Philosophy
I have a definite philosophy in reviewing: my job is to give you enough info to judge with reasonable accuracy whether or not you'll like the game, without having to read the game yourself, and despite any differences between us in what we like in an RPG. Now, i'm not pretending that i'll always live up to that standard, but that's what i'm striving for, and i'll take any criticism, especially that which will lead me closer to that goal.
Criteria
- Title,author,gameline,company are self-explanatory
- System:
- simplicity
- how many details are there to the system? can you remember all you need to play, or do you need some tables, or even entire books, handy?
- completeness
- does the system cover everything it claims to? does it cover everything you need for the setting?
- statistics
- does the math make sense? do die rolls do what you'd expect (i.e., higher ability leads to more chance of success and less of failure)? are there any weird statistical anomolies, break-points, etc.?
- Chargen:
- speed
- how quickly can you generate a character? are there quickstart shortcuts, or templates or something? does it get quicker once you know the system?
- flexibility
- can the system handle everything the genre should contain? are character concepts unnecessarily structured?
- "realism"
- do characters make sense within the system? can you generate a completely normal person as a character (no powers, no special anything)? if not, why not?
- Setting:
- detail
- how much detail is provided? is it just a broad overview, or is there depth, at least in some areas? is it enough detail to begin play with, or do you have a lot of work left to do? are the details provided enough so that if you extrapolate on your own you're likely to be able to match the authors' vision?
- scope
- how much is there to the setting? is it clear how characters can fit in, and is there more than one way to run the setting? is the feel conveyed well, so you know how to extrapolate as necessary?
- consistency
- does the setting make sense, on its own terms? are there contradictions, or suspensions of disbelief that defy acceptance?
- originality
- just the same-old, same-old, or something very knew? are there a lot of games on the market with the same setting, or does this one bring fresh twists to it?
- Presentation:
- style
- is there any feel to the writing? do the setting and mood come across in the writing? is it stomachable?
- clarity
- is it readable? do you have to reread much? are the typos so much that they obscure meaning?
- organization
- is everything in some sort of coherant and logical order? is all the material on a given topic either together or well cross-referenced?
- materials
- binding, paper, cover stock, inks, etc. generally not even noticed unless they're lousy
- indexing
- is there an index? does it have everything you might want to find? do the entries have the right page numbers? good, descriptive table of contents? accurate and well-used cross references in the text?
- Presentation makes up the "Style" score for RPGnet.
- Setting, Chargen, and System make up the "Substance" score for RPGnet, though Setting is completely ignored for system-only games.
Examples
The following are the scores i would give to several games that i hope are well-known. These should help to serve as a baseline, and out my prejudices for the most part.
| | SUBSTANCE | STYLE |
|---|
| Title | System | Chargen | Setting | Presentation |
|---|
| gameline | company | simplicity | completeness | statistics | speed | flexibility | "realism" | detail | scope | consistency | originality | style | clarity | organization | materials | indexing |
|---|
| Ars Magica, 4th ed | 7 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 9 |
|---|
| Ars Magica | Atlas | 4 | 4 |
|---|
| Over the Edge, 2nd ed | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 6 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 10 |
|---|
| Over the Edge | Atlas | 5 | 4 |
|---|
| Everway | 9 | 9 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
|---|
| Everway | Rubican/WotC | 4 | 5 |
|---|
| Werewolf: the Apocalypse | 4 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
|---|
| Werewolf | WWGS | 3 | 3 |
|---|
| Mage: the Ascension | 4 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 7 |
|---|
| Mage | WWGS | 3 | 3 |
|---|
| Mage: the Ascension, 2nd ed | 4 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 |
|---|
| Mage | WWGS | 3 | 3 |
|---|
| AD&D Players' Handbook, 2nd ed | 3 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 8 |
|---|
| AD&D | TSR | 1 | 3 |
|---|
| FUDGE | 8 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 5 |
|---|
| FUDGE | Grey Ghost Games | 4 | 3 |
|---|
| Castle Falkenstein | 8 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 3 |
|---|
| Castle Falkenstein | RTG | 4 | 4 |
|---|
| CORPS, 2nd ed | 6 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 10 |
|---|
| CORPS | BTRC | 3 | 4 |
|---|
| Star Wars RPG, 2nd ed., revised | 8 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
|---|
| Star Wars | WEG | 4 | 5 |
|---|
All of those values are computed with simple averaging. In actuality, i'd ignore the formula and not include setting stuff at all for settingless systems (i.e., GURPS, CORPS, etc.)--what i put up there in those areas is sorta meaningless. That alters the final values for FUDGE to Style 3/Substance 5, and CORPS to Style 4/Substance 4. In general, i prefer simpler systems, but definitely appreciate a complex system that produces a lot of extra (interesting) detail for that complexity. I prefer a system to be melded with and integral to a world, rather than "universal". If i'm ever drawing a line between "rules-light" and other games, i put such things as Maelstrom Storytelling, Everway, Over the Edge, Star Wars, Continuum, and Heaven & Earth in the rules-light category. Ars Magica, Theatrix, Zero, Castle Falkenstein, Lost Souls, Feng Shui, and the like make up the cusp, and may be close enough for government work (depending on context). Storyteller, AD&D, Alternity, Rolemaster, Deadlands, Aria, GURPS, CORPS, and so on, are all definitely not rules-light under any circumstances where i'm doing the designating.
Oh, and one of my idiosyncracies as that i'll almost always downgrade a book in the materials area for being a hardcover: IME, they don't last any better than the softcovers, they're harder to do preventive structural improvements on, they're harder to fix when they fall apart, and for all this they cost more. Of course, that's only about a fifth of the weight for the Style score, so i'd have to knock over 5 points (out of 10) off for it to have any real likelihood of affecting the final (RGPnet) score, and it's only worth about a point to me.
