I can't say enough about how much I love this game! As a child of the 80's, I so relate to everything the author says. As a tabletop gamer, the d12 is my favorite die. As a writer and GM, the way this whole game is laid out appeals to me on every level! It's full of awesome!
The first thing that stands out to me is the knowledge and amazing adherence to the genre. It is obvious the authors have amazing amounts of both gaming experience and countless hours watching all the awesomeness that was 80's cartoons. I love the preface by Flint Dille. It really stood out because we had heard rumors for years that Gygax and various cartoon production folk had built some kind of game around GI Joe and Transformers. Sure enough... It just took a while for someone to emulate it in rpg form. I mean, who hasn't built a home-brew game based on the old school Transformers stat blocks or statted up GI Joe characters based on the old file cards from the back of the figures.
The system itself is simple, easy to follow, and extremely player friendly. I would have no problem teaching this game to my kids and I will as soon as they're old enough. Character creation is fast and very reasonable. It's much like FATE or ICONS in terms of simplicity. If you can dream it, or did during the 1980's, you can probably cook up the character to go with it. The system has just enough gamer crunch to enhance the total immersion experience of 80's retro-toons.
My absolutely favorite part of this book is the Series Creation rules. I have already cooked up a half dozen different ideas for tv series I would have loved to have seen and recreated a few that came along too late as 80's retro-toons. I've even done up a couple of defunct rpg's as retro-toons. The dial system, playset creation, and villain assembly are a breeze for veteran gm's and probably pretty easy to roll out as a novice, too. I dare say I'm having too much fun with this game.
The art in this game is nigh-onto perfect for it. The artists have managed to capture the look of various popular old cartoon series which we are all familiar with, yet kept it distinct enough to avoid getting in trouble with Hasbro or Marvel. Some of the art brings back so many memories of good times had watching cartoons back then, right before Saturday afternoon D&D or Marvel Supers gaming. Not to mention making me want to go back and watch entire series again.
I would suggest again, that Spectrum please, please, please put out a print version of this pdf OR at least strongly consider it for the next edition of the game. (Yeah, I'm willing to bet Season 4 will happen, unlike most cartoons from that era.) I'm just old fashioned in that I like the feel of an old fashioned print product in my hands and on my gaming table. It's too bad boxed sets are so ridiculously expensive to put out, or I'd say it would be most awesome to have an old D&D style boxed set, or one that emulated a vhs cassette case or possibly done as a dvd case.
Also, as we know Saturday morning cartoons are officially a thing of the past, I think it would be cool for someone to do a modern kids' toon version of this game with an eye toward emulating many of the popular cartoons currently on the air. As a parent of small children, one of four channels is constantly on our tv. I can recite almost word-for-word many Disney Jr toons, Paw Patrol, Rescue Bots, and the now defunct Super Hero Squad show episodes. I would also find it interesting, since the authors are so adept at simulating an era of cartoons, to turn an eye toward something like a certain Japanese Sentai live action martial arts/giant robot series that has "morphed" into a might decade-spanning phenomenon. Unfortunately, as we've seen recently on the internet, Saban Entertainment is extremely aggressive about protecting their intellectual property, so Spectrum would have to be careful, as they are with CAH, not to be too distinct with the likenesses to the actual series.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |