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I saw a review on the Dark Lore blog talking about Dark Sagas. The author of the post took pains to explain why he liked the game. Through several paragraphs he lovingly described the system, except I was left wondering how exactly it was supposed to be played. Since it was only $4, I figured that was a small price to sate my curiosity.
And it's interesting. The game is extremely rules light, but it is not OSR. In fact, it avoids some of the tropes of D&D. You're not automatically good at combat just by having a high Strength (Physique, in this game) or a master Archer for having a high Dexterity. Fighting and Marksmanship are stats, and you can pour as many (as few) points as you want into them. Armor blocks damage, and your Defense acts as a target number that other opponents have to hit in order to hit you.
For the most part, the system works well, just adding the stat to a 2d6 roll to hit a target number. Skills are not what you'd expect. Rank I usually gives you advantage on a roll, but Rank II might give you access to a thieves guild, for example. It's oddball but it's also refreshing. They have a fairly extensive skill list, but not so much that it's overwhelming. That's become more and more common these days.
Armor and weapons are broken down into categories: light, medium, and heavy. There's a short paragraph explaining what kinds of weapons or armor are included in that category, and a table giving you ranges for armor points and damage.
And there's a bestiary featuring 100 monsters. That's enough to get you started. They also include stats for human beings, so if it's a simple bandit threatening you, you don't have to figure out what that means. The game also features threat levels for the monsters, so you can figure out roughly how tough a monster might be (very useful for Game Masters or solo roleplayers).
Magic is roll-to-cast and magic points. I feel the author should have chosen one or the other, but it's a minor quibble. If you roll well, the spell goes off without a hitch. If you don't roll well, then terrible things could happen.
There's even a default setting, an appendix explaining the odds of rolling this number or that one, and a table featuring example difficulty numbers for different things. And there are combat maneuvers that almost remind me of GURPS, and they add a welcome tactical dimension to the game.
Now for the bad:
They include a curious mechanic for Defense, adding 8 to your Dexterity. That number is higher than your starting stats can be. I understand why it was chosen, but they should have figured stats into the mix. The default numbers gave me such a high Defense, nothing could hit me. After some deliberation I finally changed it to 4 + Fighting.
You see, Dexterity does too much. There's no reason as a warrior I should be able to open locks, have superior balance and manual coordination, hide objects on my person, etc. Part of learning how to fight is learning how to defend yourself, how to block and parry blows, or even avoid them entirely. So I house-ruled it.
Other than that, there are curious omissions. It talks about regaining Hit Points under a healer's care, but doesn't tell you how much that costs. The Roc is not included in the Bestiary despite having a bookmark for it. And despite proofreading, there's an error that pops up early in the rules. It's "decent" not "descent."
But for all that, the game is playable. And but for defense, everything works. The author has whipped up an entirely enjoyable game system, for a really good price. If you're in the market for a game that's not D&D, and you have four bucks burning a hole in your pocket, then get this game.
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