This is the first supplement for Odd Soot and after a great core rule book, this adventure doesn't dissapoint. It is the first part of a three part campaign, though this volume already gives a synopsis of what is to come for the game master. We get a strange mystery with plenty of NPCs and hand outs for players to investigate. There is great advice for the GM on how to start the adventure and how to tie everything together. We get helpful sidebars with descriptions and short tables. At the end of the book there are four sample PCs for players to use if they don't want to create their own. Like the core book, the artwork and layout is excellent (I found only one spelling mistake and one "p. XX"). Handouts and maps are available on the publisher's website.

My only criticism is that the book is a bit short. It comes at 80 pages, including table of contents, full page pictures, and ads. While the adventure should work fine (I haven't run/played it yet but know similar published scenarios in WFRP and Cthulhu), it really feels short like something out of a gaming magazine. In combination with the great production values though - I have the physical copy of this - it is well worth its price and I am looking forward to the next installment.

I haven't run "Odd Soot" yet, but I find both the basic rulebook and the now published first part of the campaign interesting and some ideas in it quite original. At first glance it seems like a mixture of Cthulhu and Space 1889, but compared to the latter the focus here is less on politics, strategy and action, and more on mystery and a certain surreal atmosphere. The illustrations contribute greatly to this atmosphere. The emphasis is on detective work, just like in the introductory adventure of the basic rulebook, which, along with the rich handouts, reinforces the impression that Odd Sott currently still plays like a Mythras variant of Cthulhu. This approach is very much in line with my own preferences. As for the basic idea of the campaign, it is close to the "Nocturnum" campaign for Cthulhu, but the plot quickly develops in a different direction. The later parts are supposed to focus more on adventure. How well Odd Soot can combine the more investigative approach with the idea of early space travel and adventures on distant worlds remains to be seen. The proposed entry into the plot from different starting points depending on the character is challenging, especially for less experienced game masters. My motivation to run Odd Soot for a longer period of time has increased.

Comae Engine is based on the extended conflicts mechanics already introduced in M-Space and Odd Soot and develops them further. The rule text recommends not to strain this method too much, but to limit it to crucial conflicts. For less important actions, you can either dispense with dice rolls altogether or roll according to the familiar Mythras rules. The newly introduced element of "Lenses" makes the extended conflicts much more interesting and dynamic. The claim is to make character creation as well as the game fast and uncomplicated. For the most part, the game lives up to this claim. The rulebook does almost completely without calculation formulas and tables. The skill list is extremely reduced compared to Mythras, but can gain an additional level of detail through the optional focus rules. Of particular interest are the social relationships associated with the Willpower skill. Together with the selectable or randomly determined "tags", it is indeed possible to create a unique character with some depth in a very short time. The system seems particularly suited to one-shots, but groups looking for simple rules for longer campaigns without an emphasis on accurate simulation of combat might also find it appealing. Experienced gamemasters who enjoy improvisation and creative interpretation of rules should have fewer problems with the system than those who expect the most precise specifications and fully worked-out elements. The beta version still contains a few bugs, such as an overlooked placeholder text, but this is not a major issue. For character creation, the familiar pyramid principle is used. Personally, the initial values of the skills seem a bit too low to me. Only one skill is above 50%. However, this can be easily changed with a house rule. Visually, the publication is very attractively designed for its price category. Most of the colorful, often surreal illustrations are even excellent. I can well imagine running sessions or even campaigns with this rulebook.

This is an excellent simplification of Mythras and well worth your time.

Haven't run this yet, in the planning stage for spring, but it is well written for a unique setting and atmosphere. Odd Soot seems to generate a mature, thoughtful tone that I truly appreciate. The Red Star takes that environ and runs with it, laying the pipe for a campaign of wonder, intrigue and mood. As a GM who will be running it soon, I really appreicate the details, the handouts and maps. All evoking the strange world of Odd Soot.

Was amazed at the simplicity, yet still able to be as complex in setting as you want. I have always loved the BRP/Mythras mechanics and these rules will be front and center in my future games. For the price of a cup of coffee, you can't go wrong!

This game is a synthesis of ideas from a number of other sources, both d100 and otherwise. I really like how it handles character building – based on skills and traits rather than ability scores. In place of traditional ability scores are four stats called "conflict pools". These function similarly to ability scores by providing a basic picture of the character, but they are shaped by the skills and talents. A character with a 16 Body could be different things. With focuses in Melee Combat and Brawn they might be a big, hammer-wielding barbarian. Change Brawn to Acrobatics, they might be a chandellier-swinging swashbuckler. Put those focuses in Ranged Combat and Stealth and they become a sneaky scout or assassin.

The larger your conflict pool in a particular stat, the better you potentially can be in that activity, but more in the sense that you can outlast your opponent. They don’t function like attributes in other games but more like hit points. If you wanted to roleplay a debate you might do an extended conflict using your Charisma pool, subtracting from it whenever your character fails a skill roll. Defeat (reducing the pool to 0) might mean your character loses confidence in themselves and suffers a penalty to related skill checks until they take some time to regain their composure (regenerate lost CHA points).

