Episode 2

RfP #002 - BREAK!! RPG Review

Published on: 9th July, 2024

Step into a world where the magic of classic anime and the excitement of 90s video games come to life! In the second episode of Roll for Percepticast, your hosts Terry and Evelyn take you on an unforgettable journey through Break RPG, a tabletop role-playing game that blends the best of fantasy video games and anime.

Terry and Evelyn dive deep into the heart of Break RPG, exploring its rich origins and unique mechanics. They discuss how the game’s design pays homage to beloved fantasy genres while introducing fresh, innovative gameplay elements. From the perspective of a Game Master, they highlight the game's ease of use, making it accessible for both newcomers and seasoned players.

Despite encountering a few minor hurdles, such as navigating character creation and clarifying general gear, our hosts find much to praise. They marvel at the game's creativity, lauding its simplified gear system and engaging combat mechanics. Most importantly, they celebrate the nostalgic elements that make Break RPG a love letter to fans of classic anime and retro video games.

With genuine enthusiasm, Terry and Evelyn award Break RPG an impressive 4.5 out of 5 cupcakes. Their glowing review emphasizes the game’s strong appeal to anyone who cherishes the whimsical worlds of old-school anime and the pixelated adventures of the 90s.

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Transcript
Terry:

You're listening to Roll for Percepticast episode two, break,

Terry:

exclamation point, exclamation point.

Terry:

RPG review.

Terry:

It's time once again to roll

Evelyn:

for Percepticast.

Terry:

I am Terry, your forever GM and lover of all things role play.

Evelyn:

And I'm Evelyn, role player, GM and unrepentant dice goblin.

Terry:

Join us as we roll our dice and talk in strange voices and

Terry:

bring our excitement and joy for all things tabletop role playing.

Terry:

Today, we'll be reviewing a recent addition.

Terry:

To our Kickstarter TTRPG collection, break RPG.

Evelyn:

Now let's jump right into a breakdown of break.

Terry:

Oh, I get what you did there.

Terry:

That's nice.

Evelyn:

Thank you.

Evelyn:

I totally came up with that all by myself.

Evelyn:

All by

Terry:

yourself.

Terry:

Wait, I wrote that line, didn't I?

Terry:

You

Evelyn:

did write that line.

Evelyn:

Oh, my bad.

Terry:

Uh, all right.

Terry:

Well, uh, welcome back to episode two and we are going to be talking about

Terry:

Reviewing and reviewing such a weird word, uh, because, uh, you know, I'm not going

Terry:

to tell you whether or not to buy it.

Terry:

I'm just letting you know right now that is completely up to you as the viewer.

Terry:

We're going to talk about break RPG and I'm going to tell you how I feel about it.

Terry:

Evelyn will tell you how she feels about it.

Terry:

And then you can do what you want.

Evelyn:

I think it's, you know, it's all about choice.

Evelyn:

We believe in, you know, People being able to find the things that they enjoy.

Evelyn:

We're not going to force you to buy things just because we

Evelyn:

like them or don't like them.

Terry:

No, that'd be weird.

Evelyn:

Yeah, it would be weird.

Evelyn:

I'm not going to lie.

Evelyn:

I'm not going to reach through the podcast and be like, buy this thing.

Terry:

We need you to do it now, brum, brum, brum, brum, brum.

Terry:

All right.

Terry:

Uh, all right.

Terry:

So let's go.

Terry:

I just did an air horn, didn't I?

Terry:

Yes, you did.

Terry:

You

Evelyn:

know, you have the button for that now and you still do vocally.

Terry:

Uh, all right.

Terry:

So let's start with a quick breakdown of how we came upon break.

Terry:

Uh, this was during one of our Kickstarter phases.

Terry:

Yes.

Terry:

And I, we were just looking at a whole variety.

Terry:

Of different games that were kind of coming out all at the same time.

Terry:

It was, uh, it was, it was cool.

Terry:

I appreciated it.

Terry:

But, uh, this one popped up and the title on the Kickstarter was break a TRPG

Terry:

inspired by fantasy video games and anime.

Evelyn:

And if I recall correctly, this was actually one of the ones that we

Evelyn:

were like, the art on this looks so cool.

Evelyn:

We have to get it.

Evelyn:

Even if it's.

Evelyn:

You know knowing at the time even if it's not something we would want to play the

Evelyn:

art is really cool So let's check it out.

Evelyn:

Let's read it.

Evelyn:

Let's see what it's about.

Evelyn:

And I mean and we love Anime and video games.

Evelyn:

So there's that too.

Evelyn:

So it's

Terry:

true.

Terry:

We're I mean, we love anime like to death And of course growing I mean growing up

Terry:

in the 80s and 90s video games were This

Evelyn:

this seems very like 90s video games, especially inspired Especially

Evelyn:

with one of the there's a definite nod to a certain green wearing elf

Evelyn:

from a particular uh Series of games.

Terry:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

And it's where he has to save a princess

Terry:

Where he has to save a princess who

Evelyn:

sometimes saves herself

Terry:

Well That's true And so yeah, so we we we purchased it or I guess kicked it.

Terry:

Yeah, we

Evelyn:

backed it

Terry:

Is that is that what it's called?

Evelyn:

We we helped fund its creation

Terry:

And it did it did generally speaking did fairly well You Uh,

Terry:

there was almost 500, 000, I don't know if that's euros or pounds.

Terry:

I think it's euros.

Terry:

That's

Evelyn:

a pound.

Evelyn:

That's a pound.

Evelyn:

Okay.

Terry:

Almost 500, 000 pounds was, uh, Um, was raised in the Kickstarter

Evelyn:

and their, their original goal was what

Terry:

it was like, uh, it was 10, 000.

Evelyn:

Oh yeah.

Evelyn:

So they,

Terry:

they, they, they, they did, they did pretty well.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

They, they frigging destroyed it.

Terry:

Um, and it's awesome.

Terry:

Uh, it is, it's not, not a small book.

Terry:

It's like 450 pages, no 350 page.

Terry:

It's, it's a big book and

Evelyn:

cover looks like the old NES, um, boxer, which I love.

Terry:

Oh, yeah, and that, that's like one of the coolest things of all time.

Terry:

Um, and, and 471, so I was right, I was right.

Terry:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's, it's

Evelyn:

solid, like we, the, there's a lot in that PDF.

Terry:

Oh my gosh,

Terry:

there's a

Evelyn:

lot, a lot in that PDF that we, that we've gotten of, of the,

Evelyn:

For rules and you've gotten a couple of versions that you now have the

Terry:

full version.

Terry:

Yes, and you know, just to kind of give you an idea on the Kickstarter

Terry:

page when it first came out, the first two bullet points, it says is.

Terry:

Brake, a tabletop role playing game of exploration and adventure, loved that.

Terry:

And Brake's setting and aesthetics are inspired by classic anime

Terry:

and Super Nintendo Entertainment System era video games, along with

Terry:

wistful fantasy novels and movies.

Evelyn:

So like, Ghibli.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

It's a lot of like that, like Howl's Moving Castle and those sort of, that,

Evelyn:

like, that sort of feel with a lot of the

Terry:

I did, do believe you guys have run into a walking tavern.

Evelyn:

We, we did walk into, we walked into a walking tavern.

Evelyn:

In fact, it was awesome.

Terry:

So before we go too far into the review, I do want you to know that

Terry:

We are currently running a campaign that campaign does happen on Monday

Terry:

nights on our Twitch channel, twitch.

Terry:

tv backslash role for perception.

Terry:

The title of it is echoes of our conics aisles.

Terry:

It is a group of four who are currently dealing with a lot of cake induced.

Terry:

Issues.

Evelyn:

Well, we are trying to, uh, share the love of cake with the world

Evelyn:

and, um, save the world with sugary confections, um, which also means

Evelyn:

apparently everything that tries to kill us is a sugary confection.

Terry:

Almost everything, but yeah, no, I mean, it's going to happen.

Terry:

Yeah, of course.

Terry:

So one of the, one of the first things that I saw in it is this game

Terry:

can, can be both goofy and serious,

Evelyn:

you

Terry:

know, as you, as you read through it, um, there's definitely some nods

Terry:

to kind of this, uh, kind of goofiness.

