Category: Ring Side Report

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Emergence Roleplaying Game

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 1 Comment

Product– Emergence Roleplaying Game

Producer-3mergent Games

System– Emergence RPG

Price-~$16 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/131828/Emergence-Roleplaying-Game-Core-Rulebook

TL;DR– A bit of Hero, Eberron, and Shadowrun all together. 85%

 

Basics-Man is not alone in the universe, but he’s still the worst thing out there.  In Emergence, mankind has discovered a stone allowing us to travel to another world, Stargate style.  There we meet elves, dwarves, and orcs and begin to treat them poorly leading to a war cumulating in the other races destroying our gate home.  Now a portion of mankind lives on this world in relative peace over 100 years later.  Players take the role of one of the people in this brave new world which features a combination of magic, technology, and a fusion of the two.

 

Mechanics or Crunch-HOLY COW THIS IS A CRUNCHY SYSTEM!  That is by no means bad.  But, if you were looking for Fate or Fiasco levels of rule complexity, then look elsewhere.  The book clocks in at over 300 pages, so this system has some serious meat on its bones.  Let’s go over the highlights:

Races-First thing I noticed about this system’s mechanics is the way you build your character.  It’s a standard build point system, but the races are much different.  When you create your character, you get four race build points.  Each race has abilities that cost between one to three build points, so if you wanted to play a quarter human, quarter dwarf (on my mother’s side), quarter elf ( on my father’s side), and quarter orc (don’t ask), then you can!  I think that’s pretty cool.

 

Character Generation-Characters start by selecting a background that will give them default stats, building your race, and then spending 100 build points to make whatever kind of character they want.  I always love any system that allows for that much customization, but it does slow down character generation.  Also, the BEST part of these build points is build points are the generic points used for experience points.  And, post character generation build point spending is exactly equal to during character generation build point spending.  I HATE systems that change the rules for that after character generation!

 

Talents and Combat-Another option that characters have are talents.  Talents are like feats that give the character better abilities.  You have to meet requirements to buy a talent, but they do give the character that little bit more.  Also, the talents are designed like trees with multiple levels for your character to take and specialize in.  Talents handle several different aspects of this game ranging from a multiple shots with a bow to magic spells.  And, these talents and some action in combat burn stamina.  Stamina represents your character being more winded and worn down.  You only have so much stamina, so you have to be smart when you use these points. And since your spells use stamina, you have a system that includes “cast till you pass out” mechanics which always makes me happy!

 

Base Mechanic-This system uses a fairly simple mechanic of 3d6 + ability + skill ranks vs. a static number for most rolls and tests.  I love systems that use multiple dice as it makes a nice bell curve, so all numbers have a meaning!  I’ve written about how much I love this before, so I’m pretty happy to see this appear again.

 

Health and Damage-Something I really love in a RPG is conditions tracks.  This game has four different health ranges.  As your character is damaged, you lose hit points from the left most track.  When on track is empty, you lost some abilities or now have penalties to some actions.  This neatly solves the “more than none, ready to run” problem I see all too often in games like Pathfinder and DnD.

 

Tools, Armor, spells, items, weapons, cybernetic body parts-This game has a lot of toys for the average player to look over.  The rules give you options for running just a crazy spell tattooed shaman to being a mostly robotic cyber-knight with a shotgun.  The book has a ton of player options ground to cover, but it does it well.

 

Monsters-Something that kind of annoyed me was the lack of monsters in this book.  The back of the book does introduce a few monsters of a few different types as well as comprehensive rules on how to make more.  The rules to make your own monsters are well done, but I, as the GM, have to put that much more time into this game ahead of the game.  Adding in more monsters would really help this book.

 

Mechanics Summary-The rules might be thick, but the base idea is a quick one that you can learn in 10 minutes.  This book is crunchier then a box of broken glass, but that doesn’t make the system bad.  Don’t get his one if you want Fate levels of rules, but if you want a very solid rules system that give you a lot of room to build and play, get this game. 4.5/5

 

Theme or Fluff-This book has a lot of stories in it.  A world where man has only existed for less than 150 years and where he’s the bad guy from the start is an interesting place to start a setting.  Each race and their cities get a bit of a section in the opening chapter of the book.  This system is most definitely a mix between the dragonpunk of Eberron and the cyberpunk of Shadowrun.  I would have liked a few more story ideas as the world and its different environs are well described, but not as many ideas are given to the GM to start the game.  It’s not hard to make up your own ideas, but giving a jump start to the GM is always appreciated. 4.25/5

 

Execution-I liked this book, but it does shave its flaws with the two main ones being recycled art and “textbook problem”.  The book does recycle a lot of its art.  I know the company is a smaller one, but the same few art assets are reused several times throughout the book.  Again, it’s not the worst thing, but it always annoys me a little.  The much bigger problem is the “text book problem.”  This book has a LOT of ground to cover providing rules ranging from spells to shotguns powered by magic as well as introducing a whole new setting.  The opening chapter reads just like an atlas/guide book giving all kinds of important stats and short introductions to each section of the world.  The rules sections are dominated by two column pages of black text on a blue/white background.  Those pages tend to drag on a bit as there are several of them in a row.  The pages do introduce several important things, but page after page of the same layout does get a bet daunting to read.  More tables for rules and color art would really help this book be that much better.  It’s just that dense! 4/5

 

Summary-This is a good book if you like crunch.  The world itself is nothing to sneeze at, but I would like some more example problems to face to help me design adventures for my players to go on.  However, the mechanics of the rules are amazingly well done, and I think the mechanics are the star of this book.  It has a lot of the things that really make me happy when I read a rules set.  To really make this game a grand slam, I’d like a small book on threats to the world, a GM screen to keep all the mechanics straight, and a monster book to give me some foes to throw at the PCs in a hurry.  But even without those tools, this is a great game that reminds me of other great systems like Shadowrun, 3.5e Eberron, and the Hero System.  85%

 

Discloser- I was provided a review copy of this game.  I have not been paid or compensated in any other way.

Ring Side Report- Board Game Review of CO2

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Game– CO2

Producer– Stronghold Games

Price-~$55 here http://www.amazon.com/Stronghold-Games-8007SG-CO2-Board/dp/B00AKVLMY2/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1407249487&sr=1-1&keywords=CO2

Set-Up/Play/Clean-Up-35 min per player (2-5 players)

TL; DR-A few problems mar an otherwise good game. 83%

 

Basics-The world is in trouble, and you have to fix it through capitalism!  In CO2 you play a company specializing in green/renewable power starting in the 1970s.  Each round starts with players gaining money, coins or both based on how much research their companies have in each type of green energy.  Then, each of the six areas of Earth gains more CO2 producing power plants if they do not have enough power plant in that region for each decade( 2 in 1980, 3 in 1990 and so on).  Each CO2 producing power plant increases the global CO2 parts per million rating and can lead to ecological disasters on a continent.  After that, in each decade you are given a number of turns based on the number of players.  On a turn you can do one of three actions: propose, implement, or build a green power plant.  When you propose a power plant, you place a project token in one of three sections that either gives you money, technology cubes, or scientist meeples.  When you implement a proposed plant you spend a carbon credit to gain resources depending on the type of plant with resources ranging from technology cubes to money or both.  If your company has enough research in a particular type of plant and enough money, you can build an implemented plant gaining more research in that plants type as well as victory points.  Also on your turn, you have several free actions where you can move a scientist meeples, buy/sell carbon credits, and play cards.  Scientist meeples can be moved to an implement or proposed project, from one project to another, or from a project to a research convention with the same energy type as a project the meeple was on.  If all the spaces on a convention are covered, all companies gain research in each type of energy the scientists were on as well as one research in any type of energy from that meeting.  If you implement or build a project with another player’s meeple, that player gains one research in that type of energy, get to move that meeple for free, and you must pay them an extra dollar for the privilege.  In the center of the board are the carbon credits.  On your turn you can buy or sell credits, but not both.  The cards are UN mandates give you bonus points if you build specified types of power plants.  The cards in your hand give you bonus money, credits, tech cubes, or scientists if you do an action specified on the card.  You may only perform one free card action each turn.  At the end of your turn, you gain one research in one type of energy based on a project one of your scientist meeples is on.  And the game continues like this.  After each player has taken a turn, and the first player advances the action counter.  When there are no more action spaces left for this decade, the decade advances, and research points/money are given out, disasters happen, and then the turn counter is reset based on the number of players.  The game continues like this until a few events happen:  1) the CO2 level gets high enough that mankind dies/everybody loses 2) the decade is 2030 or 3) the CO2 level drops below 350.  At the end, players who controls the different areas of the board based on number of power plants in each area gain carbon credits based on the region, the players spend those for money, get research money/points one last time, sell money for points, and the player with the most points wins.

 

Mechanics- When you get past the instructions (see below), this game is really fun!  The game makes you think on your feet a lot while having to make smart choices based on what the other players are doing.  You CAN’T build stuff alone.  You need to work with the other players to get the power plants built and experience to do it, but if you let the other build everything, you will lose.  This game does semi-cooperative really well, maybe almost the best I’ve seen for a while. 5/5

 

Theme- The game does do some justice to the theme of different green energy companies working together/against one another.  The mechanics do enforce the theme of needing other to help you and the theme of environmentalism.  An example is the ecological disasters.  When an area of the world has a problem, each company WITHOUT power plants in the area has to pay a cube to the region or be seen as callous.  These cubes can be used by other players who build in the region because now grants are available to help fix the damage.  I do have some problems with the theme as the components could use a bit more to make things a bit more thematic.  Yes, this is a euro game, but that doesn’t mean it has to have cubes.  Give me some other kinds of meeples like little computers or something. 4.5/5

 

