Watch Well Games #58
Custom VTT token borders. Amazing Adventures (Troll Lord Games) review. Unlocked Botch Dice stretch goals.
Welcome to our RPG community newsletter!
Hi. I’m K.J. Here’s what I’ve got for you today:
Virtual tabletop tokens made for a good cause 🤍
Unlocked stretch goals from Botch Dice’s Kickstarter bringing us more eye candy
A review of Amazing Adventures (Troll Lord Games) by guest writer Warren Davidson
What’s Up, K.J.?
In response to the tragic Texas floods on July 4th, I created 12 custom, handmade virtual tabletop token borders.
ALL royalties earned goes to Feeding America (forever), who is currently helping folks in the Kerrville/Hunt/Ingram area.
A lot of love went into making these. Thank you for your support. 🤍
I plan to release other variations soon. Let me know if there’s something you’d like to see.
A larger bundle is scheduled to be released sometime soon. This will feature many products generously offered by several publishers. Feeding America will still be the recipient of all royalties. Be on the lookout for that on DTRPG.
🤍Thank you for you generous spirit🤍
Review: Amazing Adventures
by Warren Davidson (aka Wazza)
Amazing Adventures is published by Troll Lord Games who kindly provided digital review copies. We have the 306 page Players Handbook $49.99/$19.99 (hardcover/pdf), a 146 page Chronicle Keepers Guide $29.99/$19.99 (hardcover/pdf), a 45 page adventure $12.99/$6.99 (softcover/pdf) and a 4-panel Chronicle Keepers screen $24.99/$6.99 (physical/pdf).
The Player’s Handbook gorgeous cover showcases the game's multi-genre theme with cowboys and futuristic jetpacking heroine battling a Lovecraftian horror setting the mood for what to expect inside. Amazing Adventures uses the SIEGE Engine system used in Castles & Crusades. This is a multi-genre role playing game where you can play pirates, superheroes and vampire slayers all under one roof. The layout is clean, concise with ample illustrations throughout.
Character creation follows a familiar pattern of name, character class, hit points and attributes. The differences here are the classes themselves which have been completely reworked for the game's multi-genred theme. We have: the Arcanist, Demon Hunter, Duelist, Feral, Gunslinger, Hooligan, Investigator, Mentalist, Pirate, Powered, Pugilist, Raider, Socialite, Soldier and Zen Archer, whew!. Fertile ground indeed for your GM to come up with all sorts of weird and wacky adventures to run your disparate characters through. Each class is detailed through thirteen experience levels, having a primary attribute, hit dice, combat bonus and unique abilities as you level up. You can model them on a favourite movie, book or comic book character or your own unique creation with guns, gadgets, magic, superpowers and psionics all having a look-in. And if you’re feeling especially daring then why not try out multi-genre multi-classing. And there's nothing stopping you importing your classes from Castles & Crusades bringing the grand total up to 45.
If these leave you wanting more, why not change them with the optional advanced character creation rules? Here you can dump any classes' unwanted abilities and replace them with a plethora of generic ones. And if you’re feeling brave and the GM allows it you can customize still further by mixing and matching abilities from various classes. There’s a nice selection of generic abilities to choose from such as: Berserker, Dabbler in the Dark Arts and Overwhelming Personality and rules for backgrounds, character qualities, sanity, fear, madness and reputation.
Time to gear up! Yes we’ve arrived at every player's favourite chapter: equipment. Rather than count every penny Amazing Adventures uses a wealth system to determine what you can afford, based on your character class. Just make a wealth check and drive away with that new sports car you’ve always coveted. Simple and elegant. This chapter has an extensive collection of armour, weapons and vehicles, covering a sizable time period. Weapons in particular have over 200 entries ranging from black powder muskets to futuristic phased plasma rifles (just what you see buddy). Each one is scrupulously detailed in terms of accuracy, range, damage and so on. Enough to keep even the most ardent gun bunnies happy!
Next we delve into the Mysteries of Magic and Mentalism with rules for standard and Four Colour superheroic mysticism. Psychic powers range from the commonplace such as Clairvoyance and Empathy to the more esoteric choices of Synesthesia and Telemagry, with over thirty separate powers to choose from. Magic draws on Mana Energy Points, run out and you’ll need to rest. There’s hundreds of spells ranging in power from 0 to 9th level and grouped by your spellcaster's primary attribute of intelligence, wisdom or charisma.
The game system boils all tasks resolution down to a simple d20 + modifier vs Challenge Class. Handling everything from combat to social encounters to skill checks. A complete and intuitive system.
The Chronicle Keepers guide begins with an overview of each character class. There’s advice on creating new classes and playing as monsters. Skills are elaborated upon with an emphasis on their application during games.
We're back to magic and mysticism with a chapter covering magic and sanity, forbidden knowledge, emergency magic and rituals. Psychic powers are expounded with advice on tricky topics like mind reading and temporal control.
If you want more options you’ve come to the right place with the “Astonishing Stories” chapter. Everything here is optional and designed to expand and enhance the game in all areas. We have simplified firearms rules and suppressed firearms rules for silent, stealthy, shooting. Miniature use and cinematic brawling for those pugilists amongst you and how to handle those annoying minions who always attack en masse. Vehicles are expanded with combat manoeuvres and rules for precise movement and speed, road conditions and mishaps. There’s an expeditious narrative approach to mass combat when large scale conflicts erupt. Live role-playing gets a mention too.
What makes a great gamemaster? An eternal question to which there are no absolute answers. Instead the Chronicle Keepers book gives us short easily digestible essays on a multitude of topics. The style and mood you want to promote, the game's scope and pacing. How to design your own exciting adventures with the four act classic approach and placing them in interesting locations. Creating your own secret societies has comprehensive coverage.
Genres and sub-genres are considered from Gaslight Victoriana to the weird west and beyond. There’s a mountain of useful insight here for playing games anywhere and “anywhen.” The book finishes with three sample secret societies.
“Shadows of the Red God” presents three global adventures against a nefarious cult and the Chronicle Keepers screen contains attribute, battle and rules reference tables complimented by a gorgeous cover showing off your mutli-genre heroes battling multi-genre monsters.
What do I think? Amazing Adventures lives up to its name as an audacious multi-genre, pulp-fueled, rollicking good game. Recommended.
Botch Dice: Funded! Now for some stretch goals!
The KS campaign is funded and now stretch goals are being unlocked and revealed. So far:
The next stretch goals unlock at $37.5K, $40K, and $42.5K. Will Botch Dice be able to make it? If so, what amazing designs will we gain access to then?
✨Check out the Kickstarter here (affiliate link)✨
That’s a wrap! And remember:
Looking for some cute hedgehog dice. These don’t make me think of hedgehogs.😳 Any recommendations?
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