

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

Feb 23, 2022 • 1h 46min
System Mastery 220 – The Secret Fire
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/system-mastery-220-the-secret-fire.mp3
This is a pretty bog-standard “Recapture the D&D I remember when I was 11” moonshot game, where the lessons learned about what D&D used to be like seem to be that it was awful but we loved it. Does it promise to be all about player empowerment and then immediately strip almost any tools they might have used away from them? You’ll have to listen to find out, but it’d be weird if I asked that question and the answer was no, wouldn’t it.
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Feb 9, 2022 • 1h 12min
System Mastery 219 – The Lawnmower Man RPG
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/02/system-mastery-219-the-lawnmower-man-rpg.mp3
How often do we get to do theme weeks? This is great! We have the Lawnmower Man RPG, which is set immediately after the events of the movie, as the Southern Gothic horror gives way to … troop team simulation as described by the company that made Phoenix Command. What? Why? How? Anyway, here’s a whole review for your ears!
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Jan 25, 2022 • 1h 33min
System Mastery 218 – Silver Age Sentinels
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/system-mastery-218-silver-age-sentinels.mp3
Oh boy another supers game! You know how we love those! SIlver Age Sentinels is from the Big Eyes, Small Mouth folks, so you better believe it shares the insane customizability, tri-stat system, and more with that anime simulator. But how does it do as a superhero engine? Well, let’s all find out together.
Announcement Mastery
Solo But Not Alone 2Grab a ton (101!) solo RPGs for yourself for only 10 bucks while supporting a vital cause at the same time. Help people in real need by joining Jasper’s Game Day in their needed efforts preventing suicide. It’s a win win and it can be yours to support or just get games you want at https://itch.io/b/1227/solo-but-not-alone-2. Act fast, this fundraising event will end March 2022!
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Jan 12, 2022 • 1h 29min
System Mastery 217 – Conspiracy X
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2022/01/system-mastery-217-conspiracy-x.mp3
What if everything you thought you knew was actually all evidence of a secret conspiracy? Deja Vu? Real psychic powers. Men in Black? Lizard people in black. That’s the premise of Conpiracy X, a late 90s secret agents vs. everything game with a surprisingly complex combat engine. Oh man. Surprisingly complex.
Announcement Mastery
Solo But Not Alone 2Grab a ton (101!) solo RPGs for yourself for only 10 bucks while supporting a vital cause at the same time. Help people in real need by joining Jasper’s Game Day in their needed efforts preventing suicide. It’s a win win and it can be yours to support or just get games you want at https://itch.io/b/1227/solo-but-not-alone-2. Act fast, this fundraising event will end March 2022!
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Dec 29, 2021 • 1h 13min
System Mastery 216 – Psychosis: Ship of Fools
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/system-mastery-216-psychosis-ship-of-fools-1.mp3
Post-Show PS: Turns out there is at least one more of these, Jef’s on-air googling failed to turn up Psychosis: Solitary Confinement. Cool? Cool.
Well, when the name of the mental disorder is right there in the title you know you’re in for something at least a little iffy. Luckily this is so far removed from reality regarding how far everyone is removed from reality that it mostly comes out okay in the wash. It’s a game where you never quite know what’s going on, and the entire story is a spoiler alert. From the decade that brought you Steal My Sunshine, it’s Psychosis: Ship of Fools.
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Dec 15, 2021 • 1h 25min
System Mastery 215 – Blue Rose
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/12/system-mastery-215-blue-rose-2.mp3
Let’s dispense with the obvious question first. This is the OGL version. Now before that gets too depressing, note that this is one of the most modified OGL games we’ve come across, going so far as to do that one thing everyone always says you should do with D&D stats (not get rid of them, the other thing). It’s got some good ideas! But do we like it? Well, let’s find out. You know, again.
Announcement Mastery!
