System Mastery

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/system-mastery-210-amber-diceless.mp3 Oh geez, this one is gonna get us some letters.  Lemme just warn you in advance if you’re as hot on this property as everyone on the internet seems to be for Moorcock stuff, you might wanna just go check out a Movie Mastery or something.  Otherwise, welcome to Amber Diceless, a game that has rules it would probably just be better off without. Announcement Mastery Eventide!Available today on DrivethruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/359061/Eventide How and why the world as we know it came to be changed forever has long been forgotten. It’s been hundreds – maybe even thousands – of years since anyone even spoke of the Cataclysm or the time that came before, and the memories of that world that once was, faded into dust. To the people inhabiting the world of Eventide, this isn’t a post-cataclysmic world, it’s just the world that is. And the world that always was, as far back as anyone living in it can remember.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/system-mastery-209-supplement-spectacular-3.mp3 Well how about one of these?  It’s only the third one in 209 episodes, so I hope they sort of feel special by now!  It’s Supplement Spectacular, where we dig through our surprisingly ample library of followup books to games you’d never think would have them, and talk about how those games expand and change.  This week, it’s Chill: Voodoo and A.C.E. Supers, so you’re getting a little horror and a little superhero stuff.  Together at last!  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/09/system-mastery-208-mutant-chronicles-4.mp3 This takes a while, but on the bright side we really find out some new fun and not so fun stuff about the game in the process. Good on ya for being patrons, you’re learning stuff no one else will. Unless they… read the game, I guess? Or just find someone else doing this. We can’t be the only ones.  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/system-mastery-208-pokemon-jr..mp3 Desperately trying to hit a book deadline, we found ourselves in need of something fairly small, so we finally broke the tiny sheet of glass in front of the smaller RPG we have, the Pokemon Jr. Adventure Game: Pokemon Emergency.  60 pages long and smaller than a checkbook, this is a tiny little thing.  But it has a rich history, and there’s a lot to talk about, so as always, we found a way.  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/system-mastery-206-ork.mp3 Comedy roleplaying game anyone?  Maybe one that’s got a bunch of jokes about how dumb orks are and how they have special blood that keeps them from ever being smart (yikes factor: some yikes).  Well grab a big rock and use it to murder a different big rock because Ork am game about mindless violence.  

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.