Tommy's Take on Smallville High School Yearbook

Since Smallville just ended its historic ten-year run (crossing from The WB to The CW) this past week, it seemed like as good a time as any to review the Smallville High School Yearbook. Smallville is, thus far, the most successful Superman-related TV show in history, and was turned into a pen and paper RPG last year by Margaret Weis Productions. I've caught parts of the show here and there and was never a big fan, but I'm going to give it another go on Netflix now, since the whole thing is wrapped up and all.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Smallville Yearbook is the "high school" sourcebook for the Smallville RPG, requiring the Smallville rulebook to use. It is currently available in a 130 page PDF format for $14.99, with some nice, full color production values.

MWP does a good job with the "yearbook" feel, including Lexcorp "ads", in-character "special thanks" from the Senior class and a foreword by Lois Lane. The High School Yearbook introduces a new, high-school themed Pathways chart that is compatible with the same chart in the Smallville rulebook, just geared more towards making High School a much bigger part of the game.

Additionally, the six Values (Duty, Glory, Justice, Love, Power and Truth) are re-written from a high school perspective, making it easier to relate the Values to a High School setting. New High School-themed Distinctions are also given, for both kids and adults, such as Down With The Kids (for the "cool" teachers), Teacher's Pet or License to Drive. An interesting addition is the Award Distinctions, such as Best Body, Best Smile, Cutest Couple and Most Likely To Succeed. Interestingly, these can only be given to Leads, and only one Lead can have such a Distinction at a time.

The Cliques chapter covers Cliques, Clubs and Stereotypes, and the MWP Crew wisely made this an all-purpose book and not just a "Smallville High" book. The relevant Cliques get Values, Relationships and Assets, but also get Hangouts and Hangers-On and "Depth", an extra comment or two that doesn't quite fit in anywhere else. We also get an example of turning a Clique into a Lead or Feature, specifically turning the Football Team into Lana's ex-boyfriend Whitney.

We get an *impressive* listing of every department in the school, complete with stats, and "Game Time" sidebars on how to use each club in a game (such as how the Football team might approach a Math whiz for some TV-Geometry in the decisive moments of the big game). Similar write-ups are given for various levels of the Administration as well as Clubs separated by Cliques. For instance, The Drama Club falls under "Geeks", but there are exceptions listed such as Popular Kids joining for the exposure, or the Techie and Actor stereotypes in the group not getting along.

From the Booster Club to Stoners to The Math Club, The PTO and the Administration, pretty much anything you need for a Smallville-powered High School game is laid out with Values, Assets, Relationships, Steroetypes, Exceptions, etc.

The High School Drama chapter is more of a "how-to" chapter, broken down by eras, such as playing in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s (with a shout-out to John Hughes), 90s and 2000s, as well as other TYPES of schools, like a School for Budding Wizards, an Elite Space Flight Training Academy or a Victorian Girls' Boarding School (I assume a shout-out to the BBC series HEX).

We also get (YES!) a Situation Generator for randomly rolling up situations...and yes, I'm gonna do that right now because I love random tables.

Setting: Math Olympics
Classmate: The Big Man on Campus (interesting)
Problem: Dumped (Hmmm)
Pressure: Sent Letter/E-mail/Text to Wrong Person AND Locker Won't Open
Classmate's Plan: Perform
Classmate's Vulnerability: Learning Disability
Who Else Is In Play?: Gym Teacher
The Issue: Mental Illness

Okay...so I'm not 100% sure how to handle this one. Doesn't flow quite as easily as my go with the Leverage generator did...got an idea or two for a few of the elements, but not ALL of them. Ah, well, that's the fun of random!

Next we get a listing of big, High School Events from Field Trips and Prom (and the After Party) to SATs and Senior Skip Day. This is followed by a "counselour's" examination of teenagers, with sidebars on how Smallville's ever-popular meteor rocks might affect each area of development.

The Smallville High School chapter is pretty much an exhaustive breakdown of the people and places from the TV show's early seasons, interspersed with sidebars addressing characters like Lex who aren't high school age, but don't fall into the same "adult" category as Lionel Luthor or the Kents, or taking a High School age game out into summer vacation. There's even a sidebar addressing inserting new Leads into an ongoing game, which is apparently meant to tide us over until the Watchtower Report (which covers the later seasons - where this became a bigger issue) covers it in greater detail. Lastly, we get a list of "Hangers-on"...high school themed extras.

A handy indexed chart and high school character sheet wrap up the book.

WHAT WORKS: Pretty much an indispensible resource for running any high school era Smallville game, not just for one actually set at Smallville high. If there is a group or department that they failed to put in the book, they gave enough examples to work it out yourself. They tossed enough cute "yearbook" touches in to get their point across, but kept it from getting annoying.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Not much, really. Top notch production values, affordable price (the $15 PDF is half off of the $30 book, which is impressive for a full color, licensed sourcebook). There aren't a lot of complaints that are actually relevant to the book (if you gripe about the High School focus, for instance, that's kinda silly given what the book IS).

CONCLUSION: You probably have some idea as to whether or not Smallville is a game you'll like or not, and if you don't, then this book isn't going to convince you otherwise. It is a nicely done take on high school storytelling in general, so you could well get some use out of it even if you're running, say, a Mutants & Masterminds high school game or even a Buffy game still set in high school. Now, if you're into the Smallville RPG and only have an interest in the "adult years", I can't give this a glowing recommendation (due to content, not presentation), but they have a whole book designed for that coming soon. Great work, must-buy for Smallville High School Games.

Tommy's Take on Smallville Watchtower Report

Last year, Margaret Weis Productions released Smallville, which turned their Cortex system on its ear. This year, they released the first supplement for it, the High School Yearbook, which turned out to be a fantastic resource for high school games in general, and Smallville High School games in particular. Now, we get the Watchtower Report which, as far as I know, is the last scheduled book in the line-up.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The Watchtower Report PDF is $14.99 and 150 pages, focusing mostly on the "Metropolis Years" of the Smallville TV series. You can also get the entire set in a bundle for $34.97 at RPGNow. It is full color and photo heavy, as one expects from a licensed MWP book.

The book opens with a foreword from Justin Hartley, who played Oliver Queen on the show, in a nice, classy touch (although the Gold Standard of Celebrity forewords - Bruce Campbell's from Deadlands - is still untouched).

The first chapter of the book, Expanding Antagonist, covers villains (not surprisingly). A number of villain archetypes are presented, with tips on how to create them in the system, as well as story uses and examples of the character type. For instance, Killer Machines (like Metallo), with Assets like GEARHEAD and INVULNERABILTY and Resources like CONSTRUCTED MINION. Another thing this chapter does that other TV Shows into Games like Buffy the Vampire Slayer skips over, is using Villains as Leads. This, obviously, is a delicate balance as it puts players in a situation where someone wins, someone loses, and usually someone ultimately has to go away (although redemption is often an option in these situations). This chapter also includes Minor Features, which are less important villain types that don't get fleshed out quite as completely, using Defining Values (rather than the full values list) and Depth.

Next, we get the first of six prisons/facilities from the show, stats for them, as well as a list of relevant character sheets. First up is the Belle Reve Sanitarium, which includes stats for characters like the Sandman-esque Tim Wescott, the shapeshifting Tina Greer and the nameless Twins.

The Expanding Pathways chapter begins with a discussion on adding new players to the mix, either by letting them take over an existing Feature (important NPC) and turning them into a Lead, writing out a Feature and replacing them with a Lead who fills a similar role, or adding a new Lead altogether. They also provide tips on making your own Pathways chart, including using Checkmate as an example. Finally, they add an index of Distinctions from the first two books.

Next up is Black Creek, Montana, a facility owned by Lex Luthor. Stats here include "memory thief" Sebastian Kane.

The Expanding Play chapter is a lot of GM advice, really, such as scene framing techniques and when - and how far - to push the Leads. This chapter also gets into "Sideliner" episodes. That is, playing characters who AREN'T the Leads or even *directly* connected to them...but their Episode has an impact on the overall arc of the game. A similar idea, called Parallel episodes, is also introduced. Doubt any group I've ever had would go along with these, but they are an interesting idea.

Level 33.1, another operation of Lex Luthor's, is presented next, along with characters like Chloe's mom and Mikhail Mxyzptlk, Smallville's version of Mr. Mxyzptlk.

