Tommy's Take on High Strung

This is one of those that I was dying to read when it was announced: An RPG about playing members of a rock band, by the guy that made an RPG about playing members of a baseball team.

#RPGaDay Day 11: Weirdest RPG I Own

There are a few obvious choices I could have gone with, like Over the Edge, Unknown Armies or (the game I about posted) Low Life...but Tools of Ignorance has to take the cake. Why? For starters, a lot of people don't even know what the reference is. And two: It's a roleplaying game about a baseball team. Yeah, Low Life lets you play as humanoid cockroaches and sentient cupcakes, but how many RPGs are built to let you relive your own "Major League"?

And don't get me wrong...I hate baseball and I would still gladly play this game for the sheer novelty. I kinda wish a basketball version existed.

Tommy's Top Six of 2013 and Birthday Blog Giveaway

As you will recall, my blog very nearly didn't make it through the year after a horrible computer crash last January. Luckily, I was able to acquire a new computer and return to work. Unfortunately, I hit a record low on blog output, though I did have six reviews that particularly stood out to me, and - as is tradition - the first day of the year (and the fourth anniversary of my blog's founding) will be used to recognize those six games.

First, the rules: The Top Six can only feature one product per publisher. Second, my primary exposure, as well as the resulting review, had to have happened over the last year (from December 1st to December 1st). So if I had a product sitting on a my bookshelf that I thumbed through once, put down, and finally realized how great it was later? It qualifies. Actual publication date is irrelevant to me. Finally, I had to have had no involvement in the production of the book.

For those new to the party:
Tommy's Top Six 2010
Tommy's Top Six 2011
Tommy's Top Six 2012

And now, the Top Six, in alphabetical order.

Dragon Age Set 1 (Green Ronin)

Why You should Buy It: A great introductory RPG, I used it for exactly that purpose earlier this year, shortly after watching the now infamous Dragon Age Tabletop video. The boxed set is affordable, with sweet production values and a fast character creation system that provides a good amount of variety in character creation, as well as a cool stunt system that people mention trying to adapt to Savage Worlds about every couple of months. It gets even better when you add in Set 2 (the player aids are a thing of beauty when combined with the stunt system), and set 3 is presumably out later this year (it's been in open playtest for a while, and I kind of imagine that it is being set up now to be released at or near Dragon Age III, for synergy's sake). A fun fantasy RPG with the cinematic swings you get from later versions of D&D, combined with the simplicity on par with Advanced D&D. And if you find that it's been simplified a tad too much, the wonderful blog Dragon Age Oracle has you covered with the Esoterica of Thedas.

Dresden Files: Your Story (Evil Hat Games)

Why You Should Buy It: It is the first Fate RPG that ever SCREAMED "Run me!". This was helped out, noOur World in order to use Your Story, especially if you are going to decouple your game from Dresden's Chicago, though it certainly helps.
doubt, by the fact that I discovered the Dresden Files books last summer and completely and totally fell in love. The magic system covers all of the cool and fun intricacies of Dresden Files magic, and having knowledge of Dresden Files to compare the Fate writeups with did a wonderful job of helping me wrap my head around the intricacies of Fate, which has led to me taking a second look at other Fate books I had dismissed in the past, as well as looking closer at new Fate books. The setting is a great Kitchen Sink urban fantasy setting and, since it's all told from Harry Dresden's perspective, there's a lot of room for flexibility (due to unreliable narrator and lack of knowledge and so forth). The book itself is a thing of beauty, with great production values and the best "informal" writing I've read in an RPG since the Buffy and Angel RPGs. Despite being a two book series, you don't NEED

Heaven's Shadow (Bedroom Wall Press)

Why You Should Buy It: Easily the most unique product in my Top Six, Heaven's Shadow is lean, mean, self-published RPG using a streamlined version of the D6 system to power a game about assassins for Heaven who are waging a war against the demonic Nephilim who are walking amongst humanity. The price has gone up since the game's release, but I still recommend this without reservation...how many RPGs let you play assassins working for God, planning out assassinations against demonic entities wearing human faces...oh, and you can use Faith to enact Miracles (as simple as vanishing from sight, to plunging a building into darkness, to raising the dead). It's cool. Yeah, it's 84 pages, but it's no frills at all, meaning it is all gameable content. As a guy who ISN'T a huge fan of the D6 system (I generally find it to be overrated), this book makes great use of Mini Six. The first two releases on this list are fairly big name items, but products like Heaven's Shadow are a big part of the reason why I keep doing this blog: To make sure you know about the games you are missing out on.

Monster of the Week (Generic Games)

Why You Should Buy It: I have never played or read Apocalypse World, but it brought us tremulus, which
has been a huge hit for me and my group. Monster of the Week is another fruit off of the Apocalypse World tree, emulating things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellboy, Blade, Supernatural and even X-Files, all in the Apocalypse World "fiction first" style. The Playbooks cover a LOT of ground in the genre, especially with the additional Playbooks that have been released. We've had fun with the World Engine thus far, and Monster of the Week is a pretty kick-ass rendition of that Engine, geared towards...um...kicking monster butt. It can be set up for one shots, but where it is really going to shine is in a campaign, as your Monster Hunter's Luck runs out and his story comes to an end (maybe he hangs up his Hellfire Shotgun once and for all...or maybe he dives through a portal to another dimension in order to seal it from the other side). Can't you just feel the drama now?

Sentinels of the Multiverse (Greater Than Games)

Why You Should Buy It: I wrestled long and hard with this one, because it would be the first non-RPG to make this list, but at the end of the day, I would be lying if I didn't put it on here. Why? Because I have logged a ton of hours with this game, I have snapped up the expansions for it, and I will continue to log tons of hours with this game. It is the most fun I have ever had with a card game. It is not uncommon for a rough day at work to be followed up by Netflix and Sentinels of the Multiverse for a little combo I like to call "Geek Solitaire". I only bought it because of the hoopla surrounding the DC Deck Building Game and Marvel Legendary, both of which are fine games in their own right, but both of which pale next to Sentinels of the Multiverse. Just a great, great game, and the expansions (Rook City, Infernal Relics and Shattered Timelines) just make it better. I'm not saying it's not possible to make a better superhero board or card game, but I am saying I haven't seen it yet, and Greater Than Games set a pretty big bar to clear.

Volant - Kingdoms of Air and Stone (Flying Mice Games)

Why You Should Buy It: Like fantasy, but you're tired of the same old, same old? Volant has a solution for
you: It places the entire setting on flying stone kingdoms, with characters riding airships and giant birds as their primary methods of transportation. It gets even better as dogfighting rules are included (not surprising, given some of the author's previous games), and no less than four resolution methods are provided, from gritty to cinematic to turning the game into one of player negotiation. It's not really an "out of the box" game, but Volant includes tools for you to customize your own Volant setting for your adventures. It's the best StarCluster game yet, both in concept and implementation, in my opinion, and it's well worth checking out, especially for "Do It Yourself" gamers and folks who like to play around with fun subsystems (like Volant's Alchemy system).


As is customary, I like to give all of you present for my blog's birthday...as we start the fifth year of this blog's existence, let's get on with the Birthday Blog Giveaway!

Five of the selected publishers were kind enough and generous enough to allow me to offer PDFs of their books as prizes this year, as a way to let me once again say THANK YOU to everyone reading this blog!