Terry:

And, uh, what is the term that I'm looking for?

Terry:

Uh, positive.

Terry:

It's got very positive vibes.

Terry:

I

Evelyn:

mean, then that I think is where a lot of the like anime aspect comes

Evelyn:

in, because if you think about a lot of like the anime stories, um, They have

Evelyn:

these very light light hearted moments.

Evelyn:

Yes And you know They're funny and silly and the characters are very upbeat and

Evelyn:

cheery and then like something very serious happens And it's back to the major

Evelyn:

plot point and do you have to conquer the villain and then it's back and you

Evelyn:

know lighten And you know, you move on and save the day and you have your cheer

Evelyn:

cheery, you know Uh, you know, lead trying to get the, you know, it's a guy, me

Evelyn:

guy from being so serious all the time.

Evelyn:

Super serious.

Terry:

And, and, okay.

Terry:

And don't, don't judge me here, but it really, for me, when I first reading it

Terry:

gave me a sort of online, uh, feel to it.

Terry:

Um, it, you know, that kind of being a hero in this, you know, Fantasy anime

Terry:

world it I that that actually drew me in very quickly And that that's who

Terry:

this game is for if you're a lover of an anime of anime if you're a lover of

Terry:

video games particularly the 90s style of video games Um, and it's also for those

Terry:

that are seeking to have more creativity over combat and social encounters,

Terry:

which we're going to discuss now.

Terry:

Understand we're not going to go in a chapter by chapter review.

Terry:

That's not what this is about.

Evelyn:

And that would be longer than our hour long podcast could take.

Evelyn:

So this

Terry:

is really a kind of.

Terry:

Uh, we're, we're hitting on some, some power.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

We're hitting on it.

Terry:

Are you doing break RPG and it is break exclamation point, exclamation point.

Terry:

So that's very

Evelyn:

important.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

Um, oh, and one of the things that are nice about this is.

Terry:

Uh, Rinaldo, one of the writers for it is very active in his discord and

Evelyn:

he's very active in his discord.

Evelyn:

He's also very active on Twitter.

Evelyn:

I don't know about their other social medias, but like I I've

Evelyn:

seen him like talking and posting and stuff on there as well.

Evelyn:

So he's, he's definitely out there and, and checking stuff out.

Terry:

The other big thing to know about this is this book has

Terry:

been in process for over 10 years.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Terry:

Um, it's funny, I was, I was messing around, uh, the other day and on

Terry:

RPG net there was a forum post Mm-Hmm.

Terry:

that dealt with it.

Terry:

And I was like, oh, this is cool from 2016.

Evelyn:

Wow.

Terry:

And so that's when they were beginning to talk about,

Evelyn:

right.

Evelyn:

Like actual, like

Terry:

making it a real thing.

Terry:

That's really cool.

Terry:

And so I, I kind of read through that thread until now and I'm like, man,

Terry:

I got in at the right time because I'm not sure I could have waited

Evelyn:

that

Terry:

long.

Terry:

The

Evelyn:

anticipation would kill you.

Terry:

Oh my gosh, so terrible.

Terry:

So, uh, if nothing else, make sure you check out their Discord,

Terry:

uh, great little Discord.

Terry:

Lots of good discussions there lots of good talking

Evelyn:

and they have a website the yes so if you're looking for the Invite to their

Evelyn:

discord you can actually find it on their website So if you get in the old Google

Evelyn:

and make sure to when you google it break With the two exclamation points RPG, um,

Evelyn:

and that'll bring you up to their, their webpage so you can join and we'll leave

Terry:

those links on our website for perception.

Terry:

com where, but if you just listen to

Evelyn:

it and you don't want to have to go, you know,

Terry:

so, uh, all right, so let's, uh, let's start with mechanics.

Terry:

Okay.

Terry:

Uh, first off, this is a role under system except.

Terry:

When attacking and so there's five aptitudes might deafness

Terry:

grit insight, or a very similar to Pathfinder dungeon dragon is one

Evelyn:

minus

Terry:

one, right?

Terry:

There's not a Or would kind of be your charisma grit would be your fortitude.

Terry:

There's not

Evelyn:

like an intellect Style thing because insights more wisdom based.

Evelyn:

I think so.

Evelyn:

This

Terry:

is your agility.

Terry:

Yeah is your strength

Evelyn:

Yeah, so I would say there's not really like an intellect thing

Evelyn:

but this game also treats it as if you like your character just knows

Evelyn:

stuff because they are People, you, you, you're not completely unaware of

Evelyn:

everything, you know, in the world.

Evelyn:

They are people.

Terry:

Well, not

Evelyn:

all of them are people.

Evelyn:

Yes, I know.

Evelyn:

But I mean, like, it treats it as if they, the characters that the players

Evelyn:

will be playing are intelligent enough to the level that the player wants

Evelyn:

them to be, if that makes sense.

Evelyn:

So it's, it's like, if you want them to play what is essentially like, A not super

Evelyn:

smart character, it doesn't restrict you to a certain point value to play that.

Evelyn:

Um, if you want them to be a very smart character, it doesn't restrict you to

Evelyn:

a certain point value to play that.

Evelyn:

It's, It, it leaves that more flexible.

Evelyn:

Which is nice.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Especially if you want to

Terry:

create the character that you want to create.

Terry:

Right.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Cause all the other stuff kind of falls into place that fits with that idea.

Terry:

Now, if you've never played a role under, uh, essentially what you're

Terry:

doing is you're trying to roll under.

Terry:

Whatever your stat is.

Terry:

So, for example, if my might is 14, I'm trying to roll a 14 or less.

Evelyn:

Which is so nice because it's way less math.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

It's just under that number or that number, but like, then I'm not having

Evelyn:

to add, like, oh, and then it doesn't, like, I mean, your, your numbers go up.

Evelyn:

As you level somewhat, right.

Evelyn:

Um, based on the class you're playing, but you know, it's not like suddenly

Evelyn:

I have to add an 11 to a, you know,

Terry:

and a good example is Pathfinder, which those numbers can get pretty high.

Evelyn:

The

Terry:

higher you get,

Evelyn:

like by the time you're like level 15, you're doing like,

Evelyn:

23 plus whatever dice roll is plus whatever other random thing you

Evelyn:

might get from a spell or whatever.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

It up.

Evelyn:

So

Terry:

it does simplify the math for your players, which in turn, which

Terry:

I have felt this in our campaign has made the game go quicker.

Terry:

Like I don't feel like I'm waiting anymore for people to figure things out.

Terry:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Terry:

Um, you don't

Evelyn:

have that like person who waits until it's their turn to try to figure out

Evelyn:

what they're going to do problem so much

Terry:

because

Evelyn:

you just do whatever you do.

Terry:

You, you, you tell me what you're trying to do.

Terry:

And I tell either you just do it, which is great.

Terry:

I love that.

Terry:

It encourages that.

Terry:

Or if there's a chance it could fail, then you just do it.

Terry:

You're rolling under and, and I'll be honest, it took me a little bit to kind

Terry:

of wrap my head around rolling under because I had not done that that often.

Terry:

And I finally kind of figured it out for myself.

Terry:

Is that what you're doing when you, when you roll that, Is you're almost rolling

Terry:

for the thing you're going against, right?

Terry:

If my might is 14, for example, and I roll a 10, that means that

Terry:

thing is not as strong as I am,

Evelyn:

and

Terry:

I'm able to successfully do what I need to do.

Terry:

Uh, so, so that's kind of how I've felt about it.

Evelyn:

If you've played a really old school D& D, you know, the roll

Evelyn:

under thing, since it uses that.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

And then you've got your bonuses and penalties, snags and edges, snags

Terry:

and edges are essentially advantage disadvantage, no real big change there.

Terry:

And then bonus and penalties come from lots of different things, but they're

Terry:

set as a plus two minus two for a minor bonus or penalty and a plus four

Terry:

minus four for major bonus or penalty.

Terry:

And that's it.

Terry:

That's it.

Terry:

That's what you've got for, for additions or subtractions.

Terry:

And one of the things, again, another thing that I kind of had to wrap

Terry:

my head around is subtracting when you're trying to roll high and adding

Terry:

when you're trying to roll low.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

And so that was, it's

Evelyn:

kind of trying to keep in mind the.

