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Machineguns & Magic (Classic Reprint)
Publisher: Precis Intermedia
by Marc [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/07/2024 14:58:11

A fun RPG with generous content and gameplay opportunities for the price. Aspects like the fun style, candid writing voice, layout, and effective illustration use throughout reminded me of the old Palladium books. There are also plenty of examples for learning purposes and a full adventure including gridded map. You can tell the author was passionate about the hobby! The spells and bestiary were generous and fun to read. Beware the banshee cactus... If you like fantasy+modern scenarios or enjoy vintage RPGs this is worth a look for sure.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Machineguns & Magic (Classic Reprint)
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Iron & Gold RPG (Core PDF)
Publisher: Precis Intermedia
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/28/2022 22:15:18

For this price, are you kidding me? This is another no-brainer purchase from Precis and it's remarkably well put together. Seeing a GDi fantasy book was really exciting because the GDi system is really simple, straightforward, and well-supported by the publisher.

Characterization and character building is easy to understand. Races include Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Centaurs, Goblins, Centaurs, and Orclins. Eight example vocations are included, and they'd be easy to create from scratch as well. Equipment cost tables, like other tables in the book, are easy to read so you can get going fast.

The Action & Combat should be very familiar to anyone who's played GDi games before, and I like that. There are plenty of specific examples of gameplay within the pages on tasks and combat. Also included in the general Damage section are Other Sources of Damage, including Malnutrition and Poisons and Venoms.

There are three types of magic to learn about, and a really good depth of quality in the magic section overall, which is finally tied together with some great examples of the Practical Uses of Magic.

The bestiary is fun to browse and easy to read, with something like 42 entries in various categories, more than enough to get gameplay going fast, especially if combined with the pre-gens included in the adventures.

One thing I want to call out here is the terrific set of questions for world building on page 35 of Chapter Four, "A Fantasy Setting". This would be a terrific handout for people who are new to tabletop roleplaying games or even just writing fiction. Most of the questions are directly applicable to any genre, too, not only fantasy.

The game also includes alternate rules expansions (I like using the Heroics rules with my kids), conversion guides with other systems including Iron Gauntlets, 15 fleshed-out heroic character template pre-gens, quick references, two pre-made adventures including a full tomb with map and 10+ well-described rooms and adversarial pre-gens printed inline with the text.

Personally I really love reading these titles for the excitement of all the gear, skills, gimmicks, beasts, and other imaginative possibilities, even if a lot of the time I use something more like a set of GDi-Lite house rules that I've whittled down since I started learning about it. All the more fun!

Thanks to the publisher for making this title available and keeping the line alive.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Iron & Gold RPG (Core PDF)
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Atomik Conversion Kit
Publisher: Precis Intermedia
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/28/2022 21:36:43

Amazing how many systems are covered in this Conversion Kit! I appreciate the additional frameworks and suggestions for converting to specific Precis titles. I was able to equip my Coyote Trail homesteaders with EMP-shielded NNPs and Database Chips within seconds, knowing I wasn't missing anything important.

This bridges any gaps between Atomik titles and the various games very nicely. (To see even Worlds Beyond in here with matching typesetting almost brings a tear to the eye, wow nicely done)

And those homesteaders are suddenly amazing wayfinders for a local band of adventurers...it's like they memorized the map!

If you are interested in using the Atomik products but want to make sure you've thought of everything, you can't go wrong here. Thanks to the publisher for this title.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Atomik Conversion Kit
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CRUSADERS
Publisher: Legrand Games Studio
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/23/2022 20:27:31

A very nice surprise here! CRUSADERS is a rules-lite supers RPG with much more game-supporting detail than I expected.

This game aims at emulating the bronze age of comics, but there are additional rules options for golden, silver, and dark age supers.

The space in the book is really well used. It's worth a look if you enjoy supers RPGs. The illustrations are well chosen and help a lot with the mood. The typographic style is spot-on '80s as well, very sans-serif!

If you are looking for supers w/ guns, I'd say you might want to have this on your radar: There's a specific sidebar that lets you know all guns do the same amount of damage in the game, unless you house-rule around it. The publisher's perspective is that there are more interesting things to focus on.

I do sometimes like to write up specific types of power-ammo as individual character sheets though, using the game's chargen process, so that could be a way to start here, just as an example. (Personally, fighting a bear is less interesting to me than gear, and there are animal-fighting rules in there.) So anyway...just something to be aware of.

Various example characters and author commentary on the characters' creation are included.

Other notes: The editor (GM) never rolls dice for foes. Rather, the characters roll for defense-side when it's the foe's turn. There are some exceptions listed for this, like there are with many of the rules. It's a house-rule friendly book and I don't think that should be overlooked in learning about how it works.

There are plenty of random tables for character generation for those of us who appreciate that. And at the same time, there are plenty of ways to tweak or change up what isn't working during chargen.

Victory points are included for advancement.

I look forward to exploring the details a bit more. Would love to see a POD in the future, congrats & thanks to the publisher.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
CRUSADERS
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Iron Gauntlets Classic Reprint
Publisher: Precis Intermedia
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/15/2022 00:32:54

Iron Gauntlets is a new favorite fantasy RPG of mine. For a lot of reasons. But in short--great deal, awesome product, worth getting.

First off I'm just going to say I like the feel of it. Right from the cover you feel invited into a high-action, higher-fantasy world. The interior is also really well laid out and designed with classy detailed illustrations. Personally I like that kind of feeling in some of my fantasy game worlds, and the fact that the book echoes the theme is inspiring in its own way.

As a game product, it's also very professional and "batteries included" in philosophy, which means you are paying for the full game experience. You get clear instructions, gameplay examples, worldbuilding guidelines and tips, a flexible but also reasonably crunchy ruleset (I think of it as "chewy" since it's crunchy but substantial and flexible!), and all kinds of amazing add ons: 8 races, 12 backgrounds (nomad, seafolk, lord, etc.), 17 vocations (from adept (monk) to wizard), equipment, a bestiary, a detailed magic system, and more.

The world of Amherth is also introduced if you want to start with a basically fleshed-out world. There is a really reasonable level of detail here for interested players and GMs.

The companion book, also bundled in this product, includes even more backgrounds like desertfolk and satyrs, new vocations like courtesan, hedge wizard, personal defender, raider, and explorer, and other cool stuff: A "Convictions" system with Beliefs, Values, Fears, Temptations, and Triggers, to flesh out a character's personality, Character Threads to better link characters' lives together, optional health rules like Angst and Contempt, and more options.

Overall, if you like fantasy games you should get this one, it's really quite a good deal and it also works together with the publishers rule sets for other systems. You can easily turn this into space fantasy with HardNova II, or be a time-traveling supernatural detective assigned to a typical fantasy cabal with Ghostories.

I also purchased the softcover from the publisher and it looks great, thanks Brett & all who worked on this title.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Iron Gauntlets Classic Reprint
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Battle Century G Remastered
Publisher: Gimmick Labs
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/15/2022 00:24:50

What a cool RPG. The book is really generous with content and I've really enjoyed what I've read so far. If you like mecha RPGs I think it's worth grabbing for that aspect alone.

Well, maybe unless you are absolutely in need of spreadsheet-style gameplay. The author makes it clear that this is not a "detailed mecha customization" game involving tracking weight, fuel, and caliber of guns.

The cover shows the SDG-001 Drake; it's a basic tutorial model that's statted up on page 286. Stats are simple to glance at, and they are used in the game along with a simple, D10-based, higher-is-better mechanic that is covered well on page 16.

While it's a "simple core mechanic," that's not to say there's no crunch. It's more like "vocab crunch" in a way. And for that matter, I think some words about crunch may be helpful:

For one, there's a lot of crunch in the number of accompanying gameplay structures and their names. There are names you'll need to commit to memory in order to learn the game.

