Review: Tiny Dungeon 2e

After reading Eorathril and For Coin & Blood, Gallant Knight Games has really become a publisher I respect for their OSR work. Seriously, they do OSR right. But I wanted to take a look at what I regard as their flagship product Tiny Dungeon, Second Edition. I was completely unfamiliar with the product and was sent a complimentary digital copy.

TD2e clocks in at a smidge over 200 digest-sized pages. Like other GKG products, the black and white interior is cleanly laid out and easy on the eyes. Billing itself as a rules light, fast playing, fast running fantasy RPG, I immediately started comparing it to White Box and my own Untold Adventures. Let me say this right off the bat: Tiny Dungeon is an entirely different beast. It's rules light, certainly. It is absolutely a fantasy RPG. But I'm reluctant to call it OSR simply because it blends classic and modern trends in gaming to create a unique beast that I think has a certain level of universal appeal.

This is a game that runs at lightning speed, yet somehow manages not to sacrifice much in the way of character depth and breadth of concept availability. Character creation is simple. You choose a Heritage, three Traits, a Weapon Group, a Family Trade, and a Belief. It works like this:

• Heritage: In other games this would be your "race," but by choosing a different terminology, TD2e allows you to design things like multiple kinds of subraces while still having them all be different species. The core book has a surprisingly diverse list of races. From your standard things like Humans and elves (which TD2e accurately calls Fey), to Treefolk and Goblins, there's implications of a rich fantasy setting right at your finger tips.
• Traits: These are the bread and butter of your character that really define what they do. These would be considered classes or professions in other games. Things like Alchemist, Berserker, and Shield Bearer. All PCs get to select three of them, allowing you to blend several elements into a truly unique character. Each Trait provides a brief example of the benefits it provides -- often this is Advantage on a specific task, but we'll get to Advantage and Disadvantage later (and no, it's not like 5e).
• Family Trade: This is both a kind of profession and a hint at your character's past. There is no defined list, but you could have a trade like "Blacksmith" or "Street Beggar," or "Orphaned Noble." Basically in a situation where your Trade comes into play you again gain Advantage.
• Belief: Belief is not, as an OSR grog like me is used to, akin to alignment. It's a core tenant your character lives by. Something that rings true to them deep down in their soul. It might be "I'll always find a diplomatic solution" or "I'll avenge the death of my brother, no matter the cost." It is primarily a roleplaying tool, but can have game impact in certain circumstances.

Playing the game is very simple. The core game runs on the concept of making "Tests." A Test is simply rolling 2d6. If you score a 5 or 6 on either die, you succeed. When you have Advantage you roll 3d6. Disadvantage reduces the dice rolled to 1d6. Again, get a 5 or 6 and you succeeded. That is, literally, 90% of the game's rules. It's clean, clear, and easy to learn. Combat? Just another Test. Climbing a rock wall? That's a Test. Not bleeding out all over the floor after a grievous wound? Yeah, that's a Test.

That's not to say that combat in TD2e is boring or simply a roll off. The author has added simple rules for evasion, focusing your attack, movement, and other staples that flow perfectly with game's core design. It's as robust as any OSR game I've read. For simplicity's sake, unless otherwise stated, all attacks do a single point of damage. But, given that most characters have between 4 and 8 hit points that makes this a lot deadlier than one would think at first glance.

Magic is not handled with a large chart of spells. Instead, Traits (as noted above) determine your character's magical capacity, if any. This keeps the game from being bogged down in lists and charts and allows players to have a spellcaster that's thematically appropriate. There are some example magical disciplines in the book, but they are optional. It's all left to be very narrative and I think that's a good thing.

Gear and Equipment is pretty simply defined. You start with an Adventurer's Kit and a few other items. Anything else you want? Talk with the GM. There are rules for tracking encumbrance and ammo and the like, but these are both abstracted and even as an abstracted concept they're very streamlined and designed not to hinder quick play.

While TD2e includes enough monsters to run a full campaign in the core book, what's more important is that it rightfully recognizes the concept of a monster as simple window dressing for something that's a threat to the players. As such, instead of bloating it's page count with a hundred beasties and baddies, it lists monster categories in a measurement of how likely they are to threaten the player characters and how much of a risk it is to face them in combat. This is pretty damned genius to me, because it lets you describe a monster as you, the GM, see feet and secretly allow a large and nasty hobgoblin to effectively have the same stats as a hatchling dragon -- all without the suspension of disbelief ever being broken.

I never got the impression that TD2e was designed specifically for one-shot gaming, though it certainly could do that with all the speed and ease of greased lightning. That being said, experience and advancement is an optional rule. Because characters begin play at a heroic level of skill and proficiency off the bat, this made sense to me. Even with the advancement rules, progression is slow -- as it should be, given how highly skilled starting characters can be.

All of this is packed into less than 90 digest-sized pages.

The biggest compliment I can give Tiny Dungeon, Second Edition is this: I'm glad I didn't read it until after I published Untold Adventures. If I had read Tiny Dungeon, Second Edition before writing my own minimalist game I probably would have never done it. TD2e is cleaner, faster, and easier to present than my own creation and my hat is off to its creator. I honestly believe it's a better game. I'll definitely be picking a physical in the very near future.

I'll be doing a part two of this review. As I noted earlier, this is a 200 page book, but the rules stop at around 90 pages. The enter second half of the book is mircosettings for use with TD2e and I want to be able to give them the attention they deserve. So, if you'll excuse me I'll be in the corner marveling at this masterwork blend of old school style and modern gaming simplicity as I explore the second half of Tiny Dungeon, Second Edition.

Getting Board: Onitama Review

So, while tabletop RPGs are most certainly my passion, I also enjoy board games on occasion. I'm particularly a fan of two-player abstract board games, especially historic two-player abstract games. Games like Chess, Checkers, Go, and the like. Hnefatafl is a particular favorite of mine. I enjoy these types of games because they are typically easy to learn, only require one other participant, and are (for the most part) fairly cheap to purchase. In the modern board game market, I don't find a lot of two-player abstract games, especially ones with a strong historic theme. However, last year I came across Onitama after being pointed in its direction by Wayne Humfleet and Moe Tousignant. Since that time, Onitama has become my favorite board game.

Onitama

Onitama is billed a martial arts themed tactical game. It is played on a grid board that is 5x5. Each player has five pieces, a Master and four Students. The base game also includes a deck of 16 move cards. The deck of move cards is shuffled and each player draws two, placing them face-up on the board in front of themselves. A fifth card is drawn and set to the side face up. Each player's collection is set along their own back row, with the Master occupying the center square back square. The Master's beginning space looks slightly different on the board and is called the Temple.

Example of Set-up

The goal of the game is to capture your opponent's Master (which is done by landing in the space occupied by the that Master), or by moving your own Master into your opponent's Temple. Each turn you move a single piece (Master or Student) based on the image depicted on one of the Movement cards on in front of you. That card is the set aside and you take the other unclaimed card into the now empty place in front of you, thus replacing your movement options on your next turn.

Your opponent then goes and does the same. They pick one of their movement cards, moves a piece, and takes the card you just got rid of into their hand and sets the movement card they just expended aside. Thus, you cycle through both your own movement cards and your opponent's movement cards.

Cards show permitted movement

The game is ridiculously simple too learn, set up, and play. The constant shifting of movement cards keeps the game dynamic and prevents a sense of staleness or inevitability that is often found in more traditional two-player abstracts like Chess or Checkers.

There is a single expansion for Onitama that's currently released: Sensei's Path. It is just 16 more movement cards. That's it. No huge rules changes, no extra things to learn. A great, solid expansion. Soon Arcane Wonder Games will be releasing a second expansion: Way of the Wind. This expansion adds a new neutral piece that can be manipulated by both players. I'm both excited and cautious about this. Onitama's big appeal for me, beyond the strong themeing, is the depth of play behind the simplicity of the rules. I hope future expansions don't clutter up the elegance of a beautifully designed game.

Onitama is available for $30 MSRP, though online retailers usually sell it for about 30% less than that. Sensei's Path MSRPs for around $15, but again online retailers offer it at about 30% off if you hunt around. Way of the Wind is the forthcoming expansion and is priced at about the same as Sensei's Path. All that being said, if you have a local game shop, spend the extra cash and support the brick n' mortar business.

Review: For Coin and Blood

I remember hearing vaguely about For Coin & Blood some time ago, but it seemed to pass me by before I got a chance to investigate. Then Diogo Nogueira, author of Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells and Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells, made mention of it on social media. And when Diogo endorses a game, there's a really good shot that I'm going to like it.

So, I googled For Coin & Blood and started investigating. Well, what I found was an awesome little game made by a passionate creator. Like my own The Hero's Journey (and obviously White Star), FCB is built on the Swords & Wizardry White Box chassis. It draws heavy inspiration from a more grim and gritty side of fantasy, clearly influenced by works such as The Black Company and The First Law series' of novels. By combining and tweaking White Box, material from several third party supplements, throwing in a heaping helping of evocative art, and excellent production values Gallant Knight Games has managed to produce a gem of a game.

While I'm not familiar with the fiction mention above, huge credit to the creators of FCB for creating a game that oozes dark fantasy. In fact, I was a bit jealous as I read through the book because I immediately thought "This would be great to run a White Box: Game of Thrones style game," which is something I had always hoped to write myself. Well, Gallant Knight Games beat me to it and good on them! The material is so evocative that it inspired me to pick up the first book in The Black Company series of novels.

So, what separates For Coin & Blood from traditional fantasy roleplaying games? Well, for starters it runs on the presumption that the player characters are not heroes. There are no holy protectors or knights in shining armor here, folks. But, what elevates this above the tired trope of "you play the villains," is that For Blood & Coin presents players and narrators with the opportunity to play characters who are complex and nuanced. No alignments, no archetypes. These are characters who are certainly self-serving, but are still capable of heroism if they so choose. The complexities of characters like Arya Stark or Jaime Lannister are right at home in this game -- and that's awesome!

Beyond fantastic, heavily shadowed black and white line art, the most evocative feature of the game are its classes. No paladins, fighters, or bards here folks. Sellswords, Blackguards, and Assassins rule the day These characters are tarnished by their own sins and willingness to do horrible things, but aren't mustache twirling villains. They're just willing to do what needs to be done when others aren't willing to get their hands dirty. That's something that's refreshing and pretty damned unique in the OSR, separating it from the more heroic games like The Hero's Journey or pulp stylings of White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.

Author Alan Bahr grabs hold of plenty of open source third party material then tweaks it until he's given it a new, but dingy and tainted coat of paint and created something all his own. There is plenty of familiar material here, but its all modified to the grimdark mood. A few areas of note include his adversaries section, the small tweaks to the player character classes, and rules for player characters running a criminal organization.

For Blood & Coin runs under the assumption that all player characters and most adversaries are human. There are no rules included for playing non-human characters and the bulk of adversaries included in this book are mundane. This creates the implication that magical creatures (and by extension magic itself) is rare and dangerous. This helps add to the atmosphere of the material as well as keeping the page count down. A handful of fantastic creatures are included, but that only helps to accentuate their rarity in my opinion.

This is a deadly game. Characters begin play with more hit points than other White Box-style games, but gain very, very as they increase in level. In fact, it's likely that a critical hit will kill even a 10th level character outright. Again, this adds to the grimdark feel of the material and in addition will force player characters to think beyond the "beat it till XP comes out" mentality that too often plagues fantasy roleplaying games. Each class also features abilities that are familiar tropes from the traditional fighter/cleric/wizard (called sellsword, priest, and magus in this game) dynamic, but takes the time to spice up these core three into something that feels genuine to the setting material. Four additional classes (assassin, blackguard, cutpurse, and knight) round out player character options. Each is just different enough to have its own unique feel, but isn't bloated with extra, unnecessary rules.

In the final pages of the rules, Bahr includes rules for player characters running and joining criminal organizations. Based on Swords & Wizardry Chivalry, the author has taken the concepts found in that book and given them a new and wonderful spin that (yet again) reinforces the themes and tone of the grimdark fantasy genre. Even as someone who originally wrote Chivalry, I found Bahr's tweaking of my original concept to be absolutely wonderful and refreshing.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention the inclusion of a 7th Ability Score: Infamy. A character's deeds and misdeeds have a huge impact on the game and this form of measuring a character's reputation provide a more complex and dynamic roleplaying experience that the more traditional alignments used in most games. In fact, alignments have been completely jettisoned in For Coin & Blood, and that's a good thing in this context.

Pound for point, point for point, For Coin & Blood is my go-to grimdark fantasy roleplaying game. In fact, grabbing it has actually saved me money because I've purchased a copy in lieu of Warhammer or Shadow of the Demon Lord. My affection for White Box-based games is well known and this is takes that original edition style of game into a new and wonderful direction by presenting a game that offers opportunities for complex, morally ambigious storytelling not often actively encouraged in the OSR. I can't wait to see where Bahr takes the game line next.

For Coin & Blood can be found  on RPGNow & DriveThruRPG in PDF and print-on-demand versions. PoD is in digest form, with a black and white interior, though it can be ordered on color quality paper for a higher quality product -- which I'd recommend. 

Review: Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting

I've spoken before of Low Fantasy Gaming and its fantastic blend of OSR simplicity and 5th Edtiion mechanics. Seriously. It's good. If you don't have it, grab it. Well, +Steve Grod  (aka Stephen Grodzicki) is at it again with Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting. It is currently available as a PDF for $10 on DriveThru and RPGNow. That's usually my breaking point for a digital product, but Steve was kind enough to provide me with a review copy before I even knew it had been released. Even at the price point, I feel like MLMS is practically a steal.

It's a massive product, clocking in at 365 pages and is billed as "a low magic, low prep, customisable sandbox in a 'points of light' medieval fantasy realm" and that's exactly what it is. The region, known as the Midlands, is described in several broad locations. The vast majority of this is wilderness and it is described in the text and repeated in the details of the flora and fauna to be very dangerous. The few settlements are given brief descriptions, a few key locations, along with backgrounds and stat lines for a few major NPCs. In everything, the Midlands are described in terms of adventure hooks. This is a setting that begs to be used. It's not a static painting meant to be looked upon or held some kind of sacred "canon." The player characters will change the world simply by their actions, and that's clearly by design. I feel this is key to campaign setting books, and its nice to see an author who is willing to pass on their creation onto gamers and give them the freedom to run wild without any kind of implication of what is "allowed."

Given that Low Fantasy Gaming has no clerics or divine magic, it was a pleasant surprise to find a fully detailed pantheon tied to the Midlands. I found this refreshing and a true insight by the author that humanity's belief in the divine in the real world is not defined by witnessing miracles at the hands of Clerics or Paladins, but is part of their natural desire to explain why things happen in the universe - to explain the unexplainable. These religions, even without spell-slinging Clerics, still impact culture and society wherever they are found. This kind of real-world mentality really strength to LFG's "low fantasy" element. It gives the setting a real grounding.

Magic is also given a low fantasy treatment. Even more so than the LFG core book, MLMS is a book that hammers home the fact magic is something man was not meant to know. It is dangerous, uncontrollable, and will inevitably lead practitioners to ruin. Magic items are rare to the point that no such thing as a Sword+1 in MLMS - each magic item is unique and was created for a purpose and was likely the product of an long lost era spoken of only in myth and legend. Magic and magic items in MLMS are, well, magical -- as they should be.

