Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Insight RPG System Core Rulebook

March 9, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 1 Comment

Product– Insight RPG System Core Rulebook

System– Insight RPG

Producer– NEVR

Price– $10 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/127515/Insight-RPG-System-Core-Rulebook?term=Insight+RPG

TL; DR-An interesting, simple universal RPG system that’s worth the intro price. 92 %

Basics– It’s time for an every system RPG! The insight RPG system is a universal RPG system that uses a d10 based mechanic for all its rolls. Let’s give this system a point by point break down.

Mechanics or Crunch– Like all good universal system RPGs this needs a few points for the mechanics. Let’s break this up.

Base mechanic- This system uses d10 for all its rolls. It’s an attribute and skill point system that plays a bit like a combination between the Synthicide RPG I reviewed last time and 4th edition Legend of the Five Rings. Basically, you are six different stats that are similar to the standard D&D array most roleplaying gamers are comfortable with. This determines the number of dice you roll. Then, you have skill ranks that you use to determine your success range. If you are untrained and the skill is something simple like dodge (the basic don’t-get-stabbed skill), then every dice you roll can only succeed on a 10. However, as you put points into the skill, the success range increases with two ranks meaning the success range is now a 8-10. If you roll a 1, it is a fumble and never good side effects can occur. So a person with four body control (think dexterity for D&D/Pathfinder) who is shooting a gun with four ranks in the skill will roll four dice and can succeed on a 7-10. Some skills are complex meaning they are a mixture of two skills. When that happens, on skill is instead added as a bonus to your dice pool instead of modifying the success range. It all works well and quickly after some adjustment.

Difficulty and Challenge rating-Insight builds on the base mechanic by adding two different side mechanics to the game. Difficulty modifies the success range in the opposite range of skill ranks. A difficulty 2 task with a character with four skill ranks would only succeed on a 9 or 10. Challenge is the number of successes needed for a task. Climbing an ice wall while being followed by a polar bear would be a challenge 3 task needing three success at whatever range and dice pool you have.

Combat-Like most RPGs, combat is a pretty central tenant of the game. What makes this game interesting is that two different mechanics are introduced for movement and range. One is a custom system that is a hybrid of theater of the mind miniature combat, while the other is a standard D&D/Pathfinder battle map mechanic. In the Insight system, players are different distances and these distances represent different areas of the map. A basics quick diagram of the combat would be a middle band of the combat area where melee combat happens with five different range bands extending on both sides of the melee middle ground. Both systems use an action point mechanics to determine how many actions you can do on your turn. Using a larger, heavy hitting weapon takes more action points to swing, while stabbing quickly with a small knife would be fewer points per attack. One final subject of combat is damage. Damage works by the attacker rolling his attack dice using the base mechanic of ability dice number and skill number determine success range while the defender rolls defense in exactly the same way with the defender subtracting successes from the attacker’s success total. If the attacker still has successes after defense, the number of attacker successes remaining is multiplied by the weapons damage value and the defender subtracts his/her armor value from this damage. Damage also affects specific areas of the body as a random dice roll is used to determine hit location. Each location can only take so much damage before the character begins to take penalties to attacks, defense, and skill values.

Magic- Insight is a universal system set up to run your steampunk game to your high fantasy, future magic system. Magic is a complex skill with a separate pool of points a player spends to cast spells similar to magic points from the Final Fantasy games. It’s also elemental based with different elements being separate skills and granting separate effects such as fire doing damage and spirit healing and summoning creatures. Like everything else, it’s well presented with examples.

Summary-Overall, I liked this system. I do have a few problems with it. First and foremost is the way skill dice work. It’s confusing to get a higher skill number but that lowers the acceptable dice values for a skill check. Now, if you can follow the basics and you play for over 30 minutes, you will be fine and completely understand how the game is played. But, it’s a little new user unfriendly. I do like the addition of the two ways to set up combat. I don’t think I’ll use the Insight introduced distance system at my table, but it’s a new, well designed system. In summary, Insight might not be a perfect system, but it’s got things that I love like variable actions per turn with action points and successes determining damage. It’s worth checking out if you get a chance. 4.25/5

Theme or Fluff- Full disclosure-I was not expecting any theme from the Insight RPG. Insight is a universal RPG, so most authors don’t put the time in to make a world for the players to destroy. However, the last chapter of the book is a fantasy world to play in as well as an adventure. It might not be your favorite world, but this book does have a setting as well as a quick adventure. There is even a map of the place! Well done! 4.5/5

Execution– This book has my new favorite execution mechanic-icons for important subsections. The book understands that the system might not be as simple as say Pathfinder/D&D to get on your first read through. However, the writers just put an icon next to an example to grab the reader’s eye. The book also does this for important rules, notes, and optional sections. It speeds up your reading and rereading when you can glance over a page and get the rules you need right away. Also, the book does a simple introduction before the first chapter. You get the game rules as an intro before the book even starts, and as a person who reads lots of RPGs, that really helps me know what I’m getting into. And, it’s a great reference for advanced players who need a quick start. There is even art from several different RPG styles and the world in the last chapter has a map that I never expected to see. From something I always complain about, the book has well done spacing, layout, tables, and font again making this a pleasure to read. 5/5

Summary– This is a well done system that has more in it than I expected going in. The system is pretty simple if you are accustomed to RPGs. If you are not, then the skill system might be a bit much for some intro players. That’s the only negative thing I can really say. It’s got a story to it that I didn’t expect to read, and the execution of the book makes it fun to read. Honestly the only thing I want from this RPG is more. And, NEVR has several extra PDF available to build on your favorite aspects of the system. You don’t get the custom, out of the box fit for a specific setting you would if you get a system specific RPG, but with a little work this RPG could easily be the campaign setting/system you’ve been searching for. 92%

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review Ortus Regni

March 5, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Ortus Regni

Producer– Jon Sudbury Games

Price– $45 here http://jon-sudbury-games.myshopify.com/collections/frontpage/products/ortus-regni-core-box

Set-up/Play/Clean-up– 30-60 minutes (2-6 players)

Type-American

Depth-Medium

TL; DR– This is the coffee table game you need! 95%

Basics-Forge your kingdom! Ortus Regni, “Origin of the Kingdom,” is a two to six player card game of dueling earls fighting to create their own kingdom. The only way to do that is to be the last man or woman standing. Each turn, a player can take one action and then has to draw one card. That’s honestly the whole game, but don’t let that simplicity fool you. The actions range from declaring battle, starting a joust, using a monk to look at another players hand, sending emissaries to the Vikings, and just playing any card from your hand face down to act as a defense of a location. Every player starts with one location: their palace. From there, cards will give you new locations, such as castles which can start a new location, lands to get more soldiers, churches to get favor in battle, and even markets to get more soldiers from lands. Other cards can be played from your hand, like vassals and champions, whom you can make lords of your various locations, or intrigue cards that can kill other players’ lords or steal soldiers. Battles are also very simple, as the attacker sends a number of cards at the defender. Some of the cards may come from the soldier draw deck and some may be lords of fiefs. The defender can play cards just like the attacker. Then a card is drawn from the battle deck which randomizes the results of the battle, with results ranging from determine damage as normal to a side may not be damaged in this battle. The other aspect of the game is the Vikings. The Vikings represent the wild cards of the game. Each round, if no player attacks, a black token is placed next to the Viking deck. After eight black tokens are placed near the deck, the Vikings arrive. Control of the Vikings is determined semi-randomly; influence cubes corresponding to each player are placed in a bag and drawn blindly. Every player starts with a cube in the Viking bag, but some cards allow you to put extra cubes in the bag. Whoever’s cube is drawn from the back gets to use the Vikings like a club against other players in battles described like above. The last area I want to talk about is the joust. Jousts allow earls to steal land from other players. A player can use a banner card to cause another player to ante up a piece of property as well as ante up a wagered property of his or her own. Players then draw two cards from the joust deck and see who makes the better hand with the lord they send to the joust with the winner taking the anted lands. This isn’t all that complicated a game, but the most interesting part of all this is the fact that the game isn’t played with any rules on the cards! That’s right; every card is just a gorgeous medieval painting. If that doesn’t grab your attention, I don’t know what will.

Mechanics– Let’s start with the bad before I start heaping praise on this game. Ortus Regni doesn’t add anything completely new to the card game genre. It’s got deck building, attacking card bases, different paths to victory, as well as non-player characters that attack other players. However, what this game does really well is incorporate all those things together. When I say it doesn’t add anything new, that kind of like saying eggs, flour, butter, and sugar are not really new. Separate, they are all great things that are done well by others, but together they make an amazing cake. This is a cake game. Good pieces mixed well together. It’s not the most revolutionary card game out there, and for some, it won’t kill their Magic addiction. However, if you want a card game with a single buy in with multiple strategies to exploit, then this is well worth your time and money. 4.5/5

Theme-If you’re willing to invest in theme so much you’ll exclude words on your cards to keep players that engaged, you get a five. It’s just that simple. However, past the artistic choices in the game, the game does feel like a battle between lords. It changes on a dime, shifting constantly as intrigue, Vikings, and straight out battles all cause the world to shift as any political landscape would. While there are points where the writing is on the wall for an individual game, even then a few events like defenders don’t get damaged, or a random draw of the Vikings can change a game’s outcome. It feels like I’m making good choices as well as walking the luck line. I don’t feel like I’m cheated when I lose by luck or win by luck. It’s got that balance down phenomenally. 5/5

Instructions– The rules are good, but a few things could help them be great. First the good. The rules are well done with lots of spacing, examples, and pictures to help new players learn how to play the game. This is even complemented by the quick start rules that get players into the action really fast. However, the rules tend to be a bit long, and the absence of an index really hurts quick look up when you need it most mid-game. The game is simple enough that after that first, semi painful game where you have to constantly look up the rules over and over again you won’t need anything more complicated than the quick rules. Adding an index would make that first game a little smoother, and make future trips to the rules move even faster. However, overall the rules do a good job, but need a few tweaks to be excellent. 4.5/5

Execution-Hands down a 5! I can completely understand the apprehension players may have with a card with no instruction on the cards. But, anyone who sees this game absolutely is astounded by the art and the packaging. Here is my video of the unboxing of this game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GnAYl-tCwc Just look at those parts! Everything in this game is a painting. The box is nice thick cardboard that won’t fall apart. The instructions are well done, with a few small problems, but they are printed on nice thick paper. Heck, even the paper is the nice textured paper that feels more like an ancient manuscript than a simple rule book. It’s got quick start rules to help you get right into the game, and the training decks teach you the rules without having to spend a ton of time even learning the rules from the book itself. This is the kind of game you buy and put on a coffee table as an art piece. 5/5

Summary– I’ll admit I was a little hesitant to dig into this one. It looks beautiful, but the loudest question you will have going in is “How do you play a card game with no printed rules?” But, honestly, you don’t need them. The fact the game comes with such top notch components like a cloth card indicator really helps you as a quick reference. And the lack of words makes the game that much more immersive. The only way I could have gotten more into this card game was some mead and a turkey leg roasted on a spit. You do feel like an earl in your hall trying to dominate the others at the table. The instructions are good, but a few tweaks would make them great. However, the execution of this game steals the show. The card game isn’t the most unique game that I’ve ever played, but when you see the parts work together and how they look on the table, it’s honestly the most beautiful game out there. Heck, the game even comes with wood deck holders! This is a game you set out for other to see, and play when you get a chance. Deck building isn’t that long, and it will well be worth your efforts to do so. For the price, fun, and sheer look of the thing, this is a must add game for your collection. 95%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Liber Arcanum

March 1, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Liber Arcanum

System– Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG

Producer– Cognition Pressworks

Price– PDF ~$10 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/139777/Liber-Arcanum

TL; DR– More wizard options than you can shake a wand at. 90%

Basics– Behold the Book of Secrets! Liber Arcanum contains new wizard and elf player options for DCCRPG. This book contains the expected new spells but also has patrons, new subclasses of wizard, magic items, and more.

