Ring Side Report- RPG Review of The Served Brandolyn Red

October 16, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

Product-They Served Brandolyn Red

System– DCC

Producer– Goodman Games

Price– $7 here http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/159410/Dungeon-Crawl-Classics-2015-Halloween-Module-They-Served-Brandolyn-Red&affiliate_id=658618

TL; DR– An awesome starter adventure! 95%

Basics-It’s a good day for a white wedding! Until the groom’s head is chopped off and the bride is poisoned. Then, players and the guests of the wedding have to find out all the twists and turns in this adventure and recover the groom’s head to properly bury the man. Why did this happen? Only you can find out!

Mechanics or Crunch-Ah, the DCC RPG funnel! Hit the players hard and see what falls down. It’s a time honored tradition. This adventure has all the great pieces of one, and the mechanics match enough to challenge first and zero level players as well as bringing enough weird to the party. 5/5

Theme or Fluff-This adventure is one that you as a GM have to bring to life. There is a lot going on here, and it kind of goes in two directions. Only one direction gets the PC’s paid, so they won’t care about family struggles as longs gold happens. If you can bring that part to life, it’s a fun side of the adventure. But, most parties and games won’t even care about some below the surface details that the adventure has due to the second part being a bit off base. It’s fun, but a bit too unwieldy with the second story not bringing as much to the party as the first. 4.25/5

Execution– This is a DCC RPG book put out by Goodman Games themselves, so it’s going to be good! The art is great, the pictures are phenomenal, and the layout is simple enough to help every GM run a fun adventure. The book even has detailed family trees that you can use to enhance the substory that I complained about in the theme section. Even the hex crawl simple map is a great addition to the game! This simple adventure has the tools and talent needed to really help you make a great time for the players. Also, it’s out in time for Halloween, so get this now! 5/5

Summary-I love this one so much it might become my new favorite funnel. My players get a place to explore. I get some story to build off with a subplot that is fun, if a bit of a strange addition. The mechanics of the adventure are built well enough that it’s got enough challenge to keep things interesting, but not a killer curve to destroy a party. From the art to the layout, this is a phenomenal adventure and an excellent introduction to DCCRPG, and if a group was looking for a place to start, this is probably the best adventure to throw your friends and yourself as the GM into. 95%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Pathfinder Player Companion: Melee Tactics Toolbox

October 14, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product-Pathfinder Player Companion: Melee Tactics Toolbox

System– Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo

Price– $12 here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1601257325?keywords=melee%20tactics%20toolbox&qid=1444860587&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

TL; DR– a one-feat-book 77%

Basics-Why do it from afar when you can hurt them up close! Melee Tactics Toolbox provides every up close and personal character with several new options ranging from spells, items, feats, class options, and even new archetypes much live every other player companion product.

Mechanics or Crunch-This is a major crunch book for players, but I wasn’t amazed. There are several new options, but nothing here immediately made me want to build a character based around that theme. Some of the new options seem like new expectations just for expansion sake as the archetypes underwhelmed me like the rogue archetype that strips out all the rogue powers that make a rogue a rogue. Nothing here is objectively bad, but it’s not as amazing as I expected. 4/5

Theme or Fluff-This book has a bit of theme, but not as much as I wanted. You get a few bits and pieces but not near as much as the world books the Paizo puts out. It feels light. 3.5/5

Execution– This book has a ton it it, but it feels a bit overstuffed. There are many things in the book, but it feels a bit like things were thrown in because of the melee thing and that was the sole reason that they made the cut. So, things didn’t flow as well as other books. Also, much of the execution was a bit off as there were a few too many walls of text to really draw me into and through the book. But, as a counterpoint, the book does have a nice font, decent layout aside from a few too many text walls, and some nice art. However, as a counterpoint to that, the book still has the standard Paizo price for its splatbooks which is a little high anyway. 4/5

Summary-This is my least favorite Paizo Pathfinder book to date. Overall, it’s not a horrible book, but compared to Paizo’s other products, I wouldn’t suggest you start with this one. Honestly, this is a one-feat-book meaning that you will find exactly one thing from this book that might, sometimes, help you PFS character. And, you will buy it so you can show your PFS GM the feat/spell/item, so you can legally use it in your game. But, truth be told, you can pass this book by and be ok even if you are a greatsword only fighter. Too many options that are not worth the price, little world and character story, and a less than stellar execution make this a book that won’t find its way into many Pathfinder collections. 77%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Data Trails

October 4, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product-Data Trails

System– Shadowrun 5e

Producer– Catalyst Game Labs

Price– $25 here http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/150001/Shadowrun-Data-Trails?affiliate_id=658618

TL; DR– Great flavor, but almost no crunch! 82%

Basics-Want to ride the matrix? Want to be a digital cowboy? This is the new book for you covering how the matrix of 2076 works and the new toys to play on this matrix. It also provides a brief history of AI. The book adds new cyberdecks, add-ons to all the matrix toys out there, new qualities, and even has a section on how to play an AI character.