Take Tests, as a simple example: There are various frameworks, or specific types of Tests, provided for judging outcomes of circumstances that come up during gameplay. These include: Skill Tests, Contested Tests, Mixed Tests, Extended Tests, Healing Tests, Equipment Tests, and Help Tests.

There are also Matches and Operations mechanics, various rules for distance, damage and maiming, and so on. Specific rules are offered where a lightweight game might offer a hand-wave or unified approach.

The terminology is important to understand as well. The book is not filled with computational tables, but there is a kind of computation of vocabulary involved. There are lots of specialty-terminology summaries, like "when you take an Anomaly, you gain one of two Miracles it offers without having to spend any CP to purchase it." There is some game-structure terminology which is well-explained but which still needs to be understood.

There's also a crunchy "general support structure"--the book is well-edited and provides support for lots of topics. There are many, many examples throughout which are helpful in understanding what the author had in mind for specific types of Tests.

So, while the core mechanic is simple and lightweight by itself, I wouldn't really call the game lightweight. That would be like calling Fate Core lightweight.

There is a lot of focus on displacing metrics and data in favor of narrative and descriptive structure. If you're a simulationist, you should probably think of the goal as piloting a really awesome cinematic gameplay system. You can pilot a mech for sure, but you can also pilot the narrative structure that makes the mech go rogue and split the world in half on accident, or whatever, with lots of relevant detail and narrative depth involving a host of different interactions. In fact I'd say the structure of the game makes more sense, the broader and more dramatic you make your story.

The same situation is true for gear geeks. There is a sidebar that clarifies that inventory management isn't the name of the game at all. You aren't going to find catalogue-like tables of gear with granular stats. But you can absolutely still use the gear and leverage it in the story.

So, story and narrative structure detail get a lot of focus in this game. There are gobs of examples, tools, instructions, options, and clarifications that can help you make an awesome story happen. So if you really enjoy mecha story arcs and want to create some of those with a group, it'd be hard to recommend a more helpful way to do so.

Lots of pre-gen type content is included, plenty to get you started.

The book is extensive, so to sum up the type of length, and type of crunch:

Data-table Crunch: Low

Random table Crunch: Low

Character Sheet Data Crunch: Low

Character Sheet Background / Narrative / Vocab Crunch: Medium

Gameplay Core Mechanic Crunch: Low

Experiential Gameplay Mechanic Crunch: Medium, with specific core+more mechanics somewhat dispersed throughout the book.

Vocab/Literary-Mechanical Crunch: High & Dispersed throughout the book.

Exceptions Crunch: High due to "airtight" rules system, but forgetting some exceptions is probably OK for GMs who can improvise and balance a story on the go.

Overall crunch dispersion: High. Because of the "airtight" structured nature, it's a good idea to read through or familiarize yourself with the whole text over time. You could find some new rules or things to think about that really solve important emergent gameplay problems.

Flexibility: I'd rate the flexibility as reasonable if you are a flexible, improv-style GM or gamer. I think you could throw the airtight structure out the window, so to speak, or add it in bit by bit as you learn the system. But you may feel like there are parts of the book that don't speak to your needs. Quite often data-table-minded people are focused on improvising or observing emergent narrative systems, rather than using frameworks for generating those systems from a rules text.

Recommended use of book: Read-through in order, or skim through to familiarize with basics and plan to consult in depth later.

Who's this really good for?

First, I think the book is probably a really good fit for readers who like to take their time to read and enjoy a detailed, structured, and opinionated text in order to discover what the author meant it to be, remaining open to new ideas and new structures.

If those people also like to play cinematic characters who know their place as part of a group, as opposed to being THE personality in the story, even better. It's a book that supports emergent cinematic worlds, and worlds are made up of all kinds of parts that are all important--that's the kind of thinking here.

And if those people are part of a group of similarly-minded players, holy smokes! A trifecta of cinematic awesomeness should result.

