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Forthright Open Roleplay Creative Commons Edition
Publisher: Room 209 Gaming
by Michael B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/01/2018 04:01:51

Very nice work, well done!

I found the writing to be precise and it brings across the abstract (not genre-specific) mechanics and ideas well. Took me about 10 minutes to read through the character creation and set up my first character.

The only thing I have missed at some points were some more genre-specific boost examples, as in: How to incorporate this boost in various settings. But that's a very minor point, really. Thinking this through with a group of players will certainly yield more than enough creative ideas to do this.

That said, thank you very much for the free CC version! I can't wait to put this to the test - and maybe grab the full version afterwards ;)

Recommended if:

  • you like a generic, abstract rules system with little crunch.
  • you like the Apocalypse World/PbtA games (Forthright uses a similar system)
  • you think Index Card RPG is too item-based


Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Forthright Open Roleplay Creative Commons Edition
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Creator Reply:
Thank you very much for the kind review! We'll look to have some more genre-specific examples in future products :-)
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Dragonslayers RPG (First Edition)
Publisher: Beast Box Publishing
by Michael B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/15/2018 23:46:48

Short review: For the price, it's OK. Not good, but OK.

Pros:

  • easy rules, quick play
  • good optional rules
  • interesting ideas in the space opera conversion (included)
  • presentation (Because of the very basic layout (see below) it's actually easy to copy the text and make your own document with your house rules.)

Cons:

  • presentation (To me, it looks like almost no effort went into layout, like a collection of house rules with comments.)
  • many rules depend on using a battle map (Movement, falling damage, some feats etc. counts in "squares" which translate to 2 yards here. Reads like a board game instruction at some points.)
  • some unbalanced features (some optional races and some feats felt too powerful compared to others of higher cost)
  • Resting rules - the "rules assume the heroes will take a long rest about every 2-3 battles", with a long rest taking 8 hours, so there's no way you play an old school module with these rules (we tried) unless you use the option for "checkpoints", granting the effect of a long rest at any time if the GM wants it. This seems like a very cheap way to balance a game, sorry.
  • My personal disappointment: the magic system, counting spells as At-Will, Battle (= cast once per battle/short rest (1 minute)) and Daily (= once per long rest), which increased the board game feel for me.

I played a high elf mage and I felt rather underpowered (which seems to be the wizard's bane in most games at the beginning). We quickly included a house rule after the first few fights in which I cast my Lightning Bolt (Battle category) spell and then only used my bow and one of our players (RPG newbie) asked me if I played an archer, not a mage. We felt that a mage should be able to cast spells more freely, and quickly made the house rule that the Lightning Bolt spell is basically nothing more than a magical Combat Skill and should be treated as such. So, just like a melee or ranged attack we ruled a mage could make a magical attack which used the exact same rules for damage anyway. It even states in the description "You make a Ranged Attack, rolling Magic instead of your Ranged skill." Then by all means, this should be an At-Will spell! In a rules-light system which wants to encourage "bold heroism", why would the mage be limited like that? In fact, we felt that most damage spells (Battle category) felt underpowered compared to normal attacks which can be made at any time and without limits. Most of the combat spells we switched to At-Will, because a mage should cast and not cast once or twice and then shoot arrows with the ranger from the 2nd row. The thing is, with the categories requiring Battle (damage) spells a short rest to recharge, even at higher levels, you'd be restricted to just a few casts per encounter, and they'd have to be different spells every time. Using the Signature Spell feat (cast 3 times per short / long rest) on a Battle damage spell seemed like a waste if I could also use it on Daily spells. (Also, Counter Spell: why just a 55% success chance? It's a Daily spell so it won't be used lightly anyway, but when used it should be automatic or at least a higher success chance.) Edit: Forget this, and thanks for pointing me to it. The roll is done with advantage, so the success chance is high enough. Our DM overlooked that.

Long story short: We might play this again when we need a quick RPG, but we'll add house rules, especially to the magic rules, addressing the issues I described above. 2,5 stars.

