I have many, many games that I want to review for people that are shopping.  As of late, good marketing and good art has been used to lure in gamers just to scam them with broken systems that were never tested and settings that are half baked and ideologically driven to the point of being unplayable.  I'm thinking of making long running threads on the Reviews folder with genres of games where I will lay out my reviews.

In game reviews there are some things I think are important to me to cover so that I can make an informed decision on whether or not to buy a game:

    - Mechanics and their complexity, flow, and unique features
    - Setting
    - Quality of the writing and presentation along with ease of use of the book or books
    - Play type focus of the product  (is it a game that focuses on a specific style of play and what type within it's genre or is it more broad)
    - Any problems there may be running or playing the game
    - An overall indication of how the product appeals to it's prospective players and GMs (obviously this will be subjective from my perspective but I want to be as fair as I can be)
If there's anything else you'd like me to cover, please let me know in this thread.  I want these reviews to be useful to those who want to buy them.

I already have a list building up of games I want to review but I'm all ears for anything.  I'm going to add some well known classics for a baseline.  Here's a partial list:
Cyberpunk
    - Cyberpunk 2020
    - Cyberpunk Red
    - Neon City Overdrive
    - Cities Without Numbers
    - Ultra Modern and NeuroSpasta
    - Zaibatsu
    - DEAL - A Social Combat Roleplaying Game in a Cyberpunk City
    - Reboot the Future
    - Running Out of Time
    - Carbon 2185
    - New World
    - Neon Blood
    - Katana-Ra
    - Blade Runner
    - Altered Carbon

Traveller Variants
    - Traveller 2e (Mongoose)
    - Traveller 5
    - Cepheus Engine  (and a few variants)
    - Hostile

Post Apocalyptic
    - Summerland
    - Earth, A.D. - Wastelander's Handbook
    - Other Dust
    - STALKER - The SciFi Roleplaying Game
    - Afterday
    - Wastelands Highway

Misc
    - ICRPG
    - Barbaric!
    - Zenobia
    - Totem
    - The Sword of Cepheus and Westlands
    - Into the Odd
    - Esoterica
    - Deathbringer
    - Swords for Sterling
    - EABA

Do you have any games not on my list you'd like me to review?

I won't be looking too seriously at any games that are Powered by the Apocalypse or a derivative.  Nor will I review a game that is openly hostile to me (SWM) like Shield Maidens or Coyote and Crow.  I am willing to review a wide variety of games, even MLP.  (I have a daughter and ran it for her when she was 9-11yo.)

TinyD6 and it's various variants.

Awesome! But I wouldn't do a game that's been out for years (like MongTrav or CP 2020.) Not much use for me there, its a known quantity. But newer games, yes!

Quote from: Aglondir on October 19, 2023, 09:43:37 PM
Awesome! But I wouldn't do a game that's been out for years (like MongTrav or CP 2020.) Not much use for me there, its a known quantity. But newer games, yes!

My thought is that if I review a known quantity, then it establishes a base line for people to judge my reviews and get more out of them.  Also, it would establish a baseline for contrasting other games to.  At least this is where my thoughts are.  Not good?

Quote from: THE_Leopold on October 19, 2023, 05:19:27 PM
TinyD6 and it's various variants.

I don't have that yet but I'll put it on my short list to acquire. 

Quote from: BadApple on October 19, 2023, 09:51:30 PM

Quote from: Aglondir on October 19, 2023, 09:43:37 PM
Awesome! But I wouldn't do a game that's been out for years (like MongTrav or CP 2020.) Not much use for me there, its a known quantity. But newer games, yes!

My thought is that if I review a known quantity, then it establishes a base line for people to judge my reviews and get more out of them.  Also, it would establish a baseline for contrasting other games to.  At least this is where my thoughts are.  Not good?

I like this. If I watch reviews from you for something I know, I have more insight into your review process.

One thing I really like in RPGPundit's reviews is he is very clear what he likes (DnD compatible games under the moniker OSR). And he tells me if the game will fulfil that, if he thinks it's playable, and if the manual/tables is useful. I know he's not going to be interested in non-DnD mechanics, but that's OK and he's up front about that.

I find reviews of paging through the book and reading to me boring. Same for the cutesy chit chat. I'm still looking for an RPG podcast/YouTube channel that I can stand to listen to other than Pundit.

I've done four reviews of Cyberpunk games so far in the reviews section.  I'd love to get feedback .  Help me out so I can improve.

I'd like to see an honest review of the Glog and a few Glog variants.

Quote from: BadApple on October 22, 2023, 02:17:07 PM
I've done four reviews of Cyberpunk games so far in the reviews section.  I'd love to get feedback .  Help me out so I can improve.

First, I like your reviews overall. Second, please consider my comments below as respectful suggestions. I'm not good at the super-polite critiquing and, much as I want in my writing, I assume you want constructive feedback rather than platitudes. (Speaking of which, we got our first edits back ever on a short story from a real editor. It was fun and her changes were either stylistic to match the anthology or otherwise made sense, even if we didn't take her exact recommended solution when making the edit.)

Thoughts after reading the reviews: maybe if you want to do themed reviews, post them as a single post, with sections in bold or something. That way, I feel I could consider it as one big review. As separate posts (even in the same thread), I expect them to be more independent.

Cyberpunk 2020

I'd like more background about what you like in your comparisons. For example you say in the Cyberpunk 2020 post:

QuoteWhile not the most complicated system out there, it is rather meaty.

What are you comparing this with? Some people don't consider Classic Traveller to be meaty or complex. Other people reserve complex for Phoenix Command.
You cover this at the end of the review, sort of.

QuoteIt's more complex than 5e, WEG D6, or Traveller.

What is something more complex than Cyberpunk 2020?

I liked that you gave three examples. I know of 5E, I think I read WEG D6 at some point, and am familiar with many versions of Traveller. The early comparison to "Friday Night Firefight" was less useful, as I've never heard of it. To me, it always seems when people say, "If you like X, Y, and Z, you'll love A", I never heard of X, never watched/read/played Y, and hated Z. But I might actually still like the product being recommended.

This needs the Final Thoughts section from the other reviews.

Cyberpunk Red

For Cyberpunk Red, please go ahead and repeat the D10 + etc description of the system. That way each review stands alone. (I might not have read the 2020 review.) For example, the section below told me absolutely nothing about the mechanics.

QuoteCyberpunk Red uses a slightly modified version of Fuzion, the same core mechanics as The Witcher RPG.  Fuzion is very similar to Interlock and at 30,00 feet it looks the same.  The best way I know how to describe it is that it's a slightly lightened version of Interlock.  It's a bit easier to use but it's lost some of the granularity of Interlock.

I really liked the Final Thoughts section for Cyberpunk Red.

Zaibatsu

I adore the third-party (Stellagamma, Zozer, etc) Traveller games. So I liked this review - especially the breakdown between the rule page count and setting page count.

I'm not sure there's enough explanation for someone to know how much simpler this version is, if any, from Classic or Mongoose Traveller.

New World

The part saying "It's a system with moderate granularity and moderate complexity." leaves me wanting more details. Again, it goes back to understanding your biases more. Traveller and Cepheus Engine to me are very granular and very complex (mostly from sheer number of rules and bonuses/penalties, rather the complexity of rules). But I have a different scale from you I think.

I liked the Odds and Ends section comments, especially since you tie it into your definition of cyberpunk rather than your personal political beliefs.

I would love for you to review my game, Radical High.

I appreciate you taking you time to look this over and give me feed back.

Quote from: Tod13 on October 22, 2023, 05:20:49 PM

Quote from: BadApple on October 22, 2023, 02:17:07 PM
I've done four reviews of Cyberpunk games so far in the reviews section.  I'd love to get feedback .  Help me out so I can improve.

First, I like your reviews overall. Second, please consider my comments below as respectful suggestions. I'm not good at the super-polite critiquing and, much as I want in my writing, I assume you want constructive feedback rather than platitudes. (Speaking of which, we got our first edits back ever on a short story from a real editor. It was fun and her changes were either stylistic to match the anthology or otherwise made sense, even if we didn't take her exact recommended solution when making the edit.)

I'm a sailor, I have thick skin.  I did ask for criticism so you don't need to hold back.  Reviewing material like this deals with the blurred line between objective measurements and subjective personal views.  I'm definitely trying to thread the needle with some of this.  This means that some things are just going to be vague, much to my discontent.  In the end, the goal is to provide enough honest information for a reader to decide if a game is worth their time to learn more about or if they should look for something else.  Hell, I'm not looking for anyone to agree with me on my like or dislike of a game.  If my review made you or anyone else decide that 2020 not a game you want to invest in and it saved you time and money, then I did what I wanted.

