I decided to not put the RPGaDay chart as the first picture because it always ends up being the teaser thumbnail.

So I am not exactly sure about the answer to this one, because there are two that seem to appear almost exactly the same time: early March. So I picked the one I know better: Westlands. The name evokes The West Marches, the classic sandbox campaign that launched a thousand imitators, and that is intentional because the game claims to support that style. It is also based on the CEPHEUS Engine, the early Traveller RPG mechanic that has now been open-sourced. The game features a lot of familiar items in “fantasy heartbreakers”: elves, dwarfs, mages, etc. but with a stronger skill mechanic.

Like many fantasy games, the question becomes why this game instead of the upteen hundred other fantasy RPG’s, especially you know, the “fifth edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game.” I feel like that goes to a larger question about playing “indie” games in general, but that’s a post for another day.