While MLMS could easily be seen as system neutral in terms of using the setting, it does have a few goods specific to Low Fantasy Gaming. Three new classes are introduced: Artificer, Monk, and Ranger. The Ranger is the stand-out here, feeling most tied to the material found within this book and they have a true rugged wilderness tracker vibe to them. They feel... dangerous. The Monk is serviceable without being too Wuxia in its stylings, but I admit I'm not generally a huge fan of the class in general so I might be giving this incarnation the short shrift. The Artificer is a cool concept, but feels unevenly written. Some of its abilities are thematic and cool, like the use of black powder weapons and alchemical solutions, while others feel a bit silly like chaintooth weapons (i.e. chainsaw additions). Still, you could pick and choose these individual abilities and it would be easy enough to disallow that which isn't appropriate to a given campaign.

Where the player options really shine are in the Gear Packs and Party Bonds sections. Gear Packs are class-based packages of predetermined equipment for starting characters. Choose a melee weapon, a ranged weapon, a set of armor, and a gear pack and you're off to the races. Party Bonds establish how the party knew each other before a campaign began, and both quick and surprisingly thematic to the material found in MLMS.

There's a short bestiary chapter which is primarily composed of monsters tied to the specifics of the Midlands setting. They're few enough in number to feel unique, but not so many as to feel as though the setting is populated only by these specific monsters. There is also a small section on designing your own monster. Useful stuff for the GM, but nothing unexpected when it comes to supplements like this.

The GM Tools chapter includes variant initiative methods, a really fun random NPC generator and a magnificent series of random encounter tables that really highlights elements of the setting established in previous chapters of the book. I was pleasantly surprised that "random encounter" did not mean "combat encounter" in these charts, as there is no implication of required violence, nor is there any attempt to "balance" these encounters to the level of the player characters. The rest of the chapter is filled with more random charts including tavern generator, name generator, city street name generator, even bar menu generator - but the real shining random table in this chapter is the Regional Event generator. The Regional Event generator details an event that happens every few months or after a year or so that impacts the setting as a whole. Things the PCs are necessarily involved in, but will likely impact their lives: The death of a king, the rise of a supposed prophet, things like that. It gives the Midlands a real living, breathing quality - something that remains present through the entire supplement.

With all this content, we still haven't got to the meat of MLMS: Adventure Frameworks. This chapter includes 50 adventure frameworks , which aren't as thin as random encounters but are designed to be as easy to implement and provide an evening's worth of adventure with absolutely minimal prep. For GMs with no prep time or when your players head off in an unexpected direction, they're an absolute god sent. Each adventure framework is tied to a location type (city, swamp, forest, etc), and provides several hooks and rumors to draw the PCs in. From there, the framework provides a series of linked encounters that will easily cover a full night of adventure. And there's 50 of them. That's enough to run multiple campaigns without ever running the same framework twice. Each framework runs five or more pages and includes around a dozen encounters. Many have matching keyed mapped for those encounters. Given that much of the inspiration for LFG is in the episodic pulps of early sword and sorcery fiction, this fits style of the game quite well and feels like a natural way to run it. Adventure Frameworks cover about 200 pages of this book.

Finally, MLMS's final pages include an index for easy reference of the material contained therein. This useful, but often overlooked touch is always nice.

I'd also be remiss if I didn't discuss the art. MLMS is filled with black and white line art and extensive maps of several locations. Grodzicki makes use of several pieces of stock art by many different artists, but it never feels disparate. This book is packed with visual appeals and there's rarely a page in the entire thing that's absent of art. The maps are both easy to use and visually appealing, which is an important balance, and vary between traditional top-down view and isometric.


Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting is a worthy successor to Low Fantasy Gaming. Its over 350 pages of content provide enough material for years of game play, using LFG or any other OSR game out there and for those who are using with LFG the new classes are a nice touch. While I was given a copy by Steve for review and I have trouble with a $10 price point for most PDFs, had I bought this with my own cash, I certainly would have felt like I got a deal. The most ringing praise I can provide is that Midlands Low Magic Sandbox Setting makes me want to run an LFG game physically, at a table, with my local players. Few products do that these days, and so far the LFG product line is batting a thousand. I can't wait for the physical release of this product and will be snapping it up as soon as its available. You can grab it for yourself on RPGNow and DriveThru.

Review: Xanathar's Guide to Everything

In spite of not actively playing or running a lot of D&D 5th Edition, I have followed the game line and think that, over all, it's a damn fine outing by Wizards of the Coast. I've been very pleased with their model thus far of releasing only three or four books per year, with the majority of these being long term, large scale campaign adventures. With the exception of the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, there haven't been a whole lot of fiddly bits added on to the material found in the Player's Handbook.

Well, Xanathar's Guide to Everything changes that. Clocking in at 192 pages, it's an even split of player focused material, DM focused material, and new magical spells or items. When this book was announced, I was very, very nervous. Was the clean, easy to digest 5e I'd come to respect going away? Were we going to begin that slippery slope into countless and ever more ridiculous character paths ala 3.X's seemingly infinite spread of prestige classes? In a few more years was I going to need three, four, or even half a dozen different books to make a character that followed the seemingly unavoidable power creep that always seems to slither its way into D&D a few years into each edition?

Well... sorta.

The first 70-some pages of XGtE is new Paths for each class. Fifth Edition D&D already offers a dozen classes and each individual class has two or three paths within it, as presented in the Player's Handbook. The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide offers a handful of others, but their very specific to Forgotten Realms and number no more than half a dozen (as I recall at the moment). To my personal tastes, that's over three dozen options for focusing and defining your character. I don't need, or want more. But, XGtE has 'em because players like an infinite number of options, even if they know in their hearts that these options will never be explored.

That's not to say their all bad. College of the Sword (Bard), Drunken Master (Monk), Cavalier (Fighter), and Swashbuckler (Rogue) are all brimming with flavor. But several just feel... well.. thin on substance, but long on style. Hexblades (Warlocks), Horizon Walkers (Rangers), and Oath of Conquest (Paladin) all find their origins in third edition with the Hexblade class, Horizon Walker prestige class, and Blackguard prestige class. Sure they look cool, but I don't feel like their presence really explores these classes properly. They feel included for the sake of filling up the corners, as it were.

Second, we have a This is Your Life section which consists of a collection of charts where you can randomly generate your character's motivation, ideology, flaws, and background. While this is good for players looking to flesh out their backstory, it's also excellent for DMs looking to make NPCs on the fly. So, sure, it feels kinda standard to have this sort of thing in books of this type these days - but with good reason, I think.

Next, for players we have some new feats. Now, before you go running in terror like I was inclined to do, I have to remind you: Feats are entirely optional in 5e. This is repeated over and over and over again. Also, there's all of two pages of new feats, and all of them are tied to a character's race. They're solid, with both strong mechanical benefits and a flavorful flourish.

The book then moves behind the screen to the Dungeon Master section. It opens with some clarifications on things like simultanious actions, falling damage, sleeping in armor, and other areas of the game that are either ill defined or can easily bog down play if a group decides to debate such things. Having these clarifications helps keep the game moving, but goes against my general philosophy of "Rulings, not rules." Still, worth having if your group is more interested in the details or you're looking for guidance as a new DM.

Now we get into a long exploration of identifying magic items and spells, designing encounters (and by encounters, it seems implicit that they mean combat encounters), and trap design. I was pleasently surprised to see quite a few pages devoted to in-game down time. What exactly are the players doing on the days/weeks/months between adventures? How does this impact play? What if trouble arises because of their downtime activities. I was really pleased with this section and given the general nature of what's described here, it can easily be cannibalized to any d20-based fantasy game. Spend all your time between adventures simply lounging about drinking? Awesome, recover some lost ability score points. Want to hang out and help the local clergy? Fantastic, you get 50% off the next few spells cast to aid you by a cleric of that church, but watch out - you might get drawn into the politics of the faithful. Want to be a pit fighter? You go right ahead, you'll earn renown and glory -- but you might get your ear ripped off in the process.