Quote
Thoughts after reading the reviews: maybe if you want to do themed reviews, post them as a single post, with sections in bold or something. That way, I feel I could consider it as one big review. As separate posts (even in the same thread), I expect them to be more independent.

I debated different ways of posting my reviews.  I'll keep thinking of the best way to present them.  With cyberpunk games, I have a lot of them and I don't think a single document is the way to go.  On the other hand, I want to keep them together so that people can compare them.  I'm open to suggestions.

Quote
Cyberpunk 2020

I'd like more background about what you like in your comparisons. For example you say in the Cyberpunk 2020 post:

QuoteWhile not the most complicated system out there, it is rather meaty.

What are you comparing this with? Some people don't consider Classic Traveller to be meaty or complex. Other people reserve complex for Phoenix Command.
You cover this at the end of the review, sort of.

QuoteIt's more complex than 5e, WEG D6, or Traveller.

What is something more complex than Cyberpunk 2020?

I liked that you gave three examples. I know of 5E, I think I read WEG D6 at some point, and am familiar with many versions of Traveller. The early comparison to "Friday Night Firefight" was less useful, as I've never heard of it. To me, it always seems when people say, "If you like X, Y, and Z, you'll love A", I never heard of X, never watched/read/played Y, and hated Z. But I might actually still like the product being recommended.

Rating the complexity of games is a little tricky.  Simply comparing a side by side of mathematical possibilities doesn't really give anyone a real understanding of how fiddly a game is to use.  Phoenix Command is far and away more complex than anything else I've ever seen.  A complex game to me is one that requires multiple calculations, necessitates the frequent used of charts and tables, has a lot of variety subsystems, has a sharp learning curve, or some combination there of.  It's easy to say that Rolemaster is more complex than Into the Odd but where do you put Mongoose Traveller 1e in comparison to Cepheus Engine?  Not to mention that some people process some kinds of information more easily that others so that balancing the order of complexity will be different given a particular audience.   

Subjectively, I consider Cepheus Engine ans most versions of Traveller to be of moderate complexity and granularity.  IMO, this is a good thing.  Granularity is an easy one as BRP is a high granularity game with a 1 in 100 step and Tiny D6 is a 1 in 6 step game system.  Too granular and you won't notice small improvements and not granular enough will result in massive swings with the smallest of changes.  Cepheus Engine is a 1 in 36 step so that each increase of 1 in a roll or a stat is meaningful but not going to blow out the challenge.  Complexity is a bit harder to express clearly as demonstrated before.  All in all, unless someone out there has created a comparison chart for me to use, I'm going to have to use a vague statement like "fairly simple" or "very granular" to describe games.

Friday Night Firefight is the combat system of Cyberpunk 2020.  It was also available as a separate product a long time ago but I haven't seen a copy of it in decades.  It had a black cover, it was about 30 pages long, and some people used it for skirmish games in similar fashion to Infinity or GW's Underworld.  I didn't mean to compare 2020 to Friday Night Firefight as it is a part of 2020.

Quote
This needs the Final Thoughts section from the other reviews.

It's there, I just didn't bold the header.

Quote
Cyberpunk Red

For Cyberpunk Red, please go ahead and repeat the D10 + etc description of the system. That way each review stands alone. (I might not have read the 2020 review.) For example, the section below told me absolutely nothing about the mechanics.

QuoteCyberpunk Red uses a slightly modified version of Fuzion, the same core mechanics as The Witcher RPG.  Fuzion is very similar to Interlock and at 30,00 feet it looks the same.  The best way I know how to describe it is that it's a slightly lightened version of Interlock.  It's a bit easier to use but it's lost some of the granularity of Interlock.

I really liked the Final Thoughts section for Cyberpunk Red.

Zaibatsu

I adore the third-party (Stellagamma, Zozer, etc) Traveller games. So I liked this review - especially the breakdown between the rule page count and setting page count.

I'm not sure there's enough explanation for someone to know how much simpler this version is, if any, from Classic or Mongoose Traveller.

New World

The part saying "It's a system with moderate granularity and moderate complexity." leaves me wanting more details. Again, it goes back to understanding your biases more. Traveller and Cepheus Engine to me are very granular and very complex (mostly from sheer number of rules and bonuses/penalties, rather the complexity of rules). But I have a different scale from you I think.

I liked the Odds and Ends section comments, especially since you tie it into your definition of cyberpunk rather than your personal political beliefs.

I may or may not like a product and I want to be honest about it and why.  That said, even if I absolutely loath it, I want to accurately present it so that my bias doesn't get in the way of you getting what you need from a review.

Again, I want to put out good information.  If there is a good metric to reference objectively, I will use it. 

Quote from: Cathode Ray on October 22, 2023, 06:47:58 PM
I would love for you to review my game, Radical High.

Can you give me a link?

Quote from: Ruprecht on October 22, 2023, 05:14:35 PM
I'd like to see an honest review of the Glog and a few Glog variants.

To date, all I've ever seen is home brews and half finished projects.  I stopped looking at some time ago.  If there's a solid completed project that's being distributed, please give me a link.

Quote from: BadApple on October 22, 2023, 07:18:34 PM
Friday Night Firefight is the combat system of Cyberpunk 2020.  It was also available as a separate product a long time ago but I haven't seen a copy of it in decades.  It had a black cover, it was about 30 pages long, and some people used it for skirmish games in similar fashion to Infinity or GW's Underworld.  I didn't mean to compare 2020 to Friday Night Firefight as it is a part of 2020.

Ah. OK. I didn't catch that. Knowing that, the text processes that way.

In re-reading that section, specific coverage, in the same place in each review, of system lethality would be nice. I'm not one that insists that every system has to have one-shot kills of PCs. Sometimes having more resilience makes for more fun. (From a recent session of our Traveller game, no, a reasonable person is not going to hang out in a half wrecked 100 ton Scout while three System Defense Boats of 300 tons and three pirate craft of 400 tons duke it out around you. Evidently we missed some content doing that. But, darn, we want to live.)

Quote from: BadApple on October 22, 2023, 07:18:34 PM

Quote from: Tod13 on October 22, 2023, 05:20:49 PM
This needs the Final Thoughts section from the other reviews.

It's there, I just didn't bold the header.

I see. It didn't give me the wrap up feel the other sections did, so my brain didn't catch that.

Quote from: BadApple on October 22, 2023, 02:17:07 PM
I've done four reviews of Cyberpunk games so far in the reviews section.  I'd love to get feedback .  Help me out so I can improve.

You also did a Black Star review. This one I liked a lot. All the descriptions made sense. And when I disagreed with portions, it was easy to gauge the difference, since you had described the mechanics so well.

I also liked the Final Thoughts. Evidently, I'm like Marc Miller, who I hear thought setting was extraneous to an RPG book. But my wife *needs* the setting information to get a feel for how to create and play her character. (She's the same way when we write. The book or story is about the character. But, the character grows from the setting.)

I still want to run at least a one-shot in this system for our RPG group.

Quote from: Tod13 on October 22, 2023, 07:31:52 PM

In re-reading that section, specific coverage, in the same place in each review, of system lethality would be nice. I'm not one that insists that every system has to have one-shot kills of PCs. Sometimes having more resilience makes for more fun. (From a recent session of our Traveller game, no, a reasonable person is not going to hang out in a half wrecked 100 ton Scout while three System Defense Boats of 300 tons and three pirate craft of 400 tons duke it out around you. Evidently we missed some content doing that. But, darn, we want to live.)

This is something I should have thought about before.  I will definitely put in lethality levels in future reviews.  Thank you.

Again, thanks for the feedback.  Even if I don't really have a quantifiable way of referencing things like complexity on a deeply granular level, I can try to be more clear in the future about it in the future.

Quote from: Tod13 on October 22, 2023, 07:38:55 PM

You also did a Black Star review. This one I liked a lot. All the descriptions made sense. And when I disagreed with portions, it was easy to gauge the difference, since you had described the mechanics so well.

I consider this high praise.  This is what I'm after. 

My goal is to help you decide the game you want based on what your needs are, not my opinion.  I think my opinion is important but not in a way that interferes with your table getting the right material.