Tommy's Take on The Ninja Crusade 2nd Edition

Longtime readers of the blog know I've been a pretty big fan of Third Eye Games' Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusade. A while back, they released a second edition - now just called The Ninja Crusade - and I thought I'd take a peek inside.

BAMFsies, Kickstarters and Patreon, Oh My!

Been a couple of days since I posted, so I thought I'd mention a few things that popped up recently.

THE BAMFSIES

The BAMFsies returned, with superhero experts like Steve Trustrum, Steve Kenson and Jacob Blackmon. Check it out for the only RPG awards that focus specifically on superhero RPGs.

Zenith Comics Patreon



Andrew Collas and Zenith Comics have launched a Patreon for the Zenith Comics Heroic Handbook, which will provide game stats for the HEROIC universe, Zenith Comics' superhero setting.

Pip Core System Kickstarter

Eloy Lasanta and Third Eye Games have launched a Kickstarter for the Pip System Core Book. This will be a core book for the system that powers family games such as Mermaid Adventures and Camp Myth. In addition to the rulebook, they are trying to unlock The Kid's Guide to Monster Hunting. Buy in is as low as $15, and Third Eye Games has a great track record with Kickstarter fulfillment.

Fear Agent & The Goon Kickstarter Double Shot



Pinnacle, makers of Savage Worlds, have launched a pair of licensed RPG Kickstarters, for Dark Horse Comics' Fear Agent and The Goon! The Goon is outperforming Fear Agent just a hair, but both are funded and working on stretch goals. You can go as simple as PDFs, but there are minis and bennies available for both books as well. Written by John Goff (Fear Agent) and Matthew Cutter (The Goon), Pinnacle is bringing their "A-Game", as usual...and Pinnacle's Kickstarter fulfillment track record is impeccable.

I have a slew of reviews I'm working on. No promises on the schedule, but check out all of these worthy endeavours and allocate your gaming funds accordingly.

Keep the dice dizzy!

T.

Three Kickstarters and a Sale

Hey all, just popping in to boost the signal for three Kickstarters and a sale that you need to be aware of (see, it's right there in the title)!

DARKMOOR RPG

The Darkmoor RPG is a zany, over the top, video game inspired RPG that pulls from all kinds of pop culture elements. You define your race and class, and even have to provide all of your own drawings (actually talent hopefully not needed). You beat the cash out of enemies, level up in glowing bursts of light, and create hyper awesome special moves. Paul "Wiggy" Wade-Williams, of Triple Ace Games, has agreed to write a minisupplement for the game, and you can download an Introductory Guide that gives you a better idea of how the game works. The project is already funded, though not by a comfortable margin, with four days left to go, and you can pick up digital, softcover or hardcover rewards.

RIPPERS RESURRECTED

With five days left to go, Rippers Resurrected has demolished its funding goal and all but one of their stretch goals - a print compilation of the adventures unlocked as stretch goals, which will be given free to backers of the print levels. Rippers Resurrected as a sequel to the Rippers setting/plot point campaign (which is included as one of the stretch goals) in which Victorian monster hunters find and defeat monsters and "rip" their body parts and special abilities and add them to their bodies to gain an edge against the monsters...all while trying not to lose their grip on humanity. Pinnacle has a stellar track record on Kickstarter fulfillment, and the PDFs are set for delivery before Halloween so you can run Rippers for your group if you like. You can also add Savage Tales of Horror to your pledge, including my Deadlands adventure in vol. 2!

THE NINJA CRUSADE 2ND EDITION

Hot on the heels of the fulfillment of the Apocalypse Prevention Inc. 2nd Edition Kickstarter, Eloy Lasanta is overhauling Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusade into a slightly less "crunchy" and more cinematic RPG. I have made no bones about what a fan of the first edition I am, and I was both nervous and intrigued by this upcoming 2nd edition. Dispensing with the d20-based Dynamic Gaming System, the 2nd edition will use the Chakra System, a d10 die pool system. Another huge improvement is supposed to be a system for making enemies up on the fly, very useful for a game such as The Ninja Crusade that leans heavily on PC-like foes over a bestiary. The Ninja Crusade still needs over $3,000 to hit their funding goal, but they have 19 days left to hit it. Third Eye Games has a sterling track record for Kickstarter fulfillment as well, so you can pledge with confidence.

NEOPLASTIC PRESS PAY WHAT YOU WANT SALE

In the Halloween spirit, Rafael Chandler - one of the sickest, most twisted RPG authors I know, and I mean that as a compliment - has offered seemingly everything in his back catalog (aside from SlaughterGrid, it seems) as Pay What You Want (including nothing) through Halloween. I, personally, recommend Pandemonio, which is his revision of his Dread and Spite RPGs, but you really don't have anything to lose by taste-testing any of his stuff, do you? And if you like what you read, go back and "buy" the PDFs. That's kinda how Pay What You Want works.

