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Cthulhu Wild West... without the spaghetti. Yes, it's gritty. Yes, it's deadly. Yes, it is a fine intro to CoC in the old west.... not the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Western Old West... but the Old West... grim, gritty... violent sometimes.... This is one crunchy morsel... expect high lethality.... you may have to pull some strings as GM to not invoke total party annihilation... Excellent product. If this is what we can expect from this company, I suspect their products will be worth actually paying for.
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| Epoch |
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by mark k. [Verified Purchaser]
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Date Added: 01/21/2013 09:29:27 |
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My Full Review is at http://madmindgamer.blogspot.com/2013/01/review-epoch.htmlr />
Epoch is a horror game that will test your role playing skills and your mental capacities. It is serious roleplaying in which it is imperative to be invested in both your character and the story. It will make you uncomfortable at times and force you to make the hard decisions. In the end, it delivers what it promises. You will get a unique horror experience that you will remember, and at the end of the day, that's all that matters.
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| Epoch |
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by Aaron H. [Verified Purchaser]
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Date Added: 12/20/2012 20:17:50 |
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The following review was originally posted at Roleplayers Chronicle and can be read in its entirety at http://roleplayerschronicle.com/?p=30327.
EPOCH is epic! This is more than just a role-playing game, in that it is also a new kind of narrative tool with the power to improve your storytelling and role-playing in general. EPOCH is a cooperative game, meaning that the players and Game Master work together to weave a quality horror story. It is a contemporary horror game, but the elements of the game can easily be ported to other genres.
This review was delayed by a considerable margin, much to the chagrin of my Chief Editor, for a very selfish reason. Upon reading the book and assembling the cards, I gathered some players and began to play . . . and play . . . and play.
We played the Tension Phases, in which drama is built up and invoked. We played Challenge Rounds, in which some characters survived and those who ran out of the right sorts of cards perished in a particularly entertaining and horrific manner through total mental collapse, death, or something much worse. We cringed. We laughed. We voted for the most interesting character, who received a card back that had been played and therefore had a better chance of surviving the total game. These games went on. Addicted, we played more. So it went.
You’ll notice that certain keywords in this review are capitalized. These correspond to major categories of cards. This game is played with cards – lots of cards. There are no dice involved. Cards drive the narrative progression. Cards define your Relationships, be they Colleagues, Friends, Family, or Strangers. Cards are used to portray your Traits, Strengths, and Weaknesses – and you get to keep them secret until you use them in the game.
When you run out of certain cards, the opportunity to role-play a quality doom is upon you. Scream. Throw yourself on the floor and have a fit. Cower in a corner, whispering strange nonsense. Die poetically, or badly – it’s your choice. Think of any horror movie you’ve ever seen. EPOCH lets you enter such a story and play it to whatever extreme your creativity permits. As a horror game, it allows three possible Outcomes, using a tool known as the Horror Track: Defeat, Hollow Victory, or Total Victory. The more points the characters score as they work through the story, the better the outcome.
OVERALL
I have been enthralled by EPOCH. This is a totally new way to run a role-playing game and is extremely satisfying. EPOCH is also educational, and the mechanics force a cooperative structure and atmosphere that can enhance the play of other role-playing games as well. Get it.
RATINGS
Publication Quality: 9 out of 10
This rating will improve to 10 out of 10 as soon as a professionally-rendered print-on-demand set of playing cards is available. As a PDF product, the graphics, type, and structure are excellent. Full sets of cards are well-rendered and everything you need to play is presented in an excellent fashion. The different types of content are visually separated, and the progression of information is well-formatted. I found that assembling my deck of cards took quite a while. It was well worth the work but, being a lazy sort dedicated to instant gratification, this took some effort. To our great fortune, Imaginary Empire is planning to release a print-on-demand EPOCH card deck in 2013, along with two sci-fi scenarios and an additional volume with optional rules, additional scenarios, and advice on constructing your own storylines.
Until then, here’s a helpful hint: print the PDF cards using “actual size” rather than “fit to printing area”. Use a good thick paper 30 – 50 lb stock. Cut the cards out carefully towards the inside edge of the thick black lines. The fronts and backs can then be slid into clear Ulta Pro 54 mm by 80 mm Board Game Sleeves. These can be found online in packs of 50. Get two packs.
Mechanics: 10 out of 10
The mechanics are laid out systematically and the breakdown has been structured in a way that makes the system easy to grasp. There is a one-page overview sheet that shows the structure of the entire game, complete with page references for immediate review. EPOCH is a different type of game, so there is much to learn, and this has been structured in an excellent fashion.
Desire to Play: 9 out of 10
The only reason this isn’t a 10 rating is that EPOCH is very different from most games in this genre. There are some players who might rebel against the lack of dice in a purely card-driven system. There is very little room in EPOCH for the admittedly popular adversarial relationship between the Game Master (GM) and the players, so there may be certain players who might not be able to adapt to this extremely different narrative approach.
Overall: 9 out of 10
In conclusion, EPOCH has already improved the quality of my own role-playing and story-telling. I have complete confidence that it can do the same for you. Give it a try.
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| Epoch |
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by robert e. [Verified Purchaser]
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Date Added: 11/12/2012 20:23:04 |
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Played this for the first time last week. Amazing!!
As with the previous reviewers comments, the system really encourages over the top characters and roleplaying. It was my fault as GM, but the game did turn into a bit of a comedy horror extravaganza.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the game, though one player had a gripe with the rules ( maybe because he was the first to die. :-) )
This game has encouraged the players to roleplay more in our regular games ( Call of Cthulhu, Delta Green and WFRP), which makes it worth much more than $7.
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| Epoch |
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by Igor D. [Verified Purchaser]
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Date Added: 11/04/2012 02:36:44 |
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Excellent game.
We had over-the-top characters and flashbacks that the group used to describe their characters and reveal their secrets. The voting system did push us a bit to be interesting, but in the spirit of the genre that wasn't too hard. If you like cheesy sci-fi and horror films, this game is amazing. It really got the group roleplaying and laughing.
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This is an excellent one-shot adventure, and one certainly can't quibble with the price. Production values are pretty good, and the plot, though it tends to force the players into a specific path, has some variability in it allowing for certain side adventures. There is a brief sketch of Tombstone that provides enough information to play it to the extent necessary for this adventure. Eight pre-generated investigators are provided, including two women in case your group has any ladies in it. The encounters aren't too pre-scripted which gives the players some opportunity to vary the outcome in each individual case. The various confrontations aren't particularly deadly, though the final scene can be very bloody indeed. The author has also provided some adventure seeds in case you want to use the scenario in an extended campaign. In fact, this could be a very good starting scenario for an old-west campaign setting, though it would require some significant work in order to ensure the players can develop a gradual understanding of the mythos despite being forced to confront the monsters at the end -- still, they aren't major monsters and they are different enough that they could lead to further complications later on. Finally, it would be an interesting change of pace for your group, even as a one-shot adventure (and would result in an interesting back-story to a new threat arising in the classic or modern era...).
All in all, its an excellent effort with general verisimilitude to the western culture, (barring one glaring mis-reference to the "Pony Express" which apparently used wagons to deliver the mail in the author's world, instead of riding ponies and carrying the mail in their saddle bags.)
Overall I gave it a four for being a one-shot adventure as well as being somewhat "rail-roady" in its nature. Anyway, as I noted earlier, the price is right, and I strongly urge you to acquire a copy while you can!
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A beautiful Arabian fantasy. It needs a bit of polish, but the game is sound and delivers in play. The characters are highly detailed and woven together in a network of romance, treachery and revenge which should keep people busy for the expected three hours. Pay attention to your set dressing and you will have a very memorable larp experience. Recommended.
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