Ring Side Report- RPG review of The Magnus Archives Player's Guide

Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!

Product- The Magnus Archives Player's Guide System- Cypher System Producer- Monte Cook Games Price- Free here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/498598/the-magnus-archives-player-s-guide?affiliate_id=658618
TL; DR- Good, but this doesn’t cover most of the basics. 80%

Basics- What’s your statement? The Magnus Archives is a podcast that was adapted to the cypher system. Players take the roles of investigators looking into paranormal events. WIll you find what’s causing all these strange events?

Base Mechanics- This is the cypher system. Players state an action, and the GM states a difficulty. The difficulty times 3 is what the player needs to roll on a d20. If the player wants to lower the DC, players can spend points from a pool for mind, body, and dexterity to reduce the level. The GM doesn't roll dice!

And that's it. It's built on the basic cypher system.

Mechanics or Crunch- This book gives the very basics of the cypher system, but dont expect to play the game with this alone. You can’t build characters with this. Nor can you really run a game with this alone. You get the base mechanics of this game with a good explanation, but you get no options. It has pregenerated characters, which I love, but it's very bare bones. 3.5/5

Theme or Fluff- There is more here, but it's very basic. I don't know what the Magnus Archives are and why there are statements. I know there are podcasts about it, and I’m interested in them now. But I don't really know why or who is doing the investigating. What’s here will draw you in, but you will need the full book to get those answers. 3.5/5

Execution- Monte Cook Games does solid work in production. The book reads easily, has solid art, and is well laid out. Overall it’s just a well done book. 5/5

Summary- For the price of free, this is a good intro to the Magnus Archives. If I had paid for this, I would be upset. In a player’s guide, I expect a bit more character options and explanations to the game. This has a decent explanation, but no options. I also expect a bit more in terms of world building. I’m intrigued, but I have no answers to what is going on. As a product, this is a good book for production. I want a lot more, and all of that is found in the main game book. Worth a look at free if you want to see the basics of the system and world. 80%

What is contained is good but what is excluded is inexcusable.

TLDR: If you want to create a character and play the Magnus Archive RPG do not buy this, buy the full book instead.

If you are going to buy this book so you can make Magnus Archive RPG characters you will be disappointed like me.

All this book contains is a run through of the basic rules. This is all well written at least.

Unfortunately this book misses a lot of information that you would need to actually create a character. The book contains the names of descriptors, type and focus but does not actually detail what these give you. It does not contain the stats you get for your character. It does not contain any information on the various special abilities you get at character creation. It mentions cyphers but does not contain any of the cyphers you can get in this Cypher system game.

It is good at explaining on how to play the game but does not provide you with the information to play the game. Ignore this book and buy the full book. I wish I had not spent my money on this.