Right in the back!
Uncommon agile
Price 2 gp; Damage 1d4 P; Bulk L
Hands 1; Reload 1
Type Melee; Category Simple; Group knife
This short dagger has a hollow chamber that is sprung when its stabbed into a target. The up-close injector auto injects any consumable loaded into the chamber.
Thoughts?
Product– Sword World
System- Sword World
Producer– Mugen Gaming
Price– FREE here https://mugengaming.com/pages/sword-world-rpg-coming-soon
TL; DR-So this is what Japan’s been up to? 100%
Basics– Fight the Scarbown! Sword World is maybe one of the biggest RPGs you’ve never heard of. It hasn’t left Japan in over 30 years, but in 2026, Mugen Gaming will make an English translation of the game. Let’s dig into this one before it comes to the US.
Core Mechanic- This is a 2d6+numbers game. When you do a thing, you get a skill check that looks like [Type of check (skill/class): number]. You roll the 2d6 and then you see if you have the skill and if a class is required. Not all checks will have class requirements, but if it does, then you can’t add the bonus if you don’t have the class. If you equal or beat, you get your desired result. Done!
Weapons, items, and spells- Something novel in the RPG space is how weapons, items, and some spells work. I want to hit you with a long sword. Like above its the same basic idea of [Accuracy check (accuracy): number], but we also look at what you rolled beyond that. On 2d6 two 1s is always a failure, but beyond that each weapon has a chart with different bonus damage based on the roll. This means how well you roll also determines how much damage you do beyond just the crit! Even when you pop a healing potion you roll 2d6 and see how much you heal. Don’t roll two 1s or it’s a dud! But, the trade off for that degree of randomness is you now also get things like the weapon having a range where the numbers are marked in red. These red numbers mean you get that value and roll again. You keep rolling till you don’t roll in the red area. Crits mean exploding dice! Some spells like energy bolt, think magic missile, can crit and just keep going!
Magic- Magic is more like Final Fantasy and less like DnD. Magic characters have magic points and a list of known spells. You keep casting till you run out of magic points, and there are magic potions that restore those points.
Combat- Combat is an interesting change. Each enemy has an initiative score. Characters roll initiative as normal and the results are compared to the score. That determines initiative. Combat is zone based with a frontline and backline for both sides. When you attack, you do the accuracy roll above but must beat the required value. If you hit, you do damage as above, but the attacker has a defense value that you reduce the damage by. When enemies attack, you roll an evasion score vs their accuracy. Players move zones, attack, cast spells,and do whatever they want to until one side is dead or runs.
Ok, that’s the basics. Let’s review this.
Mechanics or Crunch– I love me some DnD, and this feels like someone else’s interpretation. And, that’s fun. I like the novel differences and seeing a different interpretation of how to play with math. Also, I LOVE when dice are not success or failure, but degrees. That makes me happy. There is nothing here I do not love from the crunch. 5/5
Theme or Fluff– So this is where the animes get it huh? What i’ve got so far is simplistic. You got good humanoids and bad ones. You’re gonna go kill the bad ones. Ok, it’s not extremely novel, but it’s something. I’m looking forward to the new material when there is much more than a paragraph explaining the world. That said, it’s interesting and the art tells a pretty story. It’s definitely anime-esk, but considering I’m gonna finish watching Record of the Lodoss War, I’m down. 5/5
Execution– This book has two adventures and a ton of art in a free product. It’s clean, reads fast, and is easy to navigate. It has two adventures, one to teach, and one to play with friends. It even has four characters and gives breakdowns of how to play with two, three, or four players. This is a solid intro to the product. 5/5
Summary– I am a weeb. Been watching anime since the 80s and playing RPGs since the 90s. So, this is an interesting mix of all my hobbies. It isn’t an anime inspired conversion of Pathfinder or DnD, it IS Japanese RPGs. So, not only is it a whole new culture to do games, it’s how different people can see something and make their own version of it. I’m very interested in what this product will bring to the market. 100%
Poke them again!
Alchemist Flourish
Pull out and refill! You’ve perfected the ability to stick an enemy and prepare to strike again. After a melee attack that injects a target, you may reduce the reload actions of a melee weapon by one.
Thoughts?
More negatives to be an undead!
| Rotting | ||||
| Level: 1 | Range Self | Duration: perminent | Casting time: none | Save: none |
| General | You are simpling falling apart | |||
| Manifestation | roll 1d4: (1) Your body falls apart comically. (2)Your body rots and slofs off like rotting meat (3)You actively decompose in front of others. (4) You waste away with not trace | |||
| 1 | Roll this mutation check again, plus roll one additional defect. | |||
| 2-4 | You do not heal each night and you take 1d8 damage every day when you rest | |||
| 5-7 | You do not heal each night and you take 1d6 damage every day when you rest | |||
| 8-11 | You do not heal each night and you take 1d4 damage every day when you rest | |||
| 12-15 | You do not heal each night and you take 1d3 damage every day when you rest | |||
| 16-17 | You do not heal every night | |||
| 18-19 | You look dead but no one cares. | |||
| 20+ | You heal normally every night | |||
Why not make friends!