Second, if you're a fan of mecha, and have other mecha games, you will probably find some ideas or gameplay structures you like in here.

Third, I think the cover is a total win. You could buy this for the cover design alone and I'd offer that you have a good head on your shoulders. The layout inside the book is also really easy to read and nice to look at. It backs up the cover really well.

Fourth, if you're into concept-based design and worldbuilding, I think this book could really help you flesh out your concepts and world. Even thinking about support structures like Factions ought to be helpful and that's just one aspect.

Finally, if you want to learn more about the genre and different storytelling possibilities, and if you think it's cool to spin up different ways to use vocabulary as structure, and wish to expose yourself to more of that kind of helpful stuff, because hey, data and spreadsheets aren't everything--this is a terrific resource.

Thanks to the author for their work on this really cool RPG and its newly remastered form.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Battle Century G Remastered
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Astonishing Super Heroes Book 1: Basic Rulebook
Publisher: Tim Bannock
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/28/2022 00:33:06

Tim and his team have really made something to be proud of here. If you like Supers RPGs, GET IT. This is a really fantastic product with impressive clarity and effect of presentation.

I am new to FASERIP but not new to Supers RPGs. I'll go through some of the things I appreciated:

First, Safety Tools & Session Zero are nicely documented. These are new concepts and they are covered well. In my line of work it's become clear that ethics frameworks are a really important thing to make clear when teams get together. They don't have to be a drag, and they can help everybody move beyond huge pitfalls that could easily derail a campaign.

The explanations provided are VERY clear from the start, it's really quite impressive.

The design and illustrations are evocative and pique the imagination. I found myself stopping to think out some of the story concepts they brought to mind.

Summary sections are a big win for this book. Summary sections are not often found in TTRPG books, and in this case they are very helpful. You can't miss much of what's important, and if I understand correctly, using the Summary sections to peruse the books gives new learners a +2R bonus for devouring the content.

The core gameplay mechanics are simple, but include some really interesting additional aspects providing narrative depth.

Some additional included downloads are the Uni-table PDF (a chart to see how well your actions went), the Uni-Table and System Reference, and the Spectacular Origins PDF which goes into some additional options which look really useful, such as "Narrative Character Creation" which is a concept-focused character build method in which one's Primary Abilities "can be eyeballed," which I admit I sometimes like to be acknowledged directly by RPG authors.

Random Character Creation is also in there, and if you like random table crunch, you'll really appreciate this section which has just short of 30 random tables! It looks detailed in a fun and engaging way. I look forward to the upcoming Point Buy, Archetype, and Life Path systems the author mentioned as well.

GM tools and extra profiles are also here.

"Profiles" make a lot of narrative sense and I look forward to trying them out.

The rest of the rules and provisions are also very clear. The Gear, Powers, and Talents sections provide generous and well-organized resources for gameplay.

Overall it's a generous provision that ought to please any gamer. I bought the softcover POD and it is really nice to have. I'm excited to run some tests and play the game. Thanks to Tim & the team behind this new RPG, I look forward to whatever you may have planned for the future.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Astonishing Super Heroes Book 1: Basic Rulebook
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Creator Reply:
Thank you so much for the kind words and support, Marc!
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Super Hero RPG
Publisher: Gorgzu Games
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/13/2021 15:02:13

First, thanks to the author for publishing this game. It was fun to explore the included downloads.

Likes: The whimsical design is fun, inviting, and friendly. The overall theme is open and relatively flexible. The rules are generally easy to understand. If you have some superheroic gaming experience, it should be easy to pick up the general way the game works.

The basic resolution mechanic is dead simple, with an N-in-6 chance of doing things defining the character's relevant power level. If your skill level is 1, you need to roll a 6. If your skill level is 6, you don't need to roll. If your skill level is 5, you need to roll anything but a 1. In addition, players can argue for bonuses! There are some additional tips given for tweaking the mechanic, tips which I would guess that most will use in game sessions that are beyond the most simple.

