''Blue Rose'' is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

published by

Green Ronin Publishing Green Ronin Publishing is an American company based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Chris Pramas and Nicole Lindroos, they have published several role-playing game–related products. They won several awards for their games includi ...

in 2005. The game is in the

romantic fantasy Romantic fantasy, or "romantasy", is a Genre, subgenre of fantasy fiction that combines fantasy and Romance novel, romance, describing a fantasy story using many of the elements and conventions of the chivalric romance genre. One of the key featur ...

genre, inspired by fantasy fiction such as that of

Mercedes Lackey Mercedes Ritchie Lackey (born June 24, 1950) is an American writer of Fantasy literature, fantasy novels. Many of her novels and trilogies are interlinked and set in the world of Velgarth, mostly in and around the country of Valdemar (fictional co ...

and

Diane Duane Diane Duane (born May 18, 1952) is an American science fiction and fantasy author, long based in Ireland. Her works include the ''Young Wizards'' young adult fantasy series and the ''Rihannsu'' Star Trek novels. Biography Born in New York C ...

as opposed to

Conan the Barbarian Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero created by American author Robert E. Howard (1906–1936) and who debuted in 1932 and went on to appear in a series of fantasy stories published in ''We ...

–style

swords and sorcery Sword and sorcery (S&S), or heroic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy characterized by sword-wielding heroes engaged in exciting and violent adventures. Elements of romance, magic, and the supernatural are also often present. Unlike works of ...

. It used a version of the

D20 system The d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast, originally developed for the Editions of Dungeons & Dragons#Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition, 3rd edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. The system is named after ...

called ''

True20 ''True20'' is a role-playing game system designed by Steve Kenson and published by Green Ronin Publishing. True20 is similar to other game systems such as d20, but it has a few different mechanics. The system was first published as a part of th ...

.''

Description

''Blue Rose'' is a deliberate step away from the "combat-oriented adventures arranged around self-enrichment" as typified by ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

''. Instead, the emphasis is on social and emotional enrichment. As Rogers State University Library noted, "Connections to other characters matter as much as combat skills and magic in these stories of solving mysteries, righting wrongs, and daring heroics." Green Ronin developed a simplified "True20" system for this game. There are only three character classes; no ability scores, only ability modifiers; and instead of advancement through accumulation of

experience points An experience point (often abbreviated as exp or XP) is a unit of measurement used in some tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's life experience and progression through the game. Experien ...

, all characters are automatically advanced every few sessions. Many characters have been born with magical or psychic talents rather than having to develop or learn them. ''Blue Rose'' was the first role-playing game to explicitly set out acceptance of

player characters A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

of all genders and sexual orientations, as well as romantic relationships between adult characters that could include

polyamory Polyamory () is the practice of, or the desire for, romantic relationships with more than one partner at the same time, with the informed consent of all partners involved. Some people who identify as polyamorous believe in consensual non-mon ...

. The book includes a short introductory scenario, "The Cures of Harmony" — the player characters investigate a curse in a small village that is being blamed on a gypsy caravan.

Setting

''Blue Rose'' is set in a world called Aldea, and most campaigns center around the Kingdom of Aldis. Populations of sentient telepathic animals are prevalent in Aldis and are considered equal citizens on par with humans. Aldis endures tense relations with Jarzon, a neighboring realm of religious zealots. Both nations are threatened by Kern, an evil kingdom of necromancers, and have occasionally operated as uneasy allies against the common aggressor.

Publication history

In the 1990s, Green Ronin was invested in the d20 System; with the demise of d20, Green Ronin attempted to introduce a new type of role-playing game, ''Blue Rose'', using a simplified "True20" system. ''Blue Rose'' was created by

Jeremy Crawford Jeremy Crawford is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He worked for Wizards of the Coast from 2007 to 2025 on the tabletop role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons''. He was the Lead Rules Designer for the game's 4th ...

, Dawn Elliot,

Steve Kenson Steve Kenson (born June 16, 1969) is a writer and designer of role-playing games (RPGs) and related fiction. Career Steve Kenson began working as an author and game designer in 1995. Kenson co-wrote the super-hero role-playing game '' Silver Ag ...

, and

John Snead John Snead is a freelance role-playing writer who lives in Portland, Oregon. He studied math and history (B.A.) and cultural anthropology (MA). He has been gaming since 1980 and became a full-time designer and writer of role-playing games in 1998. ...

. The product was released in 2005 as a 224-page softcover book with cover art by

Stephanie Pui-Mun Law Stephanie Pui-Mun Law (born 1976) is an American painter and illustrator who works predominantly in watercolor and whose art is inspired by, and depicts scenes of fantasy, the Other World, and the surreal. She has also been influenced by the art ...

, and interior art by Eliane Bettocchi,

Liz Danforth Elizabeth T. Danforth is an illustrator, editor, writer, and scenario designer for role-playing games and video games. She has worked in the game industry continuously since the mid 1970s. Early life and education She received her BA in Anthrop ...

, Eliza Gauger, Jonathan Kirtz, Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, Leo Lingas, Jennifer Meyer, and

Tula Lotay Tula Lotay is the pen name of Lisa Wood, an English comic book artist. She is known for illustrating '' Supreme: Blue Rose'', written by Warren Ellis for Image Comics, and for founding the Thought Bubble Festival, the UK's largest comics conven ...

. Two supplements were released, ''Blue Rose Companion'' and ''World of Aldea''. But the game failed to find an audience and no further works were published for the game. Green Ronin subsequently released "True20" as a standalone genre-neutral system that could be adapted to any role-playing setting. In 2017 Green Ronin used funds raised from

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

to release a second edition of ''Blue Rose'' which made use of Green Ronin's own Adventure Game Engine (AGE) previously used in the '' Dragon Age tabletop RPG''.

Reception

The game news website ''ICv2'' noted, "''Blue Rose'' is an example of one of the trends evident in the 'Games' category in 2004 -- the attempt to broaden the audience for games to include more female participants." In his 2023 book ''Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground'', RPG historian Stu Horvath commented, "I find it slightly odd that the overall system, being derived from ''D&D'', is so combat-focused; this seems like a missed opportunity to develop the sort of social mechanics that were emerging among indie RPGs." Horvath noted the essential good of the world of Aldea, saying, "There is a lich king and some forces of wickedness, and villains abound, but in focusing on the positives, ''Blue Rose'' actively resists many of the stereotypes and cliches on which fantasy RPGs reflexively fall back." Horvath concluded by noting the relative success of the second edition, saying, "this game that sought a once-elusive audience has finally found it."

Awards

In 2005, ''Blue Rose'' won the

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

ENWorld Roleplaying Silver Medal for Best Cover Art, Best Rules, and Best d20 Game.

Other recognition

A copy of ''Blue Rose'' is held in the Game Collection of Rogers State University Libraries.

Other reviews

*''

Pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...

References

External links

The New Noble Assembly: The Official Forum for Blue Rose
*The Green Ronin power search page on RPG.ne
contain 6 different reviews of Blue Rose
all linked to extensive discussion. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blue Rose (Role-Playing Game) ENnies winners Fantasy role-playing games Green Ronin Publishing games Role-playing games introduced in 2005