From now until 12:01 AM, January 15th, if you email me (tommybrownell(a)gmail(dot)com) with the subject "2013 Top Six" and your choice, in order, of the products you would like to win, you will be entered in the random drawing I'll hold. The first person selected will win their first choice, the second person selected will then win THEIR first choice, unless that choice has already been taken, and so on until all four prizes have been awarded. The winners will be notified via email, and the publishers will be contacted to deliver the electronic prizes to the winners! Here are the prizes:

- One (1) PDF of Dragon Age Set 1
- One (1) PDF of Dresden Files: Our Story.
- One (1) PDF of Heaven's Shadow
- One (1) PDF of Monster of the Week
- One (1) PDF of Volant - Kingdoms of Air and Stone

Good luck to anyone that enters, thank you to the wonderful publishers for providing prize support, and thanks again to everyone that is still reading this blog. Hopefully 2014 is a much bigger and better year for The Most Unread Blog on the Internet. Ever.!

Tommy

Tommy's Take on Volant - Kingdoms of Air and Stone

Not really interested in yet *another* cookie cutter fantasy game? Well, clash bowley may just have a solution for that, with Volant: Kingdoms of Air and Stone.

Do flying cities and giant bird mounts interest you?

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Volant is available at RPGNow for $12.00. This review is of the PDF version, provided by the publisher for review purposes. Purchases made through the affiliate link I provided do provide this site with store credit at OneBookShelf.

That stuff out of the way, what IS Volant? Volant is a fantasy RPG set in a world after a magical catastrophe has sucked all the magic out of humanity and placed it into the stones, causing mountains to fly above the world. This is where the bulk of humanity now lives, traveling via giant birds and airships. Down on the blasted surface are the more primitive members of humanity, as well as the monsters moving across the surface. Magical effects as still possible, via Alchemy (as the opening fiction nearly explains in a nice and tidy piece).

Players of other games by clash will recognize a lot of what’s here on the structural level. For instance, the first thing you do is create the association your PCs belong to. They can be a religious sect, a group of assassins, treasure hunters, knights, military, mercenaries…whatever. Just as long as they belong to the same group, giving them a reason to share goals at the beginning of the game. The group has starting capital with which to purchase a headquarters, assets and so on, as is relevant to their association’s purpose.

Once the association is complete, then comes character generation. You pick a starting age, and the older you are, the more skills and experience you have…but as you get older, your attributes decrease. You have six attributes, assigned either an array of scores or determined by a pool of 45 points. PCs have a number of Template Points based off of their age to chart their professional development. The first two templates (Background and Apprenticeship) are free, the rest have point costs based on the benefits provided. You might have been a Street Rat who was taken in as an Apprentice Scholar. From there, they have become a budding Alchemist and so on. Each step gives skills and perks, based on your professional choices.

Several handy template tree charts are provided to guide one through the common career paths.

Characters are further defined by Traits, which are a mechanical definition of a character’s personality. If a trait is relevant to an action, you can use it to add points to your skill roll, while traits that would impact your action negatively can be used to gain points back. Edges are kind of like Traits, but not necessarily linked to personality.

Characters also gain Maneuvers, which are impressive tricks that they can utilize in gameplay, both in and out of combat. Shield Maneuvers let you stun the opponent with a quick shield strike. Sword maneuvers let you take small penalties on your attack roll, saving them up for one massive hit a few rounds later. Staff maneuvers allow you to do things like pole vault over the opponent for a free attack. Team maneuvers can let you apply “shock and awe” tactics to the opponent. You get the idea. While most of the maneuvers are combat-focused, there are a few social maneuvers as well. A lack of aerial-focused maneuvers seemed like an oversight, given the setting, though many of these maneuvers will be usable in the air as well as on the ground. I also couldn’t pin down whether or not a turn and a round are used interchangeably, but if not, then two of the pole fighting maneuvers have the issue of one being noticeably better than the other, for the same cost.

The StarCluster system has evolved in an interesting manner, as you can take the same basic stats and set-up, but choose your resolution mechanic from StarNova (the grittier option), StarZero (which produces more average results), StarPool (which has powered most of the StarCluster games I’ve reviewed) and StarWorm (which has more player negotiation, stake setting, that kind of thing). StarPool and StarWorm use d20 pools, while StarZero uses a d6-d6 (ala ICONS), and StarNova uses exploding d6s. With four different, varying, resolution mechanics, you have a lot of room to play around and find your comfort zone.

The equipment chapter has several tables for modifiers for weapon craftsmanship and materials which is neat…but doesn’t seem to have an impact other than cost. There is a section talking about station and how “clothes make the man”, so one can assume it also applies to weapons, but it does seem off to put that detail in there without any real follow-up.

The Alchemy section is simple but cool, with different ingredients giving you different Edges. This includes both plants (Cold Root giving you Ice and Cool Edges, or Lion Weed giving you Courage and Hope Edges) and Creatures (like Spider-Kin Venom giving Climb and Still Edges).

The Skylands creation chapter is similarly impressive, with lots of charts (with random roll distributions) to guide you in the creation of Skylands, from their government structure to the resources they produce and an optional set of charts to create a caste system if you choose.

Religion is also similarly defined by the GM. The game makes no assumptions regarding the number of deities or how they react to their followers.

Airships and birds are a big deal, each with their own creation section. My favorite of the two is the bird creation, as you can select their best senses, their reaction to aggression, their intelligence and so on. And, well, the idea of playing a guy riding around on a giant bird just sounds awesome to me.

With the Aerial Combat chapter, I think I can see why Aerial Maneuvers weren’t present earlier on, as there’s already a TON of options to keep track of, tactics-wise, when birds are fighting in the air. Generally, the riders are trying to get behind their opponents, and one need not necessarily kill their opponent or its mount, as birds face severe consequences from failing Vigor rolls in combat.

The chapter on the surface world follows the pattern of the rest of the book, giving you tools and options to create your surface world, rather than telling you just how it is. Wizard ruins on the surface often still have ambient energy that can warp and transform seeds or eggs, which some individuals will pay a pretty penny for.

There is no bestiary, per se, but there is another set of charts that one can use to construct their own.

The book does provide examples of character creation, monster creation, religion creation, nation creation, airship creation and so on. An aerial combat cheat sheet/picture guide and an index round out the book (although, oddly, the page numbers for the index are 1-6, despite being at the back of the book).

WHAT WORKS: I love the setting concept. I love the idea of playing an adventurer riding around on a giant bird. It’s just cool. I really appreciate all of the tools provided to make Volant your own, right down to the resolution mechanic used. All of the various examples at the back of the book are certainly appreciated, and the maneuvers are a cool feature to provide mechanical support for more versatile combat.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: The extra cost tables on weapon creation just seem out of place because, unless I missed it, there is no real benefit to paying more for better quality weapons…so why would you? As much as I love tools and random charts, I do also like having ready-made material to work with, so I would have appreciated a larger bestiary.

CONCLUSION: This one “sings” to me more than clash’s other games do, because of the fantasy element over the alternate history element. That and it’s just overloaded with cool factor. Also, I can’t NOT love this many random charts in one book.  This is definitely not your average fantasy game. There’s no dwarves, elves, gnomes or halflings, or orcs, goblins and drow here. That said, if you’re wanting something you can just jump right into and run, that’s not going to work unless you’re adept at running with the random results. That’s not a knock on the game, just an observation. My favorite iteration of StarCluster yet.

Tommy's Take on Outremer

clash bowley likes alternate history in his RPGs…so it should be no surprise that Outremer, the third in the Blood Games series, is another alternate history RPG.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The PDF (available at RPGNow for $10) is 298 pages and set in an alternate history in which the 11 Crusader States referred to collectively as Outremer have survived into the 16^th Century. It is based off of the Starpool system, which I describe in greater detail in my reviews of Blood Games II and On Her Majesty’s Arcane Service. Essentially, you roll a pool of d20s (equal to your rank in a skill plus one) and every die that comes up under a target number counts as a success.

Outremer uses the Association rules from On Her Majesty’s Arcane Service as well, thus providing players with a ready made excuse to be hanging out together, again providing robust options for PC groups. I’m not a big history buff, so the detail and research that clash puts into the book is very helpful, starting with the extensive side-by-side timelines, showing just where history diverged from real history at each step.

The Lifepath style of character creation again returns, with character options very similar to On Her Majesty’s Arcane Service by my reading. Half-Angels and Immortals return as character options, but are also joined by Half-Djinn, which are new to Outremer. Half-Djinn can control the elements, fly and assume a gaseous form. Path characters like Esotericists, Magus and Minstrels also return, but are joined by Crusaders (who can inspire others, heal them and make miracles happen), Kabbalists (the “rational mystics), Sorcerers (who summon and control djinns), Mechanists (who use Djinn animals to create complex machines), Oracles (prophets) and Dervishes, who are not unlike Muslim Paladins.

You can also create Quasi-Path characters like Snake Charmers, Fortune Tellers, Healers, Mystics and Faqih.

The already robust skill list from On Her Majesty’s Arcane Service only serves to get larger here, taking up a full five pages, though not all skills from OHMAS are present.

The religion chapter is expanded here, covering more than just sects of Christianity, adding sections on Judaism and Islam, as well as further details for the various Christian Churches. This is welcome material. This chapter also adds Relics and Artifacts, which are interesting in that they require individuals to believe in them before they can be used on them, for good or for ill.

An adventure generator is included, using d20 rolls to provide a rumor, a place and what is behind the rumor, as well as the expected reward. Given that I love random tables…

The NPCs chapter provides lists of not only NPC templates and guidelines, but random tables to roll on to generate your NPCs quickly.

As in other Blood Games releases, characters use MAG points to keep effects in place, with Magi and Minstrels having their own exceptions to the rules.

The creatures chapter features a lot of reprinted beasts from OHMAS, as well as some new ones, like the Manticores, Rocs and Sandwalkers. Djinn, which had a small statblock in OHMAS, get a completely blown up entry here, much like Fairies did in OHMAS and Vampires did in Blood Games II.

The section on Outremer covers a lot of ground, including the wildly diverse peoples. Each of the nations gets a close-up map, plus fact sheets that show the ancestry of the region, the traits prevalent to the country and a list of their notable relations with other nations. Interestingly, the Nations have Traits not unlike the player characters do, categorized into Political and Social categories.

Slews of optional rules are provided, from different ways to organize the team to variations on shields to using favors as currency. Random charts are provided for various cultural names, as well as appendices discussing cuisine and Muslim Titles.

WHAT WORKS: I really do love clash’s layout, with the helpful details in sidebars. The extra detail being present in the book so I don’t have to look for it is also great. I’m a big fan of both Lifepaths and random charts.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: If you already own On Her Majesty’s Arcane Service, a lot of that book is present in this one, including the art. An unfortunate side effect of making a game completely self contained. For me, personally, the Middle East – past or present – isn’t a section of the world that holds a ton of interest for me as a gamer.

CONCLUSION: For me, personally, Outremer falls short against the previous Blood Games releases due to the focus of the game: As mentioned, I have no interest in playing or GMing in a Middle Eastern setting, historical or not. That said, the material in this book is completely compatible with the other two games if you have the extra to spend. Not a bad game, just not my cup of tea, setting-wise. Might just scratch your itch for fantastic historical horror set in the Middle East, though.

Tommy's Take on Blood Games II

Another review from my pre-blogging days...back when I ever thought I'd get to have a Buffy game...clash bowley's Blood Games II, a modern horror game with its own setting, using a similar system and set-up to his alternate history RPG On Her Majesty's Arcane Service. Enjoy!

One thing I’ve discovered from the reviews I have submitted to RPG.net for Horror Week is that I don’t like the “capsule review” approach, at least, not for me. Unfortunately, with outside responsibilities, I haven’t had the time to play or run anything in some time.

I mention this, because I think that Blood Games II is a game that probably needs to be played and not just read, and I just haven’t had the time to do that. BGII falls firmly in the “modern horror” genre, which has been tackled by a great many games, including the World of Darkness, Witchcraft, Chill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer & Angel, Nightlife and I’m sure there’s more that I’m missing.

This review is based on the PDF version of the game, available from RPG Now, but BGII is also available in print through Lulu. The PDF is functional and searchable, with bookmarks and comment features available. Now, I don’t have a lot of experience with commercial PDFs these days, but I do hear that people quite like things like that.

The Setting

Waaaaay back in the day, humankind was prey for all manner of supernatural creatures including, but not limited to, vampires. Enoch, a being known by many names, including Thoth, Quetzalecouatl and Prometheus, brought humans knowledge, religion and magic. Humans took what he gave them, beat back the darkness, and became the dominant force on Earth.

As humans moved further along the path of progress, and became less reliant on magic, a nearly palpable force called The Nullity developed. The Nullity, essentially an absence of magic (good or evil), spread across the world. Shortly before World War I, a pack of demons still smarting over the drubbing humans had given the supernatural emerged, manipulating events and bringing about the first World War. The atrocities of World War began to open the gates for more and more supernatural beings to emerge, and the horrors of World War II only continued that. The world was on a slippery slope, and the Creatures of the Night slipped back into their playground. As the Nullity weakened, interest and study in fringe religions grew as well, and humanity began to rediscover the ways that were originally used to counter the darkness millennia ago. The religious forces of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Pagan belief are now charged with making war on the darkness, but making it quietly: If they draw it out into the open, belief in the supernatural will grow, and the Nullity will further weaken, thus eliminating the greatest defense mankind has against the Darkness.

Not a bad hook. Similar enough to other similar settings, but it does provide a nice rationale for keeping things on the down low. If the PCs bring too much attention to things, it escalates them dramatically.

Party Structure

A handy section on party structure follows, detailing the various character types available in the game in the context of a PC party. The game assumes you will largely be using supernaturally empowered characters, but does allow for “monsters” like vampires (who are never good, just sometimes “not evil”), cambions (magically cursed half-vampires who are in danger of falling), half-angels and immortals, as well as just normal humans who have seen things they can’t explain away. Options even allow for a party full of vampires intent on following their own agenda that may include conflict with hunters on the Path of Light.

Character Creation

BGII takes a stance on character creation/advancement that I’m not a fan of, in theory: As you age, skills and wealth improve, while attributes decrease. And aging is unavoidable, as the game assumes that each adventure is a year in the life, even if said adventure doesn’t take up a whole year in game time. For this reason, everyone is strongly encouraged to make their characters approximately the same age, so that they’ll age together, wealth increasing together, skills increasing together, attributes decreasing together, etc. Since I’ve yet to see it in play, I have no idea where its too unbalancing to have, say, a 40 year old and a 17 year old in the same group (ala Buffy and Giles, for instance), but if it does turn into a huge balance issue, that is kinda disappointing. The weirdest quirk of this is the whole idea of, say, running an adventure, aging everyone a few years and skipping ahead, then running the next. That may actually work in practice, it just seems like it would probably be one of the harder sells for the people I usually game with.