Evelyn:

It's the opposite of what you think it is when you're initially

Evelyn:

initially going through it

Terry:

And then you only get one you only get one bonus and or penalty per roll.

Terry:

They can cancel each other out Yeah, that's it.

Terry:

Now attack rolls are different as those are rolled high You're trying to roll high

Evelyn:

and that would feel more You know, familiar if you're, if you've played a

Evelyn:

normal, you know, D20 system, you're, you, you want to get the big numbers to,

Evelyn:

and you do, they do have armor class.

Terry:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Um, the things you're fighting.

Evelyn:

They call it

Terry:

defense rating.

Terry:

It's the

Evelyn:

defense rating.

Evelyn:

Um, but like you can buy armor and you can buy, and now you're not

Evelyn:

going to have that at level one.

Terry:

No.

Terry:

And we're, we're talking, we're actually going to be talking

Terry:

a little bit about, you know,

Evelyn:

But yeah, you can buy that stuff to, to, you know, increase your armor

Evelyn:

to make you a little harder to hit too.

Evelyn:

So

Terry:

now talking about attacks, what I kind of really like about this is it's

Terry:

not just attacks, but you have things called the tech stunts, uh, tactical

Terry:

assists, combat tricks, attack assists.

Terry:

And these are all different things that the player can do

Terry:

that isn't just a straight.

Terry:

Look, I'm swinging my axe at you to try and kill you

Evelyn:

or I'm throwing a fireball at you.

Evelyn:

Good luck Break out the d6 is

Terry:

so many fireballs

Terry:

And so you've got Let's let's first off general attack rules right similar you

Terry:

roll your d20 Uh, you add any bonuses or subtract any penalties, and then you see

Terry:

if it's higher than the defense rating, but you don't roll for weapon damage.

Evelyn:

No, because it's set damage, like, um, in, uh, like a power by the

Evelyn:

apocalypse game, which, you know, is just whatever your weapons damages

Evelyn:

is the damage your weapon does.

Terry:

And we do have to mention here that.

Terry:

You do not start with a lot of life.

Terry:

I think our players have two, three, and four hearts.

Terry:

I know at least one has two.

Terry:

I know I

Evelyn:

have.

Terry:

You have three, don't you?

Evelyn:

Three or

Terry:

groom has four.

Terry:

I know that.

Evelyn:

Drew

Terry:

or drew.

Terry:

He is a groom.

Terry:

He is a groom.

Evelyn:

Um, yeah, I think, I

Terry:

think, are you as strong as grew?

Evelyn:

I think I only have three.

Evelyn:

I think

Terry:

you have three.

Terry:

That's what I

Evelyn:

see.

Evelyn:

The battle princess adjusting slightly though.

Evelyn:

Cause like, there's some things that even though I'm, um, right.

Evelyn:

So being battle princess kind of shifts the, yeah.

Evelyn:

And just

Terry:

a note, yes, she is a battle princess.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

That is a class.

Evelyn:

Yes, it's awesome.

Terry:

It's pretty cool.

Terry:

And so I'm a

Evelyn:

cat girl battle princess.

Evelyn:

It's the best

Terry:

thing ever.

Terry:

And so if you succeed on a hit, I mean you could be taking down an enemy in one hit.

Terry:

Mm

Evelyn:

hmm.

Terry:

So, um, but

Evelyn:

Depending on what kind of You know, character there,

Terry:

right?

Terry:

But you don't have to just attack.

Terry:

So, we'll start with attack stunts.

Terry:

And, I finally fully understand attack stunts.

Terry:

So, I'm actually ready for tomorrow night if, if any of that goes into this.

Evelyn:

Okay.

Terry:

So, attack stunts allow you to attack.

Terry:

And if you roll and make a hit that does the damage and then also does

Terry:

something else like trip or disarm.

Terry:

So it's, that's why that one has, you have to make a wager with the

Evelyn:

GM

Terry:

because you're essentially getting two things for the price of one.

Evelyn:

Right.

Evelyn:

And if you fail, then

Terry:

yes, there's

Evelyn:

consequences.

Terry:

And so attack stunts are kind of cool, which I like the fact that

Terry:

you can kind of think of things.

Terry:

And then make your wager with the GM.

Terry:

And I didn't even realize that I could do a tax stunts with

Terry:

my enemies against you guys.

Terry:

I was like, Oh, that's cool.

Evelyn:

Do you make wagers with yourself?

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

That's a, it literally says that in there, um, make wagers with the player.

Terry:

And, and here's the thing with an attack stunt, if the player.

Terry:

Who's making the attack stunt doesn't like the wager.

Terry:

They don't have to then do the next step.

Terry:

They're like, yeah, I don't think I want that to happen.

Evelyn:

Well, it's good that there's the flexibility there.

Evelyn:

Cause I think like.

Evelyn:

Sometimes you get so locked into like having to do something in some other

Evelyn:

TTRPGs that you're like, well, this is gonna suck if I don't, if I don't get

Evelyn:

this right, you know, so I, I like that, like, if you're like, well, I don't know

Evelyn:

if I'm okay with the consequences of this.

Evelyn:

So maybe next time,

Terry:

next time, uh, then you've got combat trick where you forgo your

Terry:

attack to do something like trip or blind, or so in that sense, you're

Evelyn:

charming them with cupcakes,

Terry:

charming them.

Terry:

That is definitely a possibility.

Terry:

Uh, you have your assist actions.

Terry:

Um, so such as an attack assist.

Terry:

Where you forgo your attack to try and help a friend.

Terry:

And what this does is it will give that minor bonus to your ally.

Terry:

And if two people do an attack assist, that can give them a major bonus.

Terry:

Oh, they both succeed.

Terry:

So

Evelyn:

more than one person can do up to two.

Evelyn:

That's nice though, because I know in some other systems,

Evelyn:

like only one person can aid.

Terry:

Exactly.

Evelyn:

So,

Terry:

um, and then with a tactical assist, You can help

Terry:

your ally make an attack, which would be otherwise be impossible.

Terry:

So let's say you're fighting a flying creature

Evelyn:

Mm

Terry:

hmm So you could

Evelyn:

throw

Terry:

throwing it could throw you into the air And then you strike.

Evelyn:

That would be so awesome.

Evelyn:

I need to talk to Robert.

Terry:

And that's a, that's a tactical assist.

Terry:

And so the only one that's got a wager is the attack stunt.

Terry:

Cause you're getting two for the price of one.

Terry:

Everything else is just a straight roll to see if it happens or not.

Terry:

Um, and what I like about these is it, it, it encourages creativity.

Terry:

This is tough in a lot of ways because there's a lot of players

Terry:

are coming from a system that doesn't necessarily promote that.

Terry:

So if you've got players who like that,

Evelyn:

yeah,

Terry:

this is a good thing.

Terry:

Oh, yeah,

Evelyn:

absolutely.

Terry:

And then you have other actions.

Terry:

You have your react, your first stage, your flea, your extra

Terry:

move, your miscellaneous action.

Terry:

Now, understand in this game, you get one movement, one action, right?

Terry:

That's it.

Terry:

And.

Terry:

This is a

Terry:

group initiative.

Evelyn:

Right.

Terry:

So your group goes Then the enemies go then the group goes then the enemies go

Evelyn:

one thing I'll have to say about this So where it's like the one move and

Evelyn:

then the one thing you can do it still doesn't feel as restrictive right as some

Evelyn:

Other games do with the single move single action thing because the single action

Evelyn:

can be Something really cool, you know, so it doesn't feel so limiting like well,

Evelyn:

I can only do one thing So I'm gonna have to you know, swing my sword or I'm stuck

Terry:

to a list I'm gonna

Evelyn:

have to just cast a spell or you know, that's what I think.

Terry:

Yeah Another cool thing in the mechanics that I think

Terry:

is cool at least Is the Minions, Pets, Mounts, and Pack Beasts.

Evelyn:

Um, and I have to do mention one thing that you forgot, cause

Evelyn:

that, the Battle Princess also has a Soul Companion, which is a different

Evelyn:

kind of companion to all these ones.

Terry:

But, that is, these, but anybody can get these.

Terry:

That's the point that I'm making.

