A pretty epic issue - in which you can find Veil 2020. A game I designed to play old-school cyberpunk 2020 content.

This issue is packed full of good stuff - including the scenario I wrote for The Veil, Solace.

Quick read; concise rules and clear explanations with examples. Impressive, especially since it's just in early access! Love the idea of combining actions with emotions, and the emotional state changing each time a scene is set. Actions combined with emotional states is elegant. Not surprisingly, I like this a lot. You give the additional context I like when roleplaying. Too often that kind of stuff goes unsaid and it's the most interesting part of the fiction for me. I'd like to see this in play.

I've played an earlier version of this and really enjoyed it. The ashcan doesn't have the hydro hack mechanics and I am sure those will probably change but I really dig that aspect of the game, which used cards and moves in order to get good, clean water without nanobots from corporations. The setting is cool, I like cyberpunk that takes climate change into consideration. It's an original concept and the war between the U.S and Canada over The Great Lakes and fallout is a great hook. Looking forward to the final product with more history and the final mechanics.

Was a solid and fun game, enjoyed reading this ashcan version found over at DrivethruRPG. com - which also has print-on-demand for the game (which is what I got) for quite cheap!

I love all my children equally of course, but I do think that I've come a long way in terms of my design, writing, and layout skills. I think it's a pretty great game and hope you enjoy it, too.

Evocative throughout the book. From Pariahs of the Earth to combat to the kinds of lamps you can find and use. I am not that interested in the murderhobo end of games but this is the best pitch I’ve come across in terms of making a journey like this an interesting prospect. If there was a supplement like this for travel and exploration above land I might actually get excited to play games in this genre.

I want to get this to the table. I don’t think I’ll use Lamentations for a few reasons. But I’m confident that I’ll play this which is not always the case when buying RPG books.

Accessible to new-comers in the hobby without feeling bloated for the more experienced people. An elegant framework based on World of Dungeons, in which you add an attribute (Strength, Agility, Intelligence, or Willpower) to 2d6 with degrees of success. At a cost, full success, or a miss. When you roll with an applicable skill you can re-roll one die.

It seems quick and easy to make a character. Stat block, choose a class (Warrior, Outlaw, Geek, or Psychic), get some gear, name yourself--and you're on your way. You also make a ship together, which feels like it'd be fun and fast. You need to maintain the ship and you can upgrade it.

I like that money is abstracted like in Powered by the Apocalypse games, I hate bookkeeping but like shopping. So this is for me. Gear is more than just fictional positioning, dictating damage and harm, etc. Supply and travel matter.

GM section seems solid, giving the GM goalposts for the kind of fiction the game is going for. There's a die of fate, as in World of Dungeons, where, if the GM isn't sure about something, they can adjudicate it to a die roll and be impartial and be surprised by outcomes just as the players are.

There's also a job framework, a star map and factions (inspired by Stars Without Number), includes some tables for inspiration, and feels pretty complete. Where World of Dungeons is 2 pages, this is 31 and the additional information is a benefit. The additional design inspirations feel like they'd be in service to the desired fiction.

The layout is mostly great. For a free product, uh, it's amazing. I don't like three column but the layout shifts throughout, keeping things easy on the eyes. The font is a little small but on a PDF where you can zoom in--no big deal. There's way more art than I'd expect in a) a free product b) a 31 page PDF. The art is good, the tone might clash a bit with the text, though; which feels more old-school and dangerous. Whereas the art is pretty light.

Find the game here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/257632/Offworlders?term=offworlders&test_epoch=0

I'll definitely pick up a print copy and I'm excited about this. I'm a player in a game where we will be using this to play Dead Planet, a module for an OSR game, Mothership. Which, if you're curious, you can find here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/249108/Mothership-Dead-Planet?term=dead+planet&test_epoch=0

The back of the book says the design was influenced by the games of Luke Crane, Thor Olavsrud, Vincent Baker, Adam Koebel, John Harper, and Tom Moldvay. The Deep Dark wears its influences on its sleeve, which is a good thing. For people who have played Torchbearer, Dungeon World or World of Dungeons, Mouse Guard, and Torchbearer; you'll find an arrangement of mechanics that seem like they would replicate a table experience that is similar in the granularity of dungeon delving as Torchbearer. The narrative control passing similar to Dungeon World. Combat feels Mouse Guard-y because there are captains for the party that handle things like initiative and what range people start at. But yet still fiction first even in high granularity like this.

The main classes: The Cartographer, The Quartermaster, The Master-At-Arms, The Theologist, and The Arcanist feel old school but have some nice flavor, as well as some meta-level responsibilities, such as making checks to do their job: mapping out the space they move through.

