Do you remember those games you’d play as a kid, where each player would invent increasingly influential situations to browbeat the other? Well, The Retro Hack has that feel, and leaves the imagination arms race in the past.
Nakade sets out to provide an experience like the first time you played a dungeon crawler, just without trying to reuse those actual mechanics. I think they succeed in this goal.
The Retro Hack gives a nice disaggregation of narrative control, keyed to an important resource, which lets players opt in to when they want to take the reins without automatically defaulting to it the way PbtA games work, per se. I am a particular fan of the difference between the active skills and the passive traits, which invites the GM to ask lore questions of the specific players.
Fantastic one-shot fodder, and essential reading for anyone trying to design post-fact quantum equipment systems.
Disclosure: I was offered a review copy in trade for an unbiased review. I would happily buy extra copies for friends.
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Potential is very neat.
REVIEW: Well worth your time
Do you remember those games you’d play as a kid, where each player would invent increasingly influential situations to browbeat the other? Well, The Retro Hack has that feel, and leaves the imagination arms race in the past.
Nakade sets out to provide an experience like the first time you played a dungeon crawler, just without trying to reuse those actual mechanics. I think they succeed in this goal.
The Retro Hack gives a nice disaggregation of narrative control, keyed to an important resource, which lets players opt in to when they want to take the reins without automatically defaulting to it the way PbtA games work, per se. I am a particular fan of the difference between the active skills and the passive traits, which invites the GM to ask lore questions of the specific players.
Fantastic one-shot fodder, and essential reading for anyone trying to design post-fact quantum equipment systems.
Disclosure: I was offered a review copy in trade for an unbiased review. I would happily buy extra copies for friends.
What a wonderful and thoughtful review! Gives a great idea of the experience the game offers.
Thanks Luke :)
Really looking forward to testing this out on game night!
Thanks! I've tried it out a few times and it's been pretty fun so far!