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Stories from the Grave
Publisher: Spectrum Games
by Dorian Y. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/01/2017 18:32:36

I think that this material is well presented and has a lot to offer. The author does a great job of capturing the atmosphere of a splatter comic and explaining the elements of a great story. The explaination of putting together a game using the three act structure will be valuable for both this and other game systems you may run.

There is something about this approach though. Any game that uses a three act structure cannot deviate too far from a pre-determined conclusion. It's not exactly on rails. The players have the ability to add to the narrative. However, it also isn't an open game where the story is allow to run in any direction.

The intention system used by this game is legit. You could use it without any trouble and I think most people will pick it up easily. The problem is that it offers nothing over all the systems you probably already know. It has limited skill based system that gets modified and everything is thrown against a ladder of success. You can use grave tokens to do things like add to the narrative. So the temptation for me is just to run a game using FATE accelerated which also does those exact same things only probably better and all of the players will already be familiar with the system.

The interesting thing, at least for me, is that I'm not sure how well all of this will truly work. People like to win. And this game like so many others encourages players to fight for their life and win the battle. If you are familiar with 'Tales from The Crypt' and similar EC comics you will note that nobody ever wins. Usually, there aren't even any good guys. I suppose 'Twilight Zone' and similar stories will play well on this system but I don't think that's the main target.

Honestly, it feels like the goal of the game should be to get your despicable character killed in the third act in some righteous twist. The player should have tools to narrate this demise and the skill with which they execute it should be measurable. However well they pull off the character death the player should receive rewards that carry over to the next game. That is what is missing from this system and it is what would make it complete. Unfortunately it completely flies in the face of the system. A system that rewards and supports keeping a character alive. It's the same reason that FATE sucks for horror games.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Stories from the Grave
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Bard
Publisher: Gallant Knight Games
by Dorian Y. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/21/2016 21:45:23

I like my Bards like I like the economy. No magic. This bard is perfect. The saving throws and ac are not explicitely stated. Instead you are told to treat the bard like a thief at the same level. That was a good decision because it means that you can incorporate this bard in any system (swords and wizardry, basic fantasy, LL, etc) and you know that it will remain balanced with the other classes. The bard is simply a thief with a different set of abilities like mimicry and sleight of hand that improve as the levels go up. The bard is also allowed to use some of the weapons of a fighter.

I feel like this bard is very close to the one discussed 40 years ago in the strategic review. I am very pleased. With this I consider Swords and Wizardry Complete... well... complete.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Bard
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Unframed: The Art of Improvisation for Game Masters
Publisher: Encoded Designs
by Dorian Y. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/12/2015 10:08:55

When you pay $10 for a ebook in mobi format there is an expectation that it will work on Kindle. You do not expect Amazon to kick it back saying there are errors in the document. This is unacceptable.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
Unframed: The Art of Improvisation for Game Masters
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Creator Reply:
I\'m sorry that youre having a technical issue. If you drop me a line (martin enginepublishing com) I\'d be happy to help you resolve it. We provide two ebook versions that should work on your Kindle, plain mobi and an Amazon-native format, and all formats are tested before the book goes on sale. Sometimes one Kindle-friendly version works better than the other on a particular device; if you haven\'t already, I recommend trying them both.
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