Expanding Drives is particularly useful for folks looking to take the system and make their own setting, as it covers using different Values than the ones presented, including an option for Iconic Values, in which each character shares five of the six values, but the sixth value is unique for each character. Along those lines is Owned Values, in which each Lead stakes their claim to one of the values, and are the only ones who can have the Value at d12, and also get a free re-roll with it. Relationships aren't excluded, either, as variations such as relationships with groups, as well as Titles (Editor-in-Chief is specifically named) are also discussed.

LuthorCorp Projects are up next, beginning with Project 1138 (vampires...inlcuding one named Buffy Sanders), Project Ares (super soldiers), Project Gemini (closing), Project Intercept (invasive interrogation), Project Mercury (medicinal), Project Prometheus (a suit that granted people superpowers), Project Scion (which turned out to be Brainiac) and Project Starhawk (meant to watch aliens).

Expanding Assets includes a slew of new Distinctions, Martial Arts styles and Heritages (including Wraiths) that you can use or adapt for your own new Distinctions. Additionally, new Abilities and Gear are also included. While there's not quite hard and fast guidelines for making your own Abilities, there are some pretty good benchmarks to go off of.

The Veritas Society, complete with its members, are given next.

Expanding Resources covers Extras and Locations, including a sidebar on Locations that are inside other Locations. This chapter also covers elevating Extras to Features and vice versa.

Zoners and Aliens include folks who aren't from around here, like Bizarro, Zod's wife Faora, and Zod himself.

The Story So Far finished what the Smallville corebook started with its coverage of seasons 1-9 by providing an episode by episode breakdown of Season Ten. This also includes Season 10 updates for all of the Features that were presented in the Smallville Corebook. A slew of new Features are also present, such as Booster Gold, Desaad, Deadshot, General Slade Wilson, Granny Goodness and The Blue Beetle.

WHAT WORKS: A lot of great advice on how to get the most out of the Smallville version of the Cortex Plus System, and a whole slew of NPC stats. The production values, as usual, are fantastic, and the book does a lot to really open up the system for people who like the base, but not the setting. The rules and guidelines for allowing players to play both villains and heroes is something that is often overlooked, but can be rewarding in the right group.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Minor complaint, but I could have used more pictures of some of the lesser known characters. I'm not a huge fan of the show, so some of these folks are lost on me.

CONCLUSION: As far as I know, this is the conclusion of the Smallville game line, which has proved to be a very effective three back adaptation of the source material, while also opening the game up to more than just the TV show. Of the two supplements, I prefer the Smallville High School Yearbook, just because it has some very useful advice that is applicable to more than just the Smallville game, while this one has some system-agnostic advice, most of it is about the setting or the rules. Great purchase for anyone running - or planning to run - Smallville. Now if the new Leverage supplements would ever come out...

Tommy's Take on Smallville RPG

Apparently I review a lot of supers games these days, and the latest in that field is the Smallville RPG, newly released in PDF for $20 at RPGNow, and available in hardcopy at GenCon for $40.

I'll be honest...I'm not a big fan of the show.  I tried watching it in the early seasons, but got turned off by a mix of “Freak of the Week”, Tom Welling's one facial expression and how seemingly every episode ended with the same overwrought scene between Clark and Lana where she went on at length about how people can't keep secrets from one another and Clark, well, had his one facial expression.  I sure did enjoy Lex and Lionel Luthor, though.

That being said, it's not the license that brings me to the game, it's the system.  Smallville was released by Margaret Weis Productions, who are handily taking over the slow once occupied by Eden Studios as the cult license company, previously releasing Serenity, Battlestar Galactica and Supernatural.  All of their games use their own in-house system known as Cortex, which ranks any abilities, perks and what have you in die types, and you roll the relevant dice together.  In Smallville, you virtually always roll three dice (unless you spend Plot Points to roll more), taking the highest two results and adding them together.

One of the major areas where Smallville departs from the other Cortex games is that your characters don't have ability scores in the classic sense.  Instead, they have Values: Duty, Glory, Justice, Love, Power and Truth.  What's more, each Drive is further defined with a sentence.  Clark Kent, for example, believes that Power Corrupts, and ranks that Drive with d4.  Zod, on the other hand, ranks it at a d10 with the tag on sentence “Kneel before Zod!”  Again, every character has the six Values, ranked from d4 to d12, and every character has a sentence describing their connection to the Values.

The next thing they are ranked on are Relationships...which includes relationships with the other PCs (PCs are called “Leads”), as well as major NPCs (Features) and minor NPCs (Extras).  Relationships can grow and change over the course of the game, getting stronger, weaker or even changing dramatically (rivals slowly becoming friends, or lovers drifting apart).  Just as with Values, every Relationship is ranked with a die type and a descriptive sentence.

Distinctions are descriptive qualities, often positive and negative, that are triggered with Plot Points, or grant Plot Points.  The negatives are often choosing to do something in character, but detrimental, in exchange for a Plot Point.  Lionel Luthor's Family Reputation allows him to gain a Plot Point and give his opposition a d6 whenever his reputation precedes him, or he can add a d6 to the GM's (Watchtower's) “Trouble Pool” (dice the Watchtower uses to add opposition to a situation, beginning with 2d6 and changing over time) in exchange for a “get out of jail free card”, that is, buying his way out of a sticky situation.

Abilities are things like superpowers, and Smallville provides a good number of them, plenty enough to add in your own.  As it's not a heavily “balanced” system, there's not nearly as much tinkering involved in inserting new Abilities (or Distinctions, for that matter).  You can use the die type of Abilities for relevant rolls, or spend Plot Points to do amazing stunts.

Gear is a lot like Abilities, just mainly for the non-powered types.

Lastly are Resources, such as Extras and Locations, which can be tapped up to twice in an Episode for aid.  You can even tap someone else's Resources...you just have to pay them a Plot Point for taking away their Resource.

Also, as mentioned, Leads have Plot Points which are used to trigger Abilities, call in Resources, roll extra dice, include extra dice in your final result (instead of just the two highest), tag a Useful Aspect in a scene that gives you an extra d6 to call on in the scene, or add a Relationship on the spot.

For someone who is generally a pretty traditional gamer, like me, there are a lot of concepts and philosophies in Smallville that confound me a bit, such as Relationship Maps, Stress Pools, and so forth.  Character generation, in fact, is a group session that also entails basically creating the world, because each player adds important NPCs and Locations to the game as they build up their characters.  Luckily, the book is filled with examples, including a step by step walkthrough of character generation, complete with diagrams of the Relationship Map. 

Smallville  uses a Lifepath system called Pathways, and you build your characters in steps, starting with Origin (Rich, Ordinary, Gifted, Strange and Alien/Metahuman) which guides you on the initial adjustments to your characters.  From there, each Origin has an “exit” to three of five Youth options: Jock, Average, Geek, Outsider and Paragon.  From Youth you get your Focus options: Money, Life, Status, Technology and Paranormal, which in turn opens your Road: Risky, Straight and Narrow, Lofty,  Underground and Ethical.  This all sets up your Life-Changing Event, be it Advancement, Tragedy, Power Manifestation, First Contact and Destiny.  These are the minimum steps to create “rookie” characters.  Throughout this, the Pathways system is also giving you instructions on modifying the Relationship Map, so it is growing and changing as the character generation progresses and the game world is taking shape.

If you choose to continue After The Event, you get to move through the steps of Priority, Modus Operandi, Motivation and Identity...and then, if everyone really wants to keep on moving, the book provides handy guidelines on advancing even further, to have some truly seasoned characters.

This would all really throw me except, as mentioned, they use excellent examples in the book.  Though the Pathways system encourages you to follow certain Paths, the book does mention that it is perfectly viable to skip around a bit, if it's really suitable for your character concept.

Once this is all finished (using the Season 9 Leads of Clark, Chloe, Oliver, Lois, Tess and Zod), handy character sheets are provided for each Lead, matching the example just used.

Lots of advice is provided for scene framing, as well as Contests (complete with examples).  If you're losing a Contest, you can Give In and let the winning side get what they wanted from the Contest or you can run the risk of taking Stress (and possibly becoming Stressed Out).  There are five types of Stress (Afraid, Angry, Exhausted, Injured and Insecure), and the types of Stress can be influenced by certain Distinctions and Abilities.  If a Lead becomes Stressed Out, they gain a Plot Point, are basically removed from a Scene, and step all their Stress back one step.  Giving In is not without risks, though.  If you've rolled any dice, then Giving In costs you a Plot Point, either straight up, or gained by lowering one of your Values or Relationships.

One area I would have appreciated an example for is Advancement, as you use your Growth Pool (which includes healed Stress, or dice from Values that you have challenged through the course of the episode) to roll against the Watchtower to try to boost Relationships, Resources, Abilities, Gear and Distinctions.  I think I've got it now, but it took a few re-readings.  This makes for an interesting game, too, as it basically forces you to fail in order to improve your character.

Some good guidelines are given for making Episodes, starting by making an Episode Map with your leads, pinpointing Relationships to highlight and then finding Wedges (adversaries, generally) to provide conflict for them.

A whole chapter is also devoted to online play, although that one veers a bit into pretentiousness, in my opinion, and that's not a good thing.  (Asking for writing samples?  Really?)
The remainder of the book is just an in-depth dissection of everything that makes up your characters and how they are used in play,

A massive list of Distinctions are present, as well as useful guidelines on making your own Distinctions to fill in any blanks you might have.  The same is done with both Abilities and Gear.

Resources are the big exception to the rules, as they are rated as 2dWhatever, and each have a couple of tags, which basically indicate how they are used by the Leads.  For instance, Lex Luther has LuthorCorp Security with (Security, Retrievals) at 2d6...he can call them in and add their D6 to a die roll when trying to locate Lana, who has gone missing.

Every major (and a lot of minor) characters are included, with the notable exception of Pete Ross (who will surely show up in the High School Yearbook), full statted out for use as you see fit.  This section is one of the few parts that doesn't use screencaps, instead using art pieces that I wasn't a big fan of.  Among the heroes and villains present include Doomsday, John Jones (Martian Manhunter), Amanda Waller, Doctor Fate and Lex Luthor himself. 

The game material concludes with an extensive listing of locations from the TV show, but the book isn't done yet as it provides extensive overviews of the first seven seasons, followed by episode breakdowns of seasons eight and nine.

The book is gorgeous, laid out in red and blue, with tons of screencaps from the show and it is just filled full of Smallville Stuff.  I mean, I quit even trying to follow the show a couple of seasons in and I feel comfortable about running something in canon based off of the book.  Combine that with the helpful guidelines to go along with the extensive examples of Abilities and Distinctions and they give you everything you need to expand the game as you see fit.  I also have to applaud the MWP crew: Smallville Season 9 ended in May....this book released at the end of July...and is up to date from the end of Season 9.  From my experience in following licensed RPGs, that is some really impressive stuff and speaks to the level of cooperation MWP had from someone on the Smallville crew.

Tremendous game with top notch production values...the best release I've seen from MWP yet and the best licensed DC RPG I've read, hands down.

Some Honorable Mentions

I recently named my Top Six...but here were some honorable mentions that I reviewed from January 1st to December 17th that didn't make the list, and why:

Deadlands Reloaded Player's Guide and Marshall's Handbook: While I absolutely love Deadlands, I neglected to name these for two reasons. One, they would be two books instead of one, and to keep any one company from holding too much sway over the Top Six, I couldn't do that. Two, it wasn't "new to me", which is kind of an unofficial criteria for the Top Six, as I've had a ton of experience with Reloaded already.

Smallville the Roleplaying Game: As I mentioned in the Leverage entry, the Smallville game is great, but I don't really care for the show...so picking between Leverage and Smallville for the "one book per company" rule became really easy.

Misfit Studios Savage Worlds Mini-Supplements: Misfit Studios jumped into the Savage Worlds ring last year with a line of mini-supplements. Unfortunately, I wasn't terribly diligent with my tagging of the review posts, but every one of these ranged from "GREAT" to "Really Good". It would have been incredibly difficult to narrow it down to just one, but I *really* love the Expanded Professions.

Vigilance Press' World War II Supplements: Vigilance Press made me learn to love World War II Supers...the only downside is that I'm not completely sold on ICONS...which knocked the chances of me picking any one of these supplements way down. Combined with the Misfit Studios problem of "How do I pick just one?" and well...that said, there were a few Battlescenes that were easily adaptable to any era, so that's pretty great.

Iron Dynasty: Iron Dynasty is very cool and very Savage Worlds...it just didn't GRIP me in quite the same way as the Top Six did, especially Wu Xing, which covers similar ground (though from a radically different lens). Still well worth checking out.

Spite: Spite is cool...but borders on the offensive pretty easily. Hard for me to make a "general" recommendation. Plus, the sales go to charity, so there's that.

Wild World Wrestling: One of the best d20 games just got better...and it is different enough to fall under the "new to me"...the main reason I didn't recommend it is that it is a niche product within a niche genre...gamers who are also wrestling fans is a very small group, unfortunately.

Apocalypse Prevention Inc.: Literally the only reason I didn't pick this as one of the Top Six is because it was made by Third Eye Games, who also made Wu Xing, and Wu Xing is completely amazing instead of just really, really great. API is awesome, Wu Xing is just a hair better.

You still have time to get your entries in for the Birthday Blog contest, as the deadline is this weekend. Plus, we have a couple of sales to pass along for those interested:

RPGNow is running their New Year, New Game sale, which features over 20 RPG books for $11 each. My personal recommendations are Buffy the Vampire Slayer Revised, Monsters and Other Childish Things, Little Fears Nightmare Edition and Savage Suzerain...and there are at least three or four there that I hope to pick up (if I can beat the sale). That sale ends in just over a week.

Also, using code BlogPodJan2011 at checkout, you can get the following titles for 20% off at RPGnow:

One Night Stand: The Warren of the Death Spider (Pathfinder) [Otherworld Creations]

Script Crypt Volume 2: Four Damned Scripts [Crucifiction Games]

Volunder (Mega Dungeon; D&D/OGL) [Stainless Steel Dragon]

QUEST CARDS Game Set 3 [Fuller Flippers]

Incorporated Volume 1 [Brutal Games]

Deadlands: Reloaded Player's Guide [Pinnacle Entertainment]

Enjoy!

Tommy

Tommy's Take on Leverage Roleplaying Game

I've been waiting for this one.

I absolutely love the TV show Leverage, and the Leverage RPG Quickstart is the only Quickstart I have ever spent money on. The problem? It sure looked incredibly daunting to run when I was reading it. Now, the Leverage RPG is finally released.


For those who aren't aware, Leverage is a TV show on TNT that is, essentially, a "Robin Hood meets Mission Impossible" thing. A crew of five criminals (The Mastermind, Grifter, Hacker, Hitter and Thief, wonderfully played by Timothy Hutton, Gina Bellman, Aldis Hodge, Christian Kane and Beth Riesgraf, respectively) help the poor and downtrodden who have been screwed by The Man, and help them get revenge/restitution.

Nate Ford (Hutton) was an insurance investigator who butted heads with the other four that now make up his crew, who leaves his job when his company refuses to pay for medical treatments for his son, leading to his death. In the pilot, he assembles the crew when he's hired for a big revenge scheme, and it all balloons up from there.

Now on it's third season (and confirmed for a fourth), the crew have hit some interesting twists and turns along the way, but the show keeps to a basic formula: A Client hires The Crew to get revenge on The Mark, complications and hilarity ensue...I say hilarity, in that the show is more of a modern day A-Team than anything else, with the Rule of Cool being the order of the day.

Honestly, it sounds like it should be a lovely transfer to a roleplaying game, right?

Unlike the initial release of Smallville, Margaret Weis Productions has bookmarks in place right away, as well as searchability and copy and paste. However, there is no index, for those of you who buy the physical book.

The book is full color and filled with photos from the first two and a half seasons, making the book appear much less dated than a lot of licensed RPGs tend to (MWP pulled off this same feat with Smallville).

FOREWORD

We get a one page foreword by the show's co-creator (and comic/roleplaying geek John Rogers) about the inspiration for the show. I do agree with the concept, and find it incredibly cathartic...even though I'm not always sold on the politics of the show...but it's far from being as heavy handed as it could be.

THE PITCH

This is essentially the introduction chapter, telling you about the characters in the show (mentioned above) and a bit about the tone of the world, which is Very Serious with a side of Quirky. It also makes it clear that your starting characters are not starting characters: That is, the PCs are not rookies...they are at least Very Good at what they do.

THE BRIEFING

Now we start getting into mechanics and game terminology.

