System Mastery 274 – Tower 22

Yeah yeah, we hit pause on Aria, we just couldn’t deal with that noise anymore. Instead, it’s time to dive into the ever-generous well of dumb OGL titles, with this bizarre 2002 Fantasy Strike classic, in which the authors really really want you to know about beach lifeguards and how important and cool and… military they are.

Announcement Mastery:
Seriously, go help out Owen KC Stephens already, get yourself a bundle of goodies and help out a positive force in this industry!
https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/473197/owen-kc-stephens-is-rad-bundle

System Mastery 273 – Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth

Show update first, everything’s been a bit late because of travel and the deadly scary norovirus, which isn’t pretty. Sorry about that. Show news on this episode? The sound a shudder that indicates a man has seen too much, written down, thank you.

System Mastery 272 – City of Heroes Playtest

Gather up, all you various tankers, scrapper, controllers, uhhh… that healer one… I’m just kidding I loved this game. It’s City of Heroes, sort of! Insofar as it’s a Unisystem take on the popular superhero MMO. Some of one. This is just an old playtest doc. We talk about why and what and all the rest today!

Today’s Announcement Mastery was brought to you by LET’S QUEST, a non-profit helping to provide fun and learning for kids after school via supplying RPGs and accompanying tools to schools across the US. Learn more, especially about how to assist and contribute, at www.letsquestafterschool.org.

System Mastery 271 – Active Exploits

This was a tough read. Active Exploits is more of a toolkit than a game, but despite basically having every possible tool any kit could ever have, especially for a diceless engine, we still just aren’t seeing how the numbers line up. But hey, who knows, right?

Today’s Announcement Mastery was brought to you by Perfect Draw!, a tabletop roleplaying game based on the PBTA engine that combines collaborative storytelling with trading card game mechanics in the realms of shows about those games, drawing inspiration from shows such as Duel Masters, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Cardfight! Vanguard. Back it today while there’s still time at Backerkit using the following link: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/double-summon-games/perfect-draw-a-ttrpg-about-people-who-play-card-games

System Mastery 270 – Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game

I think… I think this is all of them? If you count the review of the Multiverse pre-test (we’ve skimmed the final version, it’s pretty close), then yeah, this is the last of the Marvel licensed RPGs we hadn’t covered yet. Saga edition, with the card deck and one of the two diceless systems. Is it cool? Will it Marvel? Do we have to start tracking down DC games now?

System Mastery 269 – Strike!

This one is a little near and dear to us, we’ve used it to run Blimpleggers content in the past! Strike! is an RPG that sort of combines the very abstracted narrative structure of a FATE style game with the tactical grid combat of a 4e D&D style game, and for the most part, it works. Let’s talk about how!

Announcement Mastery Links
Support Solo But Not Alone 4 on itch.io here: https://itch.io/b/2256/solo-but-not-alone-4

System Mastery 268 – Crime Scene Police Investigation

Starting the year off the right way, with a shovelware-style OGL game about playing as real cops. Real boring cops.

Announcement Mastery Links
Check our Knight: Remastered, now on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/armouredgames/knight-remastered

Support Solo But Not Alone 4 on itch.io here: https://itch.io/b/2256/solo-but-not-alone-4

System Mastery 267 – Mörk Borg

Whoa, the art and layout in this thing is cool! What about the rest of it? Is it also cool? Can love bloom on the retroclone-style battlefield? Well, let’s read it and find out.

System Mastery 266 – Cozy Town

Welcome to a charming little community where the townsfolk are all made up and the real world doesn’t matter. It’s Cozy Town, a game that we figured could not have a better title to fit the Sweater Weather time here at the show. Make a whole adorable village, populate it and plan their year of events and charming happenings. It’s cute, basically. Super cute.

System Mastery 265 – Monster Care Squad

Oh boy it’s time for Sweater Weather! You know, our now two year running thing where we review specifically non or low-combat games, helping folks learn that there’s more out there than the traditional “put sword into orc” model (you’d be amazed at what people on the internet are putting into orcs these days), and we’re starting this year with Monster Care Squad, a neat game about rescuing wounded monsters in a world that’s evolved past some of the worst instincts of humankind.