Rob Zakes - Ramble On Games

One of the best games for anyone trying to approximate Star Wars, Firefly, or any type of Space Western game. Built on the Forged in the Dark system, it does a good job of making those mechanics make sense in a science fiction setting (with appropriate amounts of fantasy thrown in for the Star Wars fans). I've run this game as is with its original setting, and have run it as Star Wars games. Each time, it has been a fun and rewarding experience. What makes this game great, just like its predecessor Blades in the Dark, is the tension of players having to push themselves past their limit to make it through. Every session is edge of your seat exciting. There's no messing around with clunky stat sheets, looking at you Star Wars FFG, which means you're free to push the story in any direction you wish. It's a game that's open for you to make your own. I would highly recommend this to anyone.

I'm genuinely surprised to see this module get such positive reviews on here, because I found my experience to be largely negative. I do think there's strengths, so I'll start there. There are 23 levels to this dungeon, and while most of them are disappointing there are many that are clever and with some ingenuity. If you're just looking for a dungeon maps to crib, and you don't mind doing the work to make them more satisfying to play, then the adventure is worth checking out. If you're looking for a complete in box Mega Dungeon that can be run as is, then look elsewhere. It's not the amount of floors that are the problem. The problem is that there's not much interesting to fill them. They get quickly repetitive, repeating the same encounters over and over again. My party got tired of fighting the same montsers. Honestly, half of the amount of floors with more memorable content would have gone a long to being a more compelling experience. As it is, I recommend skipping it.

Kevin was great!! He was patient and friendly while teaching the rules, and talked us through everything that he was doing. The adventure itself was fun. It was a solid mystery with a good twist that kept us engaged the whole session time. It’s definitely worth playing with Kevin!

I love this system. It came out when I was in college, and my friends and I attached to it and had years of amazing campaigns. Playing this campaign has kept my love of Star Wars going through the dark times. But I think it's a system with a lot of issues. It's easy to break mechanically, and become overpowered. The combat system never really felt right for Star Wars. It neither felt tactical enough to be treated that way, nor does it ever deliver on cinematic combat. The space combat was always too unwieldy. Things like one-on-one duels, a mainstay of Star Wars, never felt right. There's a lot the system does well. Its dice are a lot of fun, they way it breaks down the world into an RPG makes sense, and its art is fantastic. I think a 2nd edition of this could really fix the core issues and clean up the mess, but alas this system appears dead beyond reprints. It's Beginner Game boxes are still great, and I'll keep using them to teach people RPGs. For actually running Star Wars games, I'd rather go back to the D6 games or use Scum and Villainy by Evil Hat.

Candle runs an incredibly efficient game of Lancer, with a lot of player buy in and excitement. He's great at building a story and giving it life. I have a genuine blast playing with him and would recommend him to any player.