It's no secret that I like to play narrative focused and cinematic games. I have a preference for rules-lite. Those are some of my biases that I want you to know about going into this RPG review. Why would I tell you this? Well, if you look at the cover you can see it is a Forged in the Dark role-playing game. It is no accident that I am going to be interested in this game.
Of course, I cut my teeth on the old West End Games Star Wars 2nd Edition. I grew-up playing that as my sci-fi game of choice. I should probably do a review on it some day even though it is not new. I have also played Starfinder for straight Sci-fi games. For a stretch, I have also played Palladium's Robotech system as well. Finally, I have also played Green Ronin's The Expanse role-playing game. I guess I am telling you all this to show my Bonafide's when it comes to sci-fi role-playing games. I am not a rookie when it comes to this style of game.
As an added bonus this a game that is about heists. That makes sense, considering the source of this system is Blades in the Dark, which is a heist game. I also have experience with heist games. This is mainly via Shadowrun. However, I also have some experience with Noir games such as Hard City. Therefore, I am familiar with this "less than savory characters" style games too. In many ways, this one reminds me of the TV show Firefly.
Therefore, you now know some of my bias going into this games. You also know some of my history with RPGs of this type. So, let's dig into this one shall we? Time to fuel up, load the cargo, and get ready to blast through the blockade. Does this game have what it takes to keep on flying?
Things I Like
This game uses a Playbook system. I tend to like those as it fills core "niche" with appropriate stuff. However, they are typically choice one of these options which allows for a quick start. The niche is often "fictionally appropriate" for the style of game being played. This is a Star Wars/Firefly genre Space Opera. Therefore, the core "playbooks" are: Mechanics, Muscles, Mystics, Pilots, Scoundrels, Speakers, and Stitches. I think you can imagine which of your favorite characters fit in where.
In addition to playbooks, there are a few "crew types" that help create an archetype for the stories you will be telling in a campaign. These archetype ships set the tone of the table and adventures to come. It is different being smugglers than bounty hunters than freedom fighters. You might dabble in all of these, but ultimately the main draw is the archetype of the ship and crew.
Dice mechanics are simple. There is a small list of attributes from 0-4 dice. These represent a dice pool that you roll for tests. A highest dice as a 6 is a full success, 4-5 is a partial success, and 1-3 is a bad outcome. No dice, then roll two and pick the lowest with no chance to crit. Simple. I like simple dice mechanics.
The game discusses scene types with "On The Job", "Downtime", and "Free Play". It gets into more details about types of Jobs and the Engagement roll to help speed up planning. Therefore, players and GMs have an idea of what to expect from each part of the game.
You can get extra dice for a roll, but there are always a complication. They call it a Devil's Bargain! These can be used to shake things up and raise the stakes. I can see a certain type of player never taking these, and another always taking them when offered.
Things I Do Not Like
I rarely talk about lay-out of games, but I am not a fan of how this game is laid-out in the book. It is not easy to use. When I was making my character, I had a hard time finding key details. I was surprised since this is a Playbook driven game yet simple things like "attributes" are buried in the character section without a clear heading name. Just, not great editing and design. I know, a bit petty but it made making a character a bit of a frustration.
There was 12 Attributes, which I think is probably 4 too many. Again, a bit nit-picky but there you go. Often times your Playbook will give you a bonus in an Attribute. There are only 7 Playbooks, so that is probably how many Attributes the game should have as well. The intention is to give you an idea about how the PCs will approach a given scene, where sneaking across a hangar is played out mechanically different from sprinting across the same hangar. However, I think a layer of abstraction would work fine here to cover both situations.
Then there are three resistance rolls that are used in different situations. Again, I think it is one too many. Resistance rolls always succeed, but you take stress. Stress is bad. Instead of damage, you take Stress when called upon to resist. If your Stress reaches max, you start taking Trauma conditions. These are more like Role-play notes with names like Paranoid and Cold. Trauma conditions are permanent, but when you have 4 Trauma you are out of the game. It looks like you start with 12 trauma, and can choose to take 2 to Push Your Luck. I think this is too much Stress to start and not enough impact from Trauma. Instead, if you play Trauma well you get XP bonus. Play it bad and..... nothing really.
Meh and Other Uncertainties
Clocks. It wouldn't be a Forged in the Dark system without clocks. Clocks are a pretty handy and cool idea. The GM determines how many times you can essentially pass or fail before consequences start to spiral. Bad Outcomes and Partial successes can cause opposing clocks to move, and success and Crits can have good clocks move. Pretty neat way to raise the tension, especially since you will want to make these clocks public. So, why do I put them here? Ultimately, I think you will have too many clocks going at a time, even in fairly mundane circumstance.
I.e. a simple smash and grab would have a clock for the PCs to "Get into the Hide-out" and then "Get the loot", and "Escape Clean". Various actions would help them or hinder, but on the other side you might have the opponents with "Detect Intruders", "Clean-out the Loot", and "Turn-the-Tables" However, at the same time each PC may also have their own clocks running for various personal reason. They can stack up fast and a tool to help make tracking and abstraction easier suddenly is not easy. Doing a clock is easy and cool, but running 12 clocks can be tricky.
In addition to the dice any individual has, you can boost dice by taking stress, taking a Devil's Bargain, Assists from others, and there are also shared Crew resources. There are a lot of ways to boost your dice pool, with varying forms of consequences. It means you can easily manage risk, with only a few options to make interesting complications.
Ultimately, I think the game just uses too much jargon for things that do not need it. The lay-out is all ready strained, so the amount of game specific Jargon just takes me out of the rules. I am sure a great GM can make this all disappear; but a great GM can make any game great! What about a mediocre or average GM? I am not sure it can be done here, and I think the jargon and terms will get in the way of the narrative your table is telling.
Final Thoughts
I really wanted to love these rules. I had heard a lot of great things about them. However, I am not sure they are for everyone. I actually like them less than a standard Powered by the Apocalypse game. They are slightly more complicated with nothing new to show for it. The big idea is the Clocks compared to PbtA and I am not sure they deliver an enhanced experience that can not be captured with less book-keeping.
Plus, I think the lay-out and jargon make this game easier to play than to read. As a new player to a campaign, I did not find it easy or intuitive to grasp. I also had a hard time finding what I was looking for in the book. It was too abstract and too detailed at the same time for my tastes and in the wrong areas.
That said, I am glad I have read it and played it. There are really good ideas here, I just am not satisfied with how it all goes together. I can see others who would absolutely adore this game, and I won't turn down future games. However, it is also not my favorite either.
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