The Party is a Crew, the GM is a Fixer, etc. Leverage skews a little closer to traditional RPGs than Smallville did, not dispensing with the Attributes like the latter did. Every Crewmember has Agility, Alertness, Intelligence, Strength, Vitality and Willpower, rated from d4 to d12. Every Crewmember also has a role (Mastermind, Hitter, Grifter, Hacker and Thief) rated from d4 to d10. You get Specialities that are tacked onto the Roles, Distinctions that help flesh out your Crewmember more, Talents that distinguish one Grifter/Hacker/Mastermind/etc from the next, as well as Assets and Complications (extra bonuses or pitfalls that the Crewmembers may call on - or have to deal with).

As for the system itself, you always roll at least two dice: The appropriate Attribute and the appropriate Role...and yeah, sometimes you have to figure what "appropriate" means. You total the two higher dice (sometimes things such as Assets allow you to roll more dice) and that's your result. The Fixer than rolls the appropriate opposition dice, and if he rolls higher, than he Raises The Stakes. The Player gets to try to regain control of the situation by outrolling the Fixer...at any point, one side can back down and let the side in control of the situation decide how it is resolved. If you outroll the Fixer by 5 or more, you get an Extraordinary Success and have thoroughly trounced the opposition.

If a Player rolls a 1, the Fixer can toss in a Complication. If the Fixer rolls a 1, the Player gets an Opportunity...same thing, different perspectives.

Finally, every Crewmember gets Plot Points that they can then use to tweak the action.

THE CREW

Also known as Character Creation.

They recommend creating characters together and running through a short Recruitment mission...and while you CAN play this with more (or less) than 5 players, that's obviously the sweet spot so that you hit the coverage on all of the Roles.

One thing to note about the die scale: d12 is character defining, off the charts kind of stuff. d10 and d8 is incredibly exceptional. d6 is stuff that you have, but isn't a huge part of your character and d4 is "interestingly bad".

Every Player picks their Primary Role (rated at d10) and Secondary Role (rated at d8). While some people might share the same Secondary, it's PROBABLY a good idea to spread out the Primary Roles...although this can lead to an interesting deficiency for gameplay.

Each role is given a paragraph overview, as well as a full description of just what they do, and important Attributes for each Role. Additionally, each Role gets a set of character "types" one might get by combining the various Primary Role+Secondary Role combinations, complete with suggested Talents for each combo.

Right now, you only assign the Primary and Secondary Roles...from there, you add two Specialties, which add a d6 to your Role+Attribute rolls when relevant. Some examples include Driving (Hacker), Sports Trivia (Mastermind), Explosives (Thief). There is no set list for Specialities...you get to define them, as well as their associated roles.

For Attributes, you get two dice arrays to choose from to spread out among your Attributes, one being more focused (giving you an extra d10, but also an extra d6) while the other is a little more spread out.

Distinctions are kind of like Aspects from Fate-style games, in that they define parts of your character, but can provide bonuses or penalties, depending on the situation. The kicker is that you get a Plot Point for invoking a Distinction in a negative manner...AND you get a bonus die: a d4, which is more likely to cause a Complication.

Talents are unique abilities that are all triggered in different ways: Some are meant to be used when the Fixer provides an Opportunity (by rolling a 1) and some kick in when specific actions are used. The book is annoyingly vague on Talents (stating only that you get "one or two" and that "at least half" must be keyed to your Primary Role).

Each Role gets Talents, as well as a list of Open Talents. I can only imagine that the upcoming Splatbooks (only two, last time I looked, not five - some Roles are sharing books, obviously) will add more.

Grifters get Talents allowing them to spot lies a mile away, or allowing them to be Masters of Disguise.

Hackers can get bonuses if they are squaring off specifically against another person instead of an automated system, or they can drop a Plot Point to have retroactively given a Crewmember a sweet tool.

Hitters can get some dirty, dirty tricks, as well as size up opponents before they ever have to fight.

Masterminds can allow Crewmembers to openly share Plot Points or even turn a Complication around into a bonus die for their own roll.

Thieves can take Talents to gain bonuses on just about any specialty.

Open Talents include allowing you to blend into the background or spend a Plot Point to insert yourself into a scene that you weren't already involved in.

The Talents section ends with a set of Talent creation rules, in case you want something that's not there.

The Recruitment Job is a minisession that brings the group together and helpfully fills out the rest of the character sheet. According to the book, by this point every Crewmember should still be recording 3 Role dice, 2 Distinctions, 2 Talents and 2 Specialties...so I'm really kind of confused on Talents (and Specialties), as to what should be defined when.

The Fixer gets a very brief "Job Creation" guide, to help slap the short session together. Essentially, the Fixer drops the basic scenario in the laps of the Crew, and lets them figure out how they want to solve it, with each deciding their role.

You all then walk through the Scenario, adding the appropriate Talents, Specialties and other Roles as need be, with the Mastermind swooping in to fix things if someone botches their part of the mission.

Once everyone goes through their Spotlight Scenes and the Mark is taken down, all of the Crew should be pretty well fleshed out.

Alternately, there is "Fast Recruitment", which lets you fill in the blanks without the Recruitment Job.

One thing worth noting is that one of your Distinctions is out of your control: That is, the other players will determine that Distinction, as it is how other people see you, so have fun with that.

Experience is handled a little differently here. You record the Jobs you go on, and you can refer back to previous jobs in Callbacks, essentially gaining free Plot Points. You can also "spend" jobs to add Assets, Specialties or Talents, or improve Attributes or Roles, although you can't use "spent" jobs for Callbacks.

You can also modify the Crew (in big and small ways) over time, replacing Distinctions, losing (and replacing) Assets and so on. Optional rules are included to take a very loose approach ala Relationships in Smallville, building the Trust among the team, which can yield benefits.

Lastly, after x amount of Jobs, you take a Break (Leverage tends to run in "split seasons", usually with a dramatic twist that sets up the time off)...during that time, all remaining Jobs must be "spent" in preperation for the return to action.

The latter part of this chapter cleared up the earlier parts...but this could have really done well to have a one page "cheat sheet" of precisely what you get and when creating characters, with hard numbers removed from the wall of text.

All of the flowcharts in Smallville made it incredibly easy to follow...and while character creation isn't as involved here, a summary would still have been great.

The chapter ends with Rap Sheets for the five main cast members, as well as temporary Grifter replacement Tara Cole.

THE JOB

A more detailed gameplay chapter, beginning with going back over Traits in more detail...note that a LOT of supporting characters will be utterly defined by one or two Traits: Thug d6 or Nervous d4 Deputy d8, etc.

We get a very well-written breakdown of action for the game, defining scenes in "beats" (when the dice are rolled), as well as kinds of actions, such as Face Actions (used when one character is trying to manipulate another, for instance).

In Combat, you can Give In if you're losing and don't think you can turn things around, taking a Complication but getting away, as well as a Plot Point.

Leverage uses Flashbacks, and we cover both types in detail: Establishment Flashbacks which are used to add an Asset for the scene to help you out, and the Wrap-Up Flashbacks in which the Crew's plans are all in place, the proverbial trigger is pulled, and hopefully the Mark goes down.

THE FIXER

This is the GMing chapter, and a well-done chapter it is.

This chapter provides a breakdown of the Leverage pacing structure, and a step-by-step walkthrough for building a Caper. You get the starting points: The Mark, The Client and The Problem...does someone come to the Crew? Does one of the Crew witness something they feel needs fixing? Etc. Other selections include The Problem, Why They Need The Crew (if the bad guy is the Mayor, normal legal channels may not work), The Mark's Angle, Why The Mark is Protected, The Mark's Weakness, Who Else Is Involved...just a well-build menu to help walk you through creating Capers.

Again, this chapter is heavily focused on recreating the Leverage experience, with your Crew, and a lot of space is devoted to that. There is a handy section on Twists you may want to avoid, mostly so that you don't make your Crew so paranoid that they refuse to do much of anything without hours of preparation...(anyone here every play D&D with someone whose DM twisted a Wish on them, and they got another Wish? Did that player take an hour carefully phrasing said Wish to avoid being utterly screwed?)

Ultimately, the rule is "Don't let the action slow down, and give the players enough information that they don't spend all night chasing their tails"...which, in most situations, I completely agree. A tail-chasing scenario CAN work, in the right circumstances...I mean, it's classic red herring stuff...but setting up a Mark who is actually innocent isn't the same thing as not giving the players an essential piece of information and having them chase drug smugglers when they really need to be bringing down a hospital administrator.