Magic items get the full court press in XGtE. From crafting them, to rewarding them, to quite a few new ones - there's a lot to chew on. What I like most here is the fact most of the magic items in this book are very, very minor. The Hat of Wizardry, for example, lets you cast a wizard cantrip that you don't know. But if you fail your Arcana check, you can't try again until you rest. Useful, not terribly overpowering, and offering a nod to the old days of Saturday morning cartoons. A personal favorite is the Cloak of Billowing. As a free action, once per round, you can make the cloak billow out behind you so that you look cool. No real mechanical effect - you just look bitchin'.

New spells? Yep. They're there. You knew they were going to be there. I won't go into it, because it's your standard list of "filling in gaps from stuff we had to cut from the PHB" to "WTF? This is strange. Why'd they include that?"

My favorite part of the entire book is Appendix A: Shared Campaigns. It's basically a few pages on social etiquette at the table between players, suggestions for running a Shared Campaign like those found in the D&D Adventurer's League (or as some in the OSR call this style of play, a Westmarches campaign). It gives recommendations on character creation, gear, simplified rules for rewarding level advancement and magic items. It's very much the "Rulings not rules" section of the book and I thought they packed a lot into 3 pages. In particular, I love the "PHB + 1 Supplement" rule when making a new character. By this rule, for Shared Campaigns, you can only make your character using the PHB and optional material from a single other sourcebook. So if you take Bladesinger from Sword Coast, well then you can't take some Elven racial feat from XGtE. It may seem a little arbitrary, but the amount of book keeping that's eliminated by doing this is well worth it in my opinion.

Finally we get charts with metric boatload of NPC names. Useful, but it does feel like filler.

All in all Xanathar's Guide to Everything really does have a bit of everything. You're certain to find something useful in here, whether you're a player or a DM. It ain't cheap, though, and retails for $50, though online retailers often have it cheaper if you don't have an FLGS. Is it worth the price of admission? Well, I'm not really sure. I grabbed mine at a hefty discount from an online retailer, but seeing as I don't actively play a lot of 5e at the moment, had I paid MSRP I'd feel a bit slighted. That being said, if I was actively playing in or running a 5e campaign on a weekly basis, then I think Xanathar's Guide to Everything has enough meat on its eye stalks to make a worthy purchase.

Review: Lamentations of the Flame Princess

If you've been in the OSR for any length of time, you've undoubtedly heard of James Raggi IV's Weird Fantasy Roleplaying Game Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Love it or hate it, people talk about the game. It's one I've avoided for a long time, simply because it didn't seem like something that would appeal to me. I dismissed it as gore for the sake of gore, blood and boobs for the sake of gratuitousness. Basically, it seemed like the "Shock Jock of the OSR." After reading it, I'm not sure that's entirely incorrect - but neither is it a fair assessment of the game. Also, one thing I found kind of off-putting was that I always got the impression that the hardcore fans of Lamentations had the attitude of being "too metal for you."

Then I saw +Matt Finch fantastic YouTube interview with James Raggi. To my pleasant surprise Raggi came off as just a dude. He's no nonsense, honest about who he is, what his game is, and what his beliefs are. I really enjoyed complete lack of pretension. Raggi wrote a game that is his ideal version of D&D, nothing more and nothing less. I can really empathize with that, since that's exactly what The Hero's Journey Fantasy Roleplaying is to me.

Well, I by windfall, I got my hands on a copy of the "Rules & Magic" Core Rulebook for LofTP and gave it a read. I figured it was the opposite of what I generally wanted in my RPG, given my inclination for Tolkienesque fantasy and pulp sci-fi. But I do enjoy Lovecraft and Ravenloft, so I tried to dive in with an open mind.

As mentioned by so many other reviews of LotFP, the production values are fantastic. Bold line art, a clean layout and several full color plates create a book that's visually appealing to simply look through. For the most part, LotFP clings closely to it's B/X D&D roots when it comes to mechanics. That being said, it's not afraid to toss out what doesn't work. It uses an ascending Armor Class system and Attack Bonus mechanic for combat, which is my preferred method. (Sorry, guys, Thac0 is just counter intuitive.) Hit Points are pretty standard for most B/X era games, increasing by a certain die type as the character gains levels. The classes are, for the most part, what you'd expect: Cleric, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Fighter, and Magic-User. The Thief is replaced by the skill-driven Specialist.

It features a small skill set and a simple d6-based skill check system, which is highlighted in the Specialist class. This thief-replacement is not bound up in the tropes of being a "thief," but is instead exactly what it says: A specialist. The character receives more skills (even from 1st level) than all other classes. These aren't just your traditional "thief" skills either. You can use the specialist to build a ranger, a sniper, a pickpocket, or any other adventuring type of character. It's really well implemented.

Another simple, often mentioned, and major change from B/X to LotFP is that only Fighters increase their Attack Bonus beyond first level. This makes them really unique and gives them a tight role within a party. Also, on a more subtle level, it implies that LotFP is not a game focused on combat. By having one class that's exceptional at combat, it helps remind the group that fighting is not always the way to solve a problem. In fact, fighting is probably a bad idea. Just run!

Magic-Users pretty much run in a fashion similar to B/X, except for a few select spells to evoke that Weird Fantasy feel. Magic is something mankind is not meant to mess with, and those spells hint at that - none more so than the first-level spell Summon. The summoning rules for LotFP are a bit complex, but because the spell itself is meant to be a long ritual likely to be cast in combat, it's not a huge deal. It's complex because the Magic-User does not know what they're summoning, or whether they're going to be able to control it. Generally speaking, reaching into the nether to yank something through will not end well.

While LotFP has no concrete setting there is an implication that it's set designed to be set in an era between the late 15th century to the late 16th century. There are rules for Firearms, Maritime Travel and Combat, Land Ownership and Taxation, and other things not traditionally found in "medieval" fantasy. As a side note, given the game's heavily implied historic context, it feels like non-human classes were included simply as a nod to B/X. They don't quite feel like they fit in with the rest of the game and I think if I was going to run an LotFP game I'd reskin Halflings and Dwarves as something else - maybe Rangers and Tomb Robbers - and not allow Elf PCs. Another nice touch by an implied but not explicit setting is that you can make the game as horror-driven, or not, as is suitable to your individual group - though clearly Raggi wants drive home that things living in dungeons are truly horrible and inhuman and those who dare intrude are genuinely insane.

Then we get to the art. The art in this book is definitely not "family friend," but it does a perfect job of illustrating the style of weird fantasy that Raggi is going for. It's just beautiful to behold in its detail. My favorite piece among the art plates (shown below) is the perfect encapsulation of real-world bravery. The girl in the picture is standing protectively in front of (presumably) her family with her armored father already slain, clumsily holding a heavy sword while tears are streaming down her face. She's absolutely terrified, but she's terrified but still she's putting up a fight. That is bravery. It's just magnificent.

In the end, Lamentations of the Flame Princess is yet another OSR game that I wrote off as something I could just ignore. I did the same with Labyrinth Lord years ago, and avoided Swords & Wizardry for a long time due to my own preconceived notions. You'd think I learned my lesson - because once again, my own arrogance has caused me to ignore a jewel in the OSR that's been staring me in the face for a long, long time.

The final clincher for me was, oddly enough, my wife. She's not an OSR gamer, though she is an RPGer. I showed her LotFP and she was like "I'd play this. This has got a kind of twisted Puritan Fairy Tale vibe to it." My wife is seriously picky about the games she plays, and getting a non-OSR gamer's opinion without all the baggage associated with the controversy and politics surrounding Lamentations gave me an objective opinion from someone I respected.

So yeah, I think I'll be running LotFP some time in the future, much to my own horror and surprise. But then again, isn't that part of what Lamentations is all about?

Low Fantasy, High Quality

I got a chance to play with a group of my old OSR buddies last night, and man was it a blast. I found my "playing for about 2 - 3 hours sweet spot" discovery to continue to hold true and the casual nature of my fellow players kept the mood light, while the experience of those at the table allowed for there to be enough focus for us to progress in the plot. There was, however, something new to me: The game played: Low Fantasy Gaming.

