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Project BRKN-Shackle's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Rank | #5 | 4.714 | 4.714 |
Ranked from 7 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
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Comments
Nifty idea and setting. Drug-fueled paranormal spy-fi has potential and your setting puts a fascinating lens on the Swinging Sixties. I also like the way you pared down the list of FIST traits to better fit the genre.
There were a few issues you might want to tweak. The dosage die on page 6 rules need some cleanup. It looks like there is some missing text and even without it I'm not sure how it works. When does burnout happen? Also it's not clear if a drug is physically taken to activate a weird trait or if it is a mental switch. Mechanically there is no difference, but it would affect player actions. Can they go weird if tied up?
On page 9, there's a spelling error, "The bowls of PBS itself" should be bowels. Also I'm not sure if the use of PBS, which is also the name of the Public Broadcasting System, is intentional. If not you may want to change it to "the Project" as it is jarring.
I like the Clutch trait, especially as it encourages the donning of sunglasses ala CSI:Miami. I might also put the OTS sections closer together for easier reading, but otherwise a great entry.
Thanks for the great feedback, I've gone back and addressed the points you've made. Hope that helps if you end up taking another look at it.
Just downloaded and read the new rules and they look great. Well done!
Solid, SOLID addition to the core rules. I like the use of GLOG light source die (I think?) to track the 'trip quality' of the drug test participants. Even if you don't want to shift to 60s spy or play a "Phantom Doctrine" type arch scenario, it's worth having for coming up with new CYCLOPS CRO teams.
Small, real small critique. A chart is split between pages 9 and 10, but there's enough white space on page 10 to consolidate it there.
Okay so, this just rules. The overall framework itself is pretty captivating, psychedelia-laced spy adventures with plenty of interesting prompts for locations, missions, enemies!
This is the EXACT format I prefer for these sort of things, as they're a bit more open ended and make mixing and matching a bit easier, a basic concept you can spiral into and modify for you own game. The clean design of it similar to the main FIST book, with the dashes of color, doesn't hurt either
The core mechanical addition of the Dosage meter and burn-out is a really simple and clever mechanic. Was a bit concerned about at extra die added to the game, but overall working primarily for the doses was a good call.
If I have any concerns, I'm not rally a fan of framing players as a CIA agents in all this (tis a tad bit bland as a starting point in my mind, aside from the political inferences that can be made)...but given the nature of this genre and the base setting of the game already, it feels hypocritical to meaningfully critique this aspect of the supplement as opposed to rolling with the rest of these fictionalized depictions of Cold War Mercenaries.
Anyway, overall really neat little thing for a different genre of adventures than what's advertised on the box. Great work!
This commented posted twice so I deleted one, FYI.
Thanks for the glowing review! Regarding playing as agents, when I initially conceived of this project, the PCs would be witting or unwitting participants in the experiments. I shied away from that for a couple of reasons:
Hope that provides some insight into that design consideration. I was thinking about introducing an alternative background, like "another way to play" as an appendix that would propose civilian backgrounds. Maybe that'd be worth putting together.
Thanks again for your review!
You had me at MKUltra. The Project BRKN-Shackle campaign setting recontextualizes FIST as a 60s spy thriller rather than the default 80s Cold War mercenaries.
There are new rules for unlocking powers with – ahem – certain substances, a mission generator, new traits, the works.
Plus, I’m pretty sure it opens with a Grade-A Dad Joke:
*slow clap*