Tag: RPG Review

Ring Side Report-Double RPG Review of Uber RPG! Uncharted Steampunk and Universal Airship Combat System

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Product-Universal Airship Combat System

System– Uber RPG: Steampunk

Producer– Uber Goober Games

Price– ~$ 13 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/101071/Universal-Airship-Combat-System-ber-RPG-Steampunk-sourcebook

TL; DR– Two books in one! 87%

 

Basics-Time to hit the sky!  Universal Airship Combat System is a book covering the rules for airship and mech combat in the Uber RPG system.  This book covers combat in the RPG as well as giving simple rules for a tabletop miniature system.

 

Theme or Fluff- Back to the fluff first reviews for the Uber system.  This book is not a theme book, but it gives enough options that you can fit any theme into it.  Uber RPG: Steampunk doesn’t have a default setting, so this book provides the mechanics to build whatever options you want into your own world.  One of the saving graces for theme in this book is how damage is dealt.  The system uses a 52 card deck to determine where shots hit and how it damages the ship.  That kind of story elements really marries theme with mechanics as you get a short snippet on how the attack happens and some mechanical details to.   As with the base Uber RPG: Steampunk, the book doesn’t do much give you a world, but provides the tools to build it.  The only problem with that is you, the GM and players, have to do much more heavy story lifting.  4/5

 

Mechanics or Crunch– While this book isn’t a theme book; it is an amazing book for its mechanics.  Much like Uber RPG: Steampunk, the base system is d6.  The system presented here is amazingly simple and quick.  Movement happens in ascending dexterity order.  Slower ships move, and faster ships can react.  Attacking happens simultaneously.  You add up all the attack power your ship has, and then subtract the defensive powers your target has, and roll six sided dice.  For each five rolled, draw a card from a deck of cards.  For each six, draw two.  The book has a chart detailing how the card damage and affects the ship as each suit and number focus on specific areas of the ship.  Done!  It’s a slick and quick system that makes combat not drag as some large scare combat systems do.  The book even provides mech combat if you want to climb into a steam powered mechanical walker.  And rules for mech vs. airship combat!  AND rules for a table top miniatures game!  Honestly, this book is jam packed with a quick, easy to use, fun to execute combat system. 5/5

 

Execution– Uber Goober is a small company, and small companies don’t have the art resources to make large scale book full to the brim with art.  This book has lots of pages with only text.  That kind of hurts the overall appeal as you have major textbook problem.  However, this book has more tables and lots of art to show what the authors meant for each type of ship and mech. It’s better than the original book, but still a bit flawed. 4/5

 

Summary-This is an easy to use, short book that give you multiple ways to integrate steamtech into your world.  This book isn’t the most reader friendly, but there is more art than the base book for the system.  If you like the quick combat style of Uber RPG: Steampunk, then this build upon that and give more flair to large scale combat.  Honestly, if Uber would add the random table of hit locations to the base Uber RPG: Steampunk I would love that system even more.  If you you’re looking for a good tabletop system to handle steampunk miniature combat or a way to integrate more steam machine combat in your Uber RPG: Steampunk game, this is a great book to add to your collection.  87%

 

And now another Uber RPG: Steampunk Product!

 

Product-Uncharted Steampunk

System– Uber RPG

Producer– Uber Goober Games

Price– ~$ 13 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/102911/Uncharted-Steampunk-ber-RPG-Steampunk-sourcebook

TL; DR– Marry this with the base book, and it’s amazing. 83%

 

Basics-Need a world for your Uber RPG: Steampunk players to roam in?  This is a companion book to the base Uber RPG: Steampunk game.  This book provides a world to play in/destroy while still letting GM’s build their own world.

 

Theme or Fluff- Uber Uber Goober likes to let GMs build their own world.  This book, while a setting book, still let’s GMs build their own world.  How?  Well each part of the world gets a description in the three main Steampunk styles that Uber introduces at the start of their books: steam tech focused, rebelling against society, and fantasy steampunk.  Honestly, this has to be the best approach I’ve seen to getting the theme of your game out there.  The author basically says “Here are three different worlds and their themes to play with.  Choose one and go!” 5/5

 

Mechanics or Crunch– And here is where the book suffers.  The book discusses the survival skill and gives ideas for encounters, but this book doesn’t have many new mechanics in it.  What is here is good, but the books main purpose is to build the world for you, got give you new toys for that world.  It doesn’t add to many new enemies or options, but what is here is well fleshed out. 3.5/5

 

Execution-PICTURES!  This book has more pictures!  The pictures of the continents are well done.  However, much like Uber Goober’s other books, there are still a ton of pages with just black text on white page.  This book is, by definition, a geography/history textbook, and it suffers from many of the same problems old textbook do.  That makes this much less exciting to read.  A few more pictures of the peoples and scenes of different places would have really helped draw the reader in.  4/5

 

Summary– If this book and the core Uber RPG: Steampunk book were put together, they would add up to one amazing book.  This book has all the world building and steampunk theme any player could ask for.  The core book has sleek mechanics that make the game run well.  This book and the core both fill the gaps the other is missing.  On its own, this book is a good world book that gives the GM enough options to make the game they want happen in the world of their choosing.  What this book doesn’t have are many more mechanics and some more pictures to help set the stage and scenes.  All together, this is good foundation for GMs to build the world they want. 83%

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Uber RPG: Steampunk

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

Product-Uber RPG: Steampunk

System– Uber RPG

Producer– Uber Goober Games

Price– ~$ 20 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/100784/ber-RPG–Steampunk?site=&manufacturers_id=2798

TL; DR– A dense, but good, all purpose steampunk RPG. 82%

 

Basics-Have a steampunk idea in your head, but don’t have a way to execute it?  This is the RPG for you.  Uber RPG: Steampunk is a generic system designed to allow players and GMs to build the Steampunk world they want.  Let’s dig into the individual parts.

