Month: June 2024

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Starfinder Society Scenario #7-02: Zo! vs. Zo

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Product– Starfinder Society Scenario #7-02: Zo! vs. Zo

System- Starfinder

Producer– Paizo

Price– $8.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02eza?Starfinder-Society-Scenario-702-Zo-vs-Zo  

TL; DR– Fun, logic be damned!  87% 

Basics– What’s ya name!?  In Zo! Vs. Zo, the Starfinders are asked to help Zo! Defend his semi-good honor as his name is threatened by a city called Zo.  How will your group of Starfinders fare as lawyers and in combat?

Mechanics or Crunch–  This is a fairly simple adventure with some combat, some social, but no exploration.  It’s all set in cities as the Starfinders have to prove they can do the fighting, then attempt to set up a legal defense, and finally a real defense in legal combat. It’s a bit on the rails, but still good.  The mechanics are well done and felt fair and fun. 4.5/5

Theme or Fluff–  The story is a bit off here.  The basics are to prove you can fight, do legal skill checks, do more legal skill checks, and then fight no matter what.  The legal stuff felt off.  I would like the option to just not do the second fight if the characters succeed enough or for them to just push for combat.  That’s how I would run this for a home group, but for Society, the flow makes the adventure feel strained.  It works, but the logic is a bit off. 3.5/5

Execution– Yeah, we all know this was gonna be a 5/5.  It’s a Paizo book.  I keep saying this exact sentence when I write about Paizo.  They know layout, text, and art.  It’s an easy to read adventure.  Maybe the one thing that would help is having separate art from the other legal combatants, but that’s extremely nitpicky.  This is well done.  5/5

Summary-This is a fun adventure, but maybe not the most logical adventure.  Any group of guys and gals will enjoy the adventure, but it’s a bit linear and a bit nonsensical.  That said, it’s an adventure to a world that most Starfinders have not been to and some courtroom drama that almost no players outside of those brave profession (barrister) players do.  You will have fun, but maybe don’t think too hard about why things are happening.   87%

Daily Punch 6-6-24 Eaters of the Dead skeleton power for DCC/MCC RPG

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num num num! skeleton power!

Eaters of the Dead
Type: actionRange: selfDuration: instantaneousSave: none
GeneralYou find a body and begin to eat it for health!
Manifestationroll 1d4: (1) You literally bite and eat the bodies of the dead. (2)You pull the bones from the dead and merge them into yourself (3)the bones turn to dust and cling to yourself (4) you just absorb the bodies through your skeleton hands
1failure and a bond goes sideways costing you 1d4 hp!
2-11failure
12-13You regain 1d4 HP
14-17You regain 2d4 HP
18-19You regain 2d6 HP
20-23You regain 2d8 HP
24-27You regain 3d8 HP
28-29You regain 3d10 HP
30-31You regain 3d12 HP
32+You regain 3d12 HP and gain 1 point of luck!

Thoughts?

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Monster Core

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Product– Pathfinder Monster Core

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed 

Producer– Paizo

Price– $59.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02ej4 

TL; DR-Another Solid Addition to the Core line. 97% 

Basics– We’re all gonna die!  Monster Core is the last of the three main books needed to play Pathfinder, providing the foes that the heroes will face in their journeys.

Mechanics or Crunch–  Paizo knows their math.  These monsters are the ones we know, mostly, and love.  The Paizo staff designed good monsters and this just gives them the 2.5 glow up new coat of paint the system needed to get them fully ORC compliant.  It’s well done. 5/5

Theme or Fluff–  The story of the monsters takes a tiny bit of a dip.  As we move from 3.5/SRD base to ORC/Paizo’s own world, we lose a few things.  A major example is alignment.  We have Demons, Daemon, and Devils.  We have three different groups that are basically out to destroy everything but all just end up with the bad guy banner.  There is a story, but it’s that part of the story supported by differences in alignment and motivations that really separate these different D-based bad guys (that and centuries of European occult history).  The same goes with different dragon types.  I want to reiterate that what’s here is good, but the theme of these different monsters does miss alignment. 4.5/5

Execution– Yeah, we all know this was gonna be a 5/5.  It’s a Paizo book.  It reads fast, well, and is pretty.  Monsters get art for me to show players.  I get a good layout and hyperlinks.  Heck, there are even a few player things like a few rituals to sell your soul or talk to god!  5/5

Summary-This is a good book.  My view might be tainted by the changes from 3.5 to ORC.  I love the ORC, but we do lose some things along the way due to the legalese.  Those are things you will have to bring with your own stories to the table now.  This book will easily give you the foes to make those stories full of conflict and victory.  97 %