Tales of Argosa Review

 Recently, I ran my first session of Tales Of Argosa, from Pickpocket Press, written by Stephen Grodzicki. This  is my review of the rule system. A report will follow soon, including how the rules came up in-game and were resolved.

Physical Product.

The book is beautiful. I love black and white illustrations in RPG books, I find them more evocative than colour. This book is monochromatic, with a wine red used for headings and tables. It is well laid out and really clearly formatted and organised. I have had no trouble at all navigating it. It was a far more enjoyable read in book form than it had been on my phone (no surprise)! The illustrations look better, obviously. But what really struck me was that a full-page spread really brings home the quantity of useful tables to roll on for the GM Tools. This is where this book excels, in my opinion, but more on that later. There is an index and some 'decorative' maps by Dyson. Its basically a really nice book and a pleasure to read and practical at the table/online session.

The Basics

With the exception of combat, this is a roll-under-attribute system, with a +1 bonus if a character has the relevant skill. Attributes are rolled on 3d6 with some room for alleviating a complete lack of decent scores and some finagling, so it isn't raw attributes as rolled (although you could always do that of course) but it isn't a full-on build either. Attributes include the usual, plus Perception, Initiative and Luck. These three are all interesting choices which I'll explore in a moment. If you roll half or less of the target number, you get a Great Success and failing by half the target number again is a Terrible Failure. It is up to the GM what the consequences of this are. This leaves room for your GM-ing style, which I like. 

Personally, I love the Luck mechanic: players all start with the same score but it reduces every time you make a successful Luck check. These can be modified by other attributes, according to the situation. So avoiding a trap could be a Luck (Dex) save. Initiative is also a winner for me - an attribute derived from the average of Dexterity and Intelligence. Initiative is used more than many other attributesin most d20-style games and might as well be an attribute. Perception is sometimes contentious. I know some people feel that if the GM wants the character to see something, they should just let them see it. But I disagree. I am not a very observant person in real life. Friends point it out fairly often ( I notice people not  things...). So I think having a Perception attribute is perfect. It is also used for ranged attacks, which I also like, because I like separating picking locks and pockets from shooting bows and arrows!

Character Generation

Characters take a Background during generation which gives then a skill and an attribute bump. This provides a sketch of a backstory. Classes are familiar but a lighter touch than some games. There are no subclasses (which I didn't miss) and very little magic except for Magic Users (which is a single class, not a group of them), Cultist (which replaces Cleric) and Artificer (which the book suggests isn't suitable for all settings). One notable feature is that most classes get a class ability at Level 1 which develops every level (exceptions are Barbarian, Bard and Magic User - though new spells at each level is a close match). For example, Fighters get Adaptability, which brings a new 'Stance' each level, which is rolled for and brings a bonus under certain conditions. There is an equivalent for each class. I wasn't sold on those of the Ranger, to be honest. They felt a little contrived and relied too much of imposing conditions on enemies without what I considered to be a strong anchor in the fiction. But the rest all look great. And there are also new, more typical Class Abilities as characters progress, too. Every third level, characters get something called a Unique Feature, which players are supposed to negotiate with the GM which might be a great way to customise a campaign, or might be a pain if you have a the wrong group. But there is a decent list of suggestions.

Hit Points begin equal to Constitution. So one of my players began with 4, until he remembered the 'you can swap any two attributes' rule. But each time they level up they only gain their new level multiplied by 1-3 depending on class. So the hit point curve is going to be flatter over the long run. This, in my view,  makes planning ahead easier and reduces the yawning gap that can occur between characters' robustness. It also prevents the whole campaign becoming ridiculous. 

Combat is the usual d20 roll over AC, with the usual modifiers. Weapons have slightly different damage dice from some other games, usually higher, but the main difference is in NAt 20 and Nat 19. Natural 20 is a critical but delivers maximum weapon damage plus half your level, so doesn't require rolling dice or multiplying or any of that. A NAtural 19 on the other hand, often delivers trauma, based on weapon-type. There are a  few OSR-type bells and whistles, too, such as Morale checks and rules for a full party retreat, chases and a bunch of manoeuvres. Exploits allow players to attempt 'Mighty Deeds' type actions. 

Magic Users are simplified but also less fragile, when compared to crunchier systems. You get a spell per Intelligence bonus at generation, plus one spell per level and you can cast a number of spells equal to level per adventure. That's it. But you do get to use weapons and light armour, so you're not useless. I'd personally take a leaf out of DCC with this and possibly allow more spells to be learned as a result of a quest and possibly even cast, as a result of magical items gained on similar quests. But magic in Tales Of Argosa is 'dark and inherently dangerous,' so every time a spell is cast (and for one or two other things) a die is rolled on the Dark and Dangerous Magic (DDM) table. The die size depends on the level of the caster, so the higher their level, the more unpleasant some of the options become. I haven't seen this in action yet, as we didn't have a Magic User in the party. 

Encumbrance is via slots. Currency is in silver. Some prices are a dice roll. There are tables and tables of GM support, so that with the slightest forethought, a session can come to life. GM tools include Diseases and Parasites, Dungeon Crawling rules, 'Hexploration' rules, rules for Hirelings, Mass Battle, Naval Combat, Solo Rules, Traps, Treasure, etc. Tons of it, but all fairly light, simple and accessible at the table.

Tone

Tales of Argosa is intended to be a sword and sorcery style gam. It isn't aimed at creating a power fantasy for players. It isn't dripping with magic or enchanted bling. There isn't a lot of 'rules armour' and probably some characters will die. Encounter tables are not 'levelled' and you could as easily roll up an encounter with 2d12 giants as with a couple of blokes arguing in the street. So there is a distinct 'Old School' vibe without it feeling at all 'old'.

I really like this game. I'm not sure it will ever rival the big name TTRPGs, as it doesn't have the massive marketing engine behind it that some of those games have, but its a fun, well-developed game with a real tone of its own and a ton of support available in the form of adventures. Tales Of Argosa's predecessor was Low MAgic Gaming and I get the impression Pickpocket Press are re-writing much of their old support material for the newer version. Which is great because their setting material, 'Midlands' includes fifty adventures. Yes, Fifty... Between those and the GM Tools in teh core book, you'll have enough material for years of gaming...