Character creation has two methods: Directed and template. With directed, you’re given a pool of points (44) that you divide up between strength, coordination, agility, endurance, and charisma, maxing out at 15, then divide 180 points between IQ, Magic and Lifestyle. A chart is used to show what your actual Magic attribute, IQ score and Lifestyle are, based off of your allocation. From there, its largely a lifepath, starting from age 10 and moving to whatever age your GM told you to make your character. You start with middle school, move to high school, on to college (if you choose) and so forth, gaining skills (and possibly attribute bonuses) as you go. Once schooling is concluded, you move on to BGII’s career system until you reach your start date. At age 34, physical deterioration begins.

The Template method supplies a series of templates that show the schooling progression and skill selection, up to age 21 and geared for specific roles or professions, such as Actor, Priest, Cop, Drifter, etc. The list of professions is pretty extensive, but guidelines are included for making your own, in case you decide that its not inclusive enough for your needs.

I generally like Lifepaths, so I have no hate there…but I’m not sure about the “everyone’s the same age, and there’s one adventure a year”, but I’m willing to be convinced. However, ripping it out also requires implanting a whole new advancement system, as that’s how advancement is handled.

Player Options

Here we learn about Half-Angels and Immortals. Half-Angels are descendants of Angels and not immediate offspring, and have a variety of special skills and powers, such as wings, the ability to create flaming weapons from thin air, telepathy, invisibility and more. Half-Angels also have a unique trait: they are always born twins, one with light wings and one with dark. They are also meant to be so rare that if two players want to be half-angels, the rulebook says that they are to be twins, as a half-angel rarely ever meets another that isn’t their twin.

Immortals are people who have been killed, and then lived again. They cannot be killed, but they don’t have any other special abilities, save one: they can never gain any more skill points, but they can exchange ranks in skills at a one for one basis.

Characters who are half-angels or immortal cannot have a Path, which are discussed below. There doesn’t seem to be any inherent balance here, as half-angels are chock full of powers, and no real drawback other than they can’t have a Path. Immortals, well, they just can’t die…a bonus that’s actually kind of negated by the game system, as its touted within the book as being a system that’s rarely lethal. However, immortals are presumably immune to the effects of aging, at least, so one person could, theoretically, play the same character alongside generations of another player’s characters.

Paths

Hunters are holy warriors imbued with strength enough to combat a vampire by either a Coven or a Magus. They get stat boosts plus a pool of Luck points that they can use to tip fate their way in hairy situations. All chosen hunters most be of a strong physical AND moral fiber.

Cambions are people who have agreed to be turned into half-vampires by a Coven, usually for the purpose of revenge on a supernatural creature. They are almost a parody of Hunters, abominations originally created by Dark Circles, but the forces of Light learned how to create Cambions while still living their humanity (on some level, at least) intact. Cambions have several of the powers of vampires, but are also filled with a vampiric bloodlust that can quickly lead them on the path to damnation if they slip.

Witches are Wiccan practitioners of Witchcraft, and are also responsible for the creation of Hunters. They can also make charms, cast spells and divine the future.

Esotericists are the bookworm mages, using ancient texts to cast their spells.

The Magus calls on one of the Archangels for their magic. In-game, the Archangel and the Magus choose one another, and a Magus can only follow one Archangel. The areas of influence granted the Magus are defined by their Archangel. For instance, Michael grants power over life, while Uriel governs fire and Aneal grants power over love. A Magus can also raise a Hunter, much like a witches coven.

Templars are holy warriors granted the ability to use certain miracles in their pursuit of evil. However, every time a Templar is made, a demon escapes from Hell, and the Templar shares a link with that demon. The core doesn’t mention what happens should a Templar destroy his demon, but one would assume it should, at least, be the culmination of a long campaign.

Voudon priests can invoke the Loa for abilities, and can create and control zombies. These are zombies in the true, undead sense…though the Voudon priest does restore their soul to the body first. The other trappings of the Voudon priest are present, such as voodoo dolls and their usage.

Turned vampires are vampires who hate what they’ve become enough to hunt other vampires. Blood Games II insists there is no such thing as a “good” vampire, and stresses that a vampire in a player group should only be an alliance of convenience for both sides.

Normal humans get a section as well. BGII says that normal humans should always try to explain away the supernatural, until they are confronted with something they cannot. At this point, they are to make a roll to disbelieve and, if that fails, they have to make a Test of Faith to come to terms with it…should THAT fail, their hold on sanity slips away and reality unravels for the norm. Should they accept it, and the GM so desire, the book suggests giving them minor psychic “quirks” that are seemingly random and uncontrolled by the player…such as hearing voices from God, speaking to animals, faith healing, etc.

The game does do a nice job of making each “class” feel different. Esotericists don’t feel like Witches who don’t feel like Voudon priests who don’t feel like Magus…and none of them feel like Hunters. Probably the closest is Cambions and vampires, and even then that’s not true. Some good, distinct ideas are presented here for player choices.

Skills

Skills are bonuses to your attributes, presented as extra dice. For example, if you have a Coordination of 12 and you’re shooting a gun, you would roll a single d20 and try to get equal to or less than 12. If you have three ranks of Firearms, that gives you three additional dice, so you roll four d20s, and every 12 or less is a success. A large skill list is present, from the aforementioned Firearms to Stash (which allows you to hide items) to Leadership to Goad.

However, skills can be used unskilled, that just guarantees that you won’t hit more than a single success. The other perk to buying up skills is that every five levels grants you a Level of Mastery. What does Mastery do? Why, each level grants you a free reroll on an action. The skill list is a tad larger than I, personally, care for…but I didn’t immediately see anything completely superfluous on the list, like Witchcraft’s Beautician skill.

Magic is covered (kinda) here, with the Laws of Correspondence: The closer the caster is to an object being targeted, the more effective the spell. Laying a curse on someone who’s not around? Zap a hair sample!

Religion

The various religions relevant to the game are discussed here, with major beliefs, holidays and the like broken down for Christianity, Judaism, Wicca and Zoroastrians. This section also tackles Tests of Faith, where a religious character can try to use their faith to force a supernatural creature back. The downside is then these rolls fail: having your faith shaken like that is never a good thing in this game.

Tests of Will are included instead, in case you want to play that atheist badass who doesn’t want to be completely nerfed when facing a demon for the first time.

Rules for possession are also covered here as well, for whatever reason, and include rules for both resisting and breaking possession.

Starpool

This chapter is the system itself. A purely mechanical chapter, it is thus the driest read in the book, but that’s to be expected. As indicated above, the game mechanic is a d20 roll-under system, and one of the first games I’ve seen that even uses multiple d20s. Combat is also enclosed in this chapter, and the system has some interesting bits for combat. Levels of Mastery, as mentioned in the skills section above, apply to combat as multiple attacks. For instance, if you have Martial Arts of +10, that’s two Levels of Mastery for three attacks per round! Initiative is simple: roll a d20, low roll goes first. However, a player can trade speed for effect. If you roll, say, a five, then you can sacrifice a die from your pool to lower your initiative to two, or you can raise it to eight and add a die to your pool. The game isn’t completely clear on how many times this can be done per turn, though.

An option is present here for splitting the pools on actions, such as when a character only has, say, one attack but two opponents. I think it’s a good approach that especially allows a lesser skilled character (without Levels of Mastery) the opportunity to multitask if need be, but doesn’t let them trample upon the more skilled characters by doing what they can do. The usual suspects are present here as well: armor rules, cover, etc. Hit Points are largely covered by Constitution, which is determined by adding all your physical attributes together and multiplying them by five. Similarly, for complex tasks, the game tells you to assign a number of Solution Points, which you whittle away at like you do Constitution in combat.

All in all, I like the mechanic. Allowing for faster or slower actions in exchange for shifting you effectiveness up and down is kinda cool, and once you get used to rolling low instead of high, it seems like it would be a perfectly viable game mechanic. I’m just not convinced that it is a good enough mechanic that I would choose it over something I already have down pat, such as Cinematic Unisystem.

NPCs

NPCs get a whole chapter, complete with pre-made stock NPCs, to quick-roll charts for mildly developed NPCs to discussion of “permanent NPCs”…the guys that are actually going to matter for more than a scene or two.

I’m always a fan of a good random-roll chart, so I welcome the charts for NPCs…a few rolls, followed by making sense of the results. More importantly, I’m just happy this is in here. If nothing else, it can provide some good benchmarks for various levels of background characters, but I’ve rarely seen a game that didn’t benefit from such a list. I don’t wanna have to stop and suss out a cop or a mugger most of the time, ya know?

Bestiary

A healthy selection of monsters is included in this book, running a wide gamut from spirits to werewolves to demons to wizards. Nosferatu are present and explained as vampires who couldn’t escape from their graves and driven into an animalistic state, while even skeptics are listed, as they can impact the use of magic around them, diminishing its effectiveness.

This section does an admirable job covering the expected monsters for such a game, tossing in a nice surprise or two (skeptics come to mind), leading me to actually believe they wanted BGII to be self-contained. There are enough baddies to work with, as well as provide inspiration for your own creations.

Vampires

Vampire get their own chapter and honestly, at first, that was a huge turn-off for me. I’m kinda tired of vampires, and I’m certainly not interested in seeing them get the main event treatment. With this game, however, that’s almost like complaining that Deadlands has cowboys in it, as the game gets its very name for the feeding habits of vampires…each has their own “blood game”, where they Heroes who only feed on those that threaten the innocent, Ravers that stalk clubs, Bottom Feeders that feast on the homeless and so on. Vampires are the primary threat to humanity, and the ultimate antithesis of the Paths: A vampire is someone who was either a very bad person in life, or who wallowed in despair, and refused to move on upon death. They are selfish, anti-social creatures in the afterlife, and they only become moreso as they age. After 700 years, they shed their flesh altogether and become beings called Ancestrals, becoming even more powerful, but also more withdrawn from the world.

This chapter also includes rules for making older vampire characters, as well as providing a list of careers and apprenticeships for playing anytime before 1850, just in case you need some pirates or highwaymen in your Blood Games!

I like their take on vampires, though I’m sure its not wholly unique, it is more in line with the Dracula style vampire, instead of the clan groupings of the World of Darkness games or the cannon-fodder vampires of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Guns ‘n’ Ammo

For the gunmonkeys, a large selection of weapons are present, from flintlocks to machine guns and katanas to broadswords. BGII is designed for modern play, but has several nods to play in other eras, and they did see fit to provide the armory for that. I’m not a huge stats nut for my weapons, but I do like a game that covers its bases, and this one does a fine job.

GMing Blood Games

The last full chapter of the game encompasses actually running it, with a few tips and ideas for doing so. The author makes the suggestion of playing in your home town like a great many modern games do, a suggestion that has always gone over like a lead balloon with my players, though. My favorite suggestion is generational play, which the game is almost designed to run, what with the “one adventure equals a year” set-up. Not the most indepth GMing chapter I’ve read, but not the worst, either. Even still, there’s probably not much there that’s going to be new to most GMs that read this book.

Optional Rules

The last chapter is actually just a selection of optional rules, covering sniping, traits (like advantages & disadvantages) and Plot Points.

Final Thoughts

I like horror, and I like horror games. Blood Games II does an impressive job of trying to be a fully functional, self-contained RPG. There’s one supplement available covering Dark Paths as well as an adventure, but the game is truly useable with just this book. For that, Clash Bowley and crew should be commended. I like the layout, as the pages are generally single column with a little sideboard heading to the left of the paragraph that sometimes serves as a description of the paragraph and sometimes a sidebar. Each chapter is headed up with a piece of fiction that I have to admit I didn’t read. I tried, but it didn’t grip me. The art is generally spotty, but pretty sparse, so it doesn’t really detract from the book. The game covers enough common ground that it feels familiar, but has enough hooks that it differentiates itself from other games in the genre.

However, there are some issues. From a reader’s standpoint, there’s nothing balancing the various character types…a half-angel looks to be a truly formidable character, and the cambion, statistically, just appears to be a watered down vampire. From my reading, it looks as though group cooperation is expected to provide the balance, which will work for some groups, but not others. My other major complaint, is that while the StarPool system certainly seems solid and has its charm, I can’t honestly say that it gives me any reason to move away from a system I already know and try to convince my (hypothetical) Buffy players that they need to learn a whole new game system to hunt monsters in. However, if you’re not married to a system, there’s not a reason to give the system a go. Even if you are locked into another game system, much of the individual pieces present in this book could be lifted and dropped into another setting…a Hunter would make for a nice option for a guy that wanted to be a Slayer, but didn’t want to play a girl, you know.

The game has a few odd organizational issues, I would have placed weapons in the chapter following combat, and would have placed the possession rules alongside the discussion of spirits, for instance, but the book does include a fully functional table of contents and index, so I can forgive that. There were a few points in the rules where I had to reread things because it didn’t quite make sense, but I won’t completely fault the writing, as I’ve been prone to distraction at times during my prep for this review (a 3 month old will do that to you).

Blood Games II is worth checking out if you’re a fan of the Occult Horror genre. Either you’ll find a new game, or you’ll find an idea or two to rip out. Be warned, the covers are black, and are going to kill your printer if you do a straight print off the PDF, but the interior is probably the most printer-friendly commercial PDF I’ve encountered thus far (no black borders! Yay!).

Tommy's Take on Tools of Ignorance

It's a baseball RPG.

Hey, don't laugh. I reviewed a wrestling RPG a little while ago, and it was tremendous, so let's keep an open mind here.

Tools of Ignorance (referring to the catcher's gear, which is prominently displayed on the cover), is a 52 page PDF, selling for $5. The game's author has noted that he intends to make a print release available as well. It is worth noting that this release is by Flying Mice Games, and clash bowley has a very distinct layout style that he and I love, and some folks just hate. Basically, it is one column of text down the right hand side, with topical headers on the left hand side. Frankly, I'm excited to see it's still there.

INTRODUCTION

As it says. One thing right off the bat I wasn't 100% clear about, is whether or not players are meant to be on the same team, which was due to some typos in the draft I had received, but those have been fixed. Everyone is ostensibly on the same time, although the game is certainly usable with everyone running their own teams.

TEAM CREATION

Before you get to making your characters, you define the team's characteristics, which determines your budget for players. You have three markets, and the team's type is graded in five steps, from Hapless to Top Notch. If you like, you can roll these or pick them, starting off with a completely struggling team straight out of the movies hoping for that desperation season that keeps them around another year before they get sold off.

