Ring Side Report-Board Game Unboxing and Review of Nature: Flight
Month: December 2025
Ring Side Report- RPG review of Shadow Scar – Eyes in the Darkness
Product- Shadow Scar – Eyes in the Darkness
System- Shadow Scar
Producer- R. Talsorian Games Inc.
Price- FREE here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/487683/shadow-scar-eyes-in-the-darkness?affiliate_id=658618
TL; DR- BPRD by Modern Day Legend of the Five rings fused with Rifts by Shadowrun. 100%
Basics- Let’s keep things under wraps! Shadow Scar is a modern RPG with a decisively fantasy air as you play agents tasked with fighting strange monsters that should have been banished long ago when the corrupted wife of the main god died and returned evil. This as multiple different dimensions all pour into yours as you fight to keep those out. This product introduces the world, the mechanics, and provides characters and an adventure. It doesn’t go too much deeper than the basics, but it does get you running in under 20 minutes! Let’s break it down.
Base mechanics- This game uses very similar mechanics to more modern Shadowrun editions. Basically, you add an attribute to a skill level and then you roll that many six sided dice. 4s and 5s are successes, and 6s are two successes. You hit a threshold and you succeed. Short and sweet. Everything you want to do is basically that with contested rolls being who gets more successes.
Combat- Combat in this system has team based initiative coupled with the base mechanic. Highest awareness on a team roll their dice and we compare across all groups involved. Whatever side gets more successes decides if they go first or after other groups. Then all members of that side take their turn in whatever order they choose. On your turn, you get a move action and two actions. Actions vary between grabs, aiming, magic, or even attacking. Attacking is contested rolls with the winner deciding if the hit happens. Damage is subtracted first by the armor of the target and then the remaining amount is subtracted from the target’s vitality. Vitality hits zero and you’re dead! Dead isn’t complete though as you can be resurrected and you linger in the spirit world for a bit. So, it’s not dead dead, just mostly dead!
veil- A major part of the game and the group you work for is the veil. Your job is to maintain the veil, the fake sense that no one is coming across time and dimensions to end everything. Basically, you do crazy stuff in front of others, you break the veil and that leads to you possibly getting in trouble, getting disciplined, or even getting whole crews of other teams to deal with your mess!
Ok, let’s dig into this game.
Mechanics or Crunch- I like the crunch of Shadowrun, so I like this one. Shadowrun never really felt complex to me, and this system using the d6 based idea of roll and count numbers 4 and up is an easy one to do. You don’t need complex dice, so intro games are easy. Also, the basics are spelled out well on the character sheets. Character sheets have awesome descriptions of all the toys and tools the agents have. It’s quick, easy, and fast to play fantasy asian combat. 5/5
Theme or Fluff- Well, I’m a sucker for anime, the BPRD, and the hunters in World of Darkness, so this is an easy game for me to get into. I love the idea of different worlds all acting completely out of sync and it’s your job to keep them all at peace and keep the horrors of a corrupted mother goddess at bay. It’s got enough of traditional Japanese myth in there to hook me, and its got enough of its own DNA to keep me from leaving. 5/5
Execution- Solid stuff here! The book reads easily, is laid out well, and has all the modern pieces I expect in 2025. And, the book has pregenerated characters and a full adventure! I can give my players the pregens, read the book, and be playing in about 20 total minutes. That’s all I need to love this book. 5/5
Summary- This is a blend of a bunch of things you may have seen before. But then again, I love fusion cuisine, so I’m down for this as well. This game has solid mechanics. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but it doesn’t have to. The theme is again nothing completely new, but it’s got enough of its own materials to hold its own. And lastly, the game is made exactly as I expect any intro product to be, with an honest to goodness game out there for me to play with my friends within half an hour of purchase. That’s everything I expect out of this product, so I recommend this if you want the modern Asian fantasy take on keeping horrors out of the news. 100%
Daily Punch 12-26-25 Percussive Maintenance android feat for Pathfinder 2nd Ed
Just hit it again!
Percussive Maintenance Reaction Feat 5
- Android
Prerequisites Nanite Surge
Frequency three times Per Day
Trigger You roll a 1 using a technological item
NOW LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE! Your connection to the digital toys around you has grown to levels few outside of the Android community would understand. When you roll a one when using a digital device, you can smack the device and reroll. You must accept the second result.
Thoughts?
Daily Punch 12-25-25 No Screen Time! android feat for Starfinder 2nd Ed
I said no!
No Screen Time! Feat 9
- Android
Prerequisites Nanite Surge
Frequency Once Per Day
Area 30-foot emanation
Duration sustained, up to 1 minute
Defense Will
Time to touch grass! When you activate this ability, you create a bubble of anti-technology 30 feet around you. When anyone attempts to use a technological item more advanced than a mechanical pistol, that character must attempt a Will save against your class DC. On a failure, that action fails, an resources spent are lost, and the actions are lost as well.
Thoughts?
Daily Punch 12-24-25 Gruesome Cut rogue feat for Pathfinder 2nd
HOW DID HE SURVIVE!
Gruesome Cut Feat 18
Rogue
Prerequisite: Critical Cut
There may be no surviving this. When you succeed on an attack on a target with the off-guard condition, you can reduce the sneak attack damage by 1d6, 2d6, 3d6, or 4d6 and the target gains Painful 1, Painful 2, Painful 3, or Painful 4 (DC 15 flat check reduce by 1). If you choose Painful 3 or greater the target must attempt Fortitude save against your class DC. On a success, the target only gains Painful 3 if you choose Painful 4 or Painful 2 if you choose Painful 3. On a critical success, the target only gains Painful 2. If a target has the Painful condition, it can increase up to Painful 4, but to go beyond Painful, the target must attempt a Fortitude save as above..
Thoughts?
Daily Punch 12-23-25 Natural Router android feat for Starfinder 2nd Ed
I speak a bit of binary, from high school!
Natural Router Feat 1
- Android
You’ve learned to awaken the web inside you. You can access the Infosphere without a computer as you have awakened the wireless network inside yourself. You can download data and other wireless devices as long as you have permission to access them. If you do not, you must hack those devices as normal.
Thoughts?
Daily Punch 12-22-25 Critical Cut rogue feat for Pathfinder 2nd Ed
Almost killed him!
Critical Cut Feat 12
Rogue
Prerequisite: Gaping Cut
Nearly severing limbs! When you succeed on an attack on a target with the off-guard condition, you can reduce the sneak attack damage by 1d6, 2d6, or 3d6 and the target gains Painful 1, Painful 2, or Painful 3 (DC 15 flat check reduce by 1). If you choose Painful 3 the target must attempt Fortitude save against your class DC. On a success, the target only gains Painful 2. If a target has the Painful condition, it can increase up to Painful 3, but to go from Painful 2 to Painful 3, the target must attempt a Fortitude save as above..
Thoughts?
Ring Side Report- RPG review of Gates of Krystalia
Product– Gates of Krystalia
System- Gates of Krystalia
Producer– Top Notch International LTD
Price– $34.00 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/534717/gates-of-krystalia-ttjrpg-core-rulebook-english-version?src=hottest_filtered&affiliate_id=658618
TL; DR-Would you like Konosuba or Goblin Slayer as an intro RPG? 93%
Basics– IT’S TIME TO D&DUEL! Gates of Krystalia is an isekai style RPG. Isekai is a genre of anime where a person from the “real” world dies and is offered the chance to go kill the demon king/bad guy in a fantasy setting where a god bestows power upon them to do so. It’s a power fantasy, but it is fun! Let’s dig into this game’s materials before the breakdown.
Base mechanics– This game DOESN’T use dice! It uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards. What’s interesting here is the number on the cards and the suit. The suits are tied to the four different ability scores. When you do a thing you draw a card and add your ability score to the score on the card. You beat the required number, you succeed. Don’t and fail. It’s an easier way for the non-dice goblins among us to get into the game.
Criticals- If the card you play matches the suit of the action, you double the result. Hearts are charisma, diamonds agility, spades intelligence, and clubs toughness. Want to rip down a door? It’s a toughness action, and if you draw an 8 of clubs, you get a 16 plus your toughness attribute. In combat the ace doubles base damage. And if its the suit you choose at character creation of your blessed suit, it doubles again!
