1) The writing is hilarious 2) The gameplay is a mix of hilarious hijinks and tender moments that is wonderful, refreshing, and very much on theme with the game 3) The skins/characters are well thought out and have plenty of roleplaying opportunities within the fiction 4) I appreciate the effort of the author to make the anachronistic interplay MEANINGFUL beyond the ability to say GOTH WAR! There's a lot of nicely done nuance in the fiction, beyond an homage to 90s goth culture in suburbia. 5) Whenever I run it, my players love it. It works well both for one-shots and "campaign" adventures.

The mechanics are easy to sink your teeth into and the genre is easily understandable, along with all the tropes (and not just if you were a 90s goth kid). These things feed a wonderfully entertaining fiction for players and Mallrats (the GM) alike. Also, the scenario creators are amazing and their work (both here and elsewhere) is worth it.

Setting: Removed from the mundance world, characters live in an aquatic world foreign to our own except for the emotional tenor with which we view relationships and conflict. The way the characters are created are intuitive to the setting (the template, family, and vocation) in ways that help define a character and how those characters relate to each other and the rest of the inhabitants of the world.

Gamplay - being diceless, the tension doesn't come from rolling the dice in gameplay but rather in addressing the complications that come from conflict and/or challenges. It keeps the game firmly narrative, encourages collaborative storytelling, and gives weight to player decisions. I particularly appreciate how the relationship mechanic works, giving players a focus through which to explore what each interaction means with another character (pc or npc), and what that relationship means.

Use of safety tools is encouraged, which I appreciate.

Between the setting and the gameplay, I find the game allows you to explore relationships and connections with a level of freedom without the weight of our reality to limit them. The setting provides perspectives and guidance, and encourages exploration throughout. Finally, what I appreciate is how the game allows the fiction to breathe. Intimate moments have the ability to remain intimate, and moments of action don't spiral out of control. It keeps the fiction firmly rooted to the core of the game.

If you want a game that will have you and everyone at the table hooting and hollering in delight, waiting for melodramatic hijinks to begin, then this is the game for you. This game takes the best parts of telenovela tropes and allows the players to mold them into a fun and satisfying storytelling experience. The interplay between the active players in a scene and those who are "the audience" is wonderful and gives everyone who isn't in the spotlight a chance to affect and interact with the fiction. It's really hard to have a dull or slow moment in the game and leaves everyone at the table wanting more.

I can't heap enough praise for how well this game emulates the genre within the Powered by the Apocalypse engine and I can't wait for it's full release.

A solid compendium to the core game. The additional rules are well written and provide color to various parts of the setting. I particularly enjoyed the Soul Master's tools, which are ready go-tos for games. I haven't run one yet, but the possibilities for alternate style games (e.g. post-apocalyptic) are enticing and well laid out.

If you like SotF and are looking for additional material to run it with, this compendium has it.

I love the premise of the game and how the mechanics feed into the gameplay. A wholly satsifying way to spend an RPG session talking about dark powers and what you do with them. Extra shout out for it's inventive way of using a standard deck of card in lieu of dice and designing the game around it in a meaningful way.

All around fun game.