Magic and monsters have long been intertwined in mythology and folklore. In many stories, magic is a tool used to combat or control monsters. However, there is often a blurred line between what constitutes a magical creature and what is considered a monster. Magic is often portrayed as a force for good, with wizards and sorcerers using their powers to protect the innocent and defeat evil. These magical beings can harness the elements, change their form, or cast powerful spells. They are often portrayed as wise or mysterious figures, with the ability to control or manipulate the world around them.
One thing you can do with those effects is put Consequences on your targets. A minor consequence gives your opponent a -2 whenever it makes sense for the consequence to affect them, and it costs 5 effect points to remove it. A major is -4 and costs 10 EP to remove, and an extreme is -6 and costs 15 EP to remove. These could be things like "dazed", "weakened", "slowed", "in pain", "confused", "partially blinded", and so on. With an extreme consequence, you can take someone out of combat immediately, allowing for things like "petrified".
Thus, while a Wizard and a Fighter might both have an 18 Strength, the Wizard would only get a 4 to checks using Strength, while the Fighter would get 8. The cover art is pretty nice - a wizard, dwarf, and human fighter face off from atop a tower against a lich who is laughing while riding on the back of something manticore-ish.
They are often portrayed as wise or mysterious figures, with the ability to control or manipulate the world around them. On the other hand, monsters are often depicted as dangerous and destructive creatures. They come in many forms, from giant beasts to supernatural beings.
Excee magic vs monstets
Monsters & Magic (hereinafter M&M) bills itself as "Old School Fantasy, New School Play", and on the back carries the "Old School Renaissance" logo. It also claims to "let you use old school fantasy gaming material with little or no conversion with a new and innovative set of rules."
Well, if you're like me, you've seen these kinds of promises before. Most often, from games that turned out not to be 'innovative' in any way beyond adding someone's homegrown classes, races, spell point system, and combat system "enhancements" to xD&D. There were scads of these in the '80s and early '90s, and then a fresh new batch followed in the early days of 3e.
So, I was a little skeptical when I first heard about M&M. But nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I went and looked a little more - and then noticed that Sarah Newton, the primary writer, was also the primary writer for the Fate-based Legends of Anglerre , which I had heard good things about, and was involved in Achtung! Cthulhu , which I'd almost backed on Kickstarter (but didn't due to uncertainty about medical bills at the time). That piqued my interest - this wasn't going to be something from someone who'd never played anything but xD&D and thought all their ideas that old gamers have seen a dozen times before were new. So I decided to give it a chance.
Note: Monsters & Magic is currently only available as PDF, but the publisher intends to have it available in print by GenCon 2013. This review is based on the PDF version.
What's in the Book?
The cover art is pretty nice - a wizard, dwarf, and human fighter face off from atop a tower against a lich who is laughing while riding on the back of something manticore-ish. It's well-done and pretty evocative; put simply, it looks like it'd be a kick-ass scene in a game. So that's good.
The interior is 141 pages, counting the cover page and credits page. And, of course, since it's drawing on some OGL materials and the designers are licensing out their own system (the "Effect Engine", more about which below), there's another two pages used for legal text. A three-page index is at the end, which seems reasonably complete - almost everything I've looked for in it, I've found there.
It's all black-and-white inside, and there seems to have been a decision to consciously emulate 1st edition AD&D a bit in the art - not that any of the pieces specifically echo the AD&D ones, but rather in the use of mostly line art, and especially in the oval-encapsulated depiction of an adventuring party having an impromptu roadside conference on the title page - with one character sitting atop a 'boulder' that's a 12-sided die, echoing the mage on a six-sided die on the title page of the 1st edition AD&D Player's Handbook.
Each page has an art header that also says which section you're in. It's not very tall, though, and there's no bottom border, so this isn't one of those games where you get the feeling that it could have been 2/3 as long if they hadn't used up so much page space on borders. A few of the interior art pieces look a bit hastily done - more like sketches than finished art - but overall, it's good.