Mechanics or Crunch– Here is where the book shines. I love DCCRPG, and play it every other week. But, Goodman Games doesn’t make many player options. This book is an excellent addition to any player wizard. It’s got an impressive amount of spells as well as new patrons that come fully fleshed out. Every spell get’s several pages describing it in detail as well as giving all kinds of interesting flavor. It’s an easy drop into any DCCPRG game. 5/5

Theme or Fluff- Theme is another home run for this product. I’d expect, in book of spells and patrons, spells and patrons, but the book goes a little further by adding little story bits as well as art to draw you in. The arts not perfect, but it does a great job of telling a story. Furthermore, the book even has a cosmology. That is way more than I expected from a simple spell splat book. 5/5

Execution– Of the areas I review RPG products on, this is the one area where this product struggles. Some white space would really help this product. The first chapter adds lots of content, but it’s pretty text dense. A few tables and some more art would have really helped break that up. On the subject of art, this product’s are is ok. It’s not bad, but it’s not as good as the core DCCRPG book. That can take away a bit from the text, but overall, I’m just happy to see some art here. A little more space, some organization changes, and some art touchups would help this product make it over the top. 3.5/5

Summary– It’s always good to read some more DCCRPG. Strange fantasy is always a crowd pleaser, as is this book. It’s a massive 300 pages with lots of content ranging from the expected spells to the unexpected planer diagrams. That’s pretty impressive from a third party publisher. However, it’s not without its faults. The art is a bit off in places and the font size and spacing could use a bit of work. However, that doesn’t detract from the awesome content in this one. A well done tome that should be found in any wizard’s library. 90%

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review Brew Crafters

February 25, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Brew Crafters

Producer– Dice Hate Me Games

Price– $60 here http://www.dicehatemegames.com/games/brew-crafters/

Set-up/Play/Clean-up– 90 minutes (2-4 players)

Type-Euro

Depth-Medium

TL; DR-An excellent intro to hard core Eurogames with a clean aftertaste. 97%

Basics-Crack open a cold one! In Brew Crafters, players take the role of different microbrewers trying to be the local best. While this is a Eurogame through and through, it’s actually not that complicated. Each turn is divided into two basic rounds. Round one is action selection at a market. Here each player takes turns placing two meeples on different market spaces that get you money, the first player marker, specialist for your brewery, hops, malt, yeast, and special ingredients. Next, players enter the brewery and place their brewery worker meeples on either brew beer, expand, or research with multiple workers from multiple players being able to take the same action. To brew beer you have to spend the ingredients for each type of brew, and then the brew enters the pipeline. The initial pipeline brews one beer at a time, but it takes two extra brew actions to be able to sell that beer. When you start to brew a beer, you get victory points for the brew. Also, if you are the first player to brew a beer, you also score extra points. The expand action gets extra locations for your brewery from a garden that makes fruit or hops to a tasting room that brews beers in two rounds instead of three. The research option lets you move up tech tracks that start by giving you extra resources, provides a resource every four turns in winter, increases productivity, and ends with a way to story extra victory points at the end of the game. Each turn is one season starting with spring moving all the way to winter. At the end of each year’s winter, each player has to pay for their brewery workers, specialist, and add-ons to their brewery. If you can’t pay for your additions, you get money from the bank, but take a small victory point penalty. At the end of three years, the player with the most victory points wins.

Mechanics– This game is deviously simple for a middleweight Eurogame. Place two workers to buy ingredients, then place one action worker to do stuff at the brewery. That will be about ~60% of your turns till you get a second action worker. That seems simple, but the complexity comes from what that brewery worker does in your factory. Players get a ton of options, and finding the best interplay of those options is how you win, and you don’t need encyclopedic knowledge of the rules to find that optimization strategy. And, just like any good euro out there, just because you find one working strategy doesn’t mean it won’t get trounced during the next play through as the other players may be refining a strategy of their own. It’s all amazingly well done as the mechanics work together like a well-made clock. 5/5

Theme- I liked this one. I did feel like I was creating a microbrewery from the funny names of the beers to the farmers market where I got the ingredients to brew. Also, the mechanic of not having to pay until the end of a year is interesting twist in the theme and mechanics. I don’t pay to build on the brewery at the time, but I have to pay a bank for the loan to build my stuff and pay my workers after a bit of time. That honestly feels more real than paying up front like in other Eurogames. Like all themes in Euro-worker placement games, there are a few hiccups like “why can’t I buy more hops from somewhere else?”, but overall this is a slam dunk. 4.8/5

Instructions– The rule book is thick, but not too heavy. It describes the rules well. It’s thick but not so heavy to be overwhelming. That said, I don’t want to give a backhanded compliment, but this game does the absolutely best at the worst thing in game design. The game makes use of both iconographies to show some action as well as some wordy patches. That’s not bad, but the heaviest word section is the different additions to the brewery and how they affect game play. All of the brewery additions can’t be written in simple symbols. So the book does do a deep, well done explanation of each addition. Also, each player gets a player card that describes how each place works in the brewery. That in my opinion is the best way to deal with the bad situation of complex addition in a game. It’s not perfect. It’s a little clunky, but it does do a good job of getting the rules across. 4.5/5

Execution– More videos!? I put up an unboxing video to show off all the components of this game right here http://youtu.be/7ONr50Lvfo4 . And, man, are there a ton! All the pieces are well done and made from some nice chunky cardboard. I like what’s in this box. Nothing’s like a five pond board game. I would have liked some more bags, but bags did come with this box so I’ll take what I can get. Keeping your parts organized will be the best thing you can do to keep this game playable. If your parts get mixed up, you are going to hate the amount of time it will take to play the game the next time. But for $60 bucks, you get a ton of well done stuff in this heavy package. 5/5

Summary– This is an awesome version of Agricola that I can get my wife to play. It’s got development of your property while still having worker placement, action selection, resource management, and tough choices while not being the punishing experience that Agricola can be. Even if you don’t get what you want, you can still get some great options that allow you to build for you next turn. I get all the fun development aspects of the classic worker placement Eurogames while not having the getting destroyed because I didn’t get the option I needed that turn. That right there makes this a great introduction to hard core Eurogames. Great components, theme, and mechanics make this an awesome game. 97%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Synthicide Preview

February 16, 2015February 16, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Synthicide

System– Synthicide

Producer– Will Power Games

Price– Prekickstarter Preview! Check http://www.synthiciderpg.com/ for more information

TL; DR– Firefly, Terminator, Mad Max and Mutant Chronicles combined with sleek RPG mechanics 93%

Basics– Man has explored the cosmos, fallen into war, and crashed back into barbarism. Now, the Tharnaxis Church (a cult of synthetic humanoids) rules the worlds relegating humans to second class citizens. How will you survive in a galaxy that doesn’t care for you?

Mechanics or Crunch– Let’s walk through the different aspects of this system as there is, alternating, a ton and not much to cover:

Base Mechanics– This game uses a single 10-sided dice for everything. Want to shoot a guy? Roll d10+Combat+bonuses (Combat is its own statistic in this game). Seduce a robot? d10+Influence+bonuses. This is either verses a pre determined value such as a armor value or verses a Action Difficulty (think a threshold or a DC) for both cases. Also, your statistics do not have some value you need to determine: a Combat 1 is a +1 bonus to combat rolls, and an Influence 4 is +4 to influence rolls. Unlike Pathfinder/D&D, I don’t have to do simple math to determine what my bonus is. It’s quick and clean with no little fiddly bits added on, just the way I like it.

Combat-Combat is interesting as it’s point based. You get a number of points based on your half your Speed score + 3 (divided down). Your first attack costs 1 point, your next cost 2, and your third costs 3. Moves are 1, while defending is 2. It’s easy, but allows for a player to gamble on what they want to do. Don’t want a defense bonus for the round? Make that second attack. Want a bonus to your rolls that round? Spend 2 actions to get a bonus. It’s different from the D&D/Pathfinder move/attack/swift mechanic, and I enjoy the flexibility it provides. Also, as you move around on the battle field, some weapons allow for quick attacks (think attacks of opportunity from D&D/Pathfinder), but only some weapons. You can’t quick attack with a claymore, but a dagger works just fine. This is another interesting nod to reality I liked.

Damage-Above I mention that basics are d10+ability+bonuses. If that roll hits, damage is the same d10 roll+combat+weapon damage. I like that how well you hit also determines how well you damage the target. You don’t reroll the d10, you just keep the same d10 roll from before. I’ve complained before about how a d20 roll of 17 and a d20 roll of 10 can equally hit the AC 10 orc for the same damage of d8. This system gets past that problem by factoring damage and attack at the same time. WELL DONE!

Character Generation and Leveling Up-Characters are created by selecting human, mutants, part robot, or all robot providing some base statistics. From there you choose an aspect that adds statistics onto the base stats to make your custom character and use point buy to get traits to further specialize your character. It feels like any other point buy with one key difference. Point buy will always win for specialization for character generation, but will lose to simpler systems in the time required. However, Synthicide will hopefully roll out of the gate with a character generator. The NPC one works great, but the preview did not come with player character side. Characters earn experience points called trait points (TP). Your character levels up when you have four gross TP not net TP meaning you have a running total of how much you have earned and a total you currently have. You can constantly be spending TP to refine your character, but still moving toward leveling up.

Psychic Powers- Synthicide is an RPG that wants to stay rooted in science fiction without crossing over into fantasy like Shadowrun does. To add “magic” to the system, the game adds psychic powers. They are well done, and something you may be able to buy based on the physical body you have (complete machine people can’t use psychic powers). For the most part, these powers are either limited to a number of times per day based on your influence ability or are free to use as much as you want. Also, something I really enjoy, some powers can be super charged for extra effects that cause you to take damage. I love cast-till-you-pass-out systems!

Drama-In addition to current almost standard ideas of giving players some chips to cash in for rolls and rerolls based on storytelling and role-play, this game also adds a drama system. Drama is a number that is added to and subtracted from as the game progresses by player rolls and actions. When the dam breaks, the drama score gives the GM a guide line on how to add interesting elements to the game on the fly. It’s a fun, optional system that can help a GM better add to his/her world by integrating more of the players actions as well as dice rolls.

Summary- Synthicide isn’t perfect, but for the most part it’s well done. A bit more explanation as well as a few more examples like a full combat example and some tables will really help the system. However, this is a kickstarer preview. If this is where the game is starting, then they are well on their way to an excellent product! It got sleek combat and general mechanics. The rules flow easily, and in general, everything is just set up to be user friendly. Nothing feels bloated. I’d like a bit more, but what’s here is ready for show time. 4.75/5

Theme or Fluff- This was a pre-kickstarter preview of the RPG, so I didn’t expect much. But, I was surprised. The game has a very fleshed-out world (Or should I say worlds?). Even the Game Master section of the rules tells you to emphasize how little the world likes the characters. The one sentence explanation of the story is Man went to the stars, made mutants and went to war with mutants, crashed into the near Stone Age while artificial intelligence took over the galaxy relegating humans/mutants to second class citizens. I get the feeling from this game of a recipe made from equal parts Firefly, Terminator, Mad Max and Mutant Chronicles. Honestly, that’s a fun place to be if you want a post-apocalyptic space opera with elements of racism and the struggle to survive. It can use more, but the version I have didn’t have any pictures, so more art will really help this one blossom. 4.5/5

Execution– I received a PDF of the game. I usually harp a lot on spaces and art, but I’m putting that aside as this is a preview. What is part of the PDF is the basic system, and honestly it’s done. The thing I have in my hands would be something you could easily get on Drive Thru RPG for cheap. That’s an excellent place for a kickstarter to be. It just needs to be cleaned up a bit by adding art, more white space, and some tables. Tables would really help some of this product by giving short summaries of what the different traits do. That’s my major complaint so far is summaries and short tables would help things. But what is explained and laid out well are the base mechanics and such. That was a present surprise in an over hundred page PDF. However, what also came with the preview package were the tools to make non-playable characters. This RPG doesn’t have a monster manual, and while I want one, it does come with some tools to make characters on the fly with a computer. That right there is awesome as it comes lock, stock, and barrel with a character generator and slightly ironic as now I’m building machine enemies on my laptop. Overall, a well done RPG that’s ready to roll for it’s kickstarter debut. 4.75/5

Summary– I like what I see here. This RPG went up to kickstarter, but was pulled to be refined. I didn’t get a chance to read the original RPG, but if that lead to what I see now, that was an excellent idea! What I read through is an easy to read, run, and play RPG set in an interesting galaxy. It’s not done as it has now art and needs a few minor improvements to really make this one a grand slam. But, when those are added to the final PDF/book, I think this will be a phenomenal RPG. It doesn’t bog down the world and mechanics with unimportant garbage just like the mission statement of the company said they wanted to do. This is one to keep your eyes on! 93%

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review Dwarves, Inc.

February 15, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Dwarves, Inc.

Producer– Assa Games

Price– I got a prerelease copy! Here’s the general website http://www.assagames.com/default.htm

Set-up/Play/Clean-up– 30 minutes (2-4 players)

Type-Euro

Depth-Light

TL; DR– A surprisingly deep game of stock market manipulation and underground mining. 98%

Basics-Let’s get rich! Dwarves, Inc is a game of mining underground trying to strike it rich. The game is deceptively simple. Players assemble a modular board of nine squares with the only rule being that the center square is the square with all of the different types of start locations for each mining company. On a players turn, that player will select three gems and place them on the game board extending a company’s mines off of already played gems. Some spaces you cannot cross, unless you have a card that says you can, and are marked in red. If a play extends the mine into a specific space that player gets something for his/her player board. These space bonuses range from finding extra dwarves who score gold later, tunnels to teleport across the game board, lock boxes to put more gems in your player board safe, treasure chests to earn random effect cards, and gold cashes to earn gold. The player with the most gold wins, but how you earn gold is the interesting part. When a mine extends to a cash of gold, all players look to see who has the most gems of the company’s type that landed on the gold space each player in their player board safe. The person with the most gets a number of gold depending on their number of dwarves. The person who has the second most gems of that type gets less gold per dwarf they have on their board. And finally, if the person who extended the mine onto the gold space didn’t get gold because other players had more of that company’s gems on their player board, then that player gets a smaller amount of gold. Each player starts with four different types of gems (the player’s choice) and four dwarves. After extending the mines for on a player’s turn, that player can trade one gem from their player board for a different gem from the bank. Once all the different gold cashes on the map have been claimed by the various companies, the games over and the player with the most gold wins!

Mechanics– This game feels simple, but it’s nothing like that. The entirety of you turn is placing three gems, and then exchange up to one gem in your storage area. But, the manipulation of how mines/companies are extended is amazing. Do you remember that simple game where you have to complete boxes on a field of dots one line a turn, but whoever completes the box get points? This game feels like that in a good way. Having the most gems of a type is good, but having too many of a type is not great. You have to subtly manipulate the gem stock market to make other players think that they can score more points than you. Also, making sure off turn other players are earning you gems by having the second most gems is an amazing way to get ahead. It’s a surprisingly devious game that plays out in a relatively short time span. I love it! 4.8/5

Theme- The theme isn’t perfect, but for as quick as this game is, I love what I see. The game uses these little gems for everything which is amazing and a tiny bit off. The gems represent your investment in a company and work great in your safe box, but at the same time they are also used as your tunnels on the board. That’s the little bit off part. But I do like the nice tactile feel of them. Aside from my nitpicking on that, the game does feel “dwarfy” enough. The dwarf companies are competing underground at digging companies and you are alternating between directing them and speculating on their progress. More dwarves will earn your more gold as more dwarves can do more work. Overall, this does feel like an underground dwarf game even with my tiny nitpicking criticisms. 4.8/5

Instructions– The instructions are short, but really well put together. There is enough white space for the rules to be read quickly, and the explanation is done really well. I was playing this game in less than 5 minutes from cracking open the box. No fuss, no muss, just well done rules that explained things for me. 5/5

Execution– It’s time for a video! I did an unboxing video for this game, so check it out here! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJDLmxWt2rI I have a preproduction copy, but this is what you can expect to get in the box. In the theme section of this review, I mentioned how I had some problems with the gems, but I’m of two minds on this one. Unless Assa game cranked up the cost of the game and made little dwarf meeples, gems do a decent-to-good job representing the mines and investment in the different companies. I do like the nice 3D shape that they are and the feel that have. The board is well done and the modularity makes for some replay even with how short this game is. I even like the cards. The event cards are not the standard cardboard that most games are, but the newer plastic cards I’ve seen more often lately. I know it’s new and feels a bit different, but honestly, I prefer the plastic over the older stuff as the cards don’t fray as quickly. All told, this is a well done game. 5/5

Summary– I have almost nothing bad to say about this game. It’s a fun game who’s strategy comes at you like a sidewinder snake. If you take this game as a simple game about mining dwarves, you will lose. If you really think about your choices and learn to manipulate your fellow players, you stand a good chance of winning. And I like that. This game does not have Twilight Struggle levels of strategy, but this game is also easily playable in 30 minutes. And it’s teachable in less than five minutes out of the box. You will spend more time opening this game then having to explain this game, and that’s the sign of a good game. It’s well worth your time and your money. I look forward to what Assa Games comes up with next. 98%

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review Machi Koro

January 29, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 5 Comments

Product– Machi Koro

Producer– IDW Games and Foxgames

Price– $30 here http://www.amazon.com/IDW-Games-665IDW-Machi-Board/dp/B00JGHCBZA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422494958&sr=8-1&keywords=machi+koro

Set-up/Play/Clean-up– 20-30 minutes (2-4 players)

Type-Euro

Depth-Light

TL; DR– A good lighter, quicker version of Settlers of Catan. 88%

Basics-Who’s the best mayor of Machi Koro? In this game each player has just been elected the mayor of the city and starts with two cards that represent the building in the town along with four public works. The building come with numbers ranging from one to 12 while the public works give you new abilities to the ability to roll two dice or reroll. On a players turn, he or she rolls one six-sided die and every player consults the cards they have. Some cards give you money on anyone’s turn, some only on your turn, and some steal from the player who rolled the dice. After rolling the dice, the player can buy a card or build a public work. Then, play continues with the next player doing the same. The game ends when one player builds all four of their public works and is the best mayor!

Mechanics– This game is like a less complicated version of Settler of Catan. That doesn’t make it bad, but it somewhat simpler. There are some choices, but don’t look for Rococo level’s of depth or strategy here. It’s fun and you can make some plans. However, even the best strategy can be ruined by rolling like crap for half an hour straight. Also, there is no real way to deal with a runaway leader. That person either rolls something or the other players have to luck out and steal from him/her with specific buildings. It’s fun, but has some balance issues. 3.75/5

Theme- The theme in this game is kind of off. It’s cute and easy to play, but why are there up to four mayors of the same town? I felt more like a land developer than a mayor. I did have fun, and I did feel like I was building something, but I didn’t feel like the leader of a town. In addition, I also don’t understand why some buildings hurt other players. Why does my cafe steal from the other players? It does feel light and cute, but I don’t get some of the feelings the designers hoped I would have. 3.75/5

Instructions– You can open this game up, read the rules, and be playing in less than five minutes. The game isn’t super complicated, and the rules don’t over compensate things either. I like what I’m seeing here! 5/5

Execution– The game is some dice, some money tokens, and some cards. It’s not much, and others have done similar things. But, this game is one of the best executions of these basic components. The dice get their own separate areas of the box while the cards have nice dividers to keep things from getting messy. Also, the art is nice and cutesy. And the best part is all this is on some nice high quality cardboard and plastic box inserts, so the box doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall apart! 5/5

Summary– I love Settlers of Catan, but sometimes it’s hard to get a game in. This one feels like Catan, but is much quicker and lighter. You can’t expect a ton of strategy though, and the theme of being a mayor feels a bit off. However, if you just want that quick Catan-like game experience or need an under half an hour quality game, this is a great option to have. 90%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Shadow, Sword & Spell books, PART 2

January 27, 2015January 27, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 1 Comment

Last week I reviewed Shadow, Sword & Spell: Basics, Expert, and Threats. Here-https://throatpunchgames.com/2015/01/19/ring-side-report-rpg-review-of-shadow-sword-spell-books/ This week let’s dig deeper by looking at Player, Gamemaster, and an adventure The Stew.