Edit: After the publisher's reply, I'd like to add that it looks like our expectations were different. The game's description says it's "showcasing the latest innovations in modern gaming" and in our experience of modern games, squares and video game checkpoints are not. If the mage is indeed supposed to have more of a support rule, I'd expect more supporting spells (speaking video game: buffs and debuffs, or add to the Flare spell that the light option stays for an hour or so), or a note that actual spells are rather weak and a wizard's real power is supposed to lie in rituals, or something. What we felt was unbalanced:

  • Acrobat feat seemed too weak, maybe add rolling with advantage for jumping and climbing tasks.
  • Minor Magic-User seemed too powerful. It basically adds the mage class to the other classes with fewer spells but equal spell power and the ability to cast powerful rituals, for just 1 SP. I'd cut the Magic skill down to d4, increasing as is, so it's a step behind the mage's; and I'd definitely take the rituals away. That seems like wizard-exclusive stuff.
  • Dragon Born: not needing a magic focus isn't that great, is it? Anything can be used as a focus so not needing one is not a big thing, so this feat seems weak compared to High Arcana.
  • Arcane Blast: 2 SP seems too high a cost compared to the Kill Streak feat which does the almost same (it doesn't state it's not meant to count for mages/spells or any specific weapon attacks, although we guessed it should be limited to melee?) but is not limited to Once per Short Rest.
  • Halfling's Lucky feature seems a bit weak for a free re-roll when all classes have access to several re-rolls with SP.


Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Dragonslayers RPG (First Edition)
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Creator Reply:
Thanks for your feedback, Michael! I'm sorry your experience was less than stellar, but am encouraged that you'd be willing to give Dragon Slayers another chance. Please elaborate on the unbalanced features; we'd love to evaluate and correct any issues in a future update. Dragon Slayers borrows many elements from board games (squares) and video games (checkpoints) to create a streamlined experience. Battle spells are limited-casting because they use the mage's Magic die, which is always a step higher than his Melee or Ranged die. The intent is that a mage can intermittently attack like a warrior without overshadowing the warrior's main niche (dealing damage). I'm happy your group was able to quickly house-rule around this to accommodate your character concept. A typical Dragon Slayers mage is less like a D&D wizard and more like Gandalf or a Star Wars Jedi -- using magic to supplement a sword instead of as a primary mode of attack. I would suggest feats like Arcane Blast and Signature Spell to facilitate a more offensive caster, and Dragon Born or High Arcana (or starting play at a higher level) to bolster the number of spells known. Counter Spell has a 79.8% success rate (the d20 is rolled with advantage). Thanks again for your detailed feedback and actual-play report, Ben
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Paul and I will take a closer look at those options. Stay tuned for the next update, Michael! We're playtesting a feat that burns HP for extra spellcasting, which might serve the kind of mage you were hoping to play. Once again, thank you for the constructive and specific criticism. Even if you decide it's ultimately not for you, we'll use this feedback to improve the game. Ben
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Wizardry Unearthed for Swords & Wizardry Continual Light
Publisher: Cross Planes Game Studio
by Michael B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/27/2017 10:39:50

I just picked this up and I have to say, I'm pretty much disappointed, even at this price.

Here's why 1.) The layout looks like the entire document was done in Open Office in 20 minutes. 2.) The 5 races are done in 14 lines of text and I'm not sure if these are balanced (The Half-Orc in particular looks overpowered to me). 3.) The 6 classes are done on 1 page. Each class description is pretty much "they work like [basic class from SWCL] but get one or more bonus abilities:..." The only class with a minor drawback is the Acrobat, but this drawback is pretty much gone by 2nd level. Example: Why would I play a wizard, if a sorcerer is a magic-user who gets a 33% chance to power up spells without any drawbacks? Without any fluff and background info on what a sorcerer is, it seems sorcerers will just be a more powerful version of the magic-user who in turn gets obsolete. 4.) The thief alternate ability is a nice idea, but the chances of success are not the same as in SWCL for the 1-in-6 and 4-in-6 chances. (The rest are fine and close enough to the original, with a minimal bonus for the thief. You should mention that or re-calculate your translation to d20. (I haven't checked the other special abilities.) Example: A 1-in-6 chance (~17%) is translated as a 16+ save, which is really a 25% chance of success. 5.) The description of the Hound of Tindalos starts in the stat block instead of in a new line which adds to the feeling that this was done in 20 minutes. The Sentient Chimp has a typo as well. And that's just from skimming the monster section.

Apart from that, the monsters have a few nice ideas which I might use.

TL;DR: There are PWYW and free titles out there which are better than this supplement. This is by far not on par with the SWCL book. Not recommended.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Wizardry Unearthed for Swords & Wizardry Continual Light
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Broken Binary
Publisher: Rooster Games
by Michael B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/26/2017 16:14:38

This game reminded me a lot of Digital Shades, which is available for free, so I guess I was biased when reading through this one. Digital Shades clearly aims at Cyberpunk, though, while I consider Broken Binary beyond Cyberpunk and almost transhumanistic, depending on the theme your want to play.

I like the simple mechanics a lot (which are what remind me so much of Digital Shades) except for the gear and rig (cyberware) part: During each mission you can decide what kind of gear and cyberware your character has, depending on the respective stat. While it does fit the description and cybered agents probably have the chance to acquire cybernetics without problems, it feels a little strange as there are no limits to what cyberware might be. It might even be a built-in teleporter or an antigrav unit - which may break any game. Of course, that would be for the group to decide, if these things existed at all. But when will those questions come up? When the heat is up and the action going. And that's not the time when you want to discuss which kind of cybernetics are OK and which aren't.

Interesting idea: Hacking characters - the more cyberware you have, the easier it is to hack your character. Too bad the rules don't mention what that means. Is a hacked character controlled by the hacker? Or just the cyberware? Considering that hacking is done by rolling 1d6 <= your Rig stat (1 - 5, each point is one cyber-implant), hacking is a very real danger for strongly-cybered characters and if hacking means losing control of that character, cybering up seems like a bad idea.

So is Broken Binary bad or good? I'd say it's OK, no more, no less. We house-ruled that you have to decide your cybernetics before the mission, but after a mission briefing, so the players have sort of a tactical component to the game. It retains the flexibility in a way, but does away with "spontaneous implantation". The gear was also decided up front once the mission was known to the players. A variant we discussed was to at least name the body parts which had the cybernetic enhancements up front (cybereyes, cyberarm, cyberorgan...) and decide the exact function during the mission - a compromise between the rules as written and our house rules. We also house-ruled that hacking characters means controlling their implants (or one implant, depending on the resist roll), so hacking effectively means blocking other people's cybernetics.

Long story short: Broken Binary has nice light-weight rules for mission-based gaming, but lacks the depth (or the mechanics) for a long campaign play. Before going into the game I strongly recommend talking about the limits of cybernetics and gear, especially when playing with the vanilla rules.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Broken Binary
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Creator Reply:
Thank you Michael for the review. I was not aware of Digital Shades at the time, but several people have pointed it to me after I published Broken Binary. I find it interesting how Digital Shades is more traditional in its approach, while I designed Broken Binary around the concept of the game being able to surprise both GM and players. That is why cybernetics and gear can "pop up" during the session; similarly to what happens when you watch a movie, the heroes "happen to have" the right tool for the job". As with most mini-games such as this one, Broken Binary assumes the group will be reasonable in their improvisations (and thus will avoid pulling a black matter, world-obliterating gun from their pocket). Discussing these elements before the session is certainly a good idea, but I'd advise against the planning of cyberware and gear since it takes away the PCs' most powerful tool: on-the-spot adaptability. I'd rather discuss the general feel of the game (which, as you pointed out, can go from gritty Blade Runner cyberpunk to transhuman stories such as BLAME! or Ghost in the Shell); after all, in BLAME! the protagonist IS basically immortal. When it comes to being hacked, the game says you're hacked and that pretty much means the GM has control of your actions. Think of Ghost in the Shell; sometimes it's just you being forced to fire a gun at your own throat, sometimes an entire dreamlike sequence ensues, complete with fighting your own thoughts and/or reliving memories. Being heavily cybernetized makes you almost immortal, at the price of being easier to manipulate through the network. I do however understand that, if you want the ruleset to provide certainty and fairness above all else, Broken Binary definitely has issues in that regard. That is for sure. My last point will be about the style of play: I suggest either movie-like one shots or, in case of a campaign, a TV series approach (again, Ghost in the Shell provides good examples of both). Again, thank you for taking the time to review this!
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Dungeons: A Solo Adventure Game
Publisher: Adventure Games Guild
by Michael B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/04/2015 14:04:22

A nice little solo game for in between, yet I'd label it hack 'n' slay rather than a RPG. I'd have appreciated some more character types with more special abilities than being able to use magic. Also, a character sheet would have been nice, even if it's a very simple one. Still, it's fun to play and if you don't mind repeating the quests (it's not that hard to make up your own) you'll easily enjoy this game.

