.

------------------------------

EDIT: I'm not including companies like Elf Lair simply because they don't put out a lot of product. There are several tiny companies which migh hit the list without that restriction.

[jeffb]

I cannot say I have too many fave companies these days. Some games I love, but I've issues with company that makes them for various reasons - 13thAge and Pelgrane. RQ/BRP/COC and NuChaosium. T&T and the new FBI. DCC and GG.

However, TLG for sure is a good company, with good folks, and makes games and products I like and purchase- despite the wart. AAMOF because of the people at TLG and how they run the show, I'm way less critical of those warts* than I would be from other game companies/owners/writers who are jerk-wads


*Edit-Palladium as well.

[Vile Traveller]

I'd have to say Far Future Enterprises, though I'm no fan of T5. Marc is just the best at customer relations, unlike many who put out my favourite games in the past <cough>NuChaosium</cough>. He licenses Traveller to a company who has put out an excellent "modern" version (Mongoose), while keeping all the old editions available in print and PDF (and CD-ROM!) long before it became fashionable.

[ochrejelly]

Aug 27, 2022 15:09:54 GMT -6 jeffb said:

I cannot say I have too many fave companies these days. Some games I love, but I've issues with company that makes them for various reasons - 13thAge and Pelgrane. RQ/BRP/COC and NuChaosium. T&T and the new FBI. DCC and GG.

However, TLG for sure is a good company, with good folks, and makes games and products I like and purchase- despite the wart. AAMOF because of the people at TLG and how they run the show, I'm way less critical of those warts* than I would be from other game companies/owners/writers who are jerk-wads


*Edit-Palladium as well.

I’m curious as to what your beef with Goodman Games is?

[jeffb]

Aug 28, 2022 9:49:54 GMT -6 ochrejelly said:

Aug 27, 2022 15:09:54 GMT -6 jeffb said:

I cannot say I have too many fave companies these days. Some games I love, but I've issues with company that makes them for various reasons - 13thAge and Pelgrane. RQ/BRP/COC and NuChaosium. T&T and the new FBI. DCC and GG.

However, TLG for sure is a good company, with good folks, and makes games and products I like and purchase- despite the wart. AAMOF because of the people at TLG and how they run the show, I'm way less critical of those warts* than I would be from other game companies/owners/writers who are jerk-wads


*Edit-Palladium as well.

I’m curious as to what your beef with Goodman Games is?

It's against the rules here to discuss the issues I have with them (and a few other companies), so I'll have to pass.

[Deleted]

I've got to say, I sadly don't know as many RPG companies as I perhaps should as someone who has likely spent a thousand hours or more running or playing in tabletop games, but I will always be grateful to Mythmere for making Swords & Wizardry and revitalizing my love for D&D by showing me an accessible view of the original game.

[ochrejelly]

Aug 28, 2022 10:11:49 GMT -6 jeffb said:

Aug 28, 2022 9:49:54 GMT -6 ochrejelly said:

I’m curious as to what your beef with Goodman Games is?

It's against the rules here to discuss the issues I have with them (and a few other companies), so I'll have to pass.

Fair enough

[stevemitchell]

Chaosium, Beyond Belief, and Free League.

[Deleted]

Mythmere Games, Olde House Rules, and Fire Ruby Designs

[bobjester0e]

I've only got the one Castle Zagyg Upper Works boxed set by TLG, and I only have the C&C quickstart rules, but I think they're okay.

Goodman Games would have to be on top of my non-Wotc/TSR game company list. Dungeon Crawl Classics does not get enough love as Finarvyn says. This game has revitalized my imagination, while taking an unexpected break from work has really spurred my creativity!

They've also brought some old classics back into the modern gamer's view in their "OAR" series - Into the Borderlands, Isle of Dread, Expedition to the Barrier Peaks & The Lost City (not all, but the ones I know of) which I've enjoyed thrashing my 5e players with for a really old-school good time.

GDW - I don't know if the company itself still exists, or if Marc Miller has another company now. Classic Traveller. Kudos to Mongoose, but I really don't need their "Riki-Tiki-Traveller" products, since I still ahve all my original Classic Traveller, plus a smattering of Judges' Guild to back up a game that my players still have little interest in.

West End Games - I doubt still exists, but it was the producer of the third most prevalent product on my game shelves with d6 Star Wars and Paranoia games.

Palladium for the scant few RIFTs books I have - not because I like the game any more than I like GURPS (which I don't) but it's wild and wahoo enough to inspire me for my Gamma World, and Steve Jackson Games for GURPS (supplementing my Classic Traveller game) and Kung Fu 2100 pocket game.

