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I have read a couple of other reviews on The New Epoch and decided to throw in my two cents. I agree with some of what has been said but wish to present a different perspective on things.
First off, it should be remembered that this is a new product by a fledgling company (from what I gather), not something churned out with the backing of a big established publisher. This means it is a labour of love more than a new product line aimed at further filling the already bloated coffers of a big corporation. It is not hard to appreciate that the major players in the rpg world can more easily afford to charge less for their products if they so choose to, relying instead on volume to bulk up sales numbers.
Spending money on products like this supports and encourages new talent trying to break into the industry, which may be a worthwhile reason in itself for such an investment, and, as new faces to the industry, perhaps we should be welcoming them for the time and effort they have put in to bring new games to our living rooms.
As for The New Epoch itself, it has been described as derivative of D&D in both art style and game design, and drawn both praise and criticism from the same sources for being too close to D&D or straying too far in terms of using the d20 system in innovative ways. Either way, any resemblance it bears to D&D should please those familiar with that and make it easier to get into as a system, and any departures can be seen by those who are not interested in another D20 D&D clone product as a refreshing departure.
It's easy to criticise the work of others without considering what is put into it to make a finished product, and the art of The New Epoch is polished and smooth and, like the visual design all through this first book, evocative of the fantasy steam age setting. Thought has even been put into the visual representation of the languages of the setting, as evident in the text of the races section that accompanies the sample character images.
Speaking of the race chapter, another reviewer has mistaken the Draug for a clone of D&D's infamous Drow (Dark Elves), going so far as to say they live underground when no such thing is stated in the book. This is an example of prejudicial bias at work on the part of reviewers. They see the words d20 System, they see humans, orcs, dwarves, elves, halflings etc and they think “dungeons and dragons”, and from there, everything gets seen in those terms, whether that be accurate or not.
Another example of such is the way the passive defenses work, which have been compared to the saving throws of D&D. Yes, the three defense types fall under similar categories to the saves of D&D, covering dodging, physical resilience and mental resilience. However, it differs from D&D, which has two seperate mechanics for this – one a passive armor class system and the other an active saving throw roll.
The New Epoch system abandons the traditional Armor Class mechanic of D&D and d20 fare in favour of its three defense types, simplifying things in a way that should streamline play. In effect it combines the two mechanics of 3rd edition D&D into one passive mechanic that requires less dice rolling.
It should be obvious that the three kinds of defenses are not something unique to D&D in deserving consideration – they describe a happy medium between one flat defence roll or stat and numerous defence types for specific attacks. Any game of this kind should have a way to manage a character's resistance to unwanted interference of the like and the makers of New Epoch should be lauded for their simplification and refinement over a clunky dual system that was largely a dinosaur hanging over from the early days of Dungeons and Dragons.
Rather than poke holes in a game where there are none due to opinions about a different game, perhaps reviwers should focus their attention on what makes a game stand out on its own merits and understand the mechanics involved and how they work, and the content of the game setting before passing on mistaken assumptions as part of reviews, thus misinforming people.
I'm sure playing the game would make such things clearer, but reading the material thoroughly helps too. I don't really have the time to give a personal review of the New Epoch in this post, but hopefully the points I have raised will encourage people to try it for themselves and form their own opinions based on what they read, not what they already think before reading what is in the book.
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