I'm a huge Tolkien fan, and grew up playing RPGs. I've played MERP, AD&D 2e, I'm reading Adventure in Middle-Earth for 5e (among other tabletop RPGs), and I'm running a campaign with Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures. This is an amazing fusion of Tolkien's ethos and the fun and quirkiness of old-school D&D. That said, there are some fantastic twists and original takes that takes The Hero's Journey: Second Edition way beyond a mere retro-clone or a Middle-earth (with the serial numbers filed off) setting. Even without a campaign setting as such, in every aspect of the mechanics of the game - from character creation to combat and magic systems - Spahn captures the moral and spiritual vision of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The world is dangerous, dark, and adventurers risk despair and corruption; at the same time, hope is a real quality - heroes are really heroes, and there is a buoyant quality to writing and the spirit of The Hero's Journey.

Mechanically, THJ adapts the familiar ability scores, changing both the names and meanings - for instance, Wisdom and Constitution essentially fuse into "Resistance," while Intelligence and Wisdom (in another way) become "Insight." "Weal" rounds out the ability scores, bringing doom/fate/luck into the core of character creation. Characters will also feature professions, lineages (races), and archetypes (classes). Some of these are classic and familiar, some bring fresh ideas, like the Changeling lineage, which gives players the option to play a character who is out of step with the world around them, even to the point that NPCs will fail to notice or will come to lose track of a changeling who isn't trying to be seen! Another variant allow players to create characters who come to the adventure from our world, like Susan or Edmund from The Chronicles of Narnia!

Spellcasting and combat also innovate over the Swords & Wizardry and Tolkien roots, featuring spells with core ideas that give rise to options for a character to choose when the spell is cast, and the use of damage reduction in addition to basic hit-and-damage mechanics. Hope and despair (and corruption) are baked into every aspect of the game - characters have options for supporting and encouraging one another in combat and around the campfire, and they run the risk of despair when dealing with the evils of the world.

This doesn't even cover the array of creatures designed for THJ and the direction given to designing adventures, settings, or the ways characters can develop heirlooms and potent equipment over time. As for the book itself, the artwork is beautiful and captures the spirit of the game, evoking down-to-earth and adventurous characters. Initially, I lamented the lack of color in the presentation. However, now that I have the softcover in my hands, and looks amazing printed. The POD version is excellent!

If you want something gritty or grimdark, this isn't likely to be your cup of tea. However, if you love the adventurous spirit of early D&D and the joyfully serious (or seriously joyful?) quality of Tolkien's work, Spahn has produced that in spades. I am eager to see the adventures and the Hero's Companion that he is working on, putting more flesh and vision into an already hefty offering!

I got this through a kickstarter. It has been a ton of fun to run. Great resources and art!

I came into this after being a fan of the base Tiny D6 system. That and looking for some mechanics for a tavern or other restablishment building. While it does provide a bit of the latter, it strