Ravenous Role Playing

I hit my FLGS today and picked up a copy of Arcanis for my RPG collection. I reviewed the Free RPG Day offering here, and I was so incredibly impressed by the work I found in the free book that I picked up the full RPG today. I wanted to get it earlier, but finances just wouldn’t allow for it. I’ll be digging through the full book in short order and I’ll let you know what I think of the full RPG as I get through it. I’m not sure if I’ll do one huge blog post about it, or do it one post per codex. There are four large sections to the book, so I’ll probably break things up logically and review each section as I get through it and then do a final summary of my thoughts.

How was the overall offering for this year’s Free RPG Day? Very excellent, I must say. The highest grade was A+ and the lowest was C-. A good range and none were failing scores. Most of the books from this year received at least an A- or higher.

Here’s the breakdown of the final grades in the order that I reviewed them:
We Be Goblins (Pathfinder) / A-
Rescue Mission (Tunnels & Trolls) / A
Dragon Age Quickstart Guide / A+
Broken Chains (Black Crusade) / A-
Histaven (D&D) / C-
Hollow Earth Expedition / A+
Aspect / B-
Arcanis / A+
The Waking Dead (AFMBE) / A-
Castles & Crusades / A
A Day Late, A Shilling Short (WFRP) / C-
Prime Directive / B
Dungeon Crawl Classics / A
Final Sanction (Deathwatch) / A
Under the Rose (Exalted) / B-
A Nightmare at Hill Manor (WoD) / A+

I want to extend my most heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the organizers of Free RPG Day and the participating publishers. I may have been a little harsh on some of you at times, but I do thank each and every single one of you for giving me the chance to review the materials you worked on with every last drop of your blood, sweat and tears. Keep up the good work, everyone!

The average grade point average for this year’s Free RPG Day came out at 3.41375 on a 4.0 scale. That’s a solid ‘A’ grade, there.

Again, thanks to everyone participating in Free RPG Day (organizers, publishers, consumers, readers, commenters, players and everyone else.) I hope see you here again between now and next year’s Free RPG Day as I start reviewing various RPG materials that I come across. Of course, I’ll still keep on doing the Friday Five offerings as well.

Enjoy!

At 64 pages in length, this is a tome for a freebie! When I first picked it up, I thought I had two copies in my hand because of the thickness and weight. When I realized that it was a single offering from White Wolf, I was quite happy to have it in my pile o’ loot. I didn’t save this particular book as the last review (oh, btw, this is the final Free RPG Day review for this year) for any particular reason. It just happened to be on the bottom of the pile when I stacked them all up after scanning the covers for the images that you’ve seen here.

The first 28 pages of the book cover rules, Storyteller adjudications, character traits, skills, merits, combat, morality, derangements (these were especially fun!), and the basic seven steps of creating a character. I truly believe that a fresh character can be created based off of these 28 pages instead of relying on the four well-done pregenerated characters that are found at the back of the book.

Following these sections of the book comes the Storyteller section: the adventure. This section of the book runs from pages 29 through 53 and is some of the best, creepiest, darkest and most inspiring adventure work that I’ve seen thus far this year in the Free RPG Day offerings. Maybe I just like the dark stuff over the light and fluffy stuff. Who knows? Regardless, this really reached out and stroked my inner gamer with a glancing touch that left shivers up my spine. It’s good stuff. Even if you don’t like the World of Darkness setting or rules (I happened to like [but not love] both), then I’d suggest you find this somewhere on the Internet and give it a good, hard read. Even though there are no maps, there is a “flowchart” of sorts right up front that assists the Storyteller in how the flow of the game should go.

After the adventure is a three-page appendix covering how ghosts work in their basics. Why an appendix on ghosts? You’ll just have to play the game to find out!

Grade: A+ / This is a well-written piece. When I got into it, I was expecting 60 pages of fluff and 4 pages of crunch since it’s a White Wolf production. I was pleasantly surprised to find it evenly balanced and very exciting.

