siliconereptilian

androidmaeosauridae

  • they/them

tabletop rpg obsessed, particularly lancer, icon, cain, the treacherous turn, eclipse phase, and pathfinder 2e. also a fan of the elder scrolls and star wars, an avid gamer and reader of webcomics, and when my brain cooperates, a hobbyist writer.

 

the urge to share my creations versus the horrifying ordeal of being perceived. fight of the millennium. anyway posts about my ocs are tagged with "mal's ocs" (minus the quotes). posts about or containing my writing are tagged with "mal's writing" (again, sans quotes). posts about my sci-fi setting specifically are tagged "the eating of names". i'd pin the latter two if they were actually among my top 15 most used tags lol. fair warning, my writing tends to be quite dark and deal with some heavy themes.

 

avatar is a much more humanoid depiction of my OC Arwen Tachht than is strictly accurate, made in this Picrew. (I have humanoidsonas for my non-humanoid OCs because I cannot draw them myself and must rely on dollmakers and such, hooray chronic pain)



cypriaturge
@cypriaturge

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

CASE&SOUL deserves to be the next big, important entry in indie mecha TTRPGs next to Lancer and Beam Saber.
merely 33 pages long, utilizing familiar elements from similar games and building off of them to make something uniquely crunchy, simple, and satisfying - i'm kind of obsessed.

if you've never played a Forged in the Dark game before, this game is an excellent entry point.

as a document, i'm really impressed by the ease with which it explains what roleplaying is, what it means to be a roleplaying game that uses the FitD system, and how expertly Briar Sovereign is able to go on to explain the individual mechanics clearly and succinctly. it is a welcoming text to those who are new to RPGs, or those (like me) with short attention spans. its examples of play and its little kisses of characterful flavor text were all genuinely entertaining to read.

CASE&SOUL is able to incorporate distinct playbooks, phases of gameplay, factions, and mech customization and make them all click together like K'nex.
looking at the Shift, Strive, and Faction mechanics in particular, CASE&SOUL is very deliberate in its use of genre conventions, tweaking them just so to create interesting limitations and points of incentive.

especially if you're someone who picks up TTRPGs just to read a well put together bit of technical writing that fires up your imagination - this is up there with Wanderhome for me in terms of ease, clarity, and poetry.

i didn't mean to write this long of a review but i'm honestly fangirling out about it. great work Briar!!!


You must log in to comment.

in reply to @cypriaturge's post:

I will say that I did buy, and have to agree that mechanically it's lacking depth. Not a bad game per SE, but something after a few plays just didn't want to run at the table anymore.

Pinned Tags