The BIG pro of this game is colorful, even automated character and world creation including tables and tools for powers, appearance, accessories, backstories, villain creation, campaign plot and mission generators, an "area stocker" to help decide what can be found in a given area within a map or location, and a "goon table". These are D66 tables which I thought offered plenty of detail.

The included HTML files with generator tools are also awesome and fun to use. The game comes with a .zip file with 8 different HTML files representing generator categories, and each file includes more than one gnerator. For me this makes the product worth checking out. You can generate a LOT in very little time.

Other considerations: The game is probably best run by someone with at least intermediate level of experience in superhero RPGs. A lot is left up to the referee. The referee should probably be someone who is experienced and comfortable making various executive decisions during gameplay, or negotiating with players. The phrasing of some passages like "The referee contextually judges when an entity is damaged from conflict" may be also confusing or difficult to understand for some players.

If a referee is playing with a negotiation-heavy player, the referee may need to be very clever, because the mechanics could easily be overpowered through argumentation. The referee should be aware that they may need to ramp up the difficulty by making the map and goons / villains tougher and more plentiful. The author does mention that the referee should keep things dangerous and consequences concrete and consistent, but I would guess that most referees will need to feel their way through this depending on the audience experience level with RPGs and what they want out of the gaming experience.

Dislikes: Some rules, like "Taking too many hits in the same location (2 or 3 depending on the location and the weapon) will result in death" seem too loose, even for a freeform system. If damage is to be tracked, some more definition or at least examples are appropriate. Also, death seems taken for granted, but other popular supers games basically do not account for death at all, and use terms like "incapacitated" instead of "dead".

Finally, all the text is in caps. I understand that comics are written like this, but it's a bit of a different situation in a typical document PDF, with longer line lengths and longer bulleted sections. The text can seem a bit overwhelming. Some of the heading backgrounds also seem a little too dark.

Would be nice: It would be great if the generators could be put into one HTML page, in tabs. Would like to know more about the author and game background. Would like to know where the "Kontext Spiel D6" freeform system comes from. An afterword or some closing thoughts would lead the text to a smoother conclusion.

Finally I would really like to see a thorough gameplay example or at least rule-by-rule examples, to get an idea for what "a" referee "might do," so that the gameplay and planning can still be flexible, but also well-informed.

Overall if you like superheroic character and world generation, I think this is definitely worth checking out. Thanks again to the publisher.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Super Hero RPG
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Creator Reply:
Thank you for your review!
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The Superverse (SUPERS! Revised)
Publisher: TGI
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/20/2021 15:17:30

Wow, this book is a standout value in the realm of supers gaming. I'd give it six stars if I could.

I admit that one of my favorite aspects is the attention spent on fleshed-out normals. This is really helpful in designing my own stories and scenarios. And while 3D (5 Mooks) is not my favorite incongruity to see in such a solid mechanic, that's how Supers! RED works.

Speaking of which, the author pays diligent attention to the way Supers! RED is written. If you want to understand the game itself better, this book is a must-have.

Heck, even if you want to play army, you could engage in some light, narrative-focused, but still epic toy soldier combat using the stat blocks on pages 186-188.

No matter what part of supers gaming interests you, this book will probably speak to your interest somehow.

The author's graphical layout style, and particularly the style for character sheets, is also really easy on the eyes. Even the ads at the end are just really cool and fun. More publishers should be doing more cross-promotion like this.

A big thanks to Aldo Regalado for his hard work.

PS, just a few of my favorite illustrations from the book are found on these pages: 17, 23, 28, 55!!, 67, 72, 74!!!, 75, 77, 98, 110, 117, 147!!, 191.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Superverse (SUPERS! Revised)
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Creator Reply:
Thanks so much for your kind words, Marc! I'm beyond happy that you're enjoying the book as much as you are! I immediately went and ran down the list of your favorite illustrations. Awesome selections! Some of those are among my favorites as well! And I love that many of them are Ade's maps! I think he did an awesome job on those! All the best, Aldo
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Star Strike
Publisher: Iron Crown Enterprises
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/08/2021 23:53:55

This is a great deal on a full tactical space combat game. There are three different levels of gameplay you can choose from. From the rules-lite "Basic" to the more fleshed-out "Standard" and then up to "Advanced".

