

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

Jun 29, 2024 • 1h 27min
280 - Thirsty Sword Lesbians
Hey who likes lesbians what have swords and powerful yearnings related to the other sword-bearing lesbians they encounter on their wild adventures? You I bet! Let's review this game for the end of Pride Month, because we were in a hurry and this one has a big old gay word right there in the title. Nothing's gayer than swords! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jun 12, 2024 • 1h 24min
279 - Iron Kingdoms
This one is close to home, we both sorta like this game, used to play the wargame, and wish it all was still good. But times change. But hey, what do we think of this game now? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 29, 2024 • 1h 13min
278 - The Skeletons
Is it too late to call this a theme month? Because it turned out to be a theme month. Cool minimalist projects by designers we like. Weird! The Skeletons is a thoughtful game about playing as skeletons guarding a tomb, by Jason Morningstar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 14, 2024 • 1h 8min
277 - For The Queen (feat. Alex Roberts)
Who says we can't do cool modern design reviews? Or interview the cool working designers of today that make them? Whoever said that, lemme at 'em! Today we're discussing For The Queen, a game we both enjoy enough to also want get Alex Roberts (already our expert dog correspondent if you're in the Patreon) to join us to talk about her awesome game and the new edition of it that will be out the same day as this episode! (that's synergy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

May 1, 2024 • 1h 16min
276 - Muse
Who would have thought this weird little collaborative storytelling shared narrative exercise game could be so divisive? We discuss Muse, a game that uses cards and tokens and lots of paper to help you and your group tell a story and definitely not make everyone hate each other, at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 17, 2024 • 1h 14min
275 - Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth (Part 2)
Fine, we finished it. This was truly just an awful thing to keep reading through, I think it's been a while since we've both been this angry. Anyway, if you come support us on Patreon to hear the bonus content, we couldn't be assed to make Aria characters. They suck. So we made characters in the game LIFTS instead, which doesn't suck. This is your update on that topic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 1, 2024 • 1h 15min
274 - Tower 22
Yeah yeah, we hit pause on Aria, we just couldn't deal with that noise anymore. Instead, it's time to dive into the ever-generous well of dumb OGL titles, with this bizarre 2002 Fantasy Strike classic, in which the authors really really want you to know about beach lifeguards and how important and cool and... military they are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 23, 2024 • 59min
273 - Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth
Show update first, everything's been a bit late because of travel and the deadly scary norovirus, which isn't pretty. Sorry about that. Show news on this episode? The sound a shudder that indicates a man has seen too much, written down, thank you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 7, 2024 • 1h 21min
272 - City of Heroes Playtest
Gather up, all you various tankers, scrapper, controllers, uhhh... that healer one... I'm just kidding I loved this game. It's City of Heroes, sort of! Insofar as it's a Unisystem take on the popular superhero MMO. Some of one. This is just an old playtest doc. We talk about why and what and all the rest today! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 22, 2024 • 1h 19min
271 - Active Exploits
This was a tough read. Active Exploits is more of a toolkit than a game, but despite basically having every possible tool any kit could ever have, especially for a diceless engine, we still just aren't seeing how the numbers line up. But hey, who knows, right? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices