Review Originally Published January 3rd, 2001

What I think I like best about Forge: Out of Chaos is the fact that it manages – while avoiding the common pitfall of market ignorance in assuming that D&D is the only game which has ever existed – to unabashedly bask in the glory of “Old School” gaming. Dungeon crawls, monster bashing, ornate pantheons of gods – all the fun stuff that used to fill you with awe and pulled you into gaming in the first place.

And maybe its just nostalgia overcoming me at the grand ol’ age of twenty, but I love this stuff.

So when I opened this game up and found, immediately within its cover, a twelve-page retrospective on the gods and creation of the world of Juravia, my inner child did a little dance, scampered around for a bit, and then kicked up its heels for a really fun ride.

It’s just too bad that the next two hundred pages failed at every single level.

It’s just too bad that the designers, for reasons beyond the comprehension of man, decided to randomly generate attributes by rolling 2d6 + .1d10. (Yes, you read that right: You generate decimals.)

It’s just too bad that this skill-based system utterly fails to describe the rules for resolving any sort of non-combat action. (Yes, you read that right: If it doesn’t involve swinging a weapon or casting a spell, there aren’t any rules for it in Forge: Out of Chaos.)

It’s just too bad that, after those twelve pages of creation myth, not a single scrap of information about the world of Juravia is contained in this book.

It’s just too bad that the art in this book is not only consistently mediocre, but regularly ripped off from other sources. (I don’t care – adding wings to the giant serpent does not disguise the fact that you ripped off Michael Whelan‘s cover for Conan the Usurper.)

It’s just too bad that Basement Games, like so many other would-be game publishers, not only felt a need to reinvent the wheel – but make it in the shape of a square.

Forge: Out of Chaos tries to move beyond D&D and embrace the larger tool-set of game design tools available today, but somewhere along the way it all went horribly, horribly wrong.

Writers: Mike Kibbe, Paul Kibbe, Mark Kibbe, Jim Childs, Scott Hawkey, Blair Hughes, and Loraine Sivoy
Publisher: Basement Games Unlimited, LLC
Price: $19.95
Page Count: 202
ISBN: 1-892294-00-1
Product Code: BGU1001

As described in my review of Enchanted Worlds, during 2000 I was trying to diversify the markets for my RPG reviews. This included seeking paying gigs from outlets like Games Unplugged and Pyramid Magazine, but also from websites like the long-defunct and, as far as I can tell, almost completely forgotten Gaming Outpost. At the time, though, the Gaming Outpost actually a pretty big deal in the online RPG community, and publishers would send them review copies.

I was kind of a sucker for weird, obscure, and unusual games, so I think Graveyard Greg, who ran the site, would send me the stuff that nobody else was willing to take.

I was looking for diamonds in the rough. Unfortunately, I didn’t find one here.

A generic fantasy adventure with some interesting twists on the familiar tropes of the genre. This one deserves a closer look than you might first suspect.

Review Originally Published December 29th, 2000

You’ve seen these RPG books before: Questionable cover art. Amateurish lay-out. “Compatible with any fantasy roleplaying system” (*cough* D&D *cough*).

So you think you know what’s inside: A generic adventure that could have been popped out of a cookie cutter, in a flat fantasy world rip-off populated with paper-thin logic.

PLOT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for The Fantastic Adventure. Players who may end up playing in this module are encouraged to stop reading now. Proceed at your own risk.

So obviously you know exactly what to expect:

Evil villagers send the PCs on a quest for a nonexistent item.

Hold it…

The Fantastic Adventure takes the familiar traits of a fantasy adventure and then gives them just enough of a twist to provide an entertaining gaming experience which keeps your players just a little off-balance.

Basically the adventure goes like this: The people of Westfork have been burned by one too many adventuring parties of questionable morality in the past (just imagine that the Knights of the Dinner Table have come through town one too many times), and have hatched their own plan for revenge. Upon arriving in town the PCs are feted as heroes, but then framed as criminals and forced to seek the Anomaly Stone in order to clear their names.

