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Tephra: the Steampunk RPG
by Jonathan L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/07/2024 21:23:17

As an RPG enthusiast, the simple but not simplified clockwork system in Tepphra is genius. I don't know if it's original, but it feels like a bit of a load off from the dice heavy 5e. As a fledgling DM, the rules took awhile to grasp but the gude was at least neatly categorized for quick references, and as an added bonus the author was kind enough to include a character creation quick guide, and a character sheet (in this PDF) for easy copying and printing. I've yet to get a chance to play this with a group, but I can't wait for that chance in the future.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Tephra: the Steampunk RPG
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Tephra: the Steampunk RPG
by Norbert P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/09/2018 13:21:41

Steampunk in a new world...A complete original setting...see my youtube review of this game.

Tephra review: https://youtu.be/kCPp0RID8C8



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Tephra: the Steampunk RPG
by A customer [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/13/2016 09:06:41

I was looking for a Steampunk game for a gaming group I was running a few months back. I wound up finding this game, tried out the rapid fire guide (which is a free slimmed down version to showcase its potential) and decided to buy the core book. Decided to spend some extra money and bought one of the adventurer expansions and ran it for a couple of friends of mine. We fell in love with it almost instantly, Tephra has a good balance within its system between numbers and fun. For the players who love numbers and making the perfect character type that is entirely possible and can be paired with someone who just wants to make a stragne character that they never tried.

I then wound up playing this game with two other gaming group friends and according to them they went to the Tephra website and bought the full set of books in physical form as well as pdf. I recommend this game to anyone who wants to play an fun Steampunk Fantasy style game. Plus this game keeps expanding, I am on their newsletter emailing list and get updates when a new book is in the works.

The system is unique, the world is creative, they take original twists on concepts most people wouldn't think to do and most at least for my groups the learning curve is really quick.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Tephra: the Steampunk RPG
by Timothy S. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/13/2016 05:14:09

Tephra really needs a good review. It's so unusual that it needs a good look. I'm not going to do that here, but what I am going to do is give you my honest opinion of Tephra, and recommend it. When I say it's unusual, I mean that yes, it's Steampunk and even though Steampunk has begun to take on a populus bent, Tephra covers the genre very well. It has all the tropes you would expect of Steampunk, but it definitely is not just a boring game with iron bits welded on to make it look Steampunk without actually doing it very well. Cracked Mononcle not only has created a very unusual system mechanically, but the world, the setting, and all the fantastical elements of Tephra all are like nothing you may have seen before. Simple things like how the health of the character is determined and used, and how Tephra treats magic (the Aether) are just some of the things that you'll love in Tephra. It's truly it's own game, devoted to adding to the genre without stealing the tired elements that we've seen flooding the market.

The only thing I personally don't like about Tephra are the PC races. It's just my personal preference; it has nothing to do with the creativity or design. I would GM this game using a Victorian age England as the setting with maybe one or two at the most unusual races. I know that's same-old, same-old, but to me Steampunk is forever tied to Queen Victoria's England. The races they introduce in Tephra are well done and unusual, I just don't like them very much. Sorry.

The artwork is also very nice in Tephra, although again my personal opinion is that it's too "Anime". I can't stand Anime (that's just me) so anything similar to it just turns me off. Don't let that turn you away from this game, though. And get all the expansions, especially the Aether and the Automatons! The price of Tephra, even including all the expansions and sourcebooks, is quite low, and it'll be a worthwhile investment to your gaming group. I see the core rulebook is on Drivethru right now for 9.99, down from 39.99 regularly. Hopefully they're able to keep it that low.

Final word: Excellent!



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for the fantastic review! I\'ve shared this with the development team, and they are very happy to get such warm feedback. We completely understand (and some of us agree with) the issues you have, and I personally have run quite a few human-only Victorian England games of Tephra. I hope that we can continue to deliver products that you\'ll enjoy and surprise you! Cheers & Gears, Daniel Burrow
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Tephra: the Steampunk RPG
by Walter H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/20/2015 18:47:35

I bought this because I like Steam Punk, and as a Deal of the Day, I had to take a look at it. I wanted to compare this to some of the other ones that I have come across.

It's an interesting concept, although I'm not sure whether or not I'll be able to get either of my groups to play it -- but I'll try to do a one-off with the pre-gens that they have on their site. One group likes d20 and the other enjoys a more narrative system like FFG's. This fits somewhere in the middle, and in some ways reminds me a bit of Fate as you succeed, but how well? I like the usage of a d12 because it gives a flatter distribution than a d20, but I also wonder why not just go with a d10.

My only real gripe is that I wish there was a more printer friendly version. The PDF doesn't allow you to remove that layer, so there's a lot of grey on each page... so in some cases, I have a slight issue reading the text. In 95% of the cases though, this is not an issue.

I do like that they didn't try to force this into the typical English history. The races that you can choose from are interesting and they have some very unique abilities. Even with this, I don't see any major problems with them, but again, I haven't played it yet.

All in all, if you like Steam Punk, you may want to give this a look over.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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