System Mastery

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/system-mastery-231-kevin-kell-rpg.mp3 A rare occasion where the “How the hell did this even happen” question seems fairly obvious (some company wanted a furry game in their line and this was close enough) but hot damn is this ever the weirdest thing we’ve seen in a long, long while. Strap in folks, this episode is extremely long, and not all that m...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/system-mastery-230-white-box.mp3 Let’s GOSR! This here is one a them retro-type clones where the goal was extremely straightforward: The author liked Sword & Sorcery White Box and wanted another edition, so here it is. Wanna play as a Dwarf? That can be up to level 6 as a thief(optional)? Well you an probably buy about three million other games. Or...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/system-mastery-229-underworld.mp3 Ever had dreams about the world deep below the world you know? A world where magic and madness swirl, where animals may just speak aloud, a world where the ancient myths of the surface are terrifyingly true? Did you recently read Neverwhere? Okay okay, I kid. This isn’t exactly like Neverwhere. It’s set in New York...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/system-mastery-228-star-wars-age-of-rebellion.mp3 Well, FFG was sort of driven off this project (it’s a really sad story) so the most recent line of Star Wars games is now in our wheelhouse, I guess. And who better to help us tell the story of the strangely high on narrative AND crunch FFG Star Wars engine that network owner and our good friend Jam...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/system-mastery-227-wizards-gunslingers.mp3Ooh, it’s one of those cowboys and also a different thing games! You know, like cowboys and ninjas, or cowboys and dinosaurs, or cowboys and the slow crushing onset of modernity… this one is wizards though. It’s mostly percentile, it’s written very strangely, and more details can be yours if the PRICE IS RI...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/system-mastery-226-star-munchkin.mp3 Uh oh, someone better stop us before we get to level 10.  It’s Star Munchkin, the RPG!  Did you know there were RPGs of these games?  You should have guessed.  Munchkin has the same marketing team as KISS.  It’s obviously a comedy game, secretly (seriously, it’s amazing how hard they work to hide it) an OGL game...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/05/system-mastery-225-marvel-multiverse-rpg.mp3 Reviewing a playtest?  That doesn’t seem right!  Well, it certainly isn’t in our usual bag of tricks, but hey, this is a rare situation where someone writing a modern game ASKED for our opinion (sort of, they asked for opinions in general) and we can be constructive and nice!  Will we?  Maybe!  Also this...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/system-mastery-224-fiasco-classic.mp3 Mea culpa time (Jef version):  This is one of those games where I knew exactly what it was and have been recommending it for years for any RP session that needs to be about spiraling into failure… but I’ve never read it til now.  So hey, were all my recommendations justified?  Let’s find out, shall we?     Lear...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/04/system-mastery-223-tephra.mp3 Ooh, a steampunk one!  You can tell because of the brown and the gear and the goggles and all.  Oh, I guess it also says steampunk on there, in retrospect I suppose that was a dead giveaway.  Anyhow Tephra is definitely drifting in the fantasy direction on the old -punk continuum, with neat races and a whole fantastica...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/system-mastery-222-umlaut.mp3 Uh oh, every once in a while a time comes in which we are commanded to rock, and that time has come again.  We’re discussing a game in which every play takes the reins of an entire metal band, and seeks fortune, glory, and thrown up horns from loyal fans.  Is this Sabbath?  Or is it Winger?  Listen along and let’s find...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/03/system-mastery-221-santas-soldiers.mp3 Happy Christmas in July in March!  It’s time for some holiday cheer, because we were looking for a different game but ended up with this one (it’s explained in the show).  Suit up as an agent in Santa’s elf army and go forth to do battle with a bunch of holiday monsters.  Or at least hear us talk about it!    ...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/system-mastery-220-the-secret-fire.mp3 This is a pretty bog-standard “Recapture the D&D I remember when I was 11” moonshot game, where the lessons learned about what D&D used to be like seem to be that it was awful but we loved it.  Does it promise to be all about player empowerment and then immediately strip almost any tools they might have used a...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/system-mastery-219-the-lawnmower-man-rpg.mp3 How often do we get to do theme weeks?  This is great!  We have the Lawnmower Man RPG, which is set immediately after the events of the movie, as the Southern Gothic horror gives way to … troop team simulation as described by the company that made Phoenix Command.  What?  Why?  How?  Anyway, here’s a who...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/system-mastery-218-silver-age-sentinels.mp3 Oh boy another supers game!  You know how we love those!  SIlver Age Sentinels is from the Big Eyes, Small Mouth folks, so you better believe it shares the insane customizability, tri-stat system, and more with that anime simulator.  But how does it do as a superhero engine?  Well, let’s all find out toge...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/system-mastery-217-conspiracy-x.mp3 What if everything you thought you knew was actually all evidence of a secret conspiracy?  Deja Vu?  Real psychic powers.  Men in Black?  Lizard people in black.  That’s the premise of Conpiracy X, a late 90s secret agents vs. everything game with a surprisingly complex combat engine.  Oh man.  Surprisingly compl...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/system-mastery-216-psychosis-ship-of-fools-1.mp3 Post-Show PS:  Turns out there is at least one more of these, Jef’s on-air googling failed to turn up Psychosis: Solitary Confinement.  Cool?  Cool. Well, when the name of the mental disorder is right there in the title you know you’re in for something at least a little iffy.  Luckily this is so far...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/system-mastery-215-blue-rose-2.mp3 Let’s dispense with the obvious question first.  This is the OGL version.  Now before that gets too depressing, note that this is one of the most modified OGL games we’ve come across, going so far as to do that one thing everyone always says you should do with D&D stats (not get rid of them, the other thing).  It’...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/system-mastery-214-mystic-forces.mp3 Heck yeah, one of those weird games so little known I couldn’t GIS the cover and had to take a picture of our copy!  Mystic Forces is a 2000 RPG about light vs. darkness featuring some very unique ideas (though Jon has some ideas as to where a lot of them are coming from), and a world that doesn’t have elves, dw...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/system-mastery-213-the-book-of-vile-darkness.mp3 Just because Ween is over doesn’t mean we can’t stay spooky!  Or at least one would hope.  This is more evil by way of edge than anything else.  Jef sought out a list of historically terrible supplements for us to look at in the future, and this one just kept floating to the top.  Evil races, prestig...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/system-mastery-212-outbreak-undead-1.mp3 Okay so maybe it’s November, and maybe we forgot when October started this year, but that won’t stop us from delivering our yearly load of horror ween stuff!  Here’s Outbreak Undead.  It’s 460 pages long and is a fairly generic zombie horror survival type thing.  Announcement Mastery Looking for game and fan...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/system-mastery-212-all-flesh-must-be-eaten.mp3 Behold our triumph, the ZombieWeen!  It’s alive!  Well, sort of alive.  This ‘Ween around we’ll be focusing on zombie RPGs, investigating games about surviving short infestations and full-blown apocalypses.  This time, it’s All Flesh Must Be Eaten, which means it’s also our first time talking about the...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/system-mastery-210-amber-diceless.mp3 Oh geez, this one is gonna get us some letters.  Lemme just warn you in advance if you’re as hot on this property as everyone on the internet seems to be for Moorcock stuff, you might wanna just go check out a Movie Mastery or something.  Otherwise, welcome to Amber Diceless, a game that has rules it would prob...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/system-mastery-209-supplement-spectacular-3.mp3 Well how about one of these?  It’s only the third one in 209 episodes, so I hope they sort of feel special by now!  It’s Supplement Spectacular, where we dig through our surprisingly ample library of followup books to games you’d never think would have them, and talk about how those games expand and c...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/system-mastery-208-mutant-chronicles-4.mp3 This takes a while, but on the bright side we really find out some new fun and not so fun stuff about the game in the process. Good on ya for being patrons, you’re learning stuff no one else will. Unless they… read the game, I guess? Or just find someone else doing this. We can’t be the only ones.   Learn...

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/system-mastery-208-pokemon-jr..mp3 Desperately trying to hit a book deadline, we found ourselves in need of something fairly small, so we finally broke the tiny sheet of glass in front of the smaller RPG we have, the Pokemon Jr. Adventure Game: Pokemon Emergency.  60 pages long and smaller than a checkbook, this is a tiny little thing.  But it has...