In January 2021 we revived the July 2014 One-Roll Engine Bundle, a diverse collection of superheroic settings that use the One-Roll Engine game system by Greg (Unknown Armies) Stolze and Dennis (Delta Green) Detwiller, published by Arc Dream Publishing. As shown in Arc Dream’s tutorial, ORE lets you toss a handful of ten-sided dice and use the roll’s Width (number of matching results) and Height (the value on the matching dice) to quickly determine degrees of success, initiative order, hit location, and damage. It’s easy yet surprisingly versatile.
Though technically a generic system, ORE really shines in superheroic action. GODLIKE puts supers into WWII, but without the spandex and pulp sensibilities — war, after all, is hell. eCollapse brings supers into a near-future dystopia. This Favored Land explores a US Civil War with Talents. Grim War brings dangerous summoning magic. Better Angels even casts players as supervillains, who struggle against internal demons — literal demons — that grant them power at a high price.
This bargain-priced revival once again gave you everything you need to start your own One-Roll campaign. There were three complete rulebooks in this revived offer’s Starter Collection (retail value $60) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks:
- GODLIKE Revised Edition: In the Second World War, superpowered Talents fight for both Allies and Axis. No bright spandex or pulp machismo here — just the psychological toll of warfare and heroism.
- Wild Talents Second Edition: One-Roll Engine superheroics in any time and setting, plus gear, archetypes, powers, and an expanded history of GODLIKE‘s World Gone Mad.
- Better Angels: You’re a supervillain possessed by a demon that bestows your superpowers — and you also play the demon tempting another player at the table. Do too much evil and the demon takes control. Don’t do enough, and the demon can punish you.
This revival’s Bonus Collection added five more titles worth an additional $83, including the GODLIKE supplements Black Devils Brigade and Will to Power; Greg Stolze’s Wild Talents campaign settings Grim War and eCollapse; and an alternate-history World-Gone-Mad take on the US Civil War, This Favored Land.
Ten percent of each payment (after gateway fees) went to this One-Roll Engine offer’s pandemic-related charity, Direct Relief. Direct Relief sends protective gear and critical care medications to health workers, with emergency deliveries to medical facilities across the US and to regional response agencies across the world.
