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Ambition & Avarice: 1st Edition $7.00
Average Rating:4.9 / 5
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Ambition & Avarice: 1st Edition
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Ambition & Avarice: 1st Edition
Publisher: Chubby Funster
by Michael B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/02/2014 00:17:03

The other reviews do a great job of listing the awesomeness of this ruleset so I'll just list what I love about it personally.

  1. Feels totally compatible with my old school D&D rules. I thin you could run this with almost no conversion, other than ascending AC.
  2. I love the way the rules tie to the gaming philosophy. It's just the right combination of old school values (The game is more fun when real chances of failure exist with significant costs of failure) and new school, play it how you want.
  3. The way classes give you skills and races give you saves is elegant and something I've thought about for years. Nice to see it in print.
  4. The DM advice is clean and concise and WILL have you running a better game. It's mostly stuff we all know but it's presented in a way that will make it VERY easy to think about and make positive improvements to your game prep.
  5. The entire game is in a small book. You need nothing else.
  6. All your old monster books will work with it.

Now the bad. Or at least the stuff I didn't think would make my game work better.

  1. There seems to be no basic fighter class. Was kind of put off by that. But, just use a fighter from some other old retro and you'll be fine.
  2. Each class gets a way to add henchmen. Very cool. But you get an extra henchmen (or the ability to get one) EVERY SINGLE LEVEL! I can't imagine the game wouldn't get cumbersome by level 10 with 5 players all managing up to 10 henchmen. Seems that is what the game would be at that point. Maybe that would be awesome? Maybe it would be painfully tedious? Overall I love this ruleset!


Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ambition & Avarice: 1st Edition
Publisher: Chubby Funster
by Malcolm M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/29/2013 15:18:14

A brilliant game, worth every penny if you want a simplified-yet-versatile fantasy rpg, but one oversight (sadly) keeps it from being the go-to game for my future fantasy gaming -- one of the core archetypes for this style of gameplay appears to be missing.

We have the Knight class; the warrior for whom social standing and public perception (honor) are crucial. We also have the Savage class, which effectively brings us the fierce, raging warrior from beyond the borders of decadent civilization.

What we lack is some sort of Sellsword or Mercenary class -- a character type some of my players have gravitated toward since the first edition of AD&D. The ex-soldier or city guard or similar, now seeking their fortune through adventure and plunder.

Neither a high-born fighter concerned with social standing, nor a wild barbarian primitive, the sellsword archetype is, perhaps, the "everyman" fighter.. Motivated to move beyond the familiar in search of fortune.

Don't get me wrong, Ambition & Avarice is probably the best and the smartest "original-school fantasy" ruleset I've seen in decades. If you have any interest, buy it. However, I know my players, and this lack of a seminal archetype has moved A&A from "a game I must run as soon as I possibly can" to " a game I will probably run, once I can figure out some sort of kluge version of the missing archetype".

My opinions, anyway.

It may indicate how good the game is, that I actually regret this turn of events.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Ambition & Avarice: 1st Edition
Publisher: Chubby Funster
by Nadav B. D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/22/2013 08:13:07

I've ran a couple of sessions of this game so far and have enjoyed them like I haven't enjoyed RPGs in a while.

The game accomplishes several things I've seen done only marginally well in other games, OSR and otherwise. The classes are all pretty grand and interesting, each filling a niche but serving a greater whole very well. They all also feel as wicked as they should, since the author wishes to convey adventurers as folk you don't want around and seems to succeed in all cases. As a whole, the book is just the right length, and the layout done so well, that it's a breeze to read through to process the content. Preparing a session is incredibly simple yet thorough and nearly the entire thing provides the GM with a wealth of tools to create worthwhile adventures easily. The shining gem of the game, though, is how painless it is to dispose of any rule that doesn't fit your playstyle. Unlike some games, the rules here feel very modular, which allowed me, for instance, to easily ignore weight and movement rates and feel no ill from it.

This is a shining gem of good OSR design and I'm glad to have bought this game within its 24 hours. Best investment in a game I've done to date. I don't think there is a single RPG I can recommend quite like I can recommend Ambition & Avarice.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ambition & Avarice: 1st Edition
Publisher: Chubby Funster
by sean w. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/20/2013 11:10:07

I've read and played through a plethora of retro-clones/variants and A&A is one of the most refreshing to read - it isn't a cut-n-paste job, the author has balanced easily-remembered streamlined rules with cool ideas in a well-laid-out PDF. His enthusiasm and experience shines through in the tone and the quality of advice given.

My gaming crew played our first A&A session a couple of days after purchase and I can confirm the rule-set plays as good as it reads, the innovations working together smoothly to enhance the old-school experience.

Well recommended !



