วีดีโอ

Yes, very much so! As long as they aren't scared of spiders, at least, lol. The quests can be low-stakes and cute, like tracking down a fairy's wayward bumblebee, or whatever, and combat needn't be the main focus of a session. But at the same time, there's enough lore, politics and inherent conflict between the factions that there's enough to chew on for mature roleplayers as well :) A nice balance IMO.

Yeah you're probably right. I personally don't think it's more boring, because I like big cubes and long solves, but I can certainly understand that point of view. Maybe the 2x2/4x4 minxes would fare better, since they are quicker and the 4x4 (and all even-layered minxes) do have parity to deal with?

That's true, it would be nice to have -- though honestly the Cypher System is simple enough that I'm OK without a GM screen, in practice.

My whole thing is doing long reviews so people know exactly what they're buying. RPG books are big investments of time, as well as money, so I like to be as comprehensive as possible. For short, punchy reviews there are better channels than mine, I agree. But at least here I'm never going to monetise, accept any sponsorships, or review any Kickstarter previews or other nonsense.

Even in those episodes though there were B-plots involving the rest of the crew. Look at Darmok in TNG -- yes Pickard and the Tamarian on the surface were the main focus, but a heck of a lot of stuff was happening up in orbit as well, some of which directly affected their interaction. This is all totally doable in Star Trek Adventures, or indeed the Last Unicorn Games Star Trek system. The GM just has to make sure to give out spotlight episodes like that evenly.

Thank you, and thanks for watching! :)

Honestly until this moment I didn't know it existed (I'm not a follower of the franchise). I'll see what I can find it, if it looks interesting mechanically I may well give it a go.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video! :) I'm also holding back on actually starting a game until the Starter Sets are in stock at my FLGS. Whenever I do get them you'll see them here too, of course!

Thank you, glad the review was useful! L5R is a very cool game, and honestly I think the 'roll-and-keep' system is more interesting with the funky dice than with regular D10s; with regular D10s in the older editions you'd always just keep the higher results, but here the results are more nuanced. I just wish they'd get the Shadowlands book reprinted, the secondary market prices are absurd!

I'm sure there are plenty more folks who prefer V5, and I completely respect that :) For me, V20 (and Dark Ages V20) are just much richer in terms of character-building options, I don't much like the Hunger Dice and their ability to derail a session, and I have some issues with the new metaplot. Vampire: The Requiem already covers a more personal-horror-focussed, lower-powered, and metaplot-free Vampire experience, so V5 just feels a bit redundant to me in terms of the atmosphere it generates at the table. But having said that, as I think I said in the video I do own V5 and every hardcover supplement released thus far, and so I don't think it's a bad game! I just prefer V20/DAV20, and sometimes use V5 as a sort of 'on-ramp' to that, since it's easier to grasp for new role-players. If a good GM asked me to play V5 I'd jump in. I think it's much rarer to find people who prefer Werewolf 5th Edition to W20, but even there I've seen a few. That kind of boggles my mind, frankly, because pretty much everything about W5 is a huge disappointment to me, but that doesn't mean they're 'wrong'. All TTRPG experiences are going to be inherently subjective, so your preferences are just as valid as mine, or anyone else's for that matter :)

​@@djthorsilver Thanks for the reply and I enjoy your reviews, regardless. I agree that it is entirely a subjective preference and also that the other ‘5th edition’ line of WoD games don’t really have the impact of V5. In the case of H5, it is really just a new edition of The Hunter’s Hunted supplement and doesn’t really have any great depth of setting material or mechanical innovation to it. On the other hand, you can still use both it and W5 as complimentary sources for V5 antagonists, still making them somewhat useful (although not as compelling as previous editions of each respective game). To be honest, I hope they don’t bother making Mage or any other follow on games and just stick with the three they have already. In terms of character building options, my own preference for playing Vampire specifically tends to focus much more on the goth-punk, Neonate level, rather than ancient Elders or similar, and I like the inclusion of Thin Bloods which emphasises this too. I’d also state that I really do like the Hunger Dice dynamic in game play, so that is a point of difference between us I think. The only other I’d note is the live action version of the V5 rules is due for imminent release, and it offers a more complete guide to the setting in my view (and ALL the Clans in one book).

That's a great idea, I must say :) Hopefully some L5R fan out there has homebrewed up something like that somewhere!

Thanks for watching! :) I really like the Outgunned system -- which I only recently learned is called 'Director's Cut' -- so I'll definitely be covering Outgunned: Adventure once it arrives in physical form!

Thanks for watching! :) I'm alone much of the time as well (for reasons of ill health), so playing TTRPGs is how I connect with my friends, and making these videos is part of that for me.