Players are similarly defined: Seven steps from Rookie to Ancient, and three steps from Standard to Superstar (the only combination that is impossible is a Rookie Superstar).

A chart is given for the Star Ratings and the amount of Notice that each player has to maintain in order to hold onto their Star Rating...if they fall below Standard, they get cut at the end of the season.

There are a number of ways, in-game (baseball game, not RPG game) to score notice, with a helpful chart...a Home Run vs your rivals? 5 notice. Pitch a No Hitter in the Playoffs? 50 points. You can get negative Notice, if your player is acting like a jackhole, becoming more trouble than you're worth.

The Manager must also be created, presumably collectively...they are defined as a Boy Genius, Veteran or a Crusty Coot (which decides their attributes), and can be a Tactician, People Person, Drill Sergeant, Mastermind or Accountant, which define the Edges they have access to.

ONE ROLL PLAY

Kind of an odd placement for this, but these are simplified rules for deciding games you don't want to role-play, providing target numbers for competing teams as well as guidelines for seeing which players have highlights that might affect their Notice.

CHARACTER GENERATION

Pretty simple...you get 8 Background Templates and 7 Professional Templates and you combine one from each list, adding everything together. Next, roll to determine handedness, throwing, applying Edges and then Traits, the latter of which are completely player defined. Edges give you +1 to your Target Number for every applicable rank, while Traits give you an extra die for every applicable rank. You get a budget for Traits, but Edges are defined by your player's age and position on the field.

HITTING and PITCHING

Now, we start getting into the mechanics. You can hit for Power or hit for Average. In each case, you roll your dice pool versus a target number of the appropriate attribute (Coordination for Average and Strength for Power). You subtract your success from the Pitcher's successes and check the table in this section to see if you hit a Home Run, score a base, get walked or if you're out.

Pitching is real similar: You have Power Pitchers and Crafty Pitchers, which use Strength and Coordination respectively. Pitchers also have Endurance to see how long they can go without crapping out.

You get two challenges per game, and they are moments where you try to buck the standard results of hitting and pitching, like a runner trying to steal a base. This is the same basic mechanic: Roll the two appropriate skills and compare results. In addition to Challenges, you get Maneuvers that can be applied, such as pitching around a batter (great for those times when you have a real slugger on the plate) or sacrifice bunting to try to move a runner along the base.

Any time Traits are used, you run the risk of injury, and a simple system is presented that can give you Nagging Injuries (which don't keep you from missing any time) to Bad Injuries, which can bench you anywhere from days to the rest of the season.

On hits, you get handy charts showing the type of hit based off of a d20 roll compared to the styles of pitcher vs batter, and then a second chart showing where the ball went when comparing the handedness of each.

Next, we get two tables and a list of the Standard Results of each hit depending on the type, where the ball went and the number of people on base...this will be the result assuming there are no Challenges. Finally, we get Errors, which are the result of a player rolling no successes on a Challenge (for instance, a pitcher making an Error gives the better two extra dice to hit the awful pitch he handed right to him).

TROUPE PLAY AND LEAGUE PLAY

This is a one page discussion on the layout of the teams and games, such as everyone playing multiple characters of their choice, everyone having a vet and a rookie, skipping straight to the Playoffs or playing out a real league.

The author shys away from very little in the game, even offering a page of guidelines on performance enhancing drugs, drug tests and the penalties for failure.

THE CARDS

This is what actually first attracted my attention to the game. The GM deals out one card, that someone MUST take. If they take it willingly, they get a taken that they can use for something of their choice, such as an extra Challenge, an Extra Die or an extra point of LUCK. If more than one person agrees to take a card, they also get a token.

The catch? The cards are life events...and about half of them are negative.

2 of Spades causes the media to catch something you did last game, giving you +1 Notice...King of Spades causes rumors to float about your use of performance enhancing drugs, giving you -5  Notice!

10 of Hearts and your S.O. moves in with you at your request, giving you a bonus to one skill for one session. King of Hearts? Your Ex announces she's pregnant...by you...to the press. Making for some penalties. There is an alternate "Family" chart that can be used for family men...like your family moves into a new home, and everything goes wrong.

Clubs can bring about random drug tests and even a result in which your entire team gains +1 die to any one skill.

Diamonds are all about health...you can heal up injuries here, or catch the flu, depending on the card.

STARPOOL TASK RESOLUTION

Helpfully summarized on one page: Basically, you get a number of d20s equal to your appropriate skill, and you try to roll under the appropriate attribute, with each die that does so being a success.

A massive, alphabetized list of suggested team names are provided, as well as a chart for determining stats for the opposing team at random (when you need to determine it quickly for a challenge).

A full team line-up is given (Portland Tradewinds), plus a character sheet, a score sheet and a team sheet.

THOUGHTS

I am not a baseball fan. I am not sure how many baseball fans are clamoring to play a baseball RPG. I don't say this to knock clash or the game...I am a wrestling fan/gamer, and I can't get a game of any wrestling RPG going, period.

That said: I love what clash has done with this. The few references I didn't get already, I did a quick search on Bing and got them figured out. The mechanics are simple with a number of options to provide the extra depth, but without grinding you down in minutea. I LOVE the cards bit...as anyone that reads my blog should know, I am a huge fan of random tables.

That said, there are flaws. I read the book AND I did a PDF search, and I could not find an explanation for LUCK. Now, this is present in other StarPool games like Blood Games II, but it has some very specific applications over there. The organization was questionable at point as well, namely with the One Roll Games being in front of character generation, and the explanation of the game mechanic almost at the back of the book. To me, at least, they seemed out of place.

I enjoy clash's work as a designer, even if I'm not a huge fan of the source material (I dug Blood Games II, and I like On Her Majesty's Arcane Service even more, despite not being a fan of alternate history, and I hope to check out StarCluster 3 very soon), and that holds true here. With an interested group, I would gladly run a bad luck minor league team campaign using this system, and watching baseball bores me to tears. Easily the best baseball RPG I have ever read, even if it is hampered by some organizational issues...(and no, I don't recall ever reading another baseball RPG, but I did not intend that to be a backhanded compliment, either).

Tommy's Take on On Her Majesty's Arcane Service

Note: This review is actually several months old, but a) I'm getting CRUSHED under paying work, which is why I haven't started the Savage Worlds series and b) I eventually want all of my reviews available on this blog if possible anyway.

On Her Majesty’s Arcane Service is a new RPG released by Clash Bowley and Flying Mice Games, based off of his Blood Games II setting. Rather than the more modern horror approach of Blood Games II, On Her Majesty’s Arcane Service is more of a historical horror game, set specifically in 16th century England. I have both the PDF and a the POD version of the game. The PDF is available from RPGnow.com for $10, and the POD version is available from Lulu for $22.71. 


PDF vs POD
The PDF is full color and bookmarked. Clash has filled his RPG with clipart, but the vibrant colors of the PDF make much of the art stand out in a very good way. The art doesn’t look as impressive in the black and white tones of the POD version. As well, the formatting clearly wasn’t designed with POD in mind, as part of the back cover blurb is covered by the UPC code. Just speaking aesthetically, unless you have a hatred for PDFs, I would recommend the PDF over the hardcopy, as the PDF just looks better, top to bottom.


Table of Contents
We do get a Table of Contents, with chapter headings. Always a good sign. I can get around a lack of index in RPG books, but when they don’t even bother with a table of contents, that’s just annoying.