Evelyn:

Battle Princess gets a very special companion, and can have

Evelyn:

another companion too, because, the, anybody can have the other

Evelyn:

companion, so I could have two.

Terry:

Well, and that's the cool thing is anybody can have these

Terry:

now and most people when I'm saying companions are thinking of pets

Evelyn:

Yeah,

Terry:

but we're not even gonna start with pets.

Terry:

We're gonna start with followers.

Evelyn:

Yeah,

Terry:

you can literally have NPCs Who are your companions,

Evelyn:

which we do text it right now.

Evelyn:

It's Tamsy, right?

Evelyn:

It is.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

So cute.

Evelyn:

I love her so much.

Terry:

I realized I need to actually make a character sheet for her because of that.

Terry:

But this is Tansy tumble twirl is her name and she has, uh,

Evelyn:

didn't, uh, sorry, I'm trying to think.

Evelyn:

Character name right now.

Evelyn:

Um, Eric's character, I'm blanking on the name

Terry:

Boink.

Terry:

No, Boeing is

Evelyn:

done.

Terry:

Boeing is done.

Terry:

Um, Eric's character is, and he's going to be so angry that

Terry:

we forgot his character's name.

Terry:

It's

Evelyn:

been, for me, okay, so I was out the last session because I was exhausted.

Evelyn:

We had driven back from Nashville and it was a very long drive.

Evelyn:

It's Wimbley.

Terry:

Wimbley.

Terry:

Wimble E.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

So, uh, or he goes by Wimbley.

Terry:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

But, um, so Wimbley actually made Tansy his companion, didn't he?

Terry:

Yes.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

He did the recruitment.

Terry:

Yeah, he did the recruitment thing.

Terry:

So in

Evelyn:

the travels with us,

Terry:

you have the ability to recruit, um, and then

Evelyn:

you have to like pay them and feed them and stuff.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Terry:

Well,

Evelyn:

which is an important thing.

Evelyn:

You have to take care of your companions.

Terry:

That's exactly it.

Terry:

And so, um, there's, in the downtime, it's downtime activities.

Terry:

Mm-Hmm.

Terry:

, which I don't, we're, we're not talking too much about the downtime

Terry:

activities, uh, in this podcast, but.

Terry:

It it's kind of cool.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

It's a full recruitment and it helps your recruits stick with you become loyal.

Terry:

I

Evelyn:

mean, and she does get the, the sweet perks package

Evelyn:

of getting to pet the kitty.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

So, you know.

Evelyn:

Yeah, that's right.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

If you want to find out more about Tansy, you check us out

Terry:

on, on, um, on Monday nights.

Terry:

Uh, then of course pets, which can fight alongside you and

Terry:

you can tame wild animals.

Terry:

This means even your champion can have a pet beside them, you

Terry:

know, which I think is cool.

Evelyn:

Everyone deserves to have a pet if they

Terry:

want one.

Terry:

And then you've got your mounts, which you can, there is mounted

Terry:

combat in here and how it's done.

Evelyn:

Well, and, and once my, uh, co companion is level six,

Evelyn:

I think when I hit level six, she, she becomes a mount for me.

Evelyn:

If I choose that,

Terry:

you'll just need to read the mount.

Terry:

Yes, I will definitely make sure.

Evelyn:

I'm just going to be mounted combat on everything, Monday and Friday.

Terry:

And then pack beasts.

Terry:

Um, they're literally pack beast.

Terry:

I mean,

Evelyn:

isn't that just Wembley basically

Terry:

at this point it is, but what's really nice about is the

Terry:

art is phenomenal with all of these

Evelyn:

also super technically Rika has bags, lots

Terry:

of

Evelyn:

six.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Terry:

Um, but you can have like just a example for your pets.

Terry:

Um, they've got.

Terry:

Buzzers and pudge grubs and fuzzy coils.

Terry:

And scree and purrs.

Terry:

Your mounts are jum bugs and moka dos and roka dos and lards.

Terry:

Shaggy bumps and rubbishes are your pack beasts.

Evelyn:

Shaggy bumps are very like if, if you know avatar, the

Evelyn:

last bender is like very much.

Evelyn:

Reminiscent of APA from Yeah.

Evelyn:

And like, I mean, it's not a, you know, identical or any mind, but the, it,

Evelyn:

it, I can feel the inspir inspiration.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Well, the

Terry:

Mocha do as well.

Evelyn:

Oh, the, with the CHO bows?

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Oh

Terry:

yeah.

Terry:

Oh yeah.

Terry:

Um, and so that, I think that's kind of cool is that you can kind

Terry:

of gather these pets and followers.

Terry:

There's a limit to how many you can have.

Evelyn:

It's like

Terry:

two, I think I'd have to double check.

Terry:

None of our group is there yet.

Terry:

So I haven't, yeah,

Evelyn:

we're, we're only what level two right now.

Evelyn:

So, or rank two, I guess is what it is in this.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

And I need to give you guys XP for your last session, which I've slept through.

Terry:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Cause I was not feeling good.

Evelyn:

I know.

Terry:

Um, so yeah, so that, you know, this is some of the mechanical stuff, the

Terry:

Rolander system, the attack stuns or the attack stunts and others, and then, you

Terry:

know, having minions, pets, et cetera.

Terry:

Now, the next area that I want to talk about is the ease of use

Terry:

for the GM, because that's, I mean, that's important, right?

Terry:

Trying to get into a new game like this, you want it to be not too complicated.

Terry:

And what I will say is

Terry:

generally speaking, this has been great.

Terry:

And so the

Terry:

first thing that I want to talk about for the GM is enemy creation.

Terry:

Because this is a new system, there's not three bestiaries for

Terry:

you to just pull enemies from.

Terry:

Now, the text does have like twenty, twenty five

Evelyn:

examples,

Terry:

adversaries that you can use.

Terry:

And I've, I've used them.

Terry:

Um, in, in a variety of ways,

Evelyn:

and you've re-skinned them.

Terry:

Uh, that, and that's exactly it.

Terry:

There's a whole section that deals with adversary creation at the end of the book.

Terry:

Mm-Hmm.

Terry:

. And one of the things it does, it gives examples how you convert pre-made

Terry:

adversaries into new creatures.

Evelyn:

Right.

Terry:

And for those following at home, it's page 4 36.

Terry:

It's a cool way for you to very quickly create things to go on from

Terry:

that it goes step by step with how to create the different types and

Terry:

the types of adversaries are MOOC, BOSS, MEGA BOSS, and COLOSSUS.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Terry:

Colossus being very

Terry:

big.

Terry:

I mean

Evelyn:

that's usually what the word Colossus means.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

And I've created my own.

Terry:

Uh, several actually, and when the podcast release, I'm going to release.

Terry:

Several of those for people if you want to grab them.

Evelyn:

Oh, that's a great idea I'm gonna

Terry:

make some some PDFs and people can download them and use them as they wish.

Evelyn:

Buddy needs the sugar The sugar gobs and the sugar skulls and yeah all

Evelyn:

the other horrible monsters that have tried to eat us They're not horrible.

Evelyn:

They're great.

Evelyn:

They're trying to eat us.

Evelyn:

We just want to bring the joy of cake to the world.

Terry:

It's true.

Terry:

Uh, so enemy creation is pretty easy.

Terry:

Uh, at least for me, it has been, you know, it's one of those things

Terry:

that may take a little bit, but there are very good guidelines

Terry:

and rules on how to create them.

Terry:

The second thing is checks and contests.

Terry:

And I love not having DCs.

Terry:

Oh, absolutely.

Terry:

Because that's, I mean, you look at Pathfinder, for example, knowing what

Terry:

the DC is for different things can be, there, there are base rules for it.

Terry:

But it can get annoying trying to figure it out.

Terry:

Well,

Evelyn:

especially in some adventure paths where things are

Evelyn:

not written the most clearly.

Evelyn:

Right.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

And so it's easy to misinterpret what it's supposed to be.

Terry:

Yes.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Um, and so, you know, it's nice not having to have giant stack blocks for

Evelyn:

everything you are trying to do within an encounter of any kind in this.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

And, and checks are simple.

Terry:

It's quick.

Terry:

I, you know, somebody says I'm going to do yada, yada, yada, yada.

Terry:

I just say.

Terry:

It was so descriptive.

