RPG Review: Crime Network




Crime Network

Welcome to Crime Network Cosa Nostra, published by Bedrock Games (company site). This review concerns the portable document format (PDF). Print and PDF products are available through the company website at Bedrockgames.net. As I recently watched The Godfather trilogy I’m feeling inspired to write this review. We begin by letting the game speak for itself…

“Crime Network is a fast-paced, gritty role playing game, set in the underworld of organized crime. Players control mobster characters as they rise through the ranks of the American Mafia. In the spirit of Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, and The Godfather, players will work with and against each other in their pursuit of infamy.” (Pg. 5)

Disclosure: This review includes affiliate links. I receive a token % if you purchase something from the landing page. You purchases support this blog and its content. Thank you for that support.

Crime Network is exactly the above; a mafia themed role playing game (RPG), which utilizes a basic system of rules which are just as easy to learn as apply.

In regards to mechanics, the system is for the most part what I call a skill based and utilizes a unique D10 dice system. This system doesn’t include incremental +1 or +2 modifiers to damage etc. but relies on the number of dice to increase the chance of success, given a specific situation.

In short, dice rolls involve the player rolling against a target number (TN) set by the Game Master (GM). Character skill or level of aptitude, is reflected in the total number of dice rolled. A player with less skill may attempt to succeed using one dice, while a player with great skill rolls up to six dice. As long as one of the dice the player rolls is a number equal or higher than TN, the character succeeds on the specific task. Though combat is bit more involving (and death delightfully just around the corner), as well as situation and circumstance may have a number of modifiers explained in the rules, this in a nutshell is the system.

The timeline of Crime Network is modern day. The main setting is Baybridge, a city on the coast under the yoke of organized crime. The city setting is sprinkled with a respectable amount of detail, while plenty is left to the GMs creativity to fill in. Baybridge is made up of twenty-two districts. Each district is provided with a basic outline, a few notable businesses and recent “family,” happenings. Following this a section is dedicated to specific gangsters their personalities and criminal activities. The setting information is very well presented and provides a respectable amount of tools to assist in getting a game going.

(Disclosure: This review is property of Kenzer and Company and republished here with permission.)

Featured is the adventure, “Remo Loves Lucy.” While it’s certainly serviceable, it’s a bit mundane in my opinion for a featured adventure. The introduction specifically mentions the game as one of paranoia and suspense, the adventure doesn’t reflect this, more on this, later.

Chapters written to assist the GM with weaving and running a mafia themed RPG present the basic tropes of (movie inspired) the gangster existence. While there isn’t much original it was nice (even essential) to be able to reference these themes in writing.

Overall, Crime Network is a sort of hit and miss, RPG. The writing is well executed, I felt as an RPG it could have done a better job by showing in certain parts, rather than telling.

Also content of some sections just didn’t capture the essence of the heading. Specifically, this is reflected in the "Creating Tensions" section where the advice summarizes to-and I’m paraphrasing: eventually a gangster character will be targeted to be whacked, perhaps months after a possible transgression and the GM has to decide whether or not to leave that task to the other player characters. I just don’t think the above really captures the essence of tension. Certainly it might create tension between players rather than characters, but this isn’t the sort of tension I usually enjoy with my RPGs.

Tension in any gangster movie I’ve watched usually related to one or two themes, getting caught or the power struggle. Tension is a matter of degree and hard to encapsulate. There are hints of this throughout Crime Network, but central to the game? Ehh!?

Like I mentioned, hit and miss. I really enjoyed the system and the setting elements of this game. I like it when creators balance the setting information as they did in this case: A good amount of detail, a good amount left to the GM to create. The art and layout is refreshingly crisp and easy to follow. I think the game does a decent job of scratching the surface of a mafia themed RPG, though I’d like to have read a bit more depth.

The price for a PDF Crime Network Cosa Nostra is currently $1.99. Is that an offer you can’t refuse? I’ll leave you to it.

RPG Review: Pirates & Dragons

Pirates & Dragons

Avast!
And welcome to a review of the portable document format (PDF) of Pirates & Dragons, written by Peter Cakebread & Ken Walton (site). Pirates & Dragons is available at drivethrurpg.com. Cakebread & Walton were generous enough to provide a complimentary download as well as a digital copy of Curious Creatures of the Dragon Isles, the RPG book of beasts and animals and a full color quality resolution map of The Dragon Isles, the main setting for adventure. Pirates & Dragons was brought to life via Kickstarter to the tune of £6,544 or a bit over $7K US.