Wow. This Free RPG Day adventure for the Exalted system by White Wolf jumps right into the adventure and keeps on running. I was a little taken aback by this development as I was expecting some form of introduction to the game, the system, the setting or the general feel of the game system. None of that was to be found, so it took me a bit to get into the adventure. There was quite a bit of assumed knowledge on the part of the book, so I found myself lost from time-to-time while grok’ing the adventure.

Despite the fact that I felt lost at time (and I’m sure that if I knew the Exalted genre/feel/system/etc. that it would have been fine,) the adventure was well written, very thorough and looks like a hoot to play.

After the 23 page adventure concluded, there were five pregenerated characters for use within the system. The characters were prefaced with a short blurb about their power level, so that an existing group or Storyteller could inject this adventure into an ongoing Exalted campaign or series. That’s a key piece of information considering the power level for the adventure is quite a bit higher than the “just beginning” level that is normally found in most freebies.

The five characters are packed with crunchy knowledge, but very little fluff on how the character’s attitudes are supposed to be played. This is kind of odd coming from White Wolf which is known for their top-notch fluff. (If you don’t know what I mean about crunch vs. fluff, then hit Google and type it in. There’s a wealth of information [and opinions] on the matter.)

Grade: B- / They didn’t include rules or enough information for this to be a stand-alone, but the writing is so well done that the grade gets a bump up from the standard ‘C’ that I give folks that don’t allow me to run a freebie stand-alone.

This book is set in the Warhammer 40k world of the Dark Imperium vs. the even Darker Hordes of Evil… or something like that. It’s based off of the premise that everyone in the party is an elite Space Marine that has been chosen to enter the ranks of Deathwatch. You may be thinking that with everyone being a Space Marine that it’ll be hard to differentiate one character from another, but based on the sample characters, this is not the case. Each of the four pregenerated characters are very distinct from one another in their abilities, equipment, attitudes and backgrounds. It’s quite impressive how Fantasy Flight Games and Games Workshop can take something as generic as “Space Marine” and turn it into a role playing concept where everyone can be unique.

The first few pages introduce the concept behind the role playing game and then follows the four, well-written characters. After the characters comes the usual rules summary that can be found in most of the Warhammer 40k type RPGs. There are a couple of extra pages of rules regarding Hordes and how to run them as well as a couple of pages about Demeanors, Space Marine equipment and their typical gear.

Following this is the adventure. Final Sanction is a well-written adventure that flows nicely from plot point to plot point. I like it quite a bit. I’d love to delve into some of the finer points of the adventure that impressed me, but I can’t do so without spoiling the game for potential players. Let me just say that if you like any of the Fantasy Flight Games/Games Workshop settings, rules, encounters or adventures, then you’ll enjoy this one as well. Again, there are no maps to be found. (What can I say? I’m a visual person.)

Grade: A / Would be an A+, but without maps to help my tiny brain tie it all together, they lose out a bit.

The stylistic settings of this DCC production really brings me back to the early days of role playing, but with a better twist. In the “olden days” we’d move from room to room killing off whatever random critter the GM had stocked in the room and collecting whatever treasure he had deemed necessary for the area. I’m so glad that my role playing efforts have evolved beyond the simple dungeon crawl that made no sense. Goodman Games has done this with their dungeon crawls. They are sensible, elegant, packed with traps and puzzles and require thinking as well as good dice rolls to overcome and succeed.

The “Core Mechanic” page didn’t really explain too much about the game, but it did set the scene with comparisons on what to expect if you’re a “new school” or “old school” gamer (my words, not theirs.) This is a good setup and explanation. No room was given over to the rules because DCC beta PDFs are available from their web site for free. While I love to see rules summarized in Free RPG Day offerings, this is acceptable to me because the download is free and easily obtained.