The text is easy to read, section headers are nicely visible, there are boxed off bits with some important things, and the end has not only a copyable/printable character sheet, but also a two-page 'rules summary' and seven pages of useful tables for play and character generation. The author's voice is easily understandable.
Overall, I give the book a 4 out of 5 on Style. With better art, I'd give it a 5.
That's Nice. Now What the Hell Are the Rules Like?
Most OSR games use some variant of the classic xD&D system. often complete with percentile thief skills and other such things. M&M, however, does not. So what does it use?
They call their system the Effect Engine(TM). The core rule is the "roll, add an attribute, add other situational modifiers, and compare to a difficulty" that's so familiar to xD&D players from d20. The differences are these:
First, your dice roll is 3d6. This means that your rolls fall on a bell curve, rather than a flat distribution. You're only going to roll a 3 or an 18 about 1% of the time, compared to 10% of your results being at the extremes in the d20 system. Whether this is a good thing is a matter of preference, but personally, I like it.
Second, similarly to Castles & Crusades, M&M characters have one attribute that is their "prime attribute", which they get an increased attribute bonus with. For PCs in M&M, this will generally translate to getting twice the normal attribute bonus. Thus, while a Wizard and a Fighter might both have an 18 Strength, the Wizard would only get a +4 to checks using Strength, while the Fighter would get +8. This is meant to represent the idea that while they might both have the same muscle power, the Fighter is more experienced when it comes to how to put that muscle power to use.
Third, the "other situational modifiers" include something called traits. A trait is defined by the game as "a single word or short phrase describing something crucial about your character, like an ability, background story detail, or personality aspect."
You'll notice that last word there - aspect. If you're familiar with Fate, you're probably already nodding your head, and, indeed, M&M traits are somewhat like character aspects in Fate. However, they can also shade over into what would be Stunts in Fate, or Feats in d20. In fact, they get used in a lot of ways, which we'll go into more later.
On the rolling dice side of things, though, if you have a trait that helps you perform an action, you get a bonus equal to your level from it. If you have more than one applicable trait, you can get another +1 from each additional one, to a limit of twice your level.
So, you roll the dice, add some numbers, and compare to the difficulty. As usual, if you equal or exceed the difficulty, you succeed, and if your total is lower, you fail. However, in M&M, the amount you exceed the difficulty by is significant - it's called your Effect Points (which is where the Effect Engine gets its name).
You can spend these Effect Points (EP from here on) in various ways. For one thing, when you're making an attack, 1 EP = 1 hit point of damage done to a target. Beyond that, though, you can spend 5 EP to get a "minor effect", 10 for a "major effect", or 15 for an "extreme effect".
One thing you can do with those effects is put Consequences on your targets. A minor consequence gives your opponent a -2 whenever it makes sense for the consequence to affect them, and it costs 5 effect points to remove it. A major is -4 and costs 10 EP to remove, and an extreme is -6 and costs 15 EP to remove. These could be things like "dazed", "weakened", "slowed", "in pain", "confused", "partially blinded", and so on. With an extreme consequence, you can take someone out of combat immediately, allowing for things like "petrified".
Alternatively, you could give yourself an advantage. These work in reverse - +2 for a minor one, +4 for a major, and so on. Again, you have to reasonably define the advantage you've gained, and it gives its bonus when it makes sense. Opponents can remove those advantages, by paying the same number of EP to remove them. Thus, if you give yourself a minor advantage of "superior position", your opponent can spend 5 EP to maneuver to where you no longer have that.
There are other things you can do as well - you can change combat range, make someone drop an item, break an item, draw or put away a weapon, mount or dismount a horse, get a bonus to your movement rate, and various other things.
Those are the options that are available to everyone. Remember how I mentioned that a trait could be like a d20 Feat or Fate Stunt? Well, one of the things a trait can do is give you a new way to spend EP. One example from the book is a "Cleave" trait, which allows the character to immediately make another attack after dropping an opponent to zero hit points, for a cost of 10 EP. If they have EP left over, they can also apply those EP as a bonus to the new attack. Locations, magic items, alternate planes, and other things can also make new ways of spending EP available. So, as a GM, if you want to set a fight in an area full of geysers, you can add a "knock someone into a geyser" action, with a cost in EP.
