The MSF High Roleplaying Game is an RPG created by Joe Fanning, the writer of the webcomic of the same name. A wacky anime inspired setting, the MSF Highschool is a training ground for the superhuman heroes throughout the galaxy- who are teenagers of a variety of alien and magical races, often both. Ordinary classes like Art are used to teach how to summon monsters, History how to fight with swords, and not so normal classes like Magic teach you the art of wizardry. Overrun with cooky faculty, cat girls, gender bending, and many of the other Japanese RPG/anime stereotypes, MSF High isn’t a bad place to have a few hours of light hearted chaos and High school drama with friends.
Previously, I reviewed the free online edition of the rules. Much of that work will be re-used here to save time, but there is also quite a bit of new material to go over. This review proceeds from front to back, reviewing each section as necessary.
Overview The book starts with a usable Table of Contents, giving page numbers for most of the aspects of the game right off the bat. The book is divided into ten chapters. Chapter One is setting information, followed by Chapter Two for Character Creation, Chapter Three for Rules, Chapter Four for Advantages and Disadvantages, Chapter Five for Races, Chapter Six for Facets, Chapter Seven for Items, Chapter Eight for Spells, Chapter Nine for Animals, and Chapter Ten for GMs.
Welcome to MSF High
In the first chapter, we are introduced to the setting by Wraith, one of the more important and mysterious characters of the setting. Wraith presents the world from his perspective as an ancient spirit that has seen the universe. He gives us a brief history of the galaxy, the factions within it, and finally on MSF High itself. A map of the city and the campus itself are included with numbers corresponding to all the places of interest. There is then a brief description of life at the school before telling us about the faculty. As the chapter progresses, a fourth wall breaking moment occurs where Wraith informs us that the role playing book itself is a device meant to transfer more students to the school, in whatever form they wish. This continues on throughout the book, with Wraith occasionally speaking directly to the readers.
Much of the information can be useful for coming up with characters. The factions and galactic events giving one some idea of what the interstellar community is like, giving an idea of the kinds of worlds your character might have come from. The Life at MSF High section is where we are first informed that our characters come from a variety of worlds, technologically and magically advanced or otherwise, most of them being snatched up right before a moment where they would have died, to be given their second chance at MSF High. This setup for character creation allows one to not only exercise a great deal of freedom for ones background, but even use this game as a staging ground for an RPG all-stars game. Grab a few of your favorite old characters, make them teenagers, and ship them in.
The city map and locations contain a good deal of information and a few plot hooks for various pursuits. The faculty gives some brief description with some occasional reference to habits they have that would be good material for running plots.
Overall, this section works well as a primer and is welcome information for fans of the comic, but is lacking in a few areas. Some of the aspects of life at MSF High are hinted at without follow up, such as the mysterious and powerful Mods, and other NPC’s mentioned in the Location section. Still, to really get a feel for the setting and more of an idea of how students act, reading the comic and the supplemental information at the site may be necessary.
Character Creation: Facets and Races and Stats Oh My! The character creation process is quite involved. Stats are picked, along with disposition, race, skills, advantages/disadvantages, and Facet. Warning: Do not forget facet.
Base stats are the first to be picked, due to being the immutable ‘set point’ for your character. This is necessary as Race, Facet (Read: Class), Disposition, Advantages, Disadvantages, Status Effects, etc. can all modify these stats, and some of these aspects can be modified in game play. This allows one to swap in races, Facets, sizes, etc. relatively painlessly.
Base statistics include Defense, Strength, Agility, Accuracy, Intelligence and Personality. Defense may more accurately be described as Constitution or Toughness, but its a minor nitpick.
Next on the agenda are Dispositions which will modify your statistics further, each of them representing a personality type.
Race is picked next which will determine how many skill points you have. Skills are basically named after the different classes of MSF High including History, Gymnastics, Martial Arts, Magic, Art, etc. However, it is worth noting that in some capacity almost every skill is a combat or spell casting skill. History is used with Archaic weapons, Math with guns for their trajectory- there are almost no bad skills to take and every skill corresponds to a given facet.
