ATS clocks in at around sixty pages. It’s text-focused and light on the artwork, but considering the quality of the said art, some might see this as a blessing. The mechanics themselves feel rather inorganic and forced, turning most of the actions (and narration) into simple, one-dimensional statements that can then be built upon – or countered – by another party. This takes time getting used to, and if you’re someone who’s played other trpgs, then you’re likely to find ATS’ flow severely gimped and counterproductive to any actual roleplaying. And yes, I’m aware that it’s beer-and-pretzels game created to parody a whole boatload of other RPG and popculture-related tropes, including edgy powergamers and WW’s bloated supernatural menagerie. Unfortunately, the parody in question is akin to a joke that needs two and a half hours to set up its punchline – which ultimately isn’t even all that funny.

Hand-Head-Heart: Hobgoblin is a really interesting game of high fantasy.

Characters are broken down into the stats listed in the game's title plus gear and knacks (abilities). My favorite part is that character creation uses several cool and flavorful lists, similar to Dungeon World. This makes chargen fast while still producing nifty characters.

I'll admit that the core mechanic through me for a loop because of the order the rules were introduced in... but if you have patience and read through it all becomes very clear. I've personally never seen a mechanic quite like this one. It gives you plenty of wiggle room to narrate all sorts of scenarios but with enough mechanical meat to make it feel an actual game.

The layout has a really awesome, minimalist style that I've come to really appreciate in RPGs these days. It isn't flashy, won't offend the eyes and is clean.

I would recommend this game to anyone interested in lightweight fantasy RPGs.

[%] -- I call it Chance -- is a Generic-Theme, Cinematic, Versatile, Abstract, Universal RPG game system, utilizing percentage chances to determine the outcome of action rolls.

Layout -- This Layout is deceptively good. Yes: it has stick figures. Yes: the layout is simple and somewhat spotted as far as margins and columns of text go. But it works and it looks good. The appearance and theme of a layout must succeed in order for people to try it. More work could have been done on the cover, and I would have liked to see more artwork, but it is pragmatic - simple - easy and fun to look at.

Text -- The game rules are simple enough, though you may have to review certain game functions a few times to get what the author is saying. You have plenty of examples and optional rules, though, to get the idea that this game not only needs House Rules - it actually encourages you to create House Rules as part of its core mechanic. If you are creative - most gamers are - you will like this system once you learn it.

Game Play -- This is where [%] shines, because it is not like many other games out there. Now, Hamilton, you said this game was simple and based on percentage rolls - how is that different? I will have to let you buy the game, to see how Chance cooks up percentage dice rolling differently. I want designers to make their money, which leads me to my next issue...

Value -- This game is heavily over-priced. It is a good value because the pages are packed - literally - with information... HOWEVER, There is still not enough effort put into this product to warrant a $10 cost - last few pages are optional rules and quick start charts (rehashed information, that is).

I want to give this game 5 stars for Layout and Game Play - but the Value is just not there for $10 cost, and until it is repriced, I can only give this game 2 stars due to the Value issue.