You Don’t Have To Leave Wolfy Behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' Your Companions Level Up With You!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LowkeyGM" data-source="post: 6792377" data-attributes="member: 75083">4 out of 5 rating for SymbaroumI like the system a lot. It's very easy to use and has a sort of modular type feel to it with the way class building goes. But classes also have archetypes that you can choose for a quick selection if you dont want to spend time building one. Arguably the best selling point to me is the world/flavor. It reminds me a lot of the dark and dreariness of the Witcher series from the feel they capture in the art, design and lore. There is a corruption mechanic that supports this as well, because magic is inherently in harmony with the way corruption works. Casters tend to take on bits of corruption with each cast and there are two levels to juggle; permanent corruption and temporary. Going over these lines causes some pretty dark things to happen but they are all fluff/flavorful that can lead your character into some very unsettling RP. I come from systems like 3.5, 2nd edition, 5e, Iron Kingdoms, Edge of the Empire, etc and this system is very easy to learn in comparison to those. It took my group around 30-45 minutes to roll up a quick guy and spit out some quick encounters. Combat is fast and brutal, with extra components/optional rules to make them even more fierce (instant kills/criticals/critical fumbles,etc). Overall I say that I love the book purely from the setting alone. It's written in such a way that keeps an open-ended interpretation of their fluff so GM's have plenty of fuel and players have tons of interesting ways to add flavor to their Witch-Hunters and Ogre Sellswords. I give it a 4/5 because despite my love of the flavor, there are some design choices (such as the open-endedness) that leak into the mechanics. There are rules that pretty much give you a small sentence or two on what it is, but its so vague that it's almost like they're saying -shrug- "just figure it out!". While that's cool for some; its not for me. An example of this is the way they treat experience points. They say to give +1 EXP to someone when they do something like an obstacle or an encounter, but then their examples lead to the design that they deliver EXP in bulk. There is no way to tell, beyond playing, how too much or too little experience points can impact the balance, or how a normal game should flow. They do this throughout the book a lot, such as monster encounters. They say a party of 4 people should be able to take X, Y, XY, and XYZ but don't offer any insight into larger groups and the book pretty much says "you'll figure it out once you do it a lot". Monsters are given an arbitrary challenge like Weak, Ordinary, Challenging, Tough and Strong...but what exp level can they take on certain things? What if i want an encounter that has 10 minions and a boss? The boss can mow over a single player with the way the mechanics work. It's all very strange but then again..I've only ran one 9-10 hour session on it so maybe it will get better. Balancing combat is not a deal breaker to me, hence the 4/5 on my score; but i can see how this could be an issue to others and I think it needs to be said in the grand review of things. In conclusion, I feel like they hit the nail on the head with the lore/fluff/art. It's the strongest point of the book by far. The mechanics are easy to use after a bit of practice, you can make some modular characters and its very easy to make exactly what you envision in this wonderfully dark and corrupted world. If you can do some patch work and just side step beyond its open-ended mechanics, you can find a solid foundation for some great adventures. I know I have! My group has already purchased 3 PDF's +2 Hardcover books for this little gem.</blockquote>

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