Overall, I really enjoyed this inexpensive supplement. The Lifepath for making a Legendary 139 was a lot of fun. The supplement loses one star because I was getting confused throughout the Lifepath for when the supplement controlled versus when the core book controlled. I would have preferred the steps in the Lifepath reference or overwrite the same steps in the core. I felt that would have made things a lot clearer. However, I really liked the 139's special aspects, like their Keeps (special sanctuary) and their Mirrors (a copy of you in the 139, but "wrong"). I also like how there are examples throughout the Lifepath for when you need inspiration.

The other part of the book is split in to a multitude of Arcs. Here Moran really shows how elegant her Quest/Arc system can be as she takes two sets of 5 quests and turns them in to a plurality of storied arcs, each with also their own fun example which really clarified the top down approach to tuning quests to the theme of the arc. I particularly liked the Moon Rabbit arc, which reminded me a lot of the classic "The Little Prince" book.

Overall, I am really impressed with the supplement and running a whole campaign for it just based on it. Until Chuubo's first full fledged campaign is officially released this and the Halloween Special, I feel, are critical to really seeing what Chuubo's can do.

At less than $10, this beautiful game is a steal. I've never had my 5 and 8 year old daughters ask to play again and again and again. I feel the 10+ year old "suggestion" is a bit steep if your family plays any basic card games (Go Fish, Rummy, etc.), and you could easily play with a 3 year old just matching colors and shapes to make beautiful trees.

I feel in a way this is like art-inspired Rummy. You get points for each move matching contiguous sets of flowers or insects. You place a card on your tree or an opponents. If your points are too high you prune the entire set down to the trunk (including branches that weren't part of the point scoring). It's really simply just to play with that, but "commissions" add in big point moves if you end the game with certain criteria met, such as longest branch or least insects on your tree.

There are "right" moves, but we've been having so much fun just playing that the end score isn't a huge deal. There's good depth, and definitely risk/reward, but it's very light-hearted and fun. If your family plays games this is a must have.

Chuubo's can be a tough game to understand. The core book is jampacked with the rules, a bit of the setting, and all those arcs, and... and how do you put it all together?

This is the missing piece. Or one. Or really nothing was missing, but this is like the Cliff Notes to How You Could Play Chuubo's. Fairy Tale Style... as in horrible Grimm fairy tales. It's also an adventure revolving around how the Halloween world descends on a small "university" town.

There are 4+ character playbooks. The main 4 are fleshed out with Moran's signature writing style, and they bleed with the nature / demeanor of the characters. I think as a player it would be so easy to just glance at the playbook and understand how that character would act (like responding to a question about why you wear your blindfold with "your face"). They are all so well done that honestly I find it really hard to pick a favorite. I would want to play all 4 (well actually maybe 3, I'm still mad at Jasmine from the Fable of the Swan novel though it would be interesting to pull people's hearts out).

My favorite part of the book is the chapter breakdown because in such elegant simplicity it shows, instead of tells, how much railroad track the HG/GM should lay. For example, Chapter 3 is "The sky is different today. There are swirls of purple, orange, and darkness moving among the stars." The rest is largely up to the players wishes. Yes, there is this whole Halloween is coming and the world is about to become invaded by the mirror-world where a false Halloween King rules, but the HG/GM sets scenes and REACTS to the players.

Finally, the supplement wraps up with a detailed look at the Fairy Tale genre (genre in Chuubo's having mechanical parts to the RPG), and the book nicely wraps things up with handy handouts so that the table can easily remember things like actions and what not.

I think this Anthology is pretty good all told. I'm not sure I'd show it to someone who wasn't in the know with regard to WtF.

I tried thinking, after I read this, why it wasn't perfect. Sure, the use of Proper RPG Nouns without surrounding context drove me crazy. Then most stories are about the hunt. The Wolf Must Hunt. And there is so much to hunt. I guess contextually what I didn't like was that each story was just so full of death to the degree where it's like "oh so, if each hunt a few werewolves die, how are there any werewolves alive at all?" And, I tell myself that these are momentous stories.

"Desert Dreaming Hunt" was probably one of the best. It did a great job explaining a small sliver of the spirit world, as did "Last Rites". I also really enjoyed "The Worst Kind of Enemy", especially that it was territory and not just "vs. Pure". Lots of clever writing were WtF fans can see a bit beyond and "get it."

For a WtF fan it is definitely worth the cost to get some glimpses of the Forsaken's world.

This review is based on the ePub version (i.e., Kindle), which is currently available for $10 at DriveThruRPG. A PDF version with art and print layout will be out later this year. This review was originally posted at Kill Ten Rats MMO blog.

This is a roleplaying game. It is possibly the roleplaying game. It is genius. It is horrifying. It is a beautiful balance of everything that would drive a story forward. It is diceless. It is filled with meta-game moments. It is quite a task to understand. If you are on a path to better understanding how to grow as a gamemaster (GM) or as a player with a player character(PC) in tabletop RPG’s, I’d tell you to buy it. If you are on Pathfinder this RPG might as well be in ancient Martian.

This game was to play Studio Ghibli films. Perhaps not as adventurous as Princess Mononoke, which would easily fall under a standard RPG system. This system was designed to play Ponyo or Spirited Away. There’s one scene in Ponyo, where the boy takes Ponyo out in a boat to explore the submerged world. It’s such an interesting slice of adventure, but without much purpose. How would you create a game like that where the player is involved?

Chuubo’s started there, but it has grown. I’ve heard from the old guard of the game, having been fans since the Kickstarter, that it actually does miraculous gaming quite well. Want to be able to turn into a kaiju or have the powers of Sephiroth? No problem. Want to play a little boy, like one from Ponyo, that has a machine that lets him ask for wishes? Well, that’s why this game exists.

Whimsical. Anime. Storied. Those are all good words to describe the feeling that the author, Jenna Moran, is trying to convey.

Players as Mechanics

The critical element of Chuubo’s is quests. A conventional RPG has the GM creating an adventure or buying a module. The players are usually the reactors based on that poor bloke in the tavern that needs goblins dead. A good GM will take in to consideration as much PC history and motivation as possible, but the GM us usually the actor. With the exception of some indie games (yes, such as Chuubo’s), this is very conventional.

Chuubo’s broadly swings the actor dial back to the players big time by providing quests, usually of the player’s choosing. With these quests the player starts pushing towards ways to complete that quest within the framework of the world and story that is collaboratively created.

Look at the newest quest card example of “A New Hobby”. It could be any hobby. I’ll say fly-fishing. Immediately, it is apparent what story will be told in some sense. I would talk to an expert. I would hit up a fly-fishing store. Then I might create some hand-tied flies… at a farmer’s market, or the wharf. Whatever the case by my, the player’s, choosing of this quest I am sending my PC and the collaborative story. Now this might seem like a simple story, but imagine where players also have their own quests that would help color the story. Could the PC have a moment of daydreaming about fly-fishing during a kite show put on by another PC?

Game Mode

Going down the quest card, there is a bunch of symbols near quest flavor. These exemplify methods of moving forward on the quest within certain genres. They aren’t limiters, as much as enhancers. The GM chooses (with the group, of course) the genre the game is played in. For example if the genre is “pastoral” players can get XP for doing a Shared Action (“Reach out to them. Try to connect.”). This means a smart player trying to game the system will claim XP on a Shared Action and on the A New Hobby quest by “having a geeky discussion with a fellow hobbyist”.

The Pastoral genre is all about having these Shared Actions. Players constantly are seeking them so that they can gain XP. In the Adventure Fantasy genre players are going to try and (Be in) Trouble – where something really scary is happening and the player is overwhelmed or overmatched. Seek that out, and get XP!

Finally players define their PC’s personality a bit by fishing for Emotion XP. If you want your PC to be a tad neurotic take the “Offering You Comfort” Emotion XP. Every time another player (or the GM, I suppose) offers you/ your PC comfort you get XP! So how are you going to play that PC? Well in a way where they want and seek comfort.

It isn’t hard to foresee what scenes will result from my neurotic fly fisherman in the Pastoral genre. I am going to be lamenting all my failures as a fly fisherman while proclaiming the tragedy of being bitten by the bug. I just can’t quite fly fishing, the perfect art of war against trout!

A PhD in Chuubology

The worst part of it is putting it all together. Instead of doing whatever I feel like for my PC, based on some loose concept I have, I am now trying to chase down XP. It is possibly just as gamist as moving down a dungeon corridor block-by-block with a 10-ft bamboo pole held in front of me for traps. Notecards (or whole sheets of paper) are absolutely critical for bookkeeping what quests, genre actions, and even emotion XP is going on.

I would say this is the worst thing about the ePub. I am constantly flipping all over the place trying to find quests, quest examples, actions, rules, etc. It feels like someone trying to tell me how to bake a cake sometimes with the pouring of batter step before the breaking the eggs step. This is where it loses the star.

MMO-like

In a way Chuubo’s reminds me of an MMO. It reminds me specifically of how it feels after I’ve picked up a couple quests at a quest hub and I am now heading out in to the wilderness. Oh! Look a thing to mine. Now there’s a player in trouble. Now I can farm those 10 ratlings, but I only hit 6 before I have to wait for a respawn. MMO players try to be efficient and think of ways to hit all the quest-like buttons at once, but there is still a story to be told.

I am hoping that Chuubo’s starts something in RPG design that keeps growing. I would love as a GM to be the reactor. Let the players drive forward, and I just react with how the world is. Let the players path out where they want to go while the GM’s job is to marry all those paths in to one grand adventure. Or just about kite flying and fly fishing. Those would be good yarns.

Bottom line (at the top), if you want some good vampire fiction where they get scared of the boogiemen, you can't go wrong with The Strix Chronicle Anthology.

It's surprising that the anthology starts so weakly. However, for the price the stories in the latter 2/3 of the book are more than worth it. "Lullay, Lullay" was my absolute favorite, and I would recommend buying this Anthology for that story alone.

The reason this is not 5 stars is not because of the weak stories. I can overlook those for the brilliant pieces that overshadow them. It loses a star because I felt the editor allowed too many Vampire the Requiem Proper Nouns in the anthology with little meaning to the reader. I even know what the Proper Nouns mean (First Estate, Haunt), and I just didn't see them get used very well except in a few cases ("Lullay, Lullay" with Gangrel/Savage and "Second Chance" with Invictus/First Estate).

Overall though this really drives the Strix themes hard, especially in the second half of the Anthology. The stories are very well done in that regard.