The d100 chassis means that you can fairly easily bring in some things from other games in the broader BRP family as well. If you like grittier, more detailed combat you could no doubt import combat special effects from Mythras, for example. Maybe add in hit locations, you get the idea. All told, I like what I see here. I think it could use a bit more polish, but it is – as of the time of this review – still considered in beta so I imagine the polish is coming.

The Comae Engine is still new to me, but I really enjoy its straight-forward approach the d100 family of systems. As it stands, it is a great system for creating characters that are capable, but still quite human, and scenarios for those characters. While there isn't a huge roster of NPCs or monsters, there is a quick and very good system for creating interesting NPCs at the table.

Clarence Redd debuted his Frostbyte Books a few years ago with M-Space, a stripped-down science fiction rules set based on Mythras. I suspect that M-Space is pretty good, though due to a certain necessary blandness, it never quite clicked with me - I was never sure why I should choose it over something more flavourful like Traveller or Frontier Space.

However, M-Space brought an interesting innovation to Mythras and d-100 gaming in general: Its own extended conflict mechanism, which basically consists of a series of opposed rolls, where the winner deals damage to the loser's conflict pool (the conflict pool being based on one or two of the core characteristics). Comae Engine, Clarence Redd's new RPG, takes that as its core mechanism: Characters are defined through about a dozen broad skills on a scale of 1-100 and through four conflict pools (Body, Intelligence, Power, Charisma). At first glance, the conflict pools seem very much like other games' core characteristics, being on a scale of usually 8-18, but they have a very distinct function in CE: They don't really tell you how inherently good you are at something (that's for your skills to say), rather, they are a kind of endurance for different kinds of tasks. This is most straightforward with Body, while Intelligence should maybe rather be called Concentration (it's about how long you can try to figure something out before you just have to give up). Power and Charisma might be a little tricky, they're both mainly about self-confidence, though power can pull double-duty as all kinds of mystical energy. I guess Power is basically your "soul energy", while Charisma is more about your composure in difficult social situations.

Basically, Coma Engine is either simply "d100, if you roll under your skill, you succeed. Doubles are extra good/bad", or it's and extended conflict (for combat, shouting matches, picking an especially complex lock under time pressure or scaling a mountain), where one side will sooner or later run out of pool paints. Player characters can push through when they hit zero, continuing the conflict, but at serious consequence - pools under 0 are regenerated much more slowly (in combat, that would be where you go from bruises and exhaustion to pierced organs and broken bones). It's all pretty simple and abstract - I'm not sure whether it feels like an iteration of BRP any more, but I'm also not sure whether it needs to.

As it is right now (Dec 28th 2022), Comae Engine isn't quite finished - there's placeholder text instead of examples, and some elements of the rules feel half-baked. When it comes to weapons and armour, I think the system can't quite decide yet what it wants to be, sticking to the traditional BRP rules. It is made clear that CE, for the moment, is a BETA and will be updated regularly. The core, though, is pretty great and extremely flexible. It's interesting how it finds a clear distinction between the role that characteristics (conflict pools) and skills play mechanically and thereby avoids the "What do we need characteristics for, anyway?" question that often arises in BRP games.

Comae Engine reminds me a little of Chaosium's QuestWorlds; both are focused on opposed conflicts. QuestWorlds extended conflicts feel a little more regimented, while Comae Engine tends to say: "Do what makes sense", for example, when it comes to wo takes damage in a conflict with multiple characters on one or both sides. CE has the advantage of being more immediately compatible with BRP games, and from reading it, it's also a little easier to figure out how things work. I have played neither yet, yo take that assessment with a grain of salt. All in all, I'm really looking forward to the finished CE.

Ho! Ho! Ho! (13 pages, free at DriveThruRPG) is a fun sci-fi adventure for Cepheus Engine RPG, but I used Comae Engine (45 pages, same place). To create my solo engine, I changed four lines in Rocket Rangers (T.W.E.R.P.S.) by GameScience (12 pages). I used eight first level characters.

So, the mission was to deliver toys to five different worlds. The PCs had to deal with meteor showers, ion storms, and active volcanoes. One dangerous challenge was a pirate ship. Within a few minutes, the PC ship was out of control (going in a straight line). The AutoPilot, Pilot Couch, and Pilot had been destroyed. The pirate ship lost its Faster Than Light Travel. The AutoNavigator, Navigational Couch, and Navigator had been destroyed. The battle ended, and both sides worked on repairs. While on a world with tribal hostility, the main antagonist (Grrr) pretended to be a baggage handler. He was going to destroy the toys. The alien mystic PC noticed him, did a detect thought, followed with a charm person (the second spell failed). Grrr signaled his ship and it fired at the PCs on the ground. My security PCs fired back and killed him. The Grrr ship hovered in place, the authorities arrived, the Grrr ship was confiscated, and the PCs were questioned. The PCs did get released. They did get a nice reward for completing their mission on time. Give this RPG a try!

