Tommy's Take on Fear Agent The Roleplaying Game

As I noted the other day, Pinnacle has a pair of new Kickstarters running: Fear Agent and The Goon, both based on comics by Dark Horse.

Today, I decided to take a look at Fear Agent.

Tommy's Take on Adventurers! Revised Edition

So close to three years ago, GRAmel released Adventurers!, touted as being an RPG in only two pages. They recently hit me up about reviewing the upcoming Adventurers! Revised Edition, and so here I am.

Tommy's Take on Faith: A Garden in Hell

So I've had a chance to take a look at the Faith: A Garden in Hell preview kit for the boxed set currently on Kickstarter, and I thought I'd share my thoughts.

Tommy's Take on the Savage Rifts Player's Guide

So to my surprise, I had an email waiting for me, with the Savage Rifts Player's Guide (part of the Savage Rifts Kickstarter, coming Tuesday) inside.

Intrigued, I opted to take a look...

Tommy's Take on Star Wars Force and Destiny Beginner Game

Star Wars is kind of a big deal. I tend to be kinda ambivalent, though I love the idea of Star Wars. I own (and have played) Star Wars d6 2nd Edition, d20 and Saga Edition, and have enjoyed the former and the latter. As a belated birthday present, I received the Star Wars Force and Destiny Beginner Game, which I ran for my 11 year old son and one of my longtime gamer buddies.

Tommy's Take on Era: The Consortium

Running a bit late on this one...Era: The Consortium is a new sci-fi RPG that is in its final week on Kickstarter right now.

Tommy's Take on The Last Parsec: Eris Beta-V

Hi guys, remember me?

I'm not dead, just started a new job, and that plus illness plus baby have pretty well sidelined me recently.

I recently got a chance to take a look at one of the books in the Kickstarter for The Last Parsec (now in its final day), and I thought I would give you a brief overview.

It's only a brief overview for one huge reason, which is that it's a Plot Point Campaign, and I try not to spoil TOO much in my reviews.

#RPGaDay Day 16: RPG I Wish I Owned

I am not a huge Trekkie, but I do like Star Trek - especially Next Generation - and while I got to play a short session of this with an inexperienced GM, I would love to have a crack at the book myself, maybe even running a game. Being a licensed game in the age before digital rights means it's generally difficult to get one's hands on a legal copy, but I would probably snap one up if I ran across a used copy in a store somewhere, just to read it myself, if nothing else.

Tommy's Take on Karthador

Ya'll know Reality Blurs, right? They've had products named to my Top Six in the past, specifically Realms of Cthulhu and tremulus, and have been around the Savage Worlds community for quite a while...now, they are launching a new setting, sci-fi/swashbuckling setting called Karthador, available for preorder now!

Tommy's Take on EPOCH: Frontier of Fear

At the beginning of the year, I reviewed EPOCH: Experimental Paradigm Of Cinematic Horror, an RPG that attempts to replicate, well, cinematic horror. This week, I'm tackling the first two scenario books for EPOCH: Frontier of Fear (sci-fi horror) and War Stories (er, war stories).

Tommy's Take on Hael Core Rules

Everyone that reads my blog likes Savage Worlds, right? So let's get back to a little Savage Worlds fun with the Storyweaver setting called Hael!

Tommy's Take on The Firefly Roleplaying Game

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

Tommy's Take on Firefly: The Game

Apparently it's Firefly Week on the blog, as I now tackle the board game by Gale Force Nine.

Tommy's Take on Firefly: Out to the Black

You’re probably heard of Firefly. Cult classic show on Fox, cancelled without airing all of the episodes, made by Joss Whedon, had a follow-up movie called Serenity? It now has a couple of tabletop games available: A board game by Gale Force Nine and this game, a card game by Toy Vault.

DISCLAIMER: I received no compensation for this review in any way. This is based off of playing a store copy of the Firefly card game, via Kryptic Comics & Games.

Tommy's Take on Hulks and Horrors - Basic Black Edition

Not every dungeon crawl has to take place in medieval fantasy ruins…Hulks & Horrors: Basic Black Edition takes the classic roleplaying structure and transplants it into a sci-fi setting.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Hulks& Horrors: Basic Black Edition is a retroclone that takes D&D and places in space, with the PCs playing space travelers exploring the ruins left behind in the galaxy by a horrible Virus. Hulks & Horrors is available in PDF for $10 and print for $20 at RPGNow. This review is based off of the PDF version, which was provided to me for review purposes, and the affiliate link provided may provide this blog with a portion of all sales through it.

Hulks & Horrors keeps to simplistic layout reminiscent of early roleplaying books, which – I would imagine – is both cost effective and evocative.

You are probably familiar with character generation: Roll 3d6 six times, once each for Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. From there, you pick a class. There are four Human classes (Pilot, Scientist, Soldier and Syker), as well as three alien classes (Hovering Squid, Omega Reticulan and Bearman). Interestingly, the last one is the only of the three that is human, as the Reticulans are amoeba and the squids are, well, squids.

The classes only go to level 6, and each class has a requirement. Pilots are built on Dexterity, and have a decent weapon and armor selection. They also get bonuses for using computers and attacking with ranged vehicle weapons, as well as getting to roll two 20 sided dice when making piloting maneuvers and taking the best of them. Scientists use a Multitool that allows them to perform extraordinary feats, and are Intelligence based. Soldiers use Strength and Dexterity and are the all purpose combat monsters, but get a bonus to stealth checks as well. Psykers use Wisdom and have Psychic abilities. Hovering Squids have a Dexterity requirement and a Strength *maximum*, can survive in water and have multiple arms that they can bring to bear on their opponents. Omega Reticulans are akin to Scientists, but with better weapon and armor options. Bearmen are a lot like Wookies...with psychic powers. Scary, huh? If you somehow don’t manage to qualify for any of the classes? You can be a Redshirt.

As mentioned, a couple of classes have Science! powers and a couple have Psychic powers. Science powers include Skin Graft (your basic healing power), Targeting Display (a bonus to hit), Smart Drone (think “moving landmine”), Create Nutrient Pill (so your whole party doesn’t starve while out exploring), Micro Wormhole (short range teleportation) and Neural Disruptor (which can KO opponents without harming them). Science uses Charges based on the level of the effect used.

Psychic Powers use a pool called Psi, and include abilities like Mind Trick (“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for”), Pyrokinetic Assault (“Burn!”), Levitation Leap and Mind Blank (which makes you invisible to organic foes).

Equipment runs the gamut of “basic” weapons like slug throwers and shivs, on up to laser swords and particle beams. Armor uses the descending armor class of older editions of D&D, and the various suits of armor serve to protect your PC from the environment as much as from damage. Other equipment includes shields, grenades, motion trackers, wrist computers…as well as synthetic rope, 10 ft. collapsible poles, backpacks and electric torches.

The basic mechanic is a d20 roll under stat check. Penalties are applied to the stat, not the roll. A Natural 20 is an automatic failure and a Natural 1 is an automatic success. Opposed checks go to the person that rolls the highest while still rolling under the relevant stat. Saving Throws are based on Dexterity, Constitution and Wisdom. Environmental effects like Temperature, Radiation and Gravity take on a larger role here than in the games Hulks & Horrors was based on. When leveling  up, at levels 3 and 6 you can increase a stat, gain more hit points, apply your new attack bonus and (if applicable) pick new Psychic or Science powers.

Combat is handled along the lines of pre-d20 D&D, complete with “To Attack Armor Class 0” (or TAACO) numbers and charts. Morale rules are also included.

Spaceships are important here, with Spaceships divided between Landers and Orbiters, with the smaller Landers able to enter the atmosphere, while Orbiters remain in space. The three methods of acquiring a ship are mortgaging one (which gives you more options, before is more expensive), buying used (cheaper than mortgaging, but you’re not always getting what you expect) and inheriting a ship (it’s yours, clean and clear…you just may not get what you want, and you may find the upkeep to be outside of your budget). Ships are defined by Hulls, Armor, Main Engines, Weapons, Thrusters and Additional Systems (waste recyclers, fighter bays, cloaking devices, Ground-Penetrating Radar, Sickbay, Gaming Room, Microbar, etc). If you buy new, just pick what you want and pay for it. With Used, you take the best of random rolls and with an inherited ship, you completely roll the ship randomly. A selection of sample ships is included. Ship to ship combat is included, but it seems like it would leave non-pilots on the outside looking in.

The chapter on space exploration wins points for a Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy reference (when traveling through subspace, things may go wrong…like making a sperm whale or bowl of petunias appear out of nowhere).

I’m a big fan of random charts, and there’s an extensive section that allows you to randomly generate star systems, on down to a planetary level…complete with what kind of civilization exists (or existed) there. A helpful worksheet is provided for this. Of course, once you have detailed the solar systems and the planets, you have to decide what kinds of structures are present to be explored, from Pod Colonies to Urban Ruins to Hulks, which are giant ships left floating in space. Random charts are provided to add “flavor” to the exploration, as well as loot tables. Random tables for the weapons can provide beneficial, and humorous, special abilities…from bonuses to damage against vertebrate life forms to built-in MP3 players. Extra special armor might have Cloaking Fields…or it might… “vibrate”. Some of the higher end items include The Meatpuppet (a suit of armor made from flesh) and The Axe – part guitar, part weapon.

The bestiary includes four random encounter charts, depending on the environment the PCs are exploring. Monsters include Blind Trolls (who are difficult to battle in melee, due to the cloud of diseased filth that surrounds them), Centipods (12 foot spider-centipedes), Gorilloids (purple apes with poisonous horns), Living Weapons (who are every bit as terrifying as they sound), Seeker Drones (dropped onto the planet to destroy anything that moves), Skinless (who will try to strangle you with their own intestines), Space Whales, Toxic Ooze and more.

The GMing chapter has a lot of common stuff in it, but it also reminds the reader that no room should ever be “empty”, even if there is no monster or loot (remember, you are exploring the dead remnants of intergalactic society…these places had reasons for existing). A little information is given on gearing the game towards a different type of space game over exploration, as well as alternate character generation rules and rules for extrapolating the character classes above and beyond level 6. There are also rules for converting from older editions of D&D (which is awesome, because I LOVE using monsters “out of genre”), as well as non-Psyker and Scientist players learning Science! and Psionic abilities as well.

WHAT WORKS: I love the random charts. I *always* love the random charts. The Redshirt option for characters that don’t qualify for a character class is great as well. I do like how the classes have been balanced for the game, instead of just doing a straight renaming of the D&D Classes. Some of the tongue in cheek effects for various pieces of loot are also great as well.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: I’d prefer a d20 chart over a d12 chart every time. Less chance of repeating an option. The space combat rules seem like they would leave non-pilots in the cold…moreso than non-Pilots will be left out on the ground. Contested checks are just clunky (rolling higher than the opponent but under your stat).