Introduction
Before I begin breaking down the chapters, I do want to comment here: I love Clash’s layout. He does a single column of text on the pages, and on the side he has little headings relating to the subject matter. I loved that in Blood Games II and that continues here. Anyway, the introduction begins with the history of this earth, up through the 16th century. It begins by talking about Homo Sapiens being hunted and stalked by Vampires, Lycanthropes and Demons. Enoch is sent to earth bequeaths both civilization and magic to humans. Humans beat back the darkness, but Demons find new ways to counter the advancements of humans and return in force. The battle has waged back and forth, slowing the advancement of humans. It is now the 16th century, Elizabeth has just become queen, and forced Catholics to the fringes.
Dr. John Dee, at the orders of Queen Elizabeth, has headed up Her Majesty’s Arcane Service, a secret force designed to protect England from mystical attack. Dee is a devoutly religious man, guided by angels to find his agents, PC and NPC alike.


The game is designed with a pretty clear focus, spelled out as the book discusses PCs. Namely, PCs are assumed to be agents of Dee’s, and assumed to be some denomination of Christian (any other religions need some work by the GM and player to make sense).


A section follows on group set-up, with PCs being Path (magical) characters or Non-Path (non magical) characters. What follows is a paragraph on each character type, and their typical role in the party, from Hunters and Templars to completely unskilled parties. Blood Games II included a similar section and it is a helpful read.


Creating Your Association
The group begins by creating their own branch of Her Majesty’s Arcane Service. The GM can decide how much starting “capital” the organization has, or they can roll 1d20 on the included chart. From there, you determine what kind of organization this is, once again determined by random roll or selection, and including entries such as Witch Hunters, a trading company, military, government diplomats or even simply an extended family. The book provides a helpful, short description of each entry.


Now, the group selects their home base, and a two page chart follows showing various entries, and their cost depending on their placement (broken down to “In London and out of London”). These range from palaces to working farms to derelict castles to pubs, warships and even pocket universes! A very nice selection covering all “levels” of games.
The group next needs to fund Areas of Interest, defined as Guards and Security, Espionage, Warships, Transport, Medical, Arcane Library, Training, Cartography, Mercenaries, Artificers and Device Development, and Logistics and Maintenance. This section expands on each entry, detailing costs of pikemen, details on tomes and libraries, costs of mercenaries and more. The chapter ends with a helpful worksheet designed to keep the numbers straight.
I like this system, but the downside seems to be that it is geared towards something of an in-group “game” where each side haggles for what they think is appropriate. As I often GM for only one or two players at a time, a lot of that would be lost. A little crunchier than, say, the Angel RPG organization rules, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.


Creating A Character
Character creation is handled via a Lifepath system. You start at 10 years old and age through Apprentice and Journeyman stages before seeking out professional life. Come up with a basic, short concept and decide if you are making a Path character or a Non-Path character. You have two choices for character generation: Point Buy, which gives you 44 points for physical attributes (Strength, Coordination, Agility and Endurance) and 180 points for mental attributes (Intelligence, IQ, Magic, Lifestyle and Charisma), or a random roll method in which you use 2d6 for your physical attributes and percentile die for your mental. Next, take four “Mother’s Milk” skill ranks – that is, skills you would have had before the age of 10. Find an Apprenticeship that suits you. If you meet the prerequisites for it, you’re fine…if not, you can make a waiver roll on a d20 to bypass those requirements. This grants you 9 skill ranks/attribute increases. Next comes Journeyman, which is handled the same way. From this point on, you can decide if you want to take a Path or not. If so, that opens up new skill and attribute opportunities, as well as special abilities. Then, you begin selecting professions. You take one increase per year spent in the profession with an additional increase for every six years in the profession, and you can change at any time. This persists until the character is “aged” appropriately. Every two years in the profession, you have an opportunity for advancement, which can increase your Lifestyle. For finishing touches, add 7 levels of Traits, which can be taken from a sample list, or defined by you. One example from the Traits section featured a character using his 2 ranks of “Goad” on a guard. You calculate your Constitution score from your physical attributes, select starting gear and you’re finished.


The chapter continues with a brief note on die mechanics. The Starpool system which powers On Her Majesty’s Arcane Service uses a d20 die pool with every roll under the target number counting as a success. Also, like BGII before it, a character only advances once a year, and is assumed to have approximately one major adventure a year.


I do love Lifepath systems. I generally find them to be much fun. I am a tad different in that I largely prefer a slightly more random element to my lifepaths, but I have long thought that the Starpool lifepath system to be a very solid system.
After the outline of character creation mentioned above, the book goes into much deeper detail, including discussion of Deterioration, which becomes a reality as characters enter their mid 30s.


Next we get a listing of Apprenticeships. Each listing has Prerequisites, Waiver Rolls, Lifestyle and Skills Available. You can take an apprenticeship as a Thief, Warrior, Hunter (not to be confused with the magical character type), Priest and more. From there is the listing of Journeyman entries, which has the same detail and includes being a Thug, Soldier, Sailor, Trapper, Squire and more. Finally, we get listings of professions, such as Pirate, Artist, Explorer, Engineer, Priest, Lord, Spy and much more.


A sample character, Sir Edmund Teague, is created for our perusal. Teague is a point buy soldier turned Esotericist.


Character Options
Half-Angels are just as they sound, but with a twist: While not born of a union between humans and angels, they are born of a lineage in which an angel has previously bred, and they have a latent gene which has activated. Half-Angels are always twins, one with light coloring ad wings and one with dark coloring and wings. Normal humans are incapable of perceiving Half-Angels for what they are. As in BGII, Half-Angels are so rare that if there are two in a party, the book STRONGLY recommends that they are twins. Half-Angels can fly, heal, make flaming weapons, and communicate telepathically. Once they have declared allegiance to the light or dark, they gain access to a few more powers, such as Auras of Light or Darkness, or emitting pure Awe or Menace.


Immortals have a destiny that MUST be fulfilled before they can die. Once they die their “first death” they become trapped 
in that form for the rest of their existence. They can’t even learn new skills, though they can “forget” ranks of skills and reassign those ranks to new skills. Only when they accomplish what they were fated to accomplish can death take them.


Changelings come in two varieties: fairies who have been left in the place of human babies, and human babies who have grown up in Faery. Fairy Changelings can access some oof the more magical Paths of Power, while Human Changelings are just like humans, physically, except they always exude just a bit of that fairy magic on them. They can learn some fairy magic, but can never take a Path of Power.


Hunters are kind of like the setting’s answer to Slayers, except gender neutral. They are humans enhanced by magic to fight the darkness, and are capable of low-end wire-fu type combat.


The Esotericists are scholars devoted to learning the secrets of the supernatural world, and combine all manner of mystical, scientific and religious study to that purpose. They can cast spells, create relics and have magical Grimoires that house their knowledge.


The Magus are followers of the Archangels, and the ones that imbue Hunters with their power. Each Magus follows a single Archangel, who grants them power over the areas that the Archangel lords over.
Templars are Holy Warriors. Once called, their creation also releases a Demon from Hell. The Templar knows its name and some of its personality, and is tasked with sending it back. Templars are also granted a small selection of Miracles they can use on their adversaries.


The Savant is basically a magical scientist, using logic to master mysticism. Savants can create Wards, read Astrological charts, Commune with spirits, create dimensional pockets, and more.