Advantages and Disadvantages are only atypical in that some of the advantages that may be bought are more like superpowers, including shifts in size, the ability to fly, etc. This is most likely done because the ‘races’ are broad archetypes meant to depict a group of races. These kinds of advantages and disadvantages allow one to play any race they can build, to a degree. While a 2000XP cap is recommended for disadvantages, this can be modified.
Race and Facet are both approached in quite a different way in this game. Both Race and Facet have levels that may be increased with experience.
Race: One’s Race starts at Level one at the beginning of the game. Race may change during play depending on spells cast upon the character, for example, a Human may be transformed into a Mythic, such as an Elf. There are some modifiers to deal with this change in physical body, small bonuses and negative to various stats that may easily be templated on to your character with relative ease. While an Elf, they will still have access to the levels of human they have purchased and all its benefits, but they may purchase levels of Elf which they will retain even when changed back. This system is meant to represent a sort of cross cultural/biological learning system. Systematically, this allows players access to a wide array of bonuses they may wish to have access to at any time, which may encourage players to transform on a purely statistical basis.
Facets: Pre-warned: Facet levels may be confusing to figure out, but are extremely important. It took me a few reads through of the material to understand how they worked- I will try to be clear as possible. Though you do not start with a facet for free, you are expected to buy one with your free 500 XP, as without a facet, one is completely incapable of attacking in combat. Future editions of the rules should probably make that more explicit.
Facet levels are purchased for the various ‘classes’ one might typically play as well as a few specific to MSF High’s anime inspired setting: Mage, Warrior, Priest, Maid, Artist, Nerd, etc. Each Facet level is leveled separately and is given limited access from racial facet levels. It’s reminiscent of the ‘job’ systems for some Japanese console RPGs.
How it Works Out: For instance, while your character may have purchased 5 levels of Warrior and 2 Levels of Priest, their Racial Facet level may only allow them access to 2 of any of these given levels to use. So while able to use 2 levels or Warrior or 2 levels of Priest or 1 of each, they cannot use all the levels they have unless raising their facet level somehow. The two primary ways to do this seem to be raising ones Racial levels and purchasing and wearing Magical Clothing. A list of costumes provided seems to allow unlimited level use of one particular facet or another, though some are too expensive to purchase at the start of the game.
The rules guideline to experience recommends that roughly 1000 XP be given out every game in the early Threat levels (Threat Level equals Race Level + Facet Level + any modifiers as a guideline to how dangerous a character is). I took two characters through 5500 XP to see how a focused approach at leveling compares to a more scattered one.
Both were Elves (Mythic race group) starting as Martial Artists for simplicity. Our focused character ends up as a Level 5 Elf with 2 levels of Martial Art, (HP 55 MP 70). Our scatterbrain character ends up with a Level 4 Elf with one level in Martial Arts, Student, Mage, and Priest (If accessing all, HP 63 MP 85). The pure martial artist will have access to 30 MP spells and can access his full abilities without spending a dime. The scatterbrain need only spend $50 to access their ‘extra’ facet The focused martial artist has a skill of 5, enough dice to make him quite likely to strike often and strike hard. The scatterbrain 12 skill points are divided among Magic, History, and Martial arts, allowing for one skill of 3 and the others at a 2. This discrepancy makes it more likely for the focused fighter to hit harder and cast nastier spells, making it likely for the focused fighter to have a slight edge over the scatterbrain. It seems that Races are made to be more accessible and advantageous than facets early on, due to the across the board advantages they give, but spell casting is impossible without gaining levels within a facet.
Conclusions: To sum up character creation and advancement, it is very detailed and continues throughout play. The rules seem to encourage variety, trying ones hand at both various races and facets seeming to be beneficial rather than punishing as it is in most games. Focused characters (one race, one facet) pay off due to their access to more skill points and magical ability, but playing multiple races and facets is not excessively debilitating if managed properly. However, if one is not careful, it is easy to create a character completely incapable of doing anything useful, especially considering humans start with zero inherent facet and must buy equipment to be functional in their given facet, limiting the starting facets a human can effectively play.
