Tag: RPG Review

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Shadow of the Weird Wizard

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Product– Weird Wizard Quick Play

System- Shadow of the Demon Lord

Producer– Schwalb Entertainment

Price– FREE here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/447890/Weird-Wizard-Quick-Play?cPath=46428?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR-Classic fantasy from the Schwalb?! 100%

Basics– We must face the weird wizard!  Shadow of the Weird Wizard is Shadow of the Demon Lord brought to a much more traditional and family friendly world from Robert Schwalb.  Let’s break down the quick start and then the review!

Mechanics- This is classic Shadow of the Demon Lord game play.  It’s d20 based but numbers are MUCH smaller than your classic DnD 3.5.  Bonuses to rolls are attribute – 10.  A 12 means you get a +2 to the roll and a 7 would mean a -3.  If things are good you get boons where you roll a d6 and add, and banes are roll a d6 and subtract.  You get the sum total of boons and banes together and you get a total of up to 3d6 taking the best/worst to any roll.

Combat- Schwalb’s games are not crunch forward.  It’s VERY quick!  Monsters go, then players go.  Each turn you get a move and an action.  Interestingly enough, most dice rolls are either a d20 or a d6. 

Ok, Let’s discuss.

Mechanics or Crunch– I will admit my bias here, but I love Shadow of the Demon Lord’s simplicity.  You won’t have 20 pages of character sheet at level 10 (as high as this system goes), but you also get to play and understand quickly.  But, it is a choice.  If you need 20 different levels to pull in your game, this won’t be the system for you.  Me?  I love my 500 points of character building in Shadowrun and love my 1 die systems, so this is just a well done, slick system that will have you playing in under 10 minutes.  Aside from that, the other controversy here is game length.  Each session you level up.  So if you start out level 0, you get about 11 sessions to play.  That seems way too short, but in a conversation with the man himself, he brought up that most game groups might not even last that long till life takes them apart.  His focus is on much more tight stories that you can complete.  And again, that won me over.  5/5

Theme or Fluff– This is the most controversial part of Schwalb’s work, but this system doesn’t do what we would expect here.  Weird Wizard is MUCH more traditional fantasy than Demon Lord.  Demon Lord I felt was a bit more gothic and MUCH MUCH More grotesque.  Now I love me some off the wall Schwalb based horror, but I can see how that would be too much for some people.  This isn’t that.  This feels much more in line with your classic fantasy.  It’s got some interesting elements with the fey, but it’s wizards doing strange things and having to be put down.  And given what I’ve seen it looks like it will be a fun ride along the way.   5/5

Execution– This is a free product, but it does give a bit of what to expect in the final production.  It’s pretty bland in terms of art, but again it’s there for a system intro.  And I have to say, I like it.  The art of the kickstarter is good, so if that’s an indication of a full product, I’m happy.  The other books have hyperlinks, art, and all the things I now require to be happy.  For a free product, this points in a solid direction.  5/5

Summary– Pretty much whenever Schwalb puts out a kickstarter, I drop about 100 bucks getting all the digital toys.  And this is no different.  I love the simplicity of the system and the craziness of the world that is built.  It’s interesting to discuss a new project where the controversy might be the lack of that gore/craziness.  If you want a game you can play with the kids,  those of a less cast iron stomach, or those who just want to be regular fantasy knights and dragon slaying heroes, then this is your game.  A more traditional world with Schwalb’s simple mechanics, and solid production gets you VERY far with this product and I can’t recommend it enough.  Check out this free product.  100%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Alien RPG

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Product– Alien RPG

System- Year Zero Engine

Producer– Free League Publishing

Price– $24 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/293976/ALIEN-RPG-Core-Rulebook?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR– No one can hear you scream how good this is!  98%

Basics– In space, no one can hear you scream!  Alien RPG is a new take on the classic Alien franchise.  Let’s dive into the basics of the game.

Mechanics- This system uses the Year Zero Engine.  Here, you take a specific skill you want to do and the associated trait and roll that many d6’s.  The GM may add or remove dice as the difficulty warrants, but if you roll one 6, you succeed.  Additional 6s add more levels of success.  You do this for everything from fixing a cargo door to shooting a xenomorph.

Stress- The Alien movies are nothing if not stressful!  When you do something, you might fail, and if you do, you can reroll but you gain a different colored d6.  If you roll a 1 on these d6’s you panic and roll a d6 and add your current stress level to that roll.  Roll too high and you can go catatonic to violent to anything in between.  You also gain stress dice when violence happens to you, to seeing androids, to fire full auto into a monster among the stars.

Combat-  This game uses cards to track initiative.  You draw cards at the start of a fight.  There is no rolling for turns.  Each turn on your card time, you can do a slow action and a fast action.  Slow is shooting a gun or fixing a cargo door, while fast is yelling, running, or even pushing the button to open the airlock.  Damage is determined by the weapon you are using minus any armor the creature or person has.  Monsters are interesting in this system as well.  Instead of the GM planning what happens, you roll a d6 when a monster attacks and that die determines what they do.  

Ok, let’s go my thoughts on the system.

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a pretty low crunch system, but that doesn’t make it bad!  What I just told you above gives you enough to jump in and start playing.  You just need a character and two colors of D6s.  It’s fast and lets you focus on the world that is here.  I will admit getting only one talent or a feat for your character is kind of a bit light to me.  I like having lots of fun toys for my character to use to get through the world.  But that is what you get from Year Zero.  I’m glad I get the talents/feats I do, but I would like just a bit more.  In terms of how it fits the world, I love it.  Stress is key in the movies and key here too.  A near perfect fit of mechanics and world.  4.75/5

Theme or Fluff– I love the Alien movies (yes even the bad ones!).  The people who made this did too.  They even reference old books that I thought most people forgot about long ago!  The world is built out a TON in this book.  To the uninitiated, it is WAY more than just Weyland-Yutani and chestbursters, and this book shows that.  Solid world building in this one.   5/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yes! Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout? Yes. This is the first full book by Free League Publishing, and I have to say I am impressed.  Good layout, good art, good flow, good everything EXCEPT respect for my printer when I try to make pregens from the book.  The Alien world is dark.  That’s ok, but the background of the book is dark as well.  So if you print off characters for your friends, you WILL kill a printer cartridge!  Give me some pregens on nice white paper please!  4.9/5

Summary– I love me some sci-fi, and I don’t think enough is done with it in RPG spaces.  This book brings back the atmosphere of the 80’s Alien to a new decade and with a system that fits well with it.  It also doesn’t fall into any of the 80’s pitfalls of RPG book design and is a solid expression of modern book layout.  My issues are small.  I want more stuff for my characters, and I would like pregens on better, less black intensive sheets.  But, if thats the worst I can say about this, then an empty print carriage is a small price to pay for this awesome book. 98%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Shadowrun: Shoot Straight (Runner Resource Book)

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Product– Shadowrun: Shoot Straight (Runner Resource Book)

System- Shadowrun 6th Ed

Producer– Catalyst

Price– $19.99 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/445271/Shadowrun-Shoot-Straight-Runner-Resource-Book&affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR– Advice, but light on crunch. 90%

Basics–  Do you know your head from a hole in the dirt?  Get some help from the old chummers!  This book is an advice book about how Shadowruns go down. It’s written in the style of several older runners discussing how to properly do a job in the Shadowrun universe.

Mechanics or Crunch– If you want ANY crunch in this book like qualities or items, you will not be happy with this one.  This book is NOT a sourcebook but it’s more a strategy guide of how to play.  It’s fun, but know what you are getting into!  -/5

Theme or Fluff– What’s here is good, but if you have a Shadowrun game, this might not be the most useful.  The advice from the old guys is always a good place to start learning a game.  But, if you are an old guy, then you won’t find much in this book.  I enjoyed the material, but it is mostly things I learned listening to the older Shadowrun players.  4/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yep. Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout? Yes. I’m pretty happy with this book, and I think Catalyst has learned from their past mistakes regarding layout and design.  5/5

Summary-This book is really designed for players who don’t yet have a group.  If you have a dedicated Shadowrun group that has played multiple editions, then this won’t really give you much new information.  If you know the game, then I might give this a pass.  If you are new and looking for tips and tricks on how to play and do well, then this is gonna be a great book to learn the ropes.  90 %

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Shadowrun, Sixth World Core Rulebook: City Edition: Seattle

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Product– Shadowrun, Sixth World Core Rulebook: City Edition: Seattle

System- Shadowrun 6th Ed

Producer– Catalyst Game Labs 

Price– $19.99 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/286850/Shadowrun-Sixth-World-Core-Rulebook-City-Edition-Seattle&affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR– Solid new package on the 6th Ed rules 90%

Basics–  Ready to hit the Shadows Chummer?  City Edition Seattle is a revamp of the new 6th edition rules for Shadowrun.  It’s full of errata and new layout for the same 6th edition you know.

