micro Review - Intro & InSpectres

I check out a lot of games. From RPGs, trough card and board games, down to video games. There isn't a week, that I don't discover and investigate some type of game. I am especially interested in small and indie productions. They are the ones that usually have some interesting mechanic or a gimmick, that catches my attention. Sadly, many of those games fly under the radar of most gamers. In this recurring segment I try to will give some sort of spotlight to those small games I discovered. This is not a full review, just my impressions in a few paragraphs... a micro review.

micro Review?

Yeah, I call it micro review. The plan was to call it "µView"  with the fancy micro symbol that looks a bit like "u". It was a play on words so, it will look like "U View". This was supposed to encourage you to go and check the game out yourself. The idea was scrapped, it looked silly and didn't display correctly everywhere ;) Anyway...
There is a lot of great games out there, and a lot of brilliant people who create them, that don't get enough recognition they deserve. I hope that this little section will introduce you to some games, that you would otherwise overlook.

I am planning for those reviews to happen weekly. The plan is to (re)read/try the game around weekend and write my thoughts and musings during the week. The aim is to introduce you to the game in a "elevator pitch" manner - quick and fun, with focus on highlighting its strengths. Those micro reviews will always have a link to the place where you can get the game, so you are only one click away from checking it out. While those reviews will center on RPG related content, all types of games are fair play here - RPGs, Story Games, Board games and even video games. All games are cool! So without further ado, I introduce you to this week's micro review.

InSpectres by Memento Mori Theatricks

PDF avaialable for $10 from DriveThruRPG

A true pick-up game. Your scheduled session was canceled? Some guy didn't show up? Fancy some horror-comedy in the vain of Ghostbusters? Open this book, get some D6s and start playing!

Players are InSpecter agents who, much like the ghostbusters, specialize in dealing with things that bump in the night. The game is a rules-lite, lighthearted horror, where anything can happen, as both the GM and the PCs can influence the plot. This is the main strenght of InSpectres - GM doesn't need to prepare anything! Plot hook is randomly generated and from there the dice decide what happens. You rolled well? You can decide what happened. Rolled poor? It's GM's turn to decide. Because no plot was prepared for the session, neither players, nor the GM knows what will truly happen during the adventure - they just make it up, as they go. Playing this game will teach you about story creation and improvisation. Because InSpectres is a comedy at its core even outrages ideas can be easily incorporated and it won't mess up the game. 

If it sounds like some kind of story game, you won't be far off. But, contrary to the story games of today, this game still feels like a proper RPG. Characters have attributes, gain experience (trough expanding their InSpectres franchise), there's a GM and all that jazz. It is a hybrid of story/narrative games and RPGs. If you wanted to try story games, but couldn't convince your RPG pals to give it a spin, where curious about narrative games in general, or want to test and polish your improv skills, while having a laugh - you can't go wrong with InSpectres!

P.S. If ghostbusters-like horror-comedy is not your cup of tea, try out InSpace from Lame Mage Productions - a free supplement where you play a crew of a starship investigating strange phenomena in spaaaaaaceee....