I am admittedly something of a compulsive superhero RPG "collector." So, odds are I would have bought this game any way, regardless of the pedigree. However, given the pedigree, I was even more interested, as I had bought and read through the author's previous "Mythweaver" and "Resolute" games, and thought both were very well done. My mouse wasted no time in hovering over the "Add to Cart" button.
Then it paused. The fact that this game was "based on B/X D&D rules" started to bother me. I had yet to check out this author's "Tales of the Splintered Realm," so I wasn't aware of how he had adapted the system for his own uses in that game. Still, the cover homage to the classic "blue book" Champions cover won me over, and I gave it a shot.
And am I ever glad that I did. This is a fast, flexible, easily understood game that takes the B/X rules and uses them as a basis to make something that feels truly original and very well suited to the superhero genre. There's a good balance between old school mechanics and new school flexibility (or just a new school approach to the old school flexibility that was always there).
There is a unified mechanic used for most actions (a "check", either standard or superhuman in scale), but there are a few subsystems (combat is "to hit AC", there are "FEAT checks" like saving throws, etc) to keep things feeling a little more old school, too.
Can you create every superhero that ever existed with this book? Not really. But, modifying the game to do so, or to suit any other idea you might want to try, would not be even close to difficult.
Also, the game is all open content (or some such thing, I'm not a lawyer), which means you are encouraged to tinker with it and make it your own.
Overall, this game has the refreshing mix of old and new school gaming flavor that makes for an RPG that I really want to get a chance to play.
Highly recommended.
(Note: the author is planning some additions to the core book soon that sound very cool, too.)
|