[Deleted]

Aug 27, 2022 11:47:07 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

They have to still be around, so don't say TSR. I was thinking about 5E and the direction that they are headed and that got me thinking about my favorite RPG companies, and why they are favorite. I think I have three at the moment, and I'd be interested in hearing about everyone else's top couple:

Troll Lord Games

I've worked with TLG going back to 2002 or so, playtested for them, and have met Steve. (He remembers me when we run into one another at Game Cons, which is cool.) He is a great guy and has a nice vision for what makes fun role playing. I know that a lot of folks have issues with the Siege Engine mechanic and the fact that TLG has a hard time fixing typos, but both Castles & Crusades and Amazing Adventures are fantastic games and deserve to get more credit for the style of play that they represent. TLG makes stuff that is very much AD&D in feel, but with modern mechanics. I feel like TLG really is interested in its customer base.

Goodman Games

Like TLG, I have worked with GG and done some playtests. I think my connection goes back to around 2010. Joseph Goodman is also a solid guy in person and I admire his enthusiasm. Dungeon Crawl Classics is also a product which ought to get more press among old school players. I love DCC's emphasis on "Appendix N" literature and how it embraces gonzo play. I love the fact that DCC has spawned a number of cool settings -- Mutants, Lankhmar, Dying Earth, post holocaust, weird west, space, and so on -- and all of the flavors play like the original so if you know one you sort of know them all. Another company that seems to really care about the customer.

Free League

This is a new one for me and my only connection is in buying stuff. I love the artwork they put into Vaesen, I love the concept of Tales from the Loop, and they have a whole bunch of games whose topics speak to me. My shelf is full of stuff I may or may not ever play -- Twilight 2000, Blade Runner (well, not quite out yet), Mork Borg, and so on -- but I love to read. They are on my list because of the variety of coolness they make, and I keep buying their stuff.

------------------------------

EDIT: I'm not including companies like Elf Lair simply because they don't put out a lot of product. There are several tiny companies which migh hit the list without that restriction.

Elf Lair Games is the only one mentioned so far that I like and have a lot of respect for. I agree it is a shame they don't put out more product.

[bigjackbrass]

So many companies have changed ownership and become something quite unlike their old selves— Flying Buffalo, Chaosium etc—while others have become practically moribund, that it’s hard to find many I can confidently add here.

A strong exception is Khepera Publishing, Jerry D. Grayson’s company. Great guy, excellent products such as Mythic D6, Hellas and Godsend Agenda and very responsive to the community.

[doublejig2]

Iron Crown Enterprises, TSR Inc., Judges Guild!

[Finarvyn]

Aug 29, 2022 13:32:22 GMT -6 doublejig2 said:

Iron Crown Enterprises, TSR Inc., Judges Guild!

Except if you read my original post I'm looking for current companies, not defunct ones.

[doublejig2]

Sorry about that. I didn't see the first sentence. Doh!

[oldskolgmr]

Revealing my truly nerdy colors.

Emperor's Choice Games: Because I love Arduin, even in reprint!

Goodman Games: DCC, Metamorphosis Alpha, MCC, Awesome.

Chaosium: for reprinting and PODing the RQ Classic line (even though I'll have to convert stuff)!

New Flying Buffalo: For shipping Corgi's T&T!

Finally, all the indies I see on itch.io who go on to print ttrpgs (we got more letters). I love my old games, but the new ideas are useful in a busy world.  

[geoffrey]

Aug 29, 2022 18:02:07 GMT -6 oldskolgmr said:

Emperor's Choice Games: Because I love Arduin, even in reprint!

I've gotten better customer service from Emperor's Choice than from anyone else. They, and Arduin, are awesome.

[tedopon]

I can't stand the new version of Runequest, but I still love Chaosium. I've GMed RQ and CoC at many cons over the years and they are the most generous of any company I have helped out. Free admission, random free drinks and food, tons of free (often pre-release) materials. Definitely was a low period during the later Krank years, but overall they've always been great.
Goodman I love not as much for what they publish, although I love most of their stuff. Really what I like about them is they have a family atmosphere at all their events. Pretty much anything I attend where they are there I spend most of my time hanging out with employees or fans of Goodman.
I like the two authors of 13A but I have found that most of the rest of Pelgrane and a significant number of their fans are kind of weirdos...every time I've volunteered for them over the years I seem to be surrounded by theater nerds and just want to escape.

EDIT: I forgot to mention Lou Zocchi. I know he doesn't technically count since he's been selling backstock for twenty years, but he is hilarious. Every time I go to an event where he is I will spend an hour or two just hanging out with him laughing.

[skars]

Aug 29, 2022 18:02:07 GMT -6 oldskolgmr said:

Revealing my truly nerdy colors.


