Well, I'm ready to give Reap a try now. Although I am realizing the consequences of trying to trim the creep off a 100 page zine ;) I lost a little of the artwork on the right edge. Oh well. It is still readable/usable. The perfect bound won't have the same problem when it comes.
I have a few questions now that I'm in my first combat.
Is it fine to reap all the fallen enemies at the end of combat automatically? Or does combat end immediately with the last death/round?
The Scythe states "... Those components may be used with a spell you are currently casting." This looks like a holdover from the RUNE rules. You're not simultaneously casting a spell when using a weapon in REAP, right? Since things are resolved one at a time, the Scythe has to be used first, then components gained, then spell cast. (This has already given me fewer options at one point.)
You can reap all the components at end of a fight if you are adjacent to them.
Because you assign all your dice, the spell is being cast, just not resolved yet. So anything you get from the scythe can be pumped into that spell you've assigned a die to.
How does difficult terrain work? It states that all actions are at -1 Harm. Am I dealt Harm or am I just worse at dealing Harm?
The rules tell me to resolve all the actions from a given card. Do those need to happen in order? In RUNE, movement is always before damage. In REAP, I see that movement is listed before damage; but does that mean it has to happen first? Because, well, I can do cooler move sequences if I can use my weapon's harm, then my weapon's movement, then a spell's harm.
I think this opens up an interesting option: Some weapons could require the movement to happen first, while others could be more flexible. It's an interesting way to make a weapon subtly better.
If I summon skeletons, how does aggro priority work? The rules currently state that enemies always target the Reaper, which would mean they ignore the skeletons.
The fight with the Horror isn't marked with a check box or the FIGHT keyword. This makes sense, because, if it were a real FIGHT, it would fill a slice of the Vessel clock, which it shouldn't do. Is it mandatory given arrival in that map point? Or is it optional like a typical point action? Or, should I have read the title of the point and known not to go there unless I intended to finish the job? (I'm taking this last interpretation for now.)
REAP is a solo point-crawling combat rpg. It has a Soulsborne flavor and positions your character a cosmic force, crossing between realms and eliminating their keystone monsters, causing them to collapse.
The PDF is 25 pages and is currently a quickstart, but has clean layout and playful, evocative illustrations.
In terms of gameplay, the core loop is very simply. You move between map points, decide how you're going to interact with each node, and then move on. Some nodes are complex, with actions gated off by stat requirements or actions at other nodes. Others are small-scale fights. Getting killed doesn't end play, it just respawns monsters, so as long as you're persistent this isn't really a game you can lose.
Combat is moderately complex, a bit more granular than a Fighting Fantasy gamebook. You have a small grid and enemies have simple AIs, and you have various resources you can spend and a dice placement mechanic for taking actions, but you're not rolling for hit locations or tracking dozens of derived stats.
It doesn't feel random, even though there are random elements. Your actions feel very intentional, and determine the outcome of the fight.
In terms of player resources, there's a playable adventure (Kyrie Realm) and more to be expected with the upcoming crowdfund. The rules are also clearly explained, and you could pick up this book without having played a ttrpg before.
Overall, if you like gamebooks (and especially if you enjoy the extra granularity of series like Destiny Quest,) you should check this out. It's a solidly built solo rpg with combat that feels meaningful and maps that are fun to explore. It's open-source Dark Souls. There's a lot to like.
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Well, I'm ready to give Reap a try now. Although I am realizing the consequences of trying to trim the creep off a 100 page zine ;) I lost a little of the artwork on the right edge. Oh well. It is still readable/usable. The perfect bound won't have the same problem when it comes.
I have a few questions now that I'm in my first combat.
Is it fine to reap all the fallen enemies at the end of combat automatically? Or does combat end immediately with the last death/round?
The Scythe states "... Those components may be used with a spell you are currently casting." This looks like a holdover from the RUNE rules. You're not simultaneously casting a spell when using a weapon in REAP, right? Since things are resolved one at a time, the Scythe has to be used first, then components gained, then spell cast. (This has already given me fewer options at one point.)
You can reap all the components at end of a fight if you are adjacent to them.
Because you assign all your dice, the spell is being cast, just not resolved yet. So anything you get from the scythe can be pumped into that spell you've assigned a die to.
How does difficult terrain work? It states that all actions are at -1 Harm. Am I dealt Harm or am I just worse at dealing Harm?
The rules tell me to resolve all the actions from a given card. Do those need to happen in order? In RUNE, movement is always before damage. In REAP, I see that movement is listed before damage; but does that mean it has to happen first? Because, well, I can do cooler move sequences if I can use my weapon's harm, then my weapon's movement, then a spell's harm.
I think this opens up an interesting option: Some weapons could require the movement to happen first, while others could be more flexible. It's an interesting way to make a weapon subtly better.
You are worse at dealing Harm.
You choose the order of resolving the actions that a weapon gives you.
If I summon skeletons, how does aggro priority work? The rules currently state that enemies always target the Reaper, which would mean they ignore the skeletons.
This will be addressed in the final version of the game.
The fight with the Horror isn't marked with a check box or the FIGHT keyword. This makes sense, because, if it were a real FIGHT, it would fill a slice of the Vessel clock, which it shouldn't do. Is it mandatory given arrival in that map point? Or is it optional like a typical point action? Or, should I have read the title of the point and known not to go there unless I intended to finish the job? (I'm taking this last interpretation for now.)
REAP is a solo point-crawling combat rpg. It has a Soulsborne flavor and positions your character a cosmic force, crossing between realms and eliminating their keystone monsters, causing them to collapse.
The PDF is 25 pages and is currently a quickstart, but has clean layout and playful, evocative illustrations.
In terms of gameplay, the core loop is very simply. You move between map points, decide how you're going to interact with each node, and then move on. Some nodes are complex, with actions gated off by stat requirements or actions at other nodes. Others are small-scale fights. Getting killed doesn't end play, it just respawns monsters, so as long as you're persistent this isn't really a game you can lose.
Combat is moderately complex, a bit more granular than a Fighting Fantasy gamebook. You have a small grid and enemies have simple AIs, and you have various resources you can spend and a dice placement mechanic for taking actions, but you're not rolling for hit locations or tracking dozens of derived stats.
It doesn't feel random, even though there are random elements. Your actions feel very intentional, and determine the outcome of the fight.
In terms of player resources, there's a playable adventure (Kyrie Realm) and more to be expected with the upcoming crowdfund. The rules are also clearly explained, and you could pick up this book without having played a ttrpg before.
Overall, if you like gamebooks (and especially if you enjoy the extra granularity of series like Destiny Quest,) you should check this out. It's a solidly built solo rpg with combat that feels meaningful and maps that are fun to explore. It's open-source Dark Souls. There's a lot to like.
Well dang, a kumada1 review! Thank you very much for leaving this!
Thank you for writing the game! This is a great system, and I'm looking forward to the full version!