Disclosure: Product links within this post include my drivethrurpg.com affiliate identification. At no additional cost I receive a token % if you purchase something from the landing page. It's one way to support this blog and its content. Thank you for that support.

The Pirates and Dragons PDF is full color and clocks in at whopping 349 pages cover to cover. Curious Creatures of the Dragon Isles is full color as well and 147 pages. Fortunately, I’m an avid reader and I take good notes. By page count, the game is by far the largest I’ve reviewed for Indy Game Scene.

Similar to my review of LotFP, I’m breaking tradition of my regular format and focusing the review on the most interesting aspects of this RPG. Let’s jump in and read what the game has to say for itself.

“Pirates & Dragons is a role-playing game of fantasy swashbuckling in a world of magic and treasure, of fantastical islands inhabited by strange beasts and vile necromancers, of treachery and heroism. Together with a group of friends, you take on the role of pirates, out for adventure and booty – raiding the treasure galleons of Esbania, the merchant fleets of Gaule and Batavia, the dragon-hunting ships of Albion, the ruins of lost Adalantas... and the gold-filled caves of ancient and evil dragons.

Gather your crew. Load your flintlocks. And prepare to plunder!” (Pg. 9)

I had to review this RPG in sessions (due to some real life scheduling things) and with each time I sat down, I found myself wanting to read more. Fortunately, it’s well written and despite its page count it was an easy read. The relationships between the games main ingredients or specifically how the setting, rules and game mechanics fit together really impressed me.

From a design standpoint while the current trend of RPGs leans-more towards a focus on mechanics and rules which imply a setting and little bit of fluff to glue it all together, it was a nice contrast to read the effort of game designers who seemingly put world building first; or for a change, the setting ahead of the system. Whether this is actually the case it doesn’t matter. The fact is Pirates and Dragons is an RPG which offers a complete system and setting.

Speaking of setting and as you read in the above quoted, Pirates and Dragons is a clash of high seas adventure and fantasy. The game isn’t a typical high fantasy setting and has toned down or omitted some of the more commonly used Tolkien inspired elements (such as demi-human races), trading these in for doubloons and black powder. There is a certain give and take with the writing of this game that when you finally wash ashore, you’ll realize all of the elements contained therein have been tweaked (that is from what we typically see in a fantasy RPG) in such a way which should allow gamers to experience a unique game world.

The main setting is the Dragon Isles, a collection of warm tropical (think Caribbean) islands and provides the main theater for adventure. Here is a brief on the main cast of cultures.

An impressive amount of detail paints the four most common (human) cultures known as the Uropans. These cultures venture to the “Isles” in search of treasure and glory. Each is inspired from historic seafaring European cultures of the 1600-1800s. Just for fun, the Uropan cultures are the Albionic Batavian, Esbanian and Gallic. Which fictional culture is inspired by which actual culture? If you think about it Uropan- European, you might hit a couple-on the nose.


Curious Creatures of the Dragon Isles

Islanders are native to the Dragon Isles. Islanders who worship or are more enslaved by dragons are known as the Dragon Tribes. Islanders are also human and are the only playable race who can utilize magic. Magic and how it works is not your typical fantasy magic or spell books and broomsticks sort of stuff. Magic in Pirates and Dragons is spiritual/voodoo in origin, seemingly inspired from African culture/mythology.
Dragons are the overlords of the Isles, more often than not to each their own island and Dragon Tribe. One of the most interesting aspects of Dragons with this game is their preference for necromancy magic. Not to be excluded are the undead minions commanded by these dragon barons. With an entire tribe under one wing, necromancy at the summons of a thought and a host of undead beneath the other wing, dragons are the setting’s most powerful protagonists.

In regards to game mechanics, Pirates and Dragons utilizes the Renaissance System (RS) which is a D100 system. Required are a complete set of standard polyhedral dice, with most game rolls hinging on the use of the D100 (or two D10s) or as some know them better percentage rolls. I would put the RS in the light/medium crunch category and should be easy to master.