CONCLUSION: I’m not a big fan of the older school D&Ds, and I think that’s where I wind up displeased with some of the mechanics here. That said, I actually like the premise of exploring space hulks and dead planets more than I do straight up dungeon crawls. The extensive use of random charts is always a plus, and I do like that there are multiple options for acquiring a ship. If you’re a fan of old school D&D and you want something more than a different coat of paint on it, then definitely check this out.

Tommy's Take on Mutant Epoch

More fun with PostApoc! This time, Mutant Epoch by Outland Arts!

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The "Hub Rules" are 246 pages in PDF format, and while the PDF isn’t bookmarked, it has lots of links built into the table of contents. The PDF is $12.99 and POD softcover and hardcover editions (and bundles) are available at DriveThruRPG. In addition to the normal slate of supplements, The Mutant Epoch is also supported by the Excavator Monthly Magazine. The setting is pretty standard: It’s the year 2346 and society has collapsed. Mutant, robots, clones and more now roam the earth. If you need something other than the gradual erosion of society, culminating in a great war, then they provide other options: Alien invasions, portals to other dimensions, zombie apocalypse…whatever you need. The game uses the standard D&D array of dice (d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 and d20).

Part one is character creation, and it uses lots of random rolls. There are a few options for picking character types, rolling stats and assigning them as you will, etc., but the default it “roll on a bunch of charts”. There are three “character type” charts, based on your experience level (as a player). Eight Traits are used (Endurance, Strength, Agility, Accuracy, Intelligence, Perception, Willpower, Appearance). You use d100 tables for those that are capable of producing a range anywhere from 1 to 120 (those most Traits will fall somewhere in between). Then you roll the character’s Pre-Game Caste, which provides modifiers to your Traits. For instance, you may have been a Pirate, which gives you bonuses to Strength and Endurance, the ability to navigate by the stars, 2 Criminal Skills, 2 Warrior Skills and a Miscellaneous Skill. Also, it is assumed that your old crew is cranky about you abandoning ship. Each of the backgrounds have little hooks like that built in.

The available character types are Pure Stock Humans, Bioreplicas (organic, artificial humans), Clones (based off of the DNA of specific individuals), Trans-Humans (engineered to be better, faster, stronger), Cyborgs, Ghost Mutants (Mutants who show no outward signs of mutation), Mutants (Mild, Typical, Severe, Freakish Horrors), Bestial Humans (I CAN MAKE A HONEY BADGER!).

Interestingly, the game is level based, and while things like your Strike Value advance on a track, you also roll Rank Gain Bonus Matrix to see how else you advance. For instance, at Rank 2 your Cyborg may increase his Agility by 2d6, but gain a Minor Mutation at Rank 3. There is no upper limit to the leveling. You can also gain skills just by finding a teacher, regardless of where you are at on your advancement.

And then we get to mutations. First, the Prime Mutation table is a d1000 table. It includes tidbits like Berserk Rage, Multi Head, Poison Bite, Telekinesis and Wings. Then there’s the Creature Mutations table, with options like Acid Blood, Crab Pincers, Limb Regeneration, and Tusks. Ghost & Latent Mutations are less obvious, and include Coma Inducement, Heal Touch and Telepathy. Minor Mutations are bits like Blood Color Alteration and Eye Lights. Of course, there are Flaw Mutations (Baldness, Hemophilia, Increased Aging, Sterility and more). There are a LOT of options.

As if that’s not enough, there are Implants (like Razor Allow Claws, Grappling Hooks, Radio Scanners and Weapon Arms). Starting equipment is based off of the Outfitting Code that each background has. Escaped Slaves may be unlucky enough to start off wounded…while Wealthy Adventurers may actually have mounts. Starting weapons and armor are based on random roll tables with a die modifier based on the Outfitting Code. The gear section runs the full range from clubs, chains and animal hide armor all the way up to full tactical armor and laser weapons.

Combat is pretty simple. Roll 1d10 for initiative, roll under your Strike Value (minus the opponent’s defense) to hit, roll damage and take it off of the opponent’s Endurance. There are various modifiers that can apply here, and rolling a 2-5 is an auto hit, with a 1 being a Critical hit. Similarly, 95-99 is an auto miss, with 100 being a Fumble. And yes, there are tables for those. EXTREME differences in Strike Value vs Defensive Value can turn attacks into Auto Hits or remove the possibility of criticals. There are combat modifiers for various tactics (Called Shots, using other people as shields), and NPCs use Morale as well. Your Proximity to Death is determined by both Endurance and Willpower, so one can compensate for the other.

Chase rules are provided, with a number of random tables depending on what’s happening in the chase (running up a mountain, shooting behind you, flying through the air)…you use these tables every four rounds, just to jack with the chase.

Hazard checks are used for a variety of things…resisting traps, drowning, hypothermia, poisons, radiation, diseases and so on, and are handled pretty simply: Cross check the hazard rating (A through M) with the relevant Trait, and this gives you a percentile to roll against. If you fail, apply the effects.

The Encounters Table has charts for random encounters and random events, with random events including things like storms, loot, traps and rare encounters.

The bestiary starts off simple enough: Bears, cattle, fish, that sort of thing…as well as creatures like Horrlify (bio-engineered patrol beasts), moaners (essentially zombies), Reptili (lizard men), Skullocks (who are kinda like goblins) and giant worms. Even better…many of these (including the stock animals) have their OWN mutation tables! Robots and androids get their own chapter, it’s just not as cool as the monsters.

