I've been a fan of the combat system in Zenobia for a long time. I've even attempted to integrate it into other 2D6 games, but with my lack of game design knowledge it has never quite worked out. Thankfully Zozer Games has taken that system and made a "generic" game out of it with a broader selection of backgrounds and equipment than what is found in either Zenobia or 43AD. I'm not going to give up though. I still plan to integrate at least something similar to this combat system into other games. Until then I have some playing to do.

This game is a synthesis of ideas from a number of other sources, both d100 and otherwise. I really like how it handles character building – based on skills and traits rather than ability scores. In place of traditional ability scores are four stats called "conflict pools". These function similarly to ability scores by providing a basic picture of the character, but they are shaped by the skills and talents. A character with a 16 Body could be different things. With focuses in Melee Combat and Brawn they might be a big, hammer-wielding barbarian. Change Brawn to Acrobatics, they might be a chandellier-swinging swashbuckler. Put those focuses in Ranged Combat and Stealth and they become a sneaky scout or assassin.

The larger your conflict pool in a particular stat, the better you potentially can be in that activity, but more in the sense that you can outlast your opponent. They don’t function like attributes in other games but more like hit points. If you wanted to roleplay a debate you might do an extended conflict using your Charisma pool, subtracting from it whenever your character fails a skill roll. Defeat (reducing the pool to 0) might mean your character loses confidence in themselves and suffers a penalty to related skill checks until they take some time to regain their composure (regenerate lost CHA points).

The d100 chassis means that you can fairly easily bring in some things from other games in the broader BRP family as well. If you like grittier, more detailed combat you could no doubt import combat special effects from Mythras, for example. Maybe add in hit locations, you get the idea. All told, I like what I see here. I think it could use a bit more polish, but it is – as of the time of this review – still considered in beta so I imagine the polish is coming.

It feels a little like WFRP, but more lighthearted. It isn't grimdark, but it is gritty. I love the brawling system in particular, allowing players to get out their aggressions against their rivals or annoying townies without being murder hobos. Then they can go out on jobs and murder monsters instead.

The setting is excellent as are the setting-specific rules. It contains the author’s rules for journeys and brutal wounds that are also published separately, though I’m not sure if it contains them in their entirety. It appears that characters are capped at level 10. I didn’t see that spelled-out anywhere, but the class advancement tables all stop at 10. It’s definitely geared towards a gritty, low-magic style of play, and that’s what I tend towards anyway. The magic systems are thematic and subtle with the most powerful effects generally requiring extensive rituals to perform instead of being usable in combat.

The pdf itself seems like it’s still a work in progress. The bookmarks stop at chapter 1 and there are some incorrect page references in both the TOC and throughout the text itself. I also noted several typographic mistakes (spelling errors, copy/paste errors, an entire paragraph in the wrong spot) as well as some confusing and/or inconsistent layout choices. Oh, and one piece of artwork in the bestiary section that was totally inconsistent with the rest of the art. It seems like maybe a placeholder, which is another reason the pdf feels like it’s still not quite complete. Overall though, I like this setting quite a bit.

I'd been looking for something along the lines of WFRP in terms of theme (as in late-Medieval/early-Renaissance), but without all the setting-specific rules and content. I know there is Zweihander, but I'm not as in love with all the fiddly bits as I used to be. This product hits a sweet spot for me as it is far more... wait for it... minimalist. Some really great ideas in this book, even if you don't plan on running the actual system. One of my favorite ideas is the "Fight Back" rule, which I plan to incorporate into all melee fights from now on, regardless of which game I'm playing. It's one of those things that is so effective and simple you wonder why you've not seen it before.

Pretty cool little supplement. It gives you everything you'd need (besides the DCC core book) to run a military themed sci-fi campaign using the DCC system. Production values aren't the highest, and I noticed some copy/paste errors (for example, several times in the class description for Grunt, the term Mercenary was used instead). Overall, I feel I got my money's worth.

Possibly the best sci-fi treatment of the 5e OGL ruleset that I've come across. The setting is evocative and the rules have been well-tailored to it. I think one of my favorite aspects is that hacking is treated as just another skill check instead of its own mini game, and doesn't take place in some separate virtual world.

For the sake of transparency: I was a Kickstarter backer for this game.

It's a quickstart, so you're not getting a full view of the game. And I feel like a few of the concepts could use more explanation, but overall I thought the system was great. I've not encountered a system like this before. I like the way that it models exhaustion and injury. I've backed this Kickstarter, so I hope to see the full game come to fruition.

Great stuff as usual from Zozer. In addition to being an indispensable supplement for the Hostile setting, this and the Alien Breeds supplement go together like jam and toast.

This seems promising. The premise is a post-apocalyptic Earth several generations after an alien invasion wiped out nearly all of humanity and enslaved the survivors. Then another alien race showed up and the two went to war, further devastating the planet. Then suddenly, they were both gone, leaving the survivors to pick up the pieces. I love that premise, I just wish settings like this didn't always have to include psychic mutants. I'd like to do 3.5 stars, but I can't do 1/2 stars so I went with 4. If not for the psychic mutants I'd have given 5.