Mechanics or Crunch– If you were hoping for a completely new edition, this is not what you want.  Sixth edition has been slightly controversial, but this book clears some of the issues with included errata.  It’s still fundamentally 6th edition however.  It works decently despite some misgivings that I have with some minor choices like only gaining a maximum of two edge per turn or deemphasizing strength for melee damage.  4/5

Theme or Fluff– While Shadowrun players may not like all the mechanical choices from the system, almost everyone loves the fluff the world provides.  It’s deep and engaging with lots of short stories.  Mechanics do match fluff and the arts and stories tie all of that together as well.  This will make you want some cyberpunk tabletop in your life.  5/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yep. Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout? Slight missteps.  Catalyst did a good job putting a lot of errata into one package, but some things are still buried into the text.  It’s much cleaner from what was before, but some things are still buried and its easy to miss small things with huge implications like how strength might not play the major role in damage but how almost all physical contests have Strength as a major factor in a contest of ability.  4.5/5

Summary– This book is a repackage of the rules that you may or may not love.  It makes them more approachable and easier to read, but it will not fundamentally change them.  The quality of life changes to the rules are fantastic, and the usual art and story are great as well.  It’s now just if you like the basic rules or not.  I have some issues, but overall it’s still Shadowrun to me, so I am having a blast. 90%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-05: The Arclord Who Never Was

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #4-05: The Arclord Who Never Was

System- Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo

Price– $6 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02dw7?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-405-The-Arclord-Who-Never-Was  

TL; DR-Good overall story, but small issues in the middle beats.  83%

Basics– Who is the skull?  You find a talking skull…what the heck is up with that?  Find out who the skull is and continue the mystery of the fey who want it!  

Mechanics or Crunch– The math is all balanced for this adventure, but the progression of it is a bit skewed.  This adventure is basically several skill tests, a potential fight, skill test/fight, plot, skill tests, then end fight.  Players who are combat monsters will be a bit bored as the goal of most damage will not be a major time sink for the game.  It is all balanced for the numbers and skills used, but the game is moving to much more explore, report, corporate and less destroy all things.  4/5

Theme or Fluff– The overall story of this adventure is great, but the beat by beat is a bit off.  The basics are to learn about the skull.  Characters are introduced in throw away lines and given full pictures, but I don’t honestly know who they are and how they fit into the flow.  This leads to players asking questions that I honestly can’t answer.  It’s nice to have, but it feels off.  One example is a NPC who talked to the skull as a person, but that person is mentioned exactly four times. All four times are either in the paragraph saying he talked to her or his pictures.  NO real description of who he is and why we care.  The major pieces are fun and the second half of the adventure comes together well. The first half has good things that just don’t fit true.  3.5/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yep. Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout? Yep!  This is what I expect from a Paizo adventure.  I complained that there are TOO many pictures.  That’s a good problem to have.  5/5

Summary– I like the metaplot between the starter adventure, this adventure, and the last of the trilogy about this magic talking skull.  The crunch is good, but not even.  If you just want to beat things, this is not your adventure.  If you want to explore a magic town, this is a blast.  As a GM, some pieces don’t quite work.  I want more background on some characters.  Help me use the NPCs and their pictures to fill out the social bits of the adventure.  It’s physically well done, and the big story is a blast.  I just need more flow in the middle.  83%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Starfinder Society Intro: Year of Fortune’s Fall

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Product– Starfinder Society Intro: Year of Fortune’s Fall

System- Starfinder

Producer– Paizo

Price– $6 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02eg2?Starfinder-Society-Intro-Year-of-Fortunes-Fall  

TL; DR-Welcome to the sixth season! 90%

Basics– LET’S GO TO THE… museum?  The Starfinder society is partnering with many different groups to show off artifacts of the past.  What wonders will be shown, what friends will be made, and who might want to mess with this display?  

Mechanics or Crunch– Paizo has a solid adventure here, with a decent balance of talking and combat.  The flow is mostly talking for the first half and then combat for the second.  There are a lot of NPCs to sway, so combat might get a little bit left to the side as its really only two fights.  That said, it’s done well.  4.5/5

Theme or Fluff–  This is a one building adventure.  You really only spend time in one museum for the entire adventure, schmoozing with different people learning about things that  will happen later in the season’s adventures.  That is pretty standard for the first adventure in a Starfinder Society season.  My one issue is the adventure is pretty short.  Most of the time I run this it’s less than three hours for a five hour session.  The players have fun and the story is decent.  Overall, its a good addition to the first adventures of each season. 4.5/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yep. Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout? Yep!  This is what I expect from a Paizo adventure.  Things are not perfect, as they give good pictures for everything except for one enemy type, so you will need your own picture.  It’s not bad by any means, but it’s one small thing.   4.5/5

Summary– This is a fun adventure.  It’s short and a little unbalanced in story tempo if you are a combat monster, but overall it’s a good one.  I had fun, and so did my players.  It’s not perfect, but definitely one that I will be gladly running for multiple groups this year!  90%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth #1: The Laughing Idol of Lar-Shann

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Product– Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth #1: The Laughing Idol of Lar-Shann

System- DCC RPG

Producer– Goodman Games

Price– $7 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/393055/Dungeon-Crawl-Classics-Dying-Earth-1-The-Laughing-Idol-of-LarShan?affiliate_id=658618  

TL; DR-Solid adventure with a bit of crazy ending. 97%

Basics–  Who wants a drink?  Drawn to a small town where a particularly special liquor is made, you find a massive idol barking orders.  Can you find the liquor before the idol counts down to… something?

Mechanics or Crunch– Ah first level Goodman Game scenarios!  These guys know their mechanics, so everything is solidly done with the right amount of random and fun monsters to fight.  My players and I all had a blast killing monsters, searching, and finding the secrets of the idol.  5/5

Theme or Fluff– Overall this is fun, but I feel the ending gets a bit off.  There are a ton of fun in this  adventure and has some crazy turns that are just perfect for the Dying Earth.  There is one problem with the adventure.  I won’t spoil anything, but I feel like one enemy would not attack the players at the end.  That said, if you run it how you want, it won’t be a problem!.  4.5/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yep. Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout? Yep!  This is what I expect from a Goodman Games adventure.  Solid work Goodman games!   5/5

Summary–  Ah crazy Dying Earth fun.  This with all the other adventures makes me want to read more Vance.  I love the crunch and the design, but I have a few issues with the ending.  That said, you write your own story as the Judge, so fix it on the fly!  This is a solid adventure that I loved, and I think you will too!  97%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth #0: The Black Obelisk

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Product– Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth #0: The Black Obelisk

System- DCC RPG

Producer– Goodman Games

Price– $7 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/393054/Dungeon-Crawl-Classics-Dying-Earth-0-The-Black-Obelisk?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR-Short and Sweet! 97%

Basics–  Time for the trip!  You are all traveling for a possibly once in a lifetime religious trip across the dying earth.  Will you survive and thrive or will you die along the way?  What will your god have to say about the things you do along the way?

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a fun multichoice adventure, but it’s short.  There are three paths the players can take, but the paths might need a bit more.  I like what’s here, but if your players don’t roleplay a ton, you will get this done in about two hours.  That’s pretty short!  4.5/5

Theme or Fluff– This does feel like DCC, and now I want to read some Vance.  I didn’t read a ton of Jack Vance before this.  I know its where DnD magic comes from, but that was the extent of my knowledge.  After reading this, I feel its themed enough to feel like a DCC funnel as I kill loads of PCs, but I also feel like I want to learn more about the world this comes from.  5/5

Execution– PDF? Yep.  Funnel?  Yep.  Hyperlinked?  Yep. Solid Art?  Yep.  Good layout?  This is what I expect from Goodman Games and a funnel.  Solid work Goodman games!   5/5

Summary–  This was a fun adventure to get my players into the world of the Dying Earth.  Heck it got ME into the world of the Dying Earth!  I want to read more of this to get deeper in, so mission accomplished there adventure!  The crunch is good with the only real problem being the length of the adventure.  It’s not bad by any stretch, but it is short.  At a con on the last day, that might be a godsend for BOTH the GM and the players as you want to keep having fun, but you need a rest.  But, as a start, it’s a few points off.  That said, if my only real complaint about this product is I want more, then this is a solid product!  97%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Treasure Vault

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Product– Treasure Vault

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed.

Producer– Paizo

Price– $56 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02eav?Pathfinder-Treasure-Vault

TL; DR-Make or buy something fun! 95%

Basics–  IT HAS POCKETS!  Treasure Vault is the TTRPG  equivalent of a Toys r Us Christmas catalog.  Lots of new toys for everyone to play with, from alchemists with new materials, to spell additions that give some extra umph to the fireball, or the fighter with the ability to add pockets to armor.

