Positives:

1. Clever integration of step-die mechanics a la Earthdawn and aspect mechanics a la FATE/Spirit of the Century.

2. Mentor-based chargen replicates medieval cultural beliefs about education (i.e., superiority of ancients, learning by example). Also immediately generates 3 NPCs for plot hooks, character connections, etc.

3. Use of same conflict rules for combat, parley, chase, and subterfuge appreciated--but equally welcome are venue-specific guidelines for how conflicts play out differently in each of those four areas.

4. Excellent appendices providing sample stats for mentors and animals.

Negatives

1. Sample adventure feels too bare-bones. More guidance would have been welcome.

Overall Assessment

A wonderful game. Author says he plans on adapting it to other historical periods. I eagerly await the news that he has done so. :)

I've always wanted to run a supers game, but the bulk of available systems have generally been uber-crunchy. (I once tried to get a HERO game going, but six hours of group chargen convinced me that trying to stat up NPCs on a regular basis would be insane.) T&J is the first supers game since the original Marvel Superheroes game from TSR that I will be able (and happy) to run!<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: I like the PDQ system, but I really think the triumph of T&J is the way in which it makes possible (for really the first time in supers gaming that I've seen) the sort of super group one sees in the Justice Society of America. In other systems, there's no way around the problem: the Spectre and Dr. Fate and Green Lantern are going to dwarf the Atom and Wildcat and Sandman when it comes to fights. In T&J, Chad makes the assumption that all characters in a comic are narratively equal--so the Spectre shouldn't really have that many more resources than the Atom. (Corrigan just gets to function on the super scale more often.) The result is that you can build the Wrath of God and the Pint-Size Powerhouse as starting characters with the same amount of "points"--and still get them right.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There were one or two grammatical erro . . . nah, I'm just kidding. I love this RPG. There are a few unclear spots in the rules, but Chad is so good with support on both the Yahoo! Groups mailing list and the ASMP web site that I really have no complaints.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>