Recommendations I would make include a two page spread with a character creation flowchart listing the Stats to fill, the dispositions, the 1st level of each race, the skills, the facets, and the advantages and disadvantages as well as getting rid of the 500XP at the start in place of stating they get a level one Facet to avoid confusion and unplayable builds.
MECHANICS
Game Mechanics:
Attributes have dice types, reminiscent of Savage Worlds, but with the added complexity of d20 style Attributes. This means that you have to look on the chart to determine what dice you get from your 8 Str rather than simply recording a dice type. Record the dice type for each of your stats for ease of play.
Once you’ve determined the die type based on your attributes, the number of dice you will roll is based on your skills, generally a 0,1, or 2 early on. The highest number rolled is the one that counts unless the roll is unskilled, in which case the lowest dice of two is counted. Here are some examples:. (Ex: Rolling 2 Science (2 dice) at Intellect 10 (d10) results are a 7 and a 5. The total for the roll is 7.) (Ex: Rolling 0 Home Ec (2 dice take lowest at Personality 11 (d12) gets a 4 and a 10. The total of the roll is 4 due to being unskilled.)
Base attribute rolls are made with just one die of the appropriate type. In some rolls, such as damage and soak, the rolls add together rather than counting the highest. Any die that lands on its maximum facing is re-rolled and added to via an exploding mechanic.
Numerically, the systems base statistics shift up one die at a time (d4, d6, d8, etc.). From d12 upward we see a d12+1, then d12+2, then d20 before the next set of plusses, which continue on. While the d20 is statistically better than a d12+2, it is more random in its results and may lead to lots of high and low rolls versus a more standard curve.
Combat Combat seems like a pretty chaotic place with all the spells, attacks, abilities, and other actions that can be performed. The general breakdown is an Accuracy roll for initiative, taking turns in order. On a given turn, the character may choose a defense stance and an offense stance, determining how they defend and attack for the turn.
Stances include six different combat stances, three defensive and three offensive, that give bonuses in combat. Defensive stances appear to be available to anyone. Offensive stances available will depend on the weapon used and if a character’s facet allows its use. Example) A rapier is a Fast/Precise weapon wielded with either History or Gymnastics. The Fast and Precise stances can be used while wielding a rapier if History or Gymnastics are included as part of a Facet’s skills. Priests specialize in History and would be able to use the two offensive stances available to Fencing.
Stances determine defense stat used (accuracy, agility or defense) and some defenses are strong against certain attacks, giving a slight strategy to things, using the right attack for the right kind of defense and vice versa. By targeting an opponent with an attack reduced by their weakest defense stat, one can win by ‘knowing’ their opponent.
On your turn each round, a move, speak, primary hand, and off hand action are available. Attacks need to make a five using the skill for the weapon wielded based on die for stance taken (Strong stance with a Hammer uses [HomeEc]d[Strength] to attack), defensive actions leading to an opposed roll. A hit is a damage roll versus a soak roll using defense and armor. The speak actions are quite interesting as attempts to infatuate, infuriate, or intimidate ones opponent can take place for free almost every round. Hand actions allow for two gunning, gun sword, parry swing, etc, but its worth noting that the off hand is penalized as one would expect- the full rules may have an advantage to counteract this.
As mentioned previously, one cannot attack without an attack stance, and one cannot have attack stances without an active facet and an appropriate weapon, meaning you need to buy a facet at the beginning of the game.
The system seems to favor offense as all defense rolls are unskilled (1 die) versus skill rolls that will generally involve multiple dice. While the appropriate defense will reduce the attack by one die, and switching up stance results in penalties to the next action, the base 5 may be harder to hit for some characters than the opposed defense roll. Damage is mitigated by soak, meaning another roll in combat, leading to longer handling times for fights, much like the old World of Darkness system. Exploding dice still provide for the possibility of the one hit fight however.
Its also worth noting that a character could potentially build up a high agility and accuracy character with the express purpose of getting initiative, shooting with fast attacks and precise attacks and running to maintain distance. Arena like environments can limit this, but a slower character with little or no range may get ripped apart. This may include your bad guy of the week.