Seriously...I love the idea of this game, but as I noted, the Quickstart Job made me very...nervous. This removes a LOT of apprehension I have about trying to run the game, essentially acting as a Dummy's Guide To Heists and Capers.

Very well done.

THE TOOLBOX

This is the "how-to" build very aspects of The Job, complete with examples.

The Mark is defined by their Traits, starting with why they are untouchable and their motivations...then they get their weaknesses...and a fifth trait that's more than a little for flavor.

The Client isn't detailed quite as specifically, but they aren't often involved in the middle of the action (though this isn't always true, as more than one Client has wound up as part of the Crew's plan).

Extras a generally a single trait.

Agents are a little more detailed (and competent) than Extras (and often Clients), and can be on your side or against you.

Foils are built almost exactly like Crewmembers (minus Roles, but with Traits). They are generally recurring characters, sometimes being from a Crewmember's past and sometimes holding a grudge once crossing paths with the Crew after they are formed.

Places have Traits as well, and can be one time set pieces or recurring scenery (like the Crew's base).

We also get a bit on "ripping from the headlines"...that is, taking a story from the news and turning it into a caper. Which really ISN'T a bad idea, and if you have any news-aware players, they can probably give you all kinds of inspiration (maybe even bringing you the basic caper themselves).

Where they REALLY win me over is the Random Situation Generator. Yeah...a series of charts that you can use to roll up Capers, starting with The Client and going from there. In fact, I'm going to sideline this review for a minute to roll up a Caper.

Client: Clergy
Problem: Framed (oh, this is getting good already)
Pressure: It's Personal
Mark: Businessperson
Mark's Angle: Greedy
Mark's Power: Wealthy and Connected
Mark's Weakness: Fearful
Mark's Vulnerability: Family
Who Else Is Involved: The Innocent
The Twist: The Mark' not really the bad guy

Hmm...I'm seeing a Pastor or Priest of the church that a crewmember either does (or did) belong to being framed for embezzlement in a charity situation with a local (successful) businessman whose wife is the church receptionist and whose son is a youth leader at the church. Obviously, he's a heartless, greedy bastard who set up the clergyman...except, of course, that he didn't...in this case, I'm inclined to say that the wife or son is the The Bad Guy, having access to both ends of the business' charitable donations. For a REALLY seedy twist, toss in an affair: Wife with clergyman, clergyman with youth leader or wife (actually step-mom) with son...maybe Dad is prominently anti-gay (maybe funding "re-education camps"?), son and clergyman are closeted lovers, and son is doing this all behind his Dad's and lover's back, planning on his lover being exonerated when the framejob collapses...either thinking he can outsmart your Crew, or not counting on the clergyman going to the Crew for help.

Hm...yeah. Anti-gay businessman funding homosexual re-education camps. Clergy gets outed as being gay, and then the frame job happens. Clergyman goes to the Crewmember for help, knowing that the businessman HAS to be setting him up, thinking he may suspect the affair with businessman's son. In reality, the son (with some pent up hostility towards Dad) has manipulated his position working in both the church and his father's company to set up this elaborate plot to give his tyrannical father his comeuppance. Mom can just be hopelessly caught in the middle or supporting either the father's or son's agenda, depending. I think that'd work.

Anyway, back to the review:

The chapter rounds out with stats for some Agents and Foils from the show, including geek icon Wil Wheaton's turn as the Hacker known as Cha0s...and contradicting the early section that says they don't have Roles, but Traits...(to be fair, the book says that some of the Traits may be the same as some of the Roles the Crew has...but not only do the example Foils have the exact same Roles, but they are listed as Roles and not Traits...an example of a Foil, even fictional, with differing Traits would have been appreciated).

THE CRIME WORLD

This chapter gives tips on considering the world at large, as well as "thinking like a criminal", but the harmless, Leverage kind of criminal (that is, don't go around shooting people, for instance).

Of course, it also says to Keep A Low Profile, and anyone who watches the show should know why I find that to be so funny (the crew ends most episodes mugging for the Mark as they are hauled away, and Eliot has become a media sensation at least twice while on the job).

We also get the basics of Cons, including some Cons used in the show, to help everyone get in the mindset.

While not as impressive as the GMing chapter, it is still very helpful.

THE RECORD

This is a summary of the first two seasons, broken down with The Client, The Mark, The Problem, The Plan and How It Goes Down, with quotes tossed in for good measure.

After all of that, we get a blank Rap Sheet.

CONCLUSION

I doubt I've ever been more disappointed that I lack a full group of five players than I am now. Margart Weis Productions *may* have topped Smallville here.

Tommy's Take on The Firefly Roleplaying Game

And so the Firefly theme continues with the Firefly RPG by Margaret Weis Productions, not to be confused with the Serenity RPG they released a few years ago.

Tommy's Take on Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Game

So Margaret Weis Productions has a new Marvel RPG out. I have owned and played every official Marvel RPG. Marvel SAGA is my favorite supers RPG ever, and Marvel FASERIP was the first RPG I ever owned. Marvel Universe (the one with the stones)...the less said the better. In 2010, MWP unveiled Cortex Plus, which powers Smallville and Leverage, the latter of which was named one of my "Top Six" that year. Both are elegant games with unmistakable similarities, but they also veer off into their own directions. I am cautiously optimistic as I approach the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying Basic Game.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: First off, Cortex Plus, re-jiggered specifically for this game. Second of all, the PDF is out right now, for $12.99. MWP has wisely set a print retail price of $19.99, making it a very affordable option, especially for a 200+ page book. The PDF version includes a set of datafiles (also included inside the main book) as well as a Players and Watchers cheat sheet. Very handy. This is a full color affair, keeping in line with MWP's strong track record for production values, especially with their licenses.

The first section of the book is the Operations Manual. These are the rules. The Introduction hits on the basics: The Datafiles (that would be the character sheets), Dice (you use d4s, d6s, d8, d10s and d12) as well as traits you can draw dice from and how the dice pool works (basically, you keep two for your result and one for the Effect Die, unless you spend Plot Points to keep extra dice), Plot Points and how they can be used (adding extra dice to the roll, extra dice to the totals, acting special effects in your powers,etc), The Doom Pool (dice the Watcher starts with to screw with you, ranked from Standard to Global to Cosmic, and can be raised to High Stakes and Catastrophic) and how it is raised and used (whenever players roll a "1", that's an Opportunity to add dice to your pool and can be used to boost opposition, activate enemy Special Effects, end scenes prematurely and more), Stunts and Resources (using your powers in unique ways above and beyond just pushing your limits), Effects like Assets, Stress and Complications (Stress is the kind of damage you take: Physical, Mental and Emotional, and can not only be used as opposition dice against you, but in the right circumstances it can be used as action dice for your - though it makes that stress worse. Get "Stressed Out" and you can wind up with Trauma). Assets can be gained through your Effect die and used to roll extra dice on later actions. Complications can be used in place of inflicting Stress to add extra dice when acting against an adversary. It can be a lot to take in, but I think the authors realize this because - as with Smallville and Leverage - there are a TON of examples.

Playing The Game breaks down the structure. "Adventures" are called Events. Events consist of Acts. Acts are broken down into Scenes. Scenes are comprised of Panels. I should note at this point that I hate the ever-growing use of terms like "Panels" and "Pages" in supers RPGs, but it's something I'm just learning to get used to. Initiative is handled with the players deciding who goes first. If the Watcher wants to go first, he has to spend a die from the Doom Pool. Order of action from there is determined by the player who just acted. Finally, there are Transition Scenes where you can try to heal up, swap out characters and generally just relax from the intensive action that just occured.

Taking Action is pretty much just more examples and details on how actions work from the Introduction (with a nice freebie: a Sentinel datafile, as the example in question is Cyclops vs a Sentinel). This covers things like Extraordinary Successes, which can boost your effect dice and - if it goes high enough - even result in one hit knockouts. This section also covers splitting your focus on multiple targets, determining just what is within the realm of possibility for your character and even spending plot points to ensure automatic success. There is also a section on how Mental and Emotional conflict vary from physical conflict.

Understanding Datafiles breaks down just how your hero's stuff works, using Captain America as an example. First off, every hero has an Affiliation (Solo, Buddy and Team), ranked by how effectively they work in each situation. Then they each have three Distinctions (things like Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Man Out of Time or Best There Is At What He Does), Powers Set, Specialties and Milestones. Milestones are interesting as they are how heroes gain experience points.

Affiliations are spelled out, including notable examples of prime examples of each Affiliation (Wolverine is primarly a Solo character, Spider-Man works best in a Buddy situation and Cyclops functions best in a Team), as well as just when you should use each affiliation and when you should stop using them. Distinctions can be used to help or hinder you (giving you a Plot Point if you choose to have it hinder you).

Power Sets are a collection of Power Traits, and a good selection of Power Traits are provided, like Reflexes (ranked from Enhanced to Superhuman to Godlike), Elemental Control Powers, Psychic Powers, Sorcery (YES!). Basically, most of these are ranked from d6 to d12. However, you also get Special Effects, which can differentiate one character's Reflexes from anothers. These can include things like Area Attacks, Dangerous (lowers your highest die type, but inflicts worse Stress), and Unleashed (for guys that try to hold back but occasionally REALLY cut loose). Heroes also get Limits like Mutant (which is actually a good way to get Plot Points), Growing Dread (making 1s and 2s Opportunities for the Watcher) or Mutually Exclusive (where you have two Power Sets that cannot be used together).

Specialties are basically just skills. Allowing you to either roll higher dice for actions or more smaller dice for actions.

Milestones are the specific goals your hero is working towards in the event. Sometimes these are very personal and specific to the hero and sometimes they are very specific to the event. For instance, Wolverine's Milestones are related to violence (and his bad temper) and encountering old connections (for good or ill) from his past. Each Milestone set has a 1xp, 3xp and 10xp Milestone. You can use your XP to swap out Distinctions, step up Power Traits, add Power Traits, add new Specialties and unlock Event resources. Character creation is very freeform, essentially just hitting the checklist of features and making sure they are all present. If you're modeling a specific hero, work to nail that hero's powers and such. If you're making your own character...you pretty much have free reign, with the Watcher's approval.

Understanding Events tries to help out with the Event structure, including tips on modifying events (either that you have ran before, or maybe you just want to tweak what's there)...this can be as basic as swapping out the Hero options, changing up the bad guys, or completely altering the Event milestones. There's also a two page summary on making your own Events.

A mini-Event is included, Breakout, based off of New Avengers #1-6, in which a slew of villains escape from the raft after a "freak" electrical storm. This does a pretty good job of laying out a two-session Event, explaining the concept of Event Unlockables (like gaining SHIELD Champion-level clearance, Recruiting Sentry to your side or - my favorite - redeeming one of the Raft inmates). While most of the scenes are taken from the comic storyline, various options are presented to change things up. Imagine Jigsaw and Carnage forming an alliance, for instance.

Act Two heads into the Savage Land due to clues found from Act One, and leads to the characters running afoul of giant dinosaurs, spies and the Savage Land Mutates. Again, options are provided for shaking things up. 29 villains, by my count, are provided in the "Inmates" section, ranging from losers like Armadillo to awesome B-stringers like Crossbones to the frighteningly powerful Graviton. This is in addition to guys included in the Event itself like Carnage and Count Nefaria. We're not looking at Dr. Doom and Magneto here, but it's still a cool cross section of characters to help with working on your own villain Datafiles.

There are about 23 datafiles for heroes provided, with obvious picks like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man and the Fantastic Four, and less obvious picks like Armor (of the X-Men) and...um, well, she's really the one that just stands out to me. These are pretty impressive two-page entries with full histories and the like.

WHAT WORKS: Top notch production values. Lots and lots of detailed examples. A supers system in which neither magic nor powered armor seem to be giant headaches or hopelessly busted. Lots of promise for support is out there, (really looking forward to the Cosmic Stuff for sure). Fantastic price point. Probably the most logical advancement system I have seen in a supers system (with the second best being "Well, comic book characters don't advance like normal anyway, so just handwave it)". Also, I totally dig the Solo-Buddy-Team set-up.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: I've never been comfortable with "Stress" systems. A bit more abstract than I prefer. I'm also not sold on the "Event" set-up, especially with the default assumption that characters will be dropped from Event to Event.

CONCLUSION: Well, just by reading it I like it better than I do the "Stones" system. It certainly seems like it could be a blast, but until I see it in play, I couldn't put it ahead of Marvel SAGA which has stood the test of time for me. We have always been a fan of playing our own characters in the Marvel Universe, even though there has never been a Marvel game with a GOOD character creation system. This game doesn't change that, but it does bypass horribly busted attempts and just says "Hey, make what you want, here's how". Marvel Heroic Roleplaying is probably the most mechanically interesting Marvel system (behind SAGA) to me. Hats off to the crew at Margaret Weis Productions. Not only have the released a gorgeous product, they did it at a very nice price point. A very impressive effort using a system that has had its foundation tested twice before. And if you were nervous about the final product, don't worry...this isn't a "You punched Spider-Man in his Mary Jane" game. Very much excited to see how things develop from here.

Free Copy of the Smallville RPG!

Because I haven't done a giveaway in a while.

A free PDF of the Smallville RPG to the first person who e-mails me the name of the most read RPG review on this website (according to my data). The e-mail is tommyb(a)sstelco(dot)com.

Contest is open immediately, and ends when either someone answers correctly or August 15th comes and goes without a correct guess.

The Honorable Mentions

After compiling Tommy's Top Six, I did have a few other books that I felt needed special mention, so I'm going to do that here.

In alphabetical order:

Agents of Oblivion by Reality Blurs: This horror-espionage mash-up gives you the tools to run almost anything from James Bond to the X-Files to Men in Black. You can even amp it up further, making the PCs mutant super agents. It even meshes easily with Realms of Cthulhu for as much, or as little, crossover as you like.

WHY IT DIDN'T MAKE THE TOP SIX: Timing. If I had reviewed this in a separate year than Realms of Cthulhu, this would almost certainly have made it into the Top Six, but I have a "one book per publisher" limit that I impose on the Top Six, and at the end of the day, I feel Realms just brings more to the table.

Caladon Falls by Savage Mojo: Caladon Falls is a fantasy setting/campaign for Suzerain, taking a grittier and more warlike approach than you typically see from fantasy games. In fact, it is largely Band of Brothers meets Lord of the Rings, and it's a very impressive campaign that takes full advantage of the Savage Worlds strengths, namely the ease in PCs commanding NPCs and the Mass Combat rules.

WHY IT DIDN'T MAKE THE TOP SIX: Timing. Fact is, I had to choose between this and Savage Suzerain and as great as THIS book is, THAT book lays all the framework for the awesome twist on Savage Worlds that is Suzerain.

Hellfrost by Triple Ace Games: One of the coolest (no pun intended) fantasy settings that I was very much "late to the party" for, Hellfrost is a dark fantasy setting for Savage Worlds in a world that is freezing quickly. With some great setting rules and a gorgeous bestiary, Hellfrost won me over nearly as soon as I sprang for my copies.

WHY IT DIDN'T MAKE THE TOP SIX: Notice that I said "Hellfrost", which isn't a single book, but three books: The Hellfrost Player's Guide, The Hellfrost Gazetteer and the Hellfrost Bestiary. Honestly, I came very close to nominating both the Player's Guide (because the bulk of the setting is right there) and the Bestiary (because I love monster books, and this is a very well done monster book), but I ultimately split the difference and went with the Top Six that you saw on January 1st.

Horror Show by Bedrock Games: Bedrock Games impressed me with Terror Network and Crime Network, their anti-terrorism and mafia RPGs, neither being subject matter I'm particularly enthusiastic about. In 2011 they took their skill based system and applied it to cinematic horror, in a combination that probably shouldn't have worked as well as it did. In fact, Horror Show wound up being a very pleasant surprise for me, a well-researched horror RPG with a tested system and a lot of love behind it.

WHY IT DIDN'T MAKE THE TOP SIX: The biggest reason is that it is essentially a horror toolkit, and there are horror toolkits out there. It came THISCLOSE to making the Top Six, but I ultimately decided that Ghostories had the more unique hook that would sway someone into trying it even if they already had a go-to horror game, whereas Horror Show seems less likely to sway someone who is already pleased with their horror options.