Pros:

  • easy to learn and play
  • cheap

Cons:

  • repetitive
  • system sometimes seems overly simple

All in all, worth checking out if you're looking for something to play while you've got some spare minutes. Just don't expect any complex adventures.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Dungeons: A Solo Adventure Game
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Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG (DCC RPG)
Publisher: Goodman Games
by Michael B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/04/2015 13:45:21

Probably my favourite classic Old School RPG, DCC delivers a great feel for fantastic adventures. You can easily adapt it to any (fantasy) setting you like but for me it works best in a low magic sword & sorcery setting. Magic is powerful and rather rare, at the same time weird and sometimes hard to control - but it's easy to change whatever aspect doesn't suite your style of play.

Still, I think it works great "as is" to capture the feel of classic RPG's (I started with D&D 1e), with a brutal beginning for 0-level characters who are forced through the "funnel" with most of them probably dying - but those who survive already have a story to tell and we felt that it is a lot due to this character funnel that we identified with our characters, even though they were not always the ones we originally wanted to survive. But despite some mediocre or bad stats, despite stupid names (we rolled them all) and despite or maybe because they started out as peasants and swine herders with a stick and the instinct to run rather than fight, our characters felt more real than in many other games.

I prefer the attributes over the "classic" D20 ones with Wisdom and Charisma merged into Personality, and Luck being added. I like the special abilities of each class, making them stand out without being overly complicated (unless you're a wizard, some of those rules still seem rather complicated to me, but I'm the dwarf, so what do I know?).

Now the cons: the special dice as they're expensive (especially if imported and you have to pay for shipping too) and rare. Of course you can substitute them with regular dice but it doesn't feel the same (for me). A minor drawback in my opinion is the lack of a table chapter containing the most important tables in compact form. Having to flip through the book every time to check for fumbles and critical hits isn't that great. Then again it's easy to compile a cheat sheet or table booklet if you have the PDF or a scanner. Still, I'd have liked to find this prepared for quicker and easier play.

Despite these small drawbacks I can only recommend this if you are a fan of old school RPG's, as the pros clearly outweigh the cons.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG (DCC RPG)
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Der Götze der Mohas (PDF) als Download kaufen
Publisher: Ulisses Spiele
by Michael B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/04/2015 09:51:21

Der Götze der Mohas ist ein nettes Einsteigerabenteuer mit ein paar Schwächen, über die man hinwegsehen kann. Trotzdem reicht es nicht für mehr Sterne, aus folgenden Gründen:

-1 Stern weil es sich offenbar um einen Scan eines gebrauchten Buchs handelt. An einigen Nummern zu Abschnitten finden sich Häkchen und Pfeile, die offenbar von einem Spieler gemacht wurden. Das stört zwar nicht beim Spielen des Abenteuers, sollte aber meiner Meinung nach bei dem Preis nicht sein.

-1 Stern weil an mehreren Stellen (unter anderem gleich ziemlich am Anfang) das Abenteuer zu Ende ist, ohne dass man dieses Ende irgendwie absehen könnte. Z.B. bekommt man die Möglichkeit (minimaler Spoiler), sich nach Arbeit umzusehen (ich dachte an ein paar nebenbei verdiente Silberlinge) - geht man an die entsprechende Stelle heißt es, man verdient gut, findet eine Frau und führt mit ihr ein schönes Leben. Ende. Ebenso kann es passieren, dass man an anderer Stelle bei einem Fehltritt keinerlei Chance erhält, zu entkommen. Es kommen dann einfach die Wachen und bringen den Spielercharakter um. Keine Chance auf Flucht oder Kampf oder sonstwas, und das nur aufgrund einer missverständlichen Wahl der Vorgehensweise - nichtmal wegen eines verpatzten Wurfs. Für mich persönlich sehr nervig.

Fazit: Die Story ist relativ geradlinig, aber trotzdem interessant. Zauberer werden meines Erachtens nicht viel Spaß an dem Abenteuer haben, außer man "hausregelt" sich die Zauber zurecht. Die (vermeidbaren) Kämpfe sind knackig, aber auch auf Stufe 1 schaffbar. Am leichtesten werden es sicher Diebescharaktere haben, aber auch Kämpfer können sich durchs Abenteuer hacken. Wenn man von den paar seltsamen Todesfallen absieht, ist es aber ein gelungenes Abenteuer und anschaulich geschrieben. Man hat trotz der manchmal auftretenden Geradlinigkeit Möglichkeiten, die ein erneutes Spielen durchaus möglich machen, um einen anderen Weg zu probieren. Außerdem bietet das Abenteuer einen Ansatzpunkt für Spielleiter, in einem Gruppenabenteuer die Geschichte aufzugreifen und weiter zu erzählen.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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