System Mastery
422 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 days ago - ★★★★★ - 215 ratingsJef and Jon review old roleplaying games
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Episodes
Rifts World Book 3: England – System Mastery 183
September 23, 2020 02:13 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/system-mastery-183-rifts-world-book-3-england-1.mp3 Ooh look, a supplement! People love it when we do the supplements, right? We sort of needed a break for a bit while Jef navigates some medical shenanigans, so we tried to keep it light. And failed, this episode is huge. Oh well! More millennium trees for the rest of you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Itras By – System Mastery 182
September 09, 2020 03:45 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/system-mastery-182-itras-by.mp3[/audio] Check out this wild game! No, literally, go check it out! This is a wild read of improv-driven story focused diceless gaming set in a surrealism-infused Norwegian dream city in the 1920s. It’s neat! Come on by for a rare System Mastery win. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying 1st Edition – System Mastery 181
August 25, 2020 21:13 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/system-mastery-181-warhammer-fantasy-roleplaying-1st-edition.mp3 Small but vicious dog, right? You remember that? It’s that joke that’s in here? Anyhow hi there, how ya doin’? Wanna talk about a 1989 game that seems like it mysteriously sat unread on a shelf since 1977? WHFRP 1st edition can do that! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
System Mastery Special – Things We Hate About D&D – Part 2
August 13, 2020 03:59 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/things-we-hate-about-dd-part-2.mp3 Hey whoops this was only ever free on our Patreon. Should be here too. Now it is. Hooray! The balance is complete and finally I can diminish, and go into the West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Robotech – System Mastery 180
August 12, 2020 01:13 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/08/system-mastery-180-robotech.mp3 Yeah, we needed a break again. Jesus, Wraeththu. So for now, let’s dive into dependable old Palladium. Two scoops of whoops in every book! Robotech is one of the early Palladium license titles, which is always a source of hilarious conflict and tone problems in every try, and here we find it, surprisingly fast. For an 80 page book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wraeththu: From Enchantment to Fulfillment – System Mastery 179
July 29, 2020 01:00 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/system-mastery-179-wraeththu-from-enchantment-to-fulfillment.mp3 Okay, guess break time’s over! This book is enormous, weird, and in a lot of ways, misguided. The world has collapsed, humanity has fallen, and the Wraeththu have risen in their place. And what are the Wraeththu? Androgynous hermaphroditic semi-vampiric aruna-having yaoi people, duh. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Land of Ogg – System Mastery 178
July 14, 2020 01:22 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/system-mastery-178-the-land-of-ogg.mp3 We needed a break to finish our second book, and when you live in a gig economy that just means doing a smaller job that week! The Land of Ogg started around 1993 and is a game about dumb cavemen failing at everything. Here is an obligatory joke about the current federal government. Please enjoy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
System Mastery Special – Things We Hate About D&D – Part 3
July 04, 2020 02:34 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/things-we-hate-about-dd-part-3.mp3 No really, they’re the worst. Play another game. Also while we’ve got that picture of Radcliffe up there, our opinion is that JK Rowling is a TERF piece of shit, so. Everyone sucks. Just sucks. Sorry about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
SenZar – System Mastery 177
June 30, 2020 14:55 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/system-mastery-177-senzar.mp3 With 26 races, nearly 40 classes, giant complex martial arts systems and a battle world that has run amok for aeons aesthetic, where could SenZar possibly go wrong? It’s an excess of boring riches on today’s System Mastery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
High Strung – System Mastery 176
June 17, 2020 00:40 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/system-mastery-176-high-strung.mp3 Grab your amps and start planning setlists, as we take a look at a game that eschews the classics of dungeon diving in favor of trying to make it big in the music world. Does it deliver hot licks? Or… I am bad at music, I guess cold licks? Yes, does it deliver cold licks? Well, come find out! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Call of Cthulhu (5.6) – System Mastery 175
June 03, 2020 00:24 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/system-mastery-175-call-of-cthulhu.mp3 Yes, it’s not a D&D game. Don’t worry. It’s going to be okay. We still found a classic, the Chaosium flagship and the biggest name in leaning heavily on public domain stuff Call of Cthulhu. And hey, you might just be in need right now of people dumping on the febrile racism of a cowardly germophobe (Lovecraft. I meant Lovecraft.) so here’s that, just for you all. Learn more about your ad choices. V...