 

Theme or Fluff- Usually I look at the mechanics of a book first, but this RPG’s theme needs a bit of an introduction First.  Uber RPG: Steampunk is designed to be completely setting agnostic.  If you want superhero Steampunk, then you can make this game superhero Steampunk.  You want fantasy Steampunk, here you go.  Magic?  Same deal.  That’s great, but you now have to bring many more of your own ideas to the party.  The book does have examples of what kind of worlds you can build, but you’re the director on this one.  This level of freedom is a double edged sword as now a GM and the players have to do much more of the heavy lifting instead of letting the RPG come prebuilt and prepackaged with its own world.  The Steampunk is strong in this one as the author spends an incredible amount of time describing steampunk and the different forms of it.  That is an excellent introduction to anyone who isn’t sure what Steampunk is.  But, the saying “good at everything, master of nothing” kind of creeps in as so many different ideas a brought forth with only a little focus on each one.   4.25/5

 

Mechanics or Crunch– The system is a d6 based system.  It’s quick and painless when you know what you’re doing.  Let’s break down the different areas of the game.

Character Generation-Characters are made via a point buy system.  As with the theme, anything goes as long as you all agree with what you want in your world.  Several different examples of prebuilt characters are in the book, so you get a great idea of how to build a character.  Look at the examples as your character build can kill you if you do it wrong!  There is that much freedom here.  If you know what you want, you can build that person from the get go.  However, if you go in blind, you can make some serious mistakes that will end you in the first fight you get into.

 

Base Mechanic-This system is a d6 based system, but does not use the standard two numbers are good/one bad mechanic.  Fives are one success, six’s are two successes, and ones represent complications. Every roll is mostly independent of any other number with successes dictating how well you succeed at a task.  Dice pools are made in the standard attribute + skill ranks method common to d6 systems.  If you roll more ones than total successes a botch happens where the GM dictates your failure somehow.  This system is meant to speed up the game as the size of your dice pool can also dictate automatic successes.  The larger the pool, the mightier the task you are assumed to instantly succeed at.  I think that’s an awesome addition to the rules of any RPG.  You reward players for building in one direction, but don’t slow the game down having to make them roll the dice.

 

Powers-This game uses powers to determine your attacks and other actions.  Since the game doesn’t have one setting, Uber RPG: Steampunk gives you the ability to build whatever power you need ranging from magic missiles to Tesla coil ray guns.  Each power builds a Mighty Dice Pool which keeps powers balanced.  It’s easy to build lots of different powers quickly, and the balance also keeps things working like clockwork (Ha, Ha, Steampunk pun!) during combat.  Powers can also be pushed which means that you roll extra dice or do extra effects, but this comes at the cost of doing damage to yourself or reducing the Mighty Dice Pool of your weapon.  This represents over exerting yourself, running out of ammo for the gun, or causing some Steampunk device to go haywire.

 

Combat-Combat is quick and deadly!  Each turn players get to announce and perform an action in descending dexterity order.  Attacks use the Mighty Dice Pool determined earlier during character creation.  Some powers reduce the effectiveness of an attack, but aside from that, there is no set number to determine if an attack hits and how hard.  Characters do not have hit points.  Instead, characters have conditions ranging from stunned (out of combat for one turn) to dead.  After your attack with a power, you determine the number of success you got on your roll and compare that on a chart to the constitution of the target.  Some powers and abilities reduce the dice pool rolled, but beyond that there is no defense roll or armor class from the target.  It quick, clean, and very deadly!

 

Summary-This is well done universal system.  You get all the toys you could ask for, but you have to build them yourself.  Again, that’s heavy lifting for the GM as well as the players.  Combats quick, but you do give up some say in what happens as aside from some powers, you don’t get to determine how attack affect you.  This system works well if you invest time into it, but you do have to invest that time.  You can also see the LARP roots in this system keeping combat quick and focusing on the narrative on the encounter rather than the numbers of the encounter.  4.5/5

 

Execution– I like the system, but the book itself has a classic case of text book problem.  The book is incredibly full of information leading to several pages of text with few pictures.  The text is small, but you can easily resize on an iPad if you read the PDF.  I do like the quick summary of the game in the first few pages, but the sheer number of pages with text explaining everything in this book makes the book drag a bit.  The content is good, but more pictures and white space would really help this one.  3.5/5

 

Summary-If you want flexibility; this is the system for you.  The rules are well done to the point that anything anybody could want to make happen can happen.  The theme is light, but that’s a direct result of the book being open to anybody who wants to make their own Steampunk game.  The mechanics really reinforce that theme of open Steampunk design by focusing on balancing all the different things people could create.  I do like the balance presented in this game.  My only real concern with this game is it gets lost in its own open design and the density of material presented.  The art is good, but there just isn’t enough of it.  And, white space is your friend!  However, if you can get past the problem of getting too much in a book, and don’t mind completely building your own world and powers, this book is a well stocked tool box for building your own Steampunk world. 82%

Ring Side Report-Dungeon Master’s Guide

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 3 Comments

Product-Dungeon Master’s Guide

System– Dungeons and Dragons, 5th Edition

Producer– Wizards of the Coast

Price– ~$50 here http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Masters-Guide-Core-Rulebook/dp/0786965622/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417382314&sr=8-1&keywords=dungeon+masters+guide

TL; DR– Bands all together, let’s rock! 98%

 

Basics– Let’s get ready to roll!  The Dungeon Master’s Guide is the final book of the core three for Dungeons and Dragons.  This book covers all the behind the Dungeon Master’s screen aspects of the game.  It is roughly broken into three sections: creating a world/universe, creating adventures, and the math of the game/how to run Dungeons and Dragons.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– Ya’ know what I HATE in a RPG designed for the Dungeon Master?  No random tables!  Yes, I know they are a crutch that bad GM’s use when they don’t prep for an adventure.  But, I don’t want to have to figure out what I’m doing every second of the game, and sometimes the players will want to do something and having a random answer will really help make their choices happen at a moment’s notice.  This book as random tables out the wazoo-from making a complete random dungeon to a random adventure and the encounters between!  Also, this book goes into great detail on how to make the adventures in a non-random thought out way.  From the math behind monsters to how to hand out items and treasure, the book does an excellent job at making your life as a DM as simple as it can explaining how to set up a game in a manner where it won’t crash and fail from problems on the DM’s side of the screen.  Also, found the missing monster by CR guide from the Monster Manual!  It’s good to see it here, but it would be better to see it also in the Monster Manual. 5/5