However, the Anomaly Stone does not actually exist: It is the result of the nightmares of a faerie which have been imprisoned in the nearby ruins of the Auctumnix Monastery. When the PCs go there, they’ll discover the truth… and the faerie.

One last twist: While on their way to the Monastery the PCs will run across a group of horrible “monsters” (a giant, a satyr, a minotaur, and a witch orb). These guys aren’t villains, though: They’re another adventuring group, come to save the faerie (who is the childhood friend of the satyr).

STRENGTHS

In addition to the general cleverness of the central concepts driving The Fantastic Adventure, the entire adventure is set in the Red Marches. In this small slice of their Winter Dark campaign setting (which is available as a separate product), Troll Lord Games has created a really nice, generic fantasy area. The primary economy here is driven by the forest’s rilthwood trees, which are tall, white, and, in the fall, covered with bright red leaves (hence the name Red Marches). Its a simple concept, but one which results in an area which is subtly alien,  successfully capturing the essence of the fantastic without having to blow the players away with fireball-like intensity.

This is nicely done – showing a subtle creativity and attention to detail which many larger companies lack — and makes me look forward to reading the complete campaign setting.

WEAKNESSES

The Fantastic Adventure has a good idea – take the tropes of fantasy and turn them on their head – but like an injured quarterback it never runs with it. I would have liked to see the villagers deliberately send the PCs on a dangerous and misguided fool’s errand (perhaps complete with the catch that, if the PCs succeed, they will have mistakenly done a great wrong). I would have liked to see the encounter with the monstrous adventuring group (a nice twist in and of itself, mind you) designed so that there was a greater chance of the PCs mistakenly attacking their counterparts. And so forth. There is a hesitancy about embracing the really cool idea on which The Fantastic Adventure is based which, unfortunately, flaws what had the potential to be a really outstanding module.

The other problems here are entirely aesthetic: The cover artwork and lay-out on the product is poorly done – lending the entire product an extremely amateurish feel.

CONCLUSION

The Fantastic Adventure is a little shaky, but the foundation is fairly solid – with a couple of easy tweaks you could easily transform this one into a real winner. A couple of other nice touches definitely make this one worth the measly $5 the Troll Lords are asking for it.

Note: Troll Lord Games is planning to release The Fantastic Adventure, along with the modules Mortality of the Green and Vakhund — which I hope to be reviewing shortly – on a CD-ROM, complete with D20 conversions. You can check out their website.

Style: 2
Substance: 3

Grade: B-

Title: The Fantastic Adventure
Authors: Mac Golden
Company: Troll Lord Games
Line: Sword & Sorcery
Price: $5.00
ISBN: 0-9702397-3-4
Production Code: TLG1301
Pages: 24

I’ll be honest, until this review cued up in my reprint queue, I had completely forgotten The Fantastic Adventure. It was a weird opportunity to read a review I had written while having no actual memory of the book I was describing.

What I do remember, and what this review reminded me of, is how much I truly adored Troll Lord’s campaign setting. Even now it’s hard to describe what I found so enchanting about it. There was something richly textured and deeply mythological. There was beautiful imagery woven into a tapestry that tempted you to step through into its fantastic realms.

Several years later I ended up working on a couple of books for Troll Lord Games. I wish I had been paid for them.

The Fantastic Adventure has been updated and re-released several times: Under the D20 System trademark for D&D 3rd Edition, then for Troll Lord’s Castles & Crusades game, and then again for D&D 5th Edition.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

The D20 Trademark License means that Wizards of the Coast has to compete with John Tynes, Chris Pramas, John Nephew, and a half dozen design studios. Can they do it? Of course they can.

Review Originally Published December 29th, 2000

Writing a low-level adventure for D&D is a thankless and difficult task: The most interesting monsters in the game don’t become available until the characters start hitting the mid-range levels. The challenges you do concoct must be kept simple. Nor can you effectively spice things up with intrigue, because low-level characters are assumed to be low on society’s totem pole.