Instructions- This game was written by a lawyer.  The rules are divided into sections and subsections that make this game not fun to read.  The rules are several pages of three columns of words with few pictures.  The pictures that are in there are awesome and really help to explain the rules.  But, there are not many!  The rules reference sections like 2.2.1.  DON’T DO THAT!  Have a nice flow that invites me to read!  I’ve been sitting on this game for a long time (six months) because I couldn’t make it through the rules.  When you do read the rules, you see the game is pretty standard euro-game fare, so it’s not too complicated.  But even after the several subsections in the rules, I and my gaming group were still left with questions regarding scientist movement and other important aspects.  Overall, it’s not the worst set of rules I’ve read as I was still able to play the game without a visit to Board Game Geek, but only just. 3/5

 

Execution- The game components are not bad, but I would have liked a bit more.  The game uses small, half standard cards for all the cards in the game.  That’s not bad, but there are less than 60 cards in the game.  So, the cards are more of a pain.  Adding to the pain, the cards don’t have any words and unless you know what cards you’re looking for, it’s really a pain as you need to constantly look at the rules to find which cards are separated into which piles.  Bigger cards with different colors would have really helped distinguish the types of cards.  Also, the box is kind of flimsy.  The board is well done and the iconography is good, except where the rules fail it.  Overall, it’s the product is ok, but some minor problems hamper the whole.  4/5

 

Summary-This is a fun game.  The game itself is a great Euro game.  The theme is fun as it’s a controversial subject-global warming-while being executed well.  This game is semi-cooperative worker placement on two different levels-projects and scientists- which I haven’t seen for a while.  If you love worker placement/development/resource management euro games and can get past the dry, boring instructions, you will have a blast trying to outwit your opponents on a global scale.  83%

Ring Side Report- DUAL RPG REVIEW of 13 True Ways and 13th Age Bestiary

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

I haven’t gotten any new 13th Age products in a while, and now I get two!  Let’s go through these starting with….

 

Product– 13 True Ways

Producer– Pelgrane Press

Price– ~$40 here http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=12292

System– 13th Age

TL; DR– Love 13th Age?  BUY THIS NOW!  98%

 

Basics– MORE 13th AGE!  This book is the first player focused book for the 13th Age system.  This book covers several areas including new classes, items, monsters, living dungeons, and much more.  As always, the systems assumes you make up whatever you want and gives enough to get you started, but suggests you dump anything you want to make the story your own.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– Sweet jumping archmage, this book is full of new mechanics.  The new classes themselves are a crazy mix of new ideas.  I felt there is more of focus on modifying the encounter die which an interesting take on the mechanic.  There are the standard fare that people have requested like the necromancer and the commander (warlord from 4e DnD), but monks and druids really shined in this book for me.  Monks feel real to me now.  Sure, I like the Pathfinder monk and whatever system lets me punch goblins in the face, but this system is the first one to add some surprisingly heavy and accurate depth to the class.  Monks now have different kinds of strikes and forms just like any other real word martial art.  Druids have levels as the focus on different aspects of nature resulting in the class covering a shape changer who with different magic spells on different terrain or just being a crazy woods warrior guy/gal.  Both these classes get some serious focus in the book.  The new monsters are amazing and fun as well.  Items are great.  The best part of all this mechanics discussion is the banter between the writers.  The writers want you to write your own game and mechanics, so when they don’t have a consensus, they give you each side’s opinion and let you have fun.  Great book! 5/5

 

Theme or Fluff– Here is some balance combined with some amazing writing.  The book doesn’t tell you any story, but give you all the stories to tell.  An example of this is devils.  A major crux of the 13th Age system is that demons are going to destroy the world.  That’s the one thing that is universal in 13th Age, and that’s something you can completely disregard or rewrite and everybody’s happy!  Now devils are introduced with this book, but where do they come from?  Well this book gives you different origin stories relating to each of the icons.  And NONE of those are the reason in your game if you want them to be!  The book does an excellent job of providing Lego blocks for you to play with and showing you how the writers put them together but encourages you to build whatever you want to play with. 5/5

 

Execution-This book is laid out pretty much like the first book.  That was done fairly well, but it does have a bit of a “textbook problem”- lots of words on pages that are not broken up enough.  More pictures or colors on the powers, or space would help break up the text a bit more to help engage the reader.  I do like the pictures that are in the book, but I would like a bit more.  This isn’t by far a badly laid out book but, but a few more breaks would really help here. 4.75/5

 

Summary-THERE IS MORE 13th AGE OUT THERE!  Fans like me have been clamoring for more 13th age since there was a 13th age!  And, this product shows it’s been made with care and love for the system.  I love the new classes, powers, places, monsters, and items.  This book does monks right for the first time!  If you like 13th Age even a little bit, GO BUY THIS ONE NOW! 98%

 

Well now that I’m done drooling over one 13th Age product, here is another!

