Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of ArchRavels
Ring Side Report- RPG review of Don’t Play This Game
Product– Don’t Play This Game
System- Don’t Play This Game
Producer– Parable Games
Price– Soon on Kickstarter! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/327195066/dont-play-this-game-a-cursed-solo-rpg
TL; DR– You get out what you put in. 98%
Basics– DON’T PLAY THIS GAME! Welp you didn’t listen and now you’re gonna die… or so the game starts. Don’t Play This Game or DPTG is a solo RPG that relies heavily on your own storytelling power. It’s got some randomness built in, but often it’s you building a story from the world around you or the fake world around you as you fight the entity that has come for you! You play you, a version of you that you want to exist, or some pretend person. That person is attacked by an entity that is after you for…. Some Reason. That’s where the fun really comes in. This game has some random tables and events. You move between an event that might be a funeral to a dream and then use a random table to build out the event a bit more. As you go through the events, DPTG has you write down information, take pictures of things, or even physically go to a place a do something (nothing crazy but maybe find a book at the library or take a picture of a place your character woke up at after a dream). As you go through the story it has several questions that help you build out your own story. This is VERY much a collaborative storytelling game with the designer.
Mechanics or Crunch– Mechanically this is a VERY simple game, but it’s not built to redefine how we roll a d20. The game has some random tables built in and some fights and events are just random rolls to see if you lose some health/sanity from an event. You have less control over the dice than you do in DnD, but there are some things you can do like use items, burn through resources, and even sacrifice friends! It’s simple and that might turn off some players, but if you are ok with sometimes the dice screwing you, you will have fun! 4.75/5
Theme or Fluff– DPTG is a solid story that I told to myself. This is something I have to emphasize-you and the writer are telling a story together. If you want a complete adventure where you read box text to your friends, this is not for you. If you want a choose your own adventure game where you read box text to yourself, this is not for you. Consider this almost like story prompts as you co-write with Charlie and Barney Menzies. They have major set piece ideas and you either randomly go to different ones or they give you a leading sentence and you build from there. It’s a fun bit of collaborative storytelling. I have a story that happened in my head that was a fun afternoon building. And honestly that was a fun way to spend the time. 5/5
Execution– This book is well put together. It’s a hyperlinked PDF that reads easily, with solid layout and formatting as well as pictures to break up the text. Parable did a solid job making this book and I didn’t have to squint or move around the tablet at all kinds of crazy angles to read it. I simply loved what they put together. 5/5
Summary– I am going to recommend this book to everyone, but with a hefty bit of discussion. DPTG is not a lot of things. It’s not a canned adventure. Love those, but this is not something you just buy and run on a friday night after beer and pizza. This also isn’t a choose your own adventure book. This is telling a story to yourself as you get story prompts from Charlie and Barney with random dice rolls thrown in for good measure. It could honestly lead to you writing a solid book. I had an adventure where swirling darkness that looked like Freddy started following me after my Grandfather died and he sent me a music box and I fought the darkness in a burned out factory on the edge of my town and I ended up hitting it with my car and barely surviving because I wouldn’t sacrifice my wife to it. Man is she gonna be pissed that I totaled my car! You won’t have that adventure. Heck you can read the exact same thing I did and have a COMPLETELY different story and thats the beautiful thing. I’m looking forward to a longer story and crazier stuff happening as you build a story. The full game has you do part of the story and literally hand off stuff to a friend who continues the RPG. What my wife does when I wake up from the hospital after I’m found in the burnt out factory with a totaled car would make for a fun sequel, or her strangling me with a pillow. Either way I’m invested and suggest you check this one out as well, if it fits your gaming tastes. 98%
Daily Punch 9-15-23 Third Eye Poke occult spell for Pathfinder 2nd Ed
Reach out and hurt a chakra!
Third Eye Poke Spell 3
Evocation Mental
Traditions occult
Cast [two-actions] verbal, somatic
Range Touch; Targets All creatures within range
Saving Throw Will
With a flurry of attacks, you lightly touch each creature on the forehead causing dizzying pain and discoordination. The target takes 4d6 mental damage with a Will saving throw.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target takes half damage.
Failure The target takes full damage and becomes stunned 1.
Critical Failure The target takes double damage and becomes stunned 2.
Heightened (+1) Increase the damage by 2d6.
Daily Punch 9-14-23 Master Blaster combat feat for Starfinder
I got little guys and big guys working together so let’s help them.
Master Blaster (Combat, Teamwork)
Why not be a mobile firing platform?.
Prerequisites: Base attack bonus +6
Benefit: When you are riding on a ally who is at least one size catagory larger than you, you flank a foe with an ally who’s a different size category than you, you can reroll one damage die with a result of 1. To gain this benefit, the foe can’t be larger than the larger of you and your ally, or smaller than the smaller of you and your ally.
Teamwork Benefit: If your ally also has this feat, you’re both considered to be flanking an enemy as long as you both threaten that enemy, no matter your actual positions.
Daily Punch 9-13-23 Mind Break spell for DCC RPG
Let’s reach some hearts.. and minds!
Break Mind
Level: 1 Range: 40’ Duration: Varies Casting time: 1 action Save: Fort vs. check
General The psychic throws a bolt of blinding pain into the brain of a foe.
Manifestation Roll 1d4: (1) the wizard’s head glows purple; (2) the target’s head glows black; (3) the target’s head begins to stink; (4) The wizards head becomes translucent and his brain and nerves are visible.
Corruption Roll 1d8: (1) skin on caster’s face withers and dries out to give him a skull-like appearance; (2)rot begins to appear on the casters head; (3) caster’s head permanently glows with a sickly red aura;
(4) the caster hears whispers from the throughs around him; (5-6) minor corruption; (7) major corruption;
(8) greater corruption.
