The Inside Scoop on Gaming

At once a roleplaying campaign, a convention-game in a box, a quick-and-easy learning guide to the Rolemaster Standard System, and a primer for living the life of a pirate, Run out the Guns! is a fantastic product for anyone interested in any of the above.

First, let's look at the contents. Opening the box for ROTG!, you see numerous booklets, maps, and dice. The booklets cover everything from running your first ROTG! game, a players guide (for when you have a few games under your belt), a breakdown of common ships, a gamemasters guide, and more. The maps cover the Carribean, circa 1662 - a grand time for plundering.

The wealth of detail that ROTG! presents is staggering. The game provides full details of the workings of a ocean-going ship, from the duties of the crew, to the amount of food needed, to the common sicknesses that tend to crop up (and, going by the state of medicine in 1662, you don't want to get sick - trust me).

You also get a wealth of campaign concepts and ideas. There is more here than the typical "Avast ye swabs! Let's go and attack annuver ship, an' take her booty! No quarter!" provided here - ROTG! gives you historical information about the tensions in the area, noteworthy settlements, and more. There is a LOT of adventuring to be done.

ROTG! also presents an interesting angle - the real world. The setting is no fantasy world with flying ships or magical cannons. If you get your hand hacked off during a boarding action, there isn't any magic-wielding healer to fix you up; better get used to the hook. And food - forget about living the good life, hello ship's biscuit and stale water. Still, so long as the salted beef doesn't get infested (weevils be damned!), you can expect to be eating a lot of meat. Just ignore the ever present taste of heavy salt.

ROTG! is designed to be a game that can be run quickly out of the box. It has been used by ICE as a convention tourament for RMSS - although the given rules for ROTG! are a somewhat paired down version. I ran a quick run of the provided "Narwal Adventure" and had things running smoothly in less than a half-hour. Everything for this adventure is provided - characters, plot info, character sheets (just photocopy and ready), etc. In no time, you're trading broadsides with frigates and trying to outrun the Spanish fleet (who frown upon the fact that you've raided their shipping lines repeatedly over the last year….)

Overall, Run Out the Guns! is an excellent product. It offers quite a bit of stuff in that box - both for gameplay and just historical knowledge. I recommend it to any group that is looking for something fresh and different to the usual hack-n-slash dungeon crawl, or for those sick of pretending to be tragically hip doomed anythings.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Run out the Guns!
Author: By Jason O. Hawkins and Todd McGovern Category: game Company/Publisher: ICE Cost: 30.00 ISBN: 1-55806-365-X Capsule Review by Robert E. Allen III on 11/29/98. Genre tags: Historical	At once a roleplaying campaign, a convention-game in a box, a quick-and-easy learning guide to the Rolemaster Standard System, and a primer for living the life of a pirate, Run out the Guns! is a fantastic product for anyone interested in any of the above. First, let's look at the contents. Opening the box for ROTG!, you see numerous booklets, maps, and dice. The booklets cover everything from running your first ROTG! game, a players guide (for when you have a few games under your belt), a breakdown of common ships, a gamemasters guide, and more. The maps cover the Carribean, circa 1662 - a grand time for plundering. The wealth of detail that ROTG! presents is staggering. The game provides full details of the workings of a ocean-going ship, from the duties of the crew, to the amount of food needed, to the common sicknesses that tend to crop up (and, going by the state of medicine in 1662, you don't want to get sick - trust me). You also get a wealth of campaign concepts and ideas. There is more here than the typical "Avast ye swabs! Let's go and attack annuver ship, an' take her booty! No quarter!" provided here - ROTG! gives you historical information about the tensions in the area, noteworthy settlements, and more. There is a LOT of adventuring to be done. ROTG! also presents an interesting angle - the real world. The setting is no fantasy world with flying ships or magical cannons. If you get your hand hacked off during a boarding action, there isn't any magic-wielding healer to fix you up; better get used to the hook. And food - forget about living the good life, hello ship's biscuit and stale water. Still, so long as the salted beef doesn't get infested (weevils be damned!), you can expect to be eating a lot of meat. Just ignore the ever present taste of heavy salt. ROTG! is designed to be a game that can be run quickly out of the box. It has been used by ICE as a convention tourament for RMSS - although the given rules for ROTG! are a somewhat paired down version. I ran a quick run of the provided "Narwal Adventure" and had things running smoothly in less than a half-hour. Everything for this adventure is provided - characters, plot info, character sheets (just photocopy and ready), etc. In no time, you're trading broadsides with frigates and trying to outrun the Spanish fleet (who frown upon the fact that you've raided their shipping lines repeatedly over the last year….) Overall, Run Out the Guns! is an excellent product. It offers quite a bit of stuff in that box - both for gameplay and just historical knowledge. I recommend it to any group that is looking for something fresh and different to the usual hack-n-slash dungeon crawl, or for those sick of pretending to be tragically hip doomed anythings. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)