Terry:

I know.

Terry:

Um, uh, I mean, okay.

Terry:

So we want descriptive.

Terry:

Uh, I want to very quietly sneak through this window.

Terry:

All right, give me a deafness check.

Terry:

You

Terry:

have something in your purviews that can give you a bonus?

Terry:

Okay, that's a plus two.

Terry:

I mean, it's that easy to be able to I don't have to look anything

Terry:

up, I don't have to think about it.

Terry:

Um, if you realize at that point that your deafness is a six, it's maybe

Terry:

very difficult for you to do that.

Evelyn:

But you have a plus two to your purview, so at least you get

Evelyn:

to subtract two from that dice roll.

Evelyn:

That's true.

Terry:

That's true.

Terry:

Um, and, and, you know, there's no, there's not a significant

Terry:

amount of math involved.

Terry:

No, I know.

Terry:

You know, which is nice.

Terry:

Additionally, with the contests, I like the contests.

Terry:

Uh, the aptitudes don't need to match.

Terry:

Nope.

Terry:

Right.

Terry:

So example from the book is a, uh, MOOC who's trying to hold on to you with,

Terry:

they're going to roll might, but you might contest it with deafness as you're

Terry:

trying to wriggle out of their grasp.

Evelyn:

Right.

Terry:

Okay.

Terry:

Uh, additionally, the rules in the book has very specific.

Terry:

Rules on what happens if a tie.

Terry:

So for example, let's say Evelyn is, uh, the character who's trying to

Terry:

wriggle out with deafness and her deafness is a 12 and she rolls a 10.

Terry:

That's a success, right?

Terry:

The MOOC has a strength of eight, but rolls a six.

Terry:

That's a success, right?

Terry:

There's then a list of tie breakers that you go down to see.

Terry:

Yeah,

Evelyn:

until you get to the

Terry:

and we've hit a couple of those tiebreakers and we've never

Terry:

gotten to stalemate not yet Mm hmm.

Terry:

And so it's really nice to be able to do that quickly.

Evelyn:

Absolutely

Terry:

Because in the end it's about allowing the game

Terry:

to move forward quickly right

Evelyn:

because getting bogged down in combat just it all can It just, it can

Evelyn:

just drain the energy out of you when you get stuck in a combat for, like,

Evelyn:

almost an entire three hour session.

Evelyn:

That's just a lot.

Evelyn:

Oh,

Terry:

yeah, no.

Terry:

I'm in complete and total agreement with that, with that contest.

Terry:

You can also do linked contests, which is like a contest connected to

Terry:

a contest, connected to a contest.

Terry:

Right.

Terry:

So, uh, for example, um, you'll, you want to.

Terry:

I don't know.

Terry:

This is me just trying to, did I write an example?

Terry:

I didn't write an example in the notes.

Terry:

So, um, Oh, well I did.

Terry:

I wrote like chases or maybe several of the people, a group of working together.

Terry:

So let's say your character is trying to distract the guard while

Terry:

a second character is then trying to sneak into the window first.

Terry:

You have to distract the card.

Terry:

Then they sneak into the window.

Terry:

Both of those have to happen, but they happen in an order in

Evelyn:

order.

Evelyn:

Yeah

Terry:

And so I like that idea of linked contests because it brings

Terry:

the players together as a group.

Evelyn:

Mm hmm

Terry:

Which, for me, it's always nice when a group is working as a

Terry:

unit, rather than each individual person trying to do their own thing.

Evelyn:

Well, and that's what I like about the, um, group initiative aspect of it

Evelyn:

too, because It feels more like you're working together as a team to overcome

Evelyn:

an obstacle rather than I'm going to be the heroist hero that ever did hero

Evelyn:

at this moment in this combat, you know

Terry:

Yeah, and so heroic and then you've got your special success, right?

Terry:

Which is, uh, when you roll unmodified, so no bonuses, no, no penalties, you roll

Terry:

the, the exact number that matches your aptitude, which means you overachieve.

Terry:

In your action.

Terry:

That's like your critical success.

Terry:

And we haven't seen a lot of those.

Terry:

Is it Don had one?

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

One

Evelyn:

week.

Evelyn:

And he got a bonus thing.

Evelyn:

I think,

Terry:

well,

Evelyn:

I think you ended up giving him a fate point for that.

Evelyn:

Yes,

Terry:

yeah.

Terry:

We've added some additional.

Terry:

Special rules that we have in the game,

Evelyn:

especially because it's the stream game.

Evelyn:

So it's a way to kind of,

Terry:

yeah, it brings our audience in.

Terry:

So, so all of that, the checks and contests are cool.

Terry:

And then I, this is where I was talking about, I wrote about the simplified gear.

Terry:

The gear is simple.

Terry:

And what I mean by that is it, it can be very flavorful.

Terry:

It can be very cool.

Terry:

Yep.

Terry:

But they don't have a lot of stats and I'm going to use late stage pathfinder

Terry:

weapons as an example, you might have a late stage pathfinder sword.

Terry:

That is a plus three

Evelyn:

ghost touch striking.

Evelyn:

You know,

Terry:

it could have lots of different cold

Evelyn:

iron.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

And you don't have to worry about that in this game.

Terry:

You can still describe it in a cool ass way.

Terry:

I just cursed.

Terry:

I wonder if that makes us PG 13.

Terry:

I was only one.

Terry:

It was only one.

Terry:

Okay.

Terry:

So we're good.

Terry:

Uh, And so, so yeah, so you can describe it in a really cool way,

Terry:

but you're not having to worry about all of the stats to it.

Terry:

Right.

Terry:

So for example, melee weapons there, you've got your unarmed, of course, then

Terry:

you have your standard concealed quick

Evelyn:

master, mighty arc, and then the lash weapon.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Terry:

And that's, that's it.

Terry:

That's it.

Terry:

No further names in that.

Terry:

Now, each of those might have special abilities.

Terry:

So you're mighty, for example.

Terry:

Um, weapon ability, crushing blow.

Terry:

You do two hearts of damage instead of one on a successful attack.

Terry:

So that's what mighty is.

Terry:

Whereas for example, the lash weapon, um, weapon ability crack, you can attack

Terry:

an enemy up to one battlefield away.

Evelyn:

Right.

Terry:

And so, and that, and that's just melee.

Terry:

Then you've got your missile weapons.

Terry:

Uh,

Evelyn:

and, and well, and then there's special like metals and

Evelyn:

stuff that they can be made out of.

Evelyn:

But, you know, most of it is, is pretty, pretty simple and really

Evelyn:

all of the, like, cool stuff about it is how you describe it.

Evelyn:

You can make it look like whatever you want, like you have a sword,

Evelyn:

okay, what does the sword look like?

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

It can be the coolest thing because it's not restricted to looking a

Evelyn:

certain way because it's not a specific item, like in some other games.

Evelyn:

Uh, uh, game systems where it's like, this is specifically a

Evelyn:

katana of the deity of blah.

Evelyn:

And it's so like, you get to have a little more involvement in the creation of

Evelyn:

these things as a, as a player too, which makes it a little more, um, you know,

Evelyn:

exciting on that, then that aspect of it.

Evelyn:

Oh yeah, yeah.

Terry:

Like, like you don't have, and you don't have the breakdown of like.

Terry:

Short sword, long sword, you know, standard weapons.

Terry:

The examples they have squares, sword, tunnel, truncheon, high, small staff,

Terry:

and a bandit razor, simple, easy.

Terry:

And your armor is the same way.

Terry:

And your shields are the same

Evelyn:

way,

Terry:

you know,

Evelyn:

and one of the examples shields are so cool because it's like a stop sign.

Evelyn:

It is.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

It's, uh, that's the shield.

Evelyn:

It's a stop sign.

Terry:

The Junker's Bulwark.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

You know.

Terry:

And they all have some minimal stats to them.

Terry:

They all do a certain amount of damage.

Terry:

The weapons, the armors.

Terry:

Um, add a defense bonus of a specific amount, but, but armor

Terry:

is not cheap in this game.

Terry:

Mm-Hmm.

Terry:

, um, you know, light armor's, 30 coins.

Evelyn:

Right.

Terry:

And you do not start with 30 coins.

Evelyn:

Nope.

Evelyn:

Unless, uh, you have been to have a background that gives you extra, gives

Terry:

you armor funds.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

Or, or, or yeah, yeah, exactly.

Terry:

Um, so the, you know, these are some of the things that make being a GM, being

Terry:

a GM real easy, the simplified gear, the checks and contests, the enemy creation.

Evelyn:

Well, and the, and I don't know if you, if you would

Evelyn:

consider this part of the things that are helpful as a GM, but like.

Evelyn:

The character creation part is actually pretty straightforward.

Terry:

Um, well, funnily, you mentioned that because that runs into some

Terry:

of the personal issues in the game.

Terry:

You're right.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

Character creation, once you understand how it's done, super simple.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Cause I mean, it, like you go from one chapter to the next chapter, to

Evelyn:

the next chapter, to the next chapter.

Evelyn:

And.

Evelyn:

So as a player because I haven't gm'd this game So I only had this

Evelyn:

from the the players side of things.

Evelyn:

Yes, but from the player side of things It's actually like

Evelyn:

once you know where to start.

Evelyn:

It's it's very easy and The You know you start with okay.

Evelyn:

I am this class then you go into What ancestry you are?

Evelyn:

Yep.

Evelyn:

Um, and then you have your background and all the like,

Evelyn:

and then you get into the stats.

Evelyn:

You get to like, basically have an idea of this really cool person you

Evelyn:

are before you even get to the stats part, which I love that because then

Evelyn:

it's like, you're not building a character based on the stats you roll.

Evelyn:

You're adding the stats to the character that you want to be

Evelyn:

because you picked stuff, right?

Evelyn:

Like,

Terry:

oh, yeah So one of the issues that came up during character creation

Terry:

though, not yeah with you of course, right with one of the other players

Terry:

is And this is actually a couple people because I've run this not just

Terry:

with our stream, but I did it We did

Evelyn:

a we did a game that was a couple

Terry:

games for for just to try it out to try it out And, uh, there was a, a

Terry:

complaint about having to jump around, which does happen when you go into your,

Terry:

your background, um, it'll have four things that you can choose to two of

Terry:

them for you, but they might link to other pages to go find out what they are.

Terry:

And I know that can be annoying and when you're trying to create a character

Terry:

to have to bounce back and forth.

Evelyn:

But at the same time, and I'm going to, I'm going to.

Evelyn:

credit to to give some fairness to this if all that information was on the

Evelyn:

pages where you could like where you're actually doing the character creation

Terry:

right

Evelyn:

this book would be 800 pages long yeah

Terry:

because it's already 470

Evelyn:

it's a massive book and so like having to jump to like because even with

Evelyn:

like for example the battle princess one of the very first thing i i and

Evelyn:

i speak about this because this is a character i know because this is the

Evelyn:

character i've created but one of the very first things you do as a battle

Evelyn:

princess is you create your hearts Weapon

Terry:

right

Evelyn:

and One of you have to pick what type of weapon it is and then the metal

Evelyn:

that it's made out of and that's just at the base baseline of it if all of the

Evelyn:

weapon types and all of the metals were in the battle princess section and Then

Evelyn:

duplicated for just general purposes You know, later for everybody, a, it

Evelyn:

would be doubling up for no reason.

Evelyn:

B you're adding more pages to a book that's already really long.

Evelyn:

You don't, you don't really need that.

Evelyn:

So I think, you know, they, um, they did the best that they could to make sure that

Evelyn:

they had the real estate that they needed, um, without having to double everything

Evelyn:

up over and over and over and over again.

Evelyn:

Um, so personally, I think.

Evelyn:

The jumping to the page, especially once we have the physical book will be

Evelyn:

a lot easier, but I don't I think it's really, you know, as long as you remember

Evelyn:

which page number you were on, I think it's not really that big of a deal, but

Terry:

you're right, you're right.

Terry:

Um, then, uh, another one was, and this is, this is a more me, I

Evelyn:

agree with,

Terry:

I wish the world information came before character

Evelyn:

creation, especially in this,

Terry:

because that world information does tell you a lot about the

Terry:

characters, um, knowing, uh, and, and they've done, they've done a wonderful

Terry:

job of putting enough of the world that's been developed in here, but

Terry:

it's still allowing for a lot of.

Evelyn:

Yeah, but that it feels like that should come first.

Evelyn:

Yeah,

Terry:

the wistful dark the twilight meridian the blazing garden

Evelyn:

Well, cuz especially when you're picking your backgrounds Yeah,

Evelyn:

like no knowing more about these areas that you're you're you know, picking

Evelyn:

them from yeah They can sound kind of cool just from the general background

Evelyn:

description but like having the the story about them before you're going

Evelyn:

into this and I think would be, you know,

Terry:

a little more helpful.

Terry:

Oh, no, I completely and totally agree.

Terry:

Um, and again, these, these are minor issues.

Terry:

Understand that I am a big fan of this and we'll continue to be playing it.

Terry:

It's

Evelyn:

there, it's accessible, you know, it's just, you

Evelyn:

know, the way it's organized.

Evelyn:

It's, it's just little nitpicky things, really.

Terry:

Um, I wish the MOOCs had more levels.

Terry:

MOOC creation, it's only level zero.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Terry:

And I understand why they've done that.

Terry:

This only goes to level.

Terry:

And

Evelyn:

I believe, I think that's the max level.

Evelyn:

The I've read

Terry:

so many games, like Marriott is another one that's similar to this.

Terry:

I think goes to level 30.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

This one does not go that high.

Evelyn:

Um, I think, I think, I think it only goes to 10.

Evelyn:

Yeah, because it's in the calling.

Evelyn:

Yeah, calling section.

Evelyn:

And that's the thing,

Terry:

they call things calling here.

Terry:

Yeah, 10th level.

Terry:

10th level.

Evelyn:

Because the, the megabosses can be like pretty high level.

Evelyn:

Right.

Evelyn:

Like past, but.

Evelyn:

Like, once you're 10th level as a, and you're calling, you pretty much

Evelyn:

have, like, some really cool stuff.

Evelyn:

Cause there's, all the abilities, okay, so, another thing that, I'm gonna jump

Evelyn:

to this real quick, but another thing I really like about this is, you have a

Evelyn:

good number of abilities to choose from.

Evelyn:

But, at the same time, you're not, Overwhelmed with choice.

Evelyn:

There's not that analysis paralysis, like every time you level, you don't have to

Evelyn:

pick like feats and skills and stuff.

Evelyn:

It's just, you have a certain number of abilities that you can choose

Evelyn:

per, you know, whatever your calling says that you get for that level.

Evelyn:

And then.

Evelyn:

I mean, they're, they're really well created and they are, um, there's just

Evelyn:

not so many of them that you can kind of tailor your character more easily.

Terry:

And you only get an ability every other level.

Evelyn:

Right.

Terry:

Um, just kind of looking at this.

Terry:

And

Evelyn:

then like you pick up like your advanced abilities at level

Evelyn:

six and then like your, your, um, species gets certain, you can get like

Evelyn:

abilities from your species as well.

Evelyn:

Right.

Evelyn:

So it's, it's like trade off here or there, depending on,

Evelyn:

on really what you want to do.

Terry:

And, and so if you're, if you're just a note on this, if you're somebody

Terry:

who's really focused on, you know.

Terry:

Um, the leveling and what you get each level, this may not be the game for you.

Terry:

Um, this really is about the story and what you create in the story.

Terry:

So, uh, but yeah, so that's now I've adjusted that by just

Terry:

throwing more mooks at you guys when I need to, which makes sense.

Terry:

I think that's how it's supposed to be.

Terry:

We

Evelyn:

just befriend them by offering them cake.

Terry:

Didn't quite work with the sugar skulls by the way

Evelyn:

Oh, well, I wasn't there for the sugar skulls, but

Evelyn:

it did work with the bandits.

Terry:

It did work with the bandit

Evelyn:

Yeah, the one bandit he we we we we we made some headway with him

Terry:

Yeah, yeah, he chose not to die

Evelyn:

You guys are so good the four J's

Terry:

The four J's.

Terry:

Yeah, we had four, uh,

Evelyn:

it was Justin.

Evelyn:

He was the one that we befriended Jonathan

Terry:

Was there a Jacob?

Evelyn:

I think so.

Terry:

Yeah, I think so, too.

Terry:

I

Evelyn:

have I have the list somewhere.

Evelyn:

I don't

Terry:

This is what this game has fallen into And it's

Evelyn:

ridiculous.

Evelyn:

We love it.

Terry:

And the other thing Um, more clarity in the, so I wrote this,

Evelyn:

this was one of my notes.

Evelyn:

So one of the things that was kind of frustrating for me when I was first

Evelyn:

creating my character is like, when you're going to create your character

Evelyn:

to try to like prepare your equipment, cause that's part of what you're doing.

Terry:

Right

Evelyn:

there, there's specifics for some things, but then you get to the

Evelyn:

very end of like the equipment section and it's like, general adventuring

Evelyn:

gear And I'm like, okay, so What would it cost me to buy some rope?

Evelyn:

what it would it cost me to have something to sleep on like and then you have to

Evelyn:

like it's up to the GM to Tell you like yeah, it's the miscellaneous equipment

Evelyn:

and then it's like Adventuring gear, rural, common rural goods, common urban

Evelyn:

goods, that sort of stuff, and it's like, What does this item fall into?

Evelyn:

How much is it going to cost?

Evelyn:

How many bag slots is it going to occupy?

Evelyn:

Because you do have a limited number of bag, you know, inventory slots.

Evelyn:

And so, like, being like, okay, I'm, I'm going to keep bugging

Evelyn:

you about all these random items.

Evelyn:

I, I'm, I'm one of those, like, players who likes to be able to just,

Evelyn:

like, Do stuff without bugging my GM over and over again about things.

Evelyn:

And so this part in particularly bothered me because then I'm having to ask like

Evelyn:

8 billion questions about a bunch of stuff that I want to like potentially

Evelyn:

purchase and might not exist, you know?

Evelyn:

And so having a few more like specific items that are like base

Evelyn:

adventuring gear, things that people might want to have, Would be nice.

Terry:

Well, I think and and I I agree with what you're saying because

Terry:

that's one of the things I don't know if we did it last session or

Terry:

the session before when somebody was trying to figure out something

Evelyn:

I think that was Eric actually was a Wembley was trying to get something

Evelyn:

and he it was it because it wasn't I Don't know if it was last session as

Evelyn:

well but I remember he was trying to figure something out and it like We

Evelyn:

had to like put a full on like pause on the session for a little bit to figure

Evelyn:

out how something would I think is

Terry:

when you guys leveled.

Terry:

Yeah, we got something from leveling.

Terry:

And well, because he's a

Evelyn:

fact totem, so I can carry like 8 billion things,

Terry:

but I think I think that's one of those things.

Terry:

Well, they're twofold here.

Terry:

One, I think that the stuff you carry with you is meant to be

Terry:

special, hence the limitation.

Terry:

Right.

Terry:

Um, and.

Terry:

And, and I guess what I'm trying to say by that is, you know, you're

Terry:

an adventurer, are you really going to have 10 units of lard?

Evelyn:

No, no I wouldn't.

Evelyn:

And

Terry:

so, you know, these, these are example things, but you know,

Terry:

you've got your weapon, yeah, and maybe a couple of other things

Terry:

that are special about adventuring.

Terry:

And if you think about it, you know, if we look at something like, uh, a good

Terry:

example is Pathfinder where, man, you can carry a lot of stuff in your backpack.

Evelyn:

Right.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Terry:

Wouldn't that make it hard to fight?

Evelyn:

I mean, maybe.

Terry:

What do you mean, maybe?

Evelyn:

I mean, maybe.

Evelyn:

But like, all of the people in Pathfinder, like, even, like, they're

Evelyn:

kind of strong, if you think about it.

Evelyn:

They run around with, like, weapons and armor and, like, stuff on their backs.

Evelyn:

These people are, are literally heroes.

Evelyn:

Because

Terry:

people here are not heroes in break.

Terry:

They're just

Evelyn:

different kinds of heroes.

Evelyn:

They're, they're the, like the video game heroes that like the inventory

Evelyn:

just completely disappears, you know, like if you think about like games like

Evelyn:

Final Fantasy, you see, she's like.

Evelyn:

For example, like, Final Fantasy VII, you see Cloud running around

Evelyn:

with just his giant sword, and he's got eight tons of other stuff in

Evelyn:

his inventory, but you never see it.

Evelyn:

He's got, like, the biggest pockets ever.

Evelyn:

That, that's what Break is to me.

Evelyn:

It's like, you have the inventory slots there, but, like, Once

Evelyn:

it's in the inventory slots, it

Terry:

disappears.

Terry:

Disappears.

Terry:

That's why our factotum just carries everything.

Terry:

You just give everything to him and let him just do it all.

Evelyn:

Wembley, I need you to carry, um, six, uh, units of lard for me, please.

Terry:

I want somebody to do that now.

Terry:

It's ten units of lard for two slots.

Evelyn:

Well, fine, ten, ten units of lard.

Evelyn:

Well, we could just make him carry all of our bakeries items So I need you

Evelyn:

to stock up on flour sugar butter eggs and just like have Wembley carry it all

Terry:

I mean, you could always get a bushel of star plums.

Evelyn:

We we we we won't even need to like have a food truck We'll

Evelyn:

just take Wembley out And just break stuff out over like a fire

Evelyn:

and then you know sell that way

Terry:

This is why you need a pack bees, too.

Evelyn:

Oh, yeah

Terry:

That's

Evelyn:

really what it is, is Wembley and the Pack Beast.

Evelyn:

That sounds like a band name, P.

Evelyn:

S.

Terry:

Wimbley and the Packies.

Terry:

That's a good band name.

Terry:

So, uh, a couple of things.

Terry:

Obviously we have not gone through everything that's in this text.

Terry:

There's

Evelyn:

a lot.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

470 pages is a lot of pages.

Terry:

Um, as I said, just, uh, very casually earlier, uh, classes

Terry:

are called callings in this.

Terry:

Um, then you have species, you have homeland and history,

Evelyn:

Okay.

Evelyn:

But can we talk about one of the species really quickly?

Evelyn:

Because they're really funny.

Evelyn:

It's the, um, other world, right?

Evelyn:

The dimensional stray.

Evelyn:

The dimensional stray.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

So they're humans and they're the people that like fell into the

Evelyn:

world that the game is set in.

Evelyn:

So,

Terry:

so, so you have your regular humans Yeah.

Terry:

Of this, of this fantasy of the world.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Terry:

Okay.

Terry:

And then you have human dimensional stray and what that is, is people from our

Evelyn:

world, yeah, that have, like, fallen into the, the, um, the world

Evelyn:

of the, the, the game and it's, it's funny because There's some really great

Evelyn:

art in this book, but you actually see the, the dimensional stray, um,

Evelyn:

that's like featured and he's like this elevator door opens up and he literally

Evelyn:

just falls face first into this field that is in the middle of the world of,

Evelyn:

of, of break and, um, you know, it, it, it definitely has very much that,

Evelyn:

like, if you want to be Thank you.

Evelyn:

The, like, hero from the other world that, that is the,

Evelyn:

like, thing in so many animes.

Evelyn:

You can do that by playing the dimensional Like the shield hero.

Evelyn:

Yeah, the shield hero, for example.

Terry:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Um, but I mean there's lots of them though, like

Evelyn:

that, like, um By the way, that

Terry:

character Is Aldo.

Terry:

Oh, is it?

Terry:

It's it really.

Terry:

He's the, he's the, it's one that's based on one that's

Terry:

falling on the Yeah, that's so,

Evelyn:

um, but yeah, like, I mean, you could be like, you know, Kagome

Evelyn:

in, uh, in new Yasha because she goes to the other world a lot, um, and.

Evelyn:

So really, if you, if you want to play that kind of character, like yourself

Evelyn:

falling into this other world, like if that's something you've always wanted

Evelyn:

to do, be a hero in your favorite anime, you can do that with this game.

Terry:

And the species kind of range from kind of.

Terry:

Normal, what you expect, like dwarves and

Evelyn:

elves, goblins, humans,

Terry:

um, reynekos, which are like tabaxi.

Evelyn:

Well, not

Terry:

there.

