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Bluebeard's Bride: Book of Rooms
by Rigby B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/06/2018 13:40:49

My biggest struggle in running PBtA games has been coming up with sufficently rich and detailed responses to the unexpected. The Book of Rooms provides well-crafted and detailed rooms that provide inspiration and resources. I've used it both during games and before hand to start putting together ideas for where I want a session to go. The writing, as always, is haunting and beautiful. It is a great supplement for someone new to running this game.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Bluebeard's Bride: Book of Rooms
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Bluebeard's Bride: Book of Rooms
by Lex P. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/29/2018 18:40:37

The Book of Rooms is an incredible read, and a borderline-necessary companion for Bluebeard's Bride. I can't praise it enough, though keep in mind there's a variety of trigges in here for sexual violence, general violence, self-harm, body horror, dysphoria, and many other things.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Creator Reply:
Thanks so much for the review!
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Cartel: Quickstart
by Donogh M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 03/06/2018 03:11:53

I have to admit, I wasn't convinced by the subject matter when I heard about the game initially. But when Mark had a chance to put his case in episode 45 of the Gauntlet podcast I definitely warmed up to it. I played the game and was blown away by the stories it helped us tell; the mix of (melo)drama and dangerous thriller really sang at the table. So impressed that I ran two sessions of it the following week at a local convention. In classic Apocalypse World style, the setting and cast of secondary characters are prompted by the playbooks and then fleshed out by the players; probing questions from the GM help too. But this world is even more unstable than most and a dizzying array of conflicting loyalties and interests will ensue. I'd be interested to see if it'll support longer-term play - at the moment, I'm imagining that things will play out or become untenable for the PCs after 3 or 4 sessions. Highly recommended!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Cartel: Quickstart
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Masks: A New Generation
by Rob B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/13/2018 11:28:21

I recently finished running a fantastic game of Masks. It is a great system, especially for short to medium length campaigns. I think longer campaigns might be tougher though, due to the mechanics of character advancement. Some of my observations about the game:

1) The gamebook doesn't include the player classes (playbooks). You can download them for free from Magpie Games or maybe here as well. You can also find some decent handouts with all the moves of the game. Print them out and give them to the players.

2) The hardest thing for me (gaming since the 1982) was the notion of the GM "moves" only after a player fails a roll. I made several that were not readily evident (complications I decided to add from those results)...other times I chose immediate GM moves, if applicable. I should have made it clearer when they discovered something later on that it was a result of a failed roll previously (like failing to do research on a villain in fact triggering a future event (the villain was alerted to the snooping)).

3) The game rewards failure with character advancement. The more unlucky your rolls, the quicker the advancement. This nudges players to do what they are weak at. For example, one hero was a newly sentient robot ("Newborn" playbook from the Halcyon City expansion) who had terrible social skills and was often the one who acted as a "face" for the group. Whereas other games simply punish you for failing, Masks also gives you tangible rewards for failing. I think this is a great way to both push players out of their comfort zones if they've settled into specific character types, as well as in acting as their own obstacles by being suboptimal. I think there is something even deeper here...This is cool. Great idea.

4) Don't work against the game. The game is about teen superheroes. It is designed mechanically around that very idea. In our game there was a moment when half the group was feverishly working to build a device to trap their arch nemesis while the other half of the group were trying to resolve social conflicts surrounding school life (about an upcoming school concert, lol).

5) I read the best advice I have ever seen written for GMs in this book. It instructed GMs to be a FAN of the players and their characters. This is brilliant advice. Sometimes GMs can be trapped into the advisary role.

It is a great game! After I bought the PDF I decided to buy the hardback. Now I hope someone else will run it so I can play in a character!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Masks: A New Generation
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Pasión de las Pasiones: Ashcan Edition
by Aaron K. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 02/01/2018 14:28:36

A perfect adaptation of the genre with clear, useful layout, to-the-point instructions, and great examples and encouragements.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Pasión de las Pasiones: Ashcan Edition
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Urban Shadows (1st Ed.)
by jeremy g. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/07/2018 00:43:54

Paid for an urban themed RPG with fantasy elements. Got a smattering of roleplaying elements and plenty of unsolicited political posturing. There are echoes of World of Darkness, but the gothic angst has been replaced by whining agendas.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Urban Shadows (1st Ed.)
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Bluebeard's Bride
by Nathan R. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 12/01/2017 14:10:10

I desperately want to run this game, but I don't feel I should, as I'm a male and don't believe I would offer my friends, some of whom are women, quite the same experience. It asks you to get into a woman's complicated psyche (men's psyches are complicated too, just different, perhaps). I would rather my wife run the game and be a player. I'm terribly curious to see where her imagination would take us. All this being said, no game has intrigued me like this one in a very long time. I'd love to hear from someone who has played it!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Bluebeard's Bride
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Masks: A New Generation
by JB L. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 11/13/2017 19:03:16

MASKS: A New Generation - Comprehensive Review by DropTheDie

Masks is another Powered by the Apocolypse powerhouse. A simple 2d6 system that uses storycrafting, drama, and continuous "moves" to keep the action and roleplay moving at a brisk pace. This "hack" of the PbtA system is all-inclusive, everything you need to run the game is included in this purchase, excluding the dice.

Masks' general principle, unlike other Superhero TTRPG games I've been part in, is that all teenage supers are dyanmic and capable people struggling to make the world see their merit and learn who they are and what they can do. Each player has access to a wide variety of playbooks that help focus narrative decisions in-game.

A humble Beacon might be more concerened about "living it up" than being a crime busting superhero, or they might be trying to prove exactly how capable an average person can really be in this superhero world. The Bull might be a hulking brute that smashes her way through any and everything, or they might be a teen torn between their intimate relationship with their significant other and their team. No playbook mandates the roleplay; they are designed to help you represent what it is you want your character to be and do - not to dictate it.

The book's layout is very good. Many aspects of the game that are confusing or too vague (as the entire Rules System is meant to be more vague than other traditional RPGs) are delved into to bluntly explain how the moves and abilities were intended to work. Each playbook has themes and examples of where the ideas, the "bones," of these characters came from.

MASKS has one big speedbump, however. No matter how well the system represents the city of Halcyon, or how well the book discusses how the Master of Ceremonies (who runs the game) should engage their players, it is extremely dependant on their skill to tell an interesting story. This game is absolutely not meant to just be fight after fight after fight. The mechanics of the game are such that a player must CHOOSE to "Pass out, flee, ect" only after a certain threshold is reached, which 90% of the time, no one does. This means that if your fights are not intense and dangerous in scope to the world-at-large, they will just be arbitrary roll-till-you-win matches.

*A good example*: "You make your way to the plaza mall and meet up with Becky and Jona. The both of them wave at you from a low seat in the food court - a hot pizza sitting on the table between them. You hear next to you, a very familiar electronic voice that whispers: 'One move, Axle... one move, and I'll bring the building down.' Mirage - the shape changing supervillain looks out at you from under the brim of her wide hat. What do you do?" *A bad example*: "You're eating a cinnamon bun with the rest of your team, hanging out in the caffiteria at school, and the Metal Wombat crashes through the window and screams 'LET'S FIGHT!'"

Luckily there are a ton of resources online to help guide you in your venture to run the perfect game of Masks. Only one person in your group need purchase the book to try it out - as players have very little information in the book that the MC cannot explain to you at the table, making this a perfect introductory buy. We've been playing for months now and each of us has a copy at this point!

This game gets my seal of approval - check it out!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Masks: A New Generation
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Bluebeard's Bride
by Joseph D. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/28/2017 22:26:11

Buy this game. Buy it right now. It is a work of art. It is complete, perfect beauty. When I teach children what RPG design can be about (this is my day job, amazingly), this is the kind of thing I point to. This is what it looks like when you consider every element of your game both individually and holistically. This is what it looks like when you pare it down to the bare essentials, so everything communicates theme and message in volumes. It can be a difficult game, emotionally and practically. But it is beautiful. Buy it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Bluebeard's Bride
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Bluebeard's Bride
by JR F. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/26/2017 11:18:16

Simply beyond words. An exquisitely written and designed game-system. As with TRUE fairytales, this is not for the faint of heart, however; exploring some dark subject matter.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Epyllion: A Dragon Epic
by Meg Z. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/22/2017 21:30:16

Among my players, Epyllion is often described as "My Little Pony: Flight Rising Edition." The game is set in fantasy world where the only intelligent life is dragonkind. An Epyllion campaign follows one clutch of dragon friends from their earliest days to their old age and eventual passing, along the way making friends and pushing back a nebulous evil given form, known as The Darkness.

