This is one of my favorite implementations of a Powered by the Apocalypse system. It uses the Weak / Strong / Grand scale of challenge and success that I first encountered in Far Flung. I enjoy this because it enables storytelling in an intuitive way, one that fits the rising arc of escalating danger so common in stories of heroism. The "classes" feel authentic, and when I use the system I strip out the animal-aspects and just let folks assign a combination of +2 / -2 as they see fit. You could play out any number of stories and movies, from Seven Samurai to 13 Assassins to Shogun. It would be easy to file off the serial numbers and play a game of The Lord of the Rings with this; once you understand the system it lends itself to telling those kinds of stories.

Like any new system, it takes a hot minute to understand how the roles fit together. At the begining, the character abilities feel a ittle mechanically indistinct. At first I worried this would be a little boring, but it actually helped me see how the different core abilities interacted, gave the opportunity to see how Setbacks and Story Points work, etc. After a few games the special abilitis start to crystalize and the game really hums.

That said, you need to bring your own story and play this with people who want to tell a story. The mechanics will facilitate it but the narrative has to be brought to the game and all the players work together to tell that story (e.g. it wouldn't be easy to just drop them in a dungeon). If you want to tell an exciting, sincere story in the Warring States periods this is a fantastic choice.

Blurred use of the Apocalypse system. Too many different effects based on the roll and no clear MC intervention windows. Also, a lot of paragraphs in the book do not have an ending and they stop middle sentence... Not new player friendly, you will struggle a lot learning how this game works (and I have read and played as a GM a lot of different RPGs). On the plus: I discovered the Magnificent Pbta system!!! The Pbta system is difficult to understand at first because is very innovative but very rewarding and full of action!

This is a fairly simplistic mechanical system, but a very rich world. If you love the Usagi books, this one is for you. If you love feudal Japanese history, culture, etc. This is for you. The book provides rules for playing any of the animal "races" as well as a number of different occupations. It even provides a fairly good list of characters for gamemasters to tie into the game. But where it really shines is how it gives a summary of Japanese history, politics, etc. through the Tokugawa Shogunate, as well as a breakdown on the different provinces of the nation.

If you want to run a Usagi game, this is a fun stand-alone book. If you are interested in running a historical campaign, this book provides enough maps and details to use as a sourcebook for any mechanical system.

For those unfamiliar with the books, the default era of Usagi Yojimbo is the first five years of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1600-1605).

I was very pleased with how this game turned out. Looking through the material, anyone who is a fan of the Usagi Yojimbo comics can make a character like their favorites from it! Any of Usagi's adventures can be mimic'd as well, as I've experienced, which is great fun when you realize how well things mesh together. If you have any doubts or questions, I'd recomend watching the video and see how that group played the game. Everything I experienced was basically one to one with that. ;-)

The game, as currently written, is seriously broken.

Its never really clear if the game was written with the intent that the narrative triggers the moves (like most PbtA games) but if this is the case if simply doesnt work due to the absense of trigger conditions on any of the moves. In addition there is a paragraph suggesting that combat occur in turns and that everyone should get a chance to use a move each round. This simply wont work with the freeform narractive structure of PbtA games. What if the narrative they describe doesnt trigger a move. Also there are huge gaps in the moves - so for example there is a move for knowing something, a move for negotiating, a move for assessing things, and it feels like about 30 moves for hitting things with a sword/staff/fist or other weapon. There are no moves for pretty much anything else - for example performing a dangerous arcrobatic feat.

Also there is almost no MC guidance, no MC Principles, no Agenda and no MC Moves. There is a single page Conflict whihc talks about story structure, but nothing as useful as Fronts in Apocalypse world. There appear to be a couple of Blades in the Dark / Forged in Darkness ideas thrown in around position setting... but these arent really developed. I'm going to see if I can find some actual play examples and figure out how this is supposed to be played - because its really not obvious from the rule book.

The layout is very pretty, the history section is great, as is the world section and of course the art is wonderful. Shame about the game.

(And don't get me started on the number of typos)