 

Theme or Fluff-This book is full of content and absent of any content in the right ways.  The book goes into how to make a game work as a story and how to fill that story with people to meet and to kill while providing the default multiverse a bit of background too.  From the geography of the multiverse to how a circle of elders works in a feudal village, the game explains how to design a world and a story.  It’s a little light on advice on how to handle players.  That’s an experience thing, but some more sage wisdom on how to handle different kinds of people is always appreciated my new RPG fans.  The book does point to a reading list of books on how to GM, so that does cover kind of what I was hoping this book would have for the newer GM’s out there.  Overall, it’s got great story and tips on how to build your own story!  4.75/5

 

Execution– Just like the other two DnD 5e books, this one is well done!  There are enough words per page to inform, but not enough to bore.  There are lots of pictures to make the reader think of ideas to throw at their players, and almost all of them are new!  I used to play “spot the old art” in my DnD books, but I only saw one reused piece of art in this book which makes me extremely happy (along with the random tables!).  And, the new art is awesome!  If you want to learn how to make a book great from a layout, art, and design sense, then it’s this and Paizo’s books. 5/5

 

Summary– Look, if you’re running DnD, you bought this on Black Friday like the rest of us.  It’s that simple.  WotC spread out the core three books, and if you’ve bought the first two, then you bought this one too. If you’re new to RPGs, then get this book as well as the Player’s Handbook and Monster Manual.  This book has an awesome layout, great story ideas, and some randomness to help you get your players into the action as quickly as possible.  If you love Dungeons and Dragons, you need this book.  If you want to learn how to run Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, this is an awesome book that will give you all the tools you need to build the games you want and have a blast doing it.  This is a great capstone for the basic trinity of 5th edition DnD.  98%

Ring Side Report-Concert of Europe

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Product-The Concert in Flames

System– Victoriana

Producer– Cubicle 7 Entertainment

Price– ~$20 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/138588/Victoriana–The-Concert-in-Flames

TL; DR– Great adventure, but only for the GM. 87%

 

Basics-Can you stop Europe from burning?  An ancient evil is being awoken by a small group trying to upset the tentative balance of Europe and bend a fiend to their will while the fate of the Concert of Europe rides in the balance.  This book also provides GM with extremely detailed notes on the geopolitical standing of the Europe countries in 1856.

 

Mechanics or Crunch-This is NOT an option book, but that doesn’t make it a bad book.  This book adds some new mechanics like new races and a new country specific creature or enemy for each of the different regions discussed.  It’s good, but you should not expect some new options and creatures each page like a player’s option book or monster manual.  The countries do have great write ups describing the make-up of each country, so you can quickly create things like a group of upscale Russians if you need them at a moment’s notice.  The adventure has simple stat blocks for each enemy which will make running the adventure easy and quick.  What’s here is well done, but you cannot go into this one hoping for tons of new crunch.  4.5/5

 

Theme or Fluff- This is where the book truly excels.  Just like the base book, this book could almost be an excellent historical reference if you strip out the steampunk and magic elements.  Each country in 1850’s Europe gets an in-depth write-up.  The adventure itself has a ton of depth as well as a great story for your players to run amuck in.  The story has elements of government intrigue, magic, religion, and some trans-country train adventure.  It’s great steampunk fun. 5/5

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Execution– While the fluff and crunch are great; the execution has a few problems.  There are some art to break up the text, but there are too many pages with just black text on grey background.  This is a classic case of textbook problem.  I do like some the way the book is divided.  But, the font is a bit too small.  And, there is just too much of it. This book also makes an inexcusable error for any fantasy book discussing geography.  There is NO detailed map of Europe!  Nor is there a map of the adventure train routs.  While the countries are basically the same as real world 1856, a better map would have really helped with adventure design and the adventure in the book.  I do like the pictures from the adventure as you get some nice hand drawn pictures of some of the major characters.  All together, this isn’t a badly executed book, but some flaws do hurt the overall presentation. 3.5/5

 

Summary– If you want to take your players across Victoriana Europe, then buying this book is a no brainer.  GM’s get all the information they need to make each European country feel distinct from one another with far more depth than there is in the base Victoriana book.  If you want crunch options, then this book isn’t for you.  The adventure in this book is a fun romp across Europe as the players try to keep the Concert of Europe from falling apart.  If that’s the kind of adventure you and your players want to play, this is a great adventure.  However, if you don’t want to control the fate of the world and just want to play a game in London, then this is one to pass.  There are some concerns I have with the execution, but those won’t prevent you from enjoying this book if you want some excellent write ups describing Europe.  If you want some cross European intrigue and a great adventure to start that controversy, go get this one. 87%

Ring Side Report-Crawl! No.8: Firearms!

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Product– Crawl! No.8: Firearms!