These rules all build on the previous level, so by the time you understand the Standard Game, you can probably handle the Advanced Game's few rules add-ons.

The Basic Game rules get you going really fast. Still there's some reasonable granularity; for example there's a "Scale" section that tells you how to play the game without a hex grid, using rulers and protractors. There's also a random pilot generation chart.

The Basic Game includes helpful examples for acceleration, turning, firing ranges, damage, etc.

There are three scenarios included for the Basic Game. The first of these is a solo-play scenario, called "The Drones Shoot Back!" in which you play a cadet on a training exercise, with simulated damage only.

The second Basic Game scenario is a two-player, square-off scenario. Fight to the finish.

The third scenario is a team free-for-all. The three scenarios seem like a logically-ordered, helpful ramp up to a better understanding of the game for everybody who will be playing.

The Standard Game builds on the Basic Game. This is appreciated. It's not a completely separate game by any stretch. It adds various new pilot characteristics, new crewmembers, more starcraft, weapons, movement and damage rules, etc.

The Standard Game includes four scenarios. These include just enough background and setup detail to feel substantial and non-generic.

There are also guidelines for designing your own scenarios. The scenario design guidelines include an interesting cost-bidding system for determining who will attack and who will defend in any given scenario (low bidder attacks; high bidder defends), and the outcome also determines how many cost-points each side can use to build their forces.

The more complex Advanced Game rules aren't a huge departure from the Standard Game rules because they build on those rules, but they include things like advanced movement (with new "attitude indicators" for vertical turns) & firing and e.g. an "Interior Flame Control Chart", plus a table showing what information your sensors were able to discover.

The advanced game also uses the pythagorean theorem to determine range to target, but then it clarifies that this is mainly if you want to do the math. You can use a chart instead. It's a forgiving game in that way. You can talk about the depth of the game, but don't ever say you were forced down that path!

Optional rules include some interesting stuff. There's electronic warfare, like cloaking and jamming of weapons and comms. There's also optional momentum movement, reverse movement, and hyperspace movement rules.

Finally you have various warhead capabilties and optional payload items like mines, space hazards, auto cannon fire, and more.

At this point you'll also find optional "cross-grain movement and firing" rules, if you find 60-degree angles too restrictive for turn increments.

Starcraft construction and cost: This is a really cool part of what is included in the game. You can build some pretty epic spacecraft.

Determine your craft's mass, volume, hull type, armor, drive capabilities, armaments, HUD, payload, comms, sensors, EW capability, deflector screens, reactor power, fuel storage, control points, crew, main computer, crew work stations, crew quarters, passenger accommodations, life support, recreational facilities, dispensary, sick bay, labs, workshops, security stations, fighter bays, shuttle/vehicle bays, cargo hold, atmospheric streamlining, landing gear, radiation shielding, and back-up systems. The designer will need to "juggle numbers" to completely fill the volume available, so it's kind of a neat exercise in that way.

There are helpful worksheets and examples given here as well. Lots of templated spacecraft are included.

Additionally you'll find computer rules, repair rules, rules for integrating with Space Master, boarding actions, etc.

The Tables and Forms book (in addition to the color counters) is also included, with quick-reference charts and resources.

The PDF is a good quality scan, it's readable and the illustrations are great. There's a bit of an homage to Star Wars on page 43. If you wanted you could probably OCR your own copy and get a reasonably searchable PDF with a few minutes of effort.

There are a few typos but nothing I've seen that's too distracting.