Most of the weapons and armor in the Relics section have game stats in the first chapter, and this one is full of descriptions of everything from chainsaws to stun sticks to .22 pistols to body armor to dune buggies.

Chapter Eight is NOTHING BUT TABLES. Find a corpse? Roll on the table to see what it has. Religious icon in a ruined church? That’s a die roll. There’s even a d100 treasure table that includes plastic samurai swords, plastic food wrap, doggy bowls, toy pianos and even Elvis busts.

The appendices include: Metric conversion tables, a bit about the Society of Excavators (an online vault of resources for Mutant Epoch GMs), common vehicles of the Epoch, scrap vehicles, barding for mounts, siege engines, GMing tips (they recommend that each player controls multiple PCs, with one as the “Lead”), adventure seeds, printable hex and grid maps, character sheets and printable dice you can assemble. Oh, and a clickable index.

WHAT WORKS: Random tables for EVERYTHING just shy of an adventure generator (which seems like an odd oversight, given the amount of random rolling). Mutations for all the monsters, flexibility in the setting, tons of support.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: If you hate random rolls and feel like you need a lot of game balance, I’m not sure this game is for you. The setting, as presented in the Hub rules, is nothing you haven’t seen before.

CONCLUSION: My advice? Roll up a bunch of characters and have fun. Don’t worry about game balance, don’t worry about stuff making sense…for pure gonzo PostApoc fun, Mutant Epoch is one of the better options I’ve read. It doesn’t have the heavy metaplot/back story of Reclamation or Hell on Earth, but it has a lot of cool, old school stylings without being tied to a D&D base. If you know what you wanna do with a PostApoc game, but not HOW you want to do it, get this and go nuts.

Tommy's Take on Mutant Future

Yeah, the Post Apocalyptic theme is continuing. Next on the list is Mutant Future, which isn't a retro-clone per se, but is built to be compatible with retro-clone Labyrinth Lord.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: Mutant Future, by Goblinoid Games, is available in a free, no-art version as well as a "regular" version, available in PDF for under $7 or a softcover POD version for about $24. As retroclones tend to do, the aesthetic is very old school, with a spartan layout and old school style black and white line art.

It's a post-apocalyptic game based on a D&D retro-clone, so if you know D&D, you should be able to settle in pretty quickly. The game uses levels but not classes, with the 3d6 or 4d6-drop-the-lowest method and uses the six standard Ability Scores, with Willpower subbing for Wisdom. The selectable races are Basic Android, Synthetic, Replicant, Mutant Animal, Mutant Human, Mutant Plant and Pure Human. Everyone except Pure Humans get Mutations, and Pure Humans get a whopping +3 each to INT, CHA and CON. Alignment is used in the game, on the Law, Neutral, Chaos spectrum.

As most PostApoc games do, Mutant Future has an extensive mutations list, divided up into Physical, Mental and Plant, then further divided into Beneficial and Drawback, on d100 charts. Physical Beneficial Mutations can include simple things like Increased Attribute or Echolocation, as well as flashier abilities like Optic Emission and Spiny Growth. Physical Drawbacks include Albinism, Hemophilia and Pain Sensitivity. Mental Beneficial Mutations hit standards like Neural Telepathy, Neural Telekinesis and Possession, as well as things like Weather Control and Killing Sphere, which is DANGEROUS but draining. Mental Drawbacks are things like Weak Will and Phobias. Plants can get beneficial mutations like Carnivore, Grenade-like Fruit and even Flight, while risking drawbacks like Reduced Fertility and Thermal Sensitivity. Each Mutation gets at least a paragraph in explanation.

The rules section proves to be concise, covering adventuring in ruins and wilderness, taking a very “dungeon crawl”-like approach to the ruins section. In fact, probably the biggest departure from early-D&D rules speak is the Technology rules, which covers the condition technological artifacts are in when you find them, as well as your chance of figuring out how to use them.

The Combat section addresses the rule that I hear tended to get overlooked the most in most D&D-style games: Morale rules. These can make all the difference in the world with many encounters. Given that it’s a PostApoc game, rules like firearm rates are included, and charts are provided for Armor Class and To-Hit rolls (remember: Armor deflects attacks in this game, rather than absorb damage).

The Monster section takes up the bulk of the book and is alphabetized. Some of the selection includes Clone Neutralizer Androids (designed to kill excess clones), Ant Horrors (ants with two heads and a tail!), giant bats, Brain Lashers (who look a loooooot like Mind Flayers), Cephalopoids (human squids), Cockroachoids (humanoid cockroaches), Electrophants (elephants who fire arcs of electricity), Eye Dogs (dogs covered in eyes), Gamma Wyrms (wingless dragons who fly via psionic flight), cave men, Giant Land Squids, Medusoids, Eloi and Morlocks, Pumpkin Men, Quill Cats, Skinner Trees, Vomit Flies and Walking Dead. 14 encounter charts are provided, divided by environment. The stat blocks are all provided in a format that allows for easy swapping in and out with Labyrinth Lord.

The Artifacts section is the “treasure” section, complete with random roll tables broken down by various types of weapons, armor, power sources, bombs, foodstuffs and drugs. Warp Field Daggers that pass through armor, EMP Rifles, Blood Agent Grenades (which jellifies the lungs of those that breath in the chemicals left in the aftermath of the explosion), cloning tubes, hologram projectors, and a generalized selection of vehicles.