Part-Time Gods by Third Eye Games: The third corebook by Third Eye Games covers all new territory for the small, but impressive, company: Playing Gods. Sure, this isn't unheard of in RPGs, at all. Where this one is unique from those is that the Gods are still bound to their mortal lives, and have to strike a balance between being Gods and being humans. Utilizing a simplified version of the Dynamic Gaming System to bring the over the top powers of the Gods to life, Part-Time Gods is a worthy addition to the Apocalypse Prevention Inc. and Wu Xing line-ups.

WHY IT DIDN'T MAKE THE TOP SIX: Part-Time Gods was a HUGE success on Kickstarter, which led to a few top tier donors making it into the back of the book as characters. The "vanity buy-ins" just kind of annoy me. I'd prefer the page count being used for things I'll actually use...but I did only pay cover for the book, while they shelled out more. The other thing was that, for maybe the first time, I read an RPG that has multiple PC "factions" (Theologies in this game) and not one of them really GRABBED me. I can usually find a clan, tribe, group, whatever that "speaks" to me, but not this time. Kinda left me feeling like the White Wolf-esque clan approach worked against the game instead of for it this time.

Smallville High School Yearbook by Margaret Weis Productions: A fantastic resource for not only refocusing your Smallville games for a high school setting, but a great snapshot of "TV American High School". In fact, if you have the extra money and are running any kind of game set in modern American high school and need a refresher on things, I'd recommend picking it up.

WHY IT DIDN'T MAKE THE TOP SIX: In this case, I think the focus was specialized enough that if it were a complete game (like Tough Justice), I would have given it a nod. I couldn't quite do that given that it's a very specific (though well written) sourcebook for another game. Fantastic book, limited in scope, but incredibly useful for that scope.

Tommy's Top Six and Birthday Blog Giveaway

I reviewed a LOT of games since I opened my blog last year, and I wanted to take a special moment to recognize the six that captured my attention the most, provided that they fit under the following criteria: 1) I had to have reviewed the title on my blog from January 1st through December 17th. Unlike some year end awards, I'm not concerned with actual release dates, but when the books actually made it into my hands. 2) Only one book per company was allowed. This rule came in because one draft of the list had four books by two companies. The Top Six itself is a purely arbitrary number...I like the number six, nothing more.

There were a lot of products that I really enjoyed, that didn't get tagged for a certain reason, and I plan on doing a follow-up with a couple of those, explaining why I didn't choose certain titles.

Without further ado, in alphabetical order:

BASH ULTIMATE EDITION (Basic Action Games)

Why You Should Buy It: I love superheroes. It's part of the reason I write comics...(even though I have yet to do a traditional superhero book, unfortunately). Marvel SAGA is my favorite RPG of all time, flawed though it is...I've read a lot of superhero games since then, but none have captured my imagination in the same way as BASH, and I am hard pressed to think of a superhero game that does as much, with as little work. It has an "equalizer" for characters of multiple power levels on the same team, it provides plenty of options for making characters without the same level of bean counting that you get with Mutants and Masterminds or Champions, and it scales up from gritty to cosmic, all in the main rulebook. It currently holds the distinction of being the only game that I have ever purchased twice, once in PDF format and once in softcover. In fact, if the new version being released through Cubicle 7 is full color, I may go so far as to buy it one more time (and donate my black and white copy to someone). Chris Rutkowsky has made what is, to my mind, one of the best RPGs I have ever read, as it hits pretty much all of my sweet spots without a ton of work. For me, certain other major superhero RPGs are either underwritten, or incredibly overdone to the point of being Too Much Work...but BASH never has that problem. With Vigilance Press and Daring Entertainment coming aboard as third party licensees, I hope that BASH gains the following that I feel it truly deserves.

Buy the PDF at RPGnow, and look for the print version in 2011 from Cubicle 7.

HIGH VALOR (Silverlion Studios/Better Mousetrap Games)

Why You Should Buy It: I love fantasy gaming, but I can't make myself do Dungeons & Dragons anymore. I want epic, high fantasy, not dungeon crawls...and, as you may have guessed, I don't want it to be Too Much Work. High Valor is pretty much rules light, but never goes too far away from being a game. Just because you have three stats (kinda like you do in BASH, actually), and monsters only have one, doesn't mean it's not still a game. I love the mechanic of borrowing back and forth between your pools when you REALLY need to accomplish something, and I really like the fairly freeform nature of Magic and Miracles. I think one thing I love the most is that your experience comes from your Triumphs and Dooms...even epic failures help to define you, as you and your legend grows over time. Be Epic. High Valor wants you to. Don't kill a monster and take its stuff, risk life and limb to destroy an elder troll terrorizing the region, and take its head as a warning to all other foul creatures...and if it happens to rip your eye out? Then your legend is even more epic. The setting is dark, but not TOO dark...providing a growing storm of evil, sure, but you're expected to fight it *and win*. To boot, Tim Kirk seems dead set on making books that stand alone, so if you buy this? All you need is this...plus, the system is incredibly easy to convert to, since the monsters are basically one stat plus flavor text. Now, this isn't a highly tactical combat game...but it is a pretty damn awesome fantasy epic.

Buy the PDF at RPGnow, or the print version at Lulu.

INTERFACE ZERO (Gun Metal Games)

Why You Should Buy It: This is precisely what Savage Worlds settings could (and, IMHO, should) be. I'm not saying that every Savage Setting needs to ape Interface Zero, I'm saying that publishers shouldn't be afraid to make their game. Gun Metal Games does not hesitate to provide you with new Hacking rules, Cyberspace, cybernetics and the single coolest equipment chapter I have read since, well, Pinnacle released a whole book for Deadlands (both the Interface Zero equipment chapter and the Deadlands book - Smith & Robards - are written as catalogs). I'm also a sucker for random tables, as anyone that reads my reviews should know, and so not only does Gun Metal Games provide an adventure generator, but they also provide a random Bounty generator! The crazy part is that as comprehensive as this book is (at 300 pages), there is still a TON of room for development! Psychics will be coming this year, and publisher David Jarvis has been hyping it pretty heavily over on the Savage Worlds forums at www.peginc.com, if you wanna check that out. Also, Gun Metal Games and Silver Gryphon Games have announced that we will be getting an "Interface Zero" version of the latter's Wellstone City...and given the people involved, combined with the Savage Worlds system, I can't feature it not being twelve shades of awesome. In the meantime, get IZ and get acquainted with a world where life is cheap, especially if you were born in a vat (or built from the ground up).

Buy the PDF at RPGNow.

Leverage (Margaret Weis Productions)

Why You Should Buy It: Oh, man, what a year these guys had, and all because of two releases: Smallville and Leverage. Smallville was a GREAT game...but I'm not a fan of the show. Leverage was a GREAT game, and I AM a fan of the show. However, making a faithful adaptation of the show wouldn't have been enough to make the list. And luckily, they did more than that: Sure, you can run the Leverage crew, no problem...and you can build your own crew from the ground up. However, the book walks you through basically every step necessary to set up your world and run your game, including (YES!) random generators for making Jobs for your Crew to take! When I read the quickstart, I was excited, but scared to death: I mean, seriously, how in the heck do you run LEVERAGE as an RPG? For me, it seemed awfully daunting...and then came one of the best GMing chapters I have ever read. At that point, I was mostly just sad not to have the opportunity to run it right now. Great concepts get mangled in translation all the time, but Margaret Weis Productions took this opportunity and knocked it out of the park. Just an amazingly well-written rulebook and a phenomenal translation of the TV show.

Buy the PDF at RPGnow, or order the hardcopy from Margaret Weis Productions.

War of the Dead Chapter One (Daring Entertainment)

Why You Should Buy It: One of the most ambitious projects ever released for Savage Worlds, War of the Dead is a four part, epic campaign beginning on a simple cruise ship and changing the world forever. This is the zombie apocalypse come to Savage Worlds in a way that Zombie Run could never have been. Chapter One is the first thirteen weeks of the campaign, taking your hapless, Novice characters from their life-changing cruise, back to land, including a conflict with a ruthless biker gang and relative safety in one of the remaining refuges left. The world is familiar and filled with inside references to famous zombie creators like George Romero and Robert Kirkman, but most importantly, Lee Szczepanik understands the strengths of the system he is writing for, filling adventures with massive battles against zombie hordes that would have GMs pulling their hair out under many systems. Also, I'm a big fan of how many of the episodes feature random encounter charts, using card draws, specialized for the location and situation. Plus, of the books on this list, the support for War of the Dead absolutely blows the other picks away, with freebie adventures that fill the gap between Chapter One and Chapter Two, as well as one of the coolest sets of paper miniatures I have seen in The Paper Dead, including a printable RV with "anti zombie" attachments! If you like The Walking Dead or Night of the Living Dead, and wanna play something like it, this is it, right here. Chapter Two is in the home stretch now, and has even eclipsed Chapter One in some ways, though it has never failed to live up to the promise of Chapter One, even at its low points, in my opinion. I admit, when this project was first announced, I threw up my shoulders with a resounding "eh"...but going on nearly twenty six installments now (not even counting the free adventures), and Daring Entertainment has produced a Savage Worlds campaign with some amazing promise, as well as a scope rarely seen in this genre (again, The Walking Dead is the closest thing that comes to mind).

