Product Review: 52 Fates Zine
As the spoons come back from the disaster that has been the 2020's so far - We will be doing these Product Analysis posts the first Sat of every month (fingers crossed) so keep an eye out for more reviews!
Our current review is on '52 Fates Zine' by Dice Pencil & Paper.
To keep these posts consistent across the board we will be using a few categories to gauge where the product lands at the end of the day.
- Aesthetic - art, layout, font, etc.
- Writing - lore, adventure, etc.
- Design - monsters, encounters, NPCs, etc.
- Accessibility - ease of picking up and go, accommodations for disabilities, etc.
- Complete package - do all of the elements fit well together and lead you down the lane to a fun game?
Aesthetic
Now as zine's go this product is actually pretty clean. The layout is readable, two columns to pack in the info, and clear headings. There isn't any art on it but that would take up the page space needed by the amount of rules overview they manage to pack in. It seems they are establishing a sort of style guide as well that I hope to see carried through to a full systems book with key bolded words and acronyms that seem to be systems specific.
Writing
Again very impressed for a zine to have clean writing. There were a few places where they flipped between singular and plural within a paragraph that tripped me up. But for the most part clear and easy to follow.
Design
I think it has a lot of possibilities, I love the idea of using cards rather than dice. Personally I think if I ran it I'd use multiple decks, a card shuffler and maybe even up the hands to 5 or 6 so I could throw the players at more things before one of them drops. Now being as a zine this is a sneak preview of a bigger systems book. So I'm not expecting everything that is in the full system to be in here. We get a look at the magic system, combat, and 2 of the 3 classes. That's actually a lot for a zine. You could definitely run a whole campaign with just the info in the zine. There would be more work involved than if you bought into the whole system, as that seems to maybe include monster stats as well. But it's doable and probably the same amount of work if not a little less than the typical setup you'd have to do for a TTRPG session you were running. I think the design I see so far is smart, I'd really like to get my hands on the full system and try it out for a bit. Maybe dive into expanded on some aspects to see how easy homebrewing in it is. Since as we know it that's where most of the fun for customizing a game to your table ends up.
Accessibility
Well for access at least it's accessible - it's available on itch.io for 'pay what you want'. However, using it with a reader didn't go well so it's not an ideal situation for anyone that might need that. But a system without dice is actually a big accessibility win not just because it is a lower bar of entry. No dice means those with mobility issues and sight issues could at the table be in a better position. There are cards with large fonts out there that would be perfect, and if I'm remembering correctly a company called VSone (and I'm sure others) that produce braille cards that allow for both sighted and touch play.
Complete Package
For someone wanting a low buy in to a different type of TTRPG to try at their table, I say go for it. But be ready to put in the extra work needed for prep and be prepared for the repeated questions you'll receive at the table for the first 2-3 sessions. This would make a great palate cleanser one-shot system in between big campaigns or be perfect to pull out for a party where you don't know if people will come with dice. The zine provides you with the tools you need to at least get started should you later decide to want to try and dive in with the full system book.
With that little rambling over with, I’m JustKay your regular DM Dalliance on the web and I’ll see you next post.