Theme or Fluff-Let’s start things a bit different than most of the reviews I write. Let’s focus on the theme first. Of all the things Catalyst does, covering the story of their world is the absolute best thing they do. This book has tons of world building elements: all the fiddly bits of the 6th World’s wide web, covering how the matrix works, how it’s made, how to interact with it, its history, and providing me with extra story bits for any games I run. Every aspect of the world gets a bit built on it. For the SR vets out there, this book might be a little overkill. However, for anyone who hopped on in Shadowrun 5th edition, this is an absolute essential to provide some much needed history and context to how people use the internet of the future. 4.75/5

Mechanics or Crunch-I started with theme, but theme shows how much this book is missing from its crunch. The book adds an impressive amount of story but doesn’t really have the mechanics to back it up. For your average decker, what’s here is good. You get new toys and add-ons to all the old toys to keep you fairly happy. However, even there you don’t get near as much as the other gear books. Technomancers get even less. For the rest of the 6th world, it’s not entirely worth it aside from a good reference on how the basics of the matrix work. But the best example of how mechanics don’t back up fluff is in how different matrix hosts work and defend themselves. A good chunk of one chapter is spent on how different companies defend their hosts. But, no real mechanics are given either identifying what type of ICE is used or how they attack. Furthermore, I’m glad I got a good briefing on how AI altered the matrix, but including a section on how to play them is pretty much useless for the majority of GM and players. If they included that as its own small book, I’d buy it in an instant. As a section in a core book, it’s just not a great use of space. 4/5

Execution– The thing Catalyst doesn’t do well is format their books. First and foremost, a book by Catalyst is only useful if you’ve completely read the book before and memorized the general locations of things in the book. As a quick reference to thumb through, you will be lost. The chapters are not named in a way that helps the reader, the book doesn’t have an index, and none of the new additions have a quick reference area to speed use later on. Catalyst knows how to write fiction, but their fiction bleeds a bit too much into their mechanics. In sections discussing how to create an AI or a host, the first part of the chapter will be the world story of it, and the second part will be the mechanics of it. But, nowhere in the middle will it give the firm shift of when one section ends and the other begins. All of those things are hard negatives, but what is here does read quickly and is enjoyable. The back and forth of the characters is fun while drawing the reader in deeper. This isn’t the best book I’ve read, but it’s a decent overall book. 3.5/5

Summary-Here is the quick question to help you decide if you need this book: do you spend most of your Shadowrun time in the matrix? If yes, then you buy this book. If no, maybe you’re good with what’s in the base book. As someone who’s deeply invested in the 6th world, I loved learning about the new wireless net. I just wasn’t overwhelmed by some significant parts of the book. I’m glad I know how to run an AI now, but odds are good I never will, especially as someone who almost exclusively focuses on Shadowrun Missions. I’d also like Catalyst Game Labs to overhaul their books a bit and really change some aspects of production to help the readers find what they need more quickly. Making those changes will really make me love their books. With that said, as someone who loves Shadowrun and the matrix in particular, I’m glad I got this book, even if I can’t use chunks of it. 82%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of the Advanced Class Guide

September 22, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 5 Comments

Product– Advanced Class Guide

System– Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo Publishing

Price– $ 40 here http://www.amazon.com/Pathfinder-RPG-Advanced-Class-Adventure/dp/160125671X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442939514&sr=8-1&keywords=advanced+class+guide

TL; DR– This books walks the balance, mostly. 90%

Basics-Why not a wizard/sorcerer? Why not a ranger/rogue? The Advanced Class Guide is the book to make that happen. This book has 10 new classes, archetypes for almost every class, feats, and new spells. This book is a giant resource of new ideas and abilities for the Pathfinder RPG focusing on hybrids of the other classes. Here are the new 10 classes and the classes they come from:

Arcanist (wizard/sorcerer)

