I can say this about Graphic Novel Freeform Supers Role Playing Game (GBFSRPG): it gives you what it promises. Players create the character they envision without making a single die role or performing any math. You describe what your character looks like, what their origin is, what they can do, what they carry and KAPOW, you're ready to play. The closet thing this game has to a stat is their Destiny Pool (more on that in a moment.)

The game uses a d20 so there is a random element. However, there are no charts to be found in the book and, again, no math to be done. We are told that a 1 is a failure of some sort and a 20 is a success of some sort. Other than that, you're on your own for figuring out success and failure.

How does that work? It works by rembering that success and failure can mean lots of things. Let's say that you have described your character as having super strength, and you are called on to lift up a train. You roll a 2. Does that mean your strength quit on you? Maybe, but t can also mean the train breaks as you lift it up, Maybe you hoist it, but you are unbalanced and you fall over. By all means get creative!

Likewise there is no damage stat. There is a progressive list of levels of injury, but again the real power is in the description. A flying character might be able to cope with a broken leg, but how would that same character do if their injury was a concussion?

What if you don't like the roll you made? That is where the Destiny Pool comes in. Spend a point from the pool, roll again and hope you like the new result better. This adds a bit of strategy to the game. On the one hand, using Destiny points can be helpful, on the other hand maybe you can describe a failure in such a way that you can live with it and thus save your points.

A team of players who know and trust each other and enjoy thinking on the fly could have a lot of fun with this game. Another apporpriate setting would be at a convention, where everyone can let go and throw themselves in, remembering that this is a one-time deal and they probably won't see this group again. I would not, however, recommend it for a new group where the players are just beginning to get to know each other or for players who aren't inclined towards a minimalist system.

As a side note, there were several misspellings and word misuses in the rulebook. One of the most amusing was in the list of potential hero types. The author refers to an inanimate object brought to life as a "Golumn." I am almost certain that the author meant to say "Golem." If the author decides to make a second dition, a bit of editting would definitely be appropriate.

I am very surprised: usually Green Ronin produces excellent products. Why they put their names on this one I have no idea. It is dangerously close to useless.

The first 16 pages describe nine stereotypical wild west roles, such as gambler, outlaw and lawman. Then there are two pages of new feats and five pages of wild west type weapons. In other words, the only information I found useful was crammed into less than one-third of the book!

The book then offers 10 pages of descriptions of famous old west personages (with no game stats I might add) and two pages describing famous town of the old west. Uhm, excuse me but I can use an encyclopedia. The remaining 64 pages (yes, more than half the book) offers "progressions" for the nine new character types. In other words, they offer a write up for each of the roles for levels 1 through 20. I did not realize I was buying a book of NPC stats (and painfully redundant ones at that)!

Don't make the mistake I did. Save your money, find another d20 western book (there are plenty of them out there) and convert it to True20.

Spiritual Warfare is a prime example of a "home-cooked" RPG. In other words, it seems that a role player simply combined several features from his favorite published games, made minor cosmetic changes and gave the resulting soup a new title. In spiritual warfare you can play a Human, an Elf, a Dwarf or a Halfling (sound familiar?). Your character has six stats including "strength," "spirit" and "fortitude" (minor cosmetic change). Your stat scores are actually pools of dice, not unlike the mechanics of the "Deadlands" system. To be fair, the game system is easy to learn and use, perfect for novice role-players.

Spiritual Warfare's conceit though is that this is a Christian RPG. The characters are expected to fight demons in the name of Jesus. To aid them, the characters have access to "rhema." These are passages of the bible which players can recite from memory to invoke an in-game miracle. This device was lifted part and parcel from the game "Dragonraid." At best it demonstrates grotesque lack of originality. At worst, it is outright plagarism.

Furthermore, it seems ironically blasphemous to take a real-world book that many people regard as sacred and turn it into a spellbook. Even the devil can recite scripture for the purposes of warping it out of context. Using the Word of God to invoke spells makes the bible seem like superstitious hoodoo. In short, this "game of ministry" is ironically blasphemous.

And contrary to the disclaimer, I do not dislike this game because of its Christian theme. I dislike it because it is a bad game.

I had thought about running a village-based commoners campaign, but I wasn't sure it could work. This supplement convinced me that such a campaign could be possible and fun! It describes the NPC classes from the DMG (adept, aristocrat, commoner, expert and warrior), but includes minor class abilities to make them more feasible as player characters. To this list the supplement includes three more options; the (magical) apprentice, the guardsman and the scoundrel. While these eight classes are fairly low powered, they offer a wealth of new role-playing experiences for players looking for a challenge.

The supplement also offers suggestions for playing a commoners campaign, and suggestions for letting players "graduate" to the established PHB classes (should your campaign go in that direction). I was most intrigued with the concept of "reward feats" though. Reward feats are awarded for performing heroic deeds for one's home locale. They can include benefits from the community (such as discounts at local shops or bonuses to one's reputation at home). This helps give color to the character's home as well as themselves, and emphasizes that rewards for adventuring need not be material items. Reward feats can also be bonuses to one's class abilities. For the low powered commoner classes, even a small bonus can be significant.

I give this product my highest recommendation. For those who enjoy the epic style of play it will provide immense help for developing background characters. For those who are bored with the epic style of fantasy role playing, this supplement offers the perfect alternative.

This book consists of 100 high fantasy realms. Each includes a brief description of the world in question as well as adventure ideas. Among them are a land ruled by intelligent undead, a land controlled by mercenaries brought in to reign in the local theives guild, and (an old standby) a land ruled by magicians. With 100 kingdoms to look at, consider, and adapt to your personal vision, there is literally somehting for eveyone!

The descriptions of each realm is brief, a few paragraphs generally. Some might look at that as a drawback, but I do not. I quit using Dragonlance and Dark Sun years ago because I got sick of the authors of the novels taking the world in directions I did not want to go. The descriptions in this book are brief enough to inspire creativity, but not long enough to have players shireking "You can't do that, it says on page 36 that there are no lycanthroes in this world" as if they are quoting holy scripture!

My one suggestion (not a complaint but a suggestion) is that there is no table of contents. I wouls suggest adding one to future editions.

There really isn?t much to this ?game.? It consists of 18 side-by-side pages, 6 of which are title pages and filler The rules are simplistic and bland, summed up in a couple of pages. The story takes place in a village and its surrounding area, but no map is provided. Instead, we get an extended list of shops, each with a line or two of description and a list of things to be found inside. As for the plot, it is little more than a countdown to the inevitable confrontation with the villain, who seems to have no motivation except to be bad. Overall, this isn?t much of a game or a scenario, more like the idea of one that was never finished. I plan to adapt my copy for ?Little Fears.? Still, at $3 I feel overcharged.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Some interesting descriptions of places in the village<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: feels incomplete<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>