So I have a Kickstarter problem.
And one of the things I backed this year was this beauty. Go look, I’ll still be here when you get back. It’s basically Quake: The RPG, and is an adventure/conversion for Stay Frosty.
Authors: Andrew Walter & Paul Cronin
Yes, I played Quake the first time around. And yes, you can repackage my nostalgia and trade it back to me in exchange for 💰. I’m not sure there was a question here, come to think of it. It also gave me the excuse to order a physical copy of Stay Frosty from lulu as well.
The premise
You’re a Ranger, you’re in an Evil Dimension, and legally-distinct-things need to be killed. Preferably by gibbing or telefragging. Now go get that Quad Damage and Super-Shotgun and shoot that Shambler. Not with a rocket launcher mind, it resists explosive damage.
One important thing that I’d missed when first looking at this, is that it’s quite a modification from Stay Frosty. A Total Conversion if you’re feeling old enough to remember playing those, as opposed to a Mission Pack. It’s broadly the same, but you need to learn SF, then learn a few new rules that are few in number but change the game pretty severely, then learn the bestiary and new weapons.
Print Quality
This is a nice thick 80 page softcover with a matt finish. The paper is a good quality and the monospace font is readable, and harkens back to Stay Frosty. Although I’ve never seen a monospace font with ligatures before, which seems a bit odd.
It’s ironically twice the size of the SF booklet but they’re the same size for going on your shelf. Lie-flat fans will have to break the spine to have it stay open without help though.
Layout
Great use of space, one page per hostile, tables don’t break over pages. I’ll be adding some bookmark tags I think.
One problem this concept has is that you need to refer to the SF rules a lot. Which is pretty understandable. And they’re not here, because it’s a different game.
Doesn’t make keeping track of things tricky though.
For a round of combat:
- Consult SF for the rules on iniative
- See the modification in SGCP for monster hit-dice
- Select actions
- See the modification in SGCP for player actions
- (and so on)
Obviously, this smooths out, and I’m not sure there’s a good fix. But I think the first thing I need to make for myself is a GM screen with everything on it. That would make gaming faster for me.
Artwork
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THE ARTWORK.
I LOVE IT VERY MUCH INDEED.
😍😍 More of this please. They’re also nice and big too: there’s little empty space in the book
The room maps for the adventure are of a different style, a pixellated “retro” look that to me doesn’t fit with these lovely sketches. They also slightly misled me into thinking they are tactical gridded maps, which I don’t believe is the intention.
Playing
I’m taking a while to get the hang of this, so see my AARs. I don’t think I can give a fair review yet, I’m not playing it right.
I think what I personally would have benefitted from is some example rounds of combat of either FS or SGCP. This supplement assumes a bit more familiarity than I have. It gives examples for its new rules, such as “here’s some example stunts for the Stunt Die” though, and of course has a whole example adventure scenario and stats the hostiles.