Not Broken, Don't Fix

Short Review:

Break!! is a well-designed game that reminds me a lot of Redbox Hack, and a little of 13th Age, and as I like both of those games a lot, I'm quite well-disposed towards Break!! too.

(Much) Longer Review:

This is going to be mostly positive, so let's get what I don't like out of the way first.

The book is massively overwritten. Every little bit and process -- except, oddly, the d20s on the page edges -- is explained in exhaustive detail. It's 470+ pages and it doesn't need to be 470+ pages.

BUT.

If Break!! were my first role-playing game, if I were new to the hobby and needed explanations for how to do things or how rpgs worked, then all of this extra detail and instruction would probably be quite useful. So yes, to my old brain and eyes it's Too Much Writing, but I'm not everyone, so I can let this one go.

I would have liked a bigger monster section. What we do get is good and explains how monsters work, and even how to reskin them to make new, different creatures, but I would still have liked seeing a few more examples. One notable gap is a Level One Sword Fodder type creature. A goblin/kobold/skaven type. Again, there are a couple of creatures that could be modified into that role, but it would have been nice to have one to use out of the box. Not that there is a box.

Something else there isn't is a Frog condition, which seems like a terrible omission, but I suppose you could hack that back in.

And that's it. That's everything negative I have to say about Break!! Now on to the positives. You may want to get a cup of tea or your local equivalent.

The classes callings are all interesting and look exciting to play. They have enough similarities with classic D&D types that they are familiar, but also have enough differences or twists to feel fresh and exciting. The Raider is sort of a D&D ranger, and sort of a D&D monk, but also quite unlike either. The Champion is more or less a fighter, except they are also good at cooking! Cooking the organs of slain monsters, yes, but cooking nonetheless! The Factotum is probably the most unique, a sort of support class calling upgraded to a full player class calling, part skills expert, part tactician, part pack mule, and like nothing I've seen in a fantasy rpg before. It's these classes callings and their unique abilities that make me think most of Redbox Hack and 13th Age; I like them a lot.

The mechanics seem good and robust. There are lots of options, but the basic rules are quite simple, based around single d20 rolls with only a couple of modifiers; like 13th Age the players will have more to remember and track than the GM will -- although some of the monsters can have complex abilities -- which should let the GM get on with running the game. Although not complicated, there is a lot of content, but the organisation is excellent; sections and subsections are clearly and intelligently marked and finding things in the book should be quite easy. Everything is in one book too, which will always win points from me.

There are WFRP-like damage charts (like!), magical corruption for spellcasters (like!), and a magical allegiance mechanic (like!) similar to that found in Elric!/Stormbringer (like like!). There's even a section on colossal enemies -- as in Shadow of the Colossus (very much like!) -- with evocative but simple rules for climbing on and fighting such huge creatures.

(That's it over there. One page. That's all you need to explain a whole sub-system. Imagine that, Call of Cthulhu 7...)

The GM section is very good, full of basic -- see above -- but solid advice on running games, and also what look like excellent tools for generating adventures and setting, with some examples to get you started, or to just rip -- not literally, please -- and run from the book.

Break!! also looks great. Grey Wizard's anime style art is lovely and does an excellent job of conveying the intended feel, although I should point out that if anime's not your thing then there's almost nothing baked into the game itself that forces that sort of style. You could run this as a depressing and obstinate Dark Souls type game with no problem. If you wanted. Anyway, good art! There are also plenty of narrative comic-style pages, which is something I always like to see. More rpgs should have them.

(I am available.)

Grey Wizard's book design is also good and clear. It does feel a tiny bit like a school science textbook -- smells a bit like one too -- but the art does take the edge off that. And there's nothing wrong with science.

In Conclusion (thank fudge for that):

Anime and computer game fans will of course find Break!! right up their alley, but there's also a lot to like if you enjoy fantasy role-playing games but are looking for something a bit different to the D&D style.

I very much like the look of this game, enough so that it's making me run it, and I haven't run a role-playing game in a looooooong time. That's a recommendation you can take to the bank.

(Don't do that.)

Arbitrary numeric score: 4 chocolate wafer fingers out of 2 chocolate wafer fingers.

You can buy Break!! here and follow the Break!! blog here.