 

Product– 13th Age Bestiary

Producer– Pelgrane Press

Price– ~$40 here http://www.pelgranepress.com/?p=12144

System– 13th Age

TL; DR– More well done pieces to fit into a 13th Age game. 100%

 

Basics-Here ther’ be dragons!  This book is the first stand alone bestiary for the 13th Age system.  Each section describes a monster type, giver several versions of the monster, stories about the monster, a picture, and how it relates to the icons and the world.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– Need more monsters?  Here you go!  All the monsters work well and feel like cogs that fit the 13th age system.  The most important thing here is there is a TON of monsters to throw at the PCs and all the monsters feel like they belong and are fresh, yet something you expect in this world.  All the toys in the monster’s arsenal are well done.  Heck, if things are going too well for the players every monster gets an extra section on how to make this even nastier!  5/5

 

Theme or Fluff– Like I said before, everything fits.  That’s the most important part of this system.  Things “fit”.  All the monsters have story driven components that make them easy to just throw into a 13th Age game.  Monsters just don’t get a stat block and you hope for the best, you get a story, icon relations, and pictures-the whole nine yards.  This book is as much a story book as it is a bestiary. 5/5

 

Execution- Honestly, no complaints here.  I love the way 13th Age handles monsters-minimal stat blocks combined with stories and pictures.  Lots of breaks in the text make this a breeze and a joy to read.  This is a page turner making you want to read the next entry.  This is an awesome bestiary. 5/5

 

Summary-This is quite frankly an amazing bestiary.  If you run 13th Age, you need this book.  It’s got great stories to help you write your adventures and excellent pictures to help your players visualize the monsters.  And those are the tools I need to actually use any product in my games.  Simple put-13th Age GMs need this book. 100%

Ring Side Report- Video Game Review of South Park: The Stick of Truth

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

Game– South Park: The Stick of Truth

Price– It’s a bit old so you can get this for cheap!  ~$20

TL;DR– Ah nostalgia! 90%

 

Basics-You’re the new kid in South Park, so go make friends!  Soon you get drawn into a fight between the elves and the humans over the world’s most powerful artifact-The Stick of Truth!  You are recruited by Cartman, but soon you have to choose who you fight for as the stick is soon stolen!  Along the way aliens, the government, zombie nazis, and even stranger things all try to take the stick away.

 

Mechanics-The game drags on a bit.  The combat system is extremely simple.  It’s fun for the most part, but it gets repetitive very quick.  Combat is handled by timed button responses either attacking or defending.  Honestly, there seem to be less than 50 total normal enemies, so you will be attacked with the same attacks occur over and over and attack back with the same attacks over and over again too.  Most of my combats went less than one round.  Your power points for moves refresh at the start of each battle, so every battle was I use my super move, partner uses super move, enemies dead, wash rinse repeat.  The awesome moves that each character unlocks later in the game are fun but have long animated introductions that you have to wait through.  They are fun….the first 10 times, but after 100 uses of the same power with the same 30 second introduction, I was done.  Mercifully the game does set up outside of combat events that you can use to attack enemies reducing the amount of combat you have to do.  It makes life a bit easier and rewards smart play.  Make no mistake, the game is fun, but it just gets repetitive semi-fast. 4/5

 

Visuals-This one looks amazingly like the TV show which is to say pretty crappy!  Everything looks like an old school episode of South Park.  That in and of itself is amazing.  The walk actions are random half hops.  All the action looks great.  The locations are what you remember.  But the game follows the cartoon and some people, locations, or objects have crazy detail or different styles entirely.  The consistant inconsistency really makes you think you are watching an episode.  Later you enter Canada which is apparently stuck in the SNES era and is 16bit.  That whole section was just amazing and fun.  This game is a 20 Hour walk through memory lane as every part of the TV shows run is somehow represented in this game. 5/5

 

Story-If you don’t like toilet humor, don’t play this game!  If you can handle fart jokes, ass humor, mocking Christianity, racial humor, and too many other warnings to count, this game is amazing!  It feels like an old episode of South Park.  The boys and you are the only people in town who can figure out what the heck is going on, but you and your friends don’t care because you just want to play your elves vs. humans game.  It’s a great ride that I really enjoyed.  It does get a bit long as some humor doesn’t carry over well at the 20th hour mark as well as it did at the 1 hour mark, but it’s funny all the way through. 4.5/5

 

Summary-This was a blast to play.  I couldn’t put it down.  It’s not the most complex RPG I’ve played in a while, but it hit nostalgia buttons all over.  It reminded me of Super Mario RPG at the same time it reminded me of classic South Park.  This one doesn’t have the modern messages that most new South Park episodes have.  It’s just a game exploring what the boys do during their free time.  You will have a blast…if you can handle the NC-17 content and some repetition. 90%

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of Fleet

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Game– Fleet

Producer– Gryphon Games

Price-$25 here 

Set-Up/Play/Clean-Up– 45 Min (2-4 players)

TL;DR– Fish meeples for the win! 90%

 

Basics– Hit the high seas for some cold cash!  In Fleet, you take the role of a sea captain on a newly opened sea trying to make the most money fishing.  What makes this game unique is the nature of the cards.  There are two types of cards: licenses and boats.  You must have a license to fish.  These licenses also give you extra abilities like drawing extra cards, using fish (points) to buy more cards, or cards being cheaper.  Licenses also give you more of that ability as you have more of one particular license.  The boat cards are used for money, as the boats themselves, and as captains.  So you have to decide, based on the cards you have, how you will pay to buy licenses, pay to launch boats only for licenses you have, or use the card as a captain.  Each turn starts with an auction phase for licenses.  You may only buy one license per turn, so no player is left completely out to sea.  Next, you can launch a boat that you have a license for by paying their launch cost from other cards in your hand.  After that, you can place a card face down on a boat (regardless of the boat type).  This boat is now captained.  Then, all captained boats gain one fish cube (point) each turn, to a maximum of four.  The final part of each turn is each player drawing two cards and discarding one.  The game continues until all the fish cubes are gone or there are no more licenses to buy.  When that happens, the player with the most points from fish, boats, and licenses at the end of that turn is the best fisherman and wins.