System– Dungeon Crawl Classics

Producer– Stray Couches Press

Price– ~$3 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/121302/Crawl-fanzine-no-8?term=crawl%21+firearms

TL; DR– You brought a wizards to a gun fight! 93%

 

Basics-How about adding some guns to your DCC RPG game?  This book provides rules for adding firearms to your game spanning black powder cap and ball guns to laser rifles.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– Overall, the rules in this book are really well done.  This book provides different types of guns for however advanced a GM wants the guns to be in his/her home game.  The guns from different ages have distinct feels.  In addition to the standard gun y does x damage, there are new rules for duels as well as critical hit and fumble tables.  I like most of the added mechanics, but some of the things like a critical hit that disarms you I don’t like.  It’s good, but some things you might not completely agree with. 4.5/5

 

Theme or Fluff- DCC RPG has some of the best gonzo fantasy rules and themes of any RPG.  I love what I see here.  You can have modern day armies show up in a DCC RPG game and start drawing on your wizards and rogues.  It’s a blast! 5/5

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Execution-This one was reasonably well laid out, but some of the tables were a bit off.  I could read everything well enough, but I would have liked the information separated into a table and then had a larger description of the tables contents in a separate area.  It felt a bit cluttered.  Nothing is horrible, but it wasn’t my favorite layout for a Crawl! magazine. 4.5/5

 

Summary-If you love DCC RPG as much as I do, then you are going to buy this anyway.  If you are not an addict, this is a good one.  It’s not my favorite, but it’s a good addition to the magazine.  There are some great rules for adding guns to a fantasy game.  It’s all optional, but if you want a touch weirder game by giving the warrior a blaster, this is a great way to handle the rules. 93 %

Ring Side Report-Victoriana 3rd Edition

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 2 Comments

Product– Victoriana 3rd Edition

System– Victoriana

Producer– Cubicle Seven Entertainment

Price– ~$25 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/116730/Victoriana-3rd-Edition?term=victoriana+3rd

TL; DR– You can’t go wrong with Steampunk, Lovecraft, Penny-Dreadful Shadowrun! 93%

 

Basics-Ever want to mix steampunk with Victorian sensibilities and add a ton of Middle Earth to the equation?  That is the mix for Victoriana-an RPG set in 1856 where magic is semi-common place, steam power is beginning to conquer the world, and “heroes” are called from all walks of life.  This is a whole RPG in one book, so let’s break this down into its important parts and numbers.

 

Mechanics or Crunch– At this games core, it’s a simple d6 pool game.  Let’s see how that plays out on each level:

 

Base Mechanic- Victoriana is a d6 dice pool game.  Each task you do will be a combination of an attribute and an associated skill.  Shoot a gun?  Dexterity and firearms.  Ride a Wyvern?  Presence and Animal Handling.  A few small things make this game amazingly fun and different from other dice pool games.  One is the numbers you want.  You are looking for 1’s and 6’s.  Even better, 6’s explode and you roll them again counting 1’s and 6’s.  AND THE 6’s KEEP EXPLOIDING!  I love the dynamic addition of exploding dice in any game!

 

Task Difficulty-Most tasks you perform require two successes with some task allowing partial successes.  That is a quick and easy mechanic for deciding failure and success.  The system builds on this simplicity by adding “black” dice.  Want to mix dangerous chemicals on a bumpy train ride?  Well you roll your normal Attribute and Skill, but you also roll 3 BLACK dice.  These black dice work just like normal dice, but they take AWAY successes.  AND, they explode like normal dice!  AND, THE PLAYERS ROLL THEM!  This puts some of the pressure on the player and it’s just pure fun as a GM.  If you have negative successes at the end of a roll, then you have a foul failure.  These situations are where the GM gets to absolutely play with the player.  Guns break.  Mechanical arms are ruined.  Spells summon crazy monsters.  It’s the whole nine yards of bad things for a player.  Some tasks have opposed rolls like attacking and dodging, but black dice can still be added to both sides of a combat.  If you’re shooting in the dark, and my bad guy is dodging while on a slippery floor, both sides get to add black dice to their rolls.  Whoever has more successes wins.

 

Combat-You could have an RPG without combat, but why!? Each round players can choose to do one action (move, attack, cast a spell, etc) at no penalty.  However, a player can do up to his/her dexterity in actions per round.  Each action the player performs divides the dice pool for that action.  Run and shoot?  Divide your pool by two.  Run, shoot, and mix a bomb?  Divide your pool by 3 for EACH action.  Your black dice are NOT changed as your divide your pools!  You can do anything you want, but the more you do, the worse you can fail!  Damage also is dependent on d6’s.  Each weapon has a damage value.  If you score more successes than your target, you get to roll a number of d6’s equal to the damage value for your weapon counting the 1’s and 6’s as before WITH EXPLODING DICE!  After you count your successes, you add your initial number of successes to your count and the opponent subtracts his/her armor and takes the difference as damage.

 

Character Generation-Character generation in this system is divided into two broad categories: completely homemade or guided.  If you make your own character from the soles of your feet up, have fun!  If you want a little more guided approach, then you can build your character by selecting your background, breeding (social standing and race), build package (where you fit in the breeding and background), spend attribute and skill points, and earn and assign extra build points via drawbacks and other abilities.  It’s pretty simple, but flexible allowing all kinds of different characters to populate the world.  As a word of caution, this system has the kind of flexible that a few example characters could help to keep players from killing themselves during character generation.

 

Magic and Machines-It wouldn’t be magic and steampunk without magic and machines.  Magic is divided into a few different categories.  Basically, each mage has training in one of these areas of magic and makes still tests as previously discussed.  It’s simple and quick.  The different types of magic all feel different as hermetic wizards throw around all kinds of elemental magic, while people of faith have much more religion based magic like healing and exorcism.  All magic uses another metric called quintessence.  Quintessence is spent to cast spells and is recovered over time and rest.  Also, if you don’t have quintessence, you can just take damage.  I LOVE cast till you pass out systems!  This is only the tip of the iceberg, but magic does feel like magic and not just another skill roll.  Machines on the other hand are built once and then never have to be paid for again.  They may require fuel like steam or gas to run, but the different machines fell like they have different functions.  Most of these functions have different actions than magic, but part of the theme is how magic is beginning overtaken by the age of steam.  Some of these devices even require magic to be built!  Whatever steampunk idea you have in your head, based on the marvels here, you can build your favorite toy!

