Resolute: The Splintered Realm is one of those nifty systems that relies solely on D6, which means you can find the dice you need by raiding just about any board game. Gotta love that.

The author squarely places his inspiration on the back of D&D "red box" - the first one. The inspiration shows, even if it looks nothing like a D&D game, it's O'd School roots are there.

Success is decided by 2D6 plus modifiers compared against a Difficulty Rating (DR). For every 5 points your beat the DR, you get a bonus success. That's the core of it. There are other things that can modify the roll and such, but the core is fairly simple. It should be, as the rules wrap up in 20 pages.

We get four core classes (sound familiar?): Disciple, Fighter, Magician and Scout. Each class - I mean Archetype, has a special ability which helps define it and make it unique. Or you could avoid taking an archetype all together.

Magic spells have their own chapter. Magicians aren't the only ones with access to spells, but the other classes need to purchase each spell ability individually. Nice way to make your character unique, or to model him on some of the other D&D-like classes.

There is a small section on beasts and such and even a one page dungeon included in the mix. Fair deal for a $3 investment (although there is a Book of Beasts available for a buck).

The PDF is scaled for widescreen monitor and tablets, although there is a printer friendly version also included.

WHAT WORKS: Plenty of information for 20 pages, more than enough to get your game rolling. There are also some decent benchmark guidelines for character point totals actually mean, as well as ability benchmarks. The author does a great job of conveying a lot in a few words. Nice setting premise.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: While cross-referencing with the Resolute Book of Beasts, I noticed a bit of overlap in the contents of the two bestiaries, which was disappointing. It is also hard to call the archetypes "optional" when you basically penalize someone for not taking an archetype. Given the size of the book, there is virtually no setting information once you get past the blurb that sets up the premise.

CONCLUSION: Unlike some other "low-end" or "budget" RPGs, this feels very much like a complete game (like the Resolute supers game does before it), even if it doesn't feel like the premise is executed quite as well here. I would also have liked to have seen even the minimal crossover with the Book of Beasts avoided, as the small size of the books basically means that every page matters. That said, there is plenty of room for microsupplements that could expand it out, both within the setting and the realm of generic fantasy. If you only buy one Resolute RPG, I say stick with the supers version, but this is definitely a fine product on its own merits.

For my full review, please visit: http://mostunreadblogever.blogspot.com/2011/07/tommys-take-on-resolute-splintered.html

Resolute the Splintered Realm is leaps and bounds more complete than Resolute Army Ants. The game contains clear examples of play and explanations of the various aspects of the game. It even contains a few optional rules. What the game doesn't cover: maritime combat, Sword & Sorcery cultural tropes, mounted combat [at least I didn't see it], etc. In future expansions, I'd like to see sea-faring adventure rules, more creatures, more archetypes and more races with cultural variants, but it's a well- written 20 pages.