The setting chapter paints the setting in very broad strokes, focusing very little on how the world got to the way it is, or how it will wind up. It includes a sample scenario (Mine of the Brain Lashers) as well an overland hex map to play around with.

The book includes a short appendix on combining the options fully with Labyrinth Lord, including turning the races into classes. A character sheet and the OGL notice rounds out the book.

WHAT WORKS: Well, there’s a no-art free version. That’s kind of a big deal, and it has bit of support, due in part to the OGL. The monster section has some really cool and unique options, and its compatibility with Labyrinth Lord can allow for some interesting scenarios if you and your players aren’t fantasy (or PostApoc) purists.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: If you don’t like D&D as a base, this probably isn’t going to be your thing. If you want a developed setting, rather than an excuse for hex crawls or dungeon crawls with ray guns and mutant powers, this probably isn’t your thing.

CONCLUSION: If you’re into PostApoc games, you should at least download the free, no-art version. No reason not to. It’s worth it for swiping from the bestiary, in my opinion. Similarly, if you’re into old school D&D, there’s probably at least an odd monster or two that’s worth messing with. For my part, I had a blast with modifying one of my AD&D 2e characters (a bastard sword swinging elven fighter) into a Gamma World character once, transplanting him (complete with bastard sword) onto a PostApoc Earth where he traded horses for motorcycles and chain mail for trench coats. Mutant Future isn’t likely to ever make the rotation at my table, because I don’t really do the D&D base system thing anymore, and there’s other PostApoc games I’m dying to run, but it’s still a very good product that should scratch the PostApoc itch for older school gamers.

Tommy's Take on Reclamation

Reclamation is an interesting RPG...it's a post-apocalyptic RPG about hope. See, the title refers to the move to restore the planet, rather than let it fester in a post-apocalyptic waste.

"My only advice to you is simple: Do as much good as you can in this world for as long as you possibly can." - Nikolai Federick

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: The PDF has copy and paste disabled, but is clickable, searchable and bookmarked, which is good since it runs almost 300 pages. The book is black and white, with art ranging from "alright" to "really good". The PDF is $14.95 and the hardcover is only $29.95, with a bundle available at RPGNow.

The Prologue lays out the premise: Essentially, the Sickness swept across the land, drove people nuts, and pushed the world to nuclear war. And sometimes people get completely consumed by The Sickness and its gets worse, they become part of the Mortis-Horde. So, yeah, it tosses a little zombie apocalypse in there on top of the "regular" end of the world. It's a good fiction piece that provides the set-up, hitting all the big points like the world is wrecked, but nature has adapted strangely (including maze-like forests sprouting up and deserts flooding), people gaining powers and people organizing into "cells" (setting up the perfect starting point for PC groups, may I say). More importantly, it introduces the reader to the Reclamation, which injects some hope to the setting.

The Introduction covers the basics in plain English: Post-apocalyptic, this is an RPG, breakdown of the character sheet, etc. The game doesn't use dice, it uses decks of playing cards. That is, a deck per person. When performing an action, you flip over one or more cards depending on your attributes and you add black cards to the total but subtract red cards...and aces are kind of a big deal, both ways. There's an optional rule for taking two cards off of the deck, called "Burn cards", to skew attempts at counting cards.

Character creation is handled through a few steps. First, you select your Mark, which is how the Fallout has affected you. You can be a Survivor, which means that you bear no outward signs of being affected by the Fallout (but you have been). The Magi can cast spells and bend reality to their wills. The Host have become part machine. Pariahs have become, essentially, monsters. Paragons have become something more...the next step in humanity. These all have little history bits to them, with information like where the Marks started, or linking them to aspects of our history and mythology.

Next, you pick a Generation, which determines your trait points and talents. Forerunner has more talents, God's Ten Percent has more trait points, Descendants are in between.

Then, you pick a Background: There more than a couple dozen of these, with options like Anarchist, Avenger, Dreamer, Nomad, Prophet and Warrior. Each one gives you a mechanical advantage in the game and a role-playing advantage. A Cynic, for instance, can spend a Drive Point to determine if someone is trying to screw them over, and can gain a Mark of Experience when they expose the truth about someone.

With that all done you spend Trait Points, spread out over 8 traits (Strength, Dexterity, Speed, Resilience, Intellect, Manipulation, Perception, Spirit), with 20 being the mortal limit, 1 being poor, and the rest scaling in between. Pariahs and Paragons can actually break those human limits, by the way. You also get a number of Secondary Traits (like Movement, Damage Bonus and Dodge) that are derived from your Primary Traits.

Next are Talents, which are divided into four groups (Scholar, Rogue, Leader, Hunter) and cover most of your basic skill options like Biology, Intimidation, Diplomacy and Stealth. There are 32 talents in all. Each one is broken down with flavor text, basic description and in-game examples of uses.

You also get Kewl Powerz, and some book keeping with things like Pain Points, Drive Points, Injury Points, Radiation Points, the Soul Path (which tracks from Despair to Hope) and thresholds for The Sickness.

Chapter 3 is the rules chapter, explaining HOW the system works. Essentially, your ranks in your talents (1-5) determines how many cards you draw, which you add or subtract from your relevant trait. Target numbers are listed on a simple chart, broken down into two types of actions, Measured and Threshold checks. The former involves degrees of success, the latter involves straight up success or failure. There are also Competition checks (contested stuff) and Luck checks, which are pretty much straight card draws.

Drive Points are kinda like bennies, action points, etc...you can spend Drive Points to re-flip new cards (hopefully removing a red card, for instance), add flat bonuses, even bend the rules a bit.

