Blade bind has a very tight focus. The sword fights between anime esque sword wielding badass characters and the things that are at stake during those fights. Character stats are almost non-existent beyond how good they fight, what sword they have and what the things are they care about which makes this a superb oneshot or short campaign game. The combat system is a bit complex at first but its all focus no fluff again, playing your cards for those combat moves feels intense every time, especially when you are fighting multiple oponents at once.

I'd laso recomend people look at this game if they are looking for a good duel system for other games. In a system like say Fate the fighting stat would translate easilly to prowes in this system and boy would I love to get these intense short fights into more of my games!

I got this little guide ages ago on a recomendation but only now got round to reading it on a whim. While the writing style is a bit dry and more remeniscent of a sientific disertation rather then a "handy quick GM tool!" as we might be used to these days, it is a extremely handy tool indeed. While it might take a moment to get your head around it, the notion of a chart with effectivey 3 axis and "memmory" as the author describes it does indeed open up amazing posibilities and I would recomend all interested game designers and creative game masters to read it, remmember it, and you will find it offer a great solution to all sorts of issues.

Full disclosure, I was involved in playtesting this game and received my copy for free because of it.

Round of Fire isn't a game that sets out the re-invent the wheel and becomes another dime a dozen skirmish game. Instead, it invented a new wheel, the eponymous "round of fire" which completely breaks up the classical turn structure we have all grown used to. Instead, the speed of a unit's action, as well as suppression by enemies will determine what unit acts when. This adds an element to the game hardly ever seen in others, tense timing! It is maybe the closest to "real-time gaming" you can get with a miniatures wargame, and makes the fight one of the most dynamic you will ever play.

The combat overall combat mechanics are nothing new under the sun, requiring a roll from the attacker and the defender. It's quick and unobtrusive. Where things get interesting is the "shock" value of weapons which acts as a suppression and pinning mechanism, delaying a unit's action on the wheel. The time (or distance?) between 2 units on the wheel will determine if a unit is capable of returning fire instantly.

My greatest critique would probably that the point system is in depth to a fault, it reminds me a bit of older days of Warhammer, where some equipment change might cost a single point. Still, some others might find value in this and spend hours tweaking their lists. Definitely, the game has an interesting army building mechanic. there are relatively few units, available to all, but each faction will influence how much units and particular upgrades cost, or even prevent the purchase of specific ones.

A surprising plus is the overall quality and presentation of the book. The layout and graphic design are better than many "professional" games out there! full of well drawn and clear diagrams as well as evocative pictures of miniatures "in action" Even though the game is meant to be setting neutral is has more character than many setting specific books.

All in all, RoF is the first game where I didn't feel like it was my turn to activate my army or even just a unit. Instead always felt like it was "now" and a unit needed to decide what their best course of action would be then and there.

Probably one of my favourite "worlds of adventure" to date! When I was done reading this book I genuinely wondered why Evil Hat suddenly produced a 100+ page book, only to realize it was a 45 page book that felt like it contained 100 pages worth of content.

Far from a new idea, but perhaps the best executed I have seen so far. With a few exceptions we found the cards to be exactly right in directed vs. choice balance. In other words, the cards give exactly enough guidance to get the creative juices flowing. The rules recommend you skip cards that don't make sense, and I would even suggest GM's prune the cards before use to take out the ones that they don't think will fit.

One of the most interesting and well developed systems I have read in the past few years. This game features on non combat challenges as much as combat in a quick but interesting way. Don't let the theme fool you, many people are also using this for anything from fantasy to star wars.

An innovative system, if you know d20 a bit this is easy. Quite well thought out but still lets a few topics unspoken. A very nice system for one-shots but probably not all that great for a long lasting campaign, unless your really into fantasy wild west.