 

Mechanics-I like the mechanics of this game.  The fact that cards are money, boats, and captains all at once makes every choice you do very important.  You sometimes have to decide between giving up a boat to get a license to get more cards next turn OR to not get a license so you have more boats to get fish or a card to captain your boat.  BUT, you might not have enough boats to captain the boats you have, so you have to decide what will have to happen this turn.  It’s a fun level of frustration, and those little quick choices are important and fun.  The only major problem with this game is a serious run away victor problem.  There is NO mechanic to balance the game.  If someone is ahead, they will stay there until they themselves lose that position.  I enjoy the fact they can’t be attacked as it adds to the theme, but I would like some way to slow a player who breaks out ahead of the group.  Overall, it’s fun, quick, and surprisingly deep. 4.5/5

 

Theme-The game is fun, but I didn’t necessary feel like a fisherman.  You do several fishermen like things like get licenses, launch boats, or captain boats, but I would have liked a bit more story to my actions.  It’s not an abstract game by any means, but a little light on theme.  The game is fun, but don’t expect Arkham Horror levels of theme in this game. If you get the chance, buy the fish meeples (they’re cute and add that much more thematic elements to the game), 4/5

 

Instructions-The instructions work well, but there are a few problems that I still don’t think were answers.  The rules address the many mechanics built in fairly well giving lots of examples for how the licenses work etc., but I was left wondering about the roles of processing ships.  It’s a minor question, but the rules left me with a few of those.  There are no problems in these rules that will stop you from playing and enjoying the game, but little questions that will cause you to run to Board game Geek a few times a game. 4.5/5

 

Execution-This one is well put together.  It comes in a small box, and it’s cheap, sturdy, and well done.  The iconography works reasonably well after some explanation.  The cards themselves are good card stock and easy to read and understand.  The game come standard with blue cubes to represent the fish you catch, but this game is much better with the fancy fish meeples you can buy separately.  They are worth it! 5/5

 

Summary-I picked this one up when I bought Rococo (reviewed here ).  I loved that game, and this one was originally just part of the package deal I was working with the publisher to try to get some extra games since I’m greedy.  Honestly, I’m really glad I did.  This game is a ton of fun, plays fast (even on a first play through without reading the rules before hand), and is much more complex than you would think for a fishing card game.  The multiple uses for the cards will make you start to think hard on what to do on your turn, and you don’t often get that in a 45 minute card game.   This is a cheap fun game that is well worth the price you pay.  But if you can, buy the little fish meeples because fish meeples! 90%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Numeria, Land of the Fallen Stars

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Product-Pathfinder Campaign Setting- Numeria, Land of the Fallen Stars

Producer– Paizo

Price– ~$20 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy978l?Pathfinder-Campaign-Setting-Numeria-Land-of-Fallen-Stars

System– Pathfinder

TL;DR-Swords and Circuits! 95%

 

Basics– Time for some Sword and Circuits!  Numeria, Land of the Fallen Stars tells the story of Numeria in Pathfinder’s default setting.  Numeria is a land defined by barbarians and a star ship that crashed into Golarion millennia ago.  The book is roughly divided into a section describing the basic geography and story of each place.  Then the next section discusses the different groups in the region.  The final section of the book is the monsters that live in the region.

 

Mechanics or Crunch-This book isn’t crunch heavy, but it doesn’t have to be, as the book is part of a twin set discussing Numeria.  Therefore, I can forgive the book being somewhat crunch-lite.  This book focuses on the story of the region more than the execution of the region.  Even with that said, this book goes into good mechanical depth by discussing diseases, different damage types like radiation, and an item from the wastes called Numerian Fluids.  These fluids are the cast-offs of starships and robots, and have side effects ranging from instant death to gaining a level.  The book also adds a small bestiary as well as random encounter tables for each area in the region.  However, I didn’t see how often I should roll a random encounter.  I like what I see here, but I also know that most of the mechanics will come in the companion book that will come out later. 4.5/5

 

Story or Fluff-This book is FULL of stories to start a Numeria campaign.  This regions presents some novel stories (pun intended) for the Golarion setting.  I love the Sword and Circuits idea, and this book will provide you with all the standard fantasy fare of rampaging barbarians to the standard sci-fi tropes of a HoloDeck on the fritz.  Beyond this are crazy sadist cultists, paladins hiding crazy technology, and an underground railroad for robots. This book and the setting have all the stories I wanted from fantasy/sci-fi as well as enough new to make me ready to start playing! 5/5

 

Execution-This book is pretty well done.  The story and mechanics make this one a page-turner even though it’s over 60 pages of fantasy encyclopedia.  The layout, text, and pictures are great and draw the reader through the story.  I do think Paizo is running into a bit of a problem with the number of rules books they are putting out.  If you are reading this and want to run this as a physical product, you’re going to need LOTS of other books to run a game in this part of the world.  Paizo has an impressive pace for books, but this is leading to more books which will need OTHER rulebooks to use them at all.  It is a small problem, but an increasingly prevalent one. 4.75/5

 

Summary-I loved reading this product.  I was looking forward to running the Iron Gods adventure path before, but this book psyched me up even more.  I love the fusion of sci-fi and fantasy.  Some have complained that the two won’t work well together, but based on what I’ve read, these two will fit together just fine.  There are some problems though–the major one is the number of books that Paizo products are beginning to require you to have in order to play the new book.  This goes so far as this book will require a SECOND campaign book to incorporate all the technology needed for this part of the world.  But, based on this book, I’m buying that book as soon as it comes out!-95%

 

 

 

Ring Side Report- Board Game Review of Tricked-Out Hero

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Board Game– Tricked-Out Hero

Producer– Prolific Games

Price-$45 here http://www.amazon.com/Board-Card-Games-Prolific-IMPPLF300/dp/0615975836/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1405909346&sr=8-9&keywords=tricked-out+hero

Set-Up/Play/Clean-Up-45-30 Minutes (2-6 players)

TL; DR-Classic Hearts meets DnD-84%

 

Basics– Get ready for “Juke-Box Hero” to be stuck in your head.  You take the role of a fantasy hero fighting to defeat monsters across the countryside.  At the start of the game, each player selects a character ranging from dwarf to pirate and takes the character’s player board.  Each player board gives all the base stats for that character and their powers.  With your character, you then attempt to kill more points of monsters than your opponents.  Tricked-Out Hero is a game played across two different phases each round.  At the start of each round, you receive a monster to fight and a stack of playing cards.  You don’t reveal this monster, but can look at it.  The playing cards are the standard 52 card deck with some changes to the suits.  There is a suit for health, melee attack, magic attack, and bonus to monster difficulty.  From a four card deck, a card is revealed to show what suit is “trump” this round.  At this point the game is played pretty much like any other trick-taking card game with trump (e.g. Euchre, Hearts).  For players who are unfamiliar with this kind of game, the instructions for the process are included.  After all the hands have been played, players get their rewards based on the cards they won each had with.  For each suit that players have for each winning hand, they gain tokens of that suit gaining melee attack, magic attack, health, or tokens to help the monster they’re fighting.  Next, players reveal their monsters.  Each monster has a melee attack value, a magic attack value, damage, and reward points.  Players get to spend magic or melee tokens and roll an eight sided die.  If their die roll and the spent tokens equal or beat the monster’s value, that player wins and gets the monster (and its points) as a bounty.  If not, the player takes damage (loses health tokens), and the monster is discarded.  After combat is resolved, then the next player gets to deal the cards and new monsters are handed out.  Each player gets a chance to deal the cards.  After each player deals, then players move on to fighting the next level of monsters.  After each player deals again, then players move to the most difficult monsters.  After each player get to deal a total of three times, the player with the highest number of points from defeated monsters wins.

 

Mechanics-This game is a combination of two different games: classic Hearts and Dungeons and Dragons.  The two different phases of the game work well together.  I get a phase where I try to read my opponents, and then I get a phase where I have to bet how lucky I am.  The powers also add a new dimension to a these two different game parts.  Deciding when to play a power really does make this much more than a simple roll to win game.  This game is more than just the sum of two different gaming parts!  The two games might not be directly intertwined, but they do work well together and are a lot of quick, easy fun. 5/5

 

Theme-Here is where I have some major problems.  The player boards are amazing.  The characters all look great and have nice quotes to help you learn a bit more about your character, and the powers fit who that person is.  But, I mentioned in the mechanics section that the game is two different parts.  I really want some sort of story glue to weld those two parts together.  I have a trick-taking game merged with some hack and slash.  That’s great, but why am I playing the card game?  I completely understand the monster killing, but why do I need to compete with the players to get the different tokens?  Are resources limited in town in defending?  Are people selling information to the monsters?  Is this a Tarot card reading to foresee how my fight will go? A little more set/world building would give me the immersion I need to really get into this game. 3/5

 

Instructions– The instructions to this game are good, but there are some problems.  I’d like the rules to be two pages longer and have more pictures.  There are pictures, but not enough to really break up the text and make this easier to read and understand.  The rules do a good job explaining the game, but more detail would really help to make this clearer, like directly explaining what each suit is with pictures.  Moreover, some of the wording in the rules and powers is a bit off.  The wording is not so far off you can’t play the game, but you will find a few sections you must read a few times to really understand.  A few more editorial passes and a page or two more of space would have moved these rules from good to great. 4/5

 

Execution– I like this.  First, the problems.  My copy of the 52 card deck is good, but a few of the cards have spots where the printing wasn’t great (some color spots/white spots among the nice backgrounds).  It’s nothing major (it’s only on two cards), but I have a semi-marked deck.  Also, I would have liked the tokens for melee, health, etc to have been double sided.  Again, that’s not a big thing, but a little touch that would have made this a little better.  Otherwise, I was happy with what I got.  The cards are on good quality cardstock.  The box is hardy.  The tokens are good quality and plentiful.  The art is great.  I like what I see and feel with this game.  4.75/5

 

Summary-I like this game and my wife LOVES this game.  She and her family play trick-taking games whenever they get together.  She also loves DnD.  Her parents don’t play anything beyond computer solitaire and Euchre (which is mandatory since we live in Michigan).  This could be a nice bridge to get them into the hobby.  This is a great stepping stone game to get people into deeper gaming waters if they are familiar with trick-taking games.  I do have a few problems with this game, but those are because I play way too many board games and role-playing games like DnD so I NEED some story as to why I’m doing anything in a game.  If you don’t need that, then pick this one up.  If you NEED five hours of Eurogame level complexity and thinking to have a good evening, then this one isn’t for you.  If you want a low to mid complex game with card playing and some monster slaying, then this is a great game for you. If you want to get one more game in for the night, but don’t want to spend forever setting it up or cleaning up afterwards, then this is the game you should buy.  I know I’ll be brining this to my family gatherings to convert some people from the simple trick-taking games to something a bit more complex.  84%

Ring Side Report- Skull and Shackles #6- From Hell’s Heart

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Product– Pathfinder Adventure Path- Skull and Shackles #6 From Hell’s Heart

Producer– Paizo

System-Pathfinder

Price-~$20 here http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-Skull-Shackles/dp/1601254229/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405536965&sr=8-2&keywords=from+hell%27s+heart

TL;DR– A somewhat disappointing end to an awesome adventure path

 

Basics- Time to sail off the map!  The players have beaten all their enemies and stand as the strongest force in the shackles!  However, over the course of the previous adventures, the players have learned of a large strike force approaching across the sea.  Can the players defeat this new enemy while dealing with a lazy leader?  What happens after that?  This book also has more monsters, plots to keep the story going after the adventure path is finished, and the finale of Robin D. Laws’ story.

 

Story or Fluff- This one was kind of disappointing.  The story that will lead your characters to leadership is kind of lack luster.  It’s more of a coup than any major revelation.  The group across the sea (if you know Golarion, you know who I’m alluding too!) makes one kind of sad push, but the PCs will obliterate them with ease at this point.  Nothing is unplayable, but it’s kind of a let down from the previous awesome events.  The story is ok, and the suggestions for future adventures are fun.  But, they don’t really balance the let down of the adventure. 3/5

 

Mechanics or Crunch- This part of the AP isn’t really crunch heavy.  There isn’t any rule added.  Honestly, my players found this adventure a cake walk.  Even when I started throwing serious curve balls at the players by modifying the enemies as presented, my players were not in danger.  It’s not bad, but the adventure kind of summarizes the high level problems you can see in Pathfinder, especially when you have multiple low level enemies challenging experienced players. 3.5/5

 

Execution- This is the standard Paizo greatness.  The character write ups are great, the pictures are well done, and the layout doesn’t turn me away or make me hate reading this.  I like what I see here. 5/5

 

Summary- This one is kind of a letdown.  I LOVED this adventure path, but it does have its up’s and down’s.  The players get some awesome prestige, but the way the story brings that to them is somewhat underwhelming.  I would have liked something a bit more climactic (so when I ran this in my home game, I MADE it climactic!).  It does finishes off the story, but you might have to add in your own special touches to make this stand out! 77%

Ring Side Report- Board Game Review of Boss Monster

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Game– Boss Monster

Producer-Brotherwise Games

Price– ~$20 here http://www.amazon.com/Boss-Monster-Dungeon-Building-Card/dp/B00DK3P856/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405358796&sr=8-1&keywords=boss+monster

Set-up/Play/Clean-up– 15 minutes per player (2-4 players)

TL; DR-Step into an old 8-bit classic from the other side! 93%

 

Basics– Let’s be bad guys!  In boss monster, you play the boss monster of a dungeon.  Each turn you can build one room on your dungeon or revamp a room.  Your dungeon may only be five rooms long, but you can renovate each room with new rooms or upgrade to more powerful rooms rooms.  Each room and your boss monster have powers, damage, and symbols on them.  The powers do different things in your dungeon from moving rooms to teleporting heroes.  The symbols and damage are for attracting or killing heroes, respectively.  After you build your room, heroes attack your dungeon each turn.  Each hero has a specific symbol that he or she is attracted to.  The dungeon with the most of that symbol has the hero attack.  The hero moves from left to right (just like any good 8-bit hero does) and is dealt damage by each room with some room’s powers triggering by his/her presence or you deciding to activate them.  You also have a few extra spell cards that you can play that can also effect the heroes, but getting spells is much trickier as you do not automatically get one each turn.  You must find effects that give you spell cards.  If the hero is not killed by the rooms, the hero damages the boss monster (you).  You only have five hit points, so you have to be careful!  If the hero dies along the way, you score his/her soul (points).  The game ends several ways:  last boss monster standing, first boss monster to 10 souls, or the heroes deck runs out of cards then it’s whoever has the most souls wins!