I've lately been lamenting the lack of good Wild (not Weird) West settings, so when this was announced I was a little hesitant thinking it was going to be just another Deadlands clone. It isn't. While it is firmly in the Weird West genre, it manages to invoke all the magic and monsters more subtly. It's closer to Cthulhu-esque existential horror than it is to the gonzo, alternate reality horror of other games in the genre. You can easily run a Blood Sundown campaign without any overt magic whatsoever, though I personally feel that even a "Hard West" game benefits from at least some indigenous mysticism (which Blood Sundown has) and sorcerous bad guys. And what better antagonist for my Paladin (have gun, will travel) than a corrupt magistrate condemning people to death just so he can later raise them for his own undead army... MWUA-Ha-ha

There is a shell of a default setting, which is basically 1870's American West. No alternate history, no magical fuel sources, just Boot Hill where sometimes the boots get up and walk even after they've been buried. You're given ideas and then encouraged to use them to make the setting your own. Just the way I like it.

A sandbox setting that combines several underused sci-fi tropes (underused in RPG's anyway). Earth was conquered by a hyper advanced alien race and humanity has been exiled to a distant, harsh “reservation” world where they have managed to eke out a meager existence over the course of many centuries. But fear not, this world is connected to a galaxy-spanning (or perhaps even universe-spanning) network of portals similar to stargates. Some gates connect to worlds of other races (themselves exiles), some gates connect to unexplored worlds, some to horrible death. Only a minuscule fraction of these have been explored and charted so the setting is perfect for an exploration campaign. Other possible campaign ideas center around resource exploitation and trade with the other “outcast” races. Most humans no longer entertain thoughts of retaking Earth (really not even possible at this point), but I suppose you could make that the focus of a military themed campaign if you really wanted. While I was reading it I kept getting the feeling that this game is what Stargate SG-1 would have been if the Tok’ra had defeated the Goa’uld and gone on to conquer the galaxy themselves instead. Yeah, after typing that out I still feel that way.

This setting offers several elements that you don’t often find in sci-fi, but that I often want in sci-fi. The first is a distinct lack of space ships. I know most people probably play SF games for the space ships. I do not. I find designing ships and conducting ship combat boring. If that’s what you’re looking for, I’ll recommend you look elsewhere. The second element is a lower, mixed tech level, one where you are more likely to get in a knife fight than a blaster fight. But guns exist. Even laser guns exist, they’re just extremely rare (and illegal for a human to own). And it's entirely possible that one of those portals might lead to an astonishing cache of some kind of "precursor" tech. It's up to you, really. My gripes would be typos/editing issues and a lack of bookmarks. The pdf is hyperlinked to chapter headings, however.

The included sample setting, or "campaign seed" as it's called, is clearly a riff on 40k. But criticizing a sci-fi supplement for a Warhammer Fantasy heartbreaker for being too much like the sci-fi version of Warhammer Fantasy is missing the point. And besides, the included setting is just a sample. Just like Zweihander itself, you use this information to make your own world.

The bulk of the material is weapons and armor and other gear like cybernetics. There are included rules for things like automatic weapons and corruption gained form cybernetic implants. Some of the terminilogy was cumbersome, like weapon modes of Semi, Semi-Auto, Full-Auto should have been Semi-Auto, Burst, Full-Auto to keep them more in line with not only the real world but with the terminology you'll find in other games, but that might be bordering on the pedantic. There are a few pages of examples of turning existing Zweihander professions into their Dark Astral equivalents, but I would have liked to see a few more (though they covered most of the 40k equivalents). There is some black and white sketch art throughout the book that evokes that 40k/grimdark feel quite well. There are a handful of typos, but nothing that prohibits comprehension. I'd love to see it expanded to a full product, but what we have here is enough for any GM who's already comfortable with running a Zweihander campaign to run a grimdark sci-fi campaign.

Well, it doesn't look like we're getting Dark Sun for 5e, but this setting is more than worthy to take its place. The "house rules" included make 5e a much grittier game and they're worth the price by themselves. I plan to use them with other 5e settings and in any homebrews I might run in the future. The races are all very cool, though I think the Incarnum aren't very suited to being a PC race. The changes to existing classes are all evocative of the setting, and it's a pretty cool setting. As for the book itself, the artwork is good and consistent in style - and it's a style I enjoy. There are a few tables throughout the book that are split between pages, which is not a great layout. Other than that, it looks good.

So happy to see this back in print. I'm not even going to call it the best rule system or best Western game, but there are just so few straight Westerns out there that it kind of wins by default. I have fond memories of playing Boot Hill as a kid after we'd get bored with D&D. That must have been 2nd edition BH though as it was early/mid 80's.