systemmastery – System Mastery

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 complex.

Announcement Mastery

Solo But Not Alone 2
Grab a ton (101!) solo RPGs for yourself for only 10 bucks while supporting a vital cause at the same time.  Help people in real need by joining Jasper’s Game Day in their needed efforts preventing suicide.  It’s a win win and it can be yours to support or just get games you want at https://itch.io/b/1227/solo-but-not-alone-2.  Act fast, this fundraising event will end March 2022!

Special guest James D’Amato joins us in a review of Britain’s extremely cursed foray into the world of animated movies. A film with a plot so absurd that there is no way the movie can do it justice.

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Laranth vs. Aurra Sing!  In hindsight this is sorta depressingly predictable.  Anyway they have a noir-grade showdown in the midst of a very weird festival, then Jax heads off to Dejah’s to once again be sexually frustrated by a 2003-era clubwear shimmer dress.

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 removed from reality regarding how far everyone is removed from reality that it mostly comes out okay in the wash.  It’s a game where you never quite know what’s going on, and the entire story is a spoiler alert.  From the decade that brought you Steal My Sunshine, it’s Psychosis: Ship of Fools.

Whoever it was that decided this should be on our list both understands exactly what this show is about and also is a terrible person. Hitting some surprising new lows on this one.

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’s got some good ideas!  But do we like it?  Well, let’s find out.  You know, again.

Announcement Mastery!

Roar to Heaven is an anime inspired sci-fi AP podcast where the heroes fight an invading angel army with battlesuits powered by music!  They’re currently kickstarting to pay their staff and cast, and your support will help!  Plus also definitely listen to their cool show.  Links to follow:
Show Page: https://www.peachgardengames.com/about-roar-to-heaven
Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peachgardengames/roar-to-heaven
Itch.io Link for Those With Understandable Kickstarter Concerns: https://peachgardengames.itch.io/blazing-hymn

Ok but the movie poster claims “the most bizarre murder weapon ever used” and that’s just not even remotely true. Killing someone with a truck is real fuckin basic. You kill someone with some Pumpernickel bread and maybe you can claim most bizarre murder weapon.

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Whoa, two chapters in a row that are a continuous story?  Don’t think we’ve seen that yet!  Anyhoo, the gang is still in “sit around bickering” mode, until Den kickstarts things by getting arrested.  Then it’s time to visit a bunch of fun aliens and… sorta just pretend to be detectives at them.  You’ll see.

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We’re about 2/3rds of the way through the book, and for the first time ever any path that anyone is on seems like it might actually cross one of the other ones at some point (just not in this episode).  So what is going on?  Well, Jax and gang need a few bucks, and Typho information gathers from some colorful species of the Coruscant underworld.

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, dwarves, or even humans.  Are they contained in a probably somewhat too complicated engine?  Well yeah, obviously.