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I've read through the 48 page PDF. The premise is intense. It gives me Hunter the Reckoning vibes with a healthy heaping of the Wyrm, Pentex, and Banes/Fomori from White Wolf publishing's old/classic World of Darkness.

The game has a big narrative focus. Mechanics are simple, draw cards. High card wins. The only way to get an edge in opposed challenges is to put a relationship you have with an NPC in danger, or put them in literal danger. I like how you work that in narratively. I can see that risk to relationships is a big part of the game.  There is no way to undo that damage to a NPC. That is big. How fast are you trying to have characters self destruct? Do you intend for Before the Worms to be a short or long form game? I would also want some way for my character’s own abilities to play a role in addition to the drama that, optionally, can come into play by drawing on a relationship with an NPC. Otherwise there is no difference between between backgrounds and skillsets. 

There is a structured gameplay loop, and you did a good job outlining it in a simple, straight forward manner. The Breathe step is a good idea. A pause period, for an emotionally intense game, where you can think about your next steps and decompress a bit at the same time. There is some solid guidance and a play example that are informaive without dragging on,

The tight gameplay loop, coupled with the light and quick to learn system may make it good for solo play. I might try a solo session out. If I do, I'll let you know how it goes. 

While reading I noticed a couple things you may want to edit:

About the dying light of your your (game description)

The person may dead ( pg. 31)

I don't like card based mechanics. It lacks a feeling of consistency for me.  I'm not too keen on journaling. Going forward, bear those first couple sentences in mind as you read this review. For Small Creatures Such As We uses all of these things and it's concept was still enticing enough for me to want to play the game. That means a lot, considering how many role playing games there for people to invest their time in. 

I went into FSCSAW looking for a game that gave me ways to interact with NPCs more dynamically than I was getting with tools such as UNE and Tricube Tales Solo Rules. That was the big pull. The science fiction future environment was the second pull. 

I got really bogged down in my initial game setup. Creating my character was quick. Creating my ship was a little longer, but still smooth. Creating my NPC crew slowed way, way down. This was the first sign of something lacking in FSCSAW. You pick or randomly generate a Skill, Role/Occupation, and a couple Alien-Race Traits. That's all the help you get. You don't know what they look like. What their personality is. What their aesthetic is. What kind of culture they come from. That is all left on the player to figure out ... and it is a lot. Creating my crew alone took 2-3 sessions. That was almost half the time I wound up playing FSCSAW. This, for me, was not a good thing. It could have gone a lot quicker if the game had some more tables to help with the generation of NPCs. 

This is a problem that persisted for me throughout my experience with FSCSAW. Missions were left too ambiguous and didn't give you tools for quickly fleshing them out. NPCs introduced through events and missions are a very, very basic concept. For example, in one mission I was tasked with transporting pilgrims to a world. This could be neat to interact with. However, there is no follow up. No racial, cultural, religious, or any other detail about these people, or tools to help you create that. You're left with all that to cover. The same extends to missions, races, cultures, planets, factions, and so forth throughout the game. You're left not just fleshing them out, but actually coming up with everything outside that small kernel of an idea. For me this is less helpful than most oracles used in solo roleplaying. Also, what I was really looking forward to in the game wasn't there. It didn't have tools that supported the dynamic NPC interactions I was hoping for.  You can have random events with your crew and passengers, but they're very basic prompts that didn't give me much to work with.

FSCSAW has a map, which gets expanded with Lust and Love. There are some named plants with reestablished flavor. It doesn't go deep, but they give you enough of an idea what the world is like that you can work out stories there. The map looks nice for what it is and each of the named worlds has some inspirational art, and events, to go with them.

FSCSAW mainly uses a deck of playing cards for it's mechanics. It's straight forward: draw cards, add up the total to overcome a difficulty number, which is usually set by drawing a set number of cards based on an event description of antagonist's abilities. Your character and crew skills or traits may enable you to draw more when relevant, or enable you to perform tasks you wouldn't otherwise be able to. Like an Engineer being able to repair a ship. Quick to learn. What took most of my time learning was the various procedures around mission types. There are a diverse range of missions, from theatrical performances as a entertainer troupe, to mining, or even scientific exploration. 