Combat- Combat basically works the same way. Everyone including the Deux(Game Master) draws cards and adds modifiers for each character. High goes first. Now, this is not a tactics RPG. Think more Dragon Warrior and less Final Fantasy Tactics. Players and major named monsters draw a hand of five cards. Low ranking monsters just draw and hope for the best. When it’s your action, you choose a Combat Technique, and do it. If it targets someone else, players play a card from their hand at the monster. From there, characters and major monsters can play cards from their hand to create combos. Basically, can you make a poker hand. And whoever has the higher score based on played cards wins and has their action occur. This means you might get to attack during a monsters turn, but you will have less cards when it’s your turn. Once everyone has a turn, creatures with multiple cards draw up to their hand and you continue.
Damage– The interesting thing about this game is the deck. You take damage? Discard cards from your deck. Rest? Draw up cards from the discard and shuffle. You NEVER gain more cards/hit points.
Character creation and advancement- This is not a deep game. At character generation, you choose a race and one background power, a class, a class specialization, four combat techniques, and a blessed suit. It’s pretty simple. Levelling up is also simple as you now get to when the Deux decides. There is no XP to track. There are also a total of four ranks.
Additional Things- The base game book has a ton of other small things that you can add into your game. Like any good anime aimed at teens, you can get a haram of men or woman who you can romance. There is also mechanics to level up your base. There is madness and trama. This game can be as dark or a light hearted as you want.
Ok, let’s dig into this game.
Mechanics or Crunch– This is an intro RPG for someone who loves anime. The mechanics are simple and you don’t require any crazy complicated dice. I don’t hate anything that’s here. In fact, I want to run a game of this. The thing that is annoying is the lack of depth and the lack of XP. The game doesn’t get deep as you end up with less than 10 total abilities at the end of the game. It’s not really a deep crunch game. Not bad, but it’s a little simple. If your GM is a great person, then you will level up and kill the demon lord at a solid place. If your GM isn’t then you will end up with a slog of basically filler episodes. However, the rest of this book has solid materials for the players to have a blast playing and experiencing. I honestly want to build up a base in this game. It’s solid fun, but a bit simplistic. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff– The writers knew their audience. From Sword Art Online to That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime (yes, non-anime fans, this genre gets weird faster than the titles get long!) there is tons of stuff for the players to do. Heck, I didn’t even go into crafting. You can go gather materials from monsters and use that to build stuff. You want to play the Legend of Zelda food crafting part in this game? You absolutely can! And that’s awesome. This is exactly what the anime geeks are looking for. 5/5
Execution– This book is good, but it makes two cardinal sins. There are solid layout, great art, and hyperlinks to make navigation easy. Everything that’s here is good. What’s not here is an adventure. The adventure is a separate purchase for an additional $14. That’s not good! Next, there are no pregens, or at least none I could find. Give me a free intro adventure and 6 pregens for me to play with. For such a new system, you need this. I know its about five minutes to make one, but don’t make me! That’s a major sin in 2025. 4.5/5
Summary– I like what’s here. I honestly want to play this at my local anime/gunpla store. There would EASILY be a group who wants this exact game. They are not the most inclined to RPGs, so this would hook them easily and draw them in. The art alone coupled with the presentation of everything makes this a solid book. My issues are from a person who owns over 200GB of RPG books that I’ve kickstarted. I need a bit more depth for my go-to rpg. I also need a bit more intro for my intro game. Give me the tools to hook those players easily, and without having to drop another $14 on a one shot PDF that doesn’t even come with pregens. It’s not unforgivable by any means, but its a minor annoyance. But, if you are spending time putting together robots with friends as you watch japanese cartoons from the 90s like myself, then this is definitely the book you should pick up. 93%
Ring Side Report-Board Game Unboxing and Review of Nature: Jurassic
Daily Punch 12-19-25 Child of the Ship Kasatha ancestry feat for Starfinder 2nd Ed
The voyage taught you things.
Child of the Ship Feat 1
- Kasatha
You’ve spent much of your time on board the ships learning the ways of space. You gain the trained proficiency rank in Crafting and Piloting. If you would automatically become trained in one of those skills (from your background or class, for example), you instead become trained in a skill of your choice.
You also gain the Additional Lore general feat for Kasatha Lore.
Throat Punch Games 