

System Mastery
Jef Aldrich and Jon Taylor
Jef and Jon review old roleplaying games
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 29, 2016 • 1h 13min
Batman Roleplaying Game – System Mastery 78
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/system-mastery-78-batman-roleplaying-game1.mp3
Da na na na na na na na na na na na na na na TABLES. TABLES. It’s Batman, all right. Man is it ever Batman. As a spinoff of a larger game, this game really knew how to focus. But can the tone overcome the mechanics? Nope!
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Sep 13, 2016 • 1h 7min
Blue Planet – System Mastery 77
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/system-mastery-77-blue-planet.mp3
Cyborg orcas, mutant cat super scientists, “squids” and more await you on the distant water planet ingeniously named “Poseidon.” You can make all sorts of amazing characters that certainly could have all sorts of amazing adventures, though I don’t think we ever figured one out. It’s Blue Planet! You’re going to tolerate it! Note that the cover art we used from the poster is way cooler than the book, we just got lucky and found that on the internet.
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Aug 30, 2016 • 1h
Macho Women with Guns – System Mastery 76
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/system-mastery-76-macho-women-with-guns1.mp3
Aw yeah, we got your boobsplosions, your vagcapitations, and your brutal wombsaws all up in this one. It’s Macho Women with Guns, a parody game that uses generous margins and a lot of art to lightly spread a surprisingly complicated game over about 60 exploitative pages.
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Aug 16, 2016 • 1h 16min
AD&D 2nd Edition – System Mastery 75
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/system-mastery-75-add-2nd-edition.mp3
It’s our three year anniversary here at System Mastery! Jon and Jef entered the bonds of holy podcastimony in August of 2013 and it’s been wonderful ever since, except for those times we’ve cheated with One Shot. As per tradition, every 25 episodes it’s D&D time, and episode 75 is no exception as we take a long hard look at the classic 2nd edition of AD&D. You know the one, it’s got all that bad blue art of nothing in particular and that weird picture of a giant fat guy looking at a tiny lady in his palm? That one! Enjoy!
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Aug 2, 2016 • 1h 11min
Testament D20 – System Mastery 74
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/system-mastery-74-testament-d20.mp3
Okay, we were getting a little too friendly about games and movies around here, it was high time we picked something to straight up laugh at. This is Testament, the best idea for a D20 supplement with more than one feat for farmers ever.
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Jul 19, 2016 • 1h 12min
Feng Shui – System Mastery 73
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/system-mastery-73-feng-shui.mp3
This game was about as good as everyone told us it would be. “Don’t cover it” they said. “It’s not even for you guys.” Well we showed them, those guys I just made up. Feng Shui is an action movie RPG where you’re basically supposed to constantly do the most badass thing you can all the time until you die or win. It’s very neat. Please enjoy.
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Jul 4, 2016 • 1h 10min
System Mastery Actual Play 4 – Love/Dread Jenga
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/system-mastery-actual-play-love-dread.mp3
Vacations can’t stop us, and neither can federal holidays. Step right up and listen to our first full-length Actual Play episode, featuring the doomy tale of the Valentine’s Day killer assaulting… well I’m not actually sure what city this ended up being after all the arguing. We combine amazing RPG Dread (not to be reviewed by the likes of us) and ridiculous Jenga ripoff Love Jenga (LOVE COMMUNICATION) to form one terrifying night of high school romance gone horribly wrong. Special guests include Arian, Devin, and Sydney. Thanks team!
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Jun 21, 2016 • 1h 17min
Everway – System Mastery 72
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/system-mastery-72-everway.mp3
What’s in this box? Who drew a big circle on the cover? What’s up with the grey swirly mist situation in the background? In Everway, players make characters by telling each other stories about little picture cards with questions on the back. A faux tarot deck is also involved. It’s a bizarre, beautiful, isolated gem that was too weird to evolve any further in the gaming world, and we got a copy.
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Jun 7, 2016 • 1h 18min
Rifts Parts 2 – System Mastery 71
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/system-mastery-71-rifts-part-2.mp3
Well, here we are. We put Rifts in the rearview. We still love this dumb game. In today’s episode, we finish our discussion of the core book. RCCs, OCCs, psionics, magic, and the crazy world of Rifts Earth. Don’t forget to check out the bonus content over on our Patreon if you haven’t already joined that train.
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May 24, 2016 • 1h 8min
Rifts Parts 1 – System Mastery 70
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/system-mastery-70-rifts-part-1.mp3
We hope you’re as ready for this as we are. After 70 episodes, it’s time to review the game that somehow started both of us down the path that ultimately led to System Mastery existing at all. Rifts was the first game for both teenage Jef and teenage Jon, and somehow we grew into almost functional adults anyway! We can’t even begin to cram everything crazy about this book into one episode, so watch this space in two weeks for Part 2.
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