With The Sunless Citadel, however, Bruce Cordell has put together an extremely impressive introductory package for WotC’s first generic module for the third edition game. Not only has he taken the usual suspects of goblins and kobolds and done something interesting with them, he’s also designed a dynamic environment with the assumption that the PCs will be gaining experience and power as they go. The result is something I haven’t really seen since the heyday of the 1st edition classics: A module with some real heft to it – with a lot of potential to leave your play group with epic stories. And, unlike its 1st edition predecessors, The Sunless Citadel doesn’t suffer from an unbelievable scenario and nonexistent plotting – quite the contrary.

The fact that Cordell has pulled this off in 32 pages designed for 1st level characters is extremely impressive.

PLOT

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for The Sunless Citadel. Players who may end up playing in this module are encouraged to stop reading now. Proceed at your own risk.

The structure which is now known as the Sunless Citadel was a “once-proud fortress that fell into the earth in an age long past”. Three important things have occurred in the long years which have passed since: First, a vampire was killed deep in the core of the citadel. The stake which pierced his heart was green, however, and took root. The tree which grew – known as the Gulthias Tree – is a thing of unspeakable evil. Twice each year the Gulthias Tree gives forth a single fruit: At Midsummer a ruby-red apple capable of granting health, vigor, and life; at Midwinter an albino apple which takes the same. There is a catch to this, however: The seeds of either fruit, if planted, will grow into a tree – which will then transform itself into a hideous and mischievous creature known as a twig blight. The Gulthias Tree is currently tended by an evil druid by the name of Belak, who has hatched a plan to infect the world with these twig blights.

Second, the citadel became the home of a roving goblin tribe – who have allied with Belak (largely because Belak and the strange Gulthias Tree frighten them).

Third, and most recently, a group of kobolds – seeking to worship the dragon gods of the citadel, have also moved in (coming into conflict with the goblins). The kobolds brought with them a young dragon hatchling (showing the flexibility of the third edition – allowing even first level characters to effectively tangle with dragons) – who has recently been kidnapped by the goblins.

The module is location-based: The PCs need to move through the sections of the dungeon controlled by the kobolds, then the goblins, and finally into the lower levels which are dominated by the Gulthias Tree. There is also a section of the citadel which has remained sealed since it sunk beneath the earth – giving a total of four different adventuring environments for the PCs. (There is also an entrance to the Underdark, which can be used at the GM’s discretion.) However, the module also has its dynamic components: For example, if the PCs keep their heads about them they can negotiate with the kobolds and use them as allies to punch through the goblin-controlled territory.

Cordell also does a nice job of planting a couple of seeds (pardon the pun) for future adventures: For example, the twig blights which have been released on the surface are still running around – and the PCs may end up running into them again.

WEAKNESSES

All right, I think the case has been sufficiently made for why you should pick up The Sunless Citadel, so let me now spend a couple of quick minutes analyzing its faults:

First, the adventuring hooks are fairly weak. The only one with real potential, in my opinion, involves the heroes being hired to discover what happened to another adventuring party which disappeared after going out to the Citadel (this is developed nicely in the module itself – the only weakness being that there’s really no explanation for why this other adventuring party decided to head to the Citadel in the first place).

Second, there’s no EL chart for this adventure. Dungeon Magazine has them. The third party developers have them. One should be here – particularly considering the probable desire for DMs to do on-the-fly adjustments to EL levels.

Third, there’s one whopping inconsistency at the adventure’s conclusion: Two of the missing adventurers have been captured by Belak, who has used the Gulthias Tree to transform them into helpless supplicants. The primary adventure text claims that, if the Gulthias Tree is cut down, the supplicants will become mindless and bestial. A sidebar specifically designed to explain the supplicants, however, claims that, if the Gulthias Tree is cut down, the supplicants will immediately die.

Fourth, Cordell does a really excellent job of making the Sunless Citadel a dungeon that makes sense… almost. There are a couple of key flaws here, both of which involve the goblins: First, it makes sense for Belak to be here (this is where the Gulthias Tree is). It also makes sense for the kobolds to be here (they’re worshipping the dragon idols of the Citadel). Unfortunately, the goblins aren’t given a similarly compelling reason for deciding to live here: Why don’t they go up to the surface and farm the vast expanses of empty land which the adventure text tells us surround the citadel?