#RPGaDay Day 2: Game You Are Most Pleased To Have Kickstarted

I have Kickstarted some great games: Age Past (which also features some short fiction by me), the Awesome Powers series for BASH which is going to be HUGE when completed, Deadlands Noir, The Sixth Gun RPG, Fate Core (which had a ton of great stuff with it, but I am still most likely to play the Dresden Files version instead)...heck, I backed Feng Shui 2 on a whim, and I think I'm in love. All that said, the game I'm most pleased I backed on Kickstarter is AMP: Year One (and the Year 2 book) for Third Eye Games, which has kept me very busy the last couple of months. There have been a few games that have tried to tackle the approach of "modern day, suddenly people have powers", but this one has easily been my favorite (and runs neck in neck with Wu Xing as my favorite Third Eye Games RPG period).

Tommy's Take on Attack of The Buzz, Evolution of Apex and The White Knight and the AMP Year One Giveaway!

A trifecta of short reviews today, all AMP adventures, and then we announce the AMP giveaway winners! I'm pumped. You have no idea how much I LOVE doing giveaways.

Half-Dozen Heroes: AMP Year One

So I haven't done this in a while, but I decided to do an installment of Half-Dozen Heroes, in which I have created six PCs for AMP: Year One, just to show off the system and options just a little bit.

Sound good? Right-click on the character sheets to blow them up.

Six Questions with Eloy Lasanta

Eloy Lasanta took the time to answer six questions from me about AMP: Year One, AMP: Year Two and Third Eye Games in general. And don't forget, the Year One giveaway is still going on!

I'm not a very good interviewer, but I thought something fairly short and to the point could be nice here.

Tommy's Take on AMP: Year One

As you may or may not have heard, I'm running a giveaway over here for AMP: Year One while AMP: Year Two is on Kickstarter. You should enter that giveaway, unless you already own AMP. If, for some reason, you are on the fence about an RPG I am giving away, I am here to let you know what's inside and my impression of those contents.

AMP: Year One Giveaway and Year Two Kickstarter plus Fabled Environments and Connect Dice!

Todays blog post is about three Kickstarters and a sweet (if I do say so myself) giveaway.

Last year, Third Eye Games released AMP: Year One, their supers game set at the dawn of the rise of people with powers, called AMPs. The inspirations draw heavily from shows like Heroes, movies like Push and, of course, The X-Men (which heroes borrowed liberally from, so that makes sense). This is a setting in which powers are new and different and scary, and some people are embracing the change and others are looking out for themselves. The book, in addition to all the core rules, contained the Year One (2015) timeline for the setting.

Tommy's Take on Camp Myth

Just in time for summer vacation...Camp Myth, an RPG about young mythic creatures at camp! It's also the second RPG based off of the Pip system that powers Mermaid Adventures.

These guys  would eat Jason Vorhees' lunch.

Tommy's Take on API Worldwide: South America

Apocalypse Prevention Inc. has had a release pattern since the core rules came out, alternating between Demon Codices and Regional Sourcebooks. We have previously taken a look at Canada and Europe…now we travel to South America!

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The print book is $20 in black and white and the PDF is $10, with the book coming in around 96 pages. As with previous API Worldwide books, this is designed to cover a region of the world…in this case, South America.

The chapter South America Briefly details some of the challenges the API faces when operating in South America, such as the lack of cell reception, the vast stretches of uncivilized territory and the constant run-ins with organized crime (namely the drug trade, though API tends to avoid them unless the drugs are supernatural in nature). A number of sidebars are included, such as one that details a number of herbs found in The Amazon, complete with their mechanical effects on those using them.

History Lessons covers the past and the present of the API in South America. For instance, the South America division takes in less savory agents due to the limited talent pool, and a lot of problems just never get addressed due to the lack of resources. The leader of the South America API branch is a small woman who can “influence” those she speaks to, which helps her more than a bit.

Chaos vs Chaos details some of the threats the API must deal with, beginning with The Council Most High, an organization of demons who are in a bit of a cold war with API. Another threat is a rogue agent and her organization, the Interdimensional Publicity Agency (IPA), which is trying to expose the supernatural world in direct opposition to API. The Children of God are a group of vampires who are breeding their own psychotic army to take out API and rule the world. The Manchakuy are descendants of the Incans who are hunting the Spanish in South America in revenge for encroachments by the Spanish Conquistadors. The Shadow Trade is dealing out weapons and information to anyone with the money, being both a resource and detriment to API. There’s even a group of human hunters called Skinners that have become aware of the supernatural and hunting demons in the street.

Secrets of the Amazon provides mechanical crunch, such as the effects of heavy rain and mudslides, as well as hyperthermia. The Path of the Mark is introduced, providing animal-based tattoo magic, like Mark of the Monkey which can grant the user a monkey-like screech or Mark of the Serpent which can provide a python-like grip. The Path of Wealth covers both aesthetic bits like looking wealthy, as well as a creepy power called Dirty Money that borders on reality warping as it can force people to remember committing crimes that they did not! New weapons (like automatic shotguns and grenade launchers) are included, as are new toys and cybernetics. New antagonists range from anacondas and jaguars to the frightening Cherufe – a demon made of molten rock.

