 Goto [ Index ] |
The game is available here. I say this because reading the blurb will give you a faster and better idea of whether it is for you than I ever will. I also mention it because I recommend the game.
It's dirt cheap at $5.95 for a PDF, or $11.95 + Postage for a Print on Demand copy available from LuLu.
Now to put my biases on the table. I have had nothing but stellar service from anyone at Arc Dream, and think that the One Roll Engine (ORE) is a stunning game system. As such, I was interested in this product almost before it was announced. I was predisposed to like this game. For the record, I am also reading a PDF version of the game, although for the record I’ve been very impressed with LuLu products in the past.
With those issues out of the way, we move to the real question: does it stand up to my expectations, and is it right for you?
I think that the second question can be answered largely by following the link I’ve provided, because you’ll have a good idea if it speaks to you or not.
But for Actual Detail [TM], let’s have a look.
Character and Monster Creation + General Rules.
I was initially surprised to find that the book suggested it didn’t contain a reproduction of the ORE rules. I even came up with an argument as to why this was the only thing I expected to consider a mistake, and even took notes towards writing it up. But it turns out to be okay, because the book does describe the ORE system in Lite form. It's also worth mentioning that the only reason I was surprised was because of skim-reading on my part, as this fact is clearly advertised on the website. The book specifically addresses this lack of complete ORE, and points out that although it’s specifically expanded from Wild Talents, that the game can be run using Godlike or NEMESIS without much difficulty. It also recommends REIGN as a good way for modelling school clubs and the like, which emphasises the multifarious purposes it can be turned to.
As it turns out, I think that Monsters ORE-Lite is perfectly adequate to the task. There'll be more detail on that when we hit the system.
Now, to move on to the actual content of the thing. The first thing that struck me about the PDF was the art. I think it’s beautiful, evocative, and it immediately puts across The Vibe. Secondly, it’s written in a voice that elegantly slides you into the mindset of the sort of characters you’re going to be playing, such as the description of Blocking being “Using a thing to stop a thing hitting you in the thing.” And how can you not love a game that has a sidebar for character creation entitled “Special and Unique Snowflakes.”
The character creation system reminds me in some ways of Cat by John Wick, which is another damned cool game. Your characters have five Stats: Feet, Wits, Hands, Guts, and Attention. These have Skills which sit under them, such as Blocking attaches to Hands, and Put-Down attaches to Wits. You get to distribute dice between them, but due to the wonderfully simple system, I imagine it’d be pretty fast.
Then there’s Relationships. You’re playing kids, and so you have points to put into how you relate to the world. These could go into your Mum and Dad, your childhood soft-toy, or the girl you’re sweet on. And, of course, to your Monster. These Relationships have definite mechanical effects, and are something that can be damaged. It’s also noted that you don’t have to choose healthy relationships. I am very, very impressed with this element. It fits the characterisation of the game as modelling kids really well, and just feels elegant. I’m practically slavering to see what kind of beautiful consequences tying this to REIGN would achieve, as it’s almost worth the price of admission by itself.
The section on conflict resolution is succinct, and again demonstrates the game doesn’t really need an external reference for ORE rules. Damage is broken up into wounds that Shock and wounds that Scar, and in another element that just impresses the hell out of me, non-physical stats can be attacked. Want to rag on someone’s dead grandmother till they have to go to therapy? You can.
The monster creation rules are a freeform joy to behold. You have a certain number of dice to use, you distribute them as you see fit between hit-locations from 1 to 10 (ORE standard), and if you have more than ten dice for any individual location, you have to spend them on Additional Tricks. And what creative tricks they are.
Although I haven’t trialled it yet, my impression of both sides to character-creation is that they will be speedy and evocative, as players are encouraged to think laterally and be imaginative. Figuring out such things as what your monster’s Favourite Thing is, and A Bad Thing You’ve Done, is mechanically light but will accomplish all sorts of things quickly. I have some (very loveable) but indecisive players as friends, and I think they’d go through this speedily and with broad grins.
Monsters are very scary for normal people, very dangerous, and damn near indestructible. Exceptions are for where monsters go after each other. The rules for how they can attack each other are similarly fluid, and involves Kicking Butt, and Taking Names. Kicking Butt is where a monster damage’s another and reduces its stats, using them to improve itself. Taking Names is where a monster damages another monster enough to steal relationships from the monster’s child. You should be able to see the hideous potential waiting there.
Monsters have personality, and will try to help you. Even if they don’t quite understand that laying waste the soul of Mister Grimble the PhysEd teacher won’t help in the long run...
Then we move on to…
Junk For GMs
Mostly, I think you should be able to see whether or not this is a game for you by now, but I’ll be thorough. This specifies how pretty much every game of Monsters boils down to either monster-conflict or relationships, and I think the rules reflect that elegantly and unobtrusively. There are discussions and suggestions for different approaches to game settings, focused mainly on the ages of protagonists, with detailed succinctly written elements ranging from Elementary to Highschool.
The list of antagonists is long, detailed, and perfect. We’ve all been there, and the recurring themes of monster-conflict and relationships sing from them in living colour.
The campaign seeds are well-laid out and interesting, providing plenty of information for GMs to expand from without endless If/Then details. I approve, and think they feel similar to the campaign seeds in the Unknown Armies splatbooks for structure.
Similarly, the list of ready-to-play characters is superb. They’ve been characterised through the examples in the text, and here they are. The art which brings them to life is beautiful, and I can’t decide which ones I’m more of a fan of. There’s also a decent number of them, providing a wide spread of examples to emulate.
There’s a quick section on how to model Monsters and Other Childish Things using the Wild Talents rules, if you have access to them and want more detail to your game. I appreciate its inclusion and it’s certainly elegantly written, but my impression is that I’d be happy to use the Monsters stripped down ORE variant without any complaints at all. Perhaps we’ll get more detailed thoughts on that with some Actual Play threads, or Playtest reviews when they come out.
There’s some neat tools to make use of the One Roll Engine, such as swift generation for emotional entanglements, and monster summoning. And finally the Character Sheet, which looks clean and crisp. It lacks some of the character that other sections of the book have, but personally I’ll go for ease-of-use rather than identity if it comes to a choice.
To Conclude.
I am relentlessly impressed with this book. The amount of bang you get for your buck is utterly massive, and there are ideas in Monsters I’d contemplate stripping out and using in other games. In many ways, this feels like it does elements of oWoD Changeling better than White Wolf did it.
Its stripped-down (and very thematic) ORE variant is completely covered in less than half the book, and that’s not for anything being missed. The rest is tools for the GM to bring the game to life. This very much feels like a great system for those who want to leap straight into the game, rather than spending a lot of time dickering with character builds and mechanics. Here, you figure out who you and your monster are… And that thinking pretty much takes care of the mechanics even as you think about it.
During the course of this review, I have decided to buy the book in hardcopy when money allows. It helped me make up my mind, with luck it’ll help you too.
- The Unshaven.
Please help support RPGnet by purchasing the following (probably) related items through DriveThruRPG.
