System Mastery
416 episodes - English - Latest episode: 8 days ago - ★★★★★ - 212 ratingsJef and Jon review old roleplaying games
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Episodes
275 - Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth (Part 2)
April 17, 2024 20:48 - 1 hourFine, we finished it. This was truly just an awful thing to keep reading through, I think it's been a while since we've both been this angry. Anyway, if you come support us on Patreon to hear the bonus content, we couldn't be assed to make Aria characters. They suck. So we made characters in the game LIFTS instead, which doesn't suck. This is your update on that topic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
274 - Tower 22
April 01, 2024 16:01 - 1 hourYeah yeah, we hit pause on Aria, we just couldn't deal with that noise anymore. Instead, it's time to dive into the ever-generous well of dumb OGL titles, with this bizarre 2002 Fantasy Strike classic, in which the authors really really want you to know about beach lifeguards and how important and cool and... military they are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
273 - Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth
March 23, 2024 02:03 - 59 minutesShow update first, everything's been a bit late because of travel and the deadly scary norovirus, which isn't pretty. Sorry about that. Show news on this episode? The sound a shudder that indicates a man has seen too much, written down, thank you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
272 - City of Heroes Playtest
March 07, 2024 03:40 - 1 hourGather up, all you various tankers, scrapper, controllers, uhhh... that healer one... I'm just kidding I loved this game. It's City of Heroes, sort of! Insofar as it's a Unisystem take on the popular superhero MMO. Some of one. This is just an old playtest doc. We talk about why and what and all the rest today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
271 - Active Exploits
February 22, 2024 23:40 - 1 hourThis was a tough read. Active Exploits is more of a toolkit than a game, but despite basically having every possible tool any kit could ever have, especially for a diceless engine, we still just aren't seeing how the numbers line up. But hey, who knows, right? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
270 - Marvel Super Heroes Adventure Game
February 08, 2024 02:41 - 1 hourI think... I think this is all of them? If you count the review of the Multiverse pre-test (we've skimmed the final version, it's pretty close), then yeah, this is the last of the Marvel licensed RPGs we hadn't covered yet. Saga edition, with the card deck and one of the two diceless systems. Is it cool? Will it Marvel? Do we have to start tracking down DC games now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
269 - Strike!
January 25, 2024 01:44 - 1 hourThis one is a little near and dear to us, we've used it to run Blimpleggers content in the past! Strike! is an RPG that sort of combines the very abstracted narrative structure of a FATE style game with the tactical grid combat of a 4e D&D style game, and for the most part, it works. Let's talk about how! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
268 - Crime Scene Police Investigation
January 12, 2024 01:09 - 1 hourStarting the year off the right way, with a shovelware-style OGL game about playing as real cops. Real boring cops. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
267 - Mörk Borg
December 13, 2023 23:12 - 1 hourWhoa, the art and layout in this thing is cool! What about the rest of it? Is it also cool? Can love bloom on the retroclone-style battlefield? Well, let's read it and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
266 - Cozy Town
November 29, 2023 17:46 - 59 minutesWelcome to a charming little community where the townsfolk are all made up and the real world doesn't matter. It's Cozy Town, a game that we figured could not have a better title to fit the Sweater Weather time here at the show. Make a whole adorable village, populate it and plan their year of events and charming happenings. It's cute, basically. Super cute. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
265 - Monster Care Squad
November 15, 2023 03:08 - 1 hourOh boy it's time for Sweater Weather! You know, our now two year running thing where we review specifically non or low-combat games, helping folks learn that there's more out there than the traditional "sword goes into orc" model (you'd be amazed at what people on the forefront are putting into orcs these days), and we're starting this year with Monster Care Squad, a neat game about rescuing wounded monsters in a world that's evolved past some of the worst instincts of humankind. Learn more a...