Terry:

Some are.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

So some, and some of them are more like, uh, like catra from, uh, Shira and stuff.

Terry:

But if you've ever wanted to play a chibi.

Evelyn:

You can.

Evelyn:

They're chips.

Evelyn:

There's

Terry:

chips.

Terry:

Mm-Hmm.

Terry:

. Um, you've got, uh, the Promethean, which are like the chosen perfected beans.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

You've got the gros, which

Evelyn:

they're adorable.

Evelyn:

They're like

Terry:

work but not like

Evelyn:

work.

Evelyn:

They're, they're lovable.

Evelyn:

I, like, I would a, like,

Terry:

they remind me works and make them really cute and adores

Evelyn:

and they like, and, and it kind of reminds me like OGs, like

Evelyn:

if they kind of that like, yeah.

Evelyn:

They're, they're just kind of lovable and big.

Terry:

Oh, and then you've got biomechanoids.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

They're like the Android esque.

Evelyn:

Yeah.

Terry:

Uh, now one of the things, this is not heavy magic and what I mean by that,

Terry:

if you look at all of the callings, um,

Evelyn:

so

Terry:

sage

Evelyn:

is,

Terry:

Magical kind of, I mean, yeah, they have a grimoire

Evelyn:

and they have, you know, like they can do certain things

Terry:

and the heretic is magical.

Terry:

More of a summoning type character.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

Um, but other than that, that's it.

Evelyn:

Well, the battle

Terry:

princess has a little bit of magic because like, but

Evelyn:

they're, they're magic is the magic of love.

Terry:

So if you're looking to play a wizard and fireball.

Terry:

Not super easy in this.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

The

Evelyn:

sage would be the closest you can kind of get.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

Cause the sage has.

Evelyn:

There's the horrifying or the mortifying bloat which

Evelyn:

is like the Eldritch Explosions,

Terry:

but you can only do that once per fight

Evelyn:

Yeah,

Terry:

yeah,

Evelyn:

well a lot of it is like only once per fight as someone who has had companion

Evelyn:

animals as like a Wizard and stuff too.

Evelyn:

I love playing a battle princess because I can resummon my My animal

Evelyn:

companion is many times as I want.

Evelyn:

I don't have to wait a really long time.

Terry:

And you know, uh, they, for those that are listening, uh, there's

Terry:

a new Kickstarter for break coming out.

Evelyn:

Oh yeah.

Evelyn:

Cause they're doing the, they're

Terry:

doing a, essentially an expansion already.

Terry:

Yep.

Terry:

I was like, wait, what?

Terry:

All right.

Terry:

I'm stoked.

Terry:

So I just saw that that popped up recently.

Terry:

Um, if you go to their discord, you can find some, uh, information

Terry:

on it, but it's, uh, they're calling it, um, Break RPG Zine.

Terry:

I don't know if that's the final title, but it's a tutorial

Terry:

adventure for Break RPG.

Terry:

Also includes a new playable species, new rules for adventure team abilities.

Terry:

And more.

Evelyn:

Yeah, cause, yeah.

Evelyn:

Well, and having a little bit of an adventure is kind of cool.

Terry:

I know.

Terry:

Alright, so now let's talk, one last thing, we'll finish out the

Terry:

night with, uh, final rating.

Terry:

Um, I, I, I guess we should have some sort of rating process if we're gonna do these

Terry:

quote unquote reviews moving forward.

Terry:

Uh, had not thought up the rating process.

Terry:

So you're getting this live on the podcast.

Terry:

Uh, what do you think?

Terry:

One through five or one through 10?

Terry:

I

Evelyn:

think one through five feels fair.

Evelyn:

Um, And these are completely biased, of course,

Terry:

like.

Terry:

Yes, these are.

Terry:

Based on our personal opinions as these

Evelyn:

are not objective at all

Terry:

and I'm gonna let you go first and give me a little reason for your rate.

Evelyn:

I give it currently as Someone who has missed one session out of

Evelyn:

the ones we played I give it four and a half out of five cupcakes.

Terry:

Cupcakes.

Terry:

There we go.

Terry:

That's gonna be the rating system.

Evelyn:

Well, for this system specifically.

Evelyn:

Now we're gonna do it for everything.

Terry:

Everything's gonna be cupcakes now.

Evelyn:

But, uh, and, and it's only, like, I wouldn't call it perfect

Evelyn:

yet, but I think it's because they're still working on it and

Evelyn:

I wanna see what they do with it.

Evelyn:

All right.

Evelyn:

Um, 'cause I think it's pretty darn close.

Terry:

Yeah.

Evelyn:

Um, but I, yeah, I, the, I wanna see what the little other

Evelyn:

things that are coming before I, uh, before I give it the full five.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

This is, um, this is a, this is a toughie for me.

Terry:

Um.

Terry:

Like I'm loving this system.

Terry:

I'm loving the game.

Terry:

I'm loving the stories that can be told with it.

Terry:

And it is the only reason I'm taking it down a little bit.

Terry:

Is it's not as malleable as other games out there that can be

Terry:

used in a lot of different ways.

Terry:

And what I mean by that is I'm not going to be doing a grimdark with this.

Terry:

No, absolutely not.

Terry:

Right?

Terry:

Um, you know, there, this, this has a very significant look and I'm not

Terry:

going to lie, it caters to somebody like me who grew up in the 80s and 90s.

Terry:

And for that reason, we're going to go four and a half

Terry:

cupcakes.

Terry:

Thanks.

Terry:

But from this, if, if you're talking about it, so that's going to be my

Terry:

official rating, but if you are talking about who it's for, it's a five.

Evelyn:

Yeah, absolutely.

Evelyn:

It is definitely like, if you are someone who.

Evelyn:

Is like loves the nostalgia of that like 80s, 90s, um, video game time.

Evelyn:

If you love the, you know, classic anime, I mean, there's a little,

Evelyn:

even a little bit of hint of, of some of the modern ones, but if you love

Evelyn:

those classic animes, if you love cozy stories, then this is definitely a

Evelyn:

five out of five game for a person who.

Evelyn:

Loves that, that aspect of things.

Terry:

Definitely.

Terry:

All right.

Terry:

Well, we hope you enjoyed this little look at break exclamation

Terry:

point, exclamation point RPG.

Terry:

Uh, we had a fun time talking about it and actually talked way more than I thought we

Terry:

were going to, but I am a okay with that.

Terry:

Now it's time

Evelyn:

to really be a multi part.

Terry:

Yeah.

Terry:

Cause there are definitely areas that I could have been talking about

Terry:

the species could be so much fun.

Terry:

The dwarves cause.

Terry:

We're the goblins and how they give birth

Evelyn:

and with the little yeah seed pod thing.

Evelyn:

Yeah, I mean We're getting off track

Terry:

So we're gonna go ahead and bring it to a close as always.

Terry:

Thank you for joining us this week's podcast So we hope we

Terry:

inspired you To continue your TTRPG journey, however that may look.

Evelyn:

Make sure to stop by www.

Evelyn:

rollforperception.

Evelyn:

com and leave a comment on our podcast page.

Evelyn:

We're always looking to answer questions and discuss new TTRPGs.

Terry:

So make sure you have your D20 ready

Evelyn:

and

Terry:

your goblin

Evelyn:

voice arrested

Terry:

as you head out into the world of TTRPGs with Roll

Evelyn:

for Percepticast!

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About the Podcast

Role for Percepticast
A Podcast for Tabletop Roleplaying Lovers!
Welcome to "Role for Percepticast," your ultimate destination for all things tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). Our episodes delve into various aspects of the TTRPG universe, from in-depth reviews of indie and Kickstarter games to engaging discussions on roleplaying techniques and world-building strategies. We also keep you updated on the latest news and trends in the TTRPG community.

Hosts Evelyn and Terry bring their extensive experience in playing, GMing, and streaming games to the table, offering fresh insights and perspectives to enhance your gaming experience. Unlike other podcasts, we don't focus on D&D or Pathfinder. Instead, we celebrate the diversity and creativity found in other TTRPGs.

Join us for a journey fueled by passion and dedication to the art of roleplaying. Whether you're a seasoned player or just starting your adventure, "Role for Percepticast" has something for you.

About your host

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Terry Jachimiak II