Once all that is out of the way, the book dives into Combat. Initiative is based off of your Speed (Alertness) trait and talent, and there are rules covering things like surprise. Interestingly, you set the Aggression Rank for your attack (from 1 to 20), with a lower rank meaning you are being more aggressive. You would always use that, right? Well, your opponent can either defend or counterattack...and counterattacking is easier, the less careful the attacker is. Nice bit of strategy there (and examples are provided all over the book). The amount of actions per round is based off of your Warfare skill.

Damage is handled with Pain and Injury Points. As you get hurt, you lose Pain Points. Then you start adding Injury Points. Every 5 Injury Points requires you to make a check to avoid passing out. Flipping Aces is a big deal in combat as well...black Aces are critical successes, red aces are critical failures.

Ranged combat has a slightly different set of rules (like no counter attacks), and there are contingencies for stuff like Headshots, Gag n' Stab (think stealth kills from modern video games), Quickdraw, even using terrain to your advantage.

You can even gain Epic Action points, which lets you do crazy, over the top stuff (but they are rare). And there's even optional minis rules (that are very detailed for being optional), along with an in-depth combat example. One other thing I loved in this chapter is how there are stat-free enemy profiles scattered all over the section. Good stuff.

The gear section is a bit different in this book, covering things like food, water and shelter, which are just as important as weapons (especially when you have Kewl Powerz). There's even an interesting paragraph on some Hosts serving as power sources. There's no laser guns, but there are plenty firearms to choose from, and damage for things like electricity and falling are covered here as well. Equipment purchases are handled with Resource Points, rather than cash.

Facing the Fallout covers a lot of the setting aspects, like The Sickness, including theories on what it is and where it came from (The Magi believe it came from a devilish being called The Usurper), and how gaining Radiation points makes you vulnerable to The Sickness...as well as the nasty part: The Marks are powered by Radiation. Using your Kewl Powerz can let The Sickness get its claws deeper in you.

It's all very cool and creepy, with multiple steps that can be fended off essentially by doing Good Deeds. The Sickness can leave psychic scars on you, and that's if you kick the effects of The Black Dream (the feverish state when The Sickness digs in).

Chapter 7 explains the Kewl Powerz in detail. Surivors can rack up Radiation to make Luck Checks to change events. Paragons have five Disciplines, each with their own effects, and can build their way up to Paragon Transcendence. Magi learn rites from four Traditions (Osiris, Gaia, Odin and Khronos), and there are a BUNCH of them (from tricks like Invisibility and entanglement, to making wounded enemies stop fighting you to resurrection). Hosts can "evolve", having a slew of powers they can gain in steps. For instance, they can grow claws...this allows them to form pistols...which allows them to grow shotguns (and so on). Pariahs can develop along different lines, like Daemons, Moon Beasts, Hercules, Psionics, Seraphim and more, each with their own powers. Vampires can regenerate by drinking blood, for example, then gain supernatural strength, and even gain the ability to enslave people. This all culminates in a Pinnacle Power. The Vampire's Nosferatu Power, for instance, activates all the other powers from his gene pool (aside from Enslave). Each gene pool has an Achilles Heel, though, keyed to the type of Pariah.

And yes...you can mix two types of Marks, and the last part of the chapter breaks down what each combination is like.

The last chapter is the GMing chapter. A lot of it is pretty basic stuff, but this is also where the enemy stat blocks are, like the dregs, abominations, thugs, and so on. It's not a HUGE selection, but it's a broad one. A sample Haven is provided (set in New Orleans), as well as a sample protagonist group.

I didn't much care for the Epilogue piece, as it seemed too grim for a setting that appeals to me because of the hope of Reclamation.

The book ends with a character sheet and index.

WHAT WORKS: Reclamation. Seriously...I LIKE that there's this growing viral movement of "let's take back this world." That is reason #1 why I would pick this over other post apocalypse games. Reason #2 is the kewl powerz. (Seriously, there's some great options for Magi, Host and Pariahs, and the Survivors and Paragons have their own cool tricks, if not as flashy). Tons of examples, both short and in-depth. The flavor fiction is generally well done and kept short and to the point.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: At times it seems like it might get over complicated, but nothing that a few cheat sheets can't handle. Some of the art sticks out like a sore thumb against the rest of the pieces. Needs more random tables.

CONCLUSION: The biggest thing that sells me on the book is the whole Reclamation thing, followed by the coolness of the Marks. I like the card deck game system, but some of the book keeping seems like it could get excessive at times. Way more plusses than minus, and probably the post-apocalyptic setting that has interested me the most in a very long time. It does need more random tables, though. You have a big, crazy, kitchen sink setting with fantasy, sci-fi and horror elements...you need random tables that you can draw cards against. That said, I always love a setting where the odds are stacked up against the PCs, and then they are expected to go save the world anyway. Big thumbs up.

Tommy's Take on Eureka: 501 Adventure Plots to Inspire Game Masters

Most everyone needs a little inspiration from time to time, and GMs are no exception. The folks at GnomeStew.com are aware of this, and devised Eureka!

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: This one's not very misleading, as it is a big book of plots for GMs to use as inspiration. Weighing in at 314 pages and a price tag of $16.95 in PDF format (although you can get it in a bundle with the Masks NPC book), it seems a tad pricey for a PDF at first, but it is a weighty product, and if you purchase the print product and contact Engine Publishing (by e-mailing martin (at) enginepublishing (dot) com) with the proof of purchase, they'll hook you up with the PDF for free.

