Ring Side Report: RPG Review of DEVOUR

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– DEVOUR

System– DEVOUR

Producer– Duck and Crow Press

Price– $6.13 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com//product/567794/devour?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR– Push your luck to save everyone. 98%

Basics: Can you learn enough to stop the end? This is an RPG, but is a solo one.  You play a researcher attempting to build a group to learn enough about the coming god to end his reign before he ends us all.  Each round you roll a number of d6s equal to your group size and consult a chart to determine if you gain or lose followers, research, or if the god gains enough power. You can push your luck far enough to gain enough before the god gains power and save the world!

Mechanics or Crunch: The mechanics are pretty simple.  It’s d6s all the way, but there are additional advanced rules to add more.  It works, and it works well.  But if you expect multiple levels of interaction, then you will be sad.  But, if you want a more meditative experience, you will have a good time.  5/5

Theme or Fluff–  Solo RPGs are like meditation and the gym-you will get exactly out of them what you put in.  If you can’t build off a story prompt to build your own world and experience, then pass this one.  If, as a kid, you were given a random pile of dolls or action figures and could build a mythos greater than Game of Thrones, this will be a blast for you.  5/5

Execution:  I like what’s here, but some of the information is a bit harder for me to understand quickly.  This is a d6 game where rolls mean consult a chart and determine what happens.  Those tables are piles of letters.  The letters are explained, but it’s not my favorite way of explaining information.  I get it after a pass, but it took a roll or two to become easy.  The more advanced options also have the same issue.  Again, it’s a two-turn problem as you will understand what’s going on after that, but it started a bit rough for me.  I don’t have a better option than the one the authors did, however.  The example turns help with this problem.  But it’s all here and reads easily.  4.75/5

Summary: I do love me some solo RPGs on a free day.  It’s even more choose-your-own-adventure than the choose-your-own-adventure books.  This one has you build your own world and gods to fight, learn about, and hopefully defeat.  Small layout annoyances are the only problem I had.  But I must warn you, like all other solo RPGs, this one is a you problem-if you want spam-in-a-can adventures like Gloomhaven, then turn away.  You are building your story from dice rolls.  I love spam and Gloomhaven, but you have to be in the right mood to have a taste for either, just like this one.  If you can build the story from your dice, you will really enjoy this.  98%

Ring Side Report: RPG Review of Time Without Tide: Mirth & Misery in a World of Fog

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Product– Time Without Tide: Mirth & Misery in a World of Fog

System– Time Without Tide: Mirth & Misery in a World of Fog

Producer– Chaosium

Price– FREE preview here https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/chaosium/time-without-tide-mirth-misery-in-a-world-of-fog/pre-launch?ref=bk-discover-homepage 

TL; DR– Shadowrun mechanics meet Cypher System in Call of Cthulhu with a somewhat jovial tone! 100%

Basics: Welp, time to face the horrors of the fog again!  The moon exploded, fog is everywhere, mutating people, and you hold a magic lantern that keeps the fog at bay as you explore.  Let’s jump into the mechanics.

Basic Mechanics: This is a d6 pool system.  You have three attributes and six statistics.  When you do a thing, you combine an attribute and a skill and roll that many dice, counting fives and sixes.  If you get enough successes, you get a success.  If you get more, you get bonuses for the event.

Features and Adaptations: Characters become special through features they choose and adaptations they don’t choose.  Both act as link feats for a character, but adaptations can be positive or negative.

Combat: This is very simple. When you get into a fight, every group and character rolls a d6 for initiative.  From highest to lowest, characters get major and minor action.  Minor is moving, and the like, while major is things that require tests like combat.  Attacking is the base mechanic as above.  Characters have armor that reduces their damage, but damage is applied to an attribute.  When it drops to zero, life gets harder.  You can keep acting, but if you fail a check while you are damaged again, you are dead!

Ok, now my thoughts.

Mechanics or Crunch: I love the simplicity of the Cyphter system, and the fun d6 dice pools of Shadowrun.  This is both.  It’s simple combat with crazy feats to help you.  It’s also a simple mechanics that just provide just enough complexity for things to develop.  I love this.  5/5

Theme or Fluff–  Steampunk Cthulhu is with comedy is just The Amazing Screw-On Head.  If you haven’t seen that, go check it out.  But this is basically how every one of my Call of Cthulhu games runs, honestly.  Players are goofballs, and I love it.  This system is built for goofballs, and as one, I enjoy this so much.  5/5

Execution:  This is an intro book, but it’s got a lot for free.  The book explains the world and has enough to get running in a solid 5 minutes.  Sure, you can read deep, but if it’s game day and the friends are done with pizza, you can get this to the table in five minutes flat.  My discussion of the mechanics is honestly enough to get players playing.  It’s solid layout, solid art, and a whole adventure with SIX PCs.  That would be fine, but this has MAPS, HANDOUTS, AND EVEN PAPER MINIS.  This is what I want out of a demo product, and well more than I could have honestly expected.  5/5

Summary:  Serious time discussion of this product.  If the RPG table is more sacred than church, and you want a horror experience where true depths of terror are evoked, then this is not for you.  I have never had that EVER in a horror game.  It’s always fart jokes and memes.  And I LOVE IT!  This game embraces the funny of Cthulhu and brings in steampunk to make a fun world for players to explore and enjoy.  I am down for this game, and you need to check this one out.  IT’S FREE SO DO IT!  100%