What a fun and playable Black Star compatible adventure to kick a campaign off with! One thing I really liked is the foreshadowing, the sense that this is part of a larger story arc and big things are coming. I know that this kind of cinematic adventure doesn't need tactical maps, , but some of the locations need a diagram - the descritions are reference like a map key, but there's no map to look them up on

A well written story that will convert to 5E with little effort. From what i see here looking forward to reading the Farming Fantasy Adventures.

TL/DR version : Action Anime ! emulates perfectly anime genre with story driven and character development. It s a solid generic system.

You don't need to be a weeaboo or an otaku to enjoy RPGs based on animation/manga, of course some are more well known than other, the granddaddy of all is BESM (2nd & 3rd edition) is the first of generic take on anime genre, then came OVA RPG which tasted like how should have been the cancelled BESM Vanilla. So why should you pick AA! ? First of all, most of anime genre can’t be emulated with BESM or OVA without major tweaking, and without name dropping titles, subgenres or mixed genres, here is some which are not so easy to adapt with the rule systems previously named ; such as : rom com, space (soap) opera, drama, sport, slice of life or even ecchi and their infamous tentacles, oh my ! To sum up, any genres heavily story driven and characters development is more important than the rules themselves, and AA! shines in those domain.

AA! diceless system works pretty well, and the use of the “drive” makes a lot of sense, as in most anime/manga genre, most of the protagonist are fuel by sheer will, and the players are encouraged to use this ‘’drive’’ as a mean to achieve their goal. It uses also some conditions impacting your character in a good or bad way for many things. AA! also give a lot of flexibility to manage bad conditions depending of the conditions and can fits a lot of genre as well. I see clearly AA! focusing less on combats, it can handle them well and it will rely mostly on narrative than tossing dice. A diceless system has also the advantage to be played on forum or chat, and i'm even sure you can use it for a GMless for a cooperative narration, as its form is really close to a freeform rp.

The character creation can be easy and quick once you have your character concept in mind and use minimum stats and traits to describe your protagonist. But, because there is always a but, the “specials” can be a bit tricky to handle when you’re creating them, personally i had some difficulties to understand the creation of one described with the character exemple, just to name the special special i had some issue with a healing power. Otherwise, the specials add a lot of personality to your protagonist and can make them very unique if you manage them well, in the book you have a lot of examples to create your owns depending of the power level of your series, from slice of life genre to super equipped heavy mobile armors (in short mecha).

I have also to mention Curtis Lyon (the author) is always eager to answer your question about the rules, he also helped me a lot to understand this silly ‘’healing power” i mentioned earlier, he also gave me a tip to use dice if it fitted better my player's playstyle.

And here is a free hack for AA! if you want to add some spice to challenge’s resolutions (and if you really want to use dice), you can use a 6D instead of using a drive point for a plus/push (if you use the game it will make more sense), just by using dice like that, it’s a kind of wager for those situation.

AA! is a really good system and became my third favorite one to emulate anime genre. Curtis Lyon really loves anime and give you a lot of tips in the book how to run a series.

Purchase also the cards if you want, because it helps a lot to track down most of your character's conditions instead to use tons of different color chips, and it’s also a bit funnier to handle cards sometimes.

Anime Action! is a rules-light system that focuses on the narrative as the GM and players create their own anime series, episode by episode.

The mechanics leave it wide open for a variety of genres, from swords & sorcery, to space operas, to rom-coms. While the book gives you ideas and a basic structure for character creation, the exact way your stats, traits, and specials interact with the story is extremely malleable.

You largely make up your own trait's fluff and application, but the bonus it gives it static. For instance, my character had "You Gotta Have Faith +2" as a Trait. As long as I could justify it within a story ("I have faith that my goddess will help me aim when I chuck this apple at that bandit's head!"), it could be done.

This could have issues with players/GMs who are adversarial, but anyone interested in telling a cooperative story with anime flavor will love this system.

I own the paperback copy. Glossy cover, perfect bound, matte pages.

Oddly I felt that this was very similar (except for all the dfferences) to the PDQ system. Making the character was a lot like it. The Fiat (attributes) and traits were set up a Lot like PDQ, but spending energy et al to push it higher, and then if you lost, consequences (sort of like FATE) instead of losing ranks. So sort of an expanded PDQ, but nothing Left to chance. I also like Tia (the demon girl on the cover) giving examples and explanations through the book.

This product has some good features that make up for the mediocre rest.

Pros:

• interesting list of armor types that include some ideas about not so common armor types (e.g. spider silk).
• two tables for weapon and armor traits are very good. I would definitely use them if I were to GM some OSR.
• the whole layout is nice

Cons:

• I have a feeling, that some weapons presented in this product were added just to fill up the weapon table. Quite many of those weapons have additional micro-rules, such as +1 to hit when X or if critical hit occurs then Y. Those rules are not really intuitive and to be honest, I don't really think that some of them would even be some kind of competition against boring one handed 1d8 damage sword.
• magical gems... let's just skip this one

Overall this a very good product. I would recommend buying this one if just for those armor and weapon trait tables.

Few weak points of this PDF:

• classes are just plain out of place and silly, they are not really fitting into an OSR in my oppinion.
• taboo class is a nice idea, but those presented here are somewhat shallow as I see it.
• generator for deities is just another set of tables for generating deities. You can find better here and there.

In my opinion this product is not worth the buck. Ideas lack playtesting, and the whole lacks depth.

It is better to take a look at the other PDF from this author, available for the moment - Rearm yourself!, which is actually quite good.

