If you like old school dungeon crawls and rolling on random tables, you'll like this. If not, it's not for you. It has a few new monsters and stuff but it's mostly tables.

I found the monster level by adventurer level a bit off - adding retainers to the party just made you face tougher monsters and made them pointless. I used the the dungeon level as the input instead of total adventurer levels.

To mix it up, I altered the tables a bit for every level. For example, when I got tired of corridors, I rerolled the first time I got one and placed one only if I rolled it again. Same with traps. When I wanted more deadends, I reduced to the rolled number of exits by 1. These small tweaks had obvious changes to each level. I also mixed in Mythic DM emulator to help establish level themes, then made a side monster table which was used for half the encounters.

Beowulf is about heroic fantasy in the dark ages, using D&D 5e as a base. It has 3 goals it's trying to accomplish: low magic historical fantasy in the dark ages, support for solo play, and giving the feel of an epic fantasy. I feel like it succeeds in all 3 goals.

This is definitely lower magic; close to AiTM if you have that. Virtually no spells, just a few mystical abilities. Magical items exist but they're mainly weapons, armor, and protective talismans. There is one class, the Hero, which is close to Fighter. There are subclasses to take the class in different directions: strong, fast, stubborn, clever, charismatic, good leader. There are also seven backgrounds appropriate to the time/place as well. Equipment fits the dark ages, with no plate mail, more axes, and increased importance of shields. Money is pounds of silver and shillings.

There are a few changes to make solo play viable. You start with 10 + con score hit points. There are also ways to renew inspiration to roll with advantage more often. The biggest change is followers, your posse which give you abilities and save your bacon. Your max number of followers is your proficiency bonus + your charisma score. Followers, don't have regular stats; they're assumed to have 10 in all abilities and no hp to track. They have aspects which you can use as needed, like skills and combat abilities. Some abilities are at-will, some are once day. Some abilities give the follower a ~50% chance of dying.

The biggest issue with solo play the risk of everything falling apart when the character dies or goes unconscious. In group play, your comrades will probably save you. In Beowulf, followers play that role. Some can jump in front of an attack and absorb all the damage. Others will scoop you up and carry you to safety when all seems lost. These abilities can get the followers killed. This makes you feel loss beyond just your character as you grow weaker through the loss of followers.

To give the feel of an epic tale, Beowulf has a suggested story structure. You hear the call to adventure then gather your followers. Then roll for a portent, which affects the various inspirations pools which you can draw from if you can make it relevant to the portent. You pile into your longship and sail towards adventure, with stuff happening along the way (analagous to journey rules in AiTM). Your arrival is noted by a scout and you make your way to the meadhall, where most of the story unfolds. The rules make suggestions on what key NPCs desire and hate so you can work to get info or help from them, and maybe even turn them into a follower. Success in the adventure is strongly affected by how well you navigate the social scene in the meadhall.

Combat is a bit different because you are activating followers as well as taking your own actions. The big monster at the end of the story starts as undefeatable, taking only 1 pt of damage per hit. Like a classic monster movie, much of the adventure is learning about the monster to find their weakness. This makes the game about more than dpr; you are expected to engage with the story. The book has a nice list of period monsters with lists of what might be the secret to making then defeatable.

religion plays a minor role. There are two religions: the old ways and the church. Neither is presented as superior but some NPCs may like or dislike based on your religion.

The above is illustrated through the included 32 page adventure.

Brancalonia is a spaghetti fantasy game. It's a setting for D&D 5e that turns down the power, with a level limit of 6, long rests being a week, and generally being low powered. But the really cool thing is that it's a low fantasy setting that fits the sensibilities of most games I play/run. You're not trying to save the world, you're just a schlub trying to survive in a world where most things are shoddy or fake.

The default setup is that you're a likable rogue and the party is a band that's part of a larger mercenary company or gang taking jobs of borderline legality. There are rules for having a hideout, blowing your money on binges, and bar games. A key new feature is a brawling system that lets you engage in the sort of nonlethal fights you see in saloons in movies.

It's still fantasy but it's not the typical Tolkien ripoff of vanilla D&D. There's talking animals, fairies, witches, and stuff. No elves or dwarves; new races include marionettes and malebranche - demons who said 'screw this' and became mortal. Every class has a new subclass that fits the setting. The book introduces a fantasy version of Italy with a reversed map to emphasize that this it not historical fantasy. It finishes with 30 pages of adventures and 20 pages of new monsters. It's a complete package to take the game in a new direction.

The art is great and the layout works. This is the most fun I've seen in a game book in quite a while.

I played only a couple of sessions of gangbusters decades ago, so I can't really compare this to that. This is a review based on reading, not yet having, focusing mainly on the mechanics. It's a solid B/X version of the material. 64 pages is a good length for the material in B/X form.

Random observations: 4 classes up to level 6. Characters are going to start at ~4 hp, max out at ~20 hp, and bullets do 1d6 to 1d10. You might want to use the optional rules so that 0 hp ^= instant death. Characters are never going to be nigh invulnerable.

Quality of clothing subs in for armor to determine AC.

A reasonable range of weapon types without sinking into gun porn, appropriate to B/X. Simple rules for rapid fire.

The call to action page has some lovely random tables that look like they yield a simple yet interesting starting plot.

Reasonable listing of gear and vehicles, plus special gear which yield minor bonuses (like extremely toned down magic items)

5 pages of NPC stats to give a range of opponents.

I like the saving throw categies: moxie, quickness, toughness, driving, observation. I wish they were listed in the chargen section.

a page on optional very low level super powers.

Sections on setting up a gang, businesses, police activity, bribery, and criminal proceedings, which I haven't read yet. Combat rules appear to be standard.

Overall, this could serve as a solid basis for any early modern game that you wanted to run B/X. It's not D&D level power in trench coasts. It's using the basic rules to give you heroic yet killable characters along the lines of things like The Spirit or early gangster movies. As it uses the B/X engine, it would easy to add supernatural elements by borrowing material from D&D.