Four new demons are provided: Gyks (Geeks) are tech-demons. Mohans look kinda like monkeys, but they can transform into serpents and jaguars as well. Thirsts are parasitic starfish that latch onto dead human bodies and reanimate them. Tox are a blind species with venomous skin.

Two adventures are included, the first being a clash with the IPA and a scary demon that controls shadows, while the second ends in a horrifying decision that can alter the world.

WHAT WORKS: This API Worldwide book does a great job conveying the different “feel” that it has over a US-based game, doing an even better job of illustrating that then Europe or Canada did, and feeling more “complete” than the Europe book. The lack of metaplot means that you don’t have to worry about your group’s decision at the end of the second adventure being overruled by anyone.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: None of the four new demon species really jumped out at me the way previous Worldwide demon entries did.

CONCLUSION: If you’re not setting a game in South America, even as a temporary detour, I’m not sure there’s going to be enough here to make you NEED this book. That said, if you want a completely different, almost desperate, feel to your API campaign, South America is just what you’re wanting: The API South America branch is outgunned, overpowered and trying to figure out how to make it all balance. Strong recommendation if you like API and want a change of scenery. If you’re just wanting something to boost your existing game, this probably won’t do the job for you.

Tommy's Take on Wu Xing: Truth and Lies

Wu Xing alternates back and forth between regional sourcebooks and clan sourcebooks. At the beginning of the year we got the latest clan sourcebook Truth and Lies, covering the rival clans The Will of Iron and the Hidden Strands.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: You will need the Wu Xing core rules to use this, which is available in print for $20 and PDF for $10. The print book is in black and white softcover. I got mine via the Truth and Lies Kickstarter a while back.

The first chapter is an in-character “fluff” chapter directed at a new recruit to the Will of Iron, filling him in on the Clan’s purpose and methods. The Will of Iron are hardcore enforcers of the law (or their law, anyway, known as The Tao of Steel, which is broken down law by law in a sidebar, featuring such gems as “Stopping a crime is meaningless if the criminal can commit it again”, “A starving innocent is tragic, but a fat criminal is an outrage” and “To tolerate a crime today weakens the resolve to enforce the law tomorrow”). Other sidebars cover notable members of the clan, including the elderly boogeyman known as Justice’s Blade. Other cool and notable tidbits about The Will of Iron include their hidden prison known as The Repeating Prison, where they imprison criminals who should not be killed but cannot be openly detained, trapping them in casks and forcing them to relive their crimes. The structure of the clan is detailed as well, including a treatise on how The Will of Iron trains. We also get a deeper discussion of The Will of Iron feels about the other clans, though they generally find something wrong with each clan.

The Hidden Strands of Fate are shadowy manipulators to The Will of Iron’s hardcore enforcers. One of the first things we learn about the Hidden Strands is that the new inductees are selected by existing members, who manipulate the destruction of the potentials’ enemies to ensure that they survive to become Hidden Strands. We also find out (from the Hidden Strands, if they are to be believed) that they have manipulated each of the clans to ensure that they have incarnated into their current forms. Greater good and all that, I suppose. So you know, they don’t like the Will of Iron. The chapter ends with a dirty tease about just precisely what role The Hidden Strands play in the Ninja Crusade, though we don’t get to SEE it.

Chapter Three delves into the mechanics. Two new Passions are introduced: Treachery (especially for the Hidden Strands) and Pursuit (generally for the Will of Iron). The Will has new Gifts (like Sentaka, which grants bonuses to hunting criminals) and Drawbacks (like being so Sadistic that they lose control when attacking their target). Strand Gifts and Drawbacks include 100-Year Thread (using silk soaked in the blood of the clan’s enemies for 100 years) and Truthful (which is a huge problem when your whole clan is a bunch of liars). New weapons include Butterfly Swords and the impressive Seven-Branched Sword as well as the terrifying Heaven Splitter.

Two new Fighting Styles are included: Deer Style (which uses sais and is a defensive style that focuses on locking up weapons and breaking them, or striking a crushing blow when attacking off of a Parry or Dodge) and Silkworm Style (using chains and designed to take opponents down quickly). The Way of the Metal provides new Wushu which lets the ninja sense metals, split metal pieces into multiple shards and ultimately summon a magnetic storm of metal. The Way of Spun Threads can increase the strength of threads, create a whirlwind that turns their threads into wicked weapons and even transforming into a wicked warrior protruding threads from their body. The Way of Heaven’s Judgment allows the ninja to attack the guilty with increased accuracy and damage (while causing the opponent to become sloppy), allow them to reduce damage taken (and turn some of it into chi that they can use in return) and even become a walking embodiment of justice.

Three new Celestial Animals are added: Spiders, Peacocks and Silver Dragons, with an example of each, including a Celestial Spider that is hunted by the Will of Iron.

The first of the new clans is called the Sons of Steel, hardnosed warriors that make the Will of Iron look like softies. In fact, the Sons of Steel are completely emotionless. They have the Way of the Iron Mind, which allows them to shut out mind-altering effects, remove emotions from other individuals and, at the height of their power, remove emotion from everyone around them.

The second clan is Veiled Ones, an offshoot of the Hidden Strands. They have the Way of Pulled Strings which allows them to see through the eyes of their puppets, make their puppets look lifelike, and even control victims directly with their wushu.

An adventure is included that involves altering the balance of power in an Empire trade city, but both the Hidden Strands and the Will of Iron insist on including members of their clans on the strike team.

WHAT WORKS: The cool new mechanics are a great addition and some of the setting elements are nice. The options for playing the Will of Iron as “not nice” as well as playing an “honest” Strand of Fate is really intriguing as well.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: The adventure left me a little cold for some reason.

CONCLUSION: If you like Wu Xing, there’s a lot of great setting elements here to play around with (like the Repeating Prison). There are also some swell new rules like the wushu, new styles, new weapons (I do dig the Seven-Branched Sword and Heaven’s Splitter). Unless you’re playing troupe-style, your players won’t need a ton of clan options, but the Veiled Ones or the Sons of Steel could make for great antagonists. Definitely recommended for fans of Wu Xing as there are some cool elements to use even if you don’t have Will of Iron or Hidden Strands PCs in your games.

Tommy's Take on Storm Battalion

One of those “perks of the blog” kinda things: I sometimes get to see things before they are printed. Case in point: Storm Battalion by Brennan Bishop, powered by the Dynamic Gaming System made famous by Third Eye Games’ Apocalypse Prevention Inc., Wu Xing and Part-Time Gods.

The cover, sans trade dress.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: This game is currently on IndieGoGo, trying to muster up its production budget. Also, while I have no direct hand in the production of this RPG, the author and I have a mutual respect for one another, which has in turn led to an NPC in the book being named after me.

Storm Battalion is set in an alternate reality in which mysterious storms have broken out over Canada, diverting the development of the world’s events and continuing to keep the Americans locked in warfare with the British on the Canadian front, while the European Union is making encroachments due to the advancements of the British and the indigenous peoples of Canada are trying to push everyone out of the country that they feel is rightfully theirs. There’s also the freaky monsters that emerge from the storms and the bizarre temporal effects. Nikolas Tesla tried to harness the power of the storms, but was frustrated when his efforts were used to power military weapons, rather than providing peaceful developments.

The storms not only wreak havoc in their wake, but also warp and mutate the world around them, from people to animals to even plant life. The storms also have another horrifying effect: They raise the dead. Some folks come back as essentially mindless zombies, but others come back as The Risen – people with another chance at life, now imbued with superhuman abilities, and often drafted into military units.

It is worth noting that the game is HEAVILY focused on Canada (what with the author being Canadian and all), with extensive descriptions of the state of Canada provided, though the US, British and European militaries are also covered in the opening section of the book, as well as the Kegintagi, the indigenous peoples of Canada who are fighting for their own survival as well.

There is a section on the elements of warfare, like the abuses perpetrated on the civilian populations of battlefronts, as well as looting, resistance and so on. All valuable themes and elements that can be used, either as adventures in their own right, or complications to missions.

Additionally, there are more than four groups jockeying for control, like the 4^th Army (composed entirely of The Risen), Virtues Army (“peacemongers” who commit horrible atrocities while spreading their message) and the Blue 88s (a Jazz band who is secretly a spy ring).

Character creation, like other DGS-based games, is point-based, with players taking a pool of 70 points and creating from there. A few more choices remain before you actually spend points, like Passion (what you fight for, be it Revenge, Love, Code of Honor or what have you), Class (with choices like Medic, Infantry, Scientist and Sentient Teleautomaton, each of which provide their own bonuses, with Teleautomatons having their own Advantages and Disadvantages, too), and Country (with choices being Canadian, British, American, Kegintagi and European Union, each of which lets you purchase an aspect of character creation at half cost). Some of the more and less useful bonuses are balanced somewhat by having higher and lower morale scores accordingly (British have high Morale scores because they are fighting in fear of the Throne, not because they are necessarily braver).

Each character has six base stats (Power, Agility, Vigor, Intellect, Insight and Charm) which are used to derive stats further. Additionally, there are twenty non-combat skills and four combat skills to build your character from, and you select four of them to be directly affected by your Morale score.

