System Mastery

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/system-mastery-65-the-great-war-of-magellan.mp3 So… this one didn’t really have any art assets large enough to use for the rotating display thing.  Please enjoy a fine Magellanic Penguin.  It’s as relevant as anything else would have been.  This game is about a big war in space between the evilloids and the goodites.  It was written by a fellow who starred in the 70s Battlestar Galactica.  There’s a surprising amount of information about agriculture.  Have a good time! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/system-mastery-64-dragonball-z.mp3 It took us a long time to get to this book because we were gathering power.  This week we present our in-depth analysis of this RPG about gathering balls.  It’s Dragonball Z, the Anime Adventure Game, also available as a wall scroll or plastic maquette! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/system-mastery-63-synnibarr-3rd.mp3 We stop by the realms of Raven “Combat Spanking” McCracken once more to see if there’s still the fires of mad genius behind his eyes.  Will we find more incredible insanity?  Or did he, like Icarus, sail too close to the sun?  Join us on a journey of discovery, won’t you? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/dinosaur-planet-broncosaurus-rex-system-mastery-62.mp3 It’s become apparent over time that there are a few archetypes of bad games.  You’ve got Vision of a Madman, as seen in Synnibarr or Skyrealms of Jorune.  Fun-Hating Deathslog, as seen in any number of heartbreakers and serious business games.  Then there’s Boring Trifle, a catch-all category that covers any game that is too boring or derivative to hold the imagination.  Today’s game is a category we think of as the One Weird Thing, which is a game that would be perfectly serviceable, except the author has this one weird thing.  What’s the one weird thing about Broncosaurus Rex, a game that sounds like it’s probably about cowboys riding space dinosaurs?  Well if you guessed a ludicrous amount of Confederacy apologia, give yourself a prize and then ask yourself why that was your first guess. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/system-mastery-61-ralph-bakshis-wizards.mp3 Someone must have really liked our review of the movie, because the demand for this was pretty high.  Today we present Wizards: the RPG.  The game that finally tells us the name of the movie’s famous horseballs (which we reject because they are called horseballs). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/system-mastery-60-gamma-world.mp3 Today we’re thrilled to bring you a game where you can play as a swarm of tiny yetis hanging around with a robot hawk and have an amazing, basically balanced game.  Gamma World 7th edition is a favorite here, and we’re starting 2016 with a breath of radioactive post-apocalyptic fresh air.  Don’t worry, in two weeks we’ll be down in the filth showing off the filthiest bits of filth to each other, like two Gollums.  For now though, enjoy this legitimately awesome game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/system-mastery-59-immortal-part-2.mp3 We discussed the rules, now let’s talk about the fluff in the second episode of Immortal: The Invisible War.  Just what is a Darkle, and what Femmes it?  And shouldn’t the Tautha really be the Tuatha?  Probably! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/system-mastery-58-immortal-the-invisible-war-part-1.mp3 It’s been a while since we’ve hit such a rich, dense vein of crazy that we had to slow the pace down and take two episodes to really tease out the filaments.  Could Immortal: The Invisible War become the worthy successor to the glorious nonsense of Synnibar?  Well to find out, we’re taking a few hours to pop on down to the Dominions, evade the Sanguinary, and ask the Conundrums.  Sunedrion.  Himsati. This week is all about the rules of Immortal.  Tune in to the next episode of System Mastery as we try to fit the massive insanity of the story of this game into our unwilling human minds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/system-mastery-57-legacy-war-of-ages.mp3 You ever get the urge to take the Highlander movies and William Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy and just artlessly mush them together like Playdough?  This book does exactly that, and then tosses in a little brazenly lifted Ursula K. LeGuin material just for seasoning.  It’s Legacy, the Highlander game without the license rights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/system-mastery-56-panty-explosion.mp3 Man, just look at that title.  How terrifying is this going to be?  Well, we don’t want to spoil anything, so here’s Panty Explosion, a game that is verifiably about Japanese schoolgirls, and some of them are psychic sometimes! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices