GrimBlade Kickstarter and Review

 Right now, the other half of The Lone Bards, Josh, has a Kickstarter project going on for ZineQuest 3. 

I've had a chance to talk to Josh about the game and take a look at the pdf and thought I'd give a short review. 

The pdf is _ pages and features writing and artwork all done by Josh. If you aren't familiar with his art, you can check it out here. While there may be some extra goodness added, the rules and such are only 8 pages. That's because GrimeBlade is a highly customizable, but concise game.

Players roll a single d6. The GM rolls an opposing Grim Roll. The die used in these rolls depends on how difficult and dark the task is. These rolls can be modified by Advantage or Disadvantage. Unlike the roll twice and use the better or lesser roll, these modifiers either add or subtract 1d4. Players life force is measured in Hope and their opponents in Glum. Opposed rolls change these totals in combat. PC's and NPC's use skills to do things. These traits define what a character or monster does, and show specializations and such.

Characters roll on character types. backgrounds, and skills charts during character creation. I absolutely love the skills because while traditional skills are self explanatory, specialty skills are decided up by players and GM's. For example let's say you "Negative Version." What does it do? Do is cause someone to act in an opposite manner. Does it create a Nega version of a target? This is up to you and your GM. 

The pdf ends with three threats/monsters. They're pretty bizarre and gruesome looking. They are also good examples of how to create opposition for players.

I'm really proud of Josh and this project. It's a great and easy to play game that encourages creativity. You can back the project here. It has eleven days to go and is close to 75% funded.