Adventures under the laughing moon role-playing game review

This is an example of much of the incomplete feel of the rules themselves as concepts of how to actually run the game seem to be glossed over or completely not present.

All the usual suspects are here as well as far as fantasy races and character classes too. Around seventy pages or so including all the aforementioned graphic filler are devoted to what I would consider the character creation process and make up the great majority of the book. The rest of the book is extremely light when it comes to other aspects and actual gameplay.

The magic section is very sparse — surprising in a game with a fantasy setting — with each level having three sample spells included for your perusal. I understand a magic supplement was just released but for an initial core book to only have twenty one spells and a handful of magic items is kind of a cheat.

The monster section is about the same with thirty monsters with most receiving about a paragraph of description and stats. The section devoted to game play is all of twenty pages covering money, leveling up, critical hits, and so on. The history of the game world is three pages in length with a few pages of adventure nuggets to mine as well. The rules are heavy on the character creation side while providing very little in way of a magic system, character advancement, monsters, or the meat and potatoes of actually gaming the system.

At the end of the day, when I review a role playing product, much of my final verdict is based on answering a very simple question: is this a game or adventure I feel like I want to play? Is there something interesting or compelling that — even though I might not want to run it — would make me look forward to sitting down at the table with that product?

I have to say nothing with the core book for AUtLM jumps out at me to demand my attention. I know two new supplements have been, or are in the process of being, released. Both look to expand upon magic arcane and divine in the world of Mythren as far as I can tell. All in all nothing noteworthy is being brought to the table with Adventures Under the Laughing Moon in any way, shape, or form. To start off, it is not my intent to necessarily disagree with anything Jeff has written here, but rather to add context to the product he has reviewed.

My game is something that is somewhat known in the Phoenix metro area of AZ, but otherwise is dust in the gaming wind. My product is a self-published RPG. The game book is being compared to other mainstream games out there, and while that would be wonderful to have an actual gaming company backing up my setting and allowing true game designers to get their fingers into the clay of my world, that is simply not the case with what I have to offer.

When Jeff asked for a copy of the Adventures Under the Laughing Moon book to review, he did so right after an interview with me at a gaming convention in Phoenix. I thought at the time it was simply something he was going to tag onto the interview itself, probably use for a little background on the interview I had just spent three days running games for roughly 25 high-school aged kids who had attended their first convention.

The only people likely to read this would be me, fans of the fiction, and possibly local gamers already enjoying the game. First and foremost, Laughing Moon is a fiction series. As the writer of this series as well as the RPG, I am well-aware of what it provides to a customer.

Also, thanks for the review of Dystopian Wars. Looking forward to reading the rule book. Seems like a very thematic and cinematic game. Besides, I move all my guys roll a bucket of dice, opponent moves all his guys and rolls a bucket of dice and repeat for five turns. We keep aiming to make the show as good as we possibly can! Show More. Plus, he's certainly never at a loss for an opinion Related Articles. Initiative is by group and the GM chooses who goes first, no roll so be sure to buy the GM pizza and pop as this is totally the GM's call.

You need to above roll a 5 on d10 to see how many actions a character take, with additional dice rolled as they advance in their combat readiness skill. A character with a Combat Readiness level of 3 rolls 2d10, so they can perform anywhere from just one free action on a failure to fifteen extra points of actions. That's quite a spread. You can attack a lot if you have the actions. This seems to be needed because the damage system makes it take many hits to defeat opponents. The amount of hit points is not well distributed, as maiming a foot is three, and the head is five for a human.

Maiming the head means instant death if the GM chooses, so maybe a monetary tip in addition to that extra-meat pizza for the GM would help avoid an arbitrary death.

I assume a maimed body part means that body part is useless, but it is not explained. Can you still stand with a maimed leg? Who knows? For every five points of damage to a body part the character takes one wound. This seems to be regardless of the part, and even if it is maimed makes no difference, so I am not sure why the chest has a hit point value.

How do you have a maimed chest? No rules for it. For each wound you get a penalty to your action roll and lose d6 Stamina Points, and if you have a lot of wounds you bleed more stamina every round. When Stamina hits zero you go unconscious. Go negative you die. Since Stamina is the character's Fortitude and Constitution scores added together, a minimum of 20 for humans.

At an average of 3. This is why you need to do those multiple attacks I mentioned. Combat skills can make it a bit faster, and a critical hit can inflict some extra damage. Are they trying to keep it secret? So, how do you choose to hit a body part? You don't. In the spirit of one of my most disliked bad rules it is random.

You cannot target an arm, you just randomly hit it. Facing off against a foe with a dagger in your hand. Hit him in the foot. The foot? Rolling a d20 on the random hit location table carefully secreted on the GM tables along with skill difficulties gives you the body part hit.

You hit the right foot on a 19 and the left foot on a That is a 1 in 10 chance… with that dagger in your hand… of hitting one of the feet. As for those crits, you get them when you roll a natural 20, and a critical miss on a 1. The crits do not have any tie to the body part hit. A crushing hit on the foot can crush the skull.

Conclusion I could go on, but I tire of this. You could accuse me of being a villain, unnecessary harshing the game and being a big dick, but I do not get pleasure or like kicking people. Todd VanHooser seems like a man with a passion, but the passion is obfuscated here under this hot mess.

If he ever makes a second edition with a major rewrite I would be happy to try it again. Here are a few ideas: Get better at layout: Learn how to do it right or get someone to do it who is. It is not that hard to make a small press project look awesomesauce these days with tools available that are as powerful in the hands of a duffer as in the hand of a pro.

Organize: Put everything together that goes together together. For example, have your combat rules damage rules, and the rules for crits all in one place.

Do not be afraid to reference another section when the necessary. Examples: More of them. If there is anything that may be confusing show it in play. What seems straightforward to the writer may not be for the noob.