For those familiar and as far as I can tell, the core of character creation and some aspects of the system are comparable to Basic Role Playing (BRP). Admittedly, it’s been a very long time since I played BRP and I only played it a few times so I’m not going to be comparing the system directly with Pirates and Dragons, but system “wise,” the two, as best I recall, seem similar. To make a long story short, if you like BRP you’ll likely feel at home with RS. Thankfully, if you have no idea and if you’re feeling curious… Or if happen to be afflicted with tight-wad syndrome, you can take a look yourself as The Renaissance System is available as a free download over at Drivethrurpg.com.

In regards to adventurer development or system, one interesting aspect is how Improvement Points (Experience Points) function with the individual aspects of adventurer (character) progression. The game utilizes an ingeniously simple format for adventurer progression, which includes a point buy structure. Adventurer progression is without a level based system and creates a respectable amount of balance between adventurers. Hero are not born, they are developed.

As with any system, player adventurers accumulate Improvement Points and spend these points towards potential advancement. Key is potential advancement, not automatic advancement. Because each category that a player can increase for their adventurer is weighted; the more advanced a character is, concerning skills, magic or characteristics the more likely that attempting to increase these abilities will fail.

For instance to increase skills the player spends an improvement point and takes his chance with dice gawds rolling a D100. If the dice total is above the adventurer’s current skill percentage the skill is increased 1D4+1 (%) points. If the dice total is below the current skill percentage, the improvement point has been spent but no increase to the skill is awarded. Another facet of this is that totals above 100 are possible as skill points are automatically increased with rolls at 96 through 100. So player could conceivably increase his adventurer’s skill if say it was at 98 with a roll of 97, the only caveat of this being that once skills reach 100 they only increase in 1 point increments. Adventurer progression for other areas of potential advancement is similar with this weighted approach.

(Disclosure: This review is property of Kenzer & Company and republished here with expressed permission.)

I might very well be the only person I know who gets excited about how RPG systems work as well as the ideas and design choices behind them. This might also be why I enjoy writing this column. The rules which make up a system are rarely sexy but often a few well thought and written rules can make something decent into something great. Pirates and Dragons provides a comprehensive system and a healthy dose of rules including maritime situations and well beyond. No RPG can cover every situation but if there was anything absent I missed it.

Conclusion: While I usually spend some amount of space nitpicking something I honestly didn’t find much if anything to critique. As far as I’m concerned everything you need to play Pirates and Dragons is adequately covered. Curious Creatures of the Dragon Isles, the games book of beasts and animals would make a nice companion though there is also a decent sized listing of creatures in the main book. Due to the sheer amount of detail while there might have been a section or two I could argue was a bit lite, my tendency was to think that this was more about prioritizing space for what the creators thought were more pertinent.

The organization and layout of this RPG is well put together. The art is respectable as well as consistent. While it spanned a 3 week journey to get through, when I finished I was really impressed. Introducing Pirates & Dragons as an exploratory RPG product or as something new and different to your player group you’d be hard pressed to find something better.

Walk the plank I say...

RPG Revew: Mermaid Adventures



Mermaid Adventures

Welcome to a review of Mermaid Adventures, a complete role playing game (RPG) which was formerly available in portable document format (PDF) at DriveThruRPG.com and RPGNow.com. Mermaid Adventures was brought to the surface via Kickstarter to the tidy sum of just over 5k internet bucks. This review concerns the non-revised version which is no longer available, but since the premise is the same, you can take a closer look at Mermaid Adventures revised, by clicking the affiliate links in this review.

Indeed, there is a growing market of games aimed at introducing a young (or younger) player base to the fold of RPGs. Mermaid Adventures is one such, but there are a few pleasantries about this game which distinguish it from some of the games I’d happened upon over the years. We need not play the name-games-game, but some of these “other creators,” should consider taking some notes.

Disclosure: This review contains affiliate links I receive a token % if you purchase something from the landing page. It's one way to show your support of this blog, and its content. Sincerely, thank you for that support.