Misfire Roll 1d3: (1) caster bind is blinded by pain and they take 1d4 psychic damage; (2) a random ally of the caster caster hears their thoughts for 1d4 hours; (3) A random creature with in 40’ takes 1d6 psychic damage.
1 Lost, failure, and worse! Roll 1d6 modified by Luck: (0 or less) corruption + misfire + patron taint; (1-2)
corruption; (3) patron taint (or corruption if no patron); (4+) misfire.
2-11 Lost. Failure.
12-13 The target takes 1d2 points of psychic damage. A save prevents the damage.
14-17 The target takes 1d4 points of psychic damage and is stunned for one round. A successful save prevents the target from being stunned.
18-19 The target takes 1d8 points of psychic damage and is stunned for 1d3 rounds. A save prevents the target from being stunned.
20-23 The target takes 1d12 points of psychic damage and is stunned for 2d3 rounds. A save prevents the target from being stunned.
24-27 The target takes 2d8 points of psychic damage and is stunned for 2d6 rounds. A save prevents the target from being stunned.
.28-29 The target takes 3d8 points of psychic damage and is stunned for 2d8 rounds. A save prevents the target from being stunned.
30-31 The target takes 4d8 points of psychic damage and is stunned for 2d10 rounds. A save prevents the target from being stunned.
32+ The target’s head explodes and they instantly die. A save results in them taking 5d8 points of psyched damage instead.
Thoughts?
Daily Punch 9-12-23 Shaking Feet occult spell for Pathfinder 2e
Let’s keep building our psychic monk!
Shaking Feet Spell 2
Mental
Traditions occult
Cast [two-actions] somatic, verbal
Range touch; Targets up to 3 creature
Saving Throw Fortitude
You snap a quick kick at a creature and barely touch them. This tiny kick causes the creature to make a Fortitude save as they’re mind causes weakness to spread through the body.
Critical Success The target is unaffected.
Success The target takes 1d8 bludgeoning damage.
Failure The target is knocked prone and takes 2d8 bludgeoning damage.
Critical Failure The target is knocked prone and takes 4d8 bludgeoning damage
Thoughts?
Daily Punch 9-11-23 Galactic Basic Binary feat for Starfinder
Why not learn the language of the universe or the language of the bots at least?
Galactic Basic Binary
Deep down, aren’t all computers the same?.
Prerequisites: Computers 5 ranks, Culture 5 ranks.
Benefit: If you learn enough about how computers work, you see the truth at the soul in the machine. When you converse with any machine, computer, or any creature that is a robot construct, you are considered to share a language with that machine that it also shares with you. Those without this feat will not understand your conversation unless that pass a computer check (DC 15 + creatures CR or level of item).
Thoughts?
Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of 3 Ring Circus
Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Dark Archive
Product– Pathfinder Dark Archive
System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed
Producer– Paizo
Price– $41.99 here https://miniature-market.sjv.io/q4marn
TL; DR-New toys and adventures for things that go bump in the night. 97%
Basics– What goes bump in the night? Dark Archive focuses on all the stuff that gets thrown into your average Halloween party. It covers psychics, occult inquisitors called thaumaturges, archetypes, feats, spells, and a TON of adventures. Let’s dig in to this book!
Mechanics or Crunch– I love what’s here, but there are small problems that hurt things overall. The two new classes fit within the world of wizards, warriors,and clerics as now we have a mind wizard and an occult paladin. There may be a slight bit of power creep as these might be a bit better than the core classes, but it’s nothing absolutely game breaking. Feat, spell, and archetypes all fit solidly there as well. Interestingly enough, this book has almost MORE for the GM than the players. There are adventures and ways to upgrade monsters to add the occult feel like cryptids and secret societies. Aside from a bit of power creep, the other thing that I feel hurts this is the lack of inclusion into Pathfinder Society. PFS is the majority of the way I play an while I LOVE that adventures are included, new options that you only get when weird stuff happens to you are not given as options in the PFS documenting materials. What is here is well done, but balance and lack of inclusion into Paizo’s flagship gaming market hurt the book a bit. 4.75/5
Theme or Fluff– As a lover of ghost stories and campfire monsters, this book calls to me. I love the flavor here and the fact that crunch is being tied deeper into story. The new ways to add things like cults and monsters also helps. What’s here is amazing. I am slightly sad I didn’t see much Lovecraft lore here. We can make it, but I still want my crazy horrors from beyond time and space to make more of an appearance in a book where time magic and feats get put into the system. Couple that with adventures that GMs can drop in instantly, this is a solid book on the Pathfinder occult. 4.9/5
Execution– This is a physical book and a PDF by Paizo, so I’m almost automatically going to love it. Solid layout, fonts, formats, hyperlinks make this a great book and a breeze to read. My one minor issue is this is a book with almost as many pages for the GM as the players. It would be nice to have a PDF of the maps and pictures that I can show to the players like they do with their adventure paths. But, if my criticism is that I want more, that’s a good place to be in production. 4.9/5
Summary– I love me some crazy stuff, so I love me this book. I listen to too many podcasts about monsters, skepticism regarding monsters, and ghost stories to pass this book up. It has great additions to the system that might be a touch overpowered compared to things before. It has fun adventures with some amazing options that I wish PFS players could get their hands on. It has solid production, but a lack of web enhancements might hold it back a bit. What’s here is good, but I just want more ways to get at it. 97%
Daily Punch 9-8-23 Technique over Force positive quality for Shadowrun 6e
Let’s keep this idea moving into a different system!
Technique over Force
Through practice you’ve learned how to use your technique over muscle.
• Cost: 12 Karma
• Game Effect: You can use your Agility + Close Combat for all grapple checks both as a attacker and defender instead of Strength + Close Combat.
Thoughts?
Throat Punch Games 