LFG was something that rang a bell in the back of my mind, but I'd never pursued it. I figured "Oh, just another retroclone." Well, the reason it kept sticking out in the back of my head was because +David B kept singing it's praises (and believe it or not I pay attention to that fool). When I found out that LFG was the game being played, I was like "Sure, whatever." and didn't give it much thought. But pretty soon, my expectations were blown away. LFG is way more than "just another retroclone."

I went to the Low Fantasy Gaming website and downloaded the PDF, which is free by the way. I was immediately impressed by the quality of the production - especially for being free. The book is chock full of black and white line art and set on a nice parchment style paper. It's easy to read, and evocative. The clean two-column layout is easy to read and flows like fresh water.

LFG lives up to its name. This is not Forgotten Realms. The core rulebook has just five classes: Barbarian, Bard, Fighter, Magic-User, and Rogue. While it includes rules for playing Dwarves and Elves (using a race-and-class basis), these are very optional and it is generally assumed that all PCs are human. Magic is rare, dangerous, and something not meant to be messed with. The game repeats over and over again that magic is not common. As someone who prefers low magic, this is a huge strength in my eyes. 

The game's mechanics clearly have their roots on OSR-style gaming, but make regular use of the 5e Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic. With a lower instance of healing magic, player characters find their hit points increasing with a stronger center baseline. Fighters, for example, roll 1d5+5 per level. The game does make use of some particularly funky dice (like d5s and d30s), and while that might be a turn off for some folks, I didn't mind. Given all my gaming these days is happening on Roll20 and that I've got a few sets of DCC dice, it wasn't even a thing. It also has a skill system that's robust enough to covert most situations without being bogged down in detail. If you have a skill, you get a bonus when making an attribute associated with that skill - that's it.

Attributes themselves are handled a bit differently. The game has seven attributes. Six of the attributes we all know and love are present: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, and Charisma. Wisdom has been split into Perception and Willpower, which I think is a smart move on the part of the creator.

There are no saving throws. Instead you have a Luck score, which begins play at 10 + Character Level. Luck and attribute checks are made by rolling 1d20 and scoring under the associated number. But, in the case of Luck, each time you make a Luck roll, your Luck temporarily drops by a single point. It's simple and quick and shows how long term adventuring can take its toll on even the most skilled adventurer. In addition to Luck, characters also begin play with a Reroll Pool equal to their level. This is, quite simply, a number of times you may choose to reroll a d20-based roll in a gaming session. It's a simple way to keep yourself from being hosed by one bad roll.

Both the magic and the combat system have a bit of seasoning from Dungeon Crawl Classics. Any combatant (not just Fighters) can engage in minor and major exploits in combat and whenever a spell is cast the mage runs the risk of drawing some dark and terrible thing down upon them. It makes casting spells a real risk. Speaking of spells, gone are the "High Magic" spells of traditional games. You're not teleporting anywhere, bub. You're also not bringing anyone back from the dead. 

But, if you're lucky, an ally who seemed slain at the end of a battle might just be Mostly Dead (yes, that's a term in the game). Brushes with death come at a cost, though - and you're likely to suffer a battle scar or permanent injury. In a world without a lot of healing magic, combat is dangerous and deadly. It's effects are lasting. There are rules for chases too. This seemed strange at first, but I like it - because "We run away" should not immediately mean your player characters are safe. 

LFG has no default setting, though it openly says it's not meant for highly magical campaigns. Inspirations include settings like Westeros and Hyborea, or even Middle-earth. The low-fantasy elements are reinforced once more by a level cap of 12th level. This puts characters firmly in the "hero, not walking god" category, which is a nice touch. Gaining levels are not done via XP, though. It's largely based on having extended downtime and GM fiat. While this might bother some gamers, I like it. It means characters aren't going to feel hosed if they didn't fight any monsters or find any treasure in a given session.

Ever since D&D 5th Edition was published, many in the OSR community have attempted to do an "O5R" game. Low-Fantasy Gaming is the perfect blend of OSR gaming and 5th Edition mechanics. It's not afraid to draw from multiple sources to create something that's truly unique, infinitely playable, and easy to pick up and run. +Steve Grod, the creator of LFG, has made an absolute gem of a game. He's also made this gem of a game very, very accessible. The PDF is free on LowFantasyGaming.com and print versions of the game (both hardcover and softcover) are available at an at-cost price on Lulu. More over, he actively supports his labor of love with quality PDF supplements which he posts on the LFG website. New classes, new adventures, and sandbox settings are added regularly.

The long and short of it is that Low Fantasy Gaming is a game that's been in front of my face for a long time and its somehow been unnoticed. It captures the dangerous low-magic flavor of OSR gaming that I love so much, but weaves many modern mechanics into the design to create something that is both familiar and new. I'm very, very excited to see what the future of FLG is going to be and even more excited to get together with my Saturday Night Crew to continue the adventures Low-Fantasy adventures of Esteban de Silva, el Ladron de Flores - and I haven't been excited for an upcoming gaming session in a long, long time.

 

Review: Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells

+Diogo Nogueira is a work horse in the OSR. Known primarily for preaching the Gospel of Dungeon Crawl Classics and being an amazing artist, what some may not realize is that Diogo has published his own fantasy roleplaying game. It's not another retro-clone, though it shares some commonalities with traditional d20-based games. Diogo's baby is called Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells, and it's available in both PDF and digest-sized softcover on DriveThru and RPGNow. Did I mention that both the PDF and the physical are priced at Pay-What-You-Want at the time of this writing?

Nogueira's love of Howard, Smith, and other iconic pulp fantasy authors is evident in his product. The entire book amounts to 48 pages, but that page count could probably be cut in half if you removed the art. That's not a criticism at all. It's the art and how it's been carefully selected or crafted to evoke that Hyborian feel that really sells the game.

SS&SS really trims the fat, though the author's inspirations seem evident in reading the product. Diogo's love of DCC is obvious, but I also get a bit of a White Box vibe going on. I feel as though he took Dungeon Crawl Classics, D&D 5e, Swords & Wizardry, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, and Polyhedral Dungeon and ripped them apart of the Tree of Woe, then reassembled them to create something both familiar and different.

With only four attributes, three classes, and no skill system you'd think the game would feel a bit thin - but not so. The author is clearly trying to emulate a specific subgenre of fantasy and he stays laser-focused on that style. The system is pretty simple. Attributes (Physique, Agility, Intellect, and Willpower) are determined by your traditional "roll 3d6" method.

Tasks are accomplished by rolling a d20 against an attribute value. If you score under your attribute, the task has succeeded. The closer you get to the attribute without going over, the better you did. These tests can be modified by Positive or Negative Die, which works in a manner similar to D&D Fifth Edition's Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic. If it's a Positive Die, you take the better. Negative, take the worse. Combat is actually resolved using the same attribute test mechanic, but the monster's hit dice modifies the roll - meaning a monster who's hit dice exceed a character's level are going to be harder to hit while those that are lower are going to be easier. Simple and elegant.

Some fast and dirty pulp spice is added by adding options to push your roll (ala Call of Cthulhu 7th edition) and a Luck option. Equipment and weapon ammo are also handled in a truncated, but intuitive and appropriate way.

Casting a spell? Intellect test. Trying to be stealthy? Agility test. It's all that simple.

Weapon damage is equally simple. Small weapons (whether dagger, short sword, hand ax, whatever) do a 1d6. Medium weapons do a 1d6, Large weapons do 1d8. Warriors automatically increase this die by one type (d4s become d6s, d6s become d8s, d8s become d10s). Any class can use any weapon.

Armor provides a form of damage reduction, but make you easier to hit by capping your Agility, while shields make you harder to hit.

Spells are simple, nasty and potentially dangerous to the caster. Casters choose the power level of the spell their casting, which modifies their roll. That means you can potentially throw a heap-nasty spell, but there's serious risk of things going south if you roll poorly. Men were not meant to know sorcery in SS&SS. Magic items are similarly powerful, but always with a cost.