Buy the PDF at RPGnow, or order the print version from Cubicle 7.

Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusade (Third Eye Games)

Why You Should Buy It: I like superheroes, high fantasy, zombies, Leverage...I'm not BIG into cyberpunk, but I'll try anything in Savage Worlds. I kinda hate most anime, and I'm just not into oriental mysticism/mythology/history, etc. So why is Wu Xing here? Because I am not into those things and this book just stood out as one of the coolest books I have read in recent memory, perhaps ever. I had no real experience with Third Eye Games before this year, though I did get Apocalypse Prevention Inc. in the Haiti Bundle, but it kind of got lost in the shuffle when I was trying to download and read EVERYTHING. After Eloy Lasanta approached me about the game, I gave it an honest go, and really loved what I read there...so I checked out Wu Xing on the strength of API (which is right up my comfort zone, genre-wise)...what I found was a very cool, over the top, albeit westernized (to the annoyance of some, not me) martial arts fantasy epic.  The production is fairly light in this day and age, but that just means the book is filled with content. Plot hooks are all over the thing, and Third Eye Games doesn't truck in metaplots, meaning that if you want to expand something there and run with it, or answering one of the burning questions, there is no wrong answer and you are not likely to find something completely invalidated by a future book. All of the clans just come alive, and what could easily have been a rigid, "not much else to do" setting is instead loaded with intrigue and plot hooks. Any RPG that can take a genre I pretty much can't stand and make me go "oh, crap, I GOTTA play" is a big winner in my book. Wu Xing is just full of "cool".

Buy the PDF at RPGnow (where Wu Xing is also listed as Print on Demand option for those who have it available) or pick up the print version at Beautiful Brains Books & Games.

And now, the cool part:

These six publishers have pledged to give you, dear readers, a chance to win PDFs of these games, as part of the "Thank you" for reading the blog and the reviews of their fine games. Here are the prizes:

- Three (3) PDF copies of BASH Ultimate Edition (awarded separately) -OR- a Basic Action Games PDF of your choice, if you already own BASH.
- A PDF copy of High Valor.
- A PDF copy of Interface Zero plus a poster-sized PDF of the cover.
- Three (3) PDF copies of the Leverage RPG.
- A complete War of the Dead Chapter One PDF bundle, including the entire War of the Dead Chapter One, The Paper Dead and all of the Freebies released to date, everything you need (except for the Savage Worlds rules) in order to jump into Chapter Two.
- A PDF copy of Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusade.

To enter, simply send me an e-mail to tommyb(a)sstelco(dot)com, with the subject (minus the quotes) "Happy Birthday Blog", listing your order of preference for the prize. Once I have closed entries by 11:59 PM Central Time on January 15th, I will use a randomizer to determine the winners...#1 gets their first choice, #2 gets their first available choice (their first choice if it wasn't taken, second if it was, and so on). If you are wanting a BASH PDF that isn't Ultimate Edition, specify it in the e-mail.

Thank you all so much for reading this blog, thanks to Michael Wolf at Stargazer's World, whose shoutout helped spike my blog traffic immensely over the summer, thank you to the Top Six publishers for the prize support for this giveaway, thank you to every publisher who gave me product to review over this last year, and thank you to Sean Patrick Fannon of RPGnow for allowing me in the affiliate program, which literally allowed me to make it to and from work when I started a new job last summer and otherwise had *nothing* to put in my gas tank.

Next up on the slate: A few products that were exceptional, but why I didn't pick them for the Top Six, reviews of the Squawk RPG as well as Dust Devils Revenged, an overall look back on 2010, some WWE thoughts for old times sake, probably a full on review of Smackdown vs Raw, the Legendary installment of Savage Worlds Characters Are All The Same, the new Supers version of it, and a look at RPGnow's new Print on Demand program (as I was apparently one of the last ones in the pilot program to get my book...despite ordering two hours after it launched).

Thank you, have a Happy New Year, and come back soon!

Tommy

We Have A Winner!

That didn't take long!

Devin Curtis correctly guessed that the most read RPG review on this blog is...Smallville's Cortex Plus sister game (and one of my Top Six picks): Leverage!

Congratulations Curtis!

Tommy's Take on School Daze

I have lots of High School setting-like RPGs. Smallville has a whole supplement about playing in High School. It’s kinda the assumed setting of Buffy. So I was expecting to see some big hook for the School Daze RPG by Sand & Steam Productions…and it’s played fairly straight. Is that a bad thing?

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: School Daze is full color, tons of illustrations, bookmarked and searchable. It’s only 66 pages, so not a giant tome, and is $10 in PDF format. The intro references Buffy, Brick, Ferris Bueller and The Breakfast Club in addition to Glee and American Pie, so that’s a bit of range. It IS worth noting that, despite the cartoony art, there are drug and sexual references, so be advised.

Mechanically, it’s not a complicated system. Your character has a favorite Subject, which adds +2 to rolls when relevant, as well as up to three Ranks (all of which rhyme), and add +1 if they are  a good thing for what you are trying to do, or -1 if they are bad. For instance, if you’re a Tank trying to sneak past the Principal, that’s a -1. Now, if it’s the middle of a football game and you’re trying to sack the Quarterback, that’s a +1. If you’re a Prank and you’re trying to humiliate the substitute? +1. If you’re trying to NOT say something out of line when the Town Councilman is holding an assembly…-1. You can also get Gold Stars, which can be used for +2 bonuses, removing consequences of failure or altering the story as it progresses.

You round out your character with Name, Motivation (“I wanna be a doctor”, “I wanna bang the head cheerleader”, etc) and three Relationships (they can be students, teachers, outside NPCs, you name it…they’re just people that’ll come up in the game).

The adventure chapter (or Group Projects) is meant to be really basic and then free flowing. Decide what’s going on (the example listed is Prom), add in the major NPCs and the basic set-up and then play it out. In the given example, the most popular girl in school (that is, the one every hates) is trying to get the school stud to take her to the Prom. Presumably, the PCs will interject themselves in the middle of that. There’s also a random School Year Events chart if you need inspiration, with things like Football Championship, Finals Week, Protest in the Halls, Bomb Threats, Alien Invasions and the County Fair.

Trowbridge High, home of the Fighting Kraken, l is provided, with school colors, mascot (Squiddie) and school paper, and a faculty that you can use or discard as you like. Each staff member has a headshot and a little quirk or two to help you along with using them in your games.

There IS a list of alternate settings, one being very Buffyish, one being very Harry Potter and one being set in the Old West, oddly enough, as well as a setting in space.

Finally, a list of pregen characters and a rules summary are provided.

WHAT WORKS: Pretty book, simple system that’s not trying to do too much, or overcomplicate a simple process. And I absolutely love random charts, so that helps.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: The list of Ranks seems too small, especially if you have a group of five or six players, all taking three Ranks. I’m not sure I’d wanna run a Buffy or Space School setting with this completely unmodified. The last gripe is technical, as the download is nearly 80mb for a 66 page book and my computer actually struggles a bit with it compared to other PDFs, especially of the same size.

CONCLUSION: Very professional presentation for a game that could easily make for a fun diversion, either short campaigns or one-offs. I’d be more inclined to go “Saved By The Bell” with it over “Buffy” or “Brick”, though I’d be tempted to venture more into Saturday Morning Cartoon territory than Saved By The Bell did. In essence, I’m not completely sold on it being quite as versatile as the author says (though there are a lot of folks credited as playtesters, so I may be dead wrong), but I do also think that it’s a lot more versatile than I initially thought. Pick it up if you want something simple and Completely Different from what you’ve probably been running.