Overall the game is worth checking out if you are into tactical space combat and would appreciate a dial-a-crunch system, or a system that can grow more advanced along with you.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Star Strike
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XD12 Superhero System
Publisher: XD12 Games
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/12/2021 00:46:52

If you like superhero games, GET IT! This is a great deal on an impressively solid, detailed, and organized point-build supers system. It's like a mini-Champions in that point-build sense, and also kind of similar to Supers RED! or Prowlers & Paragons.

A quick explanation about how the dice pool mechanic works:

If your superhero has for example a 6D in (whatever attribute or power) you roll 6D12 and try to beat a target number OR roll more than your opponent's D's in their defense power/attribute. So if their defense is a 2D attribute, your target to beat for each of the dice you roll is a 2. A good example in the book:

"If a spy is trying to sneak past a guard, the spy would use his Agility trait while the guard would use his Perception trait. If the spy is Agility 5D and the guard is Perception 4D, then the spy’s controller rolls five 12-sided dice with a difficulty of 4, while the guard’s controller rolls four dice with a difficulty of 5.

The spy’s controller rolls 1, 6, 7, 9, and 10 for a total of 4 success dice. The guard’s controller rolls 1, 3, 6, and 8, for a total of 2 success dice. The spy wins the contest with an effect level of (4 – 2 =) 2, and manages to get past the guard without being noticed."

There are also Fate dice and Edge dice. Fate dice can be used for automatic successes, or Power Feats, in which a power can be used to simulate another power. For example, using a water blast from below to lower someone to safety, as a substitute for telekinesis. In other games I think this would be more of a normal narrative call made by the player and GM without any thought given to the idea of simulating another power, and perhaps with a difficulty modifier thrown in. So I admit I was a little confused by the necessity of the example.

Edge dice are a dice pool meant to represent situational edges that the character can draw on: Wealth, Sleight of Hand, Streetwise, Vehicle, etc. You can expend edges when needed, but must stay under the campaign power level dice cap.

Combat is abstracted into "spaces" of about 30 feet across (XYZ), rather than ranged by grid units. If someone is in your character's space, you can make a touch or melee attack on them without taking a movement action. A movement action can go the distance of one space.

Melee, mental, ranged, and touch attacks are handled slightly differently.

You can defend with powers as well as attack with them. Damage subtracts 1D per point of effect level (see example above), for example taking a character's Fortitude from 2D to 1D.

Characters can be rendered catatonic, critically wounded, knocked out, stunned, traumatized, wounded, and thrown back. They can be harmed by Environmental Damage, including Deprivation, Falling, Horror/Insanity, Pressure/Vacuum, Radiation, Toxins, and Disease.

Character creation runs in power tiers, from "Human" with a max trait of 3D and 30 character creation dice, to "Ultrahuman" with a max trait of 12D (roll 12 of your D12 dice, please) and 120 character creation dice. The default level is "Superhuman" with 9D per-trait max, and 90 character creation dice.

Characters can also take a certain number of subplot dice per level, effectively giving your character a background-disadvantage in exchange for more creation points to spend.

Attributes: "Every character has nine primary attributes and three derived attributes. The primary attributes are Agility, Ego, Empathy, Fortitude, Intelligence, Perception, Prowess, Reflexes, and Strength." Prowess is the basic combat skill.

Luck determines the number of extra auto-success dice that can be drawn on as needed throughout a single gaming session. The GM can give out more luck during a session as a player activates their character's subplots and in a couple of other circumstances as well.

Powers can be purchased with "Boosters" and "Limiters" applied to increase or limit each power, in exchange for a difference in the points used to purchase the power. A Booster is an interesting concept; with a Booster, a power could affect something that the power normally couldn't affect, for example, or be loaned out to other characters.

In addition to the listings containing of all the powers, there are helpful lists of both Boosters and Limiters, which promise to make character builds an interesting creative exercise. There's some numerical granularity too; you can also end up spending 7.5D points on a power, for example.