Running some sample combats, combat tended to be quick for a one on one fight with animals in the back of the book or the Maid in the middle, so I generated two characters to see them slug it out. The little melee took about 7 rounds and about 20 minutes of real time. This was for two starter characters, with less abilities, spells, and other options to pull out mid combat. With more than two combatants, combat could become very time consuming, but probably no more than your average D&D combat.
Overall, combat could be better, but it could be worse. The handling time can be mitigated by preparation and detailed sheets for your players and baddies.
Recommendations include giving defense stances more dice, improving them in some other way, or pitching the idea all together. An ineffective defense only provides unneeded complexity to an already complex combat system.
Spell Casting
Spell casting seems to be simple once deciphered. Like Facets, the information is spread out and a little unclear, but here is how it seems to go.
Every spell casting facet has a different way of doing magic, though the basics are the same- use up a hand or more worth of actions, spend MP to make the spell go, roll relevant skill versus difficulty to activate, spell takes effect. Spells are arranged into elements, much like D&D magic schools: fire, water, body, light, etc. Every spell has a monetary cost as well as its MP cost- but I was still confused as to exactly how some of them learned spells. Every spell caster class had slightly different rules for learning and casting, some involving money, some not, but each had in common a Spells MP stat that tells them the Max MP spells they can learn to keep the big spells for higher levels.
Advantages and Disadvantages
These are, as previously stated, fairly standard beyond some super power like advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages may modify threat level and could be potentially broken when combined with some Races and Facets (Redeemed and Watchers with no Magic Abilities advantages gain an enormous boost to their HP, flight can shut down a melee combatant utterly, etc.). A few of the disadvantages can also potentially destroy a character, Chaotic magic making most spell caster classes far too expensive to play due to the price of learning various spells.
Races
The books contains twelve race groups. What this means is that more specific races fall under the umbrella of various groups. Elves, fairies, and other magical critters fall into Mythic, while robots, golems, and living dolls fit into the Mecha category. There is no forward in this section, but its all pretty self explanatory. The twelve groups do a pretty good job of covering most any character you can create.
It’s difficult to tell how the races are meant to balance. The stats run all over the board with some just getting less or more HP, skills, facet levels, stats, and some having abilities that are far more useful than others. In the early levels where few facets cast well and every HP matters, some of the tougher races have a definite advantage, but this may even out as spells become more important and MP to fuel these spells in necessary.
The back of the book speaks about customizing these races, but no real guidelines are provided for this purpose. While I assume advantages and disadvantages are to be used for this purpose, there are still races that fit awkwardly if at all. For example, Dwarves would be considered Mythic, but the statistics given for Mythic include negatives to Strength and Defense, with a natural grace that is all but missing from most dwarves. A minor nitpick, but a system for further race customization would be greatly appreciated
Facets
Eleven facets are given in the book, one for every class taken at the school plus the generic student facet. Most of these are fairly straight forward and work well. Mystic, priest, mage, martial artist, maid, and idol don’t take much reading to figure out, Mage being the most simple. Warrior is a little confusing as rather than having MP to cast they are given a number of spells they may cast in a day for free, as well as combos they can perform with other warriors. Artists summonings are fairly intricate, but are otherwise simple to play. However, there are two facets that are problematic.
The scientists spells are straightforward, but their other ability, Repair/Build, is somewhat cryptic. As the scientist grow more powerful, he may build smaller and larger devices. While it is obvious what this skill is, its function is harder to interpret as the rules for building things other than spells do not exist. In the case of using Build/Repair to create/heal mecha, the use is obvious, but not so much for, say, creating a car. The Build description says that the GM will determine the cost, difficulty, and time to create a device, but does not give guidelines in the GM section or anywhere else.
Especially difficult to understand was the Doctor facet. Shoe horned into the same place as the Priest, the Doctor seems to purchase needles full of potion, which he then injects into himself and others for a variety of effects-unfortunately, they do not give the rules for these needles. Its also worth noting that neither of them needs to learn spells- I can assume this means they can cast anything within the Elements they have access to, but it is not clearly communicated within the text. While home ruling a needle is easy enough (I’d use the X-actly knife) , it would be nice to have this facet in its own section.