Monsters all have one statistic: Hit Dice. They might also have specific special abilities, but given the player-centric nature of dice rolling and how hit dice of an opponent impacts combat, that's all you need.

Like I said earlier, where this game really shines is in its art and flavor. SS&SS requires characters to begin play with a Complication, which can be randomly generated if necessary. In addition, charts are included to generate on the fly adventure scenarios. These charts, again combined with the art, really give it that dirty sword-and-sandals pulp feel. What's so impressive that a lot of the art in this book is stock art that's been floating around for a long time - but when you get an artist to actually put a book together as a labor of love (which this clearly is), the unity of disparate parts really shines.

If I had to offer any criticisms, it's that SS&SS has a few areas where efforts to keep things brief make some explanations feel truncated or abrupt. Another sentence or so explaining a few of the rules would have clarified things quite a bit, but after reading over it a second time the designer's intent became pretty clear - so this is a minor issue at best. And for being PYWY in any format,  there are really no complaints. Another minor issue was that though the book included an ample list of monsters (35 or so), they did not appear to be organized in any fashion. Having them listed alphabetically or by HD would make for easier reference.

Long and short is that if you're looking for an ultra-light pulp fantasy game you can stuff in a backpack and run on the fly, Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells is a must. Grab it now. You won't regret it.

Review: Tails of Equestria: The My Little Pony Storytelling Game

I'm a Brony.

How did this happen? Well, believe it or not, because I lost a bet. Back when I played way too much Lord of the Rings Online, one of my kinmates and I cut a deal. If helped me with a raid and we succeeded, I had to watch two hours of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Being a man of my word, I held my end of the bargain.

I have to admit that from the get go, I was surprised at the depth of world building - but it was still a show about magic pink ponies and there was no way it could be that good. Well, by the time I looked up, I'd watched a dozen episodes and had no desire to stop. I'd been corrupted. I was a Brony.

The thing is, the show really is pretty damned good and I've no shame in speaking on my love of it. It's show populated by cast of female leads who, though archetypal, all are engaging and interesting to watch. The show uses common elements from the Campbellian Monomyth and extensive elements from world mythology - particularly Greek mythology. Anyway, it's a good show. It doesn't talk down to kids as it tries to teach them the value of not being an asshole - or as they say the "Magic of Friendship." After much convincing, even got my wife to watch the show.

And she became obsessed.

Like seriously. She is a publish novelist and immediately dove headlong into the fan fiction community - even making so much of a name for herself as to warrant being a special guest at BronyCon (the biggest MLP convention in the country) for three years in a row (so far).

Why am I telling you all this?

Well, when an intellectual property becomes popular among the demographic of young men who are traditionally regarded as nerdy or geeky, then someone's going to license it for a tabletop RPG.

Enter Tails of Equestria: The My Little Pony Storytelling Game. I purchased a copy for my wife for Mother's Day and gave it to her when it arrived today. I have to say, I wasn't expecting much, and am pleasantly surprised.

The MSRP is $35 and for that you get a 150-page full color book with gloss pages, evocative layout, and a steady stream of stills from the television show. I've seen gaming books that charge $60 that don't have this level of production quality.

Now, the game is marketed from the get-go at the same audience as My Little Pony - young kids. It assumes that the reader has never gamed. Because of this, it as a simple, but functional system for character creation, task resolution, combat, and various unique elements of the setting material.

The game breaks characters down into three stats: Body, Mind, and Charm. They are rated at a die value ranging from d4 to d20. Contested rolls are made between opponents using the stat and the high roll wins. Characters also have Talents (like Knowledge, or Flying (unique to Pegasi) or Telekinesis solely the purview of Unicorns)) which have their own die value along the same scale. Some tests require the character to have a skill to even attempt it, while others do not. Roll Stat + Talent, take the highest single die, meet or exceed difficulty. That's it.

Combat is resolved in the same fashion. The winner of a combat test (which they call a "Scuffle," how adorable), does an amount of damage equal to their successful roll. Damage comes off a flat Stamina, and when your Stamina is reduced to zero, you have to rest and are exhausted. The game does not have character death.

It's a very clean and simple mechanic and excellent for introducing new gamers to the hobby. But where the game really shines is its clean mechanics for evoking the themes of the source material. For every player (including the GM) there is a pool of "Friendship Tokens" that can be used to re-roll dice, increase chances of success before a roll, or provide minor narrative manipulation. These tokens are earned by being a good person - being a friend. If a new player joins the game, they add a Friendship Token to the pool - but that token is not removed if that player cannot return to the table. Their friendship and the spirit of what they contributed remains. Absent, but not forgotten.

The game operates on a level system that runs up to 10th level. Each adventure (not necessarily session) results in every character gaining a level. When you gain a level you can increase a Stat, increase a Talent, or take a new Talent.

There is also your obligatory introductory adventure - but I have to say, its really well-written and surprisingly in-depth. Like everything else in this book it oozes with innocent charm and themes of the source material shines.

The truly excels as an introductory roleplaying and by tying it to a popular IP for the age range that many kids discover tabletop RPGs, I have to say that this game is a real winner. Not to mention the lessons it teaches are positive and very in line with the show. There's enough crunch and wiggle room to engage more experienced gamers, but the simple mechanics and approachable text make it perfect for young would-be dice rollers. I think it would be especially good for helping a parent whose child is into MLP get into tabletop gaming. The game is even playable diceless by full page drop-table for each die-type (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and d20). Simply close your eyes, and put your finger on the page. So it literally has everything in one book necessary to get kids gaming.

Supplementary material has already been produced with obligatory bag of Friendship Tokens. These, of course are sparkling purple plastic gems. Next up is a Box Set which includes several blank character sheets, a GM screen, a full adventure module, and a set of dice - all with an MSRP of $25.

I really think Tails of Equestria is an obvious purchase for any gamer who is a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, or for any parent who has a child who is both a fan of the show and has expressed interest in tabletop gaming. Heck, my 2 1/2 year old daughter hasn't let it go since it came in the house - and she's just enjoying the art. Gotta get 'em started gaming early, right? Well, I can't think of a better game to open with.

Exploring the Labyrinth Format

The format for the Exploring the Labyrinth segment of the blog will be broken down into a few categories, which I'll detail below.

Adventurers Wanted: Initial impressions. How the product looks on an initial "flip through." Cursory evaluation of cover art, layout, and interior art.

You Meet in a Tavern: General feel and style of a product, or plot of a module. Discussion of any thematic elements that run through the whole product, as well as tone and impressions that come from any subtext within the product. This will also include the general premise of the product, including the story hook for modules.

Check for Traps: A discussion of locations featured in the product. Cities, dungeons, combat encounter set pieces. This will include discussing how clearly they're presented and clever or original locations not commonly seen in a product.

Roll for Initiative: Talking about combat encounters featured in the product. This will include the level of challenge presented to players, as well as dicussion of any special combat scenarios such as air borne or siege combat.

Loot the Body: This section will highlight any unique magic items feaured in the product, discussing their originality, balance, and table use.

Sell it to the City: Integrating the product into an existing campaign and how to implement the product at the table. This will also include how using the product might change the nature of your gaming experience.

Level Up: Final thoughts on the product including my own opinion, as well as links to where the product can be purchased.

Finally, I've decided that the first product to be featured in Exploring the Labyrinth will be Faster Monkey Games' In the Shadow of Mount Rotten! This unique supplement by Joel Sparks allows player characters to take on the role of monstrous creatures, provides a large location overview, and a plethora of new rules, spells, and equipment.

A (sort of) New Segment for the Blog

So, to help bolster the love for Labyrinth Lord, I've decided to do a regular segment on this blog called Exploring the Labyrinth. Each week on the blog, I'm going to review and discuss one Labyrinth Lord product, whether official, or third party. I'm going to post them on Sunday evenings. 

