A brutal and rough around the edges fighting tournament framework wrapped up inside a cool, retro Playstation instruction manual aesthetic. You've taken a pretty open prompt, and dialled it in in a way that allows a referee to lead the players in a solid direction.
- I think what really works is the comprehensive list of random tables for creating an entirely new set of opponents on every round. You could end up with some really colourful opponents or allies, and I think it would lend itself to a sequel tournament somewhere down the line. Some fun NPCs to get the ball rolling, but you could get anything out of this!
- A great spin on a downtime ruleset. There's a lot of fun roleplaying opportunities in between the round, ways to develop players' characters and sow the seeds of mystery amongst the competitors.
- Perhaps a little unclear in some of the finer aspects of generating opponents, with a lot of little intricacies regarding the round numbers and number of opponents and their items. I think this could especially become difficult to manage for a referee at the higher rounds alongside the players themselves, so could see the number of rounds being halved down to three.
Overall I think there's a lot crammed into only 6 pages with some really useful toolsets, but the story itself perhaps needs a bit more expansion. Would love to see an extended version of this with some more of the cult's motivations, a clearer structure on how the tournament affects the ceremony, and what FIST could do to stop the ritual - Iron Fist Fighters: Ultra Battle TURBO REMIX?