Usage held in 1 hand; Bulk L
Activate [one-action] (manipulate)
Attachment Ampule contains a single dose of a mind poison. Targets who consume tis poinson are friendly to those around them.
Price 3 gp
Bulk L
When this is consumed, you attempt a will save DC 15
Critical Success You are immune to all doses of Attachment Ampule for 24 hours.
Success You are unaffected.
Failure You are friendly to the administrator for 1 round.
Critical Failure You are friendly to the administrator for 1 round.
.
Price 30 gp
Bulk L
This is the same as Attachment Ampule but the save DC is 19.
Price 150 gp
Bulk L
This is the same as Attachment Ampule but the save DC is 24.
Price 600 gp
Bulk L
This is the same as Attachment Ampule but the save DC is 29.
Price 1,300 gp
Bulk L
This is the same as Attachment Ampule but the save DC is 34.
Price 8,000 gp
Bulk L
This is the same as Attachment Ampule but the save DC is 39.
Thoughts?
I feel a connection to my history
General
Prerequisite: Ancestral Paragon
Your connection on your ancestry grows. Gain a 5th level ancestry feat
Thoughts?
Let’s get some close up help with that injection alchemist!
Reach
Price 2 gp; Damage 1d2 P; Bulk 2
Hands 2; Reload 1
Type Melee; Category Simple; Group Spear
This long spear is tipped with a strongly built reloadable syringe. When the spear is loaded, upon a successful attack, the payload of the syringe is delivered to the target.
Thoughts?
Product– Raptor Ruckus
System- Raptor Ruckus
Producer– Snapback game Studios
Price– FREE here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/epicrpgs/raptor-ruckus-rpg-0
TL; DR– Super Simple Not-Jurassic Park fun! 98%
Basics– Welcome employee! Raptor Ruckus has you play different characters in REDACTED Park when things go wrong. Let’s break down the pieces.
Core Mechanic- This is a d20 game where you add -3 to +6 to a roll. Your average DC is a 12. That’s it!
Survival- Survival is a character trait and the leveling up mechanic. You can spend survival to reduce the DC of a check,but you get that back later. You can permanently lower your survival and you level up.
Crits and Chaos Tokens- If you roll five above a DC or 5 below, you critical. Critical successes result in double damage, while critical failure results in the GM using the chaos charts. These charts have RANDOM events happen. Some are honestly good. Some are crazy bad. You can also trigger these with Chaos Tokens. Chaos tokens are tokens everyone starts with; you get more when you critically succeed. It’s fun randomness.
Panic- This game has a sanity mechanic. You roll panic tests when things get crazy. You gain panic and when you get two panic, you fumble on a 1 to 2 instead of always a 1. When you hit five panic or fumble, you then roll on the panic table.
Hit Points and Tenacity- Hit points are the ones we know and love. Do enough damage and things die. Tenacity is like hit points, but for how much you want to keep going. You do tenacity damage, and the target might decide to run away. That human isn’t worth this much trouble or you’ve hidden so well the creature loses interest.
Turns- This game is decidedly old school. You roll a 1d6. Low? Enemies go first. High? Humans. Easy and quick.
Ok, that’s the basics. Let’s review this.
Mechanics or Crunch– This is a very simple game for fast game play. It’s as simple as a simple D20 can be. I also love any game that has degrees of success for criticals. You blow past a roll, you get a critical. I also enjoy the simplicity of combat. The addition of tenacity really helps the game go past “punch till dead” and helps GMs know when an animal would be driven off. You don’t need to kill everything to win. And in a game of giant dinos, that’s even more important! 5/5
Theme or Fluff– This is the book I wish I had as a kid addicted to Jurassic Park. It’s clearly wearing its influences as the book looks like the posters and props from the movie. It’s pretty and really draws you into the theme of the world. 5/5
Execution– Snapback made a fun product, but here is where I’m an old fuddy duddy. They lean HARD into the theme here making a solid product, but that always leads to a bit of style over substance as it might be a bit harder to follow all the pieces to completely understand how to play. That’s a tiny gripe as the book is pretty, reads fast, is well laid out, and even has an adventure with several pre-gen characters. The book was a bit harder to see all the pieces compared to some cleaner, more bland books, but this book is pretty! 4.75/5
Summary– I do love me some simple horror RPGs. I don’t think I’d want to run this long term though. Horror is always a one shot for me, but what’s here is fun. There might be some issues as I love the theme, but it does make seeing all the flow a bit more difficult. I got it, but style vs visibility. That said, I’ve already kickstarted the PDFs, so I think this will be fun. Give this one a look. There is even a whole one shot adventure for you to check out. It’s another free to check out promo, so you honestly can’t lose! 98%
Throat Punch Games 