Our RPG Cup Overfloweth: Knights of the Chalice

Since it was being euologised by Demiath on the forum, I decided to download the demo of this highly-retro turn-based RPG. It uses the D20 Open Gaming Licence to accurately translate something that's worryingly close to the real D&D experience. It's combat driven with splashes of dialogue, but the fact the rules are sophisticated enough to allow tactics means I found it compelling - if somewhat hard, even once you've battled past the interface. Certainly the sort of thing which works best if you're a veteran of all things polyhedral. The full thing's fifteen dollars, but you can get the demo here. More beneath the cut...

There's a lot to like here. It's the sort of thing which makes me think back to the days before I actually got my Amiga. In my head, the main reason I wanted to have one wasn't to play Speedball or whatever - it was so I could finally catch up with some of those lovely D&D Gold Box games. In practice, I played one and headed off into my glorious Amiga adventure (which included RPGs, of course - just generally a little more obviously glamourous). The demo itself is a robust little thing - apparently a section not from the whole game, with a pre-generated level 3 party, you're immediately going in, put into interesting combat situations and trying to work out how to pick stuff up.

(The game alternates between right-click-to-change-icon-purpose and drag and drop pretty much randomly. Hover and drag to a character to pick up.)

I also like how its enlarge spell works:

In other words, there's much to like here. Like many Indie RPGs, Heroic Fantasy games are the sort who like showing through their thinking of What Makes An Interesting RPG in their Design notes. And here's a video of the demo in action.

Demo and full purchase available here.