Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of Lorcana Rise of the Floodborn
Tag: Review
Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of Terraforming Mars: The Dice Game
Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Adventure Path #181: Zombie Feast (Blood Lords 1 of 6)
Product– Pathfinder Adventure Path #181: Zombie Feast (Blood Lords 1 of 6)
System– Pathfinder 2nd Ed
Producer– Paizo
Price– $26.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02dvp?Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-181-Zombie-Feast
TL; DR– Unleash the undead! 97%
Basics– The hunger never ends! This book starts the Blood Lords adventure path and provides information on new spells, an archetype, factions of the adventure, and the city of Graydirge.
Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure plays well. The monsters are right about where they need to be for combat, and the mix is fun. The new archetype is interesting, and the spells are something my players (who accidentally stumbled upon them on Archive of Nethys) already wanted. My one major issue is factions. Factions are done as well as they can be, but I feel it’s not well supported by the whole system. You can move up or down in the factions’ esteem, but I just can’t shake the feeling of, “Who cares?” I don’t have the mechanical background of why I want to make people like me in each faction. It’s a minor thing that I feel will build up more in the upcoming adventures. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff– This is a a solid story. The story is fun, and my players had a blast playing in it. I felt equipped enough to make the characters and locations interesting. The world is fleshed out enough to make it a fun place to play, and all the new things are introduced well enough to make me either intrigued enough or disgusted enough in them to have a blast. 5/5
Execution– Welp, it’s Paizo and they made a book. Paizo is one of the industry’s best layout people, and this is no exception. It reads well, easily, and quickly. Hyperlinks make it a quick thing to read through and scan through. Solid work here. 5/5
Summary– My brother is the one who got me interested in this adventure path, and I am glad he did. It’s a fun story with new toys for both the GM and players that is just put together well. My one issue is a more system-wide issue of factions and influence, but that’s the one thing I can point to as something that just makes me unhappy with this product. My players and I can’t wait to hop into the next one ASAP! 97%
Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of Playstation Portal
Ring Side Report- RPG review of The Pathfinder Beginner Box
Product– The Pathfinder Beginner Box
System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed
Producer– Paizo
Price– $29.99 here https://paizo.com/pathfinder/beginnerbox
TL; DR– Probably my favorite beginner box. 100%
Basics– Let’s learn Pathfinder! This is the Pathfinder 2nd Ed Beginner Box. It’s got a double sided map and two level adventure. It’s got an introduction to character building, character sheets, AND pregens. It’s got dice. It’s full of standees and cardboard characters. It’s got it all!
Mechanics or Crunch– If you want the full Pathfinder experience, this is it. You get four pregens, rules on how to play, and even a multilevel dungeon. Now, the dungeon and the fights are nothing crazy complex, and you might even say they’re a bit easy, but as a new player, this will be fun. And as a new GM, this is a blast as well! You get the basics of Pathfinder 2nd Ed with real rules, so you don’t learn a system that doesn’t exist. You can also learn character building! This is a great intro on how to play. 5/5
Theme or Fluff– I don’t expect a ton of crazy things from beginner boxes, but I honestly got a solid intro to the world and a great adventure. You get a basic introduction to the world. It can’t be an epic tale of the world’s creation and current state, but you get a good, solid idea of the basics of the world’s story. You also get an interesting adventure where you can play and get a few sneak peeks into future adventures. It’s just a great way to invite both players and GMs to the world of Pathfinder. 5/5
Execution– I’ve gushed about this box so far, and this won’t be an exception. You get great dice, great books, great standees, EXTRA standees, solid pregens, and amazing books that help the players know how to play, and the GM run an an adventure on the fly. This is what I want as a player and a GM. 5/5
Summary– I’ve loved Pathfinder for a long time and played Pathfinder 2nd Ed since it came out. I also love Starfinder, but you can see there is more love for Pathfinder 2nd Ed from this box. Two levels of adventure, character generation guides for a few levels, dice, and standees make a great product. Also, that the rules in this box set are the same as the real game, makes me amazingingly happy. This is the kind of thing I will give to anyone who wants to learn Pathfinder. If you are on the fence, get this now! 100%
Ring Side Report- RPG review of Dagon-A Necromonicon Gamebook
Product– Dagon
System- Necronomicon Gamebook
Producer– Officina Meningi
Price– On kickstarter now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/officinameningi/the-necronomicon-gamebook-trilogy-dagon-carcosa-and-kadath
TL; DR– A solid implementation of a choose your adventure with combat. 85%
Basics– Choose your own insanity! Dagon is a necronomicon gamebook. These are a series of choose-your-own-adventures where you get to choose an action AND, like other games such as fighting fantasy, you may roll a d6 to determine combat. If you know the choose-your-own-adventure games from the 80s/90s you know the drill and may already be hooked!