Order and Chaos- Victoriana’s spiritual fight isn’t between good and evil.  Don’t get me wrong, good and evil are here, but the major fight is between the forces of entropy and order.  The RPG spends some time outlying that order isn’t necessarily good as a crazed priest of order can easily be as evil as a demonologist of chaos.  Players can decide to side with one or the other, and when they do an action that advances their side, they can get dice depending how advanced they are on the cogs of their faction.  Order provides a straight bonus to an action, while chaos provides many more dice than order, but you have to roll these dice to see if you succeed.  It’s a fun addition to the game, but one that your players and you will have to choose to get deep into.

Summary-I love what is here.  It’s simple in a good way, quick, and flexible.  It’s got a fun feel with action and puts some of the dirty, hard choices in the players hands themselves with black dice.  I love when I make the players be the bad guys for a change! 5/5

 

Theme or Fluff-Victoriana is an “almost Earth” setting.  Even with elves, magic, and steam powered robots, people are not all that different.  So, this book assumes that history will pretty much follow the same path to 1856.  And, you know what?  It works really well!  I liked the world this book built.  Also, if you remove all the “wizard/steam robot did it” references in the setting back story, the first half of the book is a well done summary of European history till 1856.  Honestly, a world with different races (really different races not just Spanish compared to English, but Ogre compared to hog-faced beastmen soon to be German Chancellor) explains the wars in Europe better than the petty motivations that have occurred through all of our real history.  The story of this world drew me in, and I sat and read the intro fiction as well as the world guide.  It’s a well done world with lots of depth to help you understand the world and live in it as you game.  5/5

 

A note on history, truth, and the “isms”- Victoriana is set in a time when it was amazingly awesome to be a white, European, rich male.  For every difference from that standard, things got steadily worse.  This RPG introduces the realities of that life, but doesn’t dwell on them.  It leaves how much of that you want to throw into your game up to you.  That’s important since some players might not be too comfortable roleplaying in a time when a husband could not technically rape his wife.  And, if you wanted to, things could get worse from there.  Sexism, racism, and specisim are alive and well here, but the book walks that line well and wholly lets the GM and players decide how much of the more horrible parts of history and alternative history they want to explore.  I feel it’s important to note that there are some possible adult themes, but they are handled well.  If you just want some pulp steampunk with orcs and magic, then you can easily get that from the system too.

 

Execution-I liked this book, but the problems I have with this book are not getting enough book.  What’s here in this book is great, but could use a bit of help to distinguish information from background text.  The book is black and white.  That’s not a bad thing, but some of the information isn’t as highlighted as well as it should be.  My next major complaint is the lack of examples.  Combat and character generation could both really benefit from an example of creating a character and how to systematically tear another character to bits via combat.  I liked the layout in general.  The pictures did a great job explaining the world and people and keeping me engaged.  Even with this complaint, my comments are positive. 4/5

 

Summary-If you want some steampunk, some magic, and some Victorian history; you can’t go wrong with this system.  Character generation is easy, actions have the players doing more thinking then just roll one die, and combat is quick.  This RPG runs like a good watch-it looks like lots of too complicated moving parts, but when you really get down to it, you see its got a simple, elegant design.  Magic and machines are there, but the subsystems that make them run are not overly complicated.  A new player could easily play with either of those systems with no trouble.  My only complaint is I feel more examples of combat, encounter generation, and characters in general would have really helped players get into the system easier.  It’s not a game breaker, but it’s something to note.  Overall, I love this system.  If you’re looking for your steampunk Shadowrun fix, you cannot go wrong with this one! 93%

 

Full disclosure: I was provided a reviewer copy.

Blurbs from the Booth-How I review Games

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ Leave a comment

I love gaming, and spend way too much time and money doing it, but not all games are created equal. Some of my more popular blog posts have been my game reviews.  Let’s go through what I look for in a game, and what I want in each area.

 

Board Games

When I examine a board game, I look at four areas: mechanics, theme, instructions, and execution.

 

Mechanics-Board games are applying logic and people skills to better handling a situation compared to your competitors.  The way that logic works is the mechanics- mechanics covers how a game works.  Be it a deck building game, area control, dice rolls, randomocracy, or something mixed between everything, this can really make or break a game.  I like when I see several dimensions of mechanics at play.  Games like Tiny Epic Kingdoms or Trains take two  or more simple mechanics and mix them into something better like flour and eggs making a cake.  Some games do this amazingly well like Rococo.  Some games fail at doing something as basic as rummy….LOOKING RIGHT AT YOU TENTICAL BENTO!  If a game feels like it runs smoothly, then that game will most likely get a five.  If the game runs like a car on its last legs about to die on a bumpy road, that game will most likely be a one or less.

 

Theme-Theme is the story of a game.  Chess is a war between two kingdoms.  Rococo is different dressmakers vying for the most prestige at a ball.  Besides beating your friends at a game, this is the thing that will keep you playing.  If you lose the Lord of the Rings card game, you’ve not only lost, but the world will be plunged into darkness!  But, theme is hard to make happen.  It might just be a simple intro story like in Lost Legends, or it might be an ever pervasive thing that winds through the whole game like Arkham Horror.  Weaving a story into the theme is the height of game design for me.  Games that have tons of story like Eldritch Horror are great games that deserve a five for theme, while some games like euchre don’t even score a one as there is no story to the game.  As the amount of story you want is a game varies from person to person, this is consequently one of the most subject portions of my scoring.