Items
The items section is pretty straightforward, dedicating the first section to Magical Clothing, then Shields, then Weapons.. The lists are pretty large and varied and goofy enough to provide some chuckles (Spock Ears let you access nerd levels- go figure.). Enhancement’s in this section can be used to make various magic weapons, armors, and such.
One of the goofier things in the equipment is high priced items that, due to Wraith having never tried them on, we have no idea what they do, leaving it up to the GM what such an expensive item can do.
Spells
Spells are also straightforward enough, divided into elements, with the usual assortment of attacks, environmental manipulations, and utility spells. If any complaint were to be made, it would be that it could use a few more utility spells, a few more high end spells, and a spell creation system. Overall, it serves its purpose and should be able to do the things it needs to.
Animals
While this can certainly be used as a ‘monster manual’, these creatures seem to exist more as allies and companions than as horrible threats, reflected in the lack of an insect animal category. Like racial groups, these animals are meant to be specialized by buying advantages and disadvantages, which is covered at the beginning of the chapter. Using these bases with some random advantages and maybe some spells to cover things like breath weapons and magic powers, these can be used to generate fantastic monsters.
SPOILER ALERT GM’s Section SPOILER ALERT
I'll just say SPOILER ALERT one more time. Some of the secrets of the setting are quite the doozy, though less so if one doesn’t follow the comics. The pressing of the fourth wall hits a crescendo at this point. To give the quick list of GM secrets; the entire Galaxy is created by the imagination of the people of the one true Earth; MSF High was created by a human from the real Earth and is largely influenced by imagination; Wraith blows up sending out the RPG book and the evil parts of him still haunt the school and possess people; the suppressed negative memories of students manifest as monsters that seek only to destroy their owners. In other words, there are some very strange things happening in the background of this comedic setting to set up more important adversaries than the bully who keeps throwing zapping you with lightning bolts in gym.
However, after learning these excellent secrets of the setting, the advice gets very sparse and vague at a page and a half. A very generic guideline of XP per game is given as well as some description of Game mastering that is too simple for an advanced GM and a little too general and meandering to instruct a new one. Paragraphs about the value of snacks at a game and pencils being necessary, or that people need to make characters to play have little place in such a brief section on game mastering.
Absent is a guide to money, jobs, and how much is too much. From earlier in the book we learn that characters start with $500, gain their race levels times $5 a week, and that the idol facet can be used to gain $25-200 extra dollars a week, but no guide is given for how money can be earned for jobs or selling goods. While these figure might be able to give us some ideas, a rough guideline to how fast money should be earned would be a welcome edition.
To its credit, its advice on how to generate monsters and adversaries quickly is helpful, if a bit garbled. Still, in future editions I would hope for a little more of the book to be dedicated to how to run the game.
Bits and Bobs General details of this book worth mentioning.
Art: The art and layout is stunning in many areas, not so much in some others. It is all black and white art.. Still, much of it is done very in the spirit of the comic and if you enjoy the art of the comic, you’ll definitely appreciate the book.
Page Count: The book is 202 pages, most of which have content.
Editing: Many page references are marked as ‘refer to page XXX’. This typo does feel a little ridiculous to see time and time again. Using the Table of contents allows one to navigate the contents quickly enough, but the references are sort of jarring.
Overall
Good: Very diverse character generation in an interesting and unique setting
Bad: Bad editing, a weak defense mechanic, overly complex in places, thin GM section
The MSF High Core Rulebook provides an enjoyable game, but suffers from being the first edition of a new imprint. The system, while perhaps in need of some tweaking, does not look like it will fall apart midway through a campaign and provides an enjoyable fighting experience with some variety to the moves used. The setting is unique, using an environment of low consequences to allow for a lot of lighthearted anime hi-jinks in a place where almost any character you can come up with can be made. While there is a lack of GM advice and tools, an experienced GM can still manage to make this bird fly with relative ease. If you’re a fan of the webcomic, $20 is probably worth the setting details and art alone. If you’re not, but like the idea of high school drama, anime, and/or comedy in your games, this game may just be where you find it.