That's where I need the community's help. I want this to be an interactive experience. So, with each weekly post, I'm going to end by asking that the OSR community select which product I should review next. I've already reviewed several LL products here, so anything that'ts already been reviewed it ineligible.

I want to get folks excited about LL again, and I love talking about releases. We're all just fans, after all. So - which product should I start with, my friends?

Review: Feng Shui 2

I'm a fan of action flicks. That being said, I'm also a bit picky. I want my action flicks to have style. I think most Arnold Schwarzenegger films to be a bit... bland. Instead, give me Big Trouble in Little China, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Kill Bill. Heck, my daughter is named in part for the protagonist of the latter film. Though, admittedly, I have a childhood soft spot for The Karate Kid. So, in the early 2000s when I saw a game called Feng Shui on the shelves of one +Kirt Dankmyer, I immediately gravitated towards the book. An RPG based off Hong Kong Action Cinema? Granted, at that point I'd never seen an HK action flick, I was still drawn into the book instantly. I asked Kirt to run a game of it, which he kindly did. I still remember the angry hockey playing Street Kid and how no one else in the party would let him get his hands on a gun. He was... a bit aggressive.

Fast forward over a decade and Robin D. Laws and Atlas Games announces Feng Shui 2. I hadn't the funds at the time to back the Kickstarter to fund the game. Well, recently I got to sit down and give the PDF a good read to see what's changed between the original game and its newest incarnation. In short, not much.

Feng Shui 2 picks up right where the original and clings closely to the original. The 2d6-based system remains. The mechanics are simple. One of the dice acts as a positive modifier, the other as a negative, giving you a stretch between +5 and -5. This modifier is added to a character's base skill. If the total is equal to or over the target number, the action is a success. Base difficulty for most tasks is between 7 and 9.

Here's where Feng Shui 2's rules start to show. Player characters begin at an incredibly competent level of ability. All characters have one of three skills to determine what their style of fighting is: Martial Arts, Guns, and Sorcery. These titles are a bit misleading and have broad applications. Martial Arts covers all forms of melee combat, from karate, to bar brawling, to swordplay. Firearms covers ranged, from pistols, to bows, to thrown weapons. Sorcery is all forms of magic. At character creation, the character's method of mayhem starts at around 13. This means the character is among the most capable at this skill in the world. They can do larger than life, impossible things.

And that's the way it should be.

From there, Feng Shui 2 continues to revel in its own glorious absurdity. Characters drop nameless mooks in a single punch, they somehow survive shotgun blasts at point blank with minor wounds that are healed in the next scene, and they can run up a hail of bullets being fired at them to execute a flying spin kick at their opponent's face with absolute perfection. The game is built to be as fast as a flurry of blows from Bruce Lee himself, and twice as dangerous.

As if that weren't enough, all PCs have a pool of Fortune Points, which can add +1d6 to any roll. If the character's positive modifier die or Fortune die comes up a 6, they may re-roll and add that to their total. If their negative modifier comes up a 1, they re-roll that as well and apply it as a penalty. This inevitably leads to some amazing scenes on both ends of the spectrum.

How do you make such a monstrosity of glorious two-fisted action? It's simple. The game includes 45 templates that cover almost any conceivable action movie trope. Are you a Maverick Cop on the raggedy edge? What about a dark and stealthy Ninja? Perhaps you're an Everyday Hero caught up in grander events. Hell, you might even be a Transformed Dragon, bound in human form. After picking your template, you decide on a Melodramatic Hook. These are as cheesy and over-the-top as everything else in this game. Maybe you have amnesia and are trying to reconstruct the details of your old life. Perhaps you've got a slow acting poison in your veins and need to find the cure. Of course there's always the classic - you've sworn vengeance for the death of your spouse/child/parent/sibling/dog/whatever and nothing will stop you. Now, come up with a cool name and a cool catch phrase. You're good to go in five minutes.

Characters are presumed to be living in Hong Kong and acting as agents in the Chi War. The Chi War is an epic battle across time for control of the past, present, and future of Earth, Humanity and the awesome magical power of Chi. The game is implicitly designed to be begin in the modern era and move between ancient China, Victorian Era China, and a post apocalyptic future where cybernetic apes rule the show after 97% of humanity has been wiped out. (See? I told you it gets pretty absurd - but what's not to love about cyber-monkeys with a grudge?)

When a campaign begins, the GM typically describes a scene (presumably in Hong Kong), where all the characters are present. What happens? A fight breaks out of course. Maybe Triad assassins attack a local resturaunt where they're all eating, ninjas attack a during a crowded parade, or a group of street thugs start a riot - whatever works. The players then tell the GM why their characters get involved - typically in a way that ties to their Melodramatic Hook. "These ninjas seem familiar! A piece of memory comes back in a flash and I remember seeing ninjas on a rainy, moonlit night." "My partner was a good man, and a good cop. I know the Triads had him killed and paid off the department to turn a blind eye." "My son fell in with these street thugs, and I'm going to find their leader and get him back!"

This instantly unites the PCs and kicks the game off with a bang. Players have Schticks, which are special abilities tied to their template and preferred style of combat or template. So, for example, the Everyday Hero gets bonuses with improvised weapons and can actually recover Fortune Points if they fail enough. Theme is king in Feng Shui 2. 

Because the game's default setting is Hong Kong, the came assumes players will be making characters native to that city. I found this refreshing for an implicitly modern era setting, where most default settings are the U.S. or English-speaking European countries. Hong Kong's cosmopolitan nature makes it the perfect gateway to an exotic realm while still holding to elements and accents western gamers will find familiar.

So the real question is this: Does Feng Shui 2 live up to the hype? Is there as much high octane awesomeness as promised on the cover?

Yes... mostly. Because it clings so hard to the conventions of its predicessor, Feng Shui 2 feels a bit like a game that came out of the 1990s, with a blend of light crunchy and strong story elements that sometimes come off as a bit clunky when first implemented. The game's narrative control elements and character agency aren't as evolved as FATE or Dungeon World. That's not a bad thing, necessarily - but it does stand out when compared to other games that encourage collaborative narration. This might prevent players who are new to the game or haven't been in the hobby for too long from being able to leap in with both fists flying right off the bat.

That being said, Feng Shui 2 is a fantastic game. For $50 (or $20 for the PDF via RPGNow or DriveThru RPG), you get a 350 pages of full color glory with thematic art sprinkled liberally through out. For players who want high action that's got a touch of crunch, but still flows well, this game is a fantastic choice. It might even be useful as a transitionary game if you're looking to eventually introduce more traditional gamers to newer RPGs with strong story and narrative control elements. So, grab your Exorcist Monk or Full Metal Nutball, and get ready - you've been drafted into the Chi War! It's time to kick butt, blow things up, and save the world!

Review: Dark Albion: Cults of Chaos

Last year in my review of Dark Albion: The Rose War I called the historic OSR campaign setting and supplement one of the best products in the past five years and I hold to that. With that in mind, I was both excited and a bit skeptical for the first major follow-up: Cults of Chaos. When a product line's launch title sets such a high bar, its easy to see future products fall into a glut of diminishing returns. Still, I remained optimistic and was quite eager for the product's release.

Much to my surprise, the RPGPundit and Dominique Grouzet were kind enough to provide me with a complimentary review copy of Cults. I spent the weekend reading through this 90 page softcover supplement and have to say that Cults of Chaos is a worthy follow-up to Dark Albion: The Rose War. 

Cults of Chaos continues the same easy to read two-column layout found in Dark Albion and like its predecssor, it continues to make excellent use of medieval and public domain artwork that, unlike other publishers who are forced to use material for budgetary reasons, is quite evocative and strengthens the themes of the written material. Unlike Dark Albion, Cults of Chaos also makes use of some more modern black and white line art. While the art remains thematically appropriate to book's written word, it is sometimes jarring when it appears on opposite a late medieval woodcut. That being said, it's never so much to draw you out of the book - just a noticable change from the Dark Albion: The Rose War.

With only 90 pages to work with, Cults of Chaos doesn't waste a single word in getting straight to the point. From the second page it launches into exactly what the book is designed to do and how to impliment the source material in both a Dark Albion campaign and other OSR fantasy RPGs. Cults of Chaos is exactly what it says on the tin: It is a supplement that allows referees and game masters to develop, design, and apply evil cults as antagonists in a campaign. In addition, it addresses in a brief, but not stunted, fashion how to run a campaign where hunting down these vile organizations.

But its not a matter of "find the dudes in the black hoods sacrificing virgins." Through a well developed collection of charts, Cults of Chaos takes a hokey, worn-out gaming trope and breathes life, depth, and genuine groteseque fear into it. Cults worshipping Wolf Gods, Lycantropes, Demons, Chaos Entities, Frog Men, and the terrifying Albion Elves are all detailed here. In broad overview, the authors manage to take otherwise over-used concepts and infuse them with freshness and validity. They feel like they really do exist in the world of Dark Albion - and that realization is a terrifying one. 

But each of these cults isn't concretely defined. Instead they're given a broad overview and an extensive collection of random charts allow the referee to either leave the details to chance or customize them to suit their individual campaigns. Halfway through the supplement, methods are provided to run investigative campaigns where players are tasked with hunting down and destroying these vile organizations. But it's not a matter of simply putting a sword in the one in front of the altar. Deception, manipulation, and the terrible cost of interacting with the forces of Chaos - even if you're trying to keep a lingering Order in a world dark and full of terrors. As terrifying and inhuman as some of the information in Cults of Chaos is, the creators never stray into adolescent shock tactics or gratuitous blood and gore for its own sake. By keeping it frank, they maintain the integrity of the product.

In the closing pages of Cults of Chaos the mystserious elves of Dark Albion are finally explained, and I won't spoil the surprise here - but I genuinely enjoyed reading it and the revelations added a whole new layer of fear to an already dark setting. Finally, we get a cult design work sheet and a standard character sheet.

The only flaws I could find in the book (beyond the sometimes jarring use of art mentioned above) were some of the abstract rulings standard to a product that attempts to be universal, but anyone familiar with OSR gaming can easily tweak things to suit their system of choice. It should be available in both softcover print on demand and digital release on Lulu and OneBookShelf very soon, and I highly recommend it. Even if you're not playing Dark Albion, the universal nature of the product means it can easily be applied to any OSR fantasy game looking to add an element of grounded, detailed and genuinely terrifying villainy to their campaign.

Review: Beyond the Wall

Flatland Games recently released the second major supplement for Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures entitled Heroes Young and Old. Until now, this was a game I hadn't given whole lot of consideration. To be honest, I'd kind of written it off. I had purchased it, both in PDF and Print formats, sure. But that was more as a show of solidarity to a fellow small publisher than any genuine interest in the product itself. I saw it as yet another B/X clone.

Once again, my assumptions have made a fool of me.

I sat down tonight and really dove into Beyond the Wall and was absolutely charmed. Billed as a simple fantasy game which requires little or no prep to play, it is a game built with a specific tone and purpose - which it achieves to near perfection. The folks at Flatland Games have designed a game that really hits all the right buttons for me as a game master and as a player. So much so, that I went ahead and re-purchased physical hardcovers of both Beyond the Wall and the supplement Further Afield.

Beyond the Wall tears fantasy gaming down to its bare bones, invigorated with a humble and fresh-faced charm. Only three classes are available to players: Fighter, Rogue, and Mage. Each of these is painted in broad strokes to accomidate many classic character concepts - but that's not the true beauty of the game. While characters can be built via your standard method of rolling a few attributes, jotting down some stats, and buying your gear, the true genius of this game comes in its Playbook method of character generation.

You see, Beyond the Wall runs under assumption that all of the player characters are newly minted young heroes who all hail from the same village and share a collective background. The world outside their village is a wild and dangerous place filled with fey creatures, fell dragons, and other creatures of legend. Using the Playbook method of character generation, each of the players generates a character based around a broad concept associated with a chosen class. A Fighter is a Would-Be Knight or Village Hero, for example. From that concept, a set of base attributes are determined and then modified by randomly determining a character's background before he became an adventurer. This background will increase the character's attributes, provide skills, determine equipment, and even help narrow down how a character's class features are chosen. But it never feels like railroading. Instead, with each roll a character is born in what can only be described as organically.

More importantly, a character's background builds connections and even modifies the statistics of other player characters in the party. So, for example if you are a Mage who was the Witch's Prentice, your background might say that you helped protect the witch from an angry mob and a boon friend stood by your side. This boon friend, who according to the Playbook is the PC sitting to your right, will receive +1 to their Strength because of events in your background. This ensures building a group of wide-eyed young adventurers who automatically will have a shared background and sense of trust. The statistical bonuses provided by these kinds of things adds a mechanical gravity to show, in game, that these experiences matter.

These character backgrounds play an even more important role than just uniting the PCs. As characters are created and important places and people in their lives are revealed, the group has a nearly blank village map in front of them with only an inn at the center. You're the son of a blacksmith? OK, draw where his shop is on the map. You like sitting under a strange old oak and telling stories to young children in the village? Where's the oak? A grizzled old mercenary took a shine to you as a boy? Where is his cottage? Each piece of your background gets naturally integrated into the village as each player character develops that background - so by the time character creation is done you've got more than just heroes - you've got heroes who have something to fight for.

Then we come to the way that Beyond the Wall does its adventures. They're certainly not your traditional "kick in the door, slay the monster, get the treasure" adventures. No, these are scenario packs - and like everything else in this game they are woven into the fabric of the players and their village. An example in the core book is The Angered Fae. In this scenario, one of the fey lords who lives in the wilds beyond the village has cursed that village and its up to the player characters to undo the curse. But not by plundering his magical keep. Each aspect of the adventure is determined via quick roll tables, giving every play-through of the adventure an original origin, story arc, and resolution. The key, in this case, lay in who exactly angered the fae in the first place. But the Scenario Pack leaves that chart blank because the referee is expected to fill it in with some of the NPCs generated in each player character's background and then randomly determine who angered the fair folk. Each aspect of the adventure: Who caused the curse, how it manifests, how the Fairie Lord confronts the village, what the players must face when traveling into the wilderness to the borders of Fairie, and what the Fairie Lord asks them to do to set things right is all determined via random aspects that fit a central thematic element and are designed to tie directly into the characters' village and backgrounds. It creates a natural sense of investment for players and keeps the referee's job simple, as these elements can be determined on the fly as the game unfolds.

Beyond the Wall really strikes a chord with me. It gives me that sense of wonder and enchantment I really enjoy in my fantasy gaming. By melding OSR staples with mechanics that create both player investment and charming adventures it goes beyond being another retro-clone and becomes something truly unique. I can easily see it being used to help bring new gamers into the hobby. Its simple choice of classes, quick and robust character creation system and easy to learn mechnics make it a very, very approachable game. But its simplicity is deceptive, as this game is easily capable of being used for on-going campaign play in addition to the fast-playing zero-prep single night of adventure.

The cover art is by the always amazing John Hodgson, who never fails to evoke the magic and mystery found in the wild places just beyond the horizon and the interior art is primarily pencil sketches which have their own wonderful charm. The book is available in premium quality hardcover (which I highly recommend) and PDF. I feel like this is a real gem among the endless stream of fantasy RPGs currently available and it really deserves a lot credit. Clearly it is a labor of love.

This game is a love letter to the stories of Ursula Le Guin and Lloyd Alexander, all with a healthy helping of good ol' fashioned fairy tales. I seriously can't recommend it enough - it suits my style of gaming pretty darn well and I look forward to running it in the future. You can learn more about it by checking out the Flatland Games website and RPGNow Storefront.