Disclaimer: I received a review copy
Writing the Albion review was a little difficult for me. I like the L.O.D.E (Loads of Dice eh?) system, I like Tim’s writing and I like fiction in a similar vein (such as Diane Paxon's Chronicles of Westria) alas I don't care much for Albion as a game
On the good side Albion covers pretty much everything you could want to do in more than 50 pages. It is thorough without being complex or opaque. Its a nice system and while I don't usually like die pools this one is pretty good.
I liked the layout. Albion comes as a clean PDF with no excessive use of Celtic Knotwork ( a sure temptation) and neat quote for each chapter. It is clean and professional looking and easy on the printer too.
Character creation is excellent. It is a kind of lifepath system that gives random or selected skills from upbringing and training, a minor hobby and 2 occupational packages that tie into the world. It is clean, quick and fits the setting
I will admit the layout of the rules (with the player boost and meta ecology "web" sections) first is a bit puzzling to me it isn't hard to use.
Four of the chapters, Measuring the World, Combat, The Physical World and The Human World (aka Social stuff) are solidly written and take the simple clean mechanics just far enough to get the job done.
The system itself is a pretty simple die pool system where D6's are rolled for successes and the dice that come up 4,5, or 6 are counted. 6's explode and are rerolled -- all 1's is a fumble. Advantages and Disadvantages (whether skill or weapon or whatever) are dice added or removed from the pool. Its a clean system that reminds me of the new World of Darkness Personally I could have used a bit more on disease, poison and the like there is enough to get by
The magic system is very through with Spirit (personal) an World Magic divisions Charms (little cantrips anyone can use in some cases and more complex spells in others ) Ogham spells, Animal Totems and Arts.(which allow you power over a whole area such as Fire or water) Oddly the coolest part of the magic system, half magic is back in the web section. half magic allows anyone in a magical area to perform the wuxia like feats found in Celtic myth, at least if they roll well enough.
The problem I had with Albion is that it really doesn't have enough information on how to have adventures in the setting. I realize that this is just the players book but a book that is lacks the information makes actually playing the game a no go.
While the Land guide does contain some promising tidbits and hints of potential adventures (in between a fairly dull but serviceable travel guide with details on cucumber growing and monkeys and the like) the Land itself seems to conspire against any of the classical sort of adventuring.
Albion magically hedged off from the rest of the world, has no serious internal strife, is a non money economy (based on lets which are explained in the rules) and is run by a Druid order that suppresses technology and tries to restrict weapons and armor.
Granted there are occasional ruins (and dumps) to explore and a few C.H.U.D.S. in the ruins of London there really isn't all that much to do and darned little that could make money or glory.
Granted there are occasional bandits, nasties from the other world, and critters of various sorts none of them are stated out. There is essentially no information on what adventurous folk would actually do in Albion.
This to my mind is the games fatal flaw. Owing Albion is like buying only the players handbook and trying to run D&D with it
I really want to recommend Albion. It is playable, professional and well written it just lacks well, adventure If there was a GM’s book I would whole heartedly say give Albion a but until then,well you may have a bit of a wait for the next book.
Still there is hope,a portion of the GM's book is out and if the GM's book is as good as this has the potential to be and gives me the adventure bits I need I will be back with a very positive review.