The most mechanical depths that comes to mind is the bounty hunting system. It walks you through generating a target, their crimes, whether they lure you into a trap, if they have allies, and combat itself. That was one of my favorite elements of the game, even though I only had one bounty during my seven or so sessions of play. This, coming from someone that doesn't have any special fondness for playing bounty hunter characters or stories about bounty hunting. 

As much as the premise called to me, FSCSAW isn't for me. If you are someone that likes smooth, steady, or quick game play with tools that help you ease the mental work load of acting as both player and game master, then FSCSAW isn't likely going to be for you. On the other hand, if you are someone that is alright stopping the flow of play, be given a prompt like "you encounter an exotic flower" with no further detail, and that is enough for you to run with and enjoy building an entire story around, then FSCSAW may be a good game for you. My personal enjoyment of the experience was low, but I can see that a healthy amount of work went into the game and the right kind of person could really enjoy this.

After watching a bunch of That Time I was Reincarnated As A Slime, I got in the mood to play something in the isekai sphere. FooL helped me scratch that itch, a little bit. I'm not into card mechanics in RPGs, and don't own or know anything tarot, and wound up resorting to asking an AI to make me a minimalist tarot drawing HTML app thingy so I could try FooL out. I should also mention that jounralling isn't a type of solo play that I typically enjoy.

That said, even though I'm not fond of journalling and card mechanics in RPGs, I still enjoyed FooL. The mechanics are simple. It walks you through an "intro chapter" that doesn't just tell you how the game is played, it shows and walks you through it. Very good technique there. I liked the oracles. All of them were good and fit the isekai trope. The gameplay is episodic "chapter" based. Like an episode of an anime or a single issue of a comic book. I haven't ready any manga, so I don't know how they compare to comic books in the USA. 

I found FooL to be easy to play and good for quick sessions. While I commented on my aversion to journalling games, FooL's "journaling" is very slight and leans towards cliffnotes. Though someone who is into journalling could go into greater length than the game suggests. I was able to even have a chapter between long commercials while watching TV. The game is designed for quick in and out play and I felt that.

As an example of how things can flow: In chapter one, my character died and then showed up in a fantasy tavern during a Halloween style festival and he was believed to be an ancestor spirit reborn. In chapter two he mediated a dispute between a punkish ramble rouser and a serene monk. In chapter three  my character came upon a flying fortress where an arachne tried to tie him up and ... do stuff to him. Fortunately the Lady Vampire that owned the castle and had been sleeping for who knows how long woke up and booted the spider woman out of her castle. Disguising herself as my character's maid *Caugh.* the vampire  noble decided to accompany him, as the world had completely changed while she was in torpor. In chapter four, my character and his vampire "maid" companion visited a ruined monument that attracted pilgrims to it. There they were accosted by a jerk, and the chapter revolved around dealing with and outwitting him without making him look like a fool.

At that point I stopped playing. I primarily wanted to try the game out without committing to something long term. There is also the tarot mechanics, and semi-jounraling element that don't appeal to me. The latter is tolerable, because the game discourages you from writing at length, and encourages short chapters. Like the episodes of an isekai anime. I kept my notes, and this is something that I might come back to. But FooL isn't something that would be a main game for me. 

People who like card or tarot mechanics, and aren't put off by very like journaling would enjoy FooL even more than I did. It makes for a good entry level game for people starting  in solo play. It would also be good as a side game, or something of a palette cleanser between games. FooL fit the isekai vibe.

Thank you for sharing FooL with us.

I'm a solo roleplayer and played eXtreme without a GM or other players. While the system is designed for group play with a GM and doesn't have any dedicated solo support, the system is really easy to run solo. There are still some things a solo player can use, such as a table with story starter ideas. You'll need to bring your own oracle though. Rolls are player facing. You don't need to design dungeons, stat out antagonists, or traps. Those things are all combined into the equivalent of an extended test, with failures and partial successes either complicating things, or hitting your health pool. eXtreme is low crunch and narrative leaning.

