Tag: RPG Review

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Xcrawl Classics RPG (XCC RPG)

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Product– Xcrawl Classics RPG (XCC RPG)

System- DCC

Producer– Goodman Games

Price– $41.99 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/499743/xcrawl-classics-rpg-xcc-rpg?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR–  Miss old school wrestling and RPGS?  HERE YOU GO! 100% 

Basics– FROM THE TURNBUCKLE!  Xcrawl is the crazy spawn of DCC and American Gladiators.  Players are crawlers in a world where magic happens, but Emperor Reagan used a DnD game to keep the masses in check.  I am not making that up.  You quest LIVE on TV for MONEY and PRIZES while dungeon judges or DJs put traps and monsters in your way.  Think a much more light hearted version of The Running Man.  Let’s look at this.

Core mechanics-  Can you play DCC?  Then you can play this.  If not, can you play DnD 3.5?  If not, we’ll teach you in about five minutes.  It’s D20 + numbers vs another number as the main mechanic.  Solid, fast and fun.

Character classes-  Like any other major DCC set, this one features several new classes.  We have the standard set of Fighter, rogue, wizard, cleric, but they are much more focused on combat and less outside stuff.  The fighter has two spiritual successors with one being all grappling and one being just about bringing pain to monsters.  The wizard gets a new class that is all about blasting stuff because Emperor Regean decreed it be (yes really!).  This book’s classes are much more combat based, but still have that DCC feel.

Mojo and Fame– DCC has luck where you can spend points to gain stuff, and this game has mojo and luck. Mojo is the favor of the crowd.  You do a signature move or do something cool, and you gain mojo. But, mojo isn’t for you-it’s for your friends!  You spend mojo points to help a buddy with a roll. It’s all about team work!  Fame is what you get as you become more famous.  You spend it to be recognized or get stuff out in the real world.  Fame is how cool you are.

Ok, now the review.

Mechanics or Crunch– Do you like DCC?  That’s going to determine if you like this.  Do you want simple 3.5 mechanics with just crazy stuff happening in the mechanics?  If you don’t, then this won’t be for you.  I love crazy and I love the DCC simplicity, so this is just more of a homerun for me. 5/5

Theme or Fluff– How much do you like 80s wrestling and the movie The Running Man?  That’s the theme of the world.  I am honestly a bit disappointed that the book isn’t more neon to drive the 80s aesthetic deeper into your mind.  But it’s a world where DnD was so popular that the God-King had to have geeks help him maintain social control through Wrestlemanina mixed with GenCon.  So, yeah, it’s nuts, but man is it fun.  5/5

Execution– Goodman games makes games that look like you would find them in the zine sections of a bookshop in 1985, but they are built and laid out like they were created in a major New York publishing house.  It reads fast with tons of pictures.  It’s searchable and hyperlinked, and the book comes with a reference book that I can give to players to help you make that level 1 character on the fly.  This is exactly what I want in a game.  5/5

Summary– I love what this book is, but I can promise that no matter how well its done, some of you will hate it.  If you need LotR levels of serious in your game night, keep moving.  No offense taken or meant, but this is not for you.  If you need Traveler or Shadowrun levels of crunch in your games, keep going.  You build your character by rolling a bunch of dice and then throwing the characters into a thing called a funnel.  Most will die, but your surviving person has a hell of a story!  If you like DCC and want some Kentucky Fried Crazy added to the mix, then this is for you.  Considering I’m writing this while watching the documentary on American Gladiators and have bored my wife with stories of 1980s wrestlers, this might have been made for me in particular.  Give this one a look if the theme and mechanics are up your alley.    100%  

Ring Side Report- RPG review of The Painted Wastelands

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Product– The Painted Wastelands

System- Old School Essentials

Producer– Agamemnon Press

Price– $35 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/498797/the-painted-wastelands?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR– Makes me think I have not done enough hard drugs for this awesome adventure! 99% 

Basics– Fungal wine-not even once!  The Painted Wastelands is a hex crawl adventure.  And that sells it WAY too short.  This book has maps, dungeons, encounters, tons of art, new classes, new spells, and loads of resources for any gonzo Old School Essentials game.  Let’s break this down.