 

Instructions-I’m a pretty smart guy.  I got me a PhD and everything!  (cue people pointing out all the grammar and spelling mistakes….)  But, if you can’t tell me how to play your magnum opus of a game, then that game is crap to me.  Getting your point across is important, but also how you do it is really key.  If you hit me with a wall of text in size 4 fonts on a plain white sheet of paper, then I’m going to hate you.  What you write has to be entertaining and informative while still being easy and fun to read.  Top marks go to games like Dungeon Petz where not only are the rules taught with lots of pictures, but there are lots of small jokes for the players.  Games like CO2 are horrible.  It is only a few pictures with several pages of just black text in three columns on white pages.  Also, if your rules are flat out wrong like pointing to a card that says weapon and discussing how armor works, you are going to make me very mad!  The original rules for The Lord of the Rings Dice Game had massive misprints that completely broke the game.  Needless to say the online rules were much better.  Pictures say a thousand words, as well as, breaking up the text.  Even if I can play your game after reading your rules, your rules still have to serve as a quick reference.  If I can’t find the rules I need even after a few plays, then those rules are still bad.  Layout, text size, text type, word choice, easy of readability, and pictures really define this section.

 

Execution-Here is my kind of catch all.  This encompasses some of the instruction that you might see on cards, the art on all the components, component quality, and even the box.  Execution is easy to mess up.  If the game is about shuffling cards, and you buy the cheapest cards you can find, then the cards will break/fold/tear and the game is crap.  Fantasy Flight games is the king of game execution.  Their games have lots of nice tokens with good quality cards.  Some games fall apart in the box like my copy of Machina Arcana which had a few warped ties and the cardboard standees for the monsters that broke or bent.  This won’t kill a game, but it will make the game more or less fun to play depending on the quality of what you get to play with.

 

Role Playing Games

RPG’s cover paradoxically more and less ground than a board game.  This category covers both a completely new game that is its own thing while also covering a short adventure for an established game.  I tend to cover both roughly the same, but some reviews are much longer because of what I have to cover.  Let’s look at the pieces that are out there.  I roughly divide my reviews on games into: mechanics or crunch, theme or fluff, and execution.

 

Mechanics or Crunch-The real solids of an RPG is its mechanics.  This is the part you will argue over with your GM.  I judge an RPG based on how well the mechanics work by themselves or work with the existing rules.  I also tend to judge the mechanics of how well the work with the story.  RPGs have to have much more focus on the story than a board game does.  Players are much more ok with just rolling dice in a Shoots in Ladders to decide how their characters move, but no role playing game person wants to play a game where all their actions are completely out of their hands without some story behind it.  Some mechanics are amazing like the simplicity of Dungeons and Dragons 5e, and those systems earn the fives I give them.  Some systems are just way to much crap like Fatal (DON’T, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, LOOK THAT UP!).

 

Theme or Fluff-If something is the crunch, then the other side has to be the fluffy bits.  Theme and story are the story you play in.  You can play a simple game where you just go around and kill monsters by rolling a die and adding a number, but you won’t play that for weeks on end with your friends.  A great story is what draws players back to the table.  I judge this aspect of the story by how well the story is written and how involved I get in that story.  I love when a story draws you in and won’t let you go.  I really enjoy the theme of the second part of the Skull and Shackles adventure path.  The whole adventure path is about being a pirate, and this whole module is about having a ship, raiding other ships and being a pirate.  Weak stories just turn your players away and bore them to tears.  If you can’t keep me, the GM, in your story, then how can I be expected to keep my players in your story?

 

Execution-As with board games, this tends to be a catch all for a lot of little things.  Text size, art, layout, spacing, font, tables of information, and even the paper quality all factor into this score.  I really like how the Dungeons and Dragons 5e players hand book is laid out.  For a lot of RPG’s, I know I’m basically reading a text book about a place that doesn’t exist.  Here is where you keep me reading.  Giving me a boring list of places with little regard to art or spacing will drive me away in a flash.

 

 

This is how I judge the games I play.  I’d also like to make an aside.  I tend to give higher scores than most reviewers.  There are multiple reasons for that.  For one, I tend to like most of the games I play.  I don’t often read bad RPGs or play horrible board games.  I tend to see the best out there, but some games are bad, and I know it.  And another major factor is I don’t have time to tell my readers about the bad stuff out there.  I review one RPG and one board game a week.  Reading through 300+ pages of a horrible RPG is not only a poor investment of time; it robs me of time to read and do the things I like.  I have way too many stacks of good games and RPGs to read and play that I can’t waste the time to tell you about any bad ones.  Oh, I do play them, and sometimes I do talk about them.  But, for the most part, I just don’t have the time to spend 3-4 hours playing a bad game/10+ hours to read and play a bad RPG, and hour to write about it, an hour to (poorly) edit my writing about it, and an hour to post that around the internet.  If I’m talking about your product, then most likely I like what I see.  If I don’t, and you know I’ve seen your stuff, then maybe there is a problem we should discuss.

 

How about you?  How do you evaluate the games that come across your desk?

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–05: Slave Ships of Absalom

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #6–05: Slave Ships of Absalom

System– Pathfinder

Producer– Paizo

Price– ~$4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy9985?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-6-05-Slave-Ships-of-Absalom

TL; DR– Some problems hurt a good story that’s part of this year’s metaplot. 83%

 

Basics-Someone is selling tainted slaves in the Inner Sea!  A slave at a party had a spell cast upon her that allowed someone to eavesdrop on the guest.  Can you and the rest of the Pathfinder Society make some friends by discreetly finding out who is behind this?

