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Sentinels of Echo City

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Sentinels of Echo City
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Sentinels of Echo City
Publisher: Splintered Realms Publishing
by Michael H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/06/2015 22:35:36

Sentinels of Echo City!

Oh... what a joy....... OSR = Omnifarious Superheroic Ruleset!

I'm writing this review for the SECOND time now because RPGNow decided to purge all but the first line of my last one.....

If TSR's B/X D&D procreated with their Marvel Super Heroes game, you'd get the first genetic version of SoEC... after that though you'd need to inject it with mutagen, expose it to gamma radiation, let it be bitten by a lab arachnid and then sprinkle it with cosmic dust.

This game is a ton of fun. The rules are lightweight and fast yet robust enough to adjudicate any situation that comes up. The game uses a unique "Trait" system that covers both Powers and Skills under one cleverly erected umbrella. It should be noted too that even though you can run full fledged four color supers, the rules also have everything you need to run low powered or even pulp type games.

The setting fluff is purposefully barebones and though there is plenty of stuff to branch off from, it takes a decidedly DIY approach to setting. Inside you'll find tons of npc's, adventure hooks and personalities but they are there to help you launch your own "Echo City".

The author has already released quite a few supplements for the game (including one that is a best seller right now!), and there's a robust G+ Community that is creating stuff too:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/105571392429158867533



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Sentinels of Echo City
Publisher: Splintered Realms Publishing
by Maxwell T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/14/2015 21:11:57

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.)



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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