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This is an excellent game that perfectly captures the feel of the 60s and 70s "spy-fi" genre. It can be used to emulate anything from James Bond (from the serious early and latest movies to the goofiest of the Moore movies from the 70s) to The Prisoner to The Avengers to Austin Powers. It is a worthy successor to Spycraft as the go-to game for action-oriented superspy adventures.
The game uses the excellent FATE system and it keeps that "pulpy" feel from earlier FATE games Spirit of the Century and Star Blazer Adventures. It expands some mechanics (organization rules), cleans up some rules (skills and stunts), and introduces some interesting new twists of its own (Swing dice). It also includes lots of examples, including sample characters, vehicles and organizations.
Don't let the page count intimidate you. The physical book is a nice, tidy, compact digest-sized book. It's neatly organized and easy to flip through.
Agents of S.W.I.N.G is a good buy for anyone looking for an action spy game or any fans of the FATE system.
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This is how you write a FATE or Fudge game. Clear organization, plenty of sample characters. Even an adventure. Although based off Starblazers and Legends of Anglerre, it is light enough to play on its own.
Favorite bits: the characters, everything from Emma Peal-inspred Avengers to The Doctor (circa John Pertwee) to a Moriarty-style Fu Manchu. The only FATE/Fudge game to change the attribute ratings (instead of a character being Average, they are Yawn. Instead of Mediocre, they are Bent; Good is Cool). I also enjoy the silohettes that may be traced for easy character drawings (as on the cover). The tone can range from somewhat ludicrous to serious and cinematic (or seriously cinematic). To use one of the adjectives on their own ladder: Far Out.
Take the strong Mature Audiences Only Warning seriously. I counted at least one f-bomb, but in context it made perfect sense.
One of the best written and easiest games. I went and ordered the paper back. It's that good.
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Invader Zim the RPG! Wow. I saw this little game at $1.99 and thought to myself, what have I got to lose? What I got was over 100 pages of smart, animated comedy madness in the vein of Invader Zim (This is my favourite show!) The game itself has a light and breezy ol' school feel to it, with lots of tables (even a table for making up invader names) and heaps of weird technological treasures that will be sure to cause more problems than they are worth. If you are a fan of Invader Zim, or just looking for a cheery-fun-happy-happy-joy-DOOM time, then you can't go wrong with this little gem. Final word? Buy it. Or I will fill your cows with dookie!
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These war priests are evocative, dynamic and sinister. All images are highly detailed. Each image has a real sense of character, and there is a good variety amongst them. I really like the heavily armored priest, that could just as easily be a paladin or the like. Very impressive.
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This is one of the strangest products I've ever bought and I enjoyed it immensely. Tough Justice is a rules light RPG that plays out court cases in England's justice system under the Bloody Code. I'm not normally a fan of rules light and indy games, but I liked the mechanics behind this one. Basically every action in the game benefits one of two sides (played by opposing groups of PC) the prosecution and the defense. In essence, the entire game becomes one long, drawn out opposed skill check, which adds incredible amounts of tension and allows for the kind of back and forth competition of good court fiction. Now, the book was inspired by BBC period dramas, but as an American cop-show junkie, the ruleset could easily be modified to handle something like Law and Order and the Wire.
Alternatively, the opposed skill check mechanic could be used to simulate prolonged tensions and elaborate battles for dominance between any two groups. I could easily see this as the engine for a cyberpunk espionage game, with one group taking the role of spies and infiltrators, and another group playing the security forces set out to stop them. Likewise, I could play out Spider Jerusalem's battle against the Smiler, from the comic Transmetropolitian or zoom out a bit and have one set of players represent NATO and another group represent the Warsaw Pact.
The historical info was great, and the exhaustive dictionary of cant and period slang was almost worth the purchase price alone. The gaming fiction was incredibly well done, and a high point, if incredibly bizarre. The one problem I see with this system is that being so rules light, you really need a good, well educated group of experienced gamers to play it with. If you have that, you've got an experience as good as the sample game played out in Tough Justice's pages. If you don't... well you've got Victorian flavored crap.
One thing that botheredme was the almost complete lack of art. One of the benefits of running period games is that there are plenty of public domain art (such as etchings from period newspapers) resources to pick from. I wish Postmortem Studios had availed itself of some of the free art resources out there to illustrate its product.
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My previous experience with ready-made D&D adventures was mostly with the ones from Dungeon Magazine. Compared with the long, pointless, blood-soaked slogs published there, this one comes off as short, sweet, to the point, and overall very nice. It packs a lot of atmosphere on its short setting description and introductory chapter, and the pregen characters included here nicely complement the storyline with their differing opinions and potential for intra-party drama.
It also doesn't feel the need to make characters advance levels by shoehorning 10-20 combat encounters into the storyline - the combats that are there are all very dramatically appropriate and serve the story, rather than the other way around.
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Hilarious! I picked this up because of a podcast actual play session I heard, and I started laughing right from the first page. The writing sets the tone, and the book(let) is easy to read with rules clearly laid out. If you're looking for something fast and fun, I'd say this game is for you. Plus, the price is tough to beat.
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Good line art to use as a character portrait, stock image or even for your own publications.
The license is included and easy to understand.
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Good line art to use as a character portrait, stock image or even for your own publications.
The license is included and easy to understand.
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Good line art to use as a character portrait, stock image or even for your own publications.
The license is included and easy to understand.
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Good line art to use as a character portrait, stock image or even for you own publications.
The license is included and easy to understand.
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Good line art to use as a character portrait, stock image or even for you own publications.
The license is included and easy to understand.
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This is a very clever and well-illustrated niche product that will have fans of old B-Movies and/or psychobilly music nodding and singing along with real enjoyment. Not only does the game make a good read, it also gets your mind churning out idea after idea as you process how you would actually use this with your group.
Anyone who has seen 6-String Samurai will slaughter any number of mutated wastelands dwellers to get into a game of Psychobilly Retropocalypse~
Things to Like:
+Good layout
+Evocative Art
+Great balance of humour with the demands of a playable game
+Simple and effective system
+Great writing
Things of which to be wary:
-If you can't get anyone to listen to your Quakes, Brutally Frank, or Gutter Demons collections - chances are you don't know anyone who will play this game with you
-Limited support
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The Good:
- App pricing means it's pretty low risk at $1.99.
- Witty, biting humor with some very nice references sprinkled throughout.
- An actual game is in here, not just a collection of jokes.
The Bad:
- The EASILY offended need not apply (nothing too raunchy or offensive, but if you take it too seriously, it's not going to work at all).
- No Random Mission Generator.
For my full review, please visit http://mostunreadblogever.blogspot.com/2011/03/tommys-take-o
n-invaderz-pocket-edition.html
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I just wanted to say what an enjoyable module this is.
My characters will be going through the "Reavers of Harkenwold" adventure (Dungeon Master's Kit) and I plan on incorporating this module with that one. So Albridge will be used instead of Springdale (and lose the alliteration) and I'll be adding curing the sickness to the sandbox of Iron Circle / bullywugs / Woodsinger elves already within the adventure. Elves and goblins are already in the area so it isn't a stretch.
Easily worth the meager $2 price. You get a map, tokens, adventure and six sample characters. (I won't be using the sample characters, but they have good backgrounds and motivations and may show up as NPCs.)
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![6-Pack Adventures: Sickness in Springdale [4e]](images/384/89416-thumb100.jpg)