Bloodrager (barbarian/sorcerer)

Brawler (fighter/monk)

Hunter (druid/ranger)

Investigator (alchemist/rogue)

Shaman(oracle/witch)

Skald(barbarian/bard)

Slayer(ranger/rogue)

Swashbuckler(fighter/gunslinger)

Warpriest(cleric/fighter)

Mechanics or Crunch-This book has a hard job here, but it does it pretty well. Every one of the new classes feels balanced if a little more powerful than the original classes. It’s a fine line to walk, but overall it did it well. Sometimes a few concepts are thrown in that muddy the water, without adding as much as you would expect. A key example is panache, grit, and luck. All three of these subsystems are almost exactly the same with characters gaining any combination of the three are able to combine the three into one giant pool. That’s good for theme, but bad and confusing when players have to build characters. The other extra additions like feats to splash new half classes into the original classes are done well, and the new archetypes and spells all feel fresh and new. 4.5/5

Theme or Fluff-This isn’t a book full of stores for the world of Golarion, but it does have some fluff. Each class has a bit of story to it that helps introduce and mold the class and its use. However, the stories are in a bit of a vacuum. What’s there is great, but this book is designed to be plugged into any world. It works well in that respect, but it’s a bit sterile. Other books from Paizo focus on the story of each class in Paizo’s world, but this book doesn’t really do that. 4/5

Execution– It’s Paizo-they know how to make a book. Maybe a few more pictures, but for the amount of information, it reads quick and is entertaining. Paizo-they make good books! 5/5

Summary-I liked this book, but as the system grows, it get’s a little heavy and unwieldy. This book adds an astounding amount to the system and keeps it all in balance relatively well. This is not a book to build stories off of though as what’s here is ok, but think of the addition in this book more like Legos-no real ideas by themselves, but together and with your own imagination they become awesome creations. As for the book itself, it’s a Paizo book, so it’s done well. If you want more character options in your pathfinder game, this is most definitely an awesome addition to your game but something that might upset the power level a bit. 90%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Pathfinder Player Companion: Familiar Folio

September 10, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Familiar Folio

System– Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo Publishing

Price– $12.99 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9au2?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-Familiar-Folio

TL; DR– Useful if you already like familiars. 88%

Basics-Every great wizard has a familiar, why can’t you! Familiar Folio is a Pathfinder Player Companion book discussing familiars, how to add them to new characters, and how to improve them. Like every other book in the companion line, it adds new feats, archetypes, items, spells, and other options for players and their familiar’s alike.

Mechanics or Crunch-This book is amazing, if you already like familiars. This book won’t really win you over if you didn’t already have a character concept for familiars. Every option added in this book is great, but familiars tend to work just like alchemy in Pathfinder, great if you love them, bad if you don’t. After seeing what’s here, I can say that if I played a character who wanted a familiar, I’d absolutely want what’s here. However, if I played someone who had the options of not having one vs having one, I don’t think this book would win me over to the familiar side, even with a mascot (familiar). 4.25/5

Theme or Fluff- This book discusses some of the story aspects of familiars, but it doesn’t really go out of its way to add them in deeper. The book covers topics like how to roleplay with them, and it does have a bit of how different locations in Golarion would use familiars and the types in those locations. But, it’s not much beyond that. This is primarily a crunch heavy book. 4/5

Execution-This was put out by Paizo. For anything you can say about Paizo, the unarguable truth is they know how to make a book well. It’s got great art, great layout, and was a pleasure to read. 5/5

Summary-The simple question to this book is, “Will you use or want a familiar?” If you said yes, then you get this book. If not, then don’t. Like I said with alchemy, familiars are extremely divisive. You love your familiar, then you will love this book. If you couldn’t care less about your wizard friend’s odd toad in his pocket, then you don’t want this book. What this book is is well written, a bit light on story, but overall well put together. Just decide if you want a tag along before you begin. 88%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #7–01: Between the Lines

August 26, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #7–01: Between the Lines

System– Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo

Price– $3.99 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9cu3?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-7-01-Between-the-Lines

TL; DR– DnD-NOW WITH LSD! 92%

Basics-You’ve been summoned to help procure an item. Fortunately, you know where it is, and even better, who has it. They will even sell it to you! What happens when you get what you want, and it does way more than you hoped for? What happens when you play with an ancient box that stores the mental history of all who used it before?