On the flip side, if you wind up with negative EPs, your opponent can spend those to put consequences on you, to describe how badly you failed! They can't normally just do damage to you, but it's possible for someone to take a trait that will allow them to.
In some cases, the GM may allow EP to be built up over time in order to do something. For example, if you get an Extreme Consequence of "knocked off the bridge into the lake", it'll take you 15 EP to remove that consequence. but the GM might allow you to do it over multiple rounds if you can't roll high enough to do it all at once, representing the time that it takes you to get back up onto the bridge.
Lastly on EP, remember how I said 1 EP = 1 point of damage? Well, there's a couple of things to note here. First, M&M adds mental hit points as a new character stat (making the other hit points be physical hit points - MHP and PHP for short). These get used both for 'mental combat' and 'social combat', and some items can count as mental or social weapons or armor. Thus, bluffing your way past the guard can be played out as a social combat, trying to reduce the guard to zero MHP before he does the same to you. Second, there's a cap on how much damage you can do in one attack - your level plus the damage rating of the weapon you're using. Thus, if you roll really well, you can find yourself in a situation where you have more EP than you can do damage, forcing you to find another way to use some of them.
In summary, the Effect Point concept, coupled with consequences, advantages, and mental hit points, gives a simple way to handle all sorts of actions, making for a very flexible, easily extensible system.
So, that's how you do things. But what about making characters?
Well, being consciously Old School, M&M is a class/race/level system. The main thing that your class and race actually do in game terms, though, is give you traits. Thus, a Fighter has the trait "Weapons Training", which lets them use any sort of weapon (and get their level as a trait bonus when doing so). A cleric has "Turn Undead", which lets them make a special kind of mental attack against undead. A Thief has "Hide and Sneak", which lets them add their level to checks when trying to do those things. (This may seem reminiscent of Castles & Crusades again, which also often uses the mechanic of "if you have this class, add your level to checks to do X".)
Similarly, being an elf gives you "Excellent Perception", while dwarves get "Hard as Granite" (which adds to poison and magic resistance), and halflings have "Small and Stealthy". Humans aren't left out of the fun completely - they get to choose a cultural trait and a background trait, and additionally get "Highly Adaptable" and "Quick Learner".
In addition, every time you go up a level, you get to choose an Advancement (plus you get one at first level - two if you're human). Basically, this gives you a new trait. Some of the classes have pre-created class advancements. You can also create your own 'personal traits', but these are somewhat more limited in scope. An advancement can also be a signature item (including magic items).
You also get more hit points. Speaking of those, you get your Constitution score as your base physical hit points and Wisdom for mental. You then add that score's attribute bonus at each level, and roll a hit die based on your class. Physical hit points have the traditional dice - d10 for Fighters, d8 for Clerics, d6 for Thieves, and d4 for Magic Users. Mental hit points are essentially reversed - d10 for Magic Users, d8 for Thieves, and so on.
The system has all the traditional 1e/2e classes - Cleric, Druid, Monk, Fighter, Paladin, Ranger, Thief, Assassin, Bard, Magic User, and Illusionist. Illusionist is presented as an example of a Magic User specialist subclass. It wouldn't take much to generate more specialist types.
Indeed, making any sort of class or subclass isn't too hard. Define the traits they get, their physical and mental hit dice, and their starting money, and you're pretty much done. Similarly with new races - just come up with the traits that race gives.
Lastly, we have alignments and goals. I hear some of you groaning already - but M&M has actually done something interesting with alignments.
You get two traits related to your alignment - a Focus and a Drift. Your focus is a behavior your character frequently does that reinforces their alignment; your drift is one that draws you away to another alignment (which you must choose). To take the examples from the book for Chaotic Good:
Focus: Help others achieve happiness while ignoring the law. Drift: You wish you could forbid people from some behaviors (Neutral Good).
These count as traits, so you can get a trait bonus from doing either one. (Your alignment itself also counts as a trait - so, for example, a Lawful Good character could use their alignment to get a trait bonus when resisting being persuaded or controlled to do something evil.) In addition, you get experience points for doing either one. Lastly, though, whenever you do either one, you put an "alignment check" on it - a check mark indicating you did that. (The GM has discretion over what counts and what doesn't, though.) At the end of each session, Focus and Drift cancel out, leaving you with only the excess points in the one you had more of.
At the end of any session, if you've accumulated ten points of Drift, your character changes alignment to the one they were drifting toward. If you have a Focus of ten, then you become an Alignment Champion, and get bonuses from that based on your alignment.
(Note as well that a character can have more than one Drift trait. Thus, if you as GM spot a player often doing something against their character's alignment, you're free to give them another Drift that reflects that!)
Your Goal works similarly - you get a trait bonus to do something that goes along with your goal, and you get XP if you achieve your goal (but no more than once per adventure). It's recommended that goals be short-term ones, so you can actually achieve them within an adventure.
Personal traits that you take can also be personality traits - including personality flaws. Which leads me to segue into Hero Points.
So, the game has Hero Points?
Yep. As usual, you can spend them for various bennies. One of the more interesting ones is that you can spend one when a consequence is inflicted on you - not to negate it, but to let you choose the consequence you take. It's still of the same level it would have been, but you can do things like decide that rather than the 'beheaded' consequence you were going to take from that vorpal sword, you'll take 'left arm severed' instead. Alternatively, you can choose to take damage instead of the consequence - so, rather than be 'knocked off the bridge' as an extreme consequence, you could choose to 'just' take 15 PHP of damage. (Ouch.)
Anything else interesting?
The other thing that M&M does that's very different from traditional D&D is add scale rules. This isn't small/medium/large/etc. (though there are some rules for that) - rather, at 5th level, characters get access to Heroic scale. This allows them access to some new advancements (e.g., gaining followers or a sidekick), and also lets them take actions at heroic scale, which allows affecting a small group (e.g., a gang, a squad, or a ship's crew) with a single action.
This involves what the system calls 'constructs' - special characters that represent a group of people or a location. Thus, a ship and its crew might be a 7th level 'ship construct', and a Heroic scale character could take actions against the whole thing at once.
Going on up, at 10th level characters get access to Epic scale; at 15th, Legendary; and at 20th, Mythic. At Epic scale, you can deal with a village or town, a stronghold, or a small army as a single character. At Legendary, you start dealing with domains - kingdoms, large cities, large armies, etc. At Mythic, you can deal with worlds, planes� or gods. These also open up new possible advancements, bringing in things like gaining a stronghold, becoming a High Priest, or getting a ship and crew.
The scale rules also specify time scales for "rounds" and "turns" at those scales. So, an Epic scale battle has rounds that last hours, and turns that last days. At Legendary scale, you're dealing with weeks and months.
Lastly, as you ascend the scale, you get access to new Effect levels, also titled Heroic, Epic, Legendary, and Mythic. These give higher bonuses/penalties for advantages and consequences (up to +/-14 at Mythic), and can also be used to do things like increase the area of effect and range of spells.
There's an example of play for Epic scale, that deals with an 11th-level character and his ship and crew trying to take a fortress. Couple this with the social rules, and you can also play out things like trying to persuade the King's Court to change a policy, negotiating a peace between two armies, and so forth.
So, what's the bad stuff?
Well� this is a first edition game, and it shows in places. Some things are unclear - however, the game has literally been out less than a week right now, and I'm expecting that errata, an FAQ, and such will come forth soon.
M&M attempts to use the 1st/2nd edition AD&D magic system. This means memorized spells, spells with custom rules, and so on. The rules provided give converted versions of most of the first and second level spells from AD&D, but stop there. That feels like a bit of a shame to me, considering how easily the trait system and effect point system could combine to gave a simple, flexible magic system. Of course, since they could combine that easily, it wouldn't be hard to make rules for it yourself.
