Movie Mashup - All The King's Men

Since I'm involved in a contest that doesn't end until June 1st, 2011, I figured that I would do what I did with Game Chef and do reviews for people who have put forth entries into the 1km1kt.net Movie Mashup 24 hour RPG competition. I put my game up already, but since I'm not really going to review my own stuff, I'd rather get feedback from other people, I turn my attention to those the other contestants.

I'm doing this because I know that feedback is important, and that it is rather notoriously hard to get. I offer free copies of a book to people who will do a review of the PDF and I still haven't gotten any reviews that fit the contest (though Ed at Robot Viking did one, which is always appreciated).

Anyway, I'll be doing this review using most of the criteria put out by the contest. Copying from the 1km1kt.net thread here are the criteria for judgement.

Poor you! Our panel of monkeys will be judging you on:
Must include an NPC called Keeton
Proximity: How close to the two films is it?
Complete: Is it complete? Could you run it?
Attractive: Is it attractive to look at?
Professional: How much effort went into layout and style?
Extras: Did they include actual cover, index, character sheet or any other cool things you get in a proper RPG?

Don't worry too much about the Keeton part. That's a running joke on the site.

Today's game is All the King's Men, a submission by Geoff Lamb

I liked this game a lot. Theme makes me happy. If you've got a theme where you have people trying to understand what they're doing, and how they might be on the wrong side, then I'm there. I love playing out those kind of situations where you are full of that dreaded realization that you are part of the bad guys. I think it's one of the reasons why I'm not a huge fan of Vampire, because there's no slow reveal. It's *BAMF* you're a bad guy now.

So, say hello to the bad guy. That would be you.

Proximity: How close to the two films is it?

This is another example of an excellent mash up. You have the Robin Hood veneer, which allows you to pretty much tell the tale of Apocalypse Now. While I love mash-ups that take two elements and make something new, this one makes something new by being the most perfect balance of the two types of films that while you can see where one ends and the other begins, it's at the midway point.

While the setting is very much Robin Hood, though you are one of the faceless men of the Sheriff of Nottingham, allows for the Apocalypse Now type feel, the mechanic helps with the slow descent into madness. Failure slowly erodes at your self until you're either are killed, have snapped, or give up. I love entropy games mechanics because it is a slow fight that you are destined to lose.

Complete: Is it complete? Could you run it?
It is a complete game. As I mentioned above the mechanics fit perfectly into the style of game that the game wants you to play. It also really pushes that kind of war movie mentality where each platoon has their kind of specialist since once someone takes a focus, or a specialty no other character can take it. That way you kind of get that vibe, you know the one. You get Tex, and Sniper, and Gunner and all the stereotypes you get in that kind of film in the game, it's great.

It also has a really defined end game. You lose all of one stat and that's it. So if your lower stats get pushed then you're out really quickly, but I can see this game going on with a rotating set of mooks. One dies, or joins the other side and another comes to take his or her place. It is kind of needed since a quick succession of failures will end up with your character on the brink almost too fast, and there is never any fun to be found in sitting around watching others play a game you just technically lost.

Attractive: Is it attractive to look at?
Professional: How much effort went into layout and style?

As far as attractiveness, it's a pretty simple pdf. There's nothing big and fancy here. There is the appropriate Robin Hood imagery, but again that's probably the easiest to find.

There was a decision that I find a little odd. Instead of including all the material it takes to build a character in the character creation section, it's found in the appendix. You really want to put that stuff right where the people are going to see and use it rather than in the back. The back is where you put the summary so that people can reference what they want. That would be my only real gripe with the way the book is layed out.

Extras: Did they include actual cover, index, character sheet or any other cool things you get in a proper RPG?

Cover, character sheet and even an appendix all included!

Would I play it?
Absolutely. I wouldn't change anything either, I'd love to give this game a whirl and find my character coming to grips with their own bad decisions.