Product– Shadow, Sword & Spell: Player

System– 12*

Producer– Rogue Games

Price– ~$5.25 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/127666/Shadow-Sword–Spell-Player?term=shadow%2C+sword+%26+spell%3A

TL; DR– Hard to follow the last book, but still well done. 93%

Basics– You know what players want? Lots more options! This is another splat book in the same vain as Shadow, Sword & Spell: Expert. It covers a ton of new additions to the system from rules about honor and reputation to new options for martial arts. The biggest change in this book is the change from human-centric to now introducing the full gambit of new races.

Mechanics or Crunch– I really like this one for its mechanical additions to the system. The 12* system really expands itself nicely into all the new subsystems, skills, and mechanics. I also enjoy the addition of templates for quicker character generation. The system is pretty easy to build characters, but the templates really do add a nice touch to the system. Well done! 5/5

Theme or Fluff- S,S&S:Player adds a ton into the system, but this book doesn’t add as much to the story. S,S&S:Expert added the world to the game. S,S&S:Player does have story for all its elements, but it’s less than the last supplement. Not bad, but it’s hard to keep up with a whole world. 4/5

Execution– S,S&S:Player shows that Rogue Games has grown as a company. It’s still the smaller book style with nice spacing, but now with better art! The production quality on this one is much nicer than the previous books. Well done! 5/5

Summary– This book is a good book, but the victim of how good S,S&S:Expert was. The production quality is better, but there are fewer stories in this one than Expert. However, if you’re a player and your GM has made his/her own world, then Player have some amazing options for you! Also for less than a Happy Meal, this is well worth it. 93%

Want more Shadow, Sword & Spell? Here you go!

Product– Shadow, Sword & Spell: Gamemaster

System– 12*

Producer– Rogue Games

Price– ~$5.25 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/133788/Shadow-Sword–Spell-Gamemaster?term=shadow%2C+sword

TL; DR– Lots of different topics in one book including the dreaded psionics. 97%

Basics– Well, your players got some options in S, S&S: Player, why not you, the GM? S, S &S: Gamemaster give the GM more options for his/her games. This book also introduces the controversial psionics to the game. However, most of this book is more rules options that you don’t have to figure out on the fly.

Mechanics or Crunch– After working my way through the entire S,S&S/12* system, it’s fast becoming one of my favorite systems. 12* is really well done, and expands nicely by adding new skills to accommodate new options. Psionics operate just like magic except you have a pool of points you spend from. DONE! The book also expands on the rules for running kingdoms and domains, adds ship combat, and provides new multiverse rules. All the rules all work well and give some really nice rules that a GM can use and not have to devise on the fly. 5/5

Theme or Fluff- The book has rules on how cities work, but I would have really liked if the book revisited the different cities from S,S&S:Basics and Expert to provide some examples on how those cities should work. That’s not bad, but now I have the numbers to describe what they are and revisiting would help a bit. What this book will be really remembered as this is the multiverse and psionics book. What’s here is full of different descriptive options on how the multiverse could works. And then the book goes crazy by describing deep math physics in chapter to demonstrate the multiverse. As a PhD, I loved this! You might not enjoy this as much. But, if you want some options to throw at your PC’s from the quilted universe model to old school 1st ed. DnD, here you go! As for psionics, I was a little surprised to see this here and not in S,S&S: Player. The authors describe why this is here since the addition of mental magic makes games a pain, but it does stick out a bit. It is described well and given some nice story elements, but it is a bit off in this book. 4.5/5

Execution– Just like in S,S&S: Player, the art budget really helped this book. It still has the small book style with nice font and good layout. But, focused art and even asides for math really made me enjoy reading this book. 5/5

Summary– I really liked this book. It’s up there with S,S&S: Expert on how happy it makes me. The 12* system really shows its versatility by easily just adding a whole new class mechanic here without any real growing pains. The city system is well done and reminds me of city stat blocks from Pathfinder. The multiverse has a section for discussing how real multiverse could work with included simplified math! That warms my heart! 97%

And the last S,S&S book I have- THE STEW!

Product– Shadow, Sword & Spell: The Stew

System– 12*

Producer– Rogue Games

Price– ~$5.25 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/84047/The-Stew

TL; DR– A few errors in a pretty nice, standard pulp story. 87%

Basics– Looking for adventure? The Stew is an adventure for the 12* system where the players wander into the town of Flatrock as mercenaries for a wizard. In town, the players learn about a rash of disappearances. Will the players protect their charge and find what’s happening is Flatrock?

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a fairly simple adventure. It’s a town full of people to talk to, a tower the wizard in interested, and the cause of the disappearances. The adventure doesn’t add any major mechanics, but uses the basic mechanics to great effect. Players get to face off against everything from social encounters to magic nicely rounding off all the mechanics of the system. You won’t spend all your time in magic duals or social combat, but everybody will get a chance to shine. 4.5/5

Theme or Fluff- This is a simple adventure. Players are trying to understand what’s going on and keep their charge safe. It’s not Lord of the Rings epic, but it does have good points that keep the storey going. Honestly, a party that works well together and doesn’t mess around will have this whole adventure done in four hours. That’s not bad for a one shot adventure. There is a reveal that you might see somewhat coming, but that’s not handled poorly either. Also, I do like how the different chapters of the book are named based on different types of dinner courses. 4.5/5

Execution– The Stew works well, but has a few problems that hurt things. Some of the NPCs don’t have all their stats. Some characters don’t have stats that let them use the weapons they are carrying. However, all the named characters get nice pictures that you can show your players. Overall, the adventure works, but some elements are not as clean as I would hope. Also, this adventure is priced as much as the core book. That’s a bit steep for an adventure that is relatively short. But, that’s not a major complaint as the total price is still less than a Big Mac. 4/5

Summary– Rogue Games has put out some quality, and this is no exception. It’s a bit short and a bit pricy compared to the other books. But, what you do get is a fun mystery for the players to solve, some psychological terror, and a nice dose of combat and social deduction. It’s not at A Game of Thrones level of storytelling, but it is well thought out. If you want a good intro adventure for your players, this is a great place to start. 87%

