So what do we have here?

First of all, it's a freebie. It's not PWYW, it's free. So judge all of this with the knowledge that it costs you nothing for this PDF.

Semper Fidelis is 3 pages long. It includes a very short piece of fiction, about 100 words, 1/2 a page telling what this product is, 1 page of discussion about the story, and a page of FATE OGL.

The fiction is a character piece. It presents you a situation with no real lead in or conclusion. Even the action had already passed. But I think it does what it sets out to do. It serves as a hook.

The story mostly asks questions and tries to prompt you to think about how you could use it in your game. It wonders why things happened, suggests the lack of specific detail allows it to fit into a variety of settings, asks what would happen if things were changed, and what the consequences of the story are.

These questions are fine. Nothing that really sparked my imagination. I think an important question potentially left out is "who are the PCs?" or "how does this relate to others?". I feel as if the assumption is that this might be a PC. But what about if the PCs were cops (I immediately thought this would be a great hook for NCIS)? Or friends of John? Or friends of Gunny? Those things get me excited about the story.

The side bar on this page includes a situation aspect, 2 character aspects, 2 consequences, and a boost. These, I think, are the best part. The aspects are good. They offer suggestions on how they're applicable, and what they mean. The boost is great. It's something I can really get behind. The consequences are a little lack luster, and I'd like to see more questions asked about it. What might happen to John? How will this affect those around John? How will this change John?

To sum up, this is a good, first, free sample. You can't go wrong for nothin'. I'd like to see future products have longer fiction. I'd like them to ask more questions with bite. I'd like them to offer more tie-ins with potential PCs. But if this is a preview of what's to come, I'll gladly get on board. I could use more of this. And I think other people could as well.

This is extremely thought provoking... and what really makes you think is not the overt concept of a piece of fiction and the role-playing snippets you can extract from it, but the underlying thought-processes of how to look at something you read and glean it clean for role-playing ideas.

Now, this is something that I have been doing ever since I started role-playing, a mere couple of years before the author did, but he explains it so well, breaking it down and relating the elements to different aspects of the game system of choice (here, of course, the FATE system).

The story itself is but an hundred words or so. It would be easy to dismiss it as holding little for a role-player to grab hold of... but you'd be wrong. Just a few words can contain a lot if you look at them in the right way, and here you are shown how.

I'd recommend you to buy this, but it's free! No reason at all not to pick it up and read it through.