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Cat by John Wick
by William H. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/03/2007 14:09:01

This rules-light highly themed game was a fun read. As with so much of John Wick's work, the rules seem not to have been a major consideration.

The setting material is excellent. The rules are simple, elegant, and playable.

One layout issue: Since John submitted it as 2 5x8 pages per visible 8.5x11 page, I can't booklet-print it.

Oh, well.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Cat by John Wick
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InTERRORgation by Annie Rush
by Jim C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/01/2006 00:00:00

This is a brief little game concept, structured around the sorts of movies and other stories told in hindsight by the unreliable narration of suspects under interrogation. The text mentions "The Usual Suspects" but "Rashomon" is probably a better parallel, since a number of different tale-tellers are in play.

Different structures are possible, but by default the game begins with an interrogation of a number of Suspect characters by the GM's character, the Interrogator, about an incident that has happened. Action then moves to a series of Flashbacks, describing the events that actually happened, where various interesting things start to happen with narrative control and plot responsibility. Task resolution, at the level of physical events, uses a mechanic that will be familiar from games such as "Sorceror" in this sub-genre, but there are at least a couple of levels of play, and levels of player/character knowledge and motivation, going on above that.

The game design is short (16 wide-spaced pages), skeletal and not wholly polished, but very good for its size. The author discusses alternative structures of play and provides helpful examples.

I have to say a word about the layout. Someone has gone to a lot of trouble and filled up lots of disk space by typing out the text on some rough paper and blacking out part-lines with a magic marker. They've then crumpled and in places torn the sheets and scanned it at an tilt. Sadly, most of us have a slight idea what a redacted document is supposed to look like, and this is just a poorly done and unconvincing effort. Sentences flow straight past the supposedly excised text, then there are the parts where they've missed parts of the randomly-typed letters that were supposed to be blacked out. The damage to the sheets is too much - it looks not so much well-worn as thrown in the trashcan and picked out again. It's overdone, juvenile and distracting. 4 stars for writing but I'm marking this down for production values.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Players get to take Flashbacks off in directions that the GM didn't anticipate.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Blacked out text: This was a bad idea.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
InTERRORgation by Annie Rush
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Schauermarchen by John Wick
by David C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/01/2006 00:00:00

There really isn?t much to this ?game.? It consists of 18 side-by-side pages, 6 of which are title pages and filler The rules are simplistic and bland, summed up in a couple of pages. The story takes place in a village and its surrounding area, but no map is provided. Instead, we get an extended list of shops, each with a line or two of description and a list of things to be found inside. As for the plot, it is little more than a countdown to the inevitable confrontation with the villain, who seems to have no motivation except to be bad. Overall, this isn?t much of a game or a scenario, more like the idea of one that was never finished. I plan to adapt my copy for ?Little Fears.? Still, at $3 I feel overcharged.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Some interesting descriptions of places in the village<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: feels incomplete<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Schauermarchen by John Wick
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Schauermarchen by John Wick
by Aaron M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/28/2005 00:00:00

Not nearly enough material to play. Had a lot of promise, but fell short.<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: I mined it for a few ideas for other games.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Too short, not enough setting.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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Necronomonopoly
by Jim O. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/07/2005 00:00:00

A fun variant of Monopoly but but some of the mythos jokes are obscure fandom references that the casual Cthulhu fan might not get.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Very easy for people to learn; who doesn't already know how to play Monopoly? <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Printing out the card backs uses up a lot of printer ink, a design that had more white space in it would have been nicer.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Necronomonopoly
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Enemy Gods by John Wick
by Jim C. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/17/2005 00:00:00

This is a stand-alone game with the very interesting premise that events in the world of mortal heroes largely don't happen randomly - they are decided by the will of the gods who govern different areas of life, who are also player and GM characters. (A player, as a hero, can even work against the will of his own god-persona.)<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: There's not a lot of space, so there is quite a bit left to the GM concerning the specifics of what actions gods can take. It might well happen in play that the abilities of some godly portfolios give greater control of events than others.

