obscurettrpgs

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I cannot emphasise strongly enough that this is one of this game's basic starting character classes.

[obscurettrpgs]

D&D is a gateway drug to the real TTRPGs:

Every tabletop system I've ever played was better than D&D

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Every time I open this book it tries to bite me

[obscurettrpgs]

F-Zero: Racing and Roleplaying in the 26th Century!

[Pictured: A bombastic book cover for the titular role-playing game. It depicts Captain Falcon speeding down a racetrack, pursued by another racer.]

Nintendo may not remember that F-Zero exists, but its fans sure do! It’s F-Zero: Racing and Roleplaying in the 26th Century!

I found this one in my folder of free online RPGs, and I actually had to do a fair amount of digging to figure out where it came from. It was published in 2012 and created by fans of the games, and wow does it show. A fair amount of the art is directly ripped from the F-Zero games, and the creators go so far as to directly thank a user at snesmaps.com for their rips of F-Zero tracks. This game is a genuine, exuberant fan-creation down to the bone, and because of that it’s an absolute pleasure to read.

As far as mechanics go, the system appears to be entirely original, and there’s actually some unique stuff here. Both your vehicle and your driver have a set of unique stats, and those stats interact with one to determine how good you are at racing.

[Pictured: The statistics sheet for Captain Falcon. He has the following skill: Aim (A), Nerve (B), Flair (D), and Brain (C)]. Each skill has a number of subskills].

The racing rules themselves are really interesting. The system seems to have been designed around the idea of creating tight, exciting races where everyone is jockeying for position, so every turn each pilot rolls in order to determine whether they have gained or lost their position against the other drivers. After establishing position, each pilot can make some kind of a move, such as sideswiping someone, cheating, blocking, and so on. This is where the skills pictured above come in. I haven’t had the opportunity to play with it yet, but it seems like a simple, effective way of simulating exciting races. I can see myself importing it into another system fairly easily.

Aside from that, there isn’t much to talk about. The rulebook is very short and is almost entirely geared toward racing, with no real rules for off-the-track shenanigans. Overall, F-Zero: RaRit23rdC is a pleasure to read. It’s an earnest fan creation, with some solid rules to back it up.

One last note: The game includes a ton of crossover content, from rules for playing as Samus Aran, to mechanics for driving on Rainbow Road, to a guide on how to adapt the game to the setting of Redline. It’s all fantastic.

[Pictured: The stats sheet for Samus Aran.]

Race on!

More info: https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/190788/f-zero