Comae Engine is a reimaging of what Mythras (or even Basic Roleplaying) might look like if it was centered around the Extended Conflict system found in Clarence Redd's other titles such as M-Space or Odd Soot. What this does is open up the possibility for a very streamlined game that still has meat on the bones. For instance besides providing the Extended Conflict system for pacing combat or chases, Comae Engine also abstracts Mythras' combat actions into a more general purpose system called Lenses. Lenses open up the ability to not just have flavorful tactical combat but political intrigue scenes, hiest montages, or investigations by giving players a range of actions they can take that will help push conflict with both narrative and mechanical weight.

Comae Engine's default set of rules will not be for everyone. It is best for those who like starting with a small & robust chasis of rules and then adding on the modules they need for their games. M-Space and Odd Soot already provide ample "rules medium" levels of modular crunch which can be seemlessly bolted on to Comae. But Comae's core is so flavorfully and tightly delivered that you may find yourself rethinking just how many rules you need though.

I am reviewing this product in the "beta" state so I'm excited to see what the 1.0 version brings. Currently I believe it still needs some more worked examples of how to use the Extended Conflict outside of the usual combat or "sequence of tasks" that most of us are familar with using from other games. Ever played Savage Worlds Adventure Edition? Extended Conflicts are Quick Encounters -but- there are more hooks into the mechanics for you to design your conflict/encounter in a way that's appropriately detailed for you situation. While the book currnetly provides several examples of Extended Conflict setups I think having some "game play" examples would really help creates those "mind blown" moments for GM's looking to understand how to get the most out the system.

In here is basically everything a growing sci-fi GM needs to run a rune quest-ish campaign in space. Included are a modified ruleset based on Mythras to better account for a sci-fi setting, as well as optional rules for more simplified combat. In addition, there is an entire section on alien creation, guide to creating cultures through "circles", and even a planet generator. The art inside is also gorgeous and very evocative of the kind of space opera setting that the system sort of defaults around (although it should serve fine in any sci-fi setting). The only absence to the book is perhaps a more beginner-friendly GM guide on running a sci-fi setting and the kind of goals players might have in those settings. Otherwise, this is an excellent book.

I love the style, art, layout and general approach that Frostbyte takes with their material. I was pleased with the quality of the product (pdf). On the adventure itself I have mixed feelings which I will address while attempting to avoid spoilers. The main storyline, race against time, struggle for resources, not enough room on the lifeboat... it's great. It also "felt like" a Traveller in a little black book (chef's kiss). I might tone down the lethality of the environment though. I've played a fee games of Mythras, and if my group rolled dice like the folks I've played with roll dice? TPK on atheir first moonwalk! There's a side-quest though, (that's also incredibly, potentially lethal). It's railroady morality play that forces the players to confront child sex trafficking. WTF? There needs to be an advisory or something. I'm not a prude and I didn't have issues with any of the other elements, but this side-quest is a lot of the material and I would not choose to include that whole segment. That arc is a fine story and complex set of characters... the characters are great! but people are in therapy for that stuff and I won't inflict that on my players. It's a shame because I wanted to be more supportive of the Frostbyte enterprise, and Clarence in particular. It's a great Classic Traveller adventure with a creepy, upsetting nightmare bolted on. I enjoy my Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but I know what I'm getting into.

I have read through Junkyard Blues but have not played it with my group. We play a different sci-fi system, but most of the ideas here are easily transfurable. While I do plan to run this later for my group, I have some major reservations about this scenario that prevent me from giving a recommendation.

The Ugly: This scenario should come with the warning, contains child sex trafficking. If you intend to run this as written, you will roll play parents pimping out their daughter to the players. This is one of the 'moral dilemmas' that the game presents to the players. (I have noticed that many authors will use child abuse to make their game 'gritty'. My recommendation, don't. It takes a talented and experienced writer with first hand knowledge of child abuse to make it work, and only such an author should make the attempt. There are plenty of other options to make your game gritty.) Over all, I find the moral dilemmas shallow at best, railroady at worst. Honestly, I don't think this game needs pre-written moral dilemmas, as the setting naturally generates moral questions for the players to answer. Let your players generate and answer their own questions without trying to shoe-horn in your own.

The Good: Lots of content! Awesome value! Over 80 pages of setting, NPCs, problems, maps and ship layouts. Junkyard Blues would make an awesome hex crawl, if one was included. I plan to make one for my players before crash landing them here! I like the NPC portrates and the art helps set the atmosphere.

Final Verdict: A cautionary recommendation. Know what you and your players are comfortable with before diving straight into this scenario. If you want to run this scenario, think about what tone you want for your game, and adjust accordingly.

I found this adventure very interesting. It is challenging for players, full of surprising details and ideas. I have talked about it on my spanish blog "Murallas Blancas": https://murallasblancas.blogspot.com/2021/12/el-blues-de-la-chatarreria.html