The PDF comes with a printer friendly version as well as the full version, and is fully bookmarked and searchable, as well as haviing four different indexes, separated by genre, tag, title and author. In fact, hyperlinks are all over the book, allowing you to jump around at a moment's notice. The plots (167 each) are divided into fantasy, sci-fi and horror, and are further defined thematically, based off of the George Polti book 36 Dramatic Situations.

What's more, the book doesn't just give you 501 plots, but sections on how to expand them from plot to adventure, including suggestions on other genres and sub-genres (like sci-fi dividing into space opera as well as cyberpunk) that may suit a plot as well as the original. There are even tips on how to re-use a plot without making it obvious to your players what you have done. As you may have guessed, the book is entirely system-free, so you need not worry about a lot of space being taken up by stats that may not be usable by you.

The entries average about five paragraphs apiece, so there's not a bunch of hand waving. I could probably pick a plot seed and run it in Savage Worlds with very little prep time.

Some of my favorite fantasy plots in the book include being asked to help a powerful creature die, forcing you to fend off those that would kill it to take its power, one in which the PCs are being stalked by a demonic horde cutting a swath of terror in its wake and an old witch attempting to hire the PCs from...something...that is coming for her.

The sci-fi missions take a different approach, of course, with gems like the hardware and the software in a space station coming to a profound...disagreement...and the PCs being stuck in the middle. Another plot seed involves the PCs in pursuit of a vessel with a powerful weapon on it that has been captured by a rebel faction and the PCs are the only ones close enough to intercept them...only to discover that a loved one (relative or former flame) are aboard the ship. A similar seed involves the PCs being thrust into combat with a rebel faction who has recruited, among others, one of the PCs' loved ones (that one is practically a stock plot in Civil War era westerns).

In the horror section, we get a twist on the zombie apocalypse, taking place on an island overran by the dead the oceans have taken over the years, with the PCs pinned in by a supernatural force holding them to dry land. Another involves a bizarre, life-sized chess match that seems like it could be tweaked nicely for Ravenloft (as the examples for the chess pieces given are a tad too contemporary for Ravenloft). One of the oddest ones I saw is a slasher film...like, to a "T". Complete with the PCs taking on stereotypical roles, being shuffled off in seclusion to be attacked and so on. That one was kinda disappointing because I kept expecting a twist on the formula, not playing it straight. A particularly great one involves the PCs' mentor becoming a twisted killer for staring so long into the abyss. Imagine a Slayer having to kill their Watcher not because they find out he was Evil All Along, but because years of fighting the battle eventually became too much for his soul. Imagine if it happened to coincide with her 18th birthday and the Cruciamentum?

WHAT WORKS: Utility is the watchword here. I didn't even scratch the surface of the plot seeds available in this book, and that's not getting into the twists, genre shifts and so on that you can apply to every plot seed in the book. The genre index breaks it down by sub-genre as well, so it's not just three big lists of horror, fantasy and sci-fi, but Grim and Gritty Fantasy, Gothic Horror, Supers, Western, etc. The hyper-linking throughout the PDF makes it incredibly user friendly above and beyond the searchability and book marking.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: While digital books are gaining more and more ground, Eureka does seem priced above the sweet spot that I have unscientifically found the average PDF purchaser to have...especially for an art-lite, black and white book. However, with the "free PDF" deal, the biggest strike against this book is practically a non-issue. Sure, you will find a few plots that don't do anything for you, but there are plenty, plenty more plots for you to play with.

CONCLUSION: And in this case, art-lite is a huge boon to the book as it is CRAMMED FULL of material, and it is completely system-free, so it's not just a great addition for one of your RPGs, but for EVERY RPG. Unless you just never, ever get stuck for ideas, then this is practically a must-buy for any GM.

Tommy's Take on Invaderz Pocket Edition

Invaderz is a "beer and pretzels" RPG by Postmortem Studios about a bunch of little green men invading Earth (or, in theory, other planets). The Pocket Edition is the second edition of the game, shrunk down to inflate the page count and make you think you're getting more for your buck (that's what the Pathetic Human that wrote the introduction says!).

Fair warning: Most of the book is written "in character", from a Jerkian (those would be the Invaderz in question) perspective, though we do get little sidebars by Biblios of planet Tee'Em'Eye, which helps you "pull back the veil" a little bit.

We also get a Piracy Notice which is pretty standard in Postmortem Games books, as I understand, appealing to you to seek out and purchase other works if you enjoy the game.

ORIENTATION

This is, not surprisingly, the beginning chapter. Jerkians are all cloned from the tissue of the Jerkian Emperor, on the planet Clonius (it's the cloning planet, you see). We get the basics of the Jerkians here: They are made up of brain meat and body meat, have one eye, they are all male (although there is a whole moon rumored to be made up entirely of lesbians), and every Jerkian has a "spine worm" that keeps them standing upright.

We even get a helpful diagram of Jerkians and their "parts".

Naming is completely random: You roll 4d6 twice to get your three letter name, then roll 3d6 and that's your three digit code, such as Sop-443.

The Jerkian Empire is described, alternately in Jerkian propaganda and lampshaded by Biblios, as a bunch of insensitive jerkwads who are impossible to like, and basically do whatever the Emperor (who has gorged himself up to the size of a planet) tells them to.