An excellent book: it is very well-written, has lots of interesting & original deities, as well as excellent artwork & presentation, and even divinely inspired magic items!

A must-have for old school gamers and judges alike!

Finally, a pantheon that is worth building into your campaign. While the mythos offered in Dungeons and Dragons 5e and or Pathfinder are great, Gods of Wor by Three Sages Games takes everything one step further.

The brilliance here is in the framework. Building the stories of the gods into your campaign is easy, but in many campaigns, is it worth it? The penalty and or benefit for worshiping a god or goddess has heretofore been intangible at best many times. Gods of Wor changes this.

Ranging from priests to the non-devout, players can take on a number of roles and associated benefits and or penalties. You can immerse your players fully or little by little. The gods can be active or disinterested, caring or callous. The gods can conspire against the players or cheer them on from the sidelines. The structure in the Gods of Wor allows for great versatility.

In my personal campaign, my players like to bury their heads in the sand but using Gods of Wor I have been able to keep them acutely aware of the need to take the will of the gods into account. Actions have consequences, and sometimes, inaction has even worse consequences. The Gods of Wor helps you put it all in perspective and helps you drive the direction of your campaign without feeling contrived.

All in all, a great buy, and I’m looking forward to a lot more from Three Sages.

Really great sandbox. The Beast That Waits gives you a nice small area to start with, A rumor table and notable NPC's.

-- The NPC's are written in a nice short summary

-- The wilderness is broken down into several areas. Each area has a marked goal that can be completed, but doesn't railroad the group.

-- Plenty of hooks that can be used to expand the adventure as much as you want

--- Nothing is set in stone. You can customize parts or all of the module as you see fit for your group or game setting.

From the visual aspect, this 17 page long supplement about weapons and armor looks pretty nifty. Although the illustrations were taken from various historical books and from the internet, they are NOT placed randomly without thought.

I must congratulate Noobirus (the author) for the content. In my opinion, he managed to faithfully translate the specifications of medieval arms into the quite simple S&W engine. He has also written how various weapons work against specific enemies. Sure, this isn't some kind of Hunting Weapon Manual, but you can clearly see features that are characteristic for fantasy worlds, where humans are not the only enemy you will face.

One of the best features of this supplement is the weapon trait tables, which enhances any weapon-related treasure you will find, not only magically. When it comes to defense, the supplement offers us some additional armor types and a very rich list of ornaments.

The last chapter is about magical gems, which can be inserted not only into weapons and armor, but also into everyday items.

To sum up, ReArm Yourself! is a small, but a very interesting supplement, which will surely make many games more enjoyable. The book combines historical correctness and gameplay quite nicely. The illustrations and layout are also nice to look at.

Personally, I think the supplement is worth it's price, but only if you really want to use it in your games. It doesn't contain any rules which are essential to the system, it's just a well-made piece of RPG craftsmanship.

SIX POINT SUMMARY

• I love random tables. Random encounter tables, weather tables, name tables, gossip tables? Awesome.

• A very interesting structure, with conditions on "clearing" each section of the map, with the PCs often being better off finding the root source of the trouble in each area, rather than hunting down the different minions.

• Some great layers are present in the area. Sure, you can "just" deal with the ghost on the road...or you can find out why she's there...and STILL not know everything (relevant to the game) that there is to know about her.

• This is very much a sandbox, and one that the author tried to pepper with enough material and hooks to help your players bite on.

• If you don't know anything about the world of Alia-Wor, it's not a big deal. I could easily see how one could fit this into the Forgotten Realms, for instance, and if my 5e group hadn't already hit level 9, I probably would. There's always the next campaign...

• The art is good, but perhaps a bit cartoonish. Your mileage may vary on how well it fits the tone of the area and adventure.

A very good product that reminds me of the output from Small Niche Games, which I am a huge fan of. It would take very little effort to turn this into a multisession campaign (or at least mini campaign), with the sandbox feel and the various plot layers that can be peeled away for sessions.

I won't sit here and pretend to know what is, or is not, good "old school"...but I know what I like, and I liked this..a bit more than I expected, even. Worth getting if you want a low level sandbox campaign with a slightly horror feel...and don't worry, most of you can convert it to your favorite D&D version (maybe even your favorite system) pretty easily.

For my full review, please visit http://mostunreadblogever.blogspot.com/2015/03/tommys-take-on-beast-that-waits.html

This is a really remarkable product, similar to the sort that Necromancer Games would put out during the 3e area. Basically it's a mini-sandbox setting. Lots of places and NPCs very well described, with the PCs able to wander about doing whatever they wanted. Really a good amount of detail (the 50 pages are all double column), including a 30 room dungeon.

Perfect standing module for an OSR game, especially one like Beyond the Wall. Really one of the best OSR adventures I've seen, and as good as anything Necromancer put out back in the day.

This is what a Dungeon World Campaign Front ought to be. It has just enough to get the game going and leaves lots of room for the players to fill in the details. I highly recommend it.

This is new territory. Few Dungeon World Campaign Fronts exist at the published stage, and it's a relief to see publishers such as Three Sages fill this void.

I've played with this product long enough to know that it is a perfect environment in to which a group can be dropped for a very entertaining Dungeon World campaign. In other words, I've lost several characters in it as a player and killed off several as a narrator. We were all delighted at the quality of their demise!

The key is that this product turns what works best as a one-off narrative game engine into an environment where players can experience old-school gaming tropes with new-school mechanics.

Only those who have tried a thing have earned the right to judge a thing. Earn that right with this product, right now!