It's super cool that DTRPG is consistent in enforcing its no overtly political products rules.

This game is leftist trash lazily written using PbtA. Avoid it.

Really useful randomizers. They take some getting used to, but if you use them enough and figure out how they work and how to use them in your games, you could show up to a game session with nothing but a page of notes, this deck and maybe some monster/NPC stats and you can run a dynamic, unpredictable game.

The Genre suppliments, alone solo engine, and universal instructions are well written and thoughtful, although I wish they were a little prettier and more distinctive than just simple black text on white fields. Having each page have a unique look would help with quickly flipping through to find what you're looking for.

This short placeholder review is for the updated version vs. the original version. The layout is better and some rules have been tweaked for what I believe is the better. It is generally easier to find what you are looking for and the contradictions and ambiguities in the old book seem to be mostly ironed out.

The most egregious misstep is the removal of vehicle and voidship rules, especially considering there are still vehicle focused skills and traits (White Scars and Evil Sunz for example).

EDIT: Threatening Tasks also seem to have been removed, but that system wasn't very well designed anyhow. It was basically an overly complicated and cumbersome skill challenge system that can be done much more elegently with a simple skill challenge homebrew.

On the whole I like the AGE system. The stunt mechanic is interesting, task resolution is generally fast and smooth and it is generic enough to build a homebrew setting around pretty easily. The system and this pdf do however have a few glaring problems that I find no one is talking about. First, the combat relies too heavily on the stunts system to add interesting choices. There are very few mechanical options in combat beyond "hit guy with my weapon using my most appropriate talent" and if you don't roll doubles or roll crab on your stunt die that makes for a very dull turn. Second, the mechanical effects of the different talents and specializations just feel uninspired and bland. It doesn't feel like there is really a significant difference between playing say a two-hander warrior and a sword and board warrior. Yeah you get a couple of small stat differences and very minor ability riders but nothing that makes the game experience notably different or varied. Third, I can't find animal statistics anywhere in the book. This is especially frustrating because they include mounted combat rules and animal companions (especially with the Beastmaster option in the Companion) but no actual animals to use. So several of the options that might actually make the game fun to play with aren't actually useable.

The pdf itself is very poorly put together. The bookmarks are an absolute mess. They are often out of order and there are sub-marks under headings that make no sense. For example, after the classes in the book there are a few pages dedicated to the final touches of your character (calculating defense, starting money, character goals, gaining XP and the like). Only about half of them are given a bookmark and all the bookmarks are submarks of the Warrior class bookmark. That is only one of a few example of very poor bookmarks. To make this even worse, the pdf is locked so you cannot even change the bookmarks manually.

Lots of variety. The incognito versions of the angels make great use as human forms for Angel characters, or simply used on their own as human characters.

A great resource for those that like to build their own campaign settings. A solid ruleset and enough flexibility let you do nearly any type of game... just so long as it involves super intelligent apes. I'm not sure how it would hold up as a long term game, but definatelly worth using for a short campaign.

A great resource for those that like to build their own campaign settings. A solid ruleset and enough flexibility let you do nearly any type of game... just so long as it involves super intelligent apes. I'm not sure how it would hold up as a long term game, but definatelly worth using for a short campaign.