System Mastery
Comedy
About
Jef and Jon review old roleplaying games
Episodes
- 327 - Alternity
System Mastery episode 327 covers the TSR sci-fi tabletop game Alternity. The host reflects on initial assumptions about the game's relation to Dungeons & Dragons.
- 326 - Ryutaama
In episode 326 of System Mastery, the hosts discuss the cozy game Ryutaama. They comment on its cute presentation and the player's journey through the game, noting some decisions that caused mild confusion.
- 325 - Root RPG
System Mastery episode 325 explores how board games, like Root RPG, can evolve into role-playing games. The discussion also notes the game's characters are cute animals that fight.
- 324 - Zenescope Presents: The Dark Age RPG
This episode of System Mastery explores Zenescope Entertainment's Dark Age RPG, contrasting it with the era of 'western boob comics' and mentioning titles such as Vampirella, Gen13, and Danger Girl. The episode includes two Announcement Ma…
- 323 - Dragonbane
System Mastery reviews Dragonbane, a classic dungeon crawl game from Sweden. The episode examines the game's mechanics, layout, and art to determine its overall quality.
- 322 - Incursion
Find out which one of us gets mad enough to break the no research rule as we dive in to discuss this game of alien abduction and intergalactic comedy exploration from the far off year of 1992. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph…
- 321 - Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Just one of your everyday run of the mill licensed games made out of Jim Jarmusch movies. Can't tell you how sick I am of playing Palladium's version of Down By Law. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 320 - Amazing Engine, Bughunter
Fine you want major trash that time forgot? You got it, buster. You're gonna sit write there while we review the whole pack. Of Amazing Engine, from TSR Games in 1993. And also Bughunter, one of the games it... sorta powers. It's complicat…
- 319 - Red Dwarf
Who's ready for licensed comedy property RPGs? These are always the best, am I right? Today is Red Dwarf, an RPG based on a British comedy sci-fi series. And boy is it ever something. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/ad…
- 318 - Man, Myth & Magic
Two games in one box? What a bargain! MM&M here comes with basic and advanced rulesets for its historical fantasy Earth setting, though the differences are so odd that it's almost like two (bad) games! Learn more about your ad choices. Vis…
- 317 - Fabula Ultima
Hell yeah we got something for under your tree! It's a System Mastery review of Fabula Ultima! For future readers that joke is because I put this episode up Christmas Eve. It was hilarious at the time. Ask an old person, they'll remember.…
- 316 - Truth & Justice
Well hello there, superhero game from 2005. We saw you from across the room, and we dug your weird mix between classic and modern game design vibe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 315 - Companion's Tale
A dive into the world of mapmaking games, which we've briefly touched on in the past but are definitely a growing area of game design, but also, combat free! Hooray for Sweater Weather! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/…
- 314 - Laser Kittens
Welcome back to our Sweater Weather season! But wait, how can this be charming and cozy if these kittens have LASERS? Listen and discover! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 313 - 1978 (The Night They Came Home)
Ween closes out with a bang, as we discuss a game designed to cover *cough* a wide variety of different Slasher movies that may or may not have specifically launched the genre in 1978 or so. Check it out, it's 1978 (The Night They Came Hom…
- 312 - Army of Darkness
Oh man, I don't know if I should just put a bunch of movie quotes here (nah, the book already made me sick of them) or a bunch of Ween stuff. Let's go with that one. It's Army of Darkness as we start a look at horror movie RPG entries in a…
- 311 - Tales from the Floating Vagabond 2e, Part 2: An Interview
Sorry it's been a while friends! This episode is special and it took some work to get it working. We're interviewing Sean Ellis and Kira Woodmansee, two of the major names involved in getting Tales from the Floating Vagabond off the ground…
- 310 - Tales from the Floating Vagabond 2e
Part of this job is getting to hold extremely weird things in our hands, things we never expected to be real, and this is certainly one of those times. Three hundred and seven episodes ago we discussed Tales from the Floating Vagabond. Bet…
- 309 - Invisible Sun Lore
Yeah yeah, we did the thing. God knows there was plenty more content. James is still here to help us process all this stuff. Thanks James! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 308 - Invisible Sun
This is almost certainly the largest product we've ever attempted to review! As a result there are some gaps in coverage here. We may yet revisit this game just to do a deep dive on the setting, if there's interest. Otherwise, welcome to t…
- 307 - Micro Game Roundup 2
Let's lay out what we're discussing here this week. It's three games (in four books) comprising Clever Girl, #Flirt Squad, and Anyone Can Wear The Mask. We love checking in on micro games from time to time, they're a refreshing change from…
- 306 - The Expanse
More TV sci-fi! More TV sci-fi! Actually wait, hold on, this one is based on the books. No TV in here, which is probably for the best, because you guessed it, neither of us watched the show. Is this relatively modern relatively hard sci-fi…
- 305 - Time Lord
Who loves Doctor Who? Specifically and exclusively any Doctor Who made before 1991? Not us it turns out, though this game is pretty fun! It's got some neat design ideas and good advice and writing, and also a lot of information about old D…
- 304 - Runequest (1984)
This is one of the venerable old giants of the fantasy gaming industry. Avalon Hill producing Chaosium's Runequest. Couldn't be more classic. But how does it read 40 years later? Let's all find out together. Learn more about your ad choice…
- 303 - Superhero 2044