Alma Mater – System Mastery 174
May 20, 2020 02:51 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/system-mastery-174-alma-mater.mp3 We’ve posted so many episodes at this point that the only reason this one’s description isn’t just “Fuck this game” is that I’m not sure I didn’t do that for a previous odious heap. This game was banned from GenCon in the 80s because it’s got a bunch of teen sex in it. That’s one of the reasons it’s bad. Sure. Here’s an hour of other ones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
System Mastery Special – Things We Hate About D&D – Part 1
May 11, 2020 01:34 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/system-mastery-special-things-we-hate-about-dd-part-1.mp3 So hey, remember when we wrote that book? Jef apparently didn’t because this special content powered by pre-orders has been sitting unedited on an external HD for months. The only thing that could force him to remember was the diligent reminders from listeners couple with the completion of our second book (details coming soon!). For now, please enjoy this fine list of things that we...
Smallville – System Mastery 173
May 05, 2020 17:55 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/system-mastery-173-smallville.mp3 It was about time we discussed the Cortex engine, and what better way to have a discussion than driving 45 minutes to a Kansas farm so I can say one sentence about how I’m upset and then drive away again to reset before I do it two more times next episode? Smallville is a game all about building out a whole season of genre soap television, and also keeping Clark from flying. Learn more about your ad choi...
Darwin’s World – System Mastery 172
April 21, 2020 15:30 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/system-mastery-172-darwins-world-1.mp3 It’s post-apocalypse OGL gaming here so it may seem like something we’ve done before, but is it? I hope not, but honestly 171 is a lot of episodes to go back through and I think we’re all a little tired right now. It’s mutants, running around an irradiated post-war Earth, and they call women “furniture” in it, so you know. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tunnels & Trolls – System Mastery 171
April 07, 2020 17:08 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/system-mastery-171-tunnels-trolls-1.mp3 The year is 1975. The hair is stupid. The clothes are stupid. The music? Mostly stupid. The movie scene was okay (Rocky Horror? Jaws? Come on now). And the RPG scene was… heartbreakers already! Tunnels and Trolls sure was an attempt to fix D&D by doing things differently for once. Let’s look back, shall we. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
DragonRaid – System Mastery 170
March 25, 2020 02:35 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/system-mastery-170-dragonraid.mp3 Someone tweeted about this, someone else linked it to us, and now we’ve reviewed it. The DragonRaid Adventure Learning System: A Roleplaying Game for Courageous Christians. It’s probably safest to just link to the review now. Happy quarantine! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rampant: Live Action Roleplaying – System Mastery 169
March 11, 2020 00:50 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/03/system-mastery-169-rampant-live-action-roleplaying-1.mp3 Lightning bolt! Lightning bolt! Lightning b… you get the idea. It’s a LARP game! And for us, a weird one, since we’ve never actually encountered one before that just looks like local park dress up goodtimes with boffer weapons, and yet here we are! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Timeship – System Mastery 168
February 26, 2020 01:52 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/system-mastery-168-timeship.mp3 Timelord! Would you like to play an RPG as yourself and then, you know, get rewarded for showing up to the table with weapons and German soldier uniforms and stuff? Well here you go! Timeship is a mad game from the early 80s where yeah, there’s not much in the way of stats, because you’re playing as yourself! What do you do as yourself? Well, you head to the end of time to solve the murder of Count Dracula...
Supplement Spectacular 2! – System Mastery 167
February 11, 2020 16:57 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/system-mastery-167-supplement-spectacular-2.mp3 A fun side effect of doing what we do is that listeners send us stuff. All the time. We have just tons of books. Jef’s room is basically two used RPG bookstores with a hidden bed in it. And we don’t just get core books. Heaps of fascinating supplements arrive from time to time as well, like so many Garfield phones washing up on the beaches of England. We occasionally (very occasionally) do...
Dream Park – System Mastery 166
January 29, 2020 01:12 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/system-mastery-166-dream-park.mp3 This has been on Jon’s to-get list for most of the time we’ve made the show, and who should suddenly show up with a copy of the thing but our network head? He always gets us the best stuff. Dream Park has a PEDIGREE. Based on a Larry Niven/Steven Barnes sci-fi novel series and written by Mike Pondsmith for Talsorian, there’s a lot of promise here. Does it stick the landing? Well, come on it, won’t you? ...
Toon – System Mastery 165
January 15, 2020 20:52 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2020/01/system-mastery-165-toon.mp3 Time to tackle some more Steve Jackson stuff. No GURPS still (somehow we still don’t have a copy) but I do have Toon so here we go! Play as a cartoon character, do cartoon stuff, and honestly it’s not half bad! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Glyphs: RPG Blueprint (Part 2) – System Mastery 164
January 01, 2020 00:57 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/system-mastery-164-glyphs-part-2.mp3 This thing is huge and bizarre and we have come back to finish it because you are not prepared… for more Glyphs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Glyphs: RPG Blueprint (Part 1) – System Mastery 163
December 18, 2019 00:01 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/system-mastery-163-glyphs-part-1.mp3 Let’s finish off the year with something wild, what do you say? How about a game that uses a flicked token carom style mechanic for all random resolution? This thing is huge and bizarre and we will have to come back and finish it later because you are not prepared… for Glyphs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Star Thugs – System Mastery 162
December 04, 2019 02:16 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/system-mastery-162-star-thugs.mp3 Time for some sci-fi! This game takes all the futuristic space convention you love and just DUMPS on it, haha yeah rad, fuck Star Trek! Anyhow come along won’t you? On a journey that starts as a surprisingly innovative CCG-inspired spaceship combat simulator and somehow ends on some deeply misinformed understandings of cross-dressing and gender play? That doesn’t sound right! Learn more about your ad cho...
Quest of the Ancients – System Mastery 161
November 20, 2019 01:55 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/system-mastery-161-quest-of-the-ancients.mp3 Have you missed the good old fashioned heartbreaker game paradigm? Well fret no longer friend, because this one has it all! Elves! Dwarves! Saracens for some reason! This reprint of a game published in 1982 might just be the best sword and sorcery product of the 90s (according to the back cover) but we’ll find out, won’t we. (the cover image is a cow from the island that this game’s sole conti...