As part of their invasion of Earth, they are focusing heavily on America (specifically the Bible Belt), because the people there (of which I am one, actually) are prone to "believe lies"...with Biblios pointing out huge flaws in their logic, I'm not sure if I should be offended or amused here, the implication being that my redneck kin and I are liable to give the Jerkians more violence and hostility than they are prepared for.

The Jerkian training regiment is laid out, culminating in determining what job your Jerkian performs, which is randomly determined via die roll.

CAREERS

Jerkians only really begin to show any individuality once they get their career, of which there are 13 (including the possibility of being one of the slave races instead - some of whom are actually independent contractors who just put up with Jerkian crap for the work).

There are also the Automated Robotic Servile Entities, which can be used as last minute back-up, especially if someone's Jerkian bites it with half the session left to play. All of the careers have accompanying pictures, and some have some downright hilarious mechanics, like the Assault Trooper's giant metal hands, which means they are liable to break anything - ANYTHING they try to manipulate with their hands. Hamstoid Minesweepers are the last ones who will ever be targeted in combat...great, right? Except their sole purposes are to provide sadistic amusement for Jerkians and, well, they don't get any special equipment when looking for thoose mines.

RANK

Yes, there is advancement in the game. Someone is determined to be the Commander and they get Merits that they can dole out. Whoever has the highest number of Merits at the end of the mission is promoted...whoever has the lowest number is demoted. There are 13 Jerkian ranks from 1 (Slave) to 13 (Emperor - which you can't be promoted to because, well, there's already an Emperor).

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

This actually even begins with the "What is an RPG" stuff, with the disclaimer that it is INCREDIBLY unlikely that this is going to be anyone's first RPG.

For those who haven't caught on by now, you are not meant to take the game too seriously, with the GM encouraged to accept bribes and players encouraged to not overthink things.

Character creation involves taking the info from your Job, adding something else that you are Good at, and then (if you choose) raising an Statistic (Meat, Brain Meat, Expertise or Luck), but this requires lowering another in response.

At the beginning of every mission, the highest Ranked Jerkians determine who is the Commander, and then everyone randomly rolls for assigned equipment.

The mechanic is simple: Roll a die, add a stat, add +1 or +2 if you are Good or Very Good at it. In an opposed situation, whoever rolls higher wins, otherwise the GM has set the difficulty for you (usually 1 to 8).

Health is measured on three levels: Fine, Disabled and Splattered. In most cases, a successful hit means the target is Disabled, a second one means they are Splattered.

35 pieces of Standard Equipment are available, like Armored Vests (extra level of Fine), Decoys (remember those little capsules that you can throw in water and they turn into spongy dinosaurs and stuff? Yeah, them), laser knives (the smaller version of laser swords), monoculars (it makes sense when you remember Jerkians only have one eye), plank with a nail through it (call-out to Kang and Kodos!) and Stealth Suits (which can be Space pirates, ninja, monkey, cardboard robot, tuxedo or a spare uniform). And that's just a sampling of the STANDARD stuff.

There are 34 pieces of Experimental Equipment, which are very cool and very likely to kill you or have some other side effect. Black Hole Grenades will sometimes open up TOO wide, with nasty consequences for the thrower. You can have a Dehydrated Reserve Clone, though it may wind up being a freakish mutant (I know, right?) instead. A Heat Ray is pretty useful, with a surprisingly tame backlash, and the Orbital Death Ray Controller doesn't SEEM to put its user in any immediate danger. The Time Watch can pause time...or accidentally pitch its user through time...and the Universal Remote basically lets you control ANYTHING...if it doesn't cause it to go completely haywire instead.

EARTH FIELD GUIDE

This is a pretty amusing take on the primary specimens on Earth (according to the Jerkians): Cows, sheep, dogs and humans. Jerkians have figured out that humans a) like sex and b) don't like metal objects shoved in their butts...so they're on the right track, at least!

ENEMIES

Once you get through the Jerkian take on human society, you get stock stats for most earthling adversaries like Soldiers, Cops, Rednecks, Scientists, Earth Females and Men in Black.

BATTLE PLANS

These amount to 20 mission seeds for the Jerkian Emperor to toss at the unit, from destroying a city to get back at Men in Black, to hijacking Santa Claus to rounding up babies for the Emperor to feast on.

PLANET GUIDE

These are the planet of the Jerkian Empire, all humorous parodies of the Star Wars trope of a single purpose planet: Clonius is the clone planet, Fac-Tor is a gigantic storage shed (essentially), Lesbia would be where all the (alleged) female Jerkians (allegedly) live, Jerkia is what the Emperor has become, Threed...is a giant planet of yarn (it's a tourist attraction).

CONCLUSION

While some other humor RPGs are more joke than game, Invaderz is perfectly playable (just don't take it too seriously). The author tossed some biting commentary in there without ever being heavy handed, and did it in such a way (through the Jerkians, who were already called out as being full of it by Biblios) that I wasn't sure if I should have been offended or not...and then I decided that I was thinking about it too much, laughed, and went on.

There were even some references that I didn't get until I said the Jerkian words out loud phonetically, face-palmed for not getting them, and laughed...and I'm sure I still missed some references on top of that.

If you like humor RPGs AT ALL, pick up the PDF of Invaderz, which is "app-priced" at $1.99. It's the best humor RPG I've read because of the wittiness of the writing combined with an actual (albeit simple) game being there. (I thought Gnomemurdered was great, but it essentially broke down into a coin toss...I think my players would feel cheated there. Here, they would be in on the joke.)

If there had been a "random mission generator", this thing would have been gold.