This game definitely skews to a younger audience; even for an Apocalypse Engine game, the rules are stripped-down and focused on narrative. That isn't to say the game has nothing interesting to offer mechanically, however! In particular, the playbooks have some very interesting things going on. Each playbook has a Signature move-- a move that your character gets by default. When advancing your character, you may choose to advance your Signature move, usually giving you access to more situations you may use to call upon it. It really lets each character shine at what they were meant to do. Harm is not tracked-- like I said, there's a young audience in mind, and player character death is off the table. Epyllion instead opts for a damage tracker based on negative emotions. While none of them have an adverse effect mechanically, marking one immediately forces the player to escalate the situation with rash action; marking them all triggers a move very much like Monsterhearts' Darkest Self, of all things. I'm too nice to my players and don't have them mark damage nearly often enough, but it's been interesting to watch when it does happen. The escalation leads to some very interesting situations!

The relationship currency here is interesting, and I can see where it'd be very helpful with young players, but it tends to be hard to remember when you play games over the internet as my group does. In meatspace games there's a very physical act of giving another player tokens for roleplaying, but over chat I find myself asking players "hey, do you think you should give another player your friendship currency?" It does the intended work of keeping players not currently in the scene focused on other players' turns, though, which I really like. I tend towards setting up small and intimate scenes, and I worry a lot less about whether or not my players are focused when I know that there's a mechanical reward for focusing.

But I think the best thing that Epyllion does is set up its world. It encourages players and the DM to think about what exactly a world where humanity isn't and never was a thing would look like, and it's been a blast doing that. I love describing mountain-sized buildings that comfortably house a single dragon, or weird gambling games, or how currency works in a world mostly powered by friendship and goodwill.

If you're looking for something for a laid-back game night, I strongly recommend Epyllion regardless of your average player age! Our group is made up of 20-somethings who enjoy a break from our more emotionally taxing other campaigns, and we'd be hard-pressed to find a game that does it was well as this one.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Epyllion: A Dragon Epic
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Masks: A New Generation
by Massimiliano B. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/05/2017 17:44:57

Masks a New Generation start with very good ideas: to use emotions to describe a fight instead actions (and by the way, actions take their place in the fight). BUT (you were prepared to, right), the mechanical part of the game is his weakness: Masks it's too vague (with regards to villain), so the game it's too open to the personal GM' perceptions and decisions. I would promote the basic idea of Masks, but it would be better if it would be developed with more mechanical details. Of curse, players and game masters who seek very narrative games will love Masks. Even if you don't like it as I don't like it, you could found Masks' ideas interesting using them in other RPG.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Masks: A New Generation
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Masks: A New Generation
by Kirk T. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/04/2017 14:00:03

Great game and settings. The mechanics are a breeze, and my players really enjoyed our session!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Masks: A New Generation
by William Y. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 06/09/2017 23:01:05

An excellent game system. Narrative focused with a little crunch, this is the first Powered by the Apocalypse game that I felt a connection to. I wasn't really able to grok PtbA before, but this version really showed me what everyione has been so excited. about. The seeting and genre are also fantastic, along with the ability to truly represent the gamut of super heroics, from galactic powerhouse to nd all on the same team without it feeling like anyone is overpowered or underpowered. Very excellent game design.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Masks: A New Generation
by A customer [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 04/20/2017 11:01:08

Masks, A New Generation is a Powered by Apocolypse game that really stands on its own. Below are certain aspects I really enjoyed.

Fluidity of Playbooks Masks allows players to build their hero based off templates called playbooks. These playbooks are vague within set archetypes, allowing the creation of characters that can vary wildly in powers and backstory, but still fit within an identity that defines them. Whether you'd like to be the average Joe who's keeping up with powerhouses, or the strained teen trying to keep their normal life and heroic life seperate, you've got a great selection to choose from.

Character Failure = Leveling Up There isn't really a way to "Power game" in Masks, or at least not one that doesn't seem fake. The only way to advance in your power, options, abilities is to fail. For each failure, you tally up until you get to five and then you grow as a character. There's no way around it. It's brilliant really. Imagine a teen superhero that always gets the bad guy, never let's down the hostages, always comes through to save the day. Wouldn't that be boring? Why would that character need to change? By tying failure to growth, even the more most powerful of heroes will be humbled.

Relationships and Influence Another major mechanic of the system is its emphasis on how relationships with adults and other people mold a character's identity. People who you care about, whether for good or bad reasons, will have an impact on you with their words. Believing you're a dark loner will change if the defender of the city takes time to tell you, "You're one heck of a hero." By embracing and rejecting changes, it adds an extra layer of fun and complexity as the players try and figure out "Who is this character?"

This is great game for groups looking to experience the entire teen hero life, and perhaps have some really emotional moments as well if they get invested in the lives of their characters.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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