System Mastery

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/system-mastery-46.mp3 Hey, remember the 90s?  Do you look back fondly on Rob Liefeld, X-Force, Reboot-style 3D art, and references to monofilament technology?  Then hoo boy do we have the game for you!  Raven Star is more or less a textbook space heartbreaker, with dwarves, elves … bear men… you get the idea.  Settle in to get all cybed up! Let us know what you thought of Raven Star in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/06/system-mastery-451.mp3 In this installment we discuss the best soul coffin in the shape of a giant bug that solves fundamental metaphysics mysteries in an impossible mansion simulator we’ve ever read.  We cover Noumenon, and the Sarcophoguys that wander the halls of the Silhouette Rouge, which I’m pretty sure is french for “Community College Psychology Class.”

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/system-mastery-44.mp3 System Mastery 44 – Supplement Special We’ve received a number of requests since the inception of System Mastery to cover supplementary RPG material and not just core books.  While we love supplements, it’s never really clicked for us exactly which ones to cover and how to do it.  Well, now we’ve got it figured out.  We went back and found a couple supplements to some of the best of our worst.  Haven: City of Violence, and Prime Directive, and we tackle both volumes in a single episode! Let us know what you thought of these books in the comments!  Have a supplement book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too. Editor’s note:  Indeed, a copy of Skyrealms of Jorune: Gire of Sillipus is already on it’s way to our door.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/system-mastery-43.mp3 System Mastery 43- Top Secret There’s a story around the internet about how this game is so realistic that it summoned the FBI around to investigate the TSR offices to see if they had some sort of secret intel or intent to kill the president or some such.  Having read it now, we can only assume it’s because the FBI literally couldn’t figure out what was in the book at all, and decided to just cover their bases for the purposes of due diligence.  It’s a spy RPG that is 100% charts on this week’s System Mastery. Let us know what you thought of Top Secret in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too. Editor’s note:  It’s true, I deleted the first recording in my mad dash to play a videogame.  Never again!

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/system-mastery-42.mp3 System Mastery 42- Space 1889 Craving high adventure in an age of zeppelins, Victoriana, and space fantasy?  Keep looking then, because what we have here is boring.  This week Jef and Jon take a tour of the Earth if the sun also never set on the British Empire on Venus and Mars.  Is the art horrifying?  Of course.  Is the whole thing vaguely racist?  Naturally! Editor’s note:  Proof of horrifying art included.  Check out that cartilaginous Robert Smith in a ripped bodice.  That’s basically the only female face in this thing.  Seriously, every lady in the book is drawn like she forgot to close her eyes when the Arc of the Covenant popped open.  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/system-mastery-41.mp3 System Mastery 41 – Heaven & Earth The apocalypse!  Oh, it’s a comin’, just you wait, you sinner you.  In the meantime why don’t you hang around in small town America, solving vaguely creepy mysteries and interacting with character-heavy locals.  You know, like maybe one of them has a log all the time?  That kind of thing.  This week we discuss Heaven & Earth, an RPG about atmosphere, angels, and the coming end of days.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/system-mastery-40.mp3 System Mastery 40 – Duckman He’s just one more duck detective, that works with a pig, lives with the twin sister of his dead wife, three sons on two bodies, and a mother-in-law with so much gas, she’s a fire hazard.  This week System Mastery is overjoyed to present The Official Duckman RPG, a mixed bag of failure, liquor, nymphos, 90s topical humor, failure again, the American dream, and hijinks.  We hope this doesn’t sound grandiose, but tonight we begin our pre-ordained ascent towards the global adulation we so richly deserve. Let us know what you thought of Duckman in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too. Editor’s note:  April Fools!  There was no Duckman RPG as of this podcast, and there still shouldn’t be.  However, despite all common sense and advice from our friends, family, and legal counsel, there is a Duckman RPG now.  Here, it’s free, take it:  Duckman RPG

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/system-mastery-39.mp3 System Mastery 39 – Witch Girls Adventures Witches!  Rustics!  Technomancers!  The Ugly One!  It’s Witch Girls Adventures, and it’s your chance to step into the stylish shoes of a 13-year old witch and go on way cool adventures, maybe even at the mall.  Shopping!  This game is aimed a little young, so we try to puzzle out what makes a good game for kids while we’re at it. Editor’s note:  Don’t forget to send in questions for the new show, Afterthought.  Let us know anything you want us to talk about at systemmastery@gmail.com!  Also, is this actually a fetish game?  Have we been fooled?  A lot of the internet seems to think so.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/episode-38-stormbringer.mp3 Episode 38 – Stormbringer ELRIC!  Thy book is a thousand times more execrable than thou!  Though I have to admit I had this iconic piece of nerd power fantasy confused for the early part of my young life with the other one, Raistlin, this guy is apparently quite pedigreed.  The doomed albino of deficient blood and his evil runesword more or less dominate this book, much to our chagrin.  Can you save the ancient world of Melniboné and the young kingdoms?  Spoiler alert:  no. Let us know what you thought of Stormbringer in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/episode-37-deliria.mp3 System Mastery 37 – Deliria During the 90s, a lot of the small-market games were about trying to fix one issue that the author had with basement-ready games from the 70s.  By 2002 a renaissance was required!  No longer were games just for mega-nerds programming Scorched Earth into their graphing calculators!  Now the games were for normal people, like baristas, ravers, hackers, and burners.  Nothing encapsulates this era of special-snowflake appreciation better than the fairy tale LARP enabler, Deliria.  Do you ever get the feeling that you’re special?  That there’s magic in the world?  That your eyes would really be grey flecked through with shards of gemlike amethyst if you had your way?  This is the game for you! Let us know what you thought of Deliria in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too.  If you really love us, show your support over on our Patreon page and help us keep the mics hot! Edito