Mechanics or Crunch–   Old School Essentials is a rules-light game, but this doesn’t skimp on content here.  The basic content of some monster and dungeons with traps is here, and it’s done well.  The extra is what sells this book.  Want to play a cat?  You get a pet human!  That’s the level of this book.  And that right there might sell a ton of you on this book.  Beyond that are just tons of random tables with random events and tons of background characters that you can interact with and kill.  This is a sandbox, and the book gives you all the toys you need to play in it. 5/5

Theme or Fluff–  This is a fever dream of content.  Two guys making a book that’s a hex crawl would be fantastic for just 35 hexes of content with a few dungeons.  This has art on almost every page and it’s not standard fantasy art.  It’s stuff that makes most hallucinations look tame, but not in a bad way.  It’s crazy, it’s otherworldly, and it’s gorgeous. It’s a world that is completely alien but oddly inviting.  The story is light.  You don’t get the standard spoon feeding for a story, but there is a random chart with story hooks.  But the star of the book is the world itself.  Again, this is a fever dream of bizarre, alluring content, and a place I want to throw my players into.   5/5

Execution– This is a near perfect setting and hex crawl.  First my angry one comment-no player map!  Give me a map that I can give my players with stuff they might know and blankish hexes that I can use to let them play on.  Too many hex crawls don’t do that!  But, that’s the last bad thing I have to say.  This is a hyperlinked book that is laid out well, reads fast, and has glorious art.  I can quickly hop around this book and get to where I want to and read fast enough that I don’t need to spend hours prepping an adventure.  There are also dungeons and maps of places they can explore and lots of pictures of NPCs they can interact with.  It’s a fantastic world that I am honestly drawn into.    4.95/5

Summary– So if you are looking for a standard “save the princess from the dragon”, medieval europe fantasy adventure, keep looking.  This is not that book.  If you want an LSD fever dream that will make Alice in Wonderland seem normal while you kill both Mad Max monsters and undead wizards, then this is the book.  AND YOU CAN BE A CAT!  There’s a bunch more from spells, to more realistic classes, to whole political things, but bla bla bla CAT! Not a Cat -person race, a straight up CAT! That’s gonna get so many people who don’t care about RPGs to hang with their friends in this world. I can’t stress how much this book is crazy, and I love it. It won’t be what everyone wants.  I love sushi and even if you go to the top sushi in the world, some people will turn their noses up.  This is near perfect sushi, and I can’t get enough.    99%  

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Discworld RPG Kickstarter

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Product– Discworld RPG Kickstarter

System- Discworld RPG

Producer– Modiphius

Price– FREE here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/modiphius/terry-pratchetts-discworld-rpg?ref=4ogp2x 

TL; DR-Solid, narrative game.  99% 

Basics– Only the turtle knows what’s coming next.  A new edition of the Discworld RPG is coming!  Let’s look at the breakdown and see how its played.

Base Mechanics and stats-  There are no stats, but your character is a write up with a few sentences.  When you want to do anything, you tell the GM what you want to do and explain why you’re good at the action. The GM then tells you to roll any die from a d4 to a d12.  Bigger dice means you are better at the action.  The GM then rolls a d8.  Whoever has a higher roll gets their desired result.  Ties succeed, but a mix of results happen.  Negative results cause conditions such as a wound, damage, or something else happening for the characters.

And that’s it!

Mechanics or Crunch–   So, there are dice and things happen, but the mechanics are VERY light.  This game uses a much more narrative system.  It also relies on a LOT of trust between the GM and the players.  If you enjoy that, it works.  If you need the +1 from this and the +4 from that, you will absolutely HATE this system.  I don’t mind it, but your experience will be determined by your personal preferences.  5/5

Theme or Fluff–  Do you like Terry Pratchett?  That’s honestly what will determine if this game’s theme is good for you.  This a lot more theater and a lot less crunch than most systems, so be aware of this.  Again, if you need dark fantasy or more logic like Lord of the Rings, maybe give this a pass.  I LOVE Pratchett, so I love the idea of this game.  5/5

Execution– This is a near perfect demo for the game.  You have a decent rundown of the game, fun worldbuilding, and a FULL four hour adventure with  multiple premade characters.  It reads fast and easily, but no hyperlinks!  That is the lone issue with this book’s construction.  This is almost a copy of my last review, but it still holds true!  4.95/5

Summary– This game is a litmus test for you and your gaming group.  If you need the crunch, you will not like this game even if you like Pratchett.  If you can’t stand satirical fantasy regardless of the narrative gameplay, you will not like this.  I am ok with both, depending on the group.  The book reads like Pratchett and has the right flavor of the world.  That honestly makes me profoundly happy.  I don’t think Pratchett lends itself well to DnD-style kill-goblin games. Discworld is more funny stories with a purpose.  And for the price, go check this one out regardless.  99%  