Clicking off the first couple of pages on my PDF copy the first thing to be appreciated is that the games list of play testers, include members of its target audience. Ahem, “other creators,” ages four to eleven. While you might not think this is such an innovative idea, you’d be surprised at how many RPGs while designed for kids, fail to include the target audience (or even playtesting at all) in the mix. Just saying…

I was impressed by the overall organization and design of this book. Certainly, Mermaid Adventures is not a large volume at just over 100 pages cover to cover, but everything contained therein feels or seems to be where it should be. I’m not exactly certain where this sentiment comes from, but my ego tells me it’s because: everything is where it should be! The game is properly organized; I’ll leave it at that.

The illustrations are bright, colorful-as well as plentiful and should appeal to the young gamer, more specifically I would argue girls, a bit more than boys, under the age of ten. Tables are well placed throughout with the pertinent information to each section. The book is structured without a multi-column format, which makes the print larger than typical as well as easy to read. For the most part Mermaid Adventures passes the eye test, so let’s move the review to what I like to call “the fiddly-bits,” otherwise known as game content and mechanics.

Creating a character in Mermaid Adventures is broken down into four steps. The first of which is picking a species of Merfolk from a list of eight varieties. Each type of Merfolk has some special abilities and provides the starting base for character attributes. For example, Lobsterfolk have a hardened body, Rayfolk can flatten their body, while the Jellyfolk have a see thru body, in the right lighting, etc. etc. Overall, each Merfolk is pretty interesting in the range of available abilities to start with and so each has their appeal in playing them.

Each Merfolk starts with a base number for each of the four character attributes with character creation. With step two, players receive five additional points in which to distribute among the character’s attributes as they desire. The Attributes are Body, Mind, Charm and Luck. As you might surmise, all conflict or contest resolution will be determined on these scores and will aid the number of dice rolled relevant to the situation. Each attribute, fits and will be used in game, exactly where you would intuitively guess it should.

Step three of character creation is the option of rolling on random charts to determine superficial things about a character; hair color, clothing etc-etc. This section is a bit of optional fluff, whether characters roll or the players determine it themselves is left to the Navigator (GM). Any good parent knows, you don’t tell a four year old the color of her character’s hair. She tells you. That is that and to quote the late great Professor Snape, “Obviously…”

The last and final step of character creation is selecting four qualities which will help make each character unique. Qualities are character perks, which will impact game rolls. These extra qualities are in addition to those awarded with the type of Merfolk that has been selected. The quality: Sneaking will give a bonus success, when attempting, you-guessed it- do some sneaking! Mermaid Adventures offers a decent sized list of qualities, including magical qualities if you wish to include magic with your game, which will assist players, while providing some additional utility to each character.

Mechanics in Mermaid Adventures involve the use of black and white six sided dice and is a D6 system with a bit of a tweak. Fear not, if you are a Seattle Seahawks fan (like this reviewer) and possess only green and blue dice. If I can figure this out, I have faith that you will as well.

Success on a specific roll (or how many are required) is determined by the Navigator (GM). The difficulty level (1-5) determines the number of black dice rolled, while the characters Ability and Quality determine the amount of white dice rolled. Success for either is rolling a 4, 5, or 6. Overall triumph on a specific task is getting more counted successes on the white dice, than the black.

My one criticism is that overall the mechanics for dice rolls are a bit too fancy for my taste and I think the four, five and six year olds might agree with me: small hands and all. There’s nothing wrong with setting a target number a notch higher (perhaps 3-10) and requiring some straight rolling. Let’s not forget it’s hard enough for a six year old to keep a dice roll on the table let alone wield more than one successfully. The four year old might forgo rolling altogether and wonder instead what a handful of dice tastes like! Luckily no doubt the navigator will be there to navigate and forgive me Mermaid Adventures I kid, yet I’m serious. Add to this comparing success vs failure between the two toned dice and as I said it’s just a bit too fancy. I’m sure this system works but something simpler could work as well; and to be clear this is not a criticism of four to six year olds…

I couple of nice sections are the pre-generated characters which the players could utilize or a navigator could use as non-player characters (NPCs) and the sections that stat out creatures of the sea natural and fantastical.

Progress Points are the game’s experience point system. As a character in Mermaid Adventures progresses they get points awarded by the Navigator after a session. The player can choose how to distribute those points to build their character and for the most part the system is set up for rewards that will happen once a single adventure is concluded. Keeping the target gamer in mind this is a very simple and effective system.

(This review is property of Kenzer and Company and republished here with permission. Mermaid Adventures was supplied free of cost for the purpose of review)

Advice sections for the Navigator and role-playing are pretty basic stuff for an experienced gamer-but no doubt credit is due for including them. There is also a cute story at the beginning of the book which (gives a narrative of play) I found delightful enough to read to my daughter as well as the section which gives a good example of what gameplay will be like. I like products that boast being a complete RPG to maintain key sections, which explain the role of players and basics of roleplaying-it just makes good sense-and Mermaid Adventures ties it all together with a creative approach.

The final chapter of Mermaid Adventures consists of five short adventures. Beside an interesting mix of adventure, I would say nothing ground breaking here, however something to consider, is again-the target gamer. The adventures maintain a basic approach at introducing RPGs to a younger gamer. Dare I say a gamer who’s attention span is a bit more easily influenced to distraction and who’s, (Are we there yet?) mentality would be more pleased at arriving sooner to the conclusion of the adventure, rather than later. Two dolphin fins up for this section.

To close, Mermaid Adventures provides a good introduction to roleplaying. As a product it does a good job of not forgetting who this game is designed for. If you skipped ahead to the final couple of paragraphs of this review: Kids! This game is for kids. The layout is crisp and the game rules are easy to follow. The art is very appealing or at least my seven year old hasn’t stopped bothering me about playing it, since peaking over my shoulder, whilst I was thumbing this review.

Speaking of which, the five sample adventures are certainly enough to get a Navigator started. So it looks like I will be making a visit under the sea relatively soon. Perhaps we’ll see you there!

RPG Review: OneDice Pirates & Dragons

OD P&D Cover

Avast, me Hearties!

This is a brief review of OneDice Pirates & Dragons published by Clockwork and Chivalry (AKA: Cakebread & Walton). The PDF digitizing before me is 134 pages front to back, in single column format, and includes a printable character sheet. Illustrations are full color along with a two page map of the Dragon Isles, the RPGs main setting.

Let’s jump right off the plank and outline the setting…

Disclosure: This review and the banner at the bottom of this post, contains affiliate links to RPGNow.com. I receive a token % if you purchase something from the landing page. It's one way to show your support of this blog, and its content. Sincerely, thank you for that support.

The setting of OneDice Pirates & Dragons is the Dragon Isles, a collection of tropical islands innate with ancient magic and besieged by dragons. One hundred years have passed since the first Uropans crossed the vast Adalantic Ocean, discovering the Dragon Isles and the mighty continent to the far west, High Bressayle. The four seafaring cultures of Uropa: Albion, Batavia, Esbania and Gaule have developed a number of settlements and ports throughout the isles, which when these cultures are not acting to underhand or war with each other, are busy enslaving the native islanders for their own ends.

Dragons inhabit a number of islands, some more powerful and infamous than others. They too war with each other and any pirates and privateers who have the misfortune of happening upon their territories. The most powerful dragons are worshiped by native tribes and wield necromancy magic at their scaly finger tips.

Creating and running character in OneDice Pirates and Dragons is land lubber simple. Adventurers have three primary abilities: Strong, Clever and Quick. Magic is optioned as a forth primary ability, but is only available to characters native born to the Dragon Isles, which can be made, but doesn’t increase the starting primary ability points. In creating an adventurer, players distribute six points among the primary abilities, with the caveat that no ability can be higher than 3 or less than 1. From these, three additional abilities are derived: Health, Defense and Move. Characters receive six points to distribute among a list of thirty plus skills.

The prime mechanic of the OneDice system utilizes a single six sided dice (d6) and like many aspects of this RPG it’s succinctly defined… So let’s use it:

“To see whether your character succeeds at a task, roll one six-sided dice, then add to the result the relevant ability (the character’s score in Strong, Clever or Quick) and skill (if he or she has one). Compare the result to the Target Number – if you equal or beat it, you have succeeded. If you have failed to beat it, your action has been unsuccessful (and there may be a consequence).” (PG 27)

Included with mechanics and throughout is respectable amount of rules, including how to sections and examples of play; the sections on ship to ship combat, and Game Keeper sections are really well done and give the Game Keeper something to run on as a one shot or build an entire campaign from.
 