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/system-mastery-36.mp3 System Mastery  36 – Dungeons & Dragons We take a much needed break from endless reading of defunct gaming manuals, but that doesn’t mean we don’t seek to entertain!  This week, System Mastery brings you fresh coverage of the 2001 hit film, Dungeons & Dragons.  It has a Wayans, and a Riff-Raff, and more!  This film might be extremely terrible written, but at least it also has horrible visuals and unappealing acting! Let us know what you thought of Dungeons & Dragons in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover, or some gaming film we should watch?  Let us know about that too. Special thanks to our new friend Grant at Saving the Game, for sending us our next big project.  Check out his podcast when you’re all done here.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/system-mastery-35.mp3 System Mastery 35 – Vanishing Point If you’ve read any Neil Gaiman or just been stuck in line at a convention behind steampunk people, you’re all set for Vanishing Point.  It’s a neat little RPG about visiting a planet shaped like a brain, populated by weirdos classified by insanities, and choked full of more British flavor than a steak and kidney pie. Let us know what you thought of Vanishing Point in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too. Editor’s note:  Jon was basically dying of plague through this whole thing, you’ll just have to excuse the chair creaks and coughing.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/systemmastery34.mp3 SystemMastery 34 – Fantasy Imperium This game was surprisingly difficult to find art for.  The cover is easy enough, since it’s got a famous story behind it, but apparently no one wanted to put any of the many boring knights or cheesecake witches inside the book on the internet.  We stuck some fairies on the homepage that get the point across pretty well.  Come along as we review Fantasy Imperium, an Interactive Storytelling Game.  How is that different from an RPG?  More charts, more pictures of swords, and more sweet, sweet sexism.  Enjoy! Were you somehow a fan of Fantasy Imperium?  Were you briefly hoping this was a review of Twilight Imperium or Palladium Fantasy?  Tell us!  Hell, tell us anything in the comments below.  If you really love us, show your support over on our Patreon page and help us keep the mics hot!

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/systemmastery33.mp3 SystemMastery 33 – Maid This week, we’re joined in studio (my living room) by a guest host!  Our friend Claire joins us because we just didn’t feel comfortable tackling this sexist minefield without her.  It’s Maid!  The RPG where you wear a frilly sex uniform and tee-hee your way through a day of almost-charming almost-sex that is almost always almost-rape. Let us know what you thought of Maid in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too.  If you really love us, show your support over on our Patreon page and help us keep the mics hot.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/systemmastery32.mp3 SystemMastery 32 – Darkurthe: Legends The least requested game of all time comes to System Mastery!  We discuss Darkurthe, a world of isolated city-states, deep racial convinctions, and clans, guilds, cults, and freeholds.  Play as humans, elves, dwarves, gross elves, mean dwarves, and anguls.  Check out a great spell system that is 100% spell creation!  I’m hyping this way more than it’s worth!

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/systemmastery31.mp3 SystemMastery 31 – Synnibarr 2 The final chapter in our saga of Synnibarr.  Impossible continents, insane monsters, and ludicrous facts about this maddening world.  This time around, we even try to tell you how you were supposed to play the game! Let us know what you thought of Synnibarr in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/systemmastery30.mp3 SystemMastery 30 – The World of Synnibarr 1 The most requested title of all comes to System Mastery!  Biogladites (whatever that is), chameleon drakes, and I guess archers engage in insane adventure and deadly battle on a hollowed out Mars thousands of years from now and light years from here.  Sound engaging?  Well hang on because the rules system is so incredibly crufty and complicated that we barely even talked about it!  That’s right, this is our first two-part episode, so tune in and enjoy our attempt to wrap our brains around the ineffable works of mad genius Raven c.s. McCracken, and then join our battered shellshocked husks next week or so to do it again! Let us know what you thought of Synnibarr in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too. Editor’s note:  A LOT of business travel and personal stuff led to the lateness of this post.  We apologize and are now back on our regular schedule!

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/system-mastery-special-edition-synnibarr.mp3 System Mastery Special Edition – Synnibarr Today, we bring you a little something special.  A dramatic reading of the brilliant beginning to the tale of The World of Synnibarr.  Tune in next week for our full review. Let us know what you thought of Synnibarr in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too. Editor’s correction:  Business travel is keeping us from doing a full review on time.  Enjoy this tidbit in the interim.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/systemmastery29.mp3 SystemMastery 29 – Dark Heresy Skulls for the Skull Throne!  We take a discerning look at Dark Heresy, one of many games set in the grim darkness of the dark grimness of the Warhammer 40k universe.  Will you be greasy scum, oily robot man, or festering, gibbering psychic?  The correct answer is probably psychic, but we’ll try to suss all that out in the review. Let us know what you thought of Dark Heresy in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/systemmastery28.mp3 SystemMastery 28 – Spookshow This game is about ghost spies.  Get it?  It’s a double meaning on the word.  I’m not sure if you get it.  You see, spook is occasionally used as a derogatory term for someone who works in the intelligence industry, and is also sometimes used as a synonym for an intangible entity from beyond the grave.  In this game, you play as both, and then you try to have fun.  It’s complicated and boring, and so you will eventually say “Spooks…  How?” and that’s where the name comes from.  Now I think you get it. Let us know what you thought of Spookshow in the comments!  Have a book you’d us to cover?  Let us know about that too. If you clicked to here specifically because you thought there was a rad Gentleman Ghost game you’ve never heard of, sorry.  You’ve been duped.  There are no good google images at the right resolution for “Ghost Spy” so I just went with the coolest ghost in comics.