New ideas are the lifeblood of the RPG industry. However, it seems lately that the new medium of the Internet is adding very little to the quality of rpgs. Many online RPGs are rehashed D+D clones or sci fi settings with lots of familiar elements.

Pumpkin Town isn't.

The setting is a strange cube-like world, with candy mines, graveyards, swamps, schoolhouses, and even amusement parks. Pumpkin Town is pretty nice during Twilight, but gets mean and scary during the Night. There is a lot of setting information here, complete with creatures to meet, villains to foil, and strange places to visit.

Character creation uses the PERPS rules. Basically, you write a paragraph about your cute monster character (85 ideas are provided- from Snake Lady to Vampire Clown) and assign 4 points of positive Traits and two points of negative traits. You also get 10 skill points to assign to your character.

The rules are very simple. A ten sided die is rolled, and the character's relevant skill and attribute are added to the total. If the total beats an assigned difficulty, the character succeeds. Simple combat rules are also provided.

The setting is the reason to check out the game. Imagine cute middle school monsters going on adventures in a small town with undead cattle in the fields, getting food from the lunch lady witch, surfing the blood beach, and getting lost in the Funland of the Clown Prince.

This game is a great change of pace. It is whimsical, original, and really stimulated my imagination. This game is one of the best free rpgs I have seen (even better than Puppetland!). Check it out!

www.gargoyle13.com

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)