Mechanics or Crunch– Overall, this book has a solid crunch to the system.  There are lots of new toys that everyone can use and enjoy.  It’s an item book and the items fit with the rest of the toys in the rest of the system.  My one major issue is that some things are left out because they are covered in other books.  Tell me where those are from so I can check the rules out in those books.  It’s not a major thing but it’s enough so I was a bit confused on some new additions in this book and lead me to check out others books for the rules.  Also, the newer rules on crafting are good, but they reference things without giving enough background so I was a bit confused there on first read.  More links to the other materials and books would help.    Good stuff but enough confusion that I was a bit lost as I read through some of the sections.  4.25/5

Theme or Fluff– I was surprised by the amount of theme present in here! There is a framing device where a dragon and a kobold discuss the new items and materials.  It’s enjoyable!  In addition, all the new toys the book presents are honestly fun and more fitting to the world.  5/5

Execution– This is a slam dunk.  Solid layout, easy to read font, hyperlinks, and solid art all make this an easy and enjoyable book for anyone to use. Well done book craftsmanship. 5/5

Summary-This book is another solid addition to Pathfinder 2nd Ed.  The book is crafted well from a technical standing.  The new toys for players all feel fresh enough that players will enjoy them and they feel like they fit in the world.  Even the new things all fit well within the mechanics of the world.  My main issue is I would like more rules to help me understand how some things are used or how some things are done.  If you or your players want more items to spend that sweet, sweet GP on, or or more things to make, this is the book you need for Pathfinder! 95%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Dragonbane Quickstart

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Product– Dragonbane Quickstart

System- Dragonbane

Producer– Free League Publishing

Price– FREE here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/409397/Dragonbane-Quickstart?cPath=27806_43182?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR– DnD 5e, The Dark Eye, Call of Cthulhu, and for some reason Savage Words had an awesome baby! 91%

Basics–  Time for something different!  Dragonbane is a new edition of an older Scandinavian RPG.  Let’s look at this new yet old RPG!

Base mechanics-  This is the mix of 5e and The Dark Eye.  Everything is a d20 roll where you try to roll under a skill.  More skill ranks mean more likely to succeed.  The solid 5e parts are the notions of advantage/boon and disadvantage/bane.  It functions just like in 5e!  But even more fun is pushing the roll.  That’s exactly like Call of Cthulhu.  You failed a roll?  You can reroll, but things get worse if you fail. 

Combat, turns, and reactions-  Time for Savage Worlds to stride in!  Combat initiative is a deck of cards numbered 1 to 10, so not a perfect copy, but high card goes first instead of high roll goes first.  Players on their turn take an action and move like DnD, BUT you can instead interrupt another action to dodge or parry an attack.  You roll a d20 vs a skill level to attack or dodge and if you succeed, you deal damage or jump out of the way.  Damage is rolled like DnD, but armor reduces damage instead of adding to an AC.  When you act, you turn your card over until the next round starts.  When anything hits zero HP it’s down.

Willpower and magic- In addition to hit points, you also have will power.  Will power is kind of like MP in any other RPG.  You spend will power to cast spells and to do special abilities.  Some abilities and spells have levels where you spend more power you hit even harder.  And just like above, you roll vs your own skill to do the ability.

Ok, thats the basics!  Time for the review.

Mechanics or Crunch– The mechanics here are all the things I love.  Roll under is an amazing mechanic!  Advantage and disadvantage and d20 dice for fantasy are always a solid addition.  Cards are a fun way to do init that is not crazy hard to do, but different enough to be novel.  I love Final Fantasy and adding magic points in is a fun way for me to do something just a bit different.  I love what’s here for mechanics!  5/5

Theme or Fluff– This is the hard part for me about this book.  The pictures are good, the book has a simple adventure AND sample characters.  The worlds looks interesting, BUT there isnt any real discussion of the world and environment.  I like what I see, but I just wish I knew what it was about more.  3.75/5

Execution– This is a free, hypertext, PDF with an adventure, MAPS, characters, character art, and solid layout.  THIS IS WHAT I LOVE! 5/5

Summary-Just go get this.  It’s free and it’s well done.  This is all the toys I love in an RPG oneshot.  It’s got all the things I want in a solid book.  My one major issue is I want more worldbuilding.  That’s a problem I hope is solved in the complete book, so I can’t suggest this enough!    92%