Everything boils down to d6 rolls with modifiers applied. The formula itself is 1d6 + Attribute (Tough, Deft, Wise) + Descriptor + Tool + Alignment. Essentially, if you can get work these other things into the fiction you'll get a +1 to your roll. If another character helps you, that player rolls two dice and takes the highest, so long as it makes sense in the fiction. You land a hit, you roll the damage die for your weapon minus armor (depending on the kind of damage being dealt).

Instead of HP everyone has a Health Descriptor track that gets crossed out as you're wounded and people can take debilities to mitigate damage. But if you're on the last descriptor at the end of the scene--ya dead.

There are lots of skills and an emphasis on light, very torchbearer in this. It's assumed dungeons are in complete darkness and you need to spend resources to keep it going, or else the group suffers penalties.

You get equipment based on your lineage: Elvish, Dwarvish, Halfling, Humans; which all seem to be pretty D&D/Tolkien-esk. Old elves, halflings in the shires, that sort of stuff. Then you get stuff for your class and, finally, you roll a d12 for a random thing you can start with.

There are relationships that work like Bonds in Dungeon World, one direction things your character is working toward resolving or exploring in the fiction. And everyone's got their alignment statements as well, which can be used for fictional positioning.

Spells are pretty standard but also have failure results, which I like a lot. Orisons, for the Theologian, which need to memorize spells and make pilgrimages to temples to memorize new ones.

Advancement and XP have multiple avenues including resolving relationships, recovering health, if your alignment pushed the story forward in a meaningful way, or giving a session recap. When you gain a new level you can increase one of your attributes (to a max of +3), choose another skill from the comprehensive skill list, or learn a new spell.

There is a GM section with good advice on dungeons, towns, perilous journeys, and wilderlands (between towns and the deep dark). It has principles laid out similar to Apocalypse World games and segues into this stuff. There's a long play example at the end that is also pretty helpful.

Overall it's pretty interesting. I think I'd feel comfortable GMing it. I suspect it might end up being a bit too granular for me and the tactical portion of combat with Mouse Guard was a bit of a miss for me. Starting out in different ranges so that only some of you might be able to go, like ranged people and whatnot is interesting, though. It's stated characters move 1 step per round though, I'd just call it a day and say you move in and out of ranges with a move action or something.

It all feels like it would gel together nicely and thrusts at an overall design goal that would be Old School... except the influences are mostly anything but, at least, mechanically.

Ironsworn is a Powered by the Apocalypse game with a bunch of inspirations that make for a really elegant design. It puts an emphasis on undertaking quests in a dark fantasy world that can be tweaked to a groups tastes.

If you’re familiar with PbtA games, you’ll find a lot of moves; more than I generally like in a design. But the structure helps manage the cognitive load. Each set aside for a journey or combat, etc.

The major selling point for this game is the single player, co-op, or traditional play where there’s a GM and players. It’s clever in its simplicity for this. There are a few ways to execute the rules (move) outcomes that accommodate your play style.

Without playing the game I suspect this might be the hardest hurdle. A lot of pick lists goal post interesting fictional outcomes tailored to specific triggers. This is a more subtle way of having the players internalize the kind of fiction the game is shooting for, as well as some of the more interesting friction points and dramatic outcomes. The strength of this structure is there’s a bunch of lists you can take inspiration from and you can play single player or co-op. I think the downside is the absence of these pick lists that make all the moves look sterile because the evocative outcomes are all someplace else. I imagine this will be the largest friction point for me running it but I’m eager to find out.

Combat wise, I really like that initiative is gained and lost along with outcomes of moves. That makes a lot of sense to me and is one of those simple things you wonder why something like Dungeon World wouldn’t have done something like that, too.

I love the chapter educating you about the setting. I think it’s evocative and the quest seeds are *chefs kiss*.

This book features a great minimalist single column layout, something you don’t see often in RPGs. I hate double and triple column so this layout is exactly what I want/am hoping for. The art, while stock, also is always suitable and features people of colour and, though I wasn’t counting, seem to feature a heavier emphasis on women then men, all of which isn’t sexualized.

The text made me confident that I could run it and come up with a cool world with folks at the table. The product is very well written and clear and looks very professional at a great price point.

It’s a no brainer grabbing this one, I think.

Well written, cogent, and elegant mechanics. The premise, as the book clearly states upfront, will appeal to some and not others. If you are interested in the premise though, the game seems like it would do what it sets out to do well. I have very little experience with GM-less or GM-full (ha) games, but it seems straightforward. The art is evocative of the mechanics, theme, and tone. I have yet to play it so the score is reflective of the text only, which seems great!