The presentation I have mixed feelings on. It is light hearted, pokes fun at the 90's comic scene, and generally feels like someone trying to welcome you into their game and make you feel comfortable. There is a lack of capitalization at the beginning of sentences that will trigger some people. The art is really good and flavorful.

Character creation is quick and easy. For people that like random character generation, there are tables for you to roll on. I wound up with this:

Code Name: Web Shriek

Role: Hot-shot

Origin: Darkness Charges you/Sunlight weakens.

Power: Instant skill mimicry.

Weapons: Bow and arrow (yet somehow no quiver)

Costume Flair:

- Three extra cyber arms (replacing your right arm)

- Fingerless gloves (but only for two fingers)

- Bandana (worn over your face)

Quirk: Weird Allergy

Drive: Fame

Most Prized Possession: Incredulous Amount of Loose Pogs

Nemesis: Irontree

- They've confused you with their old high school bully.

All of which was rolled from the tables. Now, I favor a dark and serious tone for my games. I remember rolling "fishnet stalkings" and "massive chest" for costume flare and after having a chuckle rerolled. 

The game has archetypes/playbooks similar to what you find in Powered by the Apocalypse. Also similar to PBtA, the game has a mechanic for tying your character to other characters. This is called "Tropes" and plays into things like Wolverine's headbutting with Cyclops and his crushing on Jean Gray. While playing solo, my character didn't have teammates. I assigned these Tropes to NPCs that I wanted to interact with regularly. That could easily be teammate NPCs. For me, it was my character's corporate doctor/scientist/handler and his corp assigned PR agent.

I only played two sessions of eXtreme, as I was just intending to try it out. Not run a lengthy campaign. The first session was great. The second session I made the mistake of letting the oracle results (something used to aid in playing RPGs solo) take me in a direction I didn't like.  I lost the mood at that point, but that negativity had nothing to do with eXtreme. In the future I will likely come back to the game. Thank you for making this easily accessible Fabudaddy.

Is there a way to claim the games from the anti-censorship bundle, and add them to your Itch account? I might be missing it. Or is the intent that they can only be downloaded during the promotional period?

That aside, thank you for the free games.

You have a high level conceptual meta description of the game, without informing the reader what they will be playing. What is the premise of this game? What time period does it take place in? What kind of setting does it take place in? Who are the players portraying?

It feels like I am missing something with this game. I'm going to throw a bunch of observations and questions into the comments. I hope you do not mind.

I see ways for a PC to get negative effects applied to rolls: Stress, Threat Clock levels, and minor injuries. Are there ways to get bonuses, other than  PP usage during training powers/getting control of your powers, Allies, and having 3+ Corruption?

Other than narrative flavor, is there any benefit to having powers in the game? It seems more beneficial to use Power Points for rerolling dice rather than  investing them in Powers, unless you're trying to achieve one of the victory condition. There is also mention of spending Power Points to activate powerful abilities. I don't see any details about that, outside of the "Excess Power Points" section that comes into play after achieving one of the victory conditions.

Is there a way to reduce the Threat Clock, other than with a Network Contact Ally? There are a lot of ways for it to go up.

You're encouraged to think about your approach during missions and  other challenges. That's generally good practice, however I do not see a difference beyond narrative flavor between sneaking though a villain's base and plowing through walls Juggernaut style. You're background/skills/power don't come into play. Further, there is no mechanical difference between an underachieving high school student, a veteran police detective, or world renowned wheelchair bound scientist. I'm wondering if that is intentional or if I am overlooking something.

Something I like about Legacy's Edge, other that it being a solo superhero game (wooo!), is the Global Clock System. Having the clocks setup to trigger plot events is a really neat idea.

Playing Ronin reminded me of watching Kung Fu, the television series starring David Carradine.  My run through the game also felt like the first season of a television series, the ending having the sense of a transition point for season two, hinting the continuation of the series. 

