Thank you for playing and for sharing your reflections! I think that'
Arcane Atlas Games
Creator of
Recent community posts
Thank you for the feedback, we’ll keep those points in mind for future projects. We’re glad you enjoy 1e.
R.e. the ‘crack the case’ section in 2e - that is a slight mistake that we’ll correct, it is intended to be up to the players when they want to end the game instead of after 2 suspects every time.
A fun, calustrophobic mission for mothership. I played with Mothership 1e and a mix of newer and experienced players and everyone enjoyed it.
Running it was easy with a well-laid out pamphlet that has the information that you need but with plenty of room for the warden to be creative in building an atmosphere. The infestation mechanic nicely raises the tension and keeps things feeling theatening as the players gradually realise what is happening. The monsters are scary, but don't tend to kill players instantly, which helped give the newer players time to come up with solutions.
A few maps handouts are available in the creator's discord, which helped the players understand the submarine and navigate the space.
No Bones About It is a rad, skeleton street racing FIST hack.
My favourite hacks / jam submissions stay true to the original ideas behind the mechanics, but twist them in a new and exciting way. No Bones About It nails this.
Mechanically it sticks to the player driven, d6-only, 4-stat simplicity of FIST. The stats are not only relabelled, but adjusted to fit the vibe and how the player characters would make decisions within it. 'Death' is great - why shouldn't skeleton characters get a chance to straight up not die? There are a few twists here, most notably the addition of vehicles. Vehicles are designed as an extension of the characters themselves, directly enhancing their abilities on the character sheet.
Thematically the zine is on-point, the skeleton and car filled art, punchy writing pair well with the mechanics to bring the street-racing skeletons to life (or undeath?). The scenario is a good demonstration of all of these, with a strong narrative and twist.
The character sheet, contents and quick reference pages are all useful additions for running or playing the game.
No Bones About It is a rad, skeleton street racing FIST hack.
My favourite hacks / jam submissions stay true to the original ideas behind the mechanics, but twist them in a new and exciting way. No Bones About It nails this.
Mechanically it sticks to the player driven, d6-only, 4-stat simplicity of FIST. The stats are not only relabelled, but adjusted to fit the vibe and how the player characters would make decisions within it. 'Death' is great - why shouldn't skeleton characters get a chance to straight up not die? There are a few twists here, most notably the addition of vehicles. Vehicles are designed as an extension of the characters themselves, directly enhancing their abilities on the character sheet.
Thematically the zine is on-point, the skeleton and car filled art, punchy writing pair well with the mechanics to bring the street-racing skeletons to life (or undeath?). The scenario is a good demonstration of all of these, with a strong narrative and twist.
The character sheet, contents and quick reference pages are all useful additions for running or playing the game.
Old Dogs gives ideas and enemies for FIST agents that have somehow survived a few too many times.
The layout is crisp, and fits the FIST aesthetic perfectly, complete with even more acronyms. The vibe of all the content is spot on, conjuring up images of grizzled veterens in action films. I'm such a sucker for a 'one last job' trope, and you can bet your cotton socks that this includes it.
This feels very useful as inspiration for referees to create their own, or adapt existing, missions for long-in-the-tooth player characters.
Old Dogs gives ideas and enemies for FIST agents that have somehow survived a few too many times.
The layout is crisp, and fits the FIST aesthetic perfectly, complete with even more acronyms. The vibe of all the content is spot on, conjuring up images of grizzled veterens in action films. I'm such a sucker for a 'one last job' trope, and you can bet your cotton socks that this includes it.
This feels very useful as inspiration for referees to create their own, or adapt existing, missions for long-in-the-tooth player characters.
A 2-parter, To The Slaughter is part NPC generating mechanics/representation and part campaign.
The generating mechanics took a bit of getting my head around, but they clearly have a lot of depth represented in a really concise way. With a bit of practice they would be allow referees to act as NPCs with a lot of detail and interesting motivations. The NPCs in the campaign illustrate the mechanic nicely, a clever touch.