Ring Side Report-Board Game Review Star Realms

January 22, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Star Realms

Producer– White Wizard Games

Price– $15 here http://www.amazon.com/White-Wizard-Games-Realms-Deckbuilding/dp/B00HRGMPIU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421897585&sr=8-1&keywords=star+realms

Set-up/Play/Clean-up– 15-20 minutes (2 players, but multiplayer options available)

TL; DR– Lack of theme hurts an excellent game. 83%

Basics-Ready to rule the galaxy? In Star Realms, two players face off by trying to destroy the authority and fleet of the other player. Each player starts with 50 authority and ten cards. These ten cards are eight one-trade cards and two one-attack cards. Players have a hand of five cards. On your turn, you can play as many cards from your hand as you want to give you trade (money), attack, more authority, or other effects. From the pool of trade and attack, you can spend trade to buy as many cards as you can from a row of five cards set between the players and attack the other player. Cards you buy are placed in your discard area. Each card you buy will have a trade cost and can be one of two types: bases and ships. Ships function just like the starting cards providing trade, attack, and authority. Bases function like ships except that they are played in front of the player and act as a shield for an amount of damage. Both of these may also have faction abilities and scrap abilities. Faction abilities provide additional resources, but you have to have another ship or base in play of the same faction to trigger the ability. Scrap abilities permanently remove a card from your deck, but provide you with a onetime ability. With your attack you can attack bases first, then the player’s authority. At the end of your turn, you discard all cards you cannot play, and then you draw a new hand of five cards. If you cannot, you shuffle your discard pile and draw from the new stack of cards. Play continues like this until one player has zero authority left, and the other player wins!

Mechanics– This is a game like magic made by two guys who won the pro tour. They knew what they were doing when they made this game. It’s sleek, quick, and full of tactics. You get all the fun of combo building for magic with a onetime price tag for a trip to McDonald’s. 5/5

Theme- Here is the weakest part of this game. The rules don’t have much more than a simple paragraph on what’s going on. The factions are never really discussed in any detail. The cards have some great art and flavor text, but aside from that there is no theme or story here at all. It’s just deck building. 2/5

Instructions– The game is easy to play, and even easier to learn. The rules are less than a double sided sheet of paper. Honestly, I sat down with a sealed box, and was playing in five minutes. My wife who hates to have to learn new games on the fly absolutely whooped my butt. That’s a testament to how good the rules are. 5/5

Execution– It’s a box of cards with two rules sheets. The best part is the point cards. Rather than have you write down your score like in magic, this game has double sided cards for your points. It takes a bit to get used to as they are double sided 10/20 and 1/5 denominations, but it’s a nice touch. However, the card stock is a bit low quality. I’ve played about five times now, and some of the cards are already bending and ripping. 4.5/5

Summary– I feel a little bad about the score of this one. It’s honestly an awesome game, but the severe lack of theme in this one really hurts it. It plays quick and teaches as quick. I think I’m going to have to buy some card sleeves because this one isn’t as well put together as some other card games. This is a fun game, but don’t come into this one looking for any story. 83%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Shadow, Sword & Spell books

January 19, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 4 Comments

Time for a three part review! Shadow, Sword & Spell-Basic, Expert, and Threats!

Product– Shadow, Sword & Spell: Basic

System– 12*

Producer– Rogue Games

Price– ~$5.25 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/83073/Shadow-Sword–Spell-Basic

TL; DR– All the stuff I love in an RPG 94%

Basics– How about some good, old fashion pulp fantasy! Shadow, Sword & Spell is an old school RPG with some new mechanics and a serious side of Conan. It’s a simple system, but simple in a smart way. It’s also human focused. Let’s look at the first book, and possibly the only book, you need to run the system-Basic.

Mechanics or Crunch– This game doesn’t have a ton of moving parts, but let’s look at the different things presented here:

Base Mechanic- This system used a 2d12-based, roll-under system for all tasks. Basically, for any given task you determine an attribute from your character (like brawn for swinging a sword) and a skill (melee for the sword) and add those two numbers together. That’s the number you need to roll under on two twelve sided dice. All tests are resolved this way. Its quick, it’s easy, and I’ve just taught you the entire system in 30 seconds.

Degrees of Success– From above, you need to roll under a target number. BUT, what I really like about this system is the degrees of success really matters. In your standard DnD Game, hitting the orc with a 10 on the d20 really doesn’t change how dead the orc is compared to a rolling a 15. However, in this game, you count how far under the number you needed to roll. If your opponent wants to dodge the attack, he/she/it rolls under its quickness and dodge scores, and counts the degrees of success (if any). The target’s successes are subtracted from your successes, and if you still have hits, you hit the target and that number of net hit is multiplied by the weapon damage of your weapon. This system uses NO other dice. Thus, a hard hit is one where you are way below your own target number and they completely flub their defense roll. It’s interesting, almost as if you run the race against yourself. I like that a really good roll has a really good result. This works for everything from sword fights to battles of wits with the king.

Magic-It wouldn’t be fantasy if it didn’t have magic. And it wouldn’t be pulp if magic didn’t cost you something! In Shadow, Sword & Spell, all magic will cost you some vitality (hit points), and some will cost you sanity. Just like before, it’s all roll under your proficiency with a spell, compare your successes to their successes, and do an effect. Unlike before, that magic system here is cast till you pass out. You cast a spell, you lose some life. Keep going, and you might kill yourself! I love that in a magic system! The magic is broadly divided into two different categories: common spells and alchemy. Common spells are the magic you know and love that will rain fire or heal your friend. Alchemy is your potion brewing, elixirs, and poisons.

Hooks and Story Currency-Lately I’ve been on a kick of giving some narrative control to my players. I love ideas like hero points and inspiration from the big two. Most 3rd party RPGs are adding this in as well. This RPG is no different. In this game you get hooks. Hooks are one line descriptors that describe your character. This can be “I will never let an innocent suffer” to “if it doesn’t pay, I don’t play“. They don’t need to be noble or even nice, but they do tell the GM what you will do with your character. When you follow these hooks you get action points. Action points let your character cheat: raise your target number for your roll, become proficient in a skill, or whatever you might dream up. It’s pretty simple, and doesn’t need much explanation, but this does make me happy to see this added to another system.

Vitality-Vitality is your hit points. What’s interesting about this is that as you lose vitality, you also gain negatives. I’ve taken a few hits in my day, and as I take a hit, I wear down. Lose a percentage of your vitality; you gain a -1 to all tests. Lose more vitality, and you gain more penalties to all your target numbers. “More than none, ready to run” isn’t realistic, and I appreciate the gradual reduction in your abilities when you get hurt.