My character's story was more about a man trying to figure out where he stood in the world and trying to move on after a tragedy. Not a vengeance story. Only one of the villains had anything to do with his family's death, and they were just a grunt following orders. The Final Villain ... I never learned why she wanted my character dead. She was a super mysterious ninja lady that manipulated an ally of mine into attacking my character. I thought I killed the ninja lady once, then she cropped up again with her previous disguise dropped. I'm not even sure she actually died in our second duel! I'm tempted to continue this character's story with another game system for a longer campaign.

The mechanics of Ronin were easy to learn. There are pictures for inspiration and reference. Which helps with techniques and weapons for the unfamiliar. You have everything you needed, but it was a guided story. You are on rails, even if the details can be shaped by the player. My preferred style of play is sandbox games, where I have freedom to do what I want and go where I want. However, this is a good guided experience for someone just getting into solo RPGs, or RPGs in general.  It introduces you to using random generation tables and game loops without complicating things.

I enjoyed my time with Ronin and could see myself playing it again in the future. Thank you for sharing it.

I'm not a fan of journaling games. For me this was three stars. Fun, but not something I'm hyped to jump back into. For someone who is into journaling games  and darker themes, I expect this would be a four or five star game.  

That said, the darker themes of Tangled Blessings drew me in and I enjoyed exploring them. The game felt short after my time with Thousand Year Vampire, which is understandable considering the scope of each game. I bring this up because, in my experience, a major storyline was just coming together when my four years were up. On the plus side, if I ever want to play a modern magic user in another game system, I have a jumping off point for both a character and a story.

It has a middling playtime length. You get a session or two in, depending on how much writing you like to do, without feeling entrenched in something long term. 

For people into dark themes, magic schools, and journaling solo or co-op RPGs, I would recommend giving Tangled Blessings a try.

When I read the premise of System Unknown I instantly wanted to play it. Solo game. You get to play as a villain. Science fiction setting. The dark art (its so good and immersive).  All of that held big appeal to me.

System Unknown isn't the greatest game of all time, but it is great at what I feel it sets out to do: guide you along a narrative of dark imperialism with a beginning, middle, and end. It isn't a sandbox. But your choices and play style still matter.

System Unknown isn't a game system like Powered by the Apocalypse. This game reminded me of when I was a kid playing gamebooks like Lone Wolf and Way of the Tiger. Except I got to play the character I really wanted to play: the bad guy.

This game really shoves the evils of imperialistic expansion in your face. There can be some heavy emotions, if you get into the roleplay and invest yourself in it. Dark, evil stuff. It doesn't have gory, graphic detail, but it's there.

I can see potential for replayability. There are multiple character/archtypes you can choose from, multiple patron factions to support, and a variate of randomness.  That said, while I enjoyed System Unknown a lot, I'm not likely to play through it again without a pallet cleanser. The secret objectives, too, add an "achievement hunter" element to the game, for people that are interested in that or want to spice tings up.

Speaking of secret objectives, accomplishing your secret objective can completely change up your play style. When I saw that my warrior general style character was going to get his martial prowess completely nerfed and his spiritual side ramped up due to consequences and rewards, I decided to make a judgment call and set aside the secret objective so I could keep the play style I wanted for my game.

My advice to people playing the game is to lean into your character's personality traits and quirks when making decisions. Their skillsets reinforce their personalities.

For MindGame, if you're reading this, first, thank you for the experience. I enjoyed your game. I also have a question: During character creation do you start with 1 in your Skills and Character/Chosen Sub-skills? There are some checks that can happen before you allocate points at the end of episode one.

For anyone curious about my play through/ending: By Fire and Iron. My character was an an Invincible and Ruthless Trailblazer.

Simple, easy to learn and play, Push is fun and has a deceptive degree of depth. Not needing a lot of play materials is another bonus. It works well for solo play.  

Thank you for sharing this. It has been an inspiration.

I've looked for mechanics to assist with solo role playing without dice and other material objects. It seems a little weird at first, but once you start using Diedream, it is easy to remember. This fit the bill. Though there ends up being a lot of math. Simple math. Still if you aren't good at doing it in your head, you're tired, or lacking mental energy, it can slow the flow of play.

Overall though, I've found Diedream to be a helpful inspiration for solo my gaming. Thank you for sharing it.