The various powers come with a good number of tables which help explain the effects and levels of the powers. For example, if the character wants to purchase the Immunity power, they need to consult the table to define the group they want to be immune to:

Immunity Pathogen Groups:

Bacteria Poisons Nanites Radiation Parasites Toxins Venoms Viruses Xenobiotics

...or they can spend an additional 2D for "all groups" immunity.

Powers are fun to read about, too, for example "Radio Sense" includes descriptions of the "Jammer" booster and "Transceiver" booster. Hopefully the character is FCC licensed, at least.

(I'm really surprised and impressed by all the detail as I write this out--this game is really well thought out)

The subplot descriptions (negative aspects of your character's story with which you purchase creation points) are also really nice to see in general, whether you're playing a game or not. They're interesting to read and consider.

The character sheet is well-organized and detailed, and I think it illustrates the game's reasonable compromise between simplicity and crunch, mechanic and narrative.

There's a sample hero and a sample villain, and a nice Gallery of Rogues, including 8 different characters. It's enough to help figure out the system.

Character advancement is included, in both experience and reputation.

There are additional aspects of the game that apply only to supervillains, like Fiat dice, along with instructions for their use. Some good GM notes on using villains as well.

Toward the end of the book you'll also find a reasonably fleshed-out sample setting, an example of gameplay that is EIGHT PAGES LONG, AND IN TWO COLUMNS (this is amazing and helpful, congrats to the author on this feat), which covers Experience and Reputation advancement as well.

The book closes off with a couple of pages of quick-reference charts, an index, and an afterword.

XD12SS is apparently a side project the author has been working on for ten years--and I have to say it's a terrific outcome.

Kudos to Matt for producing this really solid supers game. I look forward to diving in further.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
XD12 Superhero System
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F.o.r.c.e.
Publisher: Fantasy Games Unlimited
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/11/2021 14:52:33

The art by Jeff Dee is fantastic. The setting is clearly laid out and the adventure is detailed and fun. Includes color counters. Thanks to the publisher for making this classic title available.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
F.o.r.c.e.
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Agents of S.W.I.N.G.
Publisher: Postmortem Studios
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/07/2021 00:30:47

Wow! This book is packed with detail that helped me understand FATE better. Plenty of examples and narrative guidance as well. The layout and graphics may not be the best you've ever seen, but the 340+ pages here are extremely generous with more than everything you'd need to play.

The broader genre information and history (Ch. 11--The Years) is generically useful as well. It could benefit any spy or cold war game you want to run.

Pre-gens galore, many of them resembling personalities you already know. I love the illustration for Number 8 on page 248!

There are gobs of stunts to pick from too, from "Army of One" to "Minions" to "Prototype Vehicle" and "Sceptic's Ear"...oh and Strange Stunts, like "Astral Travel" and "Psychokinesis"..."Super Speed"..."Super Strength"...basically this game is ALSO A SUPERS GAME if you want it to be, you read that right. It's fun to read about the stunts and imagine various plots and scenarios.

Run anything from French Connection to When Eight Bells Toll to Austin Powers. Give Gene Hackman a cape if you want, or cause Patrick McGoohan to turn into TV's own Incredible Hulk. Helpful GM information abounds as well. Big thanks to the publisher.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Agents of S.W.I.N.G.
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Spacemaster 2nd Edition GM Book
Publisher: Iron Crown Enterprises
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/07/2021 00:14:51

At this price a NO-BRAINER purchase. The cover may not look as good as the combined edition with a kid shooting a laser pistol, but the interior is the same and contains tons of neat illustrations, charts, and helpful gaming information. Recommended for sci-fi gamers.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Spacemaster 2nd Edition GM Book
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Spacemaster 2nd Edition Player Book
Publisher: Iron Crown Enterprises
by Marc C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/07/2021 00:14:08

A neat book at a very reasonable cost. The cover may not look as good as the combined edition with a kid shooting a laser pistol, but the interior is the same and contains tons of neat illustrations and information. Recommended for sci-fi gamers.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Spacemaster 2nd Edition Player Book
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