If you are familiar with the other DGS games, you’ll notice that a lot of this sounds familiar (as it should). The Advantages and Disadvantages also have a lot of familiar entries, though Storm Battalion does add some nice new ones that fit the military setting, like Army Buddy (which gives you a bonus to skill checks as long as your buddy is in proximity…just hope they don’t die), Booming Voice (allowing you to be heard over firefights on the battlefield) and even Personal Airship, which is expensive but grants you just that: A personal airship, complete with a crew. Teleautomatons can also have advantages like bullet resistant armor, being Lifeless (which means they don’t scare easily or lose morale), or being able to electrocute their own body in order to zap enemies. Disadvantages include having loose screws (which makes firing weapons with recoil harder) and being squeaky (which kinda kills stealth for them).

Due to the Teslapunk nature of the game, the equipment chapter is cooler than usual, with stuff like boots that serve as conductors for anything you need powered to heated bedrolls…to much flashier stuff like earthquake generators, Clappers (electromagnetic gauntlets that allow wearers to climb metallic surfaces), Poppers (which are designed entirely to blow the batteries that other troops tend to wear), as well as a list of abandoned technology like Icarus Vests (essentially helicopter vests) and Stompers (30 foot tall robots that fell out of fashion due to being 30 feet tall).

The Risen have Kewl Powerz granted to them by the Storms known as Twists, and the Twists are generally ranked in three levels, from a basic Kewl Power to something terrifying. Take Bloat for instance. The basic function of the power allows you to twist and unlock your jaw to take a massive bite out of an opponent. At level 1, you can use this to heal. At Level 2, you can use this consumed matter to stretch your limbs. At level 3, you can actually regenerate lost limbs and organs, or even grow NEW ones (eyes in the back of your head, anyone?)!

Claws provides, well, claws…which can be used for melee attacks. At level 1, you can also use them to climb. At level 2, they can now shred armor, and at level 3, they emit a corrosive poison that makes them extra destructive!

There is an Unkillable Twist as well, which functions as it sounds! At Level 1, you can’t die inside a Storm. At Level 2, you cannot be killed period and at Level 3, not only are you unkillable, but you heal VERY quickly.

Two Twists also exist that allow you to influence how the Storms react, or even allow you to generate storms yourself! So, there are some nice, fun options for powers.

Morale is kind of a big thing in this game, as important to it as Yin and Yang are to Wu Xing. As Morale grows, you gain bonuses to skill rolls and at the highest levels, you can even boost the morale of others! At the lower levels you face penalties, and when your morale bottoms out, it can push your character into dark, suicidal places.

Special mention goes to the “object durability” listings, for folks hiding behind cover, which includes the durability rating of dead cows. Not sure how often that’s going to come up in play, or if it’s just the author’s twisted sense of humor, but its inclusion did make me chuckle.

Most of the rules stuff is going to be familiar to folks who play Wu Xing or API, but Storm Battalion does also include an extensive section on Storms and the effect they have on those within them, infecting them with Contamination (which is what Risen use to power their Twists). It’s not really a good idea for non-Risen to enter a storm at all, and it’s not really a good idea for ANYONE to enter a 3^rd level (Reckoning) or 4^th level (Maelstrom) storm.

The bestiary includes human opponents, provided as a base statline that is then modified by the human’s country (like Americans having more Health but basic equipment, and Canadians having a higher chance of being Risen).

Then we get into creepier options, like contaminated humans who are turned into things like Titans (giant powerhouses), Boogiemen (smaller, sneaky stalkers) and Bonesnappers (who hunt in packs and like to break the necks of their opponents). Contaminated animals include Grendels (mutated dogs), Gores (deer, moose or pretty much anything with antlers) and Threshers (mutated bears, as if regular bears weren’t scary enough).

Some introductory adventures are included, the first of which meant to be fairly loose, as it is not set in a specific geographic region, and it doesn’t assume the PCs to belong to a specific military faction, instead providing customization options depending on whether your players want to be Canadian, British, American, EU or Kegintagi. In a nutshell, a Lieutenant of the same army is reporting a growing number of his men going missing, and the PCs are sent to investigate. It’s a good starting point, as it features the horrific monsters in the setting, dealing directly with a Storm as well as running head to head with an enemy force.

The second adventure is more military and less weirdness, with the PCs having to infiltrate and stop an airship that is trying to absolutely demolish one of their bases. The two adventures provide a good cross section of the kinds of adventures Storm Battalion provides.

WHAT WORKS: The book feels complete while having room for expansion if the game proves to be a success. The equipment chapter is one of the funner equipment chapters I’ve read recently, and I really like the Twists. Like the previous games before it, Storm Battalion uses the solid base of the DGS, while making its own relevant tweaks to make the Teslapunk Military feel of the game come through.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: The Canadian-centric setting and viewpoint is jarring to me, because I’m a Typical American that sees things from this perspective first. I like point buy well enough, but I don’t like big point pools, and due to the half-costs of certain aspects this game has, it gets into spending half-points, which I really don’t care for.

CONCLUSION: A worthy addition to the DGS family, Storm Battalion is a gonzo mish-mash in a World That Never Was, with humans simultaneously dealing with the fallout of the Storms while trying to harness their powers, both in the form of new technology and in the Risen. Naming an NPC after me also helps. My gut says that the military aspect would play beautifully in Savage Worlds, but I’m not sure the work required to make the powers fit would be worth it.

If you grumble about American-centric games, or if you like non-standard military or alternate history games, or if you just dig games where you play zombie soldiers with kewl powerz who are waging war with rival nations and freaky storms that spit out stuff that would be at home in Stephen King’s The Mist, you might oughta check this out. I’m planning on putting my money where my mouth is, just debating between PDF, print and print + t-shirt (I just feel like it would be right at home with my API, Wu Xing and Part-Time Gods t-shirts).

Tommy's Take on Mermaid Adventures

It is, apparently, Teach Your Kids To Game Week, so I’m taking the opportunity to review Mermaid Adventures by Third Eye Games, an RPG designed specifically to encourage kids to try roleplaying.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: This review is of the PDF version of the product, available at RPGNow for $9.81, and is meant to help kids take the plunge into roleplaying. Unlike most Third Eye Games products, it doesn’t use the Dynamic Gaming System, instead using the newly designed for this game Pips System. The basics are as follows: You have white dice and black dice (d6s), and you roll White dice (usually equal to a stat) and Black dice (usually equal to the difficulty) and count the successes (4, 5, and 6), subtracting the Black successes from the White successes. If you have at least one success left, you succeed. The game is Player Facing, with the players rolling all the dice.

The world is pretty broad strokes, with a sunshine and happiness Atlantis on guard against the mysterious and threatening Dark Lands.

There are eight species of Merfolk to choose from: Fishfolk (what you commonly think of when you think of a Mermaid), Eelfolk (who tend to be slippery pranksters), Urchinfolk (who like to scrounge for magic relics), Jellyfolk (keen stragegists), Octofolk (sorcerers), Rayfolk (the ninjas of the sea), Sharkfolk (hulking warriors) and Lobsterfolk (craftsmen and inventors).

The underwater world is also inhabited with typical sea life like fish and sharks, as well as the fearsome Kraken.

In character creation, you pick your Merfolk type, which gives you stats for Body, Mind, Charm and Luck, which you can then customize with 5 points. Each Merfolk type also gives you a free Quality. Then you roll on a series of random charts that include things like Fin Color and Hair Style, plus cooler stuff like Extras (maybe your character has a uniform of some sort, or an eye patch, or dynamite) and finally Goals (which give you a bonus White die when pursuing them).

From there, add 4 Qualities (like Writer, Thief or Puzzle Master) including Magical Qualities, which essentially give your character special powers (like Hypno Eyes or Water Bending). You can even spend those points on an animal companion or special items instead.

And that’s the basics of character generation.

The system is pretty simple, as noted above, though you can also apply up to three Qualities to help you with your die rolls (assuming they fit what you are trying to do). If White beats Black by 3 or more, it’s a bigger success, and if it’s 3 or less, it’s a more crushing failure. Ties are resolved as “You succeed, but…”

Combat is interesting, as you can attack with any of the 4 stats, and defend with any of the 4, again applying logic and storytelling to these choices. Whoever loses out takes damage to the stat they were using, which takes up to 4 hits…but if it drops to 0, you have to roll on a chart to see the effects. Body of 0 can put you in a coma or cause an item to break. Mind of 0 can give you migranes or fill  you with overconfidence (which would be BAD if you had just had your Mind dropped to 0). Charm can cause you to burst into tears or lose your voice. Luck can cause you to trip and fall or drain you of magic. And there are options on each chart that can force you to lose a point of the stat permanently, or regain one you’ve lost.

NPCs are abstracted down a bit, with a Hit total instead of Hits for each attribute. A really good selection of NPCs, beasts, monsters and even Top World creatures are provided.

The GMing section is short and sweet, and basically says “Make everything wacky and have fun”, which isn’t bad advice.

A random events chart is provided (why didn’t anyone tell me there were so many random tables?!), for those times when you need inspiration fast. These include Disasters (Underwater fire! Run!), Discoveries (Ooooh, a sunken ship!), Meeting Someone New (a bully is after you!), Magical (Body swap!), and Fun (The carnival is here!).

Sample NPCs are included, and I’m guessing these are Kickstarter backers and the children thereof, as much of the art looks a lot like redrawn photos in the face,

Five sample adventures are included. The first is a basic rescue attempt, complicated by the fact that the merfolk are under orders not to be seen by the surface folk, who are currently in need of rescuing. The second is a royal heist with a creepy twist involving undead and sea witches. The third is the Undersea Olympics. The fourth involves a child gone missing and the PCs attempting to save them. The fifth leaves the PCs stuck on the surface world as humans in a race against time to return to Atlantis.

An index is included, followed by a list of Kickstarter backers and a character sheet.