Mechanics or Crunch– To determine if you will like this, ask yourself-”Do I like Choose-your own-adventure books with combat?” If you said yes and you also like Lovecraft, then this is right up your alley. This doesn’t reinvent the wheel of these games, but it doesn’t need to. You just choose your action and maybe have combat. It’s solid enough and fun. It might not be the most inventive for the base mechanic, but there are some stats you choose at the beginning and you have a solid time playing. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff– Just like above, if you like Lovecraft and like choose your own adventures, then you will like this. This isn’t new ground. If you need some crazy new angle to Cthulhu, then you will not be happy. What is novel to this type of book is the Dreamlands. When you rest and when some crazy things happen, you have random visions that can make more crazy things happen as you drift off to another reality. It might not be the newest concept, but it still does the old standard story of the Lovecraft mythos well. 4.5/5
Execution– This is the most conflicted part of this book. The art is good. The flow is good. The story is good and easily readable. What isn’t great is the rules explanation and the hyperlinking. You jump around in the book, but on a PDF there are no hyperlinks. That’s bad in a basic RPG book, but worse in a book where I am going to have to repeatedly jump all over the place. Also, the explanation of rules is a bit off. Not mostly, but one very key thing is left out: dice. The game says use a die. Man, this is an rpg book aimed at nerds; it’s aimed at me with my Horrorclix Cthulhu staring back at me as I write this. If you say die, I literally have no idea what you are talking about. They mean D6. That’s not horrible for the normal person, but me with with over 100GB of RPGs and over 1000 board games in my basement spent 20 minutes trying to understand if they meant d20 to my crazy almost non-euclidean dice I bought at a crazy gaming convention that most people can’t remember for some reason. The things I am not happy with are not even close to stopping me from buying in, but it’s a small thing that escalates to larger things. 3.75/5
Summary– I like choose your own adventure games, I like simple combat in RPGs, and I like Lovecraft. This is a fun way to get new people into Lovecraft, a fun way to get literature nerds into RPGs, and a fun way to get people gaming. I like this product. It isn’t the newest story you will see under the sun or in a terrible old book full of secrets. But, like a classic hamburger from your amazing local diner, the classics are good and don’t need to be changed all the time. What isn’t great are some things I need in this style of product in 2023: hyperlinks and a bit more rules discussion. Tell me I need a d6 and give me a hyperlinked PDF, and I will love this thing nearly unconditionally. I am the geek this is aimed for, and I am glad to have gotten this. Check out the kickstarter now! 85%
Ring Side Report- RPG review of The Hidden Isle
Product– The Hidden Isle
System- The Hidden Isle
Producer– Causa Creations
Price– On kickstarter now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/causacreations/the-hidden-isle
TL; DR– Renaissance painting mixed with Vampire the Masquerade and Euchre! 93%
Basics– CONSULT THE CARDS! The Hidden Isle is a very rules light RPG where the heroes are agents of Dioscoria, a city, and are being sent on quests based on a seer’s visions. The cards rule the day as they are both the dice and the random draw that helps develop the story the players are working through. Let’s look at the basics.
Base mechanics- The Hidden Isle is very much a narrative game and the base mechanic builds on this. Each character gets dealt two tarot cards at the start of the game. When a character attempts an action, the character is deal more tarot cards based on the action and their Stats and the GM is dealt cards based on the difficulty. The GM and the character then select a card and the higher card in the suite of the action determines who wins. Simple and quick!
