Teenagers From Outer Space has been one of my favourite role-playing games since I was an actual teenagers, back in... well, never mind that. It's such ridiculous fun, and it's so smart about being silly - the suggestions for Game Masters for how to create and pace comedic situations are incredibly useful all on their own. The edition I first bought when I was... well, never mind that... was the less-anime-focused version, because back then we barely knew what anime was, and so it was presented as more of a comedic science fiction/sitcom/movie-about-teenagers kinda thing, but any edition of TFOS is a joy to read and to play.

This one is a goof RPG. It works very well for that, an as long as you understand that this is meant to be a comedy game, you will have a blast. I do not think the tone of the book is condusive for a "serious game" but it works for a general anime style RPG where you want to fight with giant mechs in a life and death struggle, then be hit with a paper fan by your high school crush. It does what it sets out to do, so I think it is a good game for a very specific type of game.

My group would find it hard to do a long term campaign with this game, but personal tastes vary. I am deffinatley adding it to the one shot palate cleanser. The possibility for comedy is just too high.

I have enjoyed every game I have played in this syste.

As a former TFOS book owner (three different copies/editions!), I'm quite excited to see this game available in PDF format. The rules are simple, the setting is fun, and the game is pretty much self-contained.

Rules are quick and easy to learn, which is great for quick games, young, casual and non-gamer players (or a night when everyone is too brain-fried from life to deal with a crunchy game). You'll only need a couple of 6-sided dice for the game, and most rolls are d6 + stat + skill/modifiers (generally all low, single-digit numbers) versus some target number.

A very elegant way to combat players making teenage gods/goddesses in game is the "Overdoing it" mechanic. Exceed your target number by too much and you'll "over do it," resulting in unintended consequences as the player gets more than they bargained for. Its usually humorous (depending on the GM), and while better than a failure, is a subtle encouragement for players to diversify what their teenagers can do.

It is worth noting that players can't die, violence is more of the old cartoon variety, and generally the game is more fun and mischievous than anything else. In my experience it was fun for one-off games as well as short little multi-session adventures with players who had a good sense of humor about themselves and their characters. As such, its a nice little thing to have in your collection for nights when your normal game can't be played or the GM needs a break. The book does come with a fair number of adventure plots, so if you're good with improvising on the fly its almost pick up and play.

The PDF, so far as I can tell, is a scan and is not searchable. Thats not horrible at 130 pages, but I'd just as soon print it out than use it digitally. Also, this edition came out in the late 90's, so social media, online gaming, reality TV shows, and all the more modern stuff contemporary teens are into isn't really present, but putting it in won't be any problem for GMs or players. Should R Talsorian ever create a new edition to update some of the setting plus make a new, non-scanned PDF with all the trimmings, you can add one more star to my rating.

As is, however, the game is still fantastic, and a steal at the asking price.

Good, old-fashioned, crazy anime shenanigans of the sort that made series such as Ranma 1/2 or Tenchi Muyo into classics. Stay away if you expect heavy drama or anything serious at all. If, however, you always wanted to own game with at least three separate ways to instantly change a character's gender, your search is over!

This is a spectacularly wonderful, weird, entertaining rulebook. It's fleshed out without being too restrictive to either a player or a referee, and the rules are very flexible--it's very amenable to "house rules," because so few of them are set in stone. It's also designed so that one can decide to play a game at the drop of a hat, create a character in ten minutes, and run through a practice scenario. Super fun. Haven't had the opportunity to run or play a game yet, but I think it's coming soon; all of my friends are very enthusiastic.