There are not one, but two, adventures included in this offering and both of them are very well done. The Portal Under The Stars is a great adventure, but is very deadly for the levels provided. I haven’t played a game in a long time where each player needs 2-4 characters in order to successfully finish the game. I do remember those with fondness, though. They’re great games where risks are rewarded and stupidity is punished.

The next adventure, The Infernal Crucible of Sezrekan the Mad, is a straightforward dungeon crawl, but there’s a twist in the game (I’m not going to give it away here) that requires the players to think things through rather than approach a “kill ‘em all and let the gods sort it out” attitude. I like this quite a bit.

Oh. I forgot to mention the maps. I’m not sure who “DKZ” (I think the last letter is a ‘Z’) is, but his (or her) artistic style in creating the maps is wonderful. If you have a chance, snag this booklet just for the maps that are included. It’s a great piece of artwork that is also completely functional. I’ve seen many maps that were done with a “high art” style that failed to be usable by the GM, but this is not the case here.

Grade: A / These two adventures are a great introduction to DCC. Why not an “A+”? Mainly because of the Zocchi Dice that are used in the system. I already have too many dice and don’t need a system that will add more oddities to my collection.

When I saw “GURPS 4e” in the top-left corner of this offering, I got very excited. Finally! Something from Steve Jackson Games. Alas, it was not to be. This used stat blocks from GURPS and the PD20 Modern systems, but did not include any explanation of the rules or systems. This really disappointed me in the freebie, and then I realized that the Amarillo Design Bureau wasn’t here to sell me a game system, but a setting. I’ll forgive them for splitting me up between GURPS and PD20M and not giving me any rules to hang my hat on.

This sixteen page book included sporadic information wrapped around several sample characters. There were seven characters included in the booklet. Each character came with a background and full stat blocks for GURPS and PD20M. However, each page that contained a character also contained a small bit of vital information for the GM. It’s like they took spare space from each page and scattered charts, randomizers and other GM information wherever they could find some whitespace. This meant it prevented me from photocopying the prebuilt characters and handing them out. It limits the usefulness of the book because of the time investment necessary to get the stats to the characters. Of course, I could always get my group to build out their own characters using one system or the other and then run the mini adventure.

Speaking of the mini adventure, I really like what I see. It’s free form enough to allow the GM to make quite a few decisions on his own to cater the adventure to his/her particular group. I also like the details given for the three optional ships provided as well as the deck maps right in the middle of the book. It’s very well done.

Grade: B / Good adventure, but can’t be run by itself. It got a higher grade than other books that did this to me because of the free form quality of the adventure.

Where to start with this one?

The production value of this fifteen page booklet is incredibly high, but that’s fairly normal for a Games Workshop release. Great artwork, great layout, legible usage of fonts and text coloring all can be found here.

That’s just about where the good stuff comes to a halt. For a “freebie”, this booklet is worthless. It’s an adventure for WFRP with four pregenerated characters (one of which you’re urged to not use, so what’s the point?) However, there are no rules, explanation of combat, details of stats or anything else that resembles what is needed to run the adventure contained within the covers.

Games Workshop’s efforts to explain the various rules and character generation aspects of the game are merely references to page numbers in the books that can be found in the $100 box set. What this boils down to is the fact that you have to shell out $100 in order to make use of the freebie. That’s not a very good price to put on a Free RPG Day offering.

To end on a high note, the adventure looks quite enjoyable to either run or play, but I can’t say for sure since there are references to rule, powers and abilities that I have no idea what they mean because I don’t have access to the core game.

Maybe Games Workshop will get their WFRP Free RPG Day stuff together next year.

Grade: C- / While it’s a fine adventure for those people that own the game, this fails to entice me to shell out the large coin to buy the core box set in order to play the freebie.

Holy small print, Batman! The font used in the C&C Free RPG Day book had to be 6 point or smaller. Wow, tngss was hard to read. However, I understand why they did it. There was a ton of information packed into 17 pages.