264 - Monsterhearts
October 31, 2023 15:58 - 1 hourOkay, I do have a few more books with Witch in the title, and yes the urge to do Strike Witches was fairly strong, but we've been wanting a good excuse to talk Monsterhearts for a while anyway and there's a witch skin in there so you know, you get what you get. It's the first edition of one of the biggest PBTA games, in which your high school gets all monster-fied and everyone's out to mess with everyone else! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
263 - Witch: Fated Souls
October 18, 2023 04:19 - 1 hourIt's witches aplenty this ween, and that means more than just crooked triangle hats, as we see here in a multicultural witch festival including witchy types from all over the world. The game is a little bit White Wolf and a little bit rock and roll, relatively recent, and we're covering the 1st edition (my understanding is that a second also exists). How powerful are these witches? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
262 - Witch Hunt
October 05, 2023 16:05 - 1 hourWhat's that upon the roof I hear? Could it be the pitter-patter of seasonally appropriate witch feet 'pon my shingles? Why, 'tis! Blessed Ween to each and every! This year, it's Ween 3: Season of the Witch, and yes I know this isn't the third Ween, thank you very much. We're starting our witchy run of RPGs with Witch Hunt, a game about Salem in 1692, so you know it's gonna just be super tasteful, right? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
261 - octaNe
September 19, 2023 16:14 - 1 hourLet's examine a post-apocalyptic game with a penchant for low-budget outre 90s cinema styles, and a fairly simple core mechanic to boot. It's octaNe, and it's pretty interesting, even if I personally never wanna read about Six String Samurai ever again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
260 - Star Wars Saga Edition
September 08, 2023 01:48 - 1 hourAnd I said GO! If you're wondering if we liked this game, We liked this game, It's mostly fine, But it could use some work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
259 - Starfaring
August 22, 2023 20:31 - 1 hourSold to us as the first ever sci-fi RPG (a claim we have learned is dubious), Starfaring is basically Tunnels & Trolls, but with some Star Trek jokes and moving the racism largely from the spell titles to the art. It's still Ken St. Andre, it's still like maybe half a game, and it's still sort of important just because of the era (1977!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
258 = Bullwinkle & Rocky Party RPG
August 08, 2023 15:50 - 1 hourAllow us to introducing our game... It's finally here, the box set that sat on my shelf for four years while we waiting for GenCon to be a thing we were willing to do again, and it's still not a live recording, because GenCon was a thing but they forgot to give us a room wired for recordings. What's in this thing? How do you play it? How will our heroes get out of this one? Find out in today's episode of System Mastery OOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRR a different funny title you came up with because I alre...
257 - Mythic Roleplaying
July 28, 2023 16:12 - 1 hourApparently what we have here is often considered to be the first stab at a DM-less RPG system! It's from 2003, and boy is it unusual. How does it handle GM-less play, or many of the other things it's stated to handle (such as being an overlay over your current RPG!)? Well, that's what we're here to find out, isn't it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
256 - Silvervine
July 11, 2023 15:35 - 1 hourThis one is interesting! It seems to be a compilation of two books, but is largely a single game about steampunk furry anime fantasy guys that also have airships and cool guns. The character builds can actually be pretty dang satisfying, but does it make any sense? Let's find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
255 - Horror Rules
June 28, 2023 16:08 - 1 hourIt's rules, for horror. From the DTRPG files, we've read a 2003 horror game with some neat ideas, some snarky stuff, and a slow burning lingering sense that there's a lot of Christianity stuff in here (in retrospect, the fact that it's from Crucifiction Games might have been a big hint). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
254 - Savage Worlds Rifts
June 13, 2023 16:53 - 1 hourAnd now to take a look at Savage Worlds with a game world overlay. We love Rifts anyway around here, and want to see it in all the formats. What do you think of the model for reviewing sandbox games that sell campaign settings? Should we keep doing it this way in the future? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
253 - Savage Worlds
June 01, 2023 15:23 - 1 hourSo we might be a bit off schedule but that's okay, because we spent the time stuck in various airports and cities reading Savage Worlds so we could talk about it with you! A somewhat new game, Savage Worlds is a toolbox system similar to GURPS or the like, except it has an eye towards fast heroic play instead of accurate simulation stuff. Does it hit the mark? Well let's talk about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
252 - Valley of the Pharaohs
May 16, 2023 17:09 - 1 hourWell well well, if it isn't a Palladium game. And one of those weird ones where Simbieda didn't write it or pretend to have written it! Valley of the Pharaohs came out in 1983, making it the first ever Palladium game published, and boy does that age show! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
251 - Heroic Visions
May 04, 2023 04:24 - 1 hourJon's special blend of DrivethruRPG search criteria has kicked us up a truly interesting and unusual blend of superheroes, afrofuturism, strong Christian undertones, and Poser art that is definitely connected to a webcomic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
250 - GURPS