Mechanics or Crunch-This is two adventures in one. The first adventure is the standard one you know and love. Run some errands, and then you get what you were searching for. That’s all par for the course. The second half is crazy, out there fun. You enter a mental landscape. That’s fine, but the map and the monsters are a bit off, and a bit more front loading and modifying of stat blocks would help GMs run this on the fly. It’s not horrible, and if you read ahead (like you are supposed to!), you will be fine. However, if you’re running this after just printing off your adventure, then you as a GM will be a bit lost. 4.5/5

Theme or Fluff- As I said in mechanics, this is two adventures. Half is in the regular world, and that is something your players can easily grab onto. This part is here more to help draw your players in. The real meat of the adventure is the second part. Here is where things go on and off the rails. On rails because the players progress through a linear dream landscape, but have to do so in a specific order. Off rails because this adventure plays like a LSD trip-and it is amazing! Lot’s a crazy imagery and fun ways for the GM to really ham up the crazy, psychic nature of the adventure. I absolutely love this adventure for that. 5/5

Execution-This adventure has your usual Pathfinder Society polish. What I don’t like is how the monsters are not customized to the adventure. The players fight some crazy dream monsters, but the monsters are not really customized to the purpose at hand. It’s ok, but it wouldn’t take much to really fix up the monsters here, so you’re GMs don’t have extra math to fight with. This adventure will be a bit long if the players and the GM are slow. Honestly, its about ¾ of two different adventures, so if your GM doesn’t manage his or her time properly, you will be done late if this is run at a convention slot. I’m complaining that there is too much here, which is a good problem to have, but it can be a major problem if not dealt with properly. 4.25/5

Summary-Occult Adventures kicked off this season of Pathfinder Society, and it shows in here. This isn’t completely a psychic adventure as it got strange occult influences, and I hope this keeps up through the entire season of Pathfinder Society. This is a crazy adventure that really provides some great roleplaying opportunities as well as some great scenes for players and GMs to just go hog wild with. I love what I see here, and I can’t wait for more. It’s not perfect. I’d like a bit of customization from Paizo for the monsters as a GM who has missed some important information might try to throw CR 6 creatures at a level one party if the miss the section detailing how the encounter changes. It hurts the overall presentation a bit, but honestly, I had a blast running this adventure. If this is any indication of what’s coming next, BRING ON THE STRANGE! 92%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Fantasy AGE Basic Rulebook

August 10, 2015August 10, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

Product– Fantasy AGE Basic Rulebook

System– Adventure Game Engine

Producer– Green Ronin Publishing

Price– $16 here http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/153066/Fantasy-AGE-Basic-Rulebook

TL; DR-A strong successor to Dragon AGE. 92%

Basics-The Dragon AGE has ended, but that doesn’t mean all the stories you wanted to tell in the AGE system have. Fantasy AGE is the basic rule book for the previous Adventure Gaming System(AGE) system that came out with Dragon Age RPG providing all the basics any generic Fantasy RPG could need. Let’s break this down piece by piece and see what I think of them individually.

Mechanics or Crunch–

Game Basics- Fantasy AGE uses the same basic mechanics that Dragon AGE did; each player will roll 3d6 for an action, find the sum of the dice with some modifiers, and that will determine the outcome. Contested rolls work exactly the same with the higher sum winning the roll. This is a quick and easy way to have numeric diversity and an average in your dice rolls.

Stunts-One of the more interesting things with this system is stunts. When you roll your dice, two of the dice are one color and the third is a different color. If two of the dice have the same result, you get stunt points equal to the result on the differently colored die. These stunts have point values and will allow you to add extra flare and effects beyond hit a guy, cast the spell, or bluff the guard. Each type of action has it’s own stunt point chart that you can select icons to spend your points on with the more points spent, the stronger the effects. When I first read about this system, I was a bit put off, but then my math geek showed through. It’s easy to think that you won’t roll doubles often, but out of three six-sided dice, you roll doubles a little less than half of the time! Again, this is a fun addition to the standard “roll dice, hit guy, next person in initiative” we’re all used to.

Character Generation-Fantasy age characters make a few important choices and have to let some dice fall. When you make a character, you get to choose your race, background, class, and then you let the dice fall where they may! Lots of this system involves you randomly rolling for effects on your character. This results in your average character of a race having some average abilities and likely traits, but overall, I don’t like that part of character generation. While I’ve played older RPG editions, I prefer to let choice occur when you build your person. This system does downplay the negative aspects of low ability rolls, but I still prefer point buy. It’s an option, but most of the book tends to focus on rolling for your character.