I have to say I disagree with your premise here. We actually don't know all that much about the details of warfare in the time of Alexander, for example, and the supply system in OCS -- while fantastic -- is ultimately a huge abstraction of what occurred in reality. Meanwhile, conflicts in Star Trek are very far from uncomplicated; the shows and films often depict creative uses of ship resources in battle, and these fictional ships have been described and mapped and their capabilities quantified in extensive detail, with input from science consultants. The bottom line is that, in both GBoA and OCS, the systems in place are designed to reflect what the designers find most interesting/fun about the period in question, and model that on the table in a way that's still fun. SFB does the exact same thing, except for a different audience. SFB is complicated so that players can play scenarios in crazy situations like in the show(s) (fighting near black holes, in nebulae, etc.), while making creative use of their enormous, and very complex and capable spacecraft. As a fan of OCS myself I don't see a difference, really; as the statistician George Box once said, 'All models are wrong, but some are useful'. OCS's supply model is wrong, technically, but it plays well on the table and facilitates tactics and strategies that are impossible in other operational-level wargames. SFB's model of shipboard operations is wrong, technically, but the huge range of options allows strategies and tactics that are impossible in other tactical space combat games. Both models are 'wrong', but both are useful (which in this case means 'fun for people that like this sort of thing').

I totally get that, but honestly printing costs are going nuts across the board these days. D&D and Pathfinder produce bog-standard casebound hardcovers that cost £50+ these days, with limited editions that go for far more. Modiphius charges £40 for some of their 128-page casebound supplements (!). Ultimately the content in Shadowdark is excellent, and more than enough for years of campaigning (and you only need one book, while the aforementioned RPGs require multiple books to even get started). So on that basis I still consider it more than worth the price.

@@HermitUnion Thank you, much appreciated! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂

Thanks for watching! Your campaign idea sounds awesome -- I'm sure you could get actual players if you're willing to dive into the Pelgrane Discord!

LOL -- yeah that sounds like ADB. I guess an alternative could be to buy counter sheets for Federation Commander and use those instead? Ultimately I think ADB is very shackled to a particular way of doing things -- like making SSDs using some software from like 30 years ago, never having sales of any kind on any platform, never improving their layout or evolving SSD designs despite years of discussion on that topic on their BBS, plus my usual complaints about their PDF policies, etc. Lots of comments on this video express surprise that the game still exists, which is surely not a good sign for ADB's visibility and new player acquisition. Honestly, if it weren't for me being such a huge Trek person and no other game really doing what SFB does, I'd have moved on ages ago. But, despite my disagreements with ADB itself, I do still love the game. Someday, though, the game and the company's policies will have to catch up with the times or they'll face an ever-dwindling fanbase.

Given the timeframe you're speaking of, I believe you're talking about the Star Trek RPG from FASA. This is readily available on eBay for very reasonable prices, so you can certainly play again if you want! Thare are PDFs floating around too. You may want to check out the Last Unicron Games RPG for Star Trek; it's more simulation-oriented and less narratively inclined than Star Trek Adventures, but more evolved in its mechanics than the FASA game (IMO anyway). It's also easily available on the secondary market, and the fan-made homebrew stuff for it is excellent as well. I've reviewed some key products in that line for the Next-Gen edition on this channel; someday I'll review the TOS and DS9 books as well. As for Star Fleet Battles, it still exists and is actively supported (albeit at a very slow pace) -- I've a number of videos on the current edition (and its simpler offshoot, Federation Commander) on this very channel :)

The starter set is handy, given the pre-gen characters and intro adventure, but not necessary :) Your players will need to whip up their own characters, and you'll need to come up with something for them to do -- but honestly both of these are really fun to do, and with the richness of the Fallout Universe, it's not too hard to just send the players off into the Wasteland and get them started having fun right away!

May I just say that you have good taste in games :) I'm currently running STA 1e (for which I own every hardcover), and playing in a Star Wars FFG campaign (running now for over two years!). Both those games are wonderful, in my humble opinion of course. I fully agree this starter set is an absolute winner! For sheer value-for-money, it's right up there with Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest starters (which are also Chaosium... I'm noticing a pattern here!).

@@djthorsilver Chaosium puts out high quality starter sets for like $25 while everyone elses are either subpar or cost as much as a core rulebook in and of themselves! And thank you for the compliment XD Live long and prosper and may the Force be with you!

I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing not -- so far as I remember, they don't typically run sales at those times :'( Having said that, I've yet to feel dissatisfied with the content I've gotten for the prices I've paid.

Thanks for watching! The map is indeed lovely, but yes, your method is much more economical :) I REALLY wish Mongoose would re-do this as a hardcover with a map insert at the usual pricepoint for such a thing (£45), as £75 is a lot to ask in today's financial climate for most people. It is a wonderful setting, and as I finish collecting the new version, I'll keep showing them off here!