April 18, 2023 17:45 - 1 hourWell I suppose it was about time. Let's dive into the world of world creation by taking a hard look at GURPS, one of the earliest examples of the "Do anything at all" RPG model, from Steve Jackson Games. If I can post this right. My tech level is pretty low. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
249 - Rifter 9 and One Half
April 05, 2023 01:08 - 1 hourHappy April Fools! Well, sort of. We were busy. We actually were hosting a quiz show thing on April 1st proper. So this early April episode will have to serve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
248 - Infinite Domains
March 22, 2023 21:35 - 1 hourWhat is this, some sort of generic universal role playing system? Some sort of master book to rule them all? It's Infinite Domains and it arrived on the scene in 1996 to throw a new hat into the ring of "do anything" RPG systems, starting with a fantasy set of trappings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
247 - Fractured Kingdom
March 08, 2023 17:14 - 1 hourSet in the far future on the other side of a brutal and deadly war on Earth, Fractured Kingdom is concerned with folks rendered extraordinary by exposure to a world of dreams and power beyond and suffusing our own. It's from 2013, but it drinks like a 2003! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
246 - Dallas The Television RPG
February 21, 2023 18:52 - 1 hourYou know you read about this in some message board or listicle article years ago. And you know you've always wondered what the heck it actually is. Well wonder no longer, friends! Answers await you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
245 - Katanas & Trenchcoats
February 08, 2023 18:26 - 1 hourNight falls on Darkest Vancouver. Will you be ready to draw your coolest anime sword and battle the eternal dancefight against the other forever-walkers like yourself? Today's episode is a comedy game that sort of uses Highlander rules to make fun of White Wolf. It's neat! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
244 - Teenagers From Outer Space
January 24, 2023 17:40 - 1 hourA lightweight anime-inspired comedy game from... 1987? Damn, Mike Pondsmith must have been one of those guys that bought unlabeled anime VHS tapes from trenchcoat weirdos at comic cons when they still had walking room in them. Whatever the case may be, this is a fun, weird read. But a good game? Well let's find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode 243 - Star Wars D20
January 10, 2023 18:48 - 1 hourNo no, not Saga Edition, the other one. This is OGL shovel-ware Star Wars. It's got a real prominent author all right, but these "Just change the names on D&D stuff" versions of OGL content are so hard to fit to anything, let alone something as demanding and iconic as Star Wars. Did they do it? Well, check it out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode 242 - Like a Rogue, One-Page Apocalypse Vol 1, Christmas Fallout
December 28, 2022 20:13 - 1 hourTo close out our year we've decided to take a little look at a couple of very little games, because we just had a lot of family business going on around this time. We discuss a solo game about surviving a zombie apocalypse in the dead of winter, and another one about being word wizards exploring a lexicon library. Merry festive times to all! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
241 - Kill Puppies For Satan
December 14, 2022 17:33 - 1 hourNo more Sweater Weather? Guess it's time for edgy fucked up December. Who wants to be nice to people and solve teddy bear ouchies when you can cram a firecracker in a frog or whatever as a member of Satan's grimiest little volunteer militia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
240 - Threadbare
November 29, 2022 19:22 - 1 hourIf you haven't played as a bear with a clothes hangar for one arm that has to help solve the mystery of where Starscream's left wing went, have you really lived? Threadbare is a PBTA game in the stitchpunk genre (more on that within) all about survival, adaptation, and purpose, and it can be played with absolutely no combat so hey, it's perfect, because Sweater Weather isn't over yet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
239 - The Play's The Thing
November 16, 2022 02:31 - 1 hourSweater Weather just will not let up as we take a tour through the non-combative games that are just so hard to find in RPGs. Today we discuss The Play's The Thing, a Shakespeare altering game where you play as actors changing the story as the story goes along. So will the game be twice blest? Or is Hell empty and all the devils are here? Also, just up front, we don't know the first goddamn thing about Shakespeare. Be warned. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
238 – Golden Sky Stories
November 03, 2022 21:33 - 1 hourWe couldn’t get enough theme months! Welcome to a brand new thing here at System Mastery, Sweater Weather! Reviewing the games that make you feel as cozy and comfortable as a good bowl of stew and a blazing fireplace. Today, we’re discussing Golden Sky Stories, a game with a nearly microscopic focus on small, simple slice of life interactions, where you play as little animal children with whimsical powers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
System Mastery 237 – Alien
October 19, 2022 15:42 - 50.3 MBAs we draw this festive Ween to a close, we continue the project of a brief examination of newer space horror (Yes, that last game was a heist thing, but […]
237 – Alien
October 19, 2022 05:00 - 1 hourAs we draw this festive Ween to a close, we continue the project of a brief examination of newer space horror (Yes, that last game was a heist thing, but c’mon, you were working for the literal Devil, right? That counts!), this time with the most recent offering in the Alien franchise, a comprehensive and enormous RPG with a lot of modern design sensibilities and a commitment to getting every bit of the fairly sprawled franchise some inclusion (except Resurrection, apparently no one likes it)...