By all account, this is the first ever superhero RPG, but don't let that fool you, it contains virtually nothing you'd recognize as a superhero game. In fact, it's wild what it contains. You'll see. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
- 302 - Capers
Okay the rumors that we like every supers game are scurrilous, devious, and increasingly accurate. This is Capers, and it's a supers game set in a slightly less socially shitty 1920s, which is a neat thing. Learn more about your ad choices…
- 301 - The Arcanum
Hi folks, let's start up another 300 of these, what do you say? This one is about The Arcanum, an early 80s game that sure seems similar for some reasons (the same reasons they always do? Probably!) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit…
- 300 - Palladium Fantasy
Well that certainly was 300 times we did a thing, I tell you what! Let's take a little victory lap by cracking open a cask we've been saving for a special occasion, a feisty little 1983 vintage called Palladium Fantasy that definitely isn'…
- 299 - Bleeding Heart
We're hard at work on our giant pile of weird old box sets, and that means it's time for Bleeding Heart, a game that Jon assures me is loosely based on something called the Corman Poe film era of the mid-sixties, and he's a total horror ne…
- 298 - Wild West
I really hope you're enjoying this string of very old games, we're doing our best to get back into them quickly (ever since I found one of my old box sets fully eaten by bugs and had to fumigate). In this case, it's a game about real old t…
- 297 - Star Trek The Roleplaying Game
Can we review an 80s Star Trek game without our pacemakers exploding? What if FASA made it? We're looking at the Star Trek RPG from roughly 1983, which means (if you're counting) that it's based on the original series, the animated series,…
- 296 - Lewd Dungeon Adventures
Finally someone bought that game that advertises on Facebook, and it was us. It's a fantasy adventure game with some sex-themed rules, but honestly I don't want to spoil anything here because it's a tiny wee little game that could never po…
- 295 - Insurgent
A very quick little modern game designed to be played solo or with a small group but no GM, in which you rebel against something. What do you rebel against? Whattaya got? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 294 - OGL Ancients
It's what it says! Though it's adding a lot of stuff to the venerable old combat engine of 3.X OGL, it's an OGL game where you play as primarily Greeks and Egyptians from antiquity (you can get a Scythian or someone from Thessaly in if you…
- 293 - Alas Vegas
This is a little recent for our usual stuff, but Jon was really interested after the Fastlane review to keep looking at games that utilize classic casino games as RPG randomizers, and this one's a doozy! Combining Blackjack and Tarot stuff…
- 292 - Unbidden
Back to basics, some game you probably never heard of that we didn't like. That's the basic essence of the show, right? It has to come up sometimes. I'm talking about the show here because honestly I can't think of much to say about this s…
- 291 - Fastlane
Oh buddy you better believe we love it when the game has a weird alternative randomizing mechanic, and this thing is all about roulette. Yes, it straight up tells you at the start that you can use a digital one or even a dice based approxi…
- 290 - Icarus
As we bring Sweater Weather to a close we are faced with the realization that we accidentally double-themed this month, since both of these games are explorations of civilizations over time, and in fact would make a pretty good double feat…
- 289 - The Quiet Year
Hey folks, welcome to Sweater Weather. We're going to keep things light and distracting here for the next few months, sweater weather or not, so don't worry about heavy topics. If you're looking for a getaway, we got you. Also, this book i…
- 288 - Rats!
So these aren't really furries, but hey, I think this was just called Hairy Ween, right? Like that sounds more like a dick joke anyway. Anyhow, this book is all about playing as vile, disgusting, brilliant little rats trying to retake the…
- 287 - Mutants in the Now
Blessed Ween everyone! This year we're focusing on animal inside of us all with a Furry Ween! Or a Hairy Ween! I dunno, whatever, we just wanted to read Mutants in the Now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 286 - Orkworld (Crunch)
Oh, oh no. We thought all the worst stuff was going to be in the fluff and descriptive section. We were wrong. If you're a fan of angry Jef and Jon, well, you probably already noticed the 84 minute runtime of the episode and got your hopes…
- 285 - Orkworld (Fluff)
Well, this might be divisive, if we hadn't spent years discussing how we feel about ol' John Wick and his famously terrible advice. But what about his games? Well, let's look at Orkworld, a game about Orcs. Learn more about your ad choices…
- 284 - Time Master
Travel through time at the behest of a futuristic society at the end of time? Sounds familiar! But before you break out the Wyld Stallyns shirt, let me burst your bubble by saying this actually has a weird war game at its weird core. Learn…
- 283 - Eden
Hi everyone! You'll never guess that now the other one of us has COVID. This stupid planet and country. Anyway, this game is about people learning lessons in a primordial garden from the animals that live there. Cool, right? Learn more abo…
- 282 - Spectaculars
Part of wallowing in weird old stuff unfortunately is that it's hard to keep abreast of what's going on in the last decade or so of gaming, but Jef still pretty much orders any superhero thing if he sees it on sale, and that's what happene…
- 281 - Modern Knights
Pssst, hey buddy, wanna buy a superhero game from 2002 that was pretty clearly written prior to 1999? How? Oh, let us explain. It's Modern Knights! At least we know that much. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- 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 an…
- 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
- 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…