Basics: Where are we going now? This adventure is a two-page city. It has multiple random tables and things that can happen while in the city.
Mechanics or Crunch: The crunch is good here. It’s got enemies, tables, and things to fight along the way. It works well 5/5
Theme or Fluff– What’s here is solid, but what’s here isn’t enough. The adventure is really more of a city description. There are groups, but it’s mostly a map and tables for random stuff to happen in town. If you have a plan, it’s good, but if you want an adventure and you get this five minutes before game night, you are stuck in the same boat you were before. 3.5/5
Execution: I like what’s here, but it’s expensive. Pirate Borg is less is more, so I understand not needing a hundred pages for an adventure, but this is two pages and costs more than most full adventures on DriveThru. That said, the art, layout, and city are well done. Just a bit pricey. 4/5
Summary: I love me some Pirate Borg, and I love me some Cthulhu. This has both. But its a city. A well-done city, but this is more of a location. That said, it’s a really good location if you wanted to do some city adventures or wanted a springboard for other stuff. Just don’t expect a canned adventure when you buy this one. 83%
Basics: You’re a wizard, Harry! Academia Arcana RPG is a DCC expansion where the characters are students at a wizard school. What problems can you solve as you attempt to get a passing grade?
Mechanics or Crunch: This book expands the DCC world, but only up to level 5. The classes are basic wizard, wizard thief, familiar, and even a magical girl. Characters get backgrounds, build covens, and all the basic parts of the Harry Potter books. It works well. You do not get a funnel in this game, but the crunch of every Harry Potter book is here. 5/5
Theme or Fluff– DCC is a solid choice and a misstep for this book. The DCC mechanics are executed well, and all the pieces are here. I love what’s in this book in terms of theme. But you don’t have Dumbledore throw 4d4 students into the forbidden forest and have 2d3 return. The game is missing some of the strangeness that makes DCC DCC. What’s here is solid, but it misses the funk that makes DCC DCC. 4.5/5
Execution: This is pure DCC 3rd party in the best way. You have spells, abilities, a world, and more all built into this book. The book is modern RPG-ready with hyperlinks, art, and an easy-to-read flow. This book is well put together. 5/5
Summary: I liked Harry Potter when I was a kid, and I love DCC. This is a good combination of the two. I do miss the gonzo of standard DCC. That is the one part I don’t love about this system. But if you want a rules-light RPG, then DCC is the thing to choose. I do like all the other pieces here, and the fact that magical girl transformation enters the RPG is a solid, fun addition. Academia Arcana RPG is a good, semi-strange addition to the DCC line-up that I am glad I kickstarted. 97%
Basics: A Star is born! Literally! The starfinder society is invited to watch the birth of a new star. What will happen as it enters our universe?
Mechanics or Crunch: This adventure is a short one. There is one fight, some skills, and a ship adventure. All the math works well, and things feel balanced. The crunch is good if a bit short. 5/5
Theme or Fluff– This is really good world-building in this adventure. The world of Starfinder needs adventures where Starfinders explore the galaxy. This adventure makes the society seem less like a mercenary group and more like Starfreet. Solid fun meeting people and exploring in this one. 5/5
Execution: The adventure is too short. It’s got solid adventure parts that Paizo knows how to publish, but this is just too short. The adventure has a social part: see the stuff that happens, fix the ship, fight, then evade the crazy space stuff. It’s all well done, but there is just not enough to do. This is about a solid hour of work if the players roll ok. This just needs more. 4/5
Summary: This is a tough one for me. I like all the pieces, but there is just not enough of them in this one. The adventure has solid universe building and mechanics. I just want more of them. For the price and the time goal, I don’t think you get enough. It’s a good adventure, but if you schedule this one, your eventing will be over pretty quickly. 93%
TL; DR– A solid handbook for the recently deceased. 92%
Basics: So… you’re dead, now what? Undead Paradise is for the after. After humanity fell and all areas were lost, what happens next? Some undead get better! They regain bits of themselves and begin to attempt to move forward. Not the mindless zombies, but now the inheritors of the lost earth. What will you do? Let’s break down the game.
Basics- Undead Paradise uses a simple 2d6 + bonus method to determine success and failure. Basically, when you want to do anything, you roll 2d6 and add a skill bonus from your attributes and skills. A 7 succeeds against a simple issue, but a 13 is the highest you can expect to encounter. The biggest number you will normally add to a dice roll isa bout +5.
Advantage and disadvantage- Situations make life easier or harder. This is represented by advantage and disadvantage. For advantage, you roll 3d6 and take the best two dice. For disadvantage, you roll 3d6 and take the lowest two dice. When people help you in a task, you get advantage.
Memories and damage- In this game, as you awake, you remember things. These are good and bad memories of what you were. These are also your hit points, as each memory has three parts. When you take mental or physical damage, you lose one of the three parts of that memory. When you lose all your memory parts, you risk going feral. Feral is kind of dead for the undead, as you basically go back to the mindless zombie.
Combat– Combat in this game is as simple as task resolution. When combat happens, players get three action tokens. An action takes a token. But some more awesome actions take more. When you use your token, they go to the GM. When the GM uses theirs, it goes back to the player bank. Players go first unless there is surprise.
Ok, now to my thoughts
Mechanics or Crunch: This is a solid player guide, but I’d like a bit more crunch. This book gets you making characters and ready to play. My one criticism is you can play, but running is a bit beyond this one. I wish I had more crunch to really understand the rules of this one, but it’s not bad. It’s got enough to get you making and playing quickly. It’s also not a crunch-heavy game. That’s not bad, but that is a key fact you need to know going in. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff– This book doesn’t fully build out the world, but it gives you a solid start. There is more here than you can see in this player guide. That is not bad, but it’s a bit simplified. That also leads to mysteries you can investigate. The character art and class structure describe different events leading to your custom ghoul. They describe everything from fungal infections to insect plagues. I’m intrigued by how it all happened. I want more, but this is a good intro to a fun zombie world. 4.75 /5
Execution: I like this book, but it makes a misstep. The book reads easily, describes well, has amazing art, and a good walkthrough of how to play and make characters. The one issue I have is no hyperlinks. It’s short, so it won’t kill me to scan up and down the book, but hyperlinks would make life easier. Aside from that, it’s a solid, well-put-together book. 4.5/5
Summary: This is a good book to get players playing fast. It will not get your whole table playing fast, as this is just the player book. You will need more. The game is a bit more roleplay than rollplay, so keep that in mind for your table. DnD dungeon crawls are fun, but this is not the RPG for that. The theme is fun. I want to know more about how the world fell apart. That is a good hook, but I’d like a bit more to get me involved. The book is well crafted, but give me a few hyperlinks to get me moving fast. Aside from some minor issues, this is a solid RPG book. If you want to play the zombies in the zombie apocalypse, check this one out. 92%
Basics: Welcome to the Dark Caribbean! This box set has a ton of stuff and enough to help you get playing quickly. Check out our unboxing video here: https://youtu.be/FgXEPdMvink . Let’s dig into this game and box set.
Mechanics or Crunch: How much crunch do you need? This box set has a small rulebook and enough tokens, player sheets, and maps to get you playing in all of 10 minutes. This ruleset is d20+ a number between -3 and +6 to hit a 12. That’s most of the actions. The rules explain that well and get you building characters in about 10 minutes. I love the Borg mechanics and simplicity. And this box set teaches that well and quickly. 5/5
Theme or Fluff– I love all the stuff in the story here, but I the story has a small plot hole. The basics of the story are: you are hired to find a thing, get marooned, find half the map, learn the rest is in a British anti-pirate port, and then go find the thing. It’s fun and teaches the basic rules well, but I think the link to the British is a bit light. That said, I love what’s here. Sure, its a bit of a knockoff of Pirates of the Caribbean, but I DON’T CARE! It’s just fun, especially when you mix in the fact that there is magic dead guy drugs that can make you a god running around. 4.9/5
Execution: I do love me some intro boxes, and honestly I think this might be my favorite. Why? Sure, this, like any other good intro box, has dice, maps, tokens, a small intro book, character sheets, and an adventure, but it’s also got DRY ERASE MARKERS! You build a character in about 10 minutes, and they can die fast. This gives you dry erase markers and laminated character sheets. That right there in this kind of game is a godsend. 5/5
Summary: You want some crazy Pirate fun in the Caribbean? Here you go. The system is fast, fun, and low rules. The story is good. And the box itself is my ABSOLUTE favorite. And the physical box is about 40 bucks. The PDFs are a solid value at 20 bucks too. This is something you need to get and have fun with. 99%
