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Macchiato Monsters ZERO
Publisher: Lost Pages
by Nicolas F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/12/2018 03:23:47

Having recently read the Black Hack and Whitehack, I have to acknowledge that Macchiato Monsters takes the best of both rules and turns them into a unified, streamlined OSR system that strikes a sweet spot between giving players freedom and constraining choices for the sake of balance. The classless system and the risk dice particularly stand out.

At the time of this review, only the Zero edition is available, and a number of problems remain. As harsh as the previous review by Todor P is, it is correct: the game is still rather poorly organized and laid out. It lacks internal consistency: I can really enjoy it and get the gist of it, but only because I've read the hacks on which it is based beforehand. It's a collection of cool rules, but it lacks solid guidelines and an internal structure. The language is decent but a few poor translations or formulations remain (the author is not a native English speaker).

A lot is left up to the GM, rules-wise. I'd appreciate more examples to shed light on the shadiest corners of the rules. For instance:

  • A more detailed combat section. There are no rules for helping, no rules for specific tactics, no rules for ganging up against an enemy. The paragraph on manoeuvers is minimalist and quite unclear. The "one d20 roll per turn" rule seems strange and it's unclear how it interacts with multiple attacks. The "complex turn" rule is excellent and I'll probably use it as a default option (roll several d20 and assign them to the actions you want to perform). In my mind there should be cases where you both deal and take damage, not always an "all or nothing" rule.
  • I'm a bit concerned with the difficulty for PCs with high ability scores. Since you can increase an ability score by 1 at each level, I could see some lucky PCs quickly reaching the max score of 18. It only gives them a 10% risk of failing the corresponding checks, 19% if they roll with disadvantage. It will never get harder for them, even in combat against more powerful opponents.
  • Improve the internal structure and layout. The rules are good but not always clearly explained. Examples are good, there could be even more of those!
  • A few random tables for magic items, spell names or specialist abilities would be much appreciated as well.

The last two points are apparently being addressed in additional files, with sample characters and random tables for NPCs, etc. I hope they turn out well. So far, it's still a beta version.

This will probably become my go-to game, with a few houserules maybe. But it's not objectively "great". If the points I mentioned are addressed in the final version, I'll gladly give it 5 stars. If not, it's not a polished standalone game and I can only recommend it to people who have already read the older hacks it build on.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Macchiato Monsters ZERO
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Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures
Publisher: Flatland Games
by Nicolas F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/20/2017 04:52:39

This product really shines in two aspects:

  • Creating characters with an interesting, shared background, by rolling on random tables to determine your past. This ensures you have a history that includes bonds with other characters and plenty of story hooks (e.g. you rolled that your wizard mentor left one day without a word, but how and why is something you'll have to figure out at the table)
  • Providing Scenario Packs which are broad templates where you again roll on tables to determine the key aspects of the scenario (e.g. which villager is the cult leader or what does the fey king really want)

This makes the game excellent for one shots! However, besides this, the game mechanics themselves are uninteresting and uninspired. It's watered down 3.X DnD. The game apparently aims at keeping things simple to get rules out of the way, but does this poorly: somehow you still need to have 6 attributes, 6 corresponding modifiers, 5 saving throws that are totally unrelated to your attributes or the way you create your character. Worse, why do we need three different resolution mechanics? Skill checks need you to roll under your attribute on a d20, saving throws need you to roll over an arbitrary value on your sheet, and combat is d20+bonus against AC...

I'm definitely going to use playbooks and scenario packs, but I'm getting rid of the rest of the rules and keeping only the roll under mechanic.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures
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