Overall, OneDicePirates & Dragons offers a succinctly defined system, and a unique setting of black powder, magic and high seas adventure. While I’m not a proponent of “rules lite” systems, as I prefer medium to heavy crunch, there is certainly some clever and well-designed content. The inspiration of European activity in the Caribbean from 1600-1800 (Uropa/Europe) is a nice jumping off point. The use of the number six with character creation: mechanics d6, distribute 6 ability points, select 6 skills, makes this a great gateway or introduction RPG be it for kids, or adults who have never delved into this wonderful hobby before.

Note: An abridged version of this review originally appeared with EN World's RPG News & Reviews-community content program (CCP) here. Thanks to EN World for allowing me to post it on my blog, as well as providing a venue to produce paid content.

Additional Note: I'm really enjoying what I've seen with Cakebread & Walton's OneDice line. Just about every genre is covered so if pirates aren't your thing (fantasy, cyberpunk, ghost hunting and many others) stop in over at their RPGNow.com sales page, or direct a Cakebread & Walton's home site: here. Each of the products from the OneDice line, are available in full color, print as well as PDF.

RPG Review: Luchador

Luchador

Welcome to a review of Luchador, Way of the Mask; written by Gabe Ivan and published by Spartacus Publishing (link to site). This review, concerns the portable document format (PDF), which is available at DriveThruRPG.com and RPGNow.com. Those who might prefer an actual dead tree version can get their hands on one by ordering direct from the Spartacus Publishing website at: spartacuspublishing.com, or just click the link above. Mash some buttons and it can be yours.

Disclosure: Links in this review include my drivethrurpg.com affiliate identification. I receive a token % if you purchase something from the landing page. It is one way to support this site and it's content, thank you.

Let’s begin by letting the game speak for itself…

“Players take on the roles of luchadors pitting their high-flying talents against international criminals, secret spy enclaves, evil cults, mad scientists, and other luchadors. Sometimes they will even get to wrestle each other (this is a great way to teach players the rules). Throughout it all, the characters should embody the flamboyant excitement and code of honor that all luchadors revere. This is not a game for cautious schemers and meticulous tacticians. This is a game for swashbuckling daredevils who know every adventure should end in a free-for-all battle royale.” (PG 4)

For context, a Luchador is a professional Mexican wrestler.

The premise of Luchador is undoubtedly unique. I would say that the setting is unique, but beyond the above quoted paragraph and a few tidbits sprinkled in for flavor Luchador doesn’t focus too much on setting beyond its own game elements. The game elements are the setting.

Luchador also doesn’t take itself too seriously or most notably, zero in on the cultural significance of the sport. Though I’d have liked to seen something in this regard, I’ve decided not to hold this fact against it.

Back to elements: Luchador’s main bad guys are worth note and a bit outside the box for what one would intuitively conceive in regards to a wrestling RPG. I imagine a lot of fun hi-jinx should come with the package. While I wouldn’t call Luchador a monster mash, the mix of Harry Dresden meets James Bond type villain tropes is an aspect which creates an interesting dynamic.

Featured is the Umbral Accord; an evil network of criminals, spies, scientists and general no-do-gooders. If a government fails, the Umbral Accord is likely responsible. If your cat gets stuck high in a tree-and you record the tortured meows and play them back later at one third speed in reverse you will hear, “The Umbral Accord is responsible.”

Creepy huh?-yes that last one was my feeble attempt at humor.

Besides other Luchadores, the big heavies our heroes might face include a laundry list of evil creatures. Just to name a few there’s vampire women, zombies, chupacabra and Aztec mummies. Okay, Luchador is a bit of monster mash…     

A certain familiarity with professional wrestling couldn’t hurt, but there is enough covered within this book that even a fleeting awareness of the sport, should get you started. If you don’t have that, there are lots and lots of illustrations. As per usual let’s start with making a character.

Creating a character in Luchador requires a little calculation as well as some roll-drama and is finished up in four steps. The first step is choosing a class, of which there are four possibilities. Character Classes are the Aerialist, Technico, Gimmico and Bruiser. Each has strengths relative to their name, which is reflected in their individual (attributes) Stat-Lines. As well, each character class has its own black and white illustration which helps a player get the basic of idea of the “type,” of Luchador they’re about to select.

