Review of Two Page Action Movie RPG

The Premise:
The Two Page Action Movie RPG (2PAM from this point forward) attempts to recreate the over-the-top theatrics and violent splendor of the action film in a workable game of only two pages of text.

PERSONAL NOTE: This review is based off of the November 8, 2001 revision of the game (you can see how far behind I am on reviews already, huh?). Sean is, if nothing else, very prolific in fixing and refining his games so the points raised here may or may not reflect the current available version of the game.

What Ya Get:
The Two Page Action Movie RPG is a two/three page HTML file. You should be able to view it fine in whatever web browser you're using to view this review. It's also a very quick printout but, at least with my printer, the printout comes out to three pages instead of two! Your mileage on this may vary with your printer and/or print settings.

Cost:
Nada. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Gratis. Free.

Appearance:
2PAM, like most free RPGs, isn't going to be winning any awards for illustrative excellence. It's appearance is minimal with all text arranged in a single column on the page with a large table in the middle of the document that illustrates task difficulty. One of the first things that you'll notice at your first read of it is that organization is a bit convoluted and you'll find yourself referring back to previous sections to make necessary connections.

The Game:
So lets get down to what you're here for. Each character is composed of six stats: Shoot, Fight, Stunt, Luck, Mojo and Skill. Shoot is the character's ability with firearms and I'm not even going to insult your intelligence with what Fight represents. Stunt is the ability to avoid damage and to do those cool things that movie heroes do. Luck is used to manipulate the plot of the film to your favor. Mojo covers any supernatural abilities such as superpowers, magic, etc. Skill is any profession or job that the character is trained in. You divide fifteen points between the six stats and pick a focus for each. A character would use these focuses to gain a bonus die pool to use whenever they needed them during the game. For example, Shoot 2 would give me a 1 die and a 2 die to modify your dice rolls during the game as long as they are used in ascending order.

Life is determined by adding the Fight, Stunt and Luck stats and multiplying by two for Features (main heroes), by 1.5 for Named (named/secondary characters) and only by one for Extras (mooks, disposable minions, etc.). This is how much damage these characters can withstand and still remain in the film. Each success in an attack against them results in one wound. When the number of wounds equal your Life stat, your character is considered dead or otherwise out of the film.

Luck can be used to modify the plot of the film to the character's favor but it is reduced each time until the stat hits zero and then your character is out of luck unless they have a "Superstar" die pool to draw upon. You accumulate this dice pool during play by good narration, funny one-liners, etc. These pools go away as you use them so be judicious in their use.

Task resolution is handled by rolling a number of d6 equal to the applicable stat. Your target number corresponds to the target's importance to the plot of the film. For example, Extras are "3" - any rolls that equal or exceed three on a d6 is considered a success. Additional successes above and beyond what was required denote a more spectacular effect. Difficulties can be reduced by character's bringing very large weapons to bear because the results of such a weapon are spectacular. As you can imagine, the number of dice that get rolled sometime can be quite a few. This may put off some people who don't like the "buckets o' dice" approach but I don't personally find it a problem because I like rolling lots of dice.

Overall Impression:
Okay. I've now managed to make my review even longer than the actual text of the game. Still I do have to recommend that you take a look at 2PAM RPG. Organization is a bit convoluted in the rules but, since its only two pages long, its nothing especially crippling. If you're not a fan of big handfuls of dice, you're probably going to have some issues with this game. What it does do well is to mimic the high action and crazy logic of action films. Heroes are almost virtually indestructable but can a blast to play as the GM can really crank up the danger. You're probably not going to use 2PAM on any regular basis but it is a really fun game to just play with friends especially when you just want a diversion for a hour or so instead of your usual game.

MetalMan signing off.