Ring Side Report- RPG review of High School Cthulhu

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Product– High School Cthulhu Demo

System- High School Cthulhu

Producer– Gear Games

Price– FREE here https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/gear-games/high-school-cthulhu-roleplaying-game

TL; DR– 90s teen Cthulhu.  99% 

Basics– Homework and the end of days?  Bummer…. High School Cthulhu is about that turbulent time in any young man’s life where the elder gods are trying to end life as we know it and you have to figure out the school dance.  High School Cthulhu is a teen drama RPG set in the 90s where all of Lovercraft is happening just below the surface.  Let’s go Innsmith tentacles!  Here is the breakdown.

Base Mechanics and stats-  Every character has base attributes that can’t go below 1 and base skills for each stat that can’t go below one.  Each time you want to do anything, the GM will tell you the skill and attribute to roll.  You take that many d6s and roll them.  You are not aiming for any particular number, just a group of one number.  The number of same results you get determines the level of your success.  More successes is better than less.

Rerolls-You can choose to take any number of unsuccessful dice and reroll them.  If you do, you MUST roll one more of the number you saved.  If you do, great!  Take the new result or reroll again.  If you fail to get another number like the ones you saved, then you fail!

Grit-Grit is your hit points.  You gain and lose these as things happen.  They are not the same as your DnD hit points, but they serve the same function.  Lose too many and bad things happen, like getting knocked out.

Miracles and Guts-  If you succeed at anything really well you gain Guts.  Guts give you special bonuses to rolls or help a bit in a situation.  Miracles are like guts but WAY bigger.  You’re still a teen and mortal.  You can absolutely get wrecked by some monster or a crazy person with a shovel. Miracles are your dad stepping in punching the guy or talking the cops out of arresting you for breaking into the school.

Madness–  Wouldn’t be Cthulhu without madness.  Each character has a spiral of madness.  As you see things and fail rolls you gain madness.  Along the spiral you hit bad points and you get a bit crazy.  These are not realistic mental illnesses, but it does give the Lovecraft flavor we know and love.  Lose too much and you lose yourself.

Drama- And it wouldn’t be teen-centered storytelling without drama!  As you fight other characters and fail rolls, you gain drama.  Too much drama and everyone has to have a montage where you all separate and have a sad moment to reconcile, but friendships are hurt and bonds broken.  Standard teen stuff.

Allright, let’s review the game

Mechanics or Crunch–   This is an interesting take on a d6 system.  You roll a bunch of dice and see what happens.  You don’t need specific dice results, so it’s different.  I do love rolling 40 dice in Shadowrun, but while this is different it is fun still.  SImple and clean make a good system. 5/5

Theme or Fluff–  I WAS a teen in the 90s!  I remember most of the movie and show references this game parodies, and I love it.  It might not be for the younger kids, but if you remember “I know what you did last summer” and read “The shadow over Innsmouth” in the 90s, then this is the game for you.  So many references in this book!   I like what’s here, and if you need to take aspirin for your knees in the morning, you will too.  5/5

Execution– This is a near perfect demo for the game.  You have a decent rundown of the game, fun worldbuilding, and a FULL four hour adventure with  multiple premade characters.  It reads fast and easily, but no hyperlinks!  That is the lone issue with this book’s construction.  4.95/5

Summary– This is free and hits near Halloween. Just go get this one from the backerkit.  I love what I see, and the price is right for free!  I love the game, and I hope you do as well.  Solid 90s vibes with solid Cthulhu energy.  99% 

Ring Side Report- RPG review of DCC Day 2023 Adventure Pack

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Product– DCC Day 2023 Adventure Pack

System- DCC RPG

Producer– Goodman Games

Price– FREE here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/434178/dcc-day-2023-adventure-pack?affiliate_id=658618 

TL; DR– HERE IS FREE GOOD STUFF! 100% 

Basics– Hey, kid, you want to try some DCC?  Here are the DCC RPG game day free RPG adventures.  There are two separate adventures for both level 1 and level 2.