The other key flaw is far more disturbing to the adventure’s essential structure: Belak uses the goblins to sell the magical fruit of the Gulthias Tree to the nearby villagers (who plant the fruit, furthering the spread of the twig blights across the surface world). Unfortunately, Cordell has designed a dungeon in which the goblins have been completely cut off from the surface world by the kobolds. Whoops.

The only other major problem I have with The Sunless Citadel is this: Dungeon Magazine has a lower price, more pages, and higher production values. Something doesn’t quite add up there.

But my rave review of Dungeon is for another time. Suffice it to say, for now, that The Sunless Citadel is a bargain at ten bucks: Although its only thirty-two pages long, there’s enough material here to fuel your game for at least two weeks and possibly as much as month. Great stuff.

Style: 4
Substance: 4

Title: The Sunless Citadel
Authors: Bruce R. Cordell
Company: Wizards of the Coast
Line: Dungeons & Dragons
Price: $9.95
ISBN: 0-7869-1640-0
Production Code: TSR11640
Pages: 32

Phew! Thank goodness this module has such great plotting, right? (Oof.)

As I’ve mentioned in a few previous commentary on these older reviews, Justin the Younger was still operating under the Plot is Adventure/Adventure is Plot paradigm even as I was beginning to figure out the pitfalls of that paradigm. This sometimes produced cringe-worthy results; sometimes just ones that are a little incoherent to my modern eyes.

Also feels like I was aggressively nitpicky in trying to find “weaknesses” in the module. The only criticism I actually have of the module today is that its dungeon design is a little over-linear, but fortunately it’s not particularly difficult to xander it up. The truth is my esteem for The Sunless Citadel has only grown over the years: I’ve run it three or four times now, and almost certainly will again. The lore is cool, the factions compelling, the upper level fun to explore, and the lower level creepy as hell.

The Sunless Citadel is also the birthplace of the twig blights. And I love those little bastards.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

A solid supplement for the Usagi Yojimbo Roleplaying Game. Dungeons & Dragons GMs may also want to check this one out.

Review Originally Published December 28th, 2000

Usagi Yojimbo: Monsters! is, obviously, the monsters supplement for the Usagi Yojimbo Roleplaying Game – adapting fourteen supernatural creatures from the Usagi comic book for use.

Although there are only fourteen creatures in this slim little pamphlet (making the total cost only slightly less than a buck a monster), the value is here: Each monster receives a two to three page write-up, including behavior, special powers, a summary of their appearances in Usagi comics, and an adventure seed. Although the adventure seeds are often simplistic, and occasionally nothing more than fodder for a single encounter (rather than a full-fledged adventure), this is still rather nice.

The other thing I like about this product is the opening introduction – which gives the background on Japanese monsters and how this is interpreted in the Usagi universe (providing a consistent, underlying mythos to the rest of the material).

There are three really annoying things about this product:

Annoying Thing #1: A half dozen pages are taken up by a completely random section of rules which should’ve been included in the core rulebook. We know they should’ve been included in the core rulebook for two reasons: First, whenever you get a random selection of miscellaneous rules in the very first supplement released for a game, you know that those pages were cut from the main rulebook. Second, one of the things included in this book is the Goat species – which was actually used in the core rulebook to describe an NPC. Whoops.

Annoying Thing #2: Conversion notes are included for FUDGE and D20. That isn’t the annoying thing (I’ll discuss these a more in a second), though. The annoying thing is this: Stats are included in these conversions for the kitsune. Unfortunately, the kitsune is not one of the monsters included in this product – we are informed that the kitsune was a special promotional monster which was published in an unnamed magazine. The kitsune should’ve been in this book. The fact it isn’t, is annoying.

Annoying Thing #3: The book was obviously rushed through the editorial process – typos and grammatical errors abound. The most egregious one I found was this: “Sutras can be written to render a person invisible to spirits and supernatural monsters or they can be written to render the object or person invisible to them.” Since that’s a rule, I’m more than a little annoyed. Very sloppy.

Back to the conversion notes: These are actually very nice, transforming what would otherwise be a fairly narrow supplement into a broadly useful one. I heartily recommend that D&D GMs, in particular, pick this book up: The monsters are well done and come with a lot of support, and should add some nice spice to your campaign.

Usagi Yojimbo GMs would, I think, be remiss in giving this product a pass. The price is a little steep, but the material is fairly solid solid.

Style: 3
Substance: 3

Grade: B

Title: Usagi Yojimbo: Monsters!
Authors: Jared Smith
Company: Gold Rush Games
Line: Usagi Yojimbo
Price: $12.00
ISBN: 1-890305-09-X
Production Code: U101
Pages: 48

I’ve always been disappointed in this review. I didn’t do a good enough job explaining WHY I liked the stuff that I liked about it, which creates a lopsided and overly negative impression. I can’t properly fix that at the moment because it’s been 20+ years since I used this book, but I will say that I was sincere when I recommended it. It’s a slim volume, but filled with meaty, useful material.

Is it weird that this one review still bugs me even after all these years? I don’t think so. Creators grow from their mistakes. This was a miss, but one that serves as a touchstone that has made the reviews I’ve written since better.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

An excellent adaptation of its source material which, unfortunately, doesn’t offer much to anyone who isn’t already a fan of the comic book.

Review Originally Published December 28th, 2000

Usagi Yojimbo is a truly excellent comic book created by Stan Sakai. The title character is an anthropomorphized version of the historical Miyamoto Musashi. In other words: Usagi Yojimbo is a humanoid rabbit whose fictional exploits draw a sizable portion of their inspiration from the life of a 17th century Japanese samurai.

The Usagi Yojimbo Roleplaying Game, authored by Greg Stolze (a game designer whose past credits – including Unknown Armies – speak for themselves), is an adaptation of Usagi’s world for all of us gaming fanatics.

SYSTEM

The system used for Usagi Yojimbo is a modified version of the generic Fuzion engine – also used in Sengoku (also published by Gold Rush Games), Bubblegum Crisis, Armored Trooper Votoms, and Champions: New Millennium (among others). You can learn more about the basic Fuzion system from the Fuzion Labs website.

There are two significant changes to the basic system in Usagi, both of which are carried out very nicely:

First, the character creation process has been boiled down to a simple, three step process – with each step modifying a set of basic attributes and skills which are given to each character:

1. Pick a Species (bat, cat, rabbit, mole, etc. – anthropomorphic, remember?).

2. Pick a Job (bounty hunter, bodyguard, gambler, retainer, etc.).

3. Divide 10 extra points among skills in order to customize your character.

This Job/Species system could easily be mistaken for a traditional, D&D-style Class/Race system – but you shouldn’t do that. The system in Usagi is not a class system, but rather an archetype system. Unlike the rigid definitions of a class system, an archetype system is loose and open: The goal of a class system is to protect the niche of each character (a wizard has a very different role than a fighter); whereas the goal of an archetype system is nothing more than to simplify the character creation process. Instead of figuring out which skills you need to be an effective messenger, the system designer has done the work for you.

The other major modification to the system is in the combat mechanics. Stolze has designed an elegant combat system designed to convey the feel and spirit of a samurai duel.

As in almost any other combat game you care to name, initiative determines who goes first. This person chooses a target. At this point, though, something a little different happens – because in Usagi Yojimbo it is not just the attacker, but also the defender, who gets to take an action.

It works like this: Both combatants secretly choose one of three strategies – Total Attack, Cautious Attack, or Total Defense. Both combatants then reveal their choice of strategy simultaneously (Stolze suggests using standard playing cards to do this effectively). Now, depending on which strategies were chosen, combat can go one of several ways. For example, if both combatants chose Total Attack, then they both roll their combat roles (Combat + Weapon Skill + roll of dice), but whoever succeeds does double the normal damage.

The only restriction to this is that the person who initiated the attack cannot choose Total Defense as a strategy (since that would mean they weren’t initiating the attack). Other than that, both attacker and defender behave identically – a rather radical change from the normal methodology in combat system design (in which the roles of attacker and defender are very distinct), which provides a unique – and highly worthwhile – dynamic to the system.

There are a few more twists to it, including an optional system for handling unarmed combat which is similarly unique in its approach, but that’s the core of it.

In practice this process really shines – giving a feel to the mechanics which does a very nice job of mirroring the feel of samurai duels in fiction (including, of course, Usagi Yojimbo).

STRENGTHS

The primary strength of Usagi has already been discussed at length: Stolze has adapted the Fuzion engine to give the game an extremely simple, yet also extremely attractive, system. Both character creation and combat are not only dynamic systems, but simple ones. Excellent stuff all around.

A couple of other things are worth mentioning, though: First, a one page system reference chart is included. I love these things, and wish more games had them. This one, in particular, is extremely effective – summarizing every last element of the game system. Far too often you’ll get “reference charts” – usually on GM screens – which reference every knick-knack in the game except the rules you actually use on a regular basis. Usagi avoids this nicely.

Second, the book contains a number of appendices – which, as a general rule, contain extremely useful information: A timeline for the Usagi universe; a character index for the comic; one of the best “gamer’s glossaries” for Japanese I’ve seen (largely helped, no doubt, by the fact it’s based in the Japanese which occasionally crops up in the Usagi comic; and, finally, a FUDGE conversion for the game system.

Finally, the book is rounded out by a short Usagi story by Stan Sakai, “Hebi”. Nice stuff.

WEAKNESSES

Unfortunately, there are two major flaws with the Usagi Yojimbo game – and they both take their toll on what would otherwise be an exceptional game.

First, the layout leaves much to be desired. Although the book’s illustrations are helped greatly in quality by the fact they are drawn from the Usagi comic book, they also come complete with word balloons. The effect, along with some other questionable lay-out choices, give the entire book a cluttered, inaccessible feel – which is, at the same time, scattered in its focus. One of the worst moments of this layout comes in a chart which lays out the major samurai clans in Usagi’s world – which, unfortunately, looks like it was designed to be a butterfly ballot in Florida.

Second, and far more troubling, is the fundamental lack of world reference material to be found in the book. It is essentially constrained to a timeline (which is not generally useful in any sense of the word) and a chapter discussing the major characters which have appeared in the Usagi comic (which is further flawed in that it doesn’t provide coverage of several usual suspects). The GM is basically left on their own when it comes to filling in the actual gaming environment of ancient Japan.

CONCLUSION

The Usagi Yojimbo Roleplaying Game is an excellent adaptation of its source material. Unfortunately, its varied weaknesses mean that it isn’t going to do anything for anyone who isn’t already a fan of the source material. The lack of any serious world reference material is particularly distressing – particularly when contrasted against the wealth of what would be essentially identical material in Gold Rush’s Sengoku game.

In short: Fans of Usagi Yojimbo might want to flip through this one to see if it offers them anything of interest. Anybody else should definitely give it a pass.

Actually, let me modify that conclusion in one way: System nuts might want to check this one out just to take a look at the combat system which Stolze has set up. The strategy system – which gives the system a true claim to fame – is almost a cap-system: It would be easy to pop it off of Fuzion and onto any standard combat system in the industry. If you’re tired of just rolling dice during combat, this might be worth your time.

Style: 4
Substance: 3

Grade: B

Title: Usagi Yojimbo Roleplaying Game
Authors: Greg Stolze
Company: Gold Rush Games
Line: Usagi Yojimbo
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 1-890305-02-2
Production Code: U100
Pages: 96

Originally Posted: 2000/12/28

I’m old enough that when someone says “furry” what I think of is stuff like Usagi Yojimbo and Cerebus. It’s interesting how a fetish-driven fanbase has really driven the whole anthropomorphic genre into a niche of a niche.

Conversely, it’s remarkable the degree to which D&D 3rd Edition rehabilitated the whole concept of class-based RPGs. Used to be everyone who left D&D to play other RPGs would collectively sigh with relief at never needing to play a class-based system with all of its silly limitations again. Now classes clearly rule the roost.

Review: Usagi Yojimbo – Monsters!

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.