Interior Art

The next two steps are generating the Primary as well as Secondary or Figured Statistics and spending Skillpoints. The Primary Statistics are Strength, Agility, Conditioning, Presence, Wits and Determination, these being the raw physical attributes of the character. The Secondary or Figured statistics are Initiative, Fatigue, Resilience and Vitality. Figured Statistics are the sum of two primary statistics. For instance, the Resilience score is cumulated from strength and conditioning.

Each new character receives fifteen Skillpoints to spend with generation, but may have also acquired a few more points if the rolls concerning the primary statistics were below adequate. Skills in Luchador fall under four categories but are essentially either, “in the ring” or “out of the ring,” skills. Out of the ring skills are mostly left to the group to create, with a few examples to show the way. Since this is a wrestling game as you might guess, most skills in Luchador are combat based and most fall into the category of wrestling moves. Each skill and their relative costs are expensive compared to the amount of skillpoints to start. Newly rolled characters won’t begin with more than a handful.    

The fourth and last step is Paint and Finish which is a short section of ideas about how players can add some details to their characters.

Overall, creating a character in Luchador is a bit more involving than it first seems. The section requires a bit of page scrolling (for good grasp) and additional mouse clicking, but putting it all together it takes a bit more time than I initially expected.

The process is inlaid with a few carefully placed checks and balances. Character classes do not begin with a set amount of skills but points to spend, while each skill is catered to work with a specific primary statistic. Choices-choices… Character Mini-maxing is impossible. Gamers who prefer balance with character generation will find Luchador more than passable.

A key specific to characters is how they progress. Luchador doesn’t have character levels in the classical sense. Instead, players will be able to purchase new skills, increased stats etc., with the experience points they earn. This is a point buy system. Luchador’s experience point system, much like character generation, doesn’t just lean toward balance-it encompasses it. Advancing a skill or stat becomes increasingly expensive the higher the number or the more proficient the character becomes.

The mechanics of Luchador is named the DEG System and involves the exclusive use of a twenty sided dice. DEG isn’t innovative by any stretch, but it gets points for being original and for the most part serviceable. DEG is for the most part a medium crunch system. By my assessment, the more familiar you are the lighter the system will be. This will take a few sessions however so the learning curve is a bit sharp. Combat which is a feature of this game, such as it should be, is a bit on the heavy side. This is mostly due to how much data will need to be tracked by players during physical confrontations.   

The basics of DEG in regards to checks and game rolls, are that the GM utilizes a level (or target number) of difficulty, while this number will be subtracted from the characters rating based on skill or statistic (character attribute) for a specific task. DEG encourages the GM to present story elements based on the margin of success (MOS) or failure, be it some extra flavor text via epic success/failure.  

There is a bit more to these checks but I thought they fit together well-given the nature of the game and how this is encouraged to work in consideration with margin of success/failure. I did find myself with a few questions after reading though the intricacies of DEG. For instance, the Taking Damage section feels a bit taxing towards combat, but there didn’t seem to be any major problems or at least nothing exploitable.

Luchador also has some unique game elements which lead it towards the more theatrical nature of what you might find with wrestling on television. First among these is that the game provides a basic framework which allows players to create signature moves for their characters. After all what would a Luchador be without some signature moves? I thought this was nice addition to the ruleset, and while different examples of play can be found throughout, I thought a signature move example-could have clarified this a bit more.

Luchador also incorporates components of Fame and in game karma coined: Heat, which a luchador can accumulate and burn during a game session. Heat works very much like luck or tokens in other game systems; allowing a character to acquire and use it within a session for a special feat beyond game rolls.

(Note: This review is property of Kenzer and Company published here with expressed permission. Luchador was provided by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of review.)

Conclusion?

There are defiantly a few rough spots with Luchador, but overall I had a favorable impression. I really enjoyed the concept of the Luchadores as the heroes, and opposing an evil spy network and a bunch of classic monsters actually fits better than you would think.  

The writing is decent save a few minor errors, while the overall layout and organization is very well done. The book itself is only a bit more than sixty pages and it reads a lot bigger than it is. The table of contents serves its purpose, though with how chapters and sections are marked, the table functions as an index of sorts. Black and white illustrations are plentiful and decent. Character creation and progression is more balanced than you will find in most games.

Is Luchador a niche game? Unequivocally, yes. Though unlike most niche games you’d be inclined to pass on, the game has some additional charm that might just grow on you if you let it.