System Mastery

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/08/system-mastery-101-a-state.mp3 This book is a grim, unrelenting slog.  Punctuated by the kind of art that would be impressive if this book was a collection of screenshots from the first Fallout game, filled to the brim with grimy short stories where nameless murderers murder murderers for the joy of murderin’, and with about 14 of its dismal 200 or so pages given over to the rules.  We hope you enjoy the review, as someone somewhere should have a bit of happiness, since we apparently cannot.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/system-mastery-100-dungeons-dragons-3rd-edition1.mp3 Well, it’s been four years.  Honestly when we started the gimmick of doing D&D every 25 episodes we never thought we’d actually get as far as third edition.   Here we are though!  3rd Edition D&D and all it’s accompanying rules-as-physics and expansive OGL accoutrements, laid bare for your amusement over way too much time.  Thanks again for all the support, dudes!  Maudlin, choked up us will see you again next year for tabletop WOW for babbies.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/gamma-crawl-x-3.mp3 This time on the continuing adventures of Occulus Vive, Teddy Rustbin, and Yu-go the Nyarlathotank we find our heroes faced with a fiendish trap and pitted against the fiendish Bird Brothers in a fight to the…death? Listen and find out on the newest episode.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/system-mastery-99-sailor-moon.mp3 Moon Prism Power!  Right?  Right?  That’s what she says sometimes?  Look this is weird for us.  Not our usual thing.  So we brought in a ringer!  A guy that’s watched all this and even played this game, and also I guess he’s our boss sort of, James D’Amato of the One Shot Podcast Network.  He’ll help us tease out the meaning of all of this! By the way, don’t forget to check out James’ kickstarter, Dungeon Dome!  He’s fundraising to run a rad series of live gladiatorial RP games with a collection of colorful live teams of podcasting friends, and he needs your help!

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/gamma-crawl-x-2a.mp3 On today’s episode of Gamma Crawl X, our heroes encounter a slimy surprise, followed shortly thereafter by Deadstone the Gatekeeper.  Enjoy!  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/system-mastery-98-legendary-lives.mp3 The countdown to episode 100 begins!  This week, Legendary Lives.  Just another heartbreaker you’ve never heard of?  Maybe.  Does it commit several of the weird sins of old game design?  Oh absolutely?  Can you play as rad snake dudes?  YES!

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/system-mastery-97-exquisite-replicas.mp3 You know what we forgot to do in this one? Make fun of that Anonymous motto about how they’re legion or whatever.  I guess we just forgot.  Oh well.  This is a game that reimagines the internet hacker collaborative or whatever as a bunch of insane homeless people fighting invisible extradimensional invaders.  That’s certainly worth some points for originality.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/mad-max-x-crawl-1.mp3 As demanded by the public (and the Patreon) we have begun our first ever Actual Play series, Gamma Crawl X.  In this show, we are joined by our GM Quinn (of Swallows of the South and various other podcasts) and friend of the show Brad, to adventure in the far-flung mutant madness that is the arenas of Gamma World.  In this episode, we introduce the format and create characters.  And soon, the actual game begins.  

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/system-mastery-96-nexus-the-infinite-city.mp3 Man this city is so infinite, it’s like you don’t even know.  Crazy aliens rub shoulders with alternate humans in this early 90s kitchen sink style game with a great roster of now-famous authors.  Also we make fun of each other.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/system-mastery-95-200-word-rpg-winners.mp3 It was a blast to help judge this year’s 200 Word RPG Challenge to assist David Schirduan in his yearly scheme to elicit all kinds of creativity from the online RPG community.  And while they were all fun to read, we did eventually settle on a few winners this year.  Our part in the rewards process was an episode dedicated to the winners, and here it is!  Please enjoy this rare glimpse into the world of friendly, happy, positive System Mastery.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/05/system-mastery-94-purgatory.mp3 Warning: This episode is for mature gamers only.  So if you think the word “Boogers” is still pretty funny, maybe you should wait til we review the RPG adaptation of the Sega Genesis classic, Boogerman.  Til then, this is a cute little game that incorporates a lot of Heaven/Hell mythology with … oh let’s just say all of the LARP suggestions you’d find in a Mind’s Eye Theater Book.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/system-mastery-93-talislanta.mp3 It’s not too late to go support the new Kickstarter for the next edition of this weird but fairly charming game if you want.  It will be very soon, which just means I have to remember to edit this post later.  Don’t worry, future historians, I didn’t.  This game has a lot of races.  Like… fifteen thousand?  More?  I forget.  Oh, and the specific edition we have was hard to find a photo of, so I stuck our copy with ol’ Xizor to prove its legitimacy and just used that picture.  Enjoy!

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/system-mastery-92-cthuhlu-live.mp3 It’s a game for only the dapperest of beardsmen on today’s System Mastery.  We’re talking Cthulhu Live, a game of rapidly going insane while extras cavort about in the background.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/system-mastery-91-the-whispering-vault.mp3 If you listen real close you can actually hear the vault whispering.  It’s not worth it though, he’s just reading the Humor in Uniform section out of old Reader’s Digests.  It’s The Whispering Vault!  Were you expecting a Cenobite simulator?  Because you got one!

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/system-mastery-90-the-secret-of-ziran.mp3 The Secret of Zir’an is probably that deep under the challenging layout and heaped on layers of confusing story, accessible only to people who are really willing to roll up their sleeves and dig for it, is more confusing story.  Please enjoy.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/system-mastery-89-fatal.mp3 Well folks, you made it happen.  Grats to all!  There’s no way this is worth any more of our time or yours than the extra-long episode we’ve thrown on here for you today (and the bonus content that’ll be over on the Patreon) so enjoy this pointless dimwitted horror show while it lasts.  Keep in mind there are a few exciting announcements at the end of today’s episode, so stay with us through the miasma.  If you want.  I mean, they’re going on twitter and facebook and stuff too any minute now.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/system-mastery-88-star-frontiers1.mp3 It’s the space 80s!  Feather your hair and ready your giant wrap-around bubble glasses for some interstellar adventure where the computers are so advanced that Oregon Trail has four colors!  This game is, in a shocking surprise to us, imaginative, relatively simple, and fun!  Join us for Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/system-mastery-87-nephilim.mp3 The early 90s seem positively ripe with games that are more character creation tool than game, and Nephilim is no exception.  Join the ranks of weird energy spirits that have a collection of past lives, possession capability and spells, and honestly, really seem like the bad guys.

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/system-mastery-86-xcrawl.mp3 Man, I hadn’t even seen the regular cover of this til I was putting this together.  That’s uhh… well I guess Luke Cage found some chain mail made by Stussy or Jnco?  Also someone give Katana back the rest of her outfit, she looks like a member of 90’s X-Force.  This is XCrawl.  The game of professional modern-day dungeon crawling in a Rome-themed American dystopia.  You read it right.  The premise is actually pretty great!  Plus they seem to be making this still on kickstarters and in upscale nerdstropubs, so good for them!

https://systemmastery.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/system-mastery-85-the-babylon-project.mp3 Get ready to recreate the dramatic adventures of Captain John Sheridan, psychic lady Ivanova, kindly space vampire Londo Mollari, and – did the doctor guy get a name?  I forget – but you know, be sure not to do it on the actual space station the show was on, and that you don’t set it in any time period after season 2, and that you don’t let too many Narn be on your team, with The Babylon Project, a stuffy game about that space show you only vaguely remember.