 

Mechanics or Crunch– This is a reasonable short adventure as it’s designed for Pathfinder Society play.  However, some major missteps happen over the course of this story.  One is the players can fail a few rolls and be completely out of luck when it comes to the mystery.  In addition, like most PFS modules, there are some roleplaying and 2-to-3 fights.  However, one of these fights is pretty tough and can easily wipe most parties if the GM doesn’t pull a few punches.  This isn’t a bad module, but some of the Pathfinder mechanics work against the fun your players could have. 3/5

 

Theme or Fluff-Overall, I liked the story of this one.  There is a decent amount of roleplaying that can happen while still having the combat that some players crave.  However, some of the story seems off.  A character won’t help the players even after the players save that person’s life!  That kind of seems out of the realm of believability even with magic and elves about.  Also, this module is about slavery, so some players won’t like working for NPC’s who openly own slaves. 4.5/5

 

Execution– This is done by Paizo. They know how to layout a book.  It’s easy and quick to read.  The art is good, but as always I’d like a bit more.  What is here is well done. 5/5

 

Summary– This is a short, fun adventure that isn’t without its faults.  I enjoyed running this for my players, and they enjoyed playing this adventure.  It has the standard problems that can plague a Pathfinder game: combats based on CR alone and rolls killing investigation/roleplay.  Those are some problems that can really gum up this adventure’s gears.  Also, this is a module that deals with slavery.  If you’re players are not comfortable with that, then this will not be fun for them.  If you want a module set in Absalom where you have a decent mix of investigation and combat, this is a better than average module.  Also, if you want to get deeper into the Year of the Sky Key, then this an good start to the metaplot. 83%

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-22 Scars of the Third Crusade

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Product– Pathfinder Society Scenario #5-22 Scars of the Third Crusade

System-Pathfinder

Price-$4 here http://paizo.com/products/btpy96i8?Pathfinder-Society-Scenario-5-22-Scars-of-the-Third-Crusade

TL;DR–  Great roleplaying, but nothing for the combat heavy characters. 87%

 

Basics-Murder is afoot!  Pathfinder agents have been arrested, and you are sent to determine if they are guilty or not.  Can you prove the innocence of your fellow agents while in a town that already doesn’t trust the Pathfinders?

 

Mechanics or Crunch-This one has exactly one or maybe two fights scenes in it, depending on how the players proceed.  Most of the time, players are investigating the murders.  If you have a combat heavy party, they will just be bored.  Also, the combats that are present will be somewhat underwhelming to most parties in the level range.  The module presents some rules for investigation, misinformation, and events in town.  Some of these events are arbitrary as well as the rules for these events being somewhat unclear.  It just might need a bit more to keep some people involved. 3.5/5

 

Theme or fluff-This is where this module shines.  You as the GM get to scream at the players if they reveal that they are Pathfinders.  Most of the people in town don’t trust the Pathfinders, and players tipping their hands make this module come alive.  The town is well described and the personalities in it are fun to run.  Everybody here has a story, and the players have to try to figure out who did it over the course of the adventure.  I loved what I saw here.  If you want a mostly roleplaying module, this is the one to look for.  5/5

 

Execution-This is a wordy one.  To get all the information a GM needs to run the mod, lots of words have to happen in a very short amount of space.   I do like that the town has a town map to help you and your players understand all the places they can investigate.  In addition, the investigation methods are presented decently as well as providing the GM with a worksheet to help GMs keep track of all the information at hand, but this chart could use another column to help me keep track of what I and haven’t told the players.  I’d have liked a few more divides in the words, but the module is set up well. 4.5/5

 

Summary-I liked running this module.  I have no problems standing up at a convention and screaming at the top of my lungs about how I hate the Pathfinders and such.  When I ran this at a con with about five other tables, I did get a few stares.  If you want to have some awesome roleplaying with your characters, then this is the module to run.  If you what a hack and slash fest where lots of things die, then do not even consider this one.  I would like some changes to the module, but overall it was a great if you have the right group.  87%

Ring Side Report-RPG Review of AMP: Year One and Attack of the Buzz

~ fineyoungmisanthrope ~ 1 Comment

Product– AMP: Year One

Producer– Third Eye Games

Price– ~$15 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/132784/AMP-Year-One

TL; DR– Want some amazingly customizable superheroes? Look here! 93%

 

Basics– When they showed up, everything changed.  AMP is a near future, heroic RPG.  Players take the roles of super humans in 2015.  The mutants have only been around and in large numbers for about a year, and the world isn’t really read for what they have to offer.  Will you fight to save mankind or destroy it?  Are you here to put these monsters in their place or will you stand with the mutants?  All of these are important questions that you will have to answer as you struggle to find where you fit in.

 

Mechanics or Crunch-This is a new RPG theme and with a ton of new mechanics.  Let’s do a rundown of some of the high points that are offer.

Base mechanic-This game has echoes of its d20 past, and I mean that in a good way.  Everything in this game is a d20 + skill A + skill B or d20 + 1 1/2 skill A.  That’s it.  It’s simple, it’s quick, and it’s fun to play.  Want to treat an animal’s wound?  That’s a d20 + beast handling + medicine.  Want to shoot a gun?  That’s d20 +marksmanship*1.5.  Simple enough.  It only gets slow when both the target and the attacker have to roll to determine if a hit is a success.  In my game, I found myself just saying 10 plus the skills for the attack or defense.  That change made my game run just a bit quicker.

Character Generation-This character generation is complex but has several walkthroughs.  This is a true everything point by.  You can really screw up your character if you try to min/max and fail horribly!  Everything from your speed, to your health, to your attacks is all bought via points.  You don’t have to take any points in speed, but you will move really slowly.  I love this style of customization, but newer RPG players really need to look over the example characters to make a useable character.  Unlike DnD5e where you make about five choices, when you make your character in AMP, you have at least 20+ decisions to make.  It’s easy to do as the math of the system doesn’t operate like the point buy from Shadowrun 4e, but don’t expect your first character to be made in five minutes.

Loyalties-One thing I wanted to point out from the character generation was loyalties.  This game has lots of different themes that are really well integrated into the mechanics.  One way that is done is with loyalties.  When you make a character you decide how important various aspects of your life are.  These range from your community, yourself, and to lovers you may have.  Each rank in these provides in game bonuses with ranks varying from rank zero to rank five.  I like the addition of mechanical benefits from role-playing choices, and these loyalty ranks really provide that connection.

Powers-It wouldn’t be a superhero RPG without superhero powers.  Powers come from several different general areas ranging from batteries (you store up energy) to behemoths (you are the Hulk!).  These powers all have augmentations that provide extra benefits like the behemoth has the crush augmentation that adds extra damage on melee attacks or the bolt ability which allows you to fire elemental blasts at people.  Most of these powers are dependent to on Juice.  Juice can be thought of as adrenalin, and it powers the superpowers of the heroes and villains.  Each broad category has a number of smaller augments that you get as you level up in the power.  Some categories have several different augmentations, while some only have a few.  It’s a quick and easy way to broadly provide the foundation for lots of different hero powers, options, and flavors.  Some of the names might be somewhat confusing, but looking over the powers the descriptions provide the rules and the story to how each power works.

Summary-The mechanics of this book are well done.  The game provides near endless customization and the ability to create the heroes and villains you want to be and see.  The new ideas such as the loyalties are excellent mechanics that other RPGs should employ that really developed the mechanics and the theme together.  However, this isn’t perfect.  Some aspects are a tad fiddly such as rolling for both attack and defense on both sides of the GM screen.  It’s not the worst thing in the world, but sometimes dealing with the amount of rolling in combat can be annoying.  Also, character generation is somewhat difficult.  If you know what you’re doing, you get all the tools you need to make any hero, but if you are just by yourself readying a character for a friend’s game, you might be lost in the amount of options you have to choose from.  4.75/5

 

Theme or Fluff- The basic story of AMP year One is that after World War I governments around the world worked on a super soldier project to stop war altogether.  Over the generations, the children of the experiments developed these super powers and passed them on.  Now, lots of super powered people are emerging.  How will the world change because of this?  What kind of person will you be?  This is a standard comic book intro, and this is semi-cheesy.  But, its super powered people.  You have to expect a little cheese in that territory.  Just look at the number to times Batman has died and come back to understand.  While it might not be my absolute favorite intro story, it does leave a lot of room for the GM to design a story in the near future world of 2015.  The first half of the book describes the history of the future, and provides lots of different story hooks as well as doing an excellent job of introducing the various groups at play in the lives of the mutants. Does this feel like the X-Men?  Good!  This RPG specifically mentions that as one of the main inspirations behind the themes of the game.  And since there is no currently published X-Men RPG out there, this is the best solution if you want to play in that world.  I think AMP does a great job driving home its theme while providing lots of different stories for the GM to run. 4.75.5

 

Execution– AMP is done fairly well.  The powers section is a bit wordy, but all the powers get nice flow charts explaining what augments you have to take to take the next one.  A little more art would be nice as well as color, but for a black and white book, it’s done really well.  The font, words, and layout all work well, and the hyperlinks don’t make my iPad slow to a crawl.  I would have liked a few more pre-generated antagonists for the PCs to face as well as a better guide on how to generate encounters.  But, on the whole this is a well done book that was fun to read. 4.5/5

 

Summary-If you want to play a free form superhero RPG?  Then, pick up this book.  The mechanics are simple, the powers work well, and the execution is great.  I have my minor gripes, but overall, this is a fun super hero RPG that isn’t too crazy or cheesy.  The world is fresh and interesting while providing enough open-endedness to give the GMs free reign in the stories they want to tell.  I was actually pretty entertained by the story that this book had to tell.  Since the tile of the book is AMP Year One, I hope the authors keep up with other AMP books or splat books to keep the metastory going.  93 %

 

How about two products today?  Here is the first adventure for the AMP Year One RPG-Attack of the Buzz!

 

Product– Attack of the Buzz

Producer– Third Eye Games

Price– ~$3 here http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/137727/Attack-of-the-Buzz-Adventure-for-AMP-Year-One

TL; DR– Know your group, and this will be a blast. 90%

 

Basics- Alice, Texas is under attack! Not by the mutants that are running around but by bees! Hundreds have died, and no one knows why the bees won’t give up attacking people.  Can you and the other AMPs you travel with find out how to prevent the bees from killing the town or will you end up like the rest of the town?

 

Mechanics or Crunch-The adventure is a fun one, but there are some problems depending on who is playing.  This isn’t a bad adventure for mechanics as everything presented makes sense in the AMP work and is balanced, but bees are swarms.  And, swarms are always hard to fight.  Especially with new characters.  Some characters will be completely useless for some of the major scenes in this adventure.  If you have a super computer hacker, then that character will spend most of his/her time running from the bees.  It’s a bold move for the first adventure put out by a system to feature swarms as the main villain, and I think it hurts the fun a bit.  However, the adventure does provide some new powers as well some equipment to help smart players.  What’s here is good, but the mileage your players will get out of the module really depends on who is at the table. 4/5

 

Theme or Fluff-This is one of the major events in the AMP Year One story.  My players enjoyed being part of the world and solving a major mystery that is presented in the main book.  It was fun for the players to work out how to solve some problems as well as fighting for their lives!  Also, the major groups all have reasons to send characters to this location helps me as a GM bring all the players to this location while still allowing the players to be whatever they want to be.  I didn’t feel like I had to shoehorn my players into this one size fits all adventure. 5/5

 

Execution-This product was laid out like the AMP Year One core book.  Overall, that’s good as I like the text, font, and layout, but I felt this lacked a few things.  Alice, Texas doesn’t have a map.  That was somewhat troubling.  However, I did like the fact that there is some new art like the main villain and the bees attacking the town. The art was well done, conveyed the sense of terror from a bee swarm attacking people, but didn’t go gory.  The RPG was still pretty age neutral, and that makes the super hero genera fun.  I would have liked a bit more art, but for the price of the module, it’s worth it.  4.5/5

 

Summary-As a mod that’s a cold intro to the system, this one might not be favorite.  The main enemies that are thrown against the player are kind of hard to deal with when players have limited resources and powers.  That said, if your players know that swarms are a problem here and they can plan accordingly, then this is a fun module.  I’d like a bit more to the module like a map, but for the price, I had fun and so did my players.  It’s a quicker mod as it doesn’t have tons of scenes, but that’s not a large problem.  If you need your AMP fix and want to learn one of the major secrets in the AMP world, this is a great way to get some more of the system. 90%