Statistics:This game doesn’t have a ton of bonuses to your basic dice roll and that is great thing. Each person has a number of statistics being: accuracy ( weapon accuracy), communication (talking to people), constitution (body toughness), dexterity (agility and coordination), fighting (heavy weapon accuracy), intelligence (what you know), perception (situation awareness), strength (physical ability), willpower (mental resolve). You can generate these via point buy or just rolling 3d6 and hoping for the best, so your number will be between 3 and 18 white the modifier for your dice rolls roughly equal the modifiers most role players have from D&D. You can further focus in these abilities by getting ability focuses like Accuracy(Blades) where you add 2 to your dice results for all blades attacks. Thus, you will really only add two numbers to the three six-sided dice rolls. I do love any system that squashes power gaming at the start and builds in a mean and standard deviation for its die results!

Classes and Advancement-Much like the Dragon AGE RPG, there are only three core classes: mage, rogue, and warrior. These classes are much like you would expect. Mages cast spells, rogues are nimble and skillful, and warriors are heavy people-at-arms. Each level a character will get new options such as ability focus, talents (abilities in sequence like feat trees in DnD/Pathfinder), or class specific bonuses. The talents provide the bulk of the customization in the game. Every warrior has the same basic class abilities, but the warrior focusing on close combat and social interaction will be like that because of the talents he or she choose. You don’t get that many choices, but you do get a method to differentiate yourself from the press of other individuals out there.

Magic-Magic in this system is a point based system where players have a mana pool that is spent to cast a spell. Spells themselves come from the talents that players choose with each level of the talent providing more spells. It’s a simple system that reminds me of Final Fantasy and the Dragon Age video games. Not bad company to be in, but since you don’t get tons of different talents, you won’t have the abundance of spells you’re used to in different RPGs like Pathfinder.

Combat and Damage-Just like this games D20 cousins, combat flows in a turn based manner following every player rolling initiative. On your turn, you can do either two minor actions like moving or a minor and a major like attacking. Players and monsters have a defense rating that you attack just like any other skill in this game. If your attack roll equals the defense, you hit the enemy. Damage is done in this game based on the type of weapon you’re wielding with armor reduces the damage that a character takes instead of providing a bonus to your chance to dodge the attack. This doesn’t reinvent wheel, but why fix what isn’t broken?

Summary-You can see the Dragon AGE in the Fantasy AGE. That’s not a bad thing as I liked the Dragon AGE RPG and the Dragon Age video games for speed and elegance of the systems. However, my major problem is that the character and players don’t have many options. Sure, it’s fun, but I’d like a bit more crunch to my characters. That said, it is a good, quick, and simple system that you can easily use in any fantasy setting. 4.5/5

Theme or Fluff- It’s always hard to judge generic RPGs for their fluff content. By their nature, there can’t be a significant amount of fluff in this book since any fantasy setting should be able to be played with in this system. But, the book does have nice art, good general fantasy additions, and all the standard fantasy pieces you will need for your toy box. Just don’t go in here expecting Tolkien as this book can’t have that level of detail and still be general enough for everybody. 4.5/5

Execution-This book reads relatively quickly and has a decent layout. I can quickly get through the book, find what I need and make a character in under 10 minutes. I’d like more pictures, and some extra tables to make scanning the book easier like in the talents section. I prefer to see something similar to how Pathfinder does summaries of feats before the full descriptions. The book even has a small bestiary with some monsters to throw at your players. It’s not large, but for the $15 I paid for the book, I’m pretty happy to see a complete system, game mastering guide, and monsters in one book. This book even comes with a small adventure, so you can jump into playing after you buy only this book. Overall, good book with a few minor problems keeping it from perfect. 4.75/5

Summary-Fantasy AGE is going to be an awesome RPG if Green Ronin can bring more out for it. Titansgrave is coming out, and that will provide an awesome series of adventures and a setting for this game. That is what this book really misses-the fluff. The crunch is good. It might not be my all time favorite gaming system, but it’s well-designed, thought-out, and easy to use-all the things a quality RPG needs to be viable long term. I’d like more options, but that’s my old D&D 3.5 gamer heritage showing through. As for the book itself, it might not be my favorite layout, but it is a great way to present a games information. If you joined the Fantasy AGE for Titansgrave, you will not be disappointed! 92%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Steel and Fury: Combat Maneuvers of the Mighty

July 15, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Steel and Fury: Combat Maneuvers of the Mighty

System– Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG

Producer– Purple Duck games

Price– $7 here http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/147952/Steel-and-Fury-DCC

TL; DR-A must have for the Dwarf or Fighter at the crawl! 97%

Basics-Cry havoc and let loose the dogs of war! Steel and Fury is a Fighter and Dwarf supplement for the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. This book focuses on the Mighty Deeds of Arms for both of those classes by adding several new deeds that are specific for the type of weapon you are using as well as expanding the deeds by adding mighty criticals and mighty fumbles.