 

Mechanics– This is a pretty simple game, but the mechanics work quite well.  The game follows a simple draw one/play one mechanic that almost feels like Lemmings as you set up a plan and watch it in action.  That seems pretty simple, but some amazing tricks strategies emerge as you have to use the pieces you are dealt to the best of your ability.  The spells also add some extra dimensions to this game by giving the players new powers to use throughout the game.  The randomness does and does not hurt this games as you can lose fairly easily through no fault or stupidity of your own, but this game isn’t one you play if you want an amazingly math heavy eurogame! 4/5

 

Theme– This game makes me feel like I’m playing an old Nintendo game only in reverse!  The art, instructions, cards, box, and everything else feel like an old 80’s game.  It’s not perfect as your boss monster doesn’t really have anything to do with how your dungeon rolls out because of the random draw.  It’s fun and engrossing, but you won’t get role-playing game levels of emersion. 4.5/5

 

Instructions-The instructions are well done.  There are lots of examples to help teach the game.  Lots of pictures to break up the text making this a fun, quick read.   And it’s shaped like an old Nintendo instruction manual! And quick start rules make the game that much faster to play.  5/5

 

Execution– THIS FEELS LIKE AN OLD NINTENDO GAME FROM START TO FINISH!  The art, the box, instructions, EVERYTHING just feels right!  Even better, the quality of the game is great.  From art to layout, the cards are done well.  Game even comes with a quick start guide!  Nothing to say but 5/5.

 

Summary– This game is a lot of fun.  It makes me think of playing my NES when I was 8.  The art and execution are spot on!  The theme draws you in and won’t let you go.  The mechanics are a bit off as the random nature of the game brakes some emersion aspects and can cause you to lose without even trying.  That isn’t enough to keep me away though.  I loved this game.  If you love the old 8-bit game and want to play one from the other side of the controller, give this one a try. 93%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Skull and Shackles-The Price of Infamy

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Product– Pathfinder Adventure Path-Skull and Shackles- The Price of Infamy

System-Pathfinder

Producer-Paizo

Price– $20 here http://smile.amazon.com/Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-Shackles-Infamy/dp/1601254210/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1405134279&sr=8-1&keywords=the+price+of+infamy

TL;DR-Not pirates, but fun! 88%

 

Basics-The plot thickens!  In the previous adventures, the players have gone from scrappy slaves to pirate lords of the Shackles.  At the start after a council meeting, the players receive a secret note telling them that they will soon be attacked by on old rival who has amassed a fleet to destroy them.  Can the players get enough help and ships to save themselves?  Will they put an end to an old rivalry that’s been plaguing them since the beginning?  This book also contains fleet battle rules, more monsters and NPCs, another piece of the fiction for this adventure path, and background on Norgorber.

 

Fluff or Story-This one has a fun story.  It goes back to the sandbox approach that has dominated all the really fun parts of the AP.  The players don’t get to be excessively pirate-y, but they do get to be adventurers as this part is several small requests for help tied together.  This adventure is fun if a little scattered, but your players will mostly feel catharsis as they get some revenge.  Also, the fiction story and Norgorber give great background on the world. 4.5/5

 

Crunch or Mechanics-There is good and bad here. But, the good is great, and the bad can’t be helped.  The bad is Pathfinder has the 3.X problem of players becoming a little too godlike at around ~11 compared to the monsters they are facing.  Having only one monster in a fight will result in the players somehow locking that monster down too quickly for it to damage them.  To have more than one monster in a fight, the CR of each monster has to be two less, and the problem intensifies as you add more monsters.  Thus, the players are not threatened by piles of CR 3 monsters, since the players can’t be hit on anything less than a natural 20.  So, if you want to challenge your players, you as a GM will need to change things on the fly quite often!  However, what is awesome in this book is the fleet rules!  The fleet rules give a great way for Pathfinder players to have a massive ship battle without having to have massive amounts of ships.  Again, any smart pathfinder group will break them quite easy as the main skill that the fleet rules use is profession(sailor) (which most players will have maxed out by now!).  So battles tend to be a bit one-sided, but they are still somewhat tense.  Overall, I liked what I saw in this one except for the problems that can’t really be helped or fixed. 4/5

 

Execution-This is well done.  Paizo again delivers an excellent product that was fun to read.  I would have liked a few more ways to break up text as there are a few pages that are two columns of text next to one another, but nothing is perfect.  But, it’s not bad, generally laid out well, and an easy read. 4.75/5

 

Summary– This was a fun one.  Still not my favorite as the second part of this adventure path is my favorite since that one is the most pirate-y by far, but this is a good one.  It features MASSIVE navel battles, raids into long forgotten tombs, see-through wizards, and an event your players have been looking forward to since the very first day the Skull and Shackles Campaign started!  It’s a blast from start to finish.  88%