Scan of original 1978 rules. Invaluable resource for anyone interested in sailing, Age of Sail naval history, or intermediate wargamers. Sailing diagrams are very useful. Ship data tables are very extensive.

Classic game with heavy combat rules. Like the fact that it is "real world" setting with you as the focal point. Twist on Player Character-based gaming.

Very good game. It really sets the tone. A wonderful combat system, not very complicated but full of flavour. The adventures, also available on drivetruRPG are real little gems. So sad it was not continued. The game would need revamping and a second edition. I think it would be a hit. Buy it, play it. You won't regret.

I played Bushido back in the 80’s and loved it. As the other reviewers have noted the layout of the books is not great, but once you learn to navigate the content you will find one of the best RPGs ever written. The mechanics are complex, but they did force players out of the trad D&D thud n’blunder mind-set and forced them to consider a more rounded vision of Japanese culture.

This was the first game I saw where you could gain as much advantage through a well composed haiku as walloping someone with a sword, peasants HAD to be humble around their social superiors or get their heads chopped off and personal honour created genuine dilemmas for players. I have not seen any of the more modern Samurai role playing games, but I doubt they have improved on this marvellous game.

One warning, the PDF is not clear in places and they have left out the crucial encounter tables and critical hit and fumble tables from the DM's screen.

Hi even though I have not downloaded the game I have played it and I loved the game . If you want a fast and fun game for PSI this is it .

The rules are simple and clear . Only 2 books in the core game ( Small ones at that ) but more than enough to play good games .

Now that it is hard ( if not impassable ) to find in HARD COPY of the game This is A real treasure to get . Even at a higher price .

Have A Nice Day :-)

Oops!

My mistake on the last review -- please edit or delete it. The scan looks great -- it was just coming up poor in my reader.

Great game -- sloppy scan.

This is one of the original gritty psi games -- well-suited for Scanners-like play or a kind of low-end X-Men style game.

However, the scan is sloppy -- the pages have bands running through them like every other inch somehow got displaced to one side.

One could read around it but there's no reason a professional company should be offering a scan this poor. Scanning's not that difficult a process and someone should at least be tasked with checking the result.

Bushido is a game that I was aware of in the 80's when I was playing Ad&D and TMNT RPG. I was curious about it but never bought it or played it. So I decided to download it and try it out.

The bottom line is this, Bushido is an awesome game. There is a certain nostolgic appeal to this game. I have read the book but have yet to play it. I have made two characters a Yakuza and Budoka.

I feel that this game is a refreshing change from this current trend of glossy art and 1,000 sourcebooks. Bushido is not a munchkin or power gamer's game. It is a game that forces it's players to think about creating a complex character to adventure in a complex society.

This game is not without it's faults. It is set up in a confusing layout. There are no chapters and some of the rules seem out of place. The type is very small and the artwork is not the best.

All this being said though I have overlooked these flaws. I just wish the FGU would get there act together and get this game revised. I do not feel that this game should be given a third edition, just a revision.

Not recommended very poor scan of product, difficult to read and almost impossible to print.

Flashing Blades is a lovely recreation of the 17th Century France of the Three Musketeers and the Man in the Iron Mask. The system is essentially a relative of the BRP system used in Cthulhu and RuneQuest, but using a d20 rather than d100. The duelling system adds a few twists to make it better reflect duelling between those of siferig styles. The basic game comes with a good scenario and the adventures produced for the game, which I guess are also here on DriveThru are excellent. If you like swashbuckling with a French accent then this is the game to get.

Wow...Flashing Blades. ain't played this since...well, since a long time (yeah, I'm old, so what), actually a very comprehensive combat system, very easily converted to the D20 system for a more intricate dueling mechanic for those interested...

I was originally very apprehensive about using a pay for download site, however my experience with DriveThruRPG was painless. Not only did I get "Hearts of Oak" a second hand ruleset I couldn't find anywhere else I was also able to get a hard copy for £2!!

I have downloaded it and can testify to its completeness. The rules are a work of immaculate research. The information itself could be regarded as a rich source for warfare in the age of sail. I have read quite a few works on that subject, including Naval Institute Press' Line of Battle, but none has given me the up-on-the-line perspective provided in these rules.

Amazingly enough I discovered Space Opera in 1981 and about 5 months after I discovered the D&D and the AD&D First Edition rules. I was hooked on role-playing and SO really added fuel to the fire. I studied those rules backwards and forwards, upside-down and right-side up. I tore them up. I just could not find anybody that would stop playing AD&D, so I focused on AD&D - but I absolutely never forgot the "Space Opera" RPG.

In my opinion, the SO RPG is not the greatest mechanically designed ''classic'' RPG. SO had both a confusing and weak hand-to-hand combat, space combat heavily based on "wet-navy" mechanics, poor to non-existent martial arts system and a skill resolution mechanic just as poor. Otherwise the damage mechanic and skill result mechanics where pretty cool. SO's primary strength lies in its originality of the material about super-technology, super-science, Psionics, FTL spacecraft details, detailed history, detailed cultures and great inter-stellar civilizations that easily compares to or rivals the SCIFI RPGs classics like: Traveller, MegaTraveller, MechWarrior, BattleMech and even StarFrontier. I think only the StarWars RPG (the original), StarWars D20, SpaceMaster and Star Hero equals SO's potential, in this regard. Get this! 'Space Opera' is the only RPG where a Dorsai-type soldier, a Lensman-type super-agent/spy, a classic scifi Star Marines, StarPatrol and a Jedi Knight warrior can all fight side-by-side - OR fight each other!!! Isn't that cool? Minus the few areas of what I said is bad, the good in SO provides a broad range of material and concept development that is historically one of the best rpg designs since the early 1980's. As you can probably tell, I was happy, when I found DRIVETHRURPG's website! :D

Back in 1981 while I was attending college I happened to stumble across this jewel of a game. The local wargaming club had just discovered it and was running original scenarios for it in addition to those of Traveller, which had been around for just a few years.

Space Opera has a unique character-generation system which I've found to be more satisfying than the current crop of "generic" RPG's. It's not a trivial task to create a character (done randomly using the time-honored tradition of rolling dice), but ultimately the player ends up with a true science-fiction player character, with skills and abilities specific to the far-future universe described in the rules and fine-tuned by the Game Master.

Combat requires just a couple of dice rolls to resolve hits and damage, although the Game Master has to keep track of variables such as range, speed, armor and size. The weapons table lists other variables (armor penetration, reliability, range, lethality) for each of the weapons listed -- and there are a lot of weapons, ranging from the dagger to the good ol' blaster rifle.

Perhaps the only drawback to this game is the black-and-white graphics, sprinkled sparingly throughout both rule books. Anyone used to the current multi-color, glossy-paged hard back RPG's may be disappointed with the artwork in Space Opera. But Space Opera is a game for the mind, and hard-core science fiction RPGers could do a lot worse than to choose this product.