Kapow! is an easy to learn fast paced story driven system that scales from street level to cosmic level heroes. It plays fast and rewards creative thinking. Not much number crunching here, instead Kapow! focuses on capturing comic book action. I highly reccomend Kapow! (and Joshua Macy's other games!) as it makes not only a great main game, but it's easy to throw together a quick on the spot pick up game for 2-3 players if your majority of players can't make it.

I stumbled across this, and am very pleasantly impressed! I love the Idea of Superhero RPGs, but often they are way too complicated ala Champions. (Gotta say I love Champions, but it tales so long to make a character, it's like a calculus test.) This seems to be the perfect setup for a Hero game, simple character generation focusing on what the character can do, instead of points or die rolling to make the character. Haven't read through the whole book yet, but looks very legit and focuses on ACTUAL roleplaying and storytelling, not just rolling handfuls of dice and min/maxing your character. Can't wait to give this one a try!

Do you know the game you want to play? If it's a supers game, you've come to the right place. While most superhero games are either overly complex with character creation rules that require deep study of the rules and possibly a calculator. Kapow, instead only asks a few questions--do you want to play a superhero? what do you want them to be able to do? The straight forward process makes character creation simple, yet allows you to create a hero as complex or as simple as you want. The clever step die mechanic just makes sense and it seems everything has been thought of, although it might take more than a single read and a play through or to in order to make perfect sense.

Another excellent addition to the SFX! product line. This is the book that came after Kapow! and shows how the system begins to evolved with each genre. Typically, I'm not a horror guy, but this makes me want to run something along Buffy the Vampire Slayer or MTV's Teen Wolf. The system is smooth and takes a little getting used to. Some of this is due to organization and format, but this is the first original and free system I have come across in some time that wasn't overly simplified. In fact, the other reason it takes time getting used to is because the rules seem overly simple in the beginning, but there is actually quite a level of crunchiness. Plus, the publisher hangs around on Google Plus, runs plenty of games and answers questions regularly.

Nonetheless, it is a solid system that obviously had a lot of thought put into it and plenty of play testing. I have yet to find a way to break it or find anyone who has played it that has found a way to break it. Check it out and see how the tropes are covered painstakingly without making you feel like you're playing some cookie cutter, generic system.

Jaw droppingly...this product is currently FREE! At over 200 pages, this product tips the scales as a full fledged RPG.

In the front of the book, it goes through "source" materials, from movies to books to comics.

The Primary Rule of Argh! is that actions have to make sense in a supernatural thriller kind of way. This is a big change from the way most RPG's operate. In Argh! you don’t even roll the dice if the action is obviously something a character with that Power can do. How nice is that? Do you really need to roll to see if your 15th level wizard can cast a simple cantrip? I say no, which means, I enjoy these rules immensely!

The Contents index is very complete, giving you easy access to any section of the huge book you need to flip to. It even has an added bestiary, with supernatural creatures tossed in for fun.

Everything in character creation is streamlined for ease of usage, with templates tossed in, to assist the creator in his selections. Note, they do use schticks with their characters, which I found unusual for a straightlaced game such as this. I'm more used to seeing them attuned with games such as "TOON".

Shticks work just like Powers, but they can't be used for attacking or defending. Many are used to gather information. (If you are familiar with "Kapow!", Shticks take the place of Utility Powers, Minor Powers, Backgrounds, and the Connections perk.)

The character building process is a bit daunting once it is started, so it is recommended to flip to page 49, Chapters 7 & 8 to review the premade/playable characters.

I was very impressed with how indepth Joshua Macy goes to explain how to play his game. He leaves no stone unturned in walking the reader through details of the game that would normally trip up the gamer. He even defines what makes a good player, using 5 pages to expound how to and not to play.

Last in the book is a great and complete Index.

I can see using this rule system with just about any type of adventure concept. Argh! is somewhat geared towards playing a horror game, but not overly so. He uses 24 pages to describe campaign design, adventure and plot selection. So you have the tools to create the world you want with a great gaming skeleton to attach it to.

Even if this game was $19.99, I would still feel that I got a good deal in purchasing it. I could spend a full page naming RPG's that cost more and supply less and are more complicated...throw the book on the floor and use it for a door stop gaming books.

I recommend Argh! for newer players and newer Gamemasters, as it holds your hand as you walk through the book. For absolutely nothing you MUST try this system, what do you have to lose? Argh! just may become your new favorite RPG!

Having read through Zounds!, I'm impressed. I've been gaming for thirty-someodd years, and have played or GMed a lot of systems. I found SFX to be nicely minimalist in its mechanics, with a heavy reliance on the concept of plausibility for the setting. The game puts more of the weight on the players than most systems, creating a more cooperative environment between GM and players, pushing the game more toward group storytelling and away from improvisational acting with a stage manager. I look forward to having the time to read through the other three of the SFX games, Kapow, Zap, and Argh.

I have had the good luck to be introduced to this game by it's creator.

I really enjoyed the character creation process that invites players to take their favorite concepts from science fiction and express them easily.

The system is rather straight forward and can be easily understood by any gamer or storyteller who picks up this free game.

I could defiantly see running this as a pick-up game and will be introducing it to my regular gaming group.

I found that the character creation rules could easily accommodate a number of different styles of play. Don't let the low count of character templates fool you, two "Heroes" can be radically different.

I created Wise One with the magic of Geomancy on the fly, the character works with local energies to shape the environment to help him. The mix of high flavor customization and fairly robust rule set lead me to compare it favorably to a pastry: I found the outer shell to be warm (inviting) and lightly crunchy, but on the inside it was soft (flexible) and rich and it easily supports many possible flavors. 

This is a fun, fast, and easy to learn game, I would suggest it to anyone.

The SFX! rules were my first foray into rules-light systems, being much more used to systems that come with deep core books and seemingly endless sourcebooks and expansions. In ARGH!, one thing popped out to me: Walk In The Graveyard, or how to deal with parties that split up, potentially leaving one or more characters at loose ends. I found it interesting, likely because in my experience, everyone who wasn't in the 'main' plot at the time was relegated purely to watching and the expectation was that things would eventually swing around again to pick up everyone else, but effectively it'd mean more or less of a session as a spectator. Addressing that explicitly not only provides guidance, but acknowledges it as a potential roleplaying issue and suggests how to deal with it.

All in all, I keep an eye out for these titles...I may be still on the fence about rules-light systems, but it is specifically games like these that have me teetering.

For a free game, there's a lot here, basically everything you'd need for generic pulp scifi of the 1930s through the early 1980s. The system involves rolling 2 dice, detemined by attributes, skills, etc, and taking the best and comparing the number to either an opposed roll or a set difficulty. Did I mention this is free? Next, hopefully we'll see a Sword & Sorcery offering.

Great little game! I was expecting an amateurish offering- it is free after all- but I was pleasantly surprised to find a comprehensive, well designed, full featured RPG. Superhero RPG's are a hobby of mine- I own just about everything- and Kapow! emulates the feel of comics better then even the big boys. The SFX! system uses a very intuitive dice step scheme that makes on the fly adjudication a simple and fluid matter for Gm's.

Give this one a read!