The adventure equally took a bit to grasp, but has loads of depth, interesting challenges and a cool setting (it is pretty dark and graphic, but in a 'part of real-life that we prefer to ignore' sort of way).
Squad traits is a pamphlet adding a simple, but creative and clever mechanic to FIST. The players or referee choose from a list of traits which make the game easier, harder or a bit more unique. It stays true to the feel of traits in the main rules, but with great ideas for how these could impact a group all at once.
The use of art from a field manual fits the vibe and jazzes up the simple and clear layout.
This is a great mechanical addition to a referee's arsenal with a lot of potential for people to build on top of.
Squad traits is a pamphlet adding a simple, but creative and clever mechanic to FIST. The players or referee choose from a list of traits which make the game easier, harder or a bit more unique. It stays true to the feel of traits in the main rules, but with great ideas for how these could impact a group all at once.
The use of art from a field manual fits the vibe and jazzes up the simple and clear layout.
Currently, the layout works better digitally than printed. This isn't a negative, as I think most users will look at it digitally (and it's easier to follow this way round than print-friendly pamphlet layouts!). If you did print it, the page break for telepaths would be a little awkward, and I think the cover might open backwards (but I don't have a printer, so can't check for sure).
I love the idea of Wave Function Expansion, spending war dice to mess with the referee is really cool. However, it might be of limited use as the referee rarely (if ever) rolls dice in the main FIST rules.
Overall, this is a great mechanical addition to a referees arsenal with a lot of potential for people to build on top of.
Outer Self is an elegant and original FIST adventure.
This zine has such a striking, clean, and intentional aeasthetic. The red pairs so well with greyscale images and fits the tone of the adventure. The text accents are punchy and the map is a cool and unique culmination of the look. I love the attention to detail with the page border containing a signpost to the section the reader is on.
The adventure itself is well thought through, with a different pathways for players to explore. Each of the pathways has varied threats and meaningful discoveries for the players to make. The author has paid attention to the different ways that the players could reach certain points (even a a particulrly murder-y party). It definitely suits more of a creepy / horror vibe, as if the players get involved in combat the numbers look pretty deadly. Successfully completing the mission leaves the players with an intereting set of potential items to use in future sessions.
I love the addition of a mission synopsis at the start to help the referee quickly get an idea of the scenario.
Outer Self is an elegant and original FIST adventure.
This zine has such a striking, clean, and intentional aeasthetic. The red pairs so well with greyscale images and fits the tone of the adventure. The text accents are punchy and the map is a cool and unique culmination of the look. I love the attention to detail with the page border containing a signpost to the section the reader is on.
The adventure itself is well thought through, with a different pathways for players to explore. Each of the pathways has varied threats and meaningful discoveries for the players to make. The author has paid attention to the different ways that the players could reach certain points (even a a particulrly murder-y party). It definitely suits more of a creepy / horror vibe, as if the players get involved in combat the numbers look pretty deadly. Successfully completing the mission leaves the players with an intereting set of potential items to use in future sessions.
I love the addition of a mission synopsis at the start to help the referee quickly get an idea of the scenario. I wonder whether shifting the npcs before the map might help them get up to speed even faster.
This hidden underground lab leaflet/pamphlet adventure for FIST packs a lot into 2 sides of a page. There's a crafting system, enemies, and (fairly gore-y) things to discover in the facility. Your objective is clear, but there are a few different ways to achieve it, leaving freedom for the players and referee to explore and create their own take on how to resolve it. The layout and style are clear, on-theme and easy to follow.
This hidden underground lab leaflet/pamphlet adventure for FIST packs a lot into 2 sides of a page. There's a crafting system, enemies, and (fairly gore-y) things to discover in the facility. Your objective is clear, but there are a few different ways to achieve it, leaving freedom for the players and referee to explore and create their own take on how to resolve it. The layout and style are clear, on-theme and easy to follow.
The scenario does use d4s and d8s but I'd have loved to have seen if you could have achieved the same goals sticking to the simplicity of just d6's. That's very much a personal preference though!