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Message: <blockquote data-quote="twistnack" data-source="post: 4715188" data-attributes="member: 5865">EightfoldEightfoldBy Kevin CrawfordEightfold takes place six-hundred years after the fall of a magical civilization. The PCs are Servitors, the heirs to what's left of that civilization's magical tradition, trying to make their way in a fallen world of savage wilderness, warring city-states, and demon cultists.Character creation takes very little time. I expect most players will take more time trying to figure out which of the eight Octants (types of magic) they want to use, than making their characters. Characters have four attributes (Might, Grace, Clarity, and Spirit), each attribute is the base for a second trait (Physical Defense, Physical Condition, Mental Defense, and Mental Condition).  Action tests are performed by adding one attribute to a d8 verses a difficulty of between 7 and 16 (or one of a character's  defense scores).The system itself is fairly simple. The combat system takes only two pages, but it enough to get the job done.The magic system is where Eightfold really shines. There are eight Octants divided into opposing pairs: Body and Mind; Earth and Sky; Iron and Wood; Ravel and Twine. Starting characters have one primary Octant and two secondary Octants (which can't be the opposite of their primary). Each Octant is described with a number of degrees and spells that require various levels of mastery in that Octant. Degrees are special abilities that can be used without any sort of risk on the Servitor's part, but are difficult to learn. Spells are more difficult to perform, have shorter lived effects, and are easy to learn. Each Octant has a theme, but there's enough variety within each to make an interesting character based just on that particular Octant. In addition to skill with an Octant, some degrees and spells require a character to have a certain amount of connection with the Octant's source. This connection is referred to as the character Rank in that Octant. In general, Servitors have the Rank in a Octant as their surroundings, which is generally 1 though there are areas with higher. Servitors have Flux Tokens, which they can use to temporarily raise their Rank above the ambient level.Characters can find or build magical equipment. A number of interesting examples are presented.The book finishes up with a description of some common antagonists, some information on demons, and three sample cities. I'm slightly surprised not to see an example demon cultist. Comments- The advice on action test (page 26) is good stuff.- I'd like to see an example of a full combat to make sure I'm not missing anything.- The style of the book is inconsistent. Sometimes new paragraphs are indented, other times they are created with new lines, and other times there's nothing to break up paragraphs. This makes the book more difficult to read than it would otherwise be.- I'd change the name Rank to something a little more descriptive. Using such a generic term, makes it easy to confuse Rank with the character's general proficiency with the Octant.- I find the details of the setting's back story a bit uninteresting. Luckily, the setting itself is interesting.- Part of me really wants to steal some ideas from the magi system to make a Dragonball-type martial arts game.ConclusionA really interesting magic system and an open world to play around with--Eightfold seems like a perfect game for a Sandbox style game.</blockquote>

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