Monsters are a mixed bag - there's a lot of good ideas there, with monsters having a "mental AC" and mental hit points, special actions they can take, and one or more Motivations as traits. The example Lizard Man, for example, has among its actions actions vanish underwater , slobber terrifyingly, and drag underwater. These aren't explained in any detail - but the wonderful thing is that they don't need to be, since the effects system is so versatile.
The bad part is that there's only a few monsters given - 23, to be precise. Converting a classic D&D monster isn't hard, but it'd definitely be tedious to do over and over. I'm hopeful that there will be a supplement with more monsters.
Overall, I really, really like M&M. The classes, races, and levels should make old-school gamers feel right at home. The effect engine is extremely flexible, and the addition of mental/social hit points and scale allows using the mechanics to handle a wide variety of things that classic old-school games really didn't handle well, and it can easily support mass combat, with high-level characters still being able to be significant in it.
After playing Fate the last few years, I feel right at home with the Traits. As I mentioned, I don't really like going back to the classic D&D spell system, but I know there are some people who will love that, and all the tools to fix that are right there, waiting to be picked up and put to use.
Honestly, this looks set to become one of my new favorite games. I give it a 5 of 5 for Substance.
Product SummaryName: Monsters & Magic
Publisher: Mindjammer Press
Line: Monsters & Magic
Author: Sarah Newton
Category: RPG
Cost: $24.99
Pages: 141
Year: 2013
At the end of any session, if you've accumulated ten points of Drift, your character changes alignment to the one they were drifting toward. If you have a Focus of ten, then you become an Alignment Champion, and get bonuses from that based on your alignment.
Monsters are often driven by base instincts, such as the need to feed or the desire to cause chaos. They are often seen as a threat to society and must be stopped or vanquished. In some stories, magic and monsters exist in opposition to each other. Magic is used to combat and defeat monsters, protecting the innocent from their rampage. This can be seen in stories like Harry Potter, where wizards and witches use spells and potions to defeat dark creatures like trolls or Dementors. However, there are also stories where magic and monsters coexist or even work together. In these tales, magic can be used to summon or control monsters, creating a dangerous combination. This can be seen in mythology, where gods and goddesses often used magic to control powerful monsters like dragons or giants. In summary, magic and monsters are often interconnected in storytelling, with magic used as a tool to combat or control monsters. While magic is often seen as a force for good, there are also stories where it is used to summon or control monsters. Whether magic is used to fight or embrace monsters, it adds an element of wonder and danger to the world of mythology and folklore..
Reviews for "Breaking the Curse: Excee Magic's Triumph Over Cursed Monsters"
1. John - 2/5 stars - "Excee Magic vs Monsters was a major disappointment for me. The story felt disjointed and poorly executed, with weak character development and confusing plotlines. The animation was also lackluster, with poorly designed monsters and uninspiring visuals. Overall, I found it to be a forgettable and underwhelming film."
2. Sarah - 1/5 stars - "I cannot understand the hype around Excee Magic vs Monsters. The dialogue was cheesy and cliché, and the acting was subpar at best. The action sequences were underwhelming, and there was no real sense of excitement or tension. I found myself bored and unengaged throughout the entire film. Definitely not worth the time or money."
3. Michael - 2/5 stars - "I had high hopes for Excee Magic vs Monsters, but it failed to deliver. The plot was clichéd and predictable, with little originality or creativity. The characters lacked depth and felt like generic archetypes. The pacing was also off, with moments of intense action followed by slow and uninteresting scenes. Overall, I was disappointed with this movie and wouldn't recommend it to others."
4. Emily - 2.5/5 stars - "Excee Magic vs Monsters had some potential, but it fell short in many aspects. The storyline had potential, but it was poorly executed and lacked coherence. The character development was weak, with flat and uninteresting personalities. The animation was average, with nothing truly outstanding. It's a forgettable film in the genre, and I was left feeling underwhelmed."
5. Daniel - 2/5 stars - "Excee Magic vs Monsters was a missed opportunity. The premise had potential, but the execution was lackluster. The dialogue was uninspired, and the voice acting felt forced at times. The visual effects were unimpressive, and the action sequences lacked excitement. It was a forgettable experience overall, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for a thrilling fantasy film."