WHAT WORKS: The system looks like it would do a find job of handling any type of conflict, not just slugfests, and the charts for stats dropping to 0 are inspired. The amount of Merfolk is similarly impressive, and it would be easy to increase the available Qualities based off of the examples given. The bestiary is also pretty big, and the five adventures cover a broad range of stuff, giving you some good ideas as to the range of the game.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: Despite not being marketed towards girls specifically, Mermaid Adventures has registered exactly zero interest from MY kid, in no small part because of the “Mermaids”.

CONCLUSION: Obviously, I’m a huge fan of Third Eye Games, but I was fairly underwhelmed when I heard the announcement for this game. After reading it, I may put the overall quality of the book ahead of Part-Time Gods and behind API and Wu Xing. The system is simple but has some nice wiggle room, and I’m glad to see it’s living on in another kid-friendly RPG, Camp Myth (which, thematically, may be more up my kid’s speed). Don’t judge the book by its surface…it has some impressive depths to it. 

Camp Myth, Land of Fire and War of the Dead Kickstarters

It's holiday crunch time, and I'm dealing with electronics failures around the house, as well as missing work due to holidays, plus my kid's birthday just passing and Christmas around the corner, so I'm having to back off of supporting any Kickstarters financially for the time being, much as I'd like to.

That said, I can sure point them out to you, so here's a trifecta of Kickstarters I feel deserve your support:

Camp Myth by Third Eye Games

Using the same system found in Mermaid Adventures, Camp Myth seems to be a good alternate for those guys who were looking for an RPG for their kids, but found Mermaid Adventures to be a hard sell. In Camp Myth, you play a mythical creature attempting to score merit badges by doing things like Kraken Fishing, Golem Building and Unicorn Taming. Honestly, it sounds really cool. With 9 days left to go, it still needs nearly $2,000, however.

$15 gets you the book in PDF, along with the Phoenix Watching e-book, while $35 gets you the print version.

Hellfrost: Land of Fire by Triple Ace Games

Honestly, I'm hard pressed to find a better example of a small press publisher with a track record for both content and quality than Paul Wade-Williams (better known as Wiggy), but Land of Fire, the Arabian Nights expansion for the amazing Savage Worlds setting Hellfrost, is still about 4,000 lbs pounds shy of its goal with 14 days left. Hellfrost, like most of Triple Ace Games' material, is pretty amazing and I have little doubt that Wiggy would work his magic again with Arabian Nights.

7 pounds (about $11, I think) will get you the PDF, while you can get the PDF and an adventure for 16 pounds or the print version for 38 pounds.

World of the Dead by Daring Entertainment

Okay, I want to see this come to fruition for a few reasons...1) I think it'll be great and 2) there's a fair chance I'll be working on the book (I AM listed on the Kickstarter team). World of the Dead is the full blown setting book and Plot Point Campaign follow up to War of the Dead, the expansive, 52 week zombie apocalypse adventure saga. World of the Dead is over halfway funded with 27 days left to go.

$12 scores you World of the Dead in PDF, $25 gets you that and an exclusive adventure, $40 gets you the hardcover and an alternate adventure opening and $50 is the extravaganza, getting you World of the Dead, War of the Dead and The Paper Dead...and if you go to $60, you can complete a trilogy with that exclusive adventure from the $25 level. It's pretty much the perfect page to feed your Walking Dead obsession.

Apocalypse Prevention, Inc Savage Worlds Released

Of course, many of you know that I'm a fan of both Apocalypse Prevention Inc and Savage Worlds, so this should be perfect review material, right?

Normally, I would agree. In this case, I can't review it because I kinda pitched in a bit, especially with the monster conversions. This is a pretty complete book combining material from the original books that came before it, all geared for providing Fast, Furious Fun for your Savage Worlds groups.

You can read my original API review here, to get a feel for the setting, then run off and buy the book in PDF format for $9.99.

New Edges, new races, new monsters and a cool monster-hunting setting. What more do you want?

tremulus and Truth and Lies

To follow up on the Exploding Aces Kickstarter I blogged about the other day, I have two more to mention:

WU XING: TRUTH & LIES

Obviously, I'm a big fan of Wu Xing. I've mentioned this a lot. I feel bad that I didn't mention this Kickstarter before, because, Wu Xing.

Anywho, this book covers the Will of Iron and Hidden Strands of Fate clans, two major Wu Xing clans (the former acting as a force for justice while the latter manipulates everything they can from behind the scenes). I have yet to be disappointed with a Wu Xing purchase (or any purchase from Third Eye Games, and I own everything except Mermaid Adventures...I even own t-shirts for each game line), and I have backed this at the $25 level in order to score a print and PDF copy.

It only has 13 hours to go and they are trying to score $400 more, at which point a Wu Xing combat tracker app will be released to backers for free, as well as a new clan.

tremulus

I left this uncapitalized because the word is supposed to be uncapitalized, and I didn't want a lower case "i" and a capitalized rest of the word.