A Warlock’s main schtick is summoning spirits. They can call them, anchor them and even clothe the spirits in flesh. Warlocks have a very bad reputation, but aren’t inherently evil.


Cunning Folk use “folk magic” to achieve their ends, but neither they, nor their targets, realize that they aren’t actually using magic, but merely reinforcing their target’s belief in the desired effect.


Minstrels are similar to the classic Bards from Dungeons & Dragon, using their music to achieve effects bordering (and sometimes crossing that border) on magical. They can boost or lower a listener’s attributes, and even affect their memories.


The book shifts to normal humans and how they view the types of magic that they are even aware of. As well, it provides for an otherwise unpowered human to have developed some manner of “gift” from their contact with the supernatural: a talent that isn’t normal and can’t really be controlled.


OHMAS Skills and Traits


Skills give you extra dice to roll when attempting a task. If you are riding a horse and have Riding +3, you roll 4 dice (you always get one) and try to roll under your target number. For every five levels in a skill that you have, that’s a Level of Mastery, and that grants you a reroll if you fail. Simple and effective.


The skill list itself takes up four and a half pages, and that’s a bit larger than I tend to like for a skill list. However, the less than crippling penalties for not having a skill makes that slightly less annoying.
Next, we cover traits, which I went over above. Just short descriptors to flesh out the characters.
Finally, we get a look at unarmed fighting styles…specifically, Boxing, Brawling and Wrestling.


Religion
This chapter plunges headlong into the Seven Sacraments of the Church: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Unction, Matrimony, Holy Orders and Penance, as well as a fairly detailed description of each. Then the book moves into the differences between the Roman Church and Church of England. This section also touches on Calvinists and Puritans.
The chapter rounds out with Tests of Faith for confronting Demons and Vampires and the like, Tests of Will for the less devout to fend off Demonic Influences and rules for Possessions.


Adventure Generator
Yes! I love adventure generators! This one is pretty straightforward. Get a d20 and roll on the tables, or move through them picking for inspiration. You start with a rumor, move to a place, a table for finding out what is behind the rumor, how much the association stands to gain from the adventure and “sweeteners”. Then the book helpfully provides a list of adventures made with the generator.
Finally, there are bounties which can be tacked onto the adventures and up the PCs overall standard of living.


Non-Player Characters
Another fine chapter after my own heart: Need to generate an NPC and don’t want to put a ton of work into it? A series of tables that let you roll up on NPC, including quick rolls for attributes, personality hook, skill levels and more. As well, the book also provides a handy list of pre-made mercs, thugs and mooks to be used, hired and dealt with as need be.


Magic
We get a quick overview of how Magic works in BGII, namely using a characters MAG points as placeholders for magic effects. The chapter explicitly points out that no Magic is permanent, even magic used to empower items. Magi and Minstrels use MAG points differently, using them up in a session, with them returning at the next one. This chapter includes the Laws of Correspondence, the rules which govern the use of magic in the setting.
The chapter concludes with a list of very common spells, common spells, uncommon spells and rare spells.


Starpool Dice Mechanic
An in-depth chapter detailing just how the dice mechanic works, from basic d20 rolls to Quality of Success (every ten points of success is an additional level of Quality of Success). As well, the book provides a fairly common sense guideline of what attributes a given action should fall under.
Initiative is handled like everything else: Roll a d20 and lowest roll is best. However, you can move up or down the initiative chain by adding or subtracting resolution dice. That is, if you roll a 10 and want to move faster, you can give up one of the dice you will roll for your action and drop to a 7 on the initiative chart. If you are convinced you can succeed and don’t need to go quickly, you can add an additional die to your action but move your initiative to a 13. Armor modifies the target number to hit someone, and combat has a bit of a death spiral where you take penalties as you lose Constitution points to damage.


In combat, Levels of Mastery grant you additional attacks, whether or not you succeed on the initial attack. This chapter also discusses Healing, magical and otherwise, as well as bits like splitting dice pools for actions (pretty much as simple as it sounds).


Creatures and the Spirit World
This is pretty much the bestiary of the book. It begins with a discussion of the Spirit World, the inhabitants therein and how to enter the Spirit World. The Spirit World presented here is a lot like the Astral Plane in a good deal of other sources, with the silver cord tethering the traveler to their body. It also details spirits crossing over into the physical world, such as by following the severed string of a now deceased traveler in the Spirit World.
A large list of spirit creatures are present, from the fire-based salamanders, to hags, demons, nymphs, ghosts, devils (these are the fallen angels of Christian lore) and djinn (and much more). The book then moves into other creatures like zombies, lycanthropes, and even skeptics, normal people whose skepticism can disrupt magical powers. One glaring omission is vampires, who are mentioned at the beginning of the book as being enemies of humankind, and from whom the whole Blood Games title comes from.
Next is a detailed discussion of fairies, all of whom are born the same and later grow into a different kind of fairy depending on how they live their lives. A few, like elves, can pass for human and live among humans, often in leadership roles. Other fairies include ogres, trolls and redcaps on the darker end, and brownies and piskies on the nicer end.


Weapons and Equipment
Pretty much what you expect: A sprawling list of weapons, armor and equipment available in 16th century England. The neatest part is the discussion of the importance of equipment, such as how important clothing was to 16th century England. 
While there is no chapter break here, I’m sure there was probably meant to be one, but we move into the counties of England. Very helpfully done, this lays out the 39 counties of England with about a paragraph on each and a URL for a map of each county. This ends with an overview of the counties, which should probably have gone first.


Government and Politics
This provides some insight into the political structure of England in the 16th century, discussing Parliament, courtiers, nobles and so forth. The chapter then moves to a less generalized discussion, talking about the people of Elizabeth’s court from the Queen herself, and including Lord Robert Dudley, Mary, Queen of Scots, Sir Walter Raleigh, Dr. John Dee and even William Shakespeare.


Game Mastering
One of the first things this chapter points out is that the second the game begins, history has been changed, so if the PCs wind up altering things, let it go. Good advice. No plot immunity for you, William Shakespeare! From there it touches on things like Flashbacks, Foreshadowing and different kinds of play, including Generational Play where the PCs play different branches of their family tree, perhaps battling an adversary throughout different eras.


Appendix A: Optional Rules
This gets into optional rules like Plot Points (which can make an action an automatic success or failure), Troupe Play (everyone has multiple characters) including different types of Troupe Play (Mission Impossible style has the group leader selecting the participants for each mission, for instance).
Lastly, the book ends with an index, a character sheet, a character creation worksheet (for tracking advancements in the lifepath) and personal information sheets.


Overall
First, again, unless you hate PDFs, buy the PDFs. The art looks MUCH better. As for the game itself? I’m not a huge fan of the “alternate history England” thing (although its pretty much only alternate due to the presence of monsters and the PCs). For me, I think I would prefer Blood Games II and the more modern approach. However, OHMAS clocks in at over twenty pages more than BGII and still feels more tightly written. The Association rules and the Adventure Generator are great additions, as is the fairy material. The absence of vampires seems odd, but if you have Blood Games II they should plug right in with no problems. Clash once more does an amazing job for what is pretty much a one man operation. All of the various character types feel unique against one another, even if aspects of their mechanics work the same (such as Magi and Minstrels burning pools of Magic points each session).
If you like horror games (specifically, heroes fighting the darkness) games, and you especially like historical games, drop the 10-spot on the PDF. If you are living outside the US, then that’s pretty much the only option unless Lulu has stopped killing people on shipping. Very strong recommendation.