Mechanics or Crunch-Hands down a home run. Every mighty deed gets its own page with descriptions of what happening. Also, the addition of mighty criticals and fumbles really adds to the dice rolling crunch of this system. And, the book has an amazing resource- an end of the book table showing which weapons can do which deed (MORE BOOKS SHOULD DO THIS!). As the cherry on the sundae, even the old deeds get a revisit by adding the critical and fumble rules to them as well. This is well done and slick. 5/5

Theme or Fluff- Again, another home run. Every deed has a ton of story to it. Not only does each deed have a description, but also the deed has a quote from an appendix N fantasy story. That right there is awesome. Also awesome is the art. I honestly didn’t expect much art from a small publisher, but it’s here and well done. You will feel every crunch from this one as Steel and Furry builds on to a solid foundation of carnage. 5/5

Execution-We’ve had two home runs, so it’s time for a foul. I love the book. It’s got great spacing, great writing, text, tables, and great art. What I don’t like is the price tag. This book is $7 bucks for about 60 pages. That’s a bit much as much of this book is pages with tables. $7 isn’t enough to keep me away, but I think this should be around $4 to $5 to keep up with other publishers’ prices. 4.5/5

Summary-This is a great book and addition to the DCC rpg. Purple Duck Games really made a top notch product by supplying quite frankly a ton of new content to the system. Every weapon get some love. At the back is an amazing chart detailing what each weapon can do with the new and old mighty deeds. Even old deeds get new additions with mighty criticals and mighty fumbles. The story this book tells is great proving that a straight crunch book can bring some story and panache to the table. I think the book is a bit over priced. But, if you can stomach the price, this is a necessary book for any fighter and dwarf that hits the table. 97%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Shadowrun: Run Faster

July 13, 2015July 13, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Shadowrun: Run Faster

System– Shadowrun

Producer– Catalyst Game Labs

Price– $25 here http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/141788/Shadowrun-Run-Faster?term=Shadowrun%3A+Run+Faster

TL; DR– The Shadowrun edition catch-up book. 87%

Basics-Time to dust off that chrome plated centaur! Run Faster is an edition catch-up book. While the main Shadowrun book had a comprehensive book of characters, Run Faster fills in the smaller gaps by adding all the subtypes for each metahuman race. This book also has a chapter discussing how to make your vampire and all the subtypes for that as well. In addition, Run Faster adds new archetypes, qualities, quick start packages for traits and gear, and rules for how to build up your house.

Mechanics or Crunch-This is the edition catch-up race book with a ton of extra character options as well. When a new edition arises, some people want their old, less represented races back. Here’s the book for that. Want to play a naga? Here you go! Want to play a vampire? We got rules for that! Want to play a centaur? SURE! Don’t like the new priority-based character generation plan for SR5? We’ve got several new ways to make characters from scratch now. It’s got enough chapters to bring some serious new crunch to your SR5 game. Some parts are not a useful. I’m a Shadowrun Missions game master, the entire section on vampires, while interesting, is completely useless to me. It’s well done, but something that might be better served as its own smaller PDF. There are also chapters that I absolutely love like the section on how to kit out your house. It’s amazing mechanics, but most of the Missions players will never be able to use them. What does impress me is the PACK sections. The preset packages will help you make characters quicker by giving you small, preset groups of skills, abilities, or items that you can plug into your forming character instead of slaving over the book for an hour. That, as someone who teaches the game often, will be the most useful thing out of this book. Overall, the book is amazing, but not the most versatile book for all players. 4.5/5

