I absolutely love this setting, it feels like it was ripped right out of my mind and crafted just for me, but I do have to agree with reviewer Jordan on terminology. The content in Aether Nexus is OSR and NSR compatible... If I can remember the terminology conversions. Do I go over the whole document with white out and write in the traditional stat names? But I don't think that RPG librarian nitpick hurts the quality of the setting here. Please make more of this world!

Brilliant art, cool concept, perfect for an autumn game.

This game is guilty of one of my biggest pet peeves in a new system: when developers use a well-established mechanic, don't change anything about how it works, but still call it some new obscure name throughout their entire rulebook. It's not "Health" it's Energy. It's not "Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom Charisma," it's Stone, Flux, Aether, Hearth. This book is FULL of these in every rules section. All this does is confuse your player base... It doesn't help get them into your setting. Please stop.

Mechanically, if you are an OSR purist, Aether Nexus is not going to be the game for you. It has a few aspects of OSR systems, but it mainly brings mechanics from modern 20 systems. Play can feel really crunchy and PCs similar to d20 PCs at times, and the mechanic of "a long rest=full heal" removes all of OSR's lethality, to name a few.

I think people can love this system, I just don't think it should be in the OSR section. It doesn't have what I'd think OSR players are looking for.

How do you put a satisfying mech game into 48 pages? Exactly like this. I played a session of Lancer recently and felt hindered by not having an engineering degree (Lancer is a very good game in its own way). But Mecha Hack is so streamlined a group of newbies can have their mechs up and running in an hour or less. For those familiar with the game, its more like 15-30 mins. But even with that simplicity there are still meaningful choices to make during character creation.

The gameplay itself is as smooth and streamlined as character creation. It obviously benefits from the Black Hack's well designed and player focused ruleset, but the way Mecha Hack uses its framework is very smart and keeps rules creep to a minimum. There are enough additions, like the action economy and reactor die to make it feel tactical and like a mech game, while still being light enough to not require a battle map.

For the GM there are numerous charts to roll on for various GM needs, including building a mission, techno babble and loot. I wish there were at least a couple starting adventures, but this is a minor gripe (the Mission Manual fixes this with 41 missions). And to end the book, a generous amount of enemy profiles and some very light lore that is there more as a placeholder or an example than anything else.

Even if you never plan on playing it, for the price, its worth buying just to marvel at how much can be done with so little.

This is a fantastic game from the creators of the Mecha Hack. The artwork is evocative and really serves to transport you to a science fantasy world that gives visions of Escaflowne. Best of all, the material inside can be easily adapted to the Mecha Hack if your game is more Gundam than Aura Battler Dunbine.

For those that are not in the know, the system uses a modified version of the Black Hack rules, with most rolls in the game consisting of a D20 roll attempting to roll under a stat or "aspect" as they are called in this game. The aspects are a departure from the classic 6 stat system found in many other D20 games, and have names that really bring the fantasy aspect to life.

Stone is a strength, fortitude, and resilience both physical and mental. Flux is your swiftness, grace, and cunning, indicating a character that is adaptable and quick. Aether is a measure of wisdom, knowledge, and awareness, allowing you to tap into deep knowledge or reach through reality. Hearth is the seat of courage and presence, representing a characters ability to bring hope, inspiration, and warmth to the world.

The game uses advantage/disadvantage, though they are renamed Favor and Hindrance. It also has an interesting method of gaining Favor on a test called Invoking that feels very reminiscent of Invoking aspects in the FATE RPG. By tapping into some of your features (equipment, personal boons, etc..) and using it in a non-traditional way, you can gain a bonus to a test. An example would be using your thrusters to weaken an ice wall before trying to break it down.

Your character is made up of a few different pieces. First is your Knight, made up of various Aspects, your Kin, and your Background. The Kin in this setting are amazing and diverse. No Human analog exists in this setting, instead being populated by beings made of living stone, fungal colonies that work together, and amphibious/reptilian folk. Your background is more of a roleplay guide, with a set of charts being provided, though players are also encouraged to come with their own.

Finally, you select a Frame for your Apparatus, the games name for the fantasy Mech your knight will pilot. Eight frames are provided, with each offering a handful of unique abilities and bonuses to your Knights aspects. After selecting a frame, you can customize them with various augments. These augments allow your frame to summon weapons of magical energy, take on a mechanical beast form, or even pilot your frame from a distance so that you can fight on foot.

The game comes with a fine selection of foes for your players to fight, along with guidelines for creating your own enemies to vex your players. Provided are 12 quests, frameworks for one shot adventures that could very easily serve as story seeds for a longer campaign. Finally, the game provides what they call the "Seer's Augury", a set of random tables and charts that can be used to provide inspiration for adventures, new NPCs, factions, and even holiday celebrations.

If you enjoy mecha games and want to explore a science-fantasy setting that leans heavily into the fantasy aspect, I highly recommend this game. Absolute Tabletop consistently delivers top tier products and the only reason I would not call this their magnum opus is because I don't want to sell their future works short. Buy this game! You won't regret it!

Very efficiently laid out to make full use of its page count, and without sacrificing aesthetics. Clear and easily comprehensible mechanics, and a quite unique setting and array of player character kin supported by some wonderfully evocative artwork. The rules changes from its older cousin Mecha Hack all seem like definite improvements. I can only find one thing that definitely needs a change - the way some perilous terrain interacts with foes needs tweaks - and there are only a handful of very minor typos throughout. Looking forward to getting some table time with this one, and I'll be keeping an eye out for supplements.

A real bargain, no buyer regrets here.

Va al grano para hacer una partida de rol de mecas. Aún en su aparente simpleza tiene la suficiente variedad como para hacer partidas variadas e interesantes.