The book starts with character creation and go through all of the details necessary to create characters in four different classes and four different races. All of the information necessary for a fighter, rogue, wizard or cleric (including spell lists) is provided. In addition to the class section, all of the abilities and details about dwarves, elves, halflings and humans is contained within the book as well.

The six basic attributes (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) and all that they entail come in the book as well. All steps necessary to create a C&C character from scratch are also included, which is amazing for a freebie. I love this aspect of the C&C submission. Several pages are dedicated to detailing the provided races and classes with enough information there to run any combination of the ones provided. It’s like a player’s handbook rolled into a tiny form.

Following this, the spells are listed out in three pages. Only the most scant of details are given here, but due to space considerations, that’s understood. The CK (Castle Keeper) is left to make rulings on the listed spells without much to go on, but that’s OK by me. A good GM can make great rule adjudications in situations like this.

Next comes three and a half pages on how to run the game, how combat works, and how the SEIGE Engine system operates. It’s all very clearly spelled out and works quite well. Just enough points of rule to run the quick start book without getting bogged down.

The book ends up with two and a half pages of an “adventure.” I toss this in quotes because it’s not much of an adventure. It’s more like a good setup, a small bit of investigation and a raid by the PCs on the Bad Guy’s stronghold (I’m using that word loosely.) It’s just enough to go on to make the encounters involved to show off ability checks, combat and saving throws.

The back cover contains four pregenerated characters that really aren’t necessary since the entire character creation process is given in the front of the book. I think the space allocated to the characters could be used to expand the adventure somewhat to make it a little more thorough, but the way things stand, it all works quite well.

Grade: A / Overall, the free offering is great. Did it inspire me to run out and buy the game? Not really. This is mainly because it is very close in nature to several other games (D&D, Pathfinder, AD&D, etc.) that I already own. I still think this is the way many freebies should be done because of the level of detail included in the character generation and rules explorations. Just use a bigger font next time, please?

The Waking Dead offering from All Flesh Must By Eaten by Eden Studios came in a slightly smaller booklet than the rest of the Free RPG Day books, but that’s OK. I rarely judge a book by its cover (or size.) This book starts an intro to the game, setting and available archtypes that covers two pages.

After this were six archtypes with one full page dedicated to each pregenerated character. The archtypes are, well, generic and stereotypical. I can totally see them being dropped into a modern zombie movie and being forced to work together for the safety of the group as a whole. The Personality section of each character gives just enough flavor for the players to play the character as it was intended. Of course, there’s enough freedom in each personality profile to allow for some personalization by the players.

Next, we find six pages of rules regarding combat, fear checks (and cool results!) and how luck plays into the game. The rules are very straightforward, easily learned and put to use. I like this simple system quite a bit.

Most of the rest of the book (10 pages) is dedicated to The Waking Dead adventure. The adventure is very standard fare for a zombie movie. This isn’t a knock or a bad thing. This is the flavor in which the game was intended to be played and for the fans of this genre, this adventure is right on target. There’s also opportunity for intrigue, a little backstabbing and different approaches by different players. I like this extra flavor quite a bit. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, some maps would be nice. I like how the hospital area was handled, but the rest of it could have used a sample location or two that was already mapped out instead of telling the ZM (Zombie Master) to turn to the Internet to find his own maps.

Then there are two pages of stats for the Main Good Guy and Main Bad Guy that are part of the adventure. There’s also a page of stats on various vehicles that might be used during the game as well as two pages of stats on various weapons (close and ranged.)

At the end of the book, is a quick catalog of items, which is always a good idea to put something like that into a freebie to let interested parties know that there’s more out there.

If you’re a huge fan of the zombies-trying-to-eat-humans-but-get-shot-in-the-head-instead genre, then this is the game for you. I’m kind of middle of the road on zombies, so this game didn’t really grab me. That’s not because of poor production value or lack of quality in the writing or creativity. I’m just not the right target market for this product.

Grade: A- / Good work on creating a great product for a specific (and probably large) target audience. I dinged them a little because of the lack of maps.