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Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crothian" data-source="post: 2310255" data-attributes="member: 232">[imager]http://www.museoffire.com/Games/Images/Flyer.gif[/imager][imager]http://www.museoffire.com/Games/Images/CapesTitle.gif[/imager]    What is a role playing game?  That might seem like an odd question as if you are reading this I imagine you know what it is and probably play a few of them quite frequently.  Perhaps a better question would be: What elements of a RPG can be removed and still be considered an RPG?  I am just bringing up those questions here and not answering them to the degree they could be.  Very simply most games have certain programmed assumptions.  There is a GM or someone running the game, each other person is a player and they have their own character, and there is randomness to the success of the action which dice are usually used to facilitate.  Not all games follow those three basic parts but a vast majority does.  What of the games that do not?  What are they?  Are they a new subset of the genre?  Are they a different kind of game and need to be removed from the RPG selves?  Or perhaps they are altering the way we think a RPG should be.  Capes is one such book.  It is a super hero RPG that is very different from anything I have ever read.  I bring up these questions because the game has created quite a stir in the online RPG community on if it is a true RPG or not.  The readers will have to determine that for themselves.      Power is fun, but do you deserve it.  That sums up this game of heroes.  There are hard choices that come with trying to save the day and it is through these choices and actions that heroism is defined.  Capes is a new RPG by Muse of Fire Studio and it is written by Toney Lower-Basch.  The book is half sized, a bit smaller then the traditional RPGs but this is the least of the differences this books has with the traditional games.  The one hundred and sixty page books is soft bound and done in black and white.  There is not a lot of art in the books but what is there is pretty good.  The lay out is nicely done with many table and examples of play.  Toney Lower-Basch is the only name in the credits so I wonder if the art and lay out and everything was done by him alone.  If so, that is a great accomplishment.  He does give thanks to some people that aided him in the writing and in play testing the game.  The cover is in color and just that it has sharks with laser beams on their heads alone makes it great.      Onto the game now and I will stress even more it is different.  I will also stress that while I did create character and play out a session I am not one hundred percent we did it correctly.  So, I apologize if some of the facts are actually wrong.  The game is different enough that we never felt like we completely got it.    First off there is no single GM.  The game rotates GMs and they all control the story and plots though plots cannot be concluded unless you are the person that started them.  Each person picks a role they will play in a scene.  A person can be playing more then one character and the character they play might not actually be the one they were hoping for.  All characters are played by someone be they a hero, a villain, or bystander.      The game needs to played by people that will listen to what others are doing and what is going on.  If one is not really paying attention then the game does not flow well at all.  This was a bit of a problem for us but I do believe that if a group sticks with the game they will improve greatly as practice will be this games best friend.  There is a full chapter that shows an example of play and it is the most useful example of play in an RPG I have ever seen.  He does a great job with writing out what is going and using visuals of the character sheets and other minor props to help illustrate the game.  Also, next to each bit of rules is the page number that specific rule can be found in the book. So, while we were a bit confused with how the game played referencing the rules from the example was really easy.  I wonder if in the PDF version if that is all hyperlinked.  If not that would be a great addition to it.      I will do my best to describe the game play.  First the person starting the scene explains what the scene is and what characters are present.  The different players including the person starting the scene then each choose what characters they will play in the scene.  Then each person gets a chance to narrate some action but none of the conflicts started can be resolved at this time.  That is a little tough getting used to.  Conflict is resolved through dice rolls.  And it is not just combat or skill resolution like most games.  It can be political conflict or diplomacy that the dice will determine how things resolve as well.  This game has dice support the game in full manner unlike anything I have seen.  It is actually pretty cool.  The dice used are just six sided, though one will want a good amount of them in two different colors.  That way one color can represent one side in a conflict and the other color represents the other.  The dice can be rolled but there are other options open to the players.  There is also debt that can be accumulated if one person starts doing too much.  So a player might take control more of the first scene but the debt will make it so he can not do that every scene.  It works as a nice balancing factor.      Characters are easy to make and seem to be able to represent all the different types one will want in a supers games.  They have many abilities that rate between a one and a five with higher being better.  The character is very well described on the sheet having attitudes, style, and powers listed.      The rules are nice and very comic book like.  There is the option to establish certain new laws in the games to help with the comic book feel.  For instance one could have the star super hero’s love interest never die.  That does not mean she ill not ever be in trouble, in fact it probably guarantees that she sill be in trouble all the time.  But one ill not have to worry about accidentally killing her off if that is not wanted.      I will admit that this is a tough game to review.  Usually I like to have a much better handle on a game before reviewing it but this one is just so cool and different I had to review it.  At the very least take a look at the rules lite version that is on the web page or play a game at one of the conventions this summer.  Heck, just sit and watch one of those games.  Capes is not going to be for everyone.  In fact the playing style is so different I imagine some people will very much hate it.  But for those that are intrigued with something new and different Capes is really worth picking up.</blockquote>

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