Post by Gilvan Blight on Dec 23, 2005 8:15:32 GMT -5
OK still haven't had a chance to run a session of this but we did manage to get some characters made. I have also read two copies of the book so I figure I can give an initial review.
Quickly - some great concepts in this one. Worth checking out. Will definitely appeal to anyone into occult theories, new age, conspiracies, and reality based fantasy.
Summary: The Swing tries to make a rpg that is based in reality. Mainly in the fact that the system is realistic and that the people, history, factions, etc. are all based on real life. This is taken a step into the fantastic by stipulating that a person with strong will can affect the nature or reality, and such people have and will exist and have done just that. This boils down to a game where magic is real, but only as believed by real people and most conspiracies actually are. So no Galdalphs casting fireballs, instead you have Psychics using Tarot, Alchemists puzzling the Jade Tablet, all being watched by the black helicopters of the MIB.
The Good - Great concept. Based on historical works (whether there is truth in them or not is up to you to decide) and non-fictional people. Very interesting and robust system called The Step System. I won't go into details but it uses a unique (at least to me) system of sliding modifiers to determine the outcome of all actions and skill use. Character creation makes very rounded characters with a large set of skills (again all reality based) and I love the way you 'develop' the character from childhood up. The generation system is left mainly to the player but there are a few random rolls in there to 'spice' things up. The treatment of magic and Will is insane in it's details. Drawing from real world sources for information on Voodoo, Shamanism, Wicca, Scrying, etc. There is so much detail in some of these sections it's like picking up a "how to" book at times. The various factions presented are very interesting even while sharing a common goal of having mankind evolve. Lastly the combat section: this is really well done. More reminiscent of a strategy war game then most rpgs, players get combat points, which they split between actions and reactions. This makes the system similar to the Xcom PC games or Space Hulk. The system is also very deadly, and is intended to be that way. You don't see to many real people taking 20 hits or 3 bullets and walking away from it.
The Bad: The printings of the books I read (the published soft cover and the pdf) left me with quite a few rules questions. As often seen with independent games, I'm sure the writer and play testers found everything perfectly clear, but its sometimes hard to express that to an outside group. The various factions in the book as well as much of the magic system leaves a lot unexplained. Many people, texts, books, etc are referenced, and it seems obvious the writer knows these well, but myself as a reader often had no idea what/who/where was being talked about. This leads you to want to do a lot of research or it leaves you with no real clue of what some things are about. Lastly, when we got together to try the game we spent the entire night making characters leaving no time to play. Character gen is not quick, at least not with 4 people sharing the book. I think it would be much quicker 1 on 1 with the Sage (GM), this could have been stated in the book so we didn't lose the playtime.
The Ugly: the editing. This book had the most non-sensical sentences I have ever seen in a rpg. There were a multitude of spelling and grammatical errors, and what appeared to be copy/paste issues. There were parts of the book that were hard to read due to this. The fact that the book I received in the mail did not match the PDF that I later looked at. If I had known the pdf was a newer edition (not officially) I may have skipped the book.
Overall: definitely worth reading just to see 'how someone else did it'. The editing will make you grit your teeth and re-read a few sections but it will be worth it. A great view on what reality could be (and possibly is). Core mechanics are very solid. I do suggest the PDF though or waiting for the soon coming Second Edition.
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Quickly - some great concepts in this one. Worth checking out. Will definitely appeal to anyone into occult theories, new age, conspiracies, and reality based fantasy.
Summary: The Swing tries to make a rpg that is based in reality. Mainly in the fact that the system is realistic and that the people, history, factions, etc. are all based on real life. This is taken a step into the fantastic by stipulating that a person with strong will can affect the nature or reality, and such people have and will exist and have done just that. This boils down to a game where magic is real, but only as believed by real people and most conspiracies actually are. So no Galdalphs casting fireballs, instead you have Psychics using Tarot, Alchemists puzzling the Jade Tablet, all being watched by the black helicopters of the MIB.
The Good - Great concept. Based on historical works (whether there is truth in them or not is up to you to decide) and non-fictional people. Very interesting and robust system called The Step System. I won't go into details but it uses a unique (at least to me) system of sliding modifiers to determine the outcome of all actions and skill use. Character creation makes very rounded characters with a large set of skills (again all reality based) and I love the way you 'develop' the character from childhood up. The generation system is left mainly to the player but there are a few random rolls in there to 'spice' things up. The treatment of magic and Will is insane in it's details. Drawing from real world sources for information on Voodoo, Shamanism, Wicca, Scrying, etc. There is so much detail in some of these sections it's like picking up a "how to" book at times. The various factions presented are very interesting even while sharing a common goal of having mankind evolve. Lastly the combat section: this is really well done. More reminiscent of a strategy war game then most rpgs, players get combat points, which they split between actions and reactions. This makes the system similar to the Xcom PC games or Space Hulk. The system is also very deadly, and is intended to be that way. You don't see to many real people taking 20 hits or 3 bullets and walking away from it.
The Bad: The printings of the books I read (the published soft cover and the pdf) left me with quite a few rules questions. As often seen with independent games, I'm sure the writer and play testers found everything perfectly clear, but its sometimes hard to express that to an outside group. The various factions in the book as well as much of the magic system leaves a lot unexplained. Many people, texts, books, etc are referenced, and it seems obvious the writer knows these well, but myself as a reader often had no idea what/who/where was being talked about. This leads you to want to do a lot of research or it leaves you with no real clue of what some things are about. Lastly, when we got together to try the game we spent the entire night making characters leaving no time to play. Character gen is not quick, at least not with 4 people sharing the book. I think it would be much quicker 1 on 1 with the Sage (GM), this could have been stated in the book so we didn't lose the playtime.
The Ugly: the editing. This book had the most non-sensical sentences I have ever seen in a rpg. There were a multitude of spelling and grammatical errors, and what appeared to be copy/paste issues. There were parts of the book that were hard to read due to this. The fact that the book I received in the mail did not match the PDF that I later looked at. If I had known the pdf was a newer edition (not officially) I may have skipped the book.
Overall: definitely worth reading just to see 'how someone else did it'. The editing will make you grit your teeth and re-read a few sections but it will be worth it. A great view on what reality could be (and possibly is). Core mechanics are very solid. I do suggest the PDF though or waiting for the soon coming Second Edition.
action=post