Stats- Each of the four major tarot suites is trump for each action a player wants to do. Swords is for fighting and study, wands is for reckless action and magic, cups for stealth and healing, and pentacles for finesse and observation. If you play a low value card in the right suit and the GM throws a high value card off suit, you win! Each character has a level in each of these stats and this determines how many cards they are delt when a character does anything. In addition, other characters can throw cards into the pool when you do an action. These cards can change suit so you can be in the correct suit for the action or adding three to the value of a card the player played. In addition, as you do things and get hurt, you take penalties to your stats and draw fewer cards when you do anything.
Ideals and Burdens and Vices and Virtues- This is a VERY narrative game. One way this is represented is ideals and burdens. If you act up to an ideal, you draw fewer cards but gain a bonus to your card value. If you give in to a burden, you gain additional cards. In both cases you gain experience, which you will then use to build up additional abilities or increase stats later. Vices and Virtues also follow these rules but you do not gain experience.
Magic-Magic functions just like any other skill. A player has ranks in a magical ability and then draws cards equal to the ranks in that ability. How big and awesome the spell means more cards for the GM to draw to determine if the spell succeeds.
Abilities and classes-This is a very rules and crunch light system, but there are still special abilities each character gets based on their chosen class. Each character gets two abilities at the start. These range from simple spells like Whisper, which lets you whisper into a creature’s mind directly, to other spells that just straight up kill a few creatures and possibly cause you to get take damage after.
Adventures- Adventures follow a pretty simple yet expandable outline. Characters have downtime where their vices give them 1 harm, friendships change, and the characters can do different actions around Dioscoria. Then the seer receives a vision as tarot cards are drawn. Next the players have their adventure. And finally the adventure wraps up.
Ok, thats the basics, let’s review!
Mechanics or Crunch– This is a fun game, but it is extremely rules light. This is a game for people who don’t need the crunch. There is fun to be had here, but if you just want to roll a twenty sided die and smash an orc, this might not be for you. If you want to weave a tale with your friends as the fates help you see threat, then this is the game for you. There is some crunch, but even the base random mechanic is VERY story based as you literally draw fate cards and see what happens. The characters have mechanics, but this is not a character toy based system. Your abilities are cool, but not the standard DnD “gain a feat every three levels” or “spell every level” idea that some players may want. It’s what can your mind do. Not bad, but something you MUST keep in mind if you play this. 4.5/5
Theme or Fluff– This is a Renaissance painting come to life. The story is defending the mystical land of Dioscoria and the authors say it’s in the Renaissance. Maybe it’s because I played too much Hades, but the art makes me think of Greece. Then again all the Grecian art I can think of is Renaissance, so it tracks! While the mechanics might drive a few away, the mechanics flow beautifully into the theme of the game. It’s tarot and story, telling a tale. The art in the book is good and even the just placeholder art in the free to play/pay what you want version is well done and tells the tale of a renaissance Mission Impossible group saving the day from visions seen in the cards. 5/5
Execution– This will be amazing, but a few fixes are needed. The pay what you want game has a solo game, all kinds of story toys, base mechanics, and even an adventure you can try out with your gaming group. It’s layed out well and reads well. The art and placeholder art is fantastic. What isn’t fantastic is NO HYPERLINKS! Fix that and this whole thing is easily a five out of five. 4.5/5
Summary– I like this RPG, but can’t recommend this universally. If your group wants to try what other styles of RPGs are out there and see what kind of fun they can make up together, then this is an amazing product for them. I also have a few friends who just want dungeon crawls and stabby stabby the goblins. They don’t like narrative things, so for those groups I would not think this is the game they want. If you are ok with more wishy washy rules and letting the GM have strong influence on determination of how things go and how hard they are, then you will be ok here. If you need straight cut rules on what is and is not acceptable, then this isn’t your game. Honestly, I love this one. I like a bit more crunch in my RPGs, but a bit of the Vampire the Masquerade side of gaming is fun. I also live in Michigan and my wife collects tarot cards, so Euchre is a mainstay and tarot is a fun addition to the RPG space. My one nitpick is the lack of hyperlinks in the PDF, but this is based on a pay what you want copy that even the authors are putting out for a two bucks suggestion. And it’s a steal for that! I strongly suggest you check this out if more narrative RPGs are up your alley! 97%
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%
Ring Side Report-Board Game Review of 3 Ring Circus
Throat Punch Games 