Roar to Heaven is an anime inspired sci-fi AP podcast where the heroes fight an invading angel army with battlesuits powered by music! They’re currently kickstarting to pay their staff and cast, and your support will help! Plus also definitely listen to their cool show. Links to follow:Show Page: https://www.peachgardengames.com/about-roar-to-heaven Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/peachgardengames/roar-to-heavenItch.io Link for Those With Understandable Kickstarter Concerns: https://peachgardengames.itch.io/blazing-hymn
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Nov 30, 2021 • 1h 21min
System Mastery 214 – Mystic Forces
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/system-mastery-214-mystic-forces.mp3
Heck yeah, one of those weird games so little known I couldn’t GIS the cover and had to take a picture of our copy! Mystic Forces is a 2000 RPG about light vs. darkness featuring some very unique ideas (though Jon has some ideas as to where a lot of them are coming from), and a world that doesn’t have elves, dwarves, or even humans. Are they contained in a probably somewhat too complicated engine? Well yeah, obviously.
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Nov 17, 2021 • 1h 35min
System Mastery 213 – The Book of Vile Darkness (3.x)
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/system-mastery-213-the-book-of-vile-darkness.mp3
Just because Ween is over doesn’t mean we can’t stay spooky! Or at least one would hope. This is more evil by way of edge than anything else. Jef sought out a list of historically terrible supplements for us to look at in the future, and this one just kept floating to the top. Evil races, prestige classes, and so, so many terrible spells. Dare you enter this edgelord realm?
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Nov 3, 2021 • 1h 22min
System Mastery 212 – Outbreak: Undead
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/11/system-mastery-212-outbreak-undead-1.mp3
Okay so maybe it’s November, and maybe we forgot when October started this year, but that won’t stop us from delivering our yearly load of horror ween stuff! Here’s Outbreak Undead. It’s 460 pages long and is a fairly generic zombie horror survival type thing.
Announcement Mastery
Looking for game and fantasy editing? Or just need a short form RPG or adventure in a variety of genres? Go support ATypicalFaux.com, today’s Announcement Mastery Sponsor. Jordan is a multi-published editor with a proven track record and a desire to work on your RPG (while designing his own!)
Website: ATypicalFaux.com
Games available at: https://atypicalfaux.itch.io/
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Oct 20, 2021 • 1h 37min
System Mastery 211 – All Flesh Must Be Eaten
https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2021/10/system-mastery-212-all-flesh-must-be-eaten.mp3
Behold our triumph, the ZombieWeen! It’s alive! Well, sort of alive. This ‘Ween around we’ll be focusing on zombie RPGs, investigating games about surviving short infestations and full-blown apocalypses. This time, it’s All Flesh Must Be Eaten, which means it’s also our first time talking about the Unisystem Engine in eight years. Should all flesh must be eaten? Should all zombies be in your head? In your head? Zombie (Ween).
Announcement Mastery
Crimson Gold Agonies!in the world of 197X, superheroes fight against the two imperial powers; they are champions of the Third World and heralds of an alternative path for democracy and socialism — the Heroes of the Cybernetic International!
Check out this new AP and a whole completed series of additional AP podcasting that rotates games as needed to tell the best story possible with the Crimson Gold Agonies actual Play!
Links: Show | Twitter | Showrunner Twitter | SpotifyGames Used on CGA: L5R | Sentinel Comics RPG | Pasión de la Pasiones | Yokai Hunter | Flying Circus | Night Reign
Eventide!Available today on DrivethruRPG: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/359061/Eventide
How and why the world as we know it came to be changed forever has long been forgotten.
It’s been hundreds – maybe even thousands – of years since anyone even spoke of the Cataclysm or the time that came before, and the memories of that world that once was, faded into dust.
To the people inhabiting the world of Eventide, this isn’t a post-cataclysmic world, it’s just the world that is. And the world that always was, as far back as anyone living in it can remember.
– From Frenzy Kitty Games, the studio that brought you KARMA, Something Wicked, and Children of the Fall comes EVENTIDE, a game of apocalyptic survival horror in the wasteland.
This lavishly illustrated book contains everything you need to play, including:
Fast and dynamic rules for roleplaying in the apocalypse
Robust classless character-creation
Optional Tribe Creation rules for group play
Full campaign setting including many detailed settlements and NPCs
Dozens of inspiring adventure seeds
17 Tribes complete with unique beliefs, structures, affiliations, and NPCs
A bestiary containing 35 ruthless and terrifying enemies
Hardcore Mode: rules variants for brave players in search of a brutal challenge.
Lone Wanderer: Solitaire rules for solo adventures in the wastelands
Apocalypse Toolkit: Tools and generators to assist GMs in running their games dynamically
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