Short Review: Nightblade by Scott Malthouse

 

Nightblade's cover

    Nightblade is a pay-what-you-want micro-RPG that distills the essentials of fantasy adventuring into a tightly packed experience. In just three pages there are: three classes, eighteen special abilities, and six monsters with additional rules for making minions and elites. Below I describe briefly things I found interesting.

Condensed character information: Each character has three attributes: Force, Skill and Mind, which affect rolls and defense. You will be able to choose from three Kin (equivalent to races) and three classes, each offering six Knacks (special abilities) making your character useful in unique ways. For instance, while weapon attacks target Force, the Runeweaver’s Rune of Control targets Mind instead, which for a Goblin is only 9!  The condensed design seems like it could facilitate learning the game while leaving enough room for creative play.

Static target numbers for checks: Roll a D20 and add the relevant attribute score. If the roll matches or exceeds 12, it succeeds. Because players know the odds, I think this mechanic can enhance the feeling of player agency.

Combat momentum: Every combat round provided a +1 bonus to attack rolls to every creature. I find this idea very interesting to give extra flavor and tension to fights.

Death mechanic: When reaching 0 HP, you roll to either: come back at 1 HP or die. I think that this is far more interesting than being unconscious waiting for something to happen. Plus, if it comes to it, it’s so easy to roll a character that by next combat round Bob Bobberson II may be ready to join the fray.

Suggested house rule: There is a meta-currency in the game called Favor, which allows a character to use an additional action. Each player gets three per session, which I think is cool. Although it is not specified, I would rule that each group of monsters also gets three Favors to be used amongst the group.

    If you plan to read Nightblade, I recommend starting at the Rules section on page 3 to give some of the terminology context before diving into the character creation.

    Overall, Nightblade is a neat microsystem with unique ideas that encourages fast play. If you play or have played Nightblade, let me know how it went!


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