Summary- This system is a combination of all the things I like to see in an RPG. It’s got a combination of dice rolls that provide a more stable average for your rolls. Its mechanics are simple enough to grasp in five minutes. It’s got magic that doesn’t require a college degree to understand and explain. It’s got player narrative control, cast till you pass out, and damage reducing your abilities. And most importantly, its use of roll under target numbers is a well executed, general mechanics for all its tests. This last point is the most important. When I teach RPGs to new players, the vast number of different mechanics at play tends to be the most confusing. Here, I can just say, “Roll under those numbers, and tell me how much lower you were.” And it’s done! That right there is the best part of this whole system. The only thing I would like this game to talk about more is how to build fights fairly. The book doesn’t go too in-depth on how to make a combat. It discusses running a combat, but not how to set one up. 4.8/5

Theme or Fluff- For a third party pulp book, this book actually has a really well done amount of fluff! I honestly wouldn’t have expected a whole world to play in to come from this book. The book has a lot of ground to cover from teaching the system, to giving all the math a GM will need to run this effectively, but the book actually invents its own world that you can use right out of the box. Yes, the world is pretty much what you’d expect from Conan and Lovecraft fan boys. But, I’m a Conan/Lovecraft fan boy, so I’m on board. I did feel like there should have been some kind of divine magic as the arcane and the alchemical are good, but don’t explain some of the cult magic you’d read about in the old school pulp. 4.75/5

Execution-This is a really well done third-party product. It’s not perfect. I’d like a bit more guidance on how to set up fights for my players, and I’d like the art a bit more focused. However, there is a decent amount of art for a small company. It really breaks up the text well. I never felt bored reading this book. And the book even comes with an adventure. For the price, this is well worth it for a complete system. Also fun, the system books kind of look like pulp books. They’re short books with some simpler covers. That simplicity isn’t much but it really does tie things together. 4.5/5

Summary– This is a well done system. The math behind everything from after dinner quips with the queen to killing all her guards is simple. I like the race with myself mechanics. The books are executed fairly well also. It has LOTS of white space. Look, I tend to get some flak for that. I’m supposed to like reading RPGs if I LIKE RPGS. But, I like when a book doesn’t make itself a chore to read. And the sleeper hit of this whole package is the word that is discussed here. If you want your own pulp world, the book helps you with that, but if you want an out of the box setting ready to roll, here you go! All said and done, I’m really impressed with this game. 94%

How about some more Shadow, Sword & Spell?

Product– Shadow, Sword & Spell: Expert

System– 12*

Producer– Rogue Games

Price– ~$5.25 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/89294/Shadow-Sword–Spell-Expert

TL; DR– A textbook splat book example! 97%

Basics– How about some more Shadow, Sword & Spell? Now ON EXPERT MODE! Expert is the truest definition of a splat book. It’s just more of the stuff you want for your S, S&S game. Expert adds rules for everything from managing a kingdom to making new monsters. Expert also adds to the world and expands on the places you can conquer, explore, and control.

Mechanics or Crunch– This book is crunch-tastic. Honestly most of the book is new subsystems to add to your game. These are not mandatory subsystems, but they are ones your GM would have to custom build on the fly if, say, you wanted to tax your fiefdom and raise an army to go conquer your neighbors. Now, these are all the d12 mechanics we know and love from Basic, but now you have a set in stone from the designer’s rules for how to do it. Also, rules for monster generation are really useful. 5/5

Theme or Fluff- Expert is larger than Basic, and Basic has to explain how to play the game! That said Expert explains the rest of the world and has maps. I loved how Basic had a world to play in. And now I love that Expert makes the world truly a world. It even expands on all the fiddly bits of the world. It’s not down to the level of favorite fish of a region to eat, but it’s done well enough and taken from the pulp sources that you could find that information. For a book on adding subsystems to a game, there is a ton of new story to add to your games. 5/5

Execution– Expert is done extremely well, but it could use a bit more. I’d like a few more examples with some example characters and groups to help me understand the subsystems it adds a bit more. What’s here is good, but it needs a few read-through’s to get its point across. Also, I am happy to see art and white space to break up texts, but as with basic, I would like a little more consistency in the art. While in its execution Expert stumbles, Expert falls from perfection to extremely well done. 4.5/5

Summary– I really like this book. Now just like the authors of Basic said, you don’t need this book. But, you most likely will want this book. No pulp game could be complete without a battlefield and a fiefdom to command! Now you get nitty-gritty rules for that! I’d like a few more examples and some more art, but overall, this is what a splat book should be. 97%

And more Shadow, Sword & Spell, but this time it’s the monster manual!

Product– Shadow, Sword & Spell: Threats

System– 12*

Producer– Rogue Games

Price– ~$5.25 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/102515/Shadow-Sword–Spell-Threats

TL; DR– A well done monster manual 93%

Basics– Every good game needs a monster manual. Sure, Basic had a small one, but here are a ton of different threats (see what I did there!) to throw at your players.

Mechanics or Crunch– It’s a bunch of monsters that all follow the rules set forth in Expert. The abilities are all defined well and you will know how to make them. I would kind of like a repeat of the rules from Expert on how to build a monster, but honestly that book’s cheap, so go buy that one! 4.75/5

Theme or Fluff- I like the monsters here. They all feel pulpy, but they don’t get too much write up. A common set up is one page for a picture and one page for stats and description. Descriptions get the short side of that stick. The description does give you something to work with, but I would have liked a bit more. However, the book does describe a few new villainous organizations for you to throw at your players, so Threats does build on the story of the campaign setting. 4.5/5

Execution– Threats does have some problems, but overall it’s well done. There are a few typos and other minor problems. Also, just like Basic, no real advice is given for how to build a fight. But that is par for any pulp fantasy RPG course. Even with those minor complaints, I am really happy with one thing: EVERY MONSTER GETS A PICTURE! I hate having to describe each monster and then point at a general monster of that type. The pictures are not perfect, but at the very least they’re in there! 4.75/5

Summary– Every good system needs a monster book. And this is just a well done monster book. My problems with this one are minor. I’d like game specific art for each thing, but some are is better than no art. Also, while other monster manuals teach you to build the monsters, Threats expect you to look at Expert to know those rules. Those are not bad, but just know that going into this one. Overall though, what’s here is well done and well worth your five bucks. 93%