System Mastery 236 – Stealing Stories for the Devil
October 05, 2022 01:14 - 58.1 MBThe customary three great blessings of Ween to each and every one of you! Okay, so this game isn’t especially scary. By now you should have recognized that we may […]
236 – Stealing Stories for the Devil
October 04, 2022 05:00 - 1 hourThe customary three great blessings of Ween to each and every one of you! Okay, so this game isn’t especially scary. By now you should have recognized that we may or may not give a fuck about tradition from one day to the next. In this case, we’ve decided to harness the power of ween to focus on a few newer games for the season. Any chance to dodge another OSR retroclone or D20 shovelware, am I right? Today we discuss Stealing Stories for the Devil, which is a heist game written by Monte Cook...
System Mastery 235 – Ray Winninger’s Underground
September 20, 2022 15:53 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/09/system-mastery-235-ray-winningers-underground.mp3 Hurray, one of those edgy 90s games where people have superpowers but aren’t superheroes! You know, like the other ones? This one at least has an interesting angle of entry by being more about society failing veterans, but is that enough to help it shine beyond it’s fairly timeworn genre? Well, let’s find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
System Mastery 234 – Apocalypse World
September 07, 2022 05:38 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/09/system-mastery-234-apocalypse-world-2.mp3 Wait, from Psi World to Apocalypse World? Two worlds? One network family? Oh right, I should probably mention that because we both have been down for a bit with the old Covid-19, James stepped in to help record this one, which turned out useful because Jef was just plain too sick all the past couple weeks to even read. But he got better! And he came to join the fun anyway! Just, you know, without readi...
System Mastery 233 – Psi World
August 25, 2022 01:08 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/08/system-mastery-233-psi-world.mp3 Back to the old psionic grind! This game has almost exactly two whole paragraphs of story. Everything else we’ve had to glean from the margins and unusually informative rules. Wanna… I guess be a psychic refugee in the near future of 198X? That’s pretty much what’s going on here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
System Mastery 232 – Leaked 6th Edition Playtest
August 10, 2022 01:51 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/08/system-mastery-232-leaked-6th-ed-dd.mp3 Hell yeah, we got some leaked documents up in here! Shame we gotta do it to them. But such is the rule of law here on the wild internet frontier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
System Mastery 231 – Kevin & Kell RPG
July 27, 2022 01:16 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/system-mastery-231-kevin-kell-rpg.mp3 A rare occasion where the “How the hell did this even happen” question seems fairly obvious (some company wanted a furry game in their line and this was close enough) but hot damn is this ever the weirdest thing we’ve seen in a long, long while. Strap in folks, this episode is extremely long, and not all that much of it is about the rules to the Action! licensed engine it runs on. Kevin & Kell is a weird, ...
System Mastery 230 – White Box
July 12, 2022 19:01 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/07/system-mastery-230-white-box.mp3 Let’s GOSR! This here is one a them retro-type clones where the goal was extremely straightforward: The author liked Sword & Sorcery White Box and wanted another edition, so here it is. Wanna play as a Dwarf? That can be up to level 6 as a thief(optional)? Well you an probably buy about three million other games. Or this one! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
System Mastery 229 – Underworld
June 28, 2022 23:38 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/system-mastery-229-underworld.mp3 Ever had dreams about the world deep below the world you know? A world where magic and madness swirl, where animals may just speak aloud, a world where the ancient myths of the surface are terrifyingly true? Did you recently read Neverwhere? Okay okay, I kid. This isn’t exactly like Neverwhere. It’s set in New York! A 2000 LARP (dear god thank you for that being the year) or tabletop game of adventure in a fan...
System Mastery 228 – Star Wars: Age of Rebellion
June 16, 2022 17:23 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/system-mastery-228-star-wars-age-of-rebellion.mp3 Well, FFG was sort of driven off this project (it’s a really sad story) so the most recent line of Star Wars games is now in our wheelhouse, I guess. And who better to help us tell the story of the strangely high on narrative AND crunch FFG Star Wars engine that network owner and our good friend James “The Accomplishment” D’Amato, star of screen and pod? No one, that’s who. Buy James’ book, Th...