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Alone Against Fear
Publisher: Ganesha Games
by Lon [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/26/2024 15:59:45

Enjoyed this greatly for the FUN SANDBOXY KITCHEN SINK HORROR CRAWL that it is. Especially fond of how the neighborhood grid mechanic plays out compared to 4AD's dungeon crawling. But a couple minor things holding it back from a 5th star from me. --The first is that there are A LOT of incorrect page reference numbers, especially in the latter half of the book. Sometimes off by 3-4 pages. This adds up over time when so much of the gameplay involves flipping to the page it tells you to. --Tagging on to that, I'd guess that most of the places that refer you to the Haunted House table don't even list a page number to turn to.
That said, I do want to be very clear: BEYOND THE MULTIPLE PAGE REFERENCE ERRORS, THIS BOOK IS EXTREMELY WELL EDITED.
The second thing keeping it from a 5th star for me is a more ephemeral/balance vs. randomness issue. The Win condition for a game is closing 1 gate. For a campaign, 7 gates. It's a trivial amount of XP to get the Close Gate spell, but unless you have chosen a certain skill, it can be a hard ride with cold dice looking for one of the tomes that can unlock learning it. Also, Gates are pretty rare to spawn on their own. In one run, I had one gate spawn in 30+ spaces explored, and zero Libraries or books. If your Mission is about Gates, then you'll get 2 more auto spawn and you'll know when they are coming, so you can plan for it a little bit--But if that isn't your mission, you may never see a Gate with cold dice. And then, once you have the Spell, and there's a Gate, it's a tough roll to successfully cast the spell. To boil it down, I suspect it's going to get pretty repetitive, perhaps losing a bit of its charm when you're well into a second block of 30 spaces before you can finish a campaign. Some simple house rules to allow focused Clue use to help, or reducing the number of Gates needed will keep the game fresher longer. But perhaps even wiser would be to make a campaign more like a "Double Feature" with the campaign ending after successful completion of 2 consecutive Missions. But again, bottom line is that if you like 4AD or 4AGOO, and are cool with a Thematic B-Movie Blizzard (ie Aliens showing up one street away from a Park Full of werewolves next to some Haunted Houses or Evil Puppets), you're gonna LOVE exploring this book.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Alone Against Fear
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Black Light for ICRPG
Publisher: Markside Games
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/20/2020 08:11:32
Disclosure

Well, if I must disclose that I playtested this game as player and GM, I should also disclose that I spent a big chunk of 2000s getting my own Lovecraftian fiction published in a Stoker Award winning anthology and receiving nods in several Year's Best honorable mentions lists.

Review

I don't say that to toot my own horn so much as to point out "It takes one to know one" and Mark Eckenrode is clearly one of those doomed souls who've peered deep into the abyss, past the tentacles and mad Arabs, beyond the unpronounceable names riddled with apostrophes--all the way to the death-cold heart of a still, indifferent universe. And once the screaming and crying and babbling were mostly over, and he was hardly ever flinching at the shadows only he could see lurking on every non-Euclidean street corner in modern day America, dude proceeded to turn what he brought back from the abyss into a Fun Way to Spend Saturday Night.

So I'm not just saying, "This guy GETS modern investigative cosmic horror" (which really would be enough for most people). I'm also saying "This dude has chops as a game designer." The careful decisions of what to leave out, what to put in, and where to focus his skills resulted in a book that has plenty to add to not just an ICRPG session, but any session in which you would add ICRPG hacks. (Which, as those in the know are fully aware, is practically any session.)

Takeaway

What can you expect in this volume? Clever tables, GM advice that will improve your own instincts and grant you the TAG: DOOMED - GM ROLLS ARE EASY WHEN PREPPING FOR THE TERRIFYING END OF EVERYTHING THE PCs HAVE EVER KNOWN OR LOVED, and a decidedly fearsome array of darkly elegant tools for adding a little more modern, investigative, and/or cosmic horror flavor to any table.

DON'T JUST BUY THIS BOOK. PLAY IT.

Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Black Light for ICRPG
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Khan's Hero Cards for ICRPG Vol. 1
Publisher: Khanist Games
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/23/2020 08:10:59

Here's why I gave this All the Stars!

Versatility - I can print 5 copies each of two cards that fit a session’s theme, or 3 of one, 2 of another, and 1 of another. I can give these out utterly at random from the whole deck (or mildly curated set) one per PC and let them keep what they have a secret from me till they use it. PCs love dropping bombs on the GM and this is a fun way to keep me on my toes.

Variety - you really covered all the bases I could think of with these. A really well rounded range of types of effect, simplicity of effect, and degree of effect. And they aren’t all combat! It’s nice to see cards like “Muh Loot” “Not You” and “Can’t Fool Me” and plenty of others which have well rounded uses.

Style - Consistent size, art, and fonts that dovetail well with the ICRPG aesthetic and themselves. Appreciate the sense of fun that went into the names of cards and the doodles.

Simplicity of Language - without opening up the door to a bunch of rules-lawyering, these state their effect clearly and directly.

Blanks - to make my own, should a very specific need arise.

Respecting Creator Wishes - with that For Use With ICRPG Core logo prominently displayed

Proofread - Last but never least.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Khan's Hero Cards for ICRPG Vol. 1
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Spiralis - A Lovecraftian Roleplaying Game
Publisher: Trail of Dice
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/03/2018 19:45:07

REVISED: Based on creator's professional handling of a couple of my concerns that were actually peripheral to the book's content, I've adjusted my review to 4 stars and deleted those concerns. I look forward to the possibility of upping my review to a 5 at some point in the future, based on the creator's interest in fleshing out the couple nitpicks I wanted to see more of. ~Lon

[...] And the only thing he'd have needed to do to get the 5th star from me was a couple dashes more of "extensive Keeper section" to make it feel extensive on its own rather than extensively paraphrasing or pointing out other places to get Lovecraftian storybuilding resources. Perhaps maybe a smidge more in the text about how the extra d8 and d10 stats (basically the rule-meat that sets this apart from the original Cthulhu Dark) can make this game feel a little more survivable and longer lasting than you might expect.

That said: With the added rules for d8/d10 extra Stats, this ruleset becomes a lot more versatile than the Cthulhu Dark chassis it was built on. With some capable timing/planning of obstacles by the GM and a bit of marketing spin, I can see this being a lot of people's go-to high stakes/thriller and maybe even generic microlite.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Spiralis - A Lovecraftian Roleplaying Game
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Creator Reply:
Hey Lon, I'm sorry you had this experience. While I feel strongly that charging the same amount as a cup of bad coffee is more than fair for a game I've been playtesting for three years, I am looking at addressing some of the issues you had with the content (GM-facing material and notes on the d8 and d10). The broken link is a particularly egregious error on my part. Here is the correct link: trailofdice.com/spiralis For your trouble, I'd love to send you a free hard copy of the game, that is if you'd be interested. Feel free to message me through my website if you like. Cheers! ~ Aaron S.
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INDEX CARD RPG Vol. 4
Publisher: RUNEHAMMER GAMES
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/30/2018 01:32:14

Literal. Instant. Buy.

And the awesomeness of the varied and evocative art exceeds my already high expectations.

I'm chomping at the bit to get these cards out on the table and start my players down a dark and danger-filled Weird West trail!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
INDEX CARD RPG Vol. 4
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Moldy Codex #1
Publisher: Axebane Games
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/07/2018 11:54:21

Using this as the base starter scenario for an ICRPG campaign with 2 of 6 first time RPGers at the table. It's well balanced and is keeping my veteran RPGers on their toes also. The straightforward nature of the crypt crawl is really helpful (not to mention realistic) as are the Random details/events for town and crypt, the STRANGE LOOT list, and the shops information for the village of Hadorne. A worthy supplement to any ICRPG Fantasy campaign.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Moldy Codex #1
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Heroes of the Hammer
Publisher: RUNEHAMMER GAMES
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/07/2018 11:44:20

The artwork really sets a great tone for adventure gaming. The stories and stats behind the characters make them come alive. I'm already evil-laughing like a fiend as I plot NPC shenanigans--and I'm only half way through the book!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Heroes of the Hammer
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Basic ICRPG Character Record Sheet
Publisher: Middle Kingdoms Adventure & Trading Co.
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/07/2018 11:40:28

Adds a fun Old School twist to your ICRPG gaming. The only thing you need now to complete the old school feel are some dice you have to crayon in the numbers yourself. Thanks for making these available.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Basic ICRPG Character Record Sheet
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GM Worksheet for ICRPG
Publisher: Ezzerharden Games
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/07/2018 11:36:49

Extremely Handy and multiple size formats makes it even better.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
GM Worksheet for ICRPG
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ICRPG Worlds
Publisher: RUNEHAMMER GAMES
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/07/2018 11:35:44

So worth every penny. Adds a solid handful of new stuff for players then jumps right into the meat of building worlds and adventures. A well-thought out design helps keep things terse but memorable in each entry throughout the 3 DIFFERENT worlds presented.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
ICRPG Worlds
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INDEX CARD RPG Core 2E
Publisher: RUNEHAMMER GAMES
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/07/2018 11:32:53

It's like someone took Elmore Leonard's famous writing advice "Leave out the parts people skip" and applied it as a principle to RPG rules.

This system came from outta nowhere and rocked my world. Simple, clever techniques baked right in to keep things moving. A just crunchy enough system with a few elegant guiding principles that allow you to add more crunch to just the parts you want to, when you want to. For the first time in too many decades, I'm not focused on building my own system anymore... able to just play with an RPG that "gets it" ... and it's GLORIOUS.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
INDEX CARD RPG Core 2E
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INDEX CARD RPG Vol. 1
Publisher: RUNEHAMMER GAMES
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/07/2018 11:25:45

What a brilliant idea! The way these seamlessly integrate into the ICRPG philosophy is ingenious. I tend to be a more "constructed plot" GM but still find these handy for resolving lots of questions I didn't plan for.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
INDEX CARD RPG Vol. 1
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INDEX CARD RPG Vol. 2
Publisher: RUNEHAMMER GAMES
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/07/2018 11:23:24

Runehammer delivers the goods yet again in this second pack of art for ICRPG. Each of these in this series is packed with extras and extremely versatile.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
INDEX CARD RPG Vol. 2
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INDEX CARD RPG Vol. 3
Publisher: RUNEHAMMER GAMES
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/07/2018 11:21:20

Another great art supplement for ICRPG. Branches out from the fantasy theme.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
INDEX CARD RPG Vol. 3
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INDEX CARD RPG: Free Quickstart
Publisher: RUNEHAMMER GAMES
by Lon P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/07/2018 11:19:52

A great introduction to a system (dare I say philosophy) that achieves a perfect blend of crunch and "get out of the way, let's play!"

Some pages are behind the updates in Core but once you read this you'll be hot to pick up Core. And then Worlds. and then???



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
INDEX CARD RPG: Free Quickstart
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