System Mastery

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/system-mastery-205-delta-force.mp3 My friends, in the interest of transparency, I am only just now realized this game has a subtitle!  So don’t look for that in the episode, we didn’t notice.  It’s Delta Force: America Strikes Back!  And it is, among other things, by the same people that made Prime Directive and from around the same time frame, so… well you can take from that whatever you want.  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/07/system-mastery-204-engel.mp3 Well hey, surprise OGL!  Nothing on the cover, and so when Jon selected this old Sword & Sorcery product to take home and started reading, he was suddenly (after 190 some pages of fluff) shocked to see that 3.x material.  So what is this?  Well it’s the far future and you play as Latin-speaking angel children who fight giant bugs.  OR DO YOU?  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/system-mastery-203-theatrix.mp3 So what we have here is a rarity, in that it is an early (1993-1995) LARP game that is also a universal generic system.  So there’s not really a story or core power scale or anything, just pure LARP rules and advice, delivered in a sort of theatrical directorial stype.  Oh, and of course it’s not great advice. Announcement Mastery:  Back to the Rifter, a 174-page book going over the original 1990 Rifts rulebook to give a detailed, mocking, page-by-page review, dipping into other Palladium books where necessary to make sense of things (or where it was funny), and insights gleaned from talking to people in the industry. Also there’s an in-depth criticism of the game’s Nazi apologism.  Purchase it in in PDF or print on demand at DriveThru RPG today!  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/system-mastery-202-providence.mp3 My friends, this is a weird one.  The vast majority of this book is difficult to explain rules, and then there’s a chunk of fascinating story hidden away towards the back, a neat story about a caste society of the winged and winged-not trapped in a bubble prison dimension.  Check it out!    

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/06/system-mastery-201-terror-network.mp3 I think we bought this one on the cover alone (and especially the back cover, which is bullet points and a photo of the Twin Towers mid-fall).  I mean, look at that!  Look at the endorsement!  But can it deliver? Announcement Mastery! Today is a great day to launch a KS, and a better day for you to go support one!  Go check out Extreme Meatpunks Forever, a hot new RPG written by cool people and produced by cool people too.  Fight Nazis on a meat planet while riding your meat mecha!  Oh, and here’s a link:  Extreme Meatpunks Forever on Kickstarter    

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/system-mastery-200-marvel-superheroes-role-playing-game.mp3 Hey, we made it to 200 episodes!  I’m sure that’s some sort of milestone!  And while the choice of game to cover this time may feel kind of arbitary, I can assure you it’s very special to us here at the show.  You’ll find out why and learn all about TSR’s attempt to encapsulate the Marvel experience way back in the mid-80s on today’s show!  Enjoy.    

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/05/system-mastery-199-stuperpowers.mp3 Heck yeah, comedy superhero parody game from 1997 coming in hot.  You know it’s gonna make us mad, it’s just got to!  Anyway, this game is designed to be LARP-ready, dice light, and aggressively, consistently middle of the road.  Just painfully.  In more ways than one.  You’ll see. Announcement Mastery: It Came From The Sea Podcast Host Sarah uses her degree in oceanography and lifelong love of the sea and all things nautical as she drags her friends along on her journey to share this aquatic enthusiasm with the world at large. New episodes of It Came From the Sea drop every other week and bonus episodes are available at all tiers on our patreon. You can find a link to the patreon and all the latest podcast news at twitter.com/FromTheSeaPod. GMJ: Pro DM Check out GMJ and their recurring campiagn “Darkest Quest” set in the Quest RPG system on the online DM-player connection service StartPlayingGames.  Drop in with a new

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/system-mastery-198-hellcats-hockeysticks-1.mp3 We’ve had a great track record with games set in high schools, right?  So obviously one set in a secondary school should be at least as good as Alma Mater or Panty Explosion right?  Well, it’s certainly something!  Join us as we explored the hallowed halls of a school for delinquent little monsters and their various criminal goings on. Announcement Mastery: Sorcerously Advanced is a game of cutting-edge magic. It’s pay-what-you-want at DriveThruRPG. If you like it you can buy a physical copy.  Also: If sci-fi games are more your thing, check out our sister game, Sufficiently Advanced. The second edition is also on DriveThruRPG. http://tiny.cc/sorc or http://suffadv.wikidot.com/     

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/04/system-mastery-197-ironclaw.mp3 So many people have requested this that we finally thought we’d throw you all a bone.  Ironclaw is an anthro medieval RPG, so you’ll be playing a lot of foxes, bats, foxbats, Batmans, Manbats, and Sons of Kong.  Is it fun?  Let’s find out!    

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/system-mastery-196-inspectres.mp3 Wanna hunt ghosts but not necessarily dedicate your whole life to it?  Consider just getting a daytime job hunting ghosts, goblins, nilbogs, and Son of Kong with InSpectres, a game from the early 2000s that’s actually kinda funny for once.    

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/03/system-mastery-195-lords-of-creation.mp3 Who wants to take over the multiverse?  Okay, great!  Let’s start you out as a nobody with nothing and you can grind XP in… I don’t care, let’s say mythological Ancient Greece for a thousand sessions.  It’s one of those 80s games!  Just like old times.  Literally old times. Announcement Mastery: Comics, Games, and Things: Comics, Games, and Things is an online hobby store that carries model kits, paints, miniatures games, and rpg books, and a large variety of 3d printable files.  Find them online at ComicsGamesAndThings.comThey’re probably doing another giveaway!?  Check https://www.comicsgamesandthings.com/giveaways/ and we’ll probably be giving away a 3d printed army for use in Miniatures Agnostic Sci-fi Games. Or the other one. You know the one. That one.  One entry per person, no purchase necessary, valid in the US for persons 18 years of age or older. Maybe buy something too? Please?  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/system-mastery-194-sentinels-the-roleplaying-game.mp3 From an old hero game to a new one, it’s time to talk about Sentinel Comics: The Roleplaying Game.  Sentinels is an expansive setting with a vast cast of characters old and new, but we barely have time to even mention that as we go into detail over the Cortex-reminiscent and innovation ruleset.  Maybe we can talk story stuff next time. Announcement Mastery: Comics, Games, and Things: Comics, Games, and Things is an online hobby store that carries model kits, paints, miniatures games, and rpg books, and a large variety of 3d printable files.  Find them online at ComicsGamesAndThings.comSpecial Contest event!!!!  Comics, Games, and Things is giving away a copy of the new Sentinels RPG and two copies of the starter pack to a few lucky winners, but time is extremely tight!  Visit this website and sign in to enter to win!  https://www.comicsgamesandthings.com/giveaways/.  Entries will only be accepted through

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/02/system-mastery-193-skraypers.mp3 As go the tides, so come the times we’re both dealing with something and need a nice easy Palladium game.  Skraypers is both a Rifts and a Heroes Unlimited setting, so this is like a double supplement spectacular!  Heck yeah!

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/system-mastery-192-shadowrun-anarchy-1.mp3 It’s Shadowrun!  But… faster?  Is that the point here?  It’s honestly sort of hard to tell the exact point of this Shadowrun 5e adjacent game, but damn if we aren’t at least going to try and figure out.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/01/system-mastery-191-boot-hill.mp3 Boot Hill is a colloquial term from the cowboy days for a cemetery.  You might think there’s some sort of metaphor their for our opinions pertaining to the game, but really I just wanted to say it before anyone on twitter felt like telling us.  Boom, shut down!  This is a 1990 cowboy game from TSR.  It is exactly that.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/system-mastery-190-interstitial-our-hearts-intertwined.mp3 Have you not gotten your fill of Kingdom Hearts yet?  Of course not, no one has.  Not until someone bursts Nomura like a pinata and eats all the ideas that come spilling forth will anyone be satiated.  But in the meantime, why not check out this game definitely not modeled after it at all (for legal purposes).  It’s also our first foray into talking about PBTA (now you know why the episode is almost two hours long)! This week’s Announcement Masteries Would you like to learn all about musical artists that have and still are making strong statements in politics and the LGBT community?  Check out This Review Kills Fascists, a youtube show conveniently located at youtube.com/thisreviewkillsfascists! 

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/system-mastery-189-new-gods-of-mankind.mp3 Now here’s some good old fashioned back to basics shit.  Got to be, right?  Name like that?  Shirtless axe dude on the cover?  Well, color us surprised because this thing is basically the top down part of Actraiser as an RPG.  Neat ideas abound, but can it get to the desired double “would play?” This week’s Announcement Masteries Julian Kay (Alien Rope Burn): Blogs, columns, and roleplaying games par excellence!  Check out their excellent work and especially support that Patreon! Check ARBco’s work out over at https://linktr.ee/juliankay UnPlaytested Podcast and Stream:  Unplaytested is the show about games that have never been played before… because they never EXISTED before! On every episode of the Unplaytested podcast, Alex and Lara will roll a random result off a big list of your ludicrous suggestions for RPGs, and spend an hour figuring out how to actually turn that into a playable game.  They stream th

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/12/system-mastery-188-star-crossed.mp3 Oh my, a game about the uncertain moments at the precipice of romance or disaster?  Neat!  Star Crossed is a 2018 game by Alex Roberts that creates tension and titillation through the use of some sort of well-recognized wooden brick tower.  It’s not out of print or anything!  We’re trying something relatively new here. This week’s Announcement Masteries Sail!: SAIL! is a new roleplaying game by Cas Swanson. SAIL! let’s players take on the role of dashing swashbucklers as they sail the high seas and fight an evil Empire. Check SAIL! out over at https://calevmir.itch.io/sail-rpg SuperIdols! RPG:  Welcome to the world of SuperIdols! RPG, where superpowers exist but only among the musically-inclined — especially those with dreams of pop star fame and glory. Join GM ErynCerise and a table of queer, gender-diverse players as they play teen idols aiming to master their powers, find their identities as artists, and make a

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/system-mastery-187-marvel-universe-roleplaying.mp3 Out of the four Marvel RPGs that have happened over the years, this is one of them.  Specifically, the 2003 diceless one made, inexplicably, by Marvel Comics themselves?  Anyhow, it’s certainly got us talking a great deal, so you know that’s always good. This week’s Announcement Masteries Inspiration Point: A fun and friendly podcast about RPG design and gameplay, table attitudes, friendship, and more.  Check out their show today or their brand new Patreon! BOLT RPG:  BOLT is a fast and tense action RPG built for hacking!  Check it out now, it’s available for pre-order on Metal Weave Games for 35 USD or 10 USD!  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/11/system-mastery-186-supermegatopia.mp3 There’s nothing quite so exciting to find as a unique blend RPG.  Here we see a blend of comedy, furry stuff, light breast expansion and pregnancy fetishes, and superheroes.  I bet you didn’t know you were missing that unique swirl of content!  Well, anyway, you shouldn’t. This week’s Announcement Masteries “Dinoplex: Cataclysm” is available now for $3.00 on DriveThruRPG and Itch.io. Take your players on a dinosaur vacation in space they’ll never forget! Einar Másson:  Instagram @emassonart, Twitter @einarmasson, E-mail  emassonart@gmail.com. Prices range from about $50.00USD for a simple avatar to $150.00 USD for a full-figure full-color portrait to about $300.00 USD for more complicated stuff.