New Flying Buffalo: For shipping Corgi's T&T!

They were selling and shipping Corgi books before Rick died and Troll & Toad bought flying buffalo. Was there a more recent event associated with the new entity I missed?

[barbaribunny]

This might be slightly orthogonal to the question, but I really like Squarehex. Their pads with a mix of lines, hexes, and grids are a godsend if you're a bit disorganised but prep with pen and paper. I have games from a bunch of companies, but I'm probably going to use those Squarehex pads with all of them.

They also distribute Black Pudding, which is a great zine.

[rredmond]

Sept 27, 2022 7:02:55 GMT -6 barbaribunny said:

They also distribute Black Pudding, which is a great zine.

That's the James West zine, isn't it? His style is always so interesting

[barbaribunny]

Yeah, brilliant art and a really consistent vibe throughout. They're not really suited to a serious campaign, but for absurdist fun they're hard to beat.

He's just done a post-apocalyptic game called GOZR: www.jvwest.art/gozr I've not played it yet, but it looks fun.

[hamurai]

In no particular order:

Goodman Games
I very much enjoy DCC and the adventure modules, and their Metamorphosis Alpha range.
Good production, good artwork and good customer support - I had a misprint in one of my adventure modules I bought in a local store in Germany; two maps were illegible. They sent the replacement module really quickly without a lot of questions.

System Matters
A small, growing German company translating some of my favourites and often giving them a visual overhaul. Among their products are Beyond the Wall, Shadow of the Demon Lord, Swords & Wizardry Continual Light, Swords & Wizardry, Dungeon Crawl Classics + Modules, and many more coming. They have other games as well, but those OSR books are my interest. I've met them at the SPIEL in Essen several times and they're an enjoyable group with high production standards and a great vision.

Necrotic Gnome
I guess many if not most people here know Old School Essentials, formerly B/X Essentials. I'm very happy NG produced those great sets of my favourite D&D rules, and the OSE Advanced books are a great addition. OSE made my favourite edition attractive to others of my D&D 5E group and we'll be starting a campain before the end of the year.
OSE is very accessible and well laid out, with good old school artwork and good production quality, both the small booklets and the faux-leather collector's books. I met Gavin Norman of NG at the SPIEL some years ago (when it was still called B/X Essentials) and played a short one-shot back then, which I enjoyed a lot. Also, talking to him was nice and interesting.
I ran and played several NG adventure modules and enjoyed them all. No text walls but precise, short prompts and very good maps. The Dolmenwood setting is very interesting and I'm looking forward to the setting book kickstarter.

Olde House Rules
While I'm not a big fan of the old school typewriter font, I very much enjoy their games. Pits & Perils, Blood of Pangea and Barons of Braunstein are very good small games with minimal rule sets.

[barbaribunny]

Sept 27, 2022 22:20:56 GMT -6 hamurai said:

Olde House Rules
While I'm not a big fan of the old school typewriter font, I very much enjoy their games. Pits & Perils, Blood of Pangea and Barons of Braunstein are very good small games with minimal rule sets.

Thanks for mentioning this company. Blood of Pangea was on my list of Sword and Sorcery games to check out for a while, and you spurred me to pick it up. It looks completely perfect for when we want something in the genre with minimal rules. I'm going to get a few more of their PDFs too now.

Have you ran any long campaigns using one of their systems and, if so, how does it stand up?

[hamurai]

barbaribunny , I haven't played long campaigns with their systems yet, only short campaigns with Pits & Perils (level 1 to level 3) and Blood of Pangea. Both games played out nicely so far, and I can't see why that would change at higher levels. Since armour just adds to Might, with increasing Might, armour will probably become less useful to the players, which imho is just great for those barbarian-type of fighters who prefer to go near-naked.

Blood of Pangea is also very "hackable", as it's easy to play just any genre you like with the system. I've outlined my ideas I used for a one-shot of Cyberpunk with Blood of Pangea here: ogremage.wordpress.com/2021/01/06/cyberpunk-with-blood-of-pangea/

[barbaribunny]

Sept 28, 2022 23:41:20 GMT -6 hamurai said:

...
Blood of Pangea is also very "hackable", as it's easy to play just any genre you like with the system. I've outlined my ideas I used for a one-shot of Cyberpunk with Blood of Pangea here: ogremage.wordpress.com/2021/01/06/cyberpunk-with-blood-of-pangea/

Cheers for the advice about campaigns. I'd noticed they had a space hack of the game, which I thought was odd until I saw exactly how light it is. I really like your rough 'word-count from the narrative leads to bonuses' rule in the cyberpunk hack and will probably try using it when I get round to running the game.

[hamurai]

I tried playing it like that, it worked nicely. For longer campaigns I'd recommend a cap on how high a bonus may get from the narrative.

[DungeonDevil]

I would say FBI (Tunnels & Trolls), but it is no longer, and its successor IP-owner is, shall we say, dubious.

I have rooted for Arion Games (Fighting Fantasy) since it hatched from the egg. It's a small press that puts out some honest to goodness, great RPG materials, sans flashy bells and whistles like other companies.

That's about all I've been buying for the past few years, not counting Drivethrurpg.com reprints of older stuff (e.g. some modules and the Rules Cyclopedia in HC).

[Finarvyn]

Oct 4, 2022 13:43:51 GMT -6 DungeonDevil said:

I would say FBI (Tunnels & Trolls), but it is no longer, and its successor IP-owner is, shall we say, dubious.

Sadly, that happened to Amber Diceless as well. When Erick Wujcik was with us he operated under the company name Phage Press and managed to publish 2 rulebooks, release a dozen Amberzines, worked to get several Amber t-shirts, helped get out an Amber tarot deck, and gave the illusion of being productive.

After his death the rights to ADRP went to another group who sell the rulebooks on DriveThruRPG and for years have maintained a very simplistic "coming soon" type webpage. No second edition, no product support, no attempt to market Jason Durall's mostly-complete Rebma sourcebook, nothing. No real attempt to market the game at all. Only selling what Erick had already done.

[thegreyelf]

Aug 29, 2022 9:46:04 GMT -6 @sonofbear said:

Aug 27, 2022 11:47:07 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

They have to still be around, so don't say TSR. I was thinking about 5E and the direction that they are headed and that got me thinking about my favorite RPG companies, and why they are favorite. I think I have three at the moment, and I'd be interested in hearing about everyone else's top couple:

Troll Lord Games

I've worked with TLG going back to 2002 or so, playtested for them, and have met Steve. (He remembers me when we run into one another at Game Cons, which is cool.) He is a great guy and has a nice vision for what makes fun role playing. I know that a lot of folks have issues with the Siege Engine mechanic and the fact that TLG has a hard time fixing typos, but both Castles & Crusades and Amazing Adventures are fantastic games and deserve to get more credit for the style of play that they represent. TLG makes stuff that is very much AD&D in feel, but with modern mechanics. I feel like TLG really is interested in its customer base.

Goodman Games

Like TLG, I have worked with GG and done some playtests. I think my connection goes back to around 2010. Joseph Goodman is also a solid guy in person and I admire his enthusiasm. Dungeon Crawl Classics is also a product which ought to get more press among old school players. I love DCC's emphasis on "Appendix N" literature and how it embraces gonzo play. I love the fact that DCC has spawned a number of cool settings -- Mutants, Lankhmar, Dying Earth, post holocaust, weird west, space, and so on -- and all of the flavors play like the original so if you know one you sort of know them all. Another company that seems to really care about the customer.

Free League

This is a new one for me and my only connection is in buying stuff. I love the artwork they put into Vaesen, I love the concept of Tales from the Loop, and they have a whole bunch of games whose topics speak to me. My shelf is full of stuff I may or may not ever play -- Twilight 2000, Blade Runner (well, not quite out yet), Mork Borg, and so on -- but I love to read. They are on my list because of the variety of coolness they make, and I keep buying their stuff.

------------------------------

EDIT: I'm not including companies like Elf Lair simply because they don't put out a lot of product. There are several tiny companies which migh hit the list without that restriction.

Elf Lair Games is the only one mentioned so far that I like and have a lot of respect for. I agree it is a shame they don't put out more product.

I appreciate it, and believe me I would love to put out more product. I'm a one-man operation and have a day job and work as a salaried staff writer for Troll Lord, so that's why my Elf Lair release schedule isn't more robust. I am working on it, though!

[EDIT]
Guess I may as well chime in with mine.

Troll Lord Games: I don't love them because I write for them. I write for them because I love them. Every last one of the Trolls is an outstanding human being, and they have been SO good to me over the years. Steve has taught me more about this industry than anyone ever has, and he's helped me out with my own company in more ways than I can spell out.

Eden Studios: They do technically still exist, even if they haven't released anything new for awhile. Unisystem is still a go-to system for me and mine. George was my first ever mentor in the RPG industry since my ugly split with Palladium. I learned a great deal from him and he is a great guy. He recently had a stroke and is recovering at home (thankfully). I hope he bounces back.

Pinnacle: Shane Hensley is a very cool guy and Savage Worlds is indeed fast, furious, and fun. Savage Rifts is ridiculously cool.

Goblinoid Games: I've known Dan since my Eden days. He's a good guy, and Labyrinth Lord, to my mind, is hands down the best retroclone on the market today.