GLoG reviews 2

Check out part 1 for a description of the axes upon which I judge and the obligatory "this is my opinion".

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RUNAWAY PRINCESS, by Alcoops

OVERVIEW A hybrid of GLoG and 5e (nice to see, 5e wasn't all bad) with a whimsical tone. Reminds me of RUNEHAMMER's 5e HARDCORE MODE, which is a good thing. Honestly, I got more for ways to improve my 5e game than my GLoG game reading through this, so if you play 5e, give this doc a readthrough.

Disclaimer: I did not read the class doc, so I can't offer any insights as to the contents of that, simply the core rules.

FLAVOR 3. This seems like a game where whimsy is not offset by danger. Knights in shining armor grabbing the chalice and dashing through the woods as the Questing Beast chases them, a princess who delves into the crypts below the castle to find her fortune.

PLAYABILITY 4. If someone put a gun to my head and told me to play 5e, this would be one of the first games to come to my mind to suggest instead, along with HARDCORE MODE, a favorite of mine.

COMPREHENSIBILITY 3.5. There's just a lot here, it's a large and robust system, and so I would need a few readthroughs and sessions at the table to get it all working like a well oiled machine. However, so much of it is stolen from 5e and GLoGhacks I know that I could either piece it together or cut it so it works for me, so it gets a little boost.

OVERALL 4. One of my favorites thusfar, a great take on 5e with a good blend of rules from other sources and a very distinctive style.

THINGS TO STEAL There's a lot of hooks built into character creation for making things like your personality, mannerisms, and relationships with other characters, which look like they would work great to encourage players to get themselves into character more. Clear rules for helping often get neglected, and there's a really good set here. The equipment rules have one foot in a bunch of doors, and is sort of a "best of" compilation from other hacks. The funeral rules are great.

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BASIC RED RPG, by Daniel Dean

OVERVIEW While not technically a GLoGhack, I wanted to put this here because the Basic Red RPG is one of my favorite blogs, and this is my way of giving back. With a layout that really uses the whole page and a minimalist attitude, this game really hits you hard and fast, telling of a dark and magical world.

FLAVOR 3. The world is dark and magical, and the heroes are in over their heads. I can draw in the style this game is peddling, even if I can't name a scene or a monster (though the fact that elves are a monster and not a player race is *chef's kiss*).

PLAYABILITY 4. I want to seek out and play a table of this game, because it intrigues me so. The inherent worldbuilding and playstyle makes me want to see what story this is supposed to tell. It's a world where magic is the lifeblood of the earth itself, but is a dangerous and terrifying force of nature. It's all an intriguing sort of soup packed into 9 pages.

COMPREHENSIBILITY 1. Hate to say it, but I could not make heads or tails of this game. Is it roll under? What do you roll when? Absolutely no clue. Luckily, the game is enticing enough that I would want to pick it up and figure it out, because it just seems so cool, but it would take a lot of combing to even get it to a comprehensible state.

OVERALL 2. If it were clearer, it would be higher, but as it stands, I cannot say that I understand how to play the game, which is kind of the bare minimum. However, extra points for the cool flavor.

THINGS TO STEAL Uh... pretty good travel rules, the idea of "mana" as the pervasive magical power and non-humans being intimately tied to it, very simple classes, the spell and artifact lists are gold, specific summoning rules are great and add to that implicit worldbuilding, monster rules in the hack (cannot stress how important this is) and some great idiosyncrasies therein, and that intensely tight layout and direct writing style.

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FREEFORM SPACE JAZZ, by Nyandromeda

OVERVIEW A game about things going wrong, in space, infused with a heavy dose of jazz music. A delightful and original twist on the sci-fi genre, this one was fun and easy to read.

FLAVOR 4. While there's no world information, all the rules are framed in musical stylings, which, when juxtaposed with the sci-fi background, immediately evokes a hectic and madcap stellar romp, which is, I think, exactly what the author was going for.

PLAYABILITY 4. I would actively seek to play this, it's exactly in my wheelhouse and I'm excited to see if it runs like it reads.

COMPREHENSIBILITY 3.5. There are some formatting and ordering things that are a little bewildering, but the worst sin is a lack of examples. I would love to have little blurbs of the mechanics used in a real game situation. Plus, I think they would be fun to read- "As Zeta fumbles while trying to fix the lights as the pirates raid the deck, the wrench drops into the lava below, and the tempo increases"!

OVERALL 4. A great game filled with a lot of things that I love, including jazz, space, and plot development metacurrency. Again, like LIBRA, I just need more to get the picture in my head.

THINGS TO STEAL Failed rolls always propelling forward and never stagnating, tempo (oh my lord tempo! so good, if you play DWRPG steal this immediately), note token combat, monsters (yes!!!), spaceship rules.

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VAIN THE SWORD, by Phlox

OVERVIEW I've been wanting to read this for a while. A psuedo bronze-age hack written for Phlox's setting of... oh, I want to say Mesomergos? Phlox is one of my favorite OSR bloggers, so seeing his highly flavorful take on GLoG should be a lot of fun.

FLAVOR 5. Even the descriptions of the stats build the world. By the time you get to the race list, you already have a vibrant picture in your mind. The influence of the gods, the mysteries of magic, the importance of languages, the absence of metal, all of these contribute to this brilliant understanding of the world.

PLAYABILITY 4.5. If Phlox were ever to host a game of this, I would probably see if I could clear my schedule to make it. The world is so enticing that I'd love to get a character rolled up and explore it.

COMPREHENSIBILITY 3.5. There's a fierce commitment to keeping things simple and interpretative without sacrificing completeness. I can't think of anything that needs to be there that isn't, and it's pretty intuitive. There are a few instances where there's some lack of clarity, especially among all the optional Lots and in the combat rules, and the occasional typo, but I could run this if need be, and the most important thing (setting lore) comes across almost perfectly.

OVERALL 4.5. This deserves its (hotly contested) place as the best GLoGhack I've seen thusfar. With an innovative setting rivaling Planescape or Dark Sun, flavorful mechanics and classes, simplifications of most rules, and great DM advice, you're doing yourself a disservice if you don't give this a read. Extra points for a brilliant layout job, this was clearly a product of long hours of working, tweaking, and cutting, and the quality shows.

THINGS TO STEAL The folk list, the idea of skills ('kens') as near-divine gifts of unparalleled mastery instead of a mundane knowledge, setting written into the game rules, interesting class abilities and gigres, an adventure at the end of the rules, and so much more. Just read the damn thing!