Mechanics or Crunch–   Goodman games wrote these adventures, so expect the standard level of death and dismemberment as with any low level DCC adventure.  It’s hard with sudden deaths, but not overly so.  Your first and second level characters will probably survive!  It’s standard crunch, but it’s fun!  5/5

Theme or Fluff–  Ah DCC, you crazy monster.  These adventures are all over the place.  If you need Lord of the Rings level of understanding of life, then this is not for you.  DCC is more gonzo and these are no exceptions.  They are fun, and tell a story, but it’s still crazy!  If you,  like me, enjoy a crazy story, you will enjoy this.  5/5

Execution– Like Goodman Games adventures and layout?  Then you will like this.  There are nice pictures, fun maps, and good descriptions of rooms.  The overall book is exactly what to expect in terms of layout, writing, and basic construction.  And I love that.  5/5

Summary– Go get this.  It’s FREE!  Use this with the free DCC materials to go play some games.  This is just pure fun, pure crazy, and something that you can easily use to get the family and friends in the game.  For the price of nothings, this will well worth checking out.  100%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast!

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Product– Starfinder Playtest Scenario #2: It Came from the Vast!

System- Starfinder 2nd Ed Playtest

Producer– Paizo

Price– 5.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq067lz?Starfinder-Playtest-Scenario-2-It-Came-from-the-Vast 

TL; DR– Almost perfect space horror. 97% 

Basics– In space, no one can hear how good this is. It Came from the Vast! is the second Starfinder playtest scenario.  In it, space truckers find an abandoned ship, decide to make money on it, and find it is much more than they originally thought.  This time for level five characters!

Mechanics or Crunch– So far so solid! The mechanics on display for the 5th level pregens and the five level adventure all work well.  There is a variety of things here that the characters encounter, from monsters to haunts to skill checks.  It’s just a solid experience for two hours.  5/5

Theme or Fluff– You’ve heard the beats before, but this song is still different enough to be fun.  I too love me some Alien, but this one gets elements of The Thing involved as well.  Solid fun all around, and different enough that my players and I all had a blast, even though we knew what was going to happen after we read the adventure description.  5/5

Execution– I liked this adventure, but it’s missing a few pieces.  The standard layout of the PFS adventures with pictures at the end are not here.  It has a good layout and is easy to read, but the pictures help me show players the monsters and other creatures involved.  Also, I like the stat blocks to be separate.  These are small things, but it hurts the presentation a bit.  This is exactly the same as what I said for scenario one, and I still stand by that. 4.5/5

Summary– This is exactly what I want to see in a Science-Fantasy space horror.  You got monsters, you got areas dripping with goo, you got space horrors and discovery, you got magic plant ships, you got ghosts of the dead.  This is a fantastic short adventure that is easy to run, and fun for all.  Give me back some of the older layout and this would be perfect.  97%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet

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Product– Starfinder Playtest Scenario #1: Shards of the Glass Planet

System- Starfinder 2nd Ed Playtest

Producer– Paizo

Price– 5.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq067m5?Starfinder-Playtest-Scenario-1-Shards-of-the-Glass-Planet 

TL; DR-Dry but good intro. 90% 

Basics– Go to new places, meet new people, and… make friends?! The drift crisis has opened up a world held in a glass bubble.  This adventure gives a bit of world lore, a bit of mechanics, and a good chance to see how Starfinder 2nd Ed will work.

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure works well mechanically.  It has the basic breakdown of being a few skill checks to learn about the world that has been opened up, then some stuff happens, combat, trap, and final combat.  It’s short, but all the DCs are within line of what to expect, and the combat is resonbably what I expected.  You can not do anything too crazy in a level 1, so while short, it is expected and fun. 5/5

Theme or Fluff– This is a fun adventure, but not the most involved.  As I said before, it’s skill checks, combat, trap, and final combat.  Short, but not that complex.  Then again, it’s level 1, so you can’t throw the PCs into too crazy an adventure. My players and I had fun, but be prepared to ham up roleplay. 4/5

Execution– I liked this adventure, but it’s missing a few pieces.  The standard layout of the PFS adventures with pictures at the end are not here.  It has a good layout and is easy to read, but the pictures help me show players the monsters and other creatures involved.  Also, I like the stat blocks to be separate.  These are small things, but it hurts the presentation a bit. 4.5/5Summary–  This is a fun adventure, but maybe not the best Paizo has put out.  It’s also a bit hard since it’s a level 1 adventure that is the same as a quest.  Don’t expect multiple hours of crazy adventure, but do expect a short, fun intro to Starfinder 2nd Ed.  It has a few faults, but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining.  90%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Pathfinder Adventure Path #182: Graveclaw (Blood Lords 2 of 6)

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Product– Pathfinder Adventure Path #182: Graveclaw (Blood Lords 2 of 6)

System- Pathfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– 26.99 here https://paizo.com/products/btq02asf?Pathfinder-Adventure-Path-182-Graveclaw 

TL; DR-Why fight undead when you can fight the fey?  95% 

Basics– Go to new places, meet new fey, and kill them!  Graveclaw continues the Blood Lords adventure path as our heroes begin to track down the people who are involved in the poisoning plot and THEY ARE ALL FEY!  Find the hags, kill them, and travel all around the land of Geb

Mechanics or Crunch– This adventure is a bit tougher for the players than most of what I’ve seen.  The players had fun, but they took some beating compared to most of my Pathfinder experience.  That’s not bad, but it can get discouraging as they have to keep fighting again and again to stay alive.  It’s a fun adventure, but something that might turn away some players with some slight balance issues.  Also, the faction system is broken.  I like the general idea, but right now I and my players still don’t know what the points do.  More guidance is needed to really bring this out for everyone.  4.75/5

Theme or Fluff– The story here is good, but disjointed.  The major plot of finding who is responsible for killing everything is fully on display.  That said, this adventure is more vignettes as the players learn where a hag is, go there, meet locals who hate her, go to her home, and kill her.  Repeat till four hags die.  It’s not bad, but a bit too disconnected for a full flowing story.  But when hanging out with a magic drugged up Vampire lord on a bender is on the itinerary, who cares? 4.5/5

Execution– Overall solid work from Paizo with one problem that I will dock because I am petty.  Solid lay out, eat to read, and good art all make this a great product.  Things that would make me happy are maps that fit into Roll20, but Paizo backed Foundry instead.  That’s understandable.  It’s hyperlinked, so it’s nice for my tablet.  The ONE thing that drove me up a wall was the last fight.  The final boss is listed in one place, when you go there, it then references a second area.  That annoyed me as the other creatures in the fight are listed in the first area.  So, I end up bouncing between three places in a book. DON’T DO THAT!  Aside from that one annoyance, Paizo makes a solid book. 4.95/5

Summary– Blood Lords continues to be some of the most fun I have had in Pathfinder that Paizo doesn’t like to admit too.  It’s most definitely not a a standard hero story as the players often are not great heroes but aspiring evil lords.  This particular part is good, but misses a few too many things to be amazing.  The adventure is brutal, but not bad. The story is a bit disjointed, but still flows.  The execution as always is good.  I will definitely be returning for the third part of this path!  95%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of Starfinder 2nd Ed playtest

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Product– Starfinder 2nd Ed playtest

System- Starfinder 2nd Ed

Producer– Paizo

Price– FREE here https://downloads.paizo.com/PZO22000E.pdf 

TL; DR– Want to play some Pathfinder in space?  95% 

Basics– Pathfinder 2nd ed IN SPACE!  Ok, let’s look deep into this deep space RPG.

Base Mechanics- Do you remember pathfinder 2nd Ed?  If you are proficient in a thing, it’s proficiency bonus (trained, expert, master, or legendary) + ability modifier + level + d20.  Not proficient? D20 + ability modifier.  This is versus AC or some static number from another character.  That’s it!  If you love Pathfinder 2nd Ed, you can instantly play this one.

This is a full RPG, but honestly if you have the Pathfinder basics down, then you are ready to go!  Let’s look at my thoughts.

Mechanics or Crunch– I love Pathfinder 2nd Ed, so this is perfect.  This feels a bit better balanced from small things like cantrips doing damage based on level.  The changes that were imposed to make the 3.5 to Pathfinder 2nd ed transfer are solid, like Aim for the Operative class making them equivalent Pathfinder 2nd Ed ranged rogues.  All the new changes from the standard Pathfinder 2nd ed formula work well adapted to the space opera of Starfinder.  It’s what I expected, but still enjoyable.   5/5

Theme or Fluff– This is solid, but things are missing.  We have the basics of the world, but some things are lost and have to be lost.  A big one for me is the notion of stamina.  I loved stamina and hit points being different.  Now, you just have hit points.  That changes the flavor a bit.  It needed to go for Starfinder to work in Pathfinder 2nd Ed’s mechanics, but it’s a change that loses some of the originality of Starfinder.  Other things work well like the mystic, Starfinder’s cleric-ish character, having a giant pool of hit points that it can use to heal any character in the group.  This feels like a fun new addition to the Pathfinder system.  The changes are good, but some flavor is lost in the transition.  4.5/5

Execution– Starfinder 2nd ed is well done, but I feel I want a few changes.  The layout and PDF is well done.  Also, given this book is free it is instantly amazing.  You can easily speed read through any section and skim to find the information you need.  But I want more summary tables.  Skill feats have nice tables, giving summaries of each of the different feats and the full feat is below with its full write up.  Class feats are not written that way.  Archive of Nethys does this better; it has all class feats in nice tables that you can read via hyperlink.  Make those tables for each class to make it easier to read!  Also, this may be a bit petty, but Pathfinder 2nd Ed started using titles in their PDF files.  This document does not.  PLEASE DO THAT.  I don’t want to have to memorize long strings of digits to know what files I need to open for game night!  And last but not least, missing are the major rules I was hoping for: space ships.  Ship combat in Starfinder was fun, BUT you had to want it.  And most players did not, based on how the adventures are written.  This book does not have spaceship combat.  I know Paizo knows how to make Pathfinder 2nd Ed work.  They do fantastic jobs on Pathfinder 2nd Ed, but I don’t know how they plan to handle space ships.  The absence of these rules is something experienced Starfinders will feel.    4.75/5

Summary– Go get this PDF!  It’s free, so I need to tell everyone to check this out.  I love Pathfinder 2nd Ed, and I watched Star Wars Ewok adventures on VHS so many times as a child I  broke the video tape.  Starfinder is the system that was built for the Starfinder game, but saw a few issues.  Starfinder 2nd Ed is a solid progression of the Starfinder brand.  There are issues, and some of those will be fixed when the full rules come out and others are just growing pains of the system.  Others are just CHANGE HOW YOU NAME THINGS!  But, even with a few small issues, this game is a solid RPG that you should check out.  95%

Ring Side Report- RPG review of ION Heart

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Product– ION Heart

System- ION Heart

Producer– Parabel Games

Price– Different price levels here https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/parable-games/ion-heart-a-cozy-solo-mech-ttrpg 

TL; DR-Fun creative solo space adventures 93% 

Basics– MECHS IN SPACE!  ION Heart is a solo RPG where you play a random character exploring a random galaxy with a random mech.  Let’s break this down and look over the basics and system itself.

Base Mechanics- This is a d6 RPG.  It is VERY low crunch.  You have some basic bonuses with a +1 and a -1 being the biggest changes to a roll you see in the quickstart guide.  If you want to do a thing, roll a d6, add any modifiers you have, and see if you hit the target number, usually a 4.  It’s quick and efficient.

Character building- RANDOM!  This book has either 1 to 3 or 1 to 6 options at every choice.  Build a pilot?  There are six races and three backgrounds.  You can choose or roll.  Same for the mechs.

Adventures- When you go on an adventure, you roll to see the type of planet you land on, the type of settlement, and the type of adventure you will go on.  For each adventure, you roll three times to have three different adventures of the five provided, sixth being choose one, and then have a final conclusion adventure.  Each mini adventure mostly has you roll one time and see if you succeed or fail.

That’s the basics, let’s dig into my thoughts.

Mechanics or Crunch– I don’t hate games with small mechanics, and this one does well with what it is.  It’s not very deep, but that’s not the experience of this game.  I LOVE me some Shadowrun shenanigans with crazy levels of crunch, but this is a much more low key, Lo-Fi RPG.  If you want 90 minutes of math for a roll, this isn’t the experience for you.  But I’m interested.   5/5

Theme or Fluff– This, like many other solo RPGs, is almost more about what you bring to the game than what it brings to you.  The mini adventures and places ask you to describe them.  You take the time to write out what you think and see.  This is almost more like a creative writing exercise than just a game.  That’s not bad, but I feel the dependence on randomness for the tables is a bit too much and takes away a bit of the charm.  The game is still full of story and an intriguing universe, but too much randomness spoils the product.  4.5/5

Execution– The product itself looks great and the things you can get are awesome, but it’s a bit pricey.  To get a physical basic book, it’s 30 pounds.  That feels a bit pricey.  To get a book to write your adventures into you need to pledge 80 pounds.  That’s again too much.  The art is nice, and the write up is well done and easy to read.  The layout is fantastic and I enjoy the minimalist art.  Just the price keeps me away a bit.    4.5/5

Summary– This book backerkit leaves me interested.  The game is a creative exercise with some math and fun randomness.  The things I don’t like are too much randomness and too high a price.  The digital only 15 pound option has me most intrigued.  That feels like a fair option to get me into bettering myself as a writer, having space adventures, and seeing the full product.  This is one to check out, but know exactly what you want out of this game.  93%