Finally, a few lists of games, to give you an idea of where i'm coming from. My favorite games are Ars Magica, Over the Edge, Everway, Underground, Kult, and Werewolf. I suspect that Maelstrom Storytelling, Theatrix, and Nobilis would be on that list if i'd had a chance to play them much. Castle Falkenstein, Continuum, Aria, Providence, SkyRealms of Jorune, Ghostbusters, Bunnies & Burrows (the original), FUDGE, Lost Souls, and Zero all just miss the cut--they're my second string. I've actually played, in some cases extensively:
- AD&D (1&2)
- Aria
- Ars Magica
- Big Eyes, Small Mouth
- Boot Hill
- Castle Falkenstein
- D&D
- Dangerous Journeys
- Deadlands: the Weird West
- Dream Park
- Everway
- FUDGE
- Fading Suns
- Gamma World (2?&4)
- Kult
- Legacy: War of Ages
- Lost Souls
- Mage: the Ascension (1&2)
- Marvel Super Heroes
- Michael T. Desing's Army Ants RPG
- Over the Edge
- Providence
- SkyRealms of Jorune
- Star Frontiers
- Talislanta
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Other Strangeness
- The 23rd Letter
- Theatrix
- Twilight: 2000
- Underground
- Werewolf: the Apocalypse (1&2)
- Whispering Vault
In addition, i've read, and in some cases watched games of:
- Amber DRPG
- Archmage
- Asylum
- Blue Planet
- Bunnies & Burrows
- CORPS
- Call of Cthulhu
- Champions/HERO
- Changeling: the Dreaming (1)
- Chill
- Cyberpunk 2020
- DC Heroes
- Don't Look Back, Terror is Never Far Behind
- Earthdawn
- Empire of the Petal Throne (1&3)
- Epiphany
- Fantasy Wargaming
- Fief
- For Faerie, Queen, and Country
- GURPS
- Ghostbusters
- HarnMaster (2)
- HarnWorld (2)
- Immortal: the Invisible War
- James Bond 007
- Jovian Chronicles
- Lace & Steel
- Macho Women With Guns
- Magitech
- MegaTraveller
- Mercenaries, Spies, and Private Eyes
- NightLife
- Noir
- Og
- Once and Future King
- Pandemonium
- Paranoia (1&2)
- Persona
- Phoenae
- Pirates of Darkwater RPG
- Prince Valiant
- Psychosis: Ship of Fools
- Puppetland
- Rapture: the Second Coming
- SLA Industries
- Saga (DL5A)
- ShadowRun
- Shattered Dreams
- Sol
- Space Ninja Cyber Crisis XDO
- Star Wars
- Story Engine Universal Rules
- Tales From the Floating Vagabond
- The Babylon Project
- The Everlasting
- The Galactos Barrier
- The Power
- The Primal Order
- The Window
- Time Master
- Toon
- Torg
- Traveller: the New Era
- Vampire: the Masquerade (1&2)
- Witchcraft
- Wraith: the Oblivion (1)
- Zero
- and numerous others that i've forgotten about at the moment
My To Read list currently includes:
- Continuum
- DragonQuest
- FTL: 2448
- Feng Shui
- Furry Pirates
- HiT
- Heaven & Earth
- Hercules & Xena RPG
- In Nomine
- Living Steel
- Maelstrom Storytelling
- Marc Miller's Traveller
- Men in Black
- Nexus: the Infinite City
- Obsidian
- RuneQuest
- Space: 1889
- Spookshow
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine RPG
- Tales of Gargentihr
- The End
- The Outsider Chronicles: Steeltown
- TimeLords
- Tribe 8
- Trinity
- Unknown Armies
- Violence
- Warhammer FRP
- and some others that don't come immediately to mind, as well as a whole passal of games that i don't own yet
Games that i don't seem to own copies of yet, but would love to (donations welcome):
- Age of Empire
- All Flesh Must Be Eaten
- Apocrypha
- Armageddon (SF game)
- Armageddon (sequel to Witchcraft)
- Avengers of Justice
- Big Eyes, Small Mouth
- Blood of Heroes
- Bloodlust
- Control
- Darktown
- Deluxe Hero Wars
- Dragon Warriors
- Dune
- Earth & Sky: Modern Urban Faerie Tales
- Fallen Alliance
- Flat Black
- Furry Outlaws
- Gemini
- HoL
- Maelstrom
- Mage: Sorcerer's Crusade
- Multiverser
- Nephilim
- Of Gods and Men
- Orkworld
- Paul Arden Lidberg's UNSanctioned: The Dream Corrupted
- Pixie
- Quicksilver
- RUS
- SORD
- Shattered Sky
- Sovereign Stone
- TWERPS
- Tapestry
- The Fallen
- Tinker's Damn
- Trauma
- UnderWorld
- Unity
- Vampire Hunter$
- Vardukar
- Warlock
- World of Barador
- and, really, pretty much any RPG or supplement that either has a unique setting, or really original rules, or even is just less rulesy than GURPS (though i'll put up with that in order to get at a cool setting). i'm a bit of a junky when it comes to RPGs.
I'll gladly trade a review for a copy of any RPG stuff, but be forewarned that speedy turnaround isn't my forte. I'm a slow, thoughtful reader and have a lot of reading (RPG and otherwise) already on my docket. If you want a thorough, honest, informative review, probably with an actual playtest (i like to try playing new games whenever we have the time), you'll get it. If you need a review this quarter, i'm probably the wrong person. If you want a review this month, forget it.
