Wednesday, August 30, 2023

Video: "Broken Compass" RPG Review

If you are a long time reader of this blog, you probably have seen me bring up table top roleplaying games (RPGs) before, although rarely since they typically don't tie into the subject of this blog. That said, there are several post-apocalypse RPGs out there, some more realistic than others. And I reviewed one of the more realistic ones, Aftermath!, many years ago. 

    The aforementioned Aftermath! game was published during a period when there was a concerted effort to make such games "realistically" model the real world with the attendant complexity that brought to the rules. Aftermath!, for instance, would probably work well if made into a computer based game (it includes a multi-page flow chart on individual combat) but can get bogged down when playing around a table with paper, pencil, and dice. But if you wanted to "wargame" out a survival scenario, this would probably be a game to consider.

    I have since moved to playing "lighter" fare that have more simple rules systems. And not satisfied with either the setting or rule set for Dungeons & Dragons--the 800 lbs gorilla in the room when discussing RPGs--I watch videos reviewing lessor known game systems and have even picked up a few. I particularly like reviews that explain a bit how to play the game since the game mechanics are often what tips my decision to purchase or not.

    An RPG that I purchased a few weeks ago is called Broken Compass. It is supposed to be a rules-lite system intended to emulate modern adventure stories such as Indiana Jones or the 1990s Mummy movies. And although I had bought the game before watching the video below, I found the explanation of the rules to be useful in learning how to run the game. (Summers are busy, so I haven't done anything with it yet). But the reason I'm sharing it is because I also found the review to be entertainingly done as the reviewer both acts out a role intermixed with explanations of how the rules would work or be applied.

DungeonDoor (18 min.)

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