The campaign setting for heroes and opportunities for adventure are left very sketchy. Perhaps the player gods are intended to create them.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Enemy Gods by John Wick
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Thirty by John Wick
by Jeffrey T. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/29/2005 00:00:00

A wonderful idea that was executed reasonably well. The templars have always been interesting for roleplaying backdrops and ideas. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: It was consistant with itself and well written to bring out the feel of mystical and martial.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The print format was set up badly to print double sided.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Thirty by John Wick
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Cat by John Wick
by Pablo V. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/11/2005 00:00:00

A fabulous little game in which you play a Cat. The mechanics are simple, yet stylish and fun, and the setting is appealing. A must have if you love cats!<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: It's well written, and the author really manages to create a very interesting game which makes fun & interesting the idea of playing a cat. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: It isn't easy to print, but it isn't impossible either. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Cat by John Wick
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Schauermarchen by John Wick
by Pablo V. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 07/11/2005 00:00:00

A cool mini game about children trapped in a apparently abandoned (?) village, which looks taken straight out from of a german nightmarish fairy tale. Playable in one session. <br><br><b>LIKED</b>: The setting and the mechanics. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Schauermarchen by John Wick
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Run Robot Red by Annie Rush
by Philip R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/06/2005 00:00:00

An enjoyable work. I primarily bought it because it sounded similar to a game that had been wasting away on my computer for a few years -- but this is completely different from anything I had imagined. If you're planning a game night with friends, or trying to find a game for a convention, consider grabbing Run Robot Red. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Acceptable<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Run Robot Red by Annie Rush
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Creator Reply:
You keep finding new and inventive ways of saying, "You guys rock!" You and I should meet up at Gen Con so I can buy you a drink.
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Schauermarchen by John Wick
by Philip R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 05/06/2005 00:00:00

Excellent! A creepy, imaginative game that's sure to freak you out. Definitely perfect for late night parties in dark, scary places. Highly recommended to anyone that enjoys horror roleplaying. Not for the faint of heart.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Well written and dripping with atmosphere.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Schauermarchen by John Wick
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Creator Reply:
Thank you, Phil! You say such nice things about us! :)
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Thirty by John Wick
by Phillip M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/30/2005 00:00:00

I'm perplexed. Thirty sounds like a great game. And it probably is. It's just that I can't figure out why it is so badly laid out.

OK, I can live with the fact that the US insists on not using metric siced paper. It's a nuisance, but that isn't the problem. Thirty is intended to print landscape on US 8.5 x 11" paper. That is, two pages to a sheet.

Which means, you would think, that it would be designed so that the pages would print such that when photocopied back to back (for the majority of us who don't have a duplexing printer), would be in numerical order.

You'd be wrong.

The so-called "layout" is senseless ... it simply puts two pages on the one landscape page ... but in simple numerical order rather than in a way that would allow you to print them out back to back.

As it is, Sheet #1 will print with Pages #1 and #2 on it. Sheet #2 will print with Pages #3 and #4 on it. Printing them back to back will give you this order, when folded ... #2-#3, #4-#1.

It should, of course, print #1-#2, #3-#4.

Which means that you will have to print all the pages as single sheets, go to your quick print store and have them cut the pile in two, and only then will you be able to re-order them correctly so that the thing can be printed back to back properly.

This is such a basic layout error one wonders about the care taken (have they sent the wrong file to RPGNow? or do they simply not have a clue how layout programs work?) in preparing this product.

Pathetic.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Background seems OK. Game system is simplistic and limited in expandability ... I can't see this being the basis for an extended campaign, which is what the publisher's blurb implies it would be good for, but that's a first impression.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The amateurish layout for the specific reasons mentioned.

As it stands its only 72 8.5 x 11 pages, rather than 144 5.5 x 8.5 pages.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Thirty by John Wick
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Creator Reply:
Hi. We had two choices when laying out the book. The first choice was to make it easy to read on the screen. The second choice was to make it easy to print out and bind at a printing station. If we chose the first method, we'd get the response you gave above. If we chose the second method, you wouldn't be able to easily read the game from your screen. We chose the second method, which causes an understandable response from folks who want to print the book out and take it to the print shop. I'm sorry we didn't make the choice you wanted. Take care, John W.
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Cat by John Wick
by Dave I. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/14/2005 00:00:00

This is a very nice RPG. I greatly enjoyed reading it and I am hoping to get a game going. Thanks! dave<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: It is fun to read.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Cat by John Wick
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Creator Reply:
Thanks! Be sure to let us know how your game went after you play over at our website! Take care, John W.
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Cat by John Wick
by John M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/11/2005 00:00:00

Loved it. Character design and concept simply superb. T.S. Eliot would surely have approved. Recommended for anyone wanting to try something a bit different from the mainstream.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for the kind words, John. :)
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