This is the kind of rules light game that I like. It's simple, quick and smooth-running, but the authors haven't used that as an excuse to be lazy. The combat can provide a touch of tactical depth and this was achieved with relatively little in the way of added rules. Players can customize their mechs because not only are there several chassis and pilot types to choose from, but there are also lists of weapon traits and modules to add to mechs. The GM has plenty of example enemies, with abilities that can be copied over to their own creations.

This is the kind of simplicity that feels like a lot of work was put in to achieve that simplicity and make the best possible version of this game.

having only run a few sessions my experience on the table is limited but totally positive. the system is both thematic and elegant, something that is a huge benefit to my group having only about 2-3hrs a session.

mecha role playing games almost always get buried in minutia and irrelevant details that are fine, great even, in a skirmish wargame. TMH doesnt sweat the little stuff but still feels complete and even robust in character options and solid gameplay mechanics.

i will say for my own mini campaign im running for a planned 6-10 sessions i have done some "hacking" of the game changing some rules a little and some a lot, and the core game mechanics are showing how fantastic and adaptable they are. its the most fun i have had running a game in a long time.

personally i didnt even have a single experience much less an interest in "The Black Hack" style of games before this one either, but its brought them into my sights for sure

this is easily one the best expansions for a table top game ive ever owned. and i say that not too lightly as ive been playing games since the mid 90's now through all sorts of systems and genres going through hundreds (thousands?) of corebooks, splatbooks, adventure logs, etc

The Mission Manual, as the title suggests, has a huge host of excellent pre-made missions that are created to be immediatly accessable AND customizable as needed. you can play them as teh basis of your adventures or plug them in to an ongoing story as you see fit. and the book contains new player options as well as GM material. the player options are substatantial and quite interesting not feeling over or underpowered from the corebook (with only the Pariah Pilot feeling a little "hmmm not sure about this one") and the GM material is equally excellent and useful.

the art is equally enjoyable in a minimalist but stylish sense thats never feels like its wasting space. the setting material is interesting and useful as well, while avoiding the awful "im just reading someones fan fiction" that too many RPG games dive into.

A truly terrific supplement including new player mechanics like an all-new class system, flavorful cultures and plenty of player options for those who dare to delve deeper into its fathomless pages. A Dead Man's Guide to Dragongrin is presented as a campaign setting that's chock full of detail, spanning multiple timelines to create the world of Dragongrin, a gritty and dark world that you can really immerse yourself and your players in. The book also contains new classes, spells, feats, NPCs and even a few adventures that can be dropped into your own campaign without having to tweak them too much, even if you are a new DM. However, some advanced mechanics - like the cruxes, for instance, may need a little bit more effort to adapt into your 5e game, since this edition of the game is a bit oversimplified (but I digress). A lot of time and effort have gone into this whopper of a book - I've only managed to playtest a few things so far, incorporating them into a one-shot, but the Eloquent class was an instant hit at my table. Bascially, the new mechanics in this setting are well-balanced and provide plenty of fuel for roleplaying. Also, they go well with the tone and flavor offered in this book. All in all, I think this is one of the best settings, if not the best setting, for dark-fantasy gaming in D&D 5e.

My players have had an absolute blast with this module. While it took a little tweaking to make it fit the sewers under Port Nyanzaru for our ongoing Tomb of Annihilation campaign, its mixture of weird environmental effects and kooky enemies has made for a real fun twist on a traditional dungeon crawl. The includes NPCs are a lot of fun to roleplay, especially when you have them essentially bidding for your party's allegiance.

The art included is top shelf and the writing is of a good standard. One of the better adventures I've picked up in my time.

Well, it is quite difficult for me to write a review. Why? Because this booklet is very, very short. However, it has one brilliant idea on how to create interesting battles and/or points of decisions for adventures. If you give your players some options to decide for A or B or C and map out, how things will go forward at a latter stage of that battle, that really makes for interesting battles. Your players will not be able to do A and B and C. Therefore, whatever they do, will result in a different second stage of the battle. This makes for really interesting scenarios, as your players will be able to influence things, while you are still able to make at least some bad things happen and increase tension, regardless of what the players do (if players defend against A, meanwhile threat B will grow and create complications later on). It is like a decision tree, where every decisions the players make, will lead to different results later on.

Well, you can buy this book. But you should not.

Why? Because you will not find anything in it that you will not find in the Dungeon Masters Guide (Dungeon & Dragons) or any other book on DMing that you already have.

We all already know that you will have to decide on whether the gods of a fantasy world are real or not. And we all already know that there are worlds with lots of magic and other worlds with no magic at all.

Abstract texts on what one may or may not decide for a campaign world, will not help me that much. I am far more interested in things that are not that commonly discussed, like, for example, ideas on how ones decisions will affect the style of play. Are the gods fickle? Do they demand sacrifices or holy vows? If yes, how do I incorporate that into my game? What are the disadvantages of a game where everybody has 200 hitpoints and can kill half the city with one magic spell? Is there perma-death and no resurrection, cure disease or magical healing? How will that affect the mood of the game? How should poisons work? Should you have diseases, stress or madness, like in DarkestDungeons? Why would you want to do away with some spells (like travel-magic or create food and water or gamey spell like Ottilukes Grand Hotel)? Does it make sense to limit certain classes to certain races or cultures or can anybody, even someone from NewYork City, become a druid or a barbarian?

What is more: There are 20 pages of "fluff" that are simply there to increase the page count. I was quite disappointed.

Im a big fan of Dungeon world and 5e and any system that lets me get into the fun of things.

Mecha Hack does that and it does it well. It's not a perfect system but it's a good system and the bite size reading footprint makes it easy for me to handle with my ADHD.