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ambition & Avarice: 1st Edition
Publisher: Chubby Funster
by james a. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/15/2013 15:11:26

All the choice you want in playing without the slowdown of clunky rules

I read this in Beta and really liked it, and now that its in the !st edition i like it even more.

dungeon throws are a very unique thing, everybody has them at different levels, things like locks, hide, break. its because everyone is NOT a hero in this game, they are adventures.

it has the standard attribute listing that your familiar with in games we have all played for ages, and a little twist on saves

player choice, 10 races 5 civilized and 5 barbarian combine with the multitude of different classes to give you a stunning 80 choices to play, ever want to play a goblin cultist, you can or a dwarf shamen, easy.

the equipment guide is easy and too the point with lots of options and helpful guidance on costs and equipping with some cool insight on light sources and encumbrance

im a fan of individual initiative and here we have it with a d10 used, so those bonuses come in handy and the fight isnt over with whoever wins initiative .

different spells or slightly reskinned spells make the magic users feel fresh and vibrant and not everyone starts with the same spells so there is some variety, no more everyone magic missle everything , and the spells take some thinking to use.

can i use this product with all the other OSR mods and adventures, YES, very easily because its a skin your own monster kinda thing, no pages and pages of the same old thing, but clear and easy guidelines on how to make cool and fresh monsters to populate your dungeon

but even with all of that, this game has some of the best advise i have read on how to play and run games, written in a style that you can understand and is friendly, not the dry textbook rules of so many games

its only 98 pages and prints friendly, yes not some 476 page monster book with 12 page random this and that charts, its concise and too the point, unlike my rambling here

check it out, at the price its a steal and if you really like it, look up the community over on G+ and get in a game or try it out with your home group for something fresh and different



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ambition & Avarice: 1st Edition
Publisher: Chubby Funster
by Roger B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/15/2013 11:24:46

I started to write a review, but I could quickly see that it was going to be too long. Here’s my list of things to like:

Pro: Dungeon Throws. These are similar to some well-known thieving skills, but everyone has them. How good you are varies by race, class, and how you spend discretionary points character points at each level.

Pro: Races. There are a great variety of races to choose from. They are categorized as Civilized and Barbarian. In this game, you aren't really playing heroes. Ten playable races is a very good start for an old-school type basic RPG. There are some very neat individual advantages for each race as well.

Pro: Classes. The standard Fighter, Cleric, Thief, and Magic User are out. Instead you have ten gritty classes that really build up the theme of the game with 5 mundane and 5 magical classes. Like the races, each class has its own individual advantages. The discretionary character points I referred to early allow for some individualization even among characters of the same class.

Pro: Encumbrance. As long as your DM keeps you honest, there is no more loading up on so many items that it would be physically impossible to move in real life. This has always been something that could be adjusted in a home game, but more strict rules are built into this one. (As a player, I probably shouldn’t consider this a “pro”. As a GM and someone who likes a little realism in my fantasy, I do.)

Pro: Item descriptions. Encounter rules. Combat rules. Healing rules. Hazards. Survival. Retainers. Experience. Some of these categories I’m used to from other games of Greg’s (Novarium and Cascade Failure, most notably). Some are new and welcome additions since he was creating a retro-clone.

Pro: Spells. I haven’t had the chance to play a spellcaster yet, but I did get an early look at some of the spells and spell descriptions. These spells really encourage roleplaying over battle magery. It’s like getting Ventriloquim and Grease for spells instead of Magic Missile and Burning Hands.

My love is strong, and this has already become a favored retro-clone.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ambition & Avarice: 1st Edition
Publisher: Chubby Funster
by Michael W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/12/2013 16:23:12

I've played my fair share of OSR games, from the original D&D family of games, hacks, re-imaginings, boiled down versions, etc. I've purchased so many I can't even TRY to name them all anymore. Doesn't stop me from buying new ones. This, however, is the first time I've purchased something on a whim, thinking that maybe it's just be another digital file collecting dust on my harddrive for no other reason than I can control my impulse buys. But I was quite pleasantly surprised. I've only had Ambition & Avarice now for, what, two or three hours? It took me only half an hour to digest its mechanics and main rules. Maybe another ten or fifteen minutes to read over the races and classes. Another five to look over Tropes and making monsters.

And already this is my favorite OSR game. And I haven't even had a chance to play it yet.

It has many of the hallmarks of classic dungeoncrawls that one would expect, while keeping a lot of the modern touches that have streamlined gaming since the 70s. I'm not having to dig for information, or flip through page after page trying to cross-reference anything. It has descriptions that draw me in, making me want to pick it up and play it right away...(which is hard to do while at work).

My heart may be firmly planted now in the realm of indie games and narrative-heavy adventures, but if I need that old-school feel, THIS is the game I will bring to the table.

...in fact, I think I'll start prepping a campaign right now...



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Ambition & Avarice: 1st Edition
Publisher: Chubby Funster
by Andrew S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/12/2013 15:18:42

These rules look both friendly and comprehensive. They are tight without being strained. The races, classes, and magic abilities and descriptions fire the imagination so you want to try them out.

A hallmark of the system is that it explains enough to clarify its intent, but it stops well short of being verbose. Frequent subheadings and colored text for important key phrases helps find things quickly. The author is aware of how the whole page fits together, and also how the concepts in the entire document string together.

There are small evocative pictures sprinkled through the text, as landmarks and as evocative inspiration.

Sections start with a framing essay, as if to say “This is a way to think about what we are going to talk about next. Not just the rules alone, but also why they exist, and what they are intended to manage.” A great example of this is explaining how to play before making characters. Another great example is explaining the levels of choice and the granularity of play, before getting into combat (and other rules.)

The magic uses fresh, exciting, and original spells that I would love to see at my game table.

This game manages to tread the same ground as other games before it, without a hint of acrimony, competition, or comparison. I sense love and delight in this work, not defensiveness or jealousy. The author wants to share the best campaign practices and “what if” revisions to give the reader the best experience at the game table. A combination of good writing, big enough font size, and careful ordering of information makes a very readable book.

The author concludes by saying he is not striving to be the perfect example, but rather a skilled coach who can give others what they need to run great games. I think he has done a fantastic job of doing just that.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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