Godlike – System Mastery 160
November 06, 2019 03:10 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/system-mastery-160-godlike.mp3 Superheroes! World War 2! Greg Stolze? What’s not to like? Well, there’s plenty to like, such as the fascinating superpower design system and the fairly fun dice mechanics. But could be there be more stuff coming we’re not fans of? Well, the episode is huge, so you take a guess! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dark Realms – System Mastery 159
October 23, 2019 03:19 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/system-mastery-159-dark-realms.mp3 We didn’t know it when we started, but there’s a theme to this year’s Ween episodes beyond just leftover horror games floating around the library. And that theme is “Oops we thought these were horror games, sorry!” Dark Realms is a horror to people that like comprehensible mechanics, anyway. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chill – System Mastery 158
October 09, 2019 15:29 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/system-mastery-158-chill.mp3 It’s a nice day for something! Welcome back to our October content. This year the theme is a little looser since we’ve reviewed enough White Wolf games for two lifetimes and Jef’s Palladium stock is running low. But that’s okay! Here’s the first edition of Mayfair Games’ Chill, a horror game… in theory. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Space Master – System Mastery 157
September 25, 2019 01:05 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/system-mastery-157-space-master.mp3 Well, we had to take a look at a Role Master game eventually, and this one chose us. This 1985 RPG is deeply, deeply mathy, and features a fantastic story with … oh no wait it’s Space Rome and a corrupt mega-Catholic star church again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Eoris Essence (Part 2) – System Mastery 156
September 10, 2019 15:57 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/system-mastery-156-eoris-essence-part-2.mp3 Well, after last week with Jef failing to figure out what the heck any of this is using just the rule book, can Jon save the day? Will his comprehensive notes about the story book explain everything? Spoiler alert, no. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Eoris Essence (Part 1) – System Mastery 155
August 27, 2019 19:41 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/system-mastery-155-eoris-essence-part-1.mp3 A lavish box set full of tomes of full color wonder! A comprehensive vision of an exciting and vast universe! But System Mastery! Could it be… completely impossible to read? We dive into the madness of Eoris Essence, in a weird way that we’ll just have to explain in the show. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
WWE: Know Your Role – System Mastery 154 (live!)
August 14, 2019 01:03 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/system-mastery-154-wwe-know-your-role.mp3 Live from GenCon 2019, it’s System Mastery! We’re covering the greatest entertainment to come out of the squared circle in 2005, actual wrestling! Wait… no, probably some video game! Or a CCG? Oh god it was an actual OGL licensed RPG based on wrestling in that exact year? Oh, oh no. No no no. We are joined by special guests Jim McClure(Aaron Cross, future owner of battleship) and James D’Amato ...
Amethyst Foundations – System Mastery 153
August 02, 2019 02:50 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/system-mastery-153-amethyst-foundations.mp3 Did you know there were licensed RPGs using the 4th edition D&D engine? Well here’s one now! It has lots of fancy elves, a bunch of tech-based classes, and so much worldbuilding! Enjoy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Snarfquest D20 – System Mastery 152
July 17, 2019 01:48 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/system-mastery-152-snarfquest-d20.mp3 Sometimes we get a book and we aren’t sure the exact percentage of RPG that’s going to be in there, so we end up reviewing like, a show synopsis or a treatise on life, and this is one of those times. Snarfquest is a comic strip that ran in Dragon Magazine in the early 80s, and here is a D20 version of it for you to hear about. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
D&Dizzle: Dragons in the Hood – System Mastery 151
July 03, 2019 01:36 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/system-mastery-151-ddizzle.mp3 In retrospect we probably should have saved this for episode 175. Anyhow this is a short comedy game mixing Dungeons and Dragons with hip-hop flavor pulled from the 80s and 90s. We review it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition – System Mastery 150
June 19, 2019 01:06 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/system-mastery-150-dd-5th-edition.mp3 Happy episode 150! Still can’t believe it’s gone on this long. Here’s D&D 5e. It’s a game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kobolds Ate My Baby – System Mastery 149
June 04, 2019 19:38 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/system-mastery-149-kobolds-ate-my-baby.mp3 Every once in a while we’ve both got so much else going on that we have to rely on what we call “The Emergency Stack”, a collection of books short enough that we can read them quick and get everything else done that week too. Well, right now we’re swamped, so we grabbed KAMB off the stack. It’s got everything you’d want, packed into a tiny package. Jokes, Kovalic art, stats that spell out beer, yo...
Recon – System Mastery 148
May 21, 2019 19:22 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/system-mastery-148-recon.mp3 Well, so we can probably do a whole hour of laughy laughs on the … wait, Vietnam War? Is that right? Okay then. Recon is from 1982, and it is about playing soldiers murdering each other in a jungle. Have fun with it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Fading Suns – System Mastery 147
May 08, 2019 04:27 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/system-mastery-147-fading-suns.mp3 Sorta 40k, sorta Vampire, maybe a little Dune in there? Anyway it’s a space RPG where there’s a church that’s basically Catholicism through a greasy mirror and a bunch of surprisingly recognizable races. Apparently there was a good 4X video game set in this world once? Cool. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Of Gods and Men – System Mastery 146
April 24, 2019 01:21 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/system-mastery-146-of-gods-and-men.mp3 Hey who wants an old-fashioned case of the Heartbreakers? Because that’s what we’ve got right here. And it’s a doozy! In that it’s one of those small-batch ones that you never did hear of and it’s got almost no web presence. Check out this high-res picture I found of the cover! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Bliss Stage – System Mastery 145
April 09, 2019 04:03 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/system-mastery-145-bliss-stage.mp3 Straight from one bleak future to the next, only this time it’s kids. Why it’s almost as dystopic as the movie Kids! Basically the future is dream robots that put all the adults to sleep and it’s up to plucky young rebels to battle it out in dream-logic robosuits. All that and some squick too! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Cyborg Commando – System Mastery 144
March 26, 2019 18:40 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/system-mastery-143-cyborg-commando.mp3 So a decade or so after D&D, Gary Gygax had a brand new idea. What if cyborgs with dustbuster crotches defended the world from giant bugs made of erectile tissue? Also what if there were a spectacular amount of boring graphs in there? The result… was history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Cadillacs and Dinosaurs – System Mastery 143
March 14, 2019 05:30 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/system-mastery-143-cadillacs-and-dinosaurs.mp3 With Jef still recovering in the hospital, Jon turns to fan-favorite guest Claire to join in and help review this RPG based on a comic book. It promises two things up front and delivers on none of it. Booo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Unknown Armies (2nd edition) – System Mastery 142
February 27, 2019 03:22 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/system-mastery-142-unknown-armies.mp3 You want true power and to really know the truth? You have to really really want it in Greg Stolze’s Unknown Armies, a game of obsession, power, and the power of themes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tenchi Muyo! RPG and Resource Book – System Mastery 141
February 13, 2019 01:47 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/system-mastery-141-tenchi-muyo-resource-book-and-rpg.mp3 It’s a Tri-Stat game! We’ve done a few of these already so you already know the basics. Weird combat system where the attacker and the defender have very little to do with each other? Check. A million point buy options? Check? Balance basically a fig leaf? Check. So what are we left to do but dissect the 70% of this book that isn’t RPG. Let’s learn about harem animes! Learn mor...
Leystorm: The Dominion – System Mastery 140
January 29, 2019 17:46 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/system-mastery-140-leystorm-the-dominion.mp3 In a grim future where everyone is lopsided and has dreads, can a few awful chumps win a mighty rebellion against Darth Emperor of Mankind? This mid-90s science fantasy game answers your questions and more! Questions like “What the hell is this?” and “Ainsley?” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Maelstrom Storytelling – System Mastery 139
January 16, 2019 03:19 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/system-mastery-139-maelstrom-storytelling.mp3 1997, a dark year indeed. Bad Batman movies and stuff. Seriously, it was not a good scene, unless you were crazy for middling swing music. But hey, this book came out, and it wasn’t terrible! It’s Maelstrom Storytelling, and while it’s a little funky and the art is not art, it’s at least a neat concept! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Systems Failure – System Mastery 138
January 01, 2019 15:05 - 1 hourhttps://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2019/01/System-Mastery-138-Systems-Failure.mp3 We’re back from our very needed rest and relaxation, and working harder than ever to fill your ears with reviews of roleplaying games. This time we’re talking the Y2K bug RPG Systems Failure, a Palladium Game with some fun twists! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Expounded Universe 65 – So Many Poop Jokes
December 21, 2018 04:18 - 40.7 MBHey the last thing we’re making this year, so we made sure to load it up with fresh buttered poop humor, just for your holidays. Hestizo and Tulkh make discoveries […]