Theme or Fluff- The core book tells some great stories on how the 6th world works. This book fills in gaps describing how individual creatures fit in it. It doesn’t just give how the freaks of the world survive, but it also gives how a basic dwarf is seen and judged. It’s got chapters on how the vampiric-ly gifted survive and try to thrive. It’s full of stories that will give you ideas for your next run. It’s a beautiful book full of great art to give you a picture of the world. This book will help you better understand the world of Shadowrun as a (meta)person who lives there. 5/5

Execution-Oh, Shadowrun, Shadowrun, Shadowrun. You honestly know how to tell a great story, but making that book useful, searchable, and easy to use is not your strong suite. Like all Catalyst properties, don’t expect an index. That right there hurts the book. Also, organization isn’t their strong suit either. Here is the textbook example of this boks problems. In the chapter on vampires and other infected, the book gives a table on the different types of infected on their stats. Thats a good start. However, not listed on that chart are the base creature that changes when infected, the type of HMVV that infects them, or their powers. Now that’s a large chart, so I can excuse the powers not being a part of it. But, I have to look up the specific infected for each type of virus and the creature it mutated from. As someone who hasn’t played a ton of the previous editions where that was a larger part of the game, I’m stuck reading text descriptions of each infected. Those get the point across well, but they don’t get the point across easily. And that’s the problem wit this book. Give me more to your tables and more tables. Give me a table with short descriptions of the qualities and the cost with them. That was done for 3.5 DnD, and it quickly got the ideas across. This book gets its ideas across, but not in a user friendly manner. 3.5/5

Summary-I am not an old gamer. I can not call myself a proud and ancient grognard-one who’s seen the rise and fall of uncounted editions. I’m actually a recent convert to Shadowrun. I joined up late 4e, and I have fallen in love with 5e. That said, I’m way behind my knowledge about the smaller details of the setting. This is a great book to fill in those gaps. I like learning how the individual races are treated. I like learning about the nitty gritty of vampiric life. I do think some mechanics are a bit useless to most of the player base, but that doesn’t hurt the book too much by providing extra information. What does hurt the book is Catalyst’s organization of the information. In the chapters where the book wants to tell a story, it tells amazing stories. In the chapters where it has a ton of crunch information to bring to bare, it does its job but doesn’t get much help from the layout. If you love Shadowrun, this is a fantastic book to learn about the world. If you want to get new players options for your SR5 game, this is a fantastic book. If you want to learn how to produce a book and need a guide as a refer to, this is not the book to look at. 87%

Ring Side Report- RPG Review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–18: From Under Ice

July 11, 2015 ~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–18: From Under Ice

System– Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo Publishing

Price– $4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9ch2?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-6-18-From-Under-Ice

TL; DR– A THINKING humanoids mod. 97%

Basics-Chase a skykey under the ice of Irrisen! The Pathfinder Society is looking for traces of a Dwarven city that disappeared many years ago. Can you find where the dwarves went or will you anger either the Linnworm Kings or the Witches?

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a many angled mod that can be done in a straight forward way. Like most of the mods, there is a counter mechanics for determining how well the PC’s succeed on their job or secondary tasks. It’s not hard, but the mod isn’t so much about crunch, but how well the players think. It’s well done and fun when you see the players analyze and understand a situation. If the players are smart, canny, and show the proper deference, they will go through almost the entire mod without swinging their swords! That shows the mod is awesomely stretchable, but some players, the kick-in-the-door-and-eat-some-goblins players, will be vary bored if things are going well. 4.5/5

Theme or Fluff- This is where the mod truly shines. Sure, it’s got the necessary fights and counters that all good mods need, but how the players go about this mod really makes the story. Are you simply smash and grab Pathfinders or are you social dilatants? Do you understand your mission or are you simple out there to kill a bunch of people? As a GM, watching that play out is a great roleplaying experience 5/5

Execution– Season six is the absolute best season for how these mods are put together. Need the maps? Here, we have blank maps for you to resize and print. Need monster stats? Here in the back of the mod are all the monster stats, so you don’t have to have 10 books open to run the game. It’s still four bucks, but right now four bucks for ~ 30 pages seems to be the norm for most companies. Well done! 5/5

Summary– First, the elephant in the room-If you play this mod smart, you will not have many combats. And, that’s what the success condition hinges on. That right there will turn some players away. You can’t make everybody happy, but in a mod that’s mostly going across borders and meeting people, combat is a many terrible thing! The story makes world sense. The mechanics work as well as they can. The execution is absolutely fantastic. As a GM, I enjoyed this mod. My players did as well. Just make sure you know what your players want to get. Hack and slash need not apply! 97%