Anyway, this Kickstarter is for a storytelling game by Reality Blurs, based off of the Apocalypse World engine with a Lovecraftian twist. I'm torn between the PDF and print levels, but the anticipation is killing me enough that I've acquired Monsterhearts (which uses the same engine) for review.

Read a playtest right here on the blog.

With 24 days left to go, it has been funded many times over and just keeps unlocking stretch goal after stretch goal.

Kickstarters: Mermaid Adventures and Kaiser's Gate

Hey guys...I just wanted to toss a couple of newsbits out there.

My friends Eloy Lasanta and Mike Lafferty have each written a couple of books that are up on Kickstarter right now. First up: Mermaid Adventures by Third Eye Games.

MERMAID ADVENTURES

Mermaid Adventures is geared towards bringing kids into role-playing, a notable digression from Third Eye Games' normal works. There are four races of Merfolk - Fishfolk (classic mermaids), Eelfolk (slippery pranksters), Octofolk (who are apparently quite magical) and Sharkfolk (the big bruisers). As the image shows, this isn't all undersea tea parties. Eloy has been revealing details of the system over at the Kickstarter page, so pop on over and check it out. The Kickstarter is a little less than halfway to the goal with 24 days left to go, and some perfectly good reward levels: The PDF is $10, the print is $20, you can get a t-shirt at $45 and so on. Eloy says on the Kickstarter page that he's gearing the game for anyone from ages 8 to adult.

KAISER'S GATE

This one is actually already funded, though you have time (32 days) to jump on board and help push it to its stretch goals. Co-written by Mike Lafferty and published by Battlefield Press, Kaiser's Gate is a Weird Wars-ish World War I setting for Savage Worlds, in which the Tunguska event has re-awoken magic in the world. Just a few blurbs from the Kickstarter page:

* Sorcerers of the German Imperial Army - fueled by the magic of red dragons - bulldoze Allied defenses and push deep into France.
* Heroic griffin riders of the French Air Service fight to free their nation from the daily terror of zeppelin bombing raids
* British golems squads fight alongside tanks to turn the tide of battle against the Central Powers
* In the darkest days of the war, in desperation, the Kaiser makes a Faustian bargain that unleashes an invasion of legions of creatures from Faerie onto the European continent.


$10 gets you a PDF (or ePub or Mobi), $25 gets you a physical book, and some bonus art opportunities are available. The Kickstarter is less than $50 away from unlocking a soundtrack as well! I actually have a copy of the manuscript in hand, and a full review will be coming shortly, so stay tuned for that!

The RPGNow GM's Day Sale

A little late to the party, as I meant to post this a couple of days ago, but RPGNow is running their Annual GM's Day Sale, with a crap ton of publishers discounting their items 25% (or more, in the case of Adamant Entertainment).

This is a fantastic opportunity to pick up a number of great titles on sale, like Savage Worlds Deluxe Edition, Marvel Heroic Roleplaying, Wu Xing, Savage Suzerain, Realms of Cthulhu and over 8,000 more titles. In the interest of full disclosure, using links off of this site to buy your products nets me store credit...which I then use to buy products that I turn around and review on this site for your reading enjoyment.

So take advantage of the sale!

Some Early February Announcements

THE MOST UNREAD BLOG EVER GETS READ

Yep...last month was the highest traffic month in my blog's history, shattering the previous record of last January's traffic. This was due in no small part to Tommy's Top Six and the Birthday Blog Giveaway, which received a lot of extra publicity this year. For that, I thank you, and I hope at least some of you come back even when I'm not giving away stuff.

FEB-WU-ARY IS BACK

Third Eye Games has resurrected Feb-Wu-Ary, a contest in which you can win a free copy of Wu Xing every day this month. Pop on over to their website to learn all about your ways to win because Wu Xing is WELL worth it.

A PAIR OF KICKSTARTERS

Mike Lafferty, the guy behind some of my favorite ICONS material by Vigilance Press, and the host of the Bamf Podcast, has launched a new venture called Fainting Goat Games, and they are running a Kickstarter to provide a series of adventures for ICONS. Normally, I would say that adventure support isn't something ICONS really needs MORE of, but Mike wrote Wargames, so check out Improbable Tales on Kickstarter.

Also, the Rogue Mage Kickstarter is underway, and just over halfway to their goal. Rogue Mage is a post-apocalyptic (or very apocalyptic) fantasy RPG by Christian Stiles, Faith Hunter, Raven Blackwell and Spike Y Jones, based on Faith Hunter's novel series. The game system is based off of the Mutants & Masterminds second edition rules, tweaked a bit for the fantasy feel. I'm expecting a review copy any time now, and I intend on providing this blog's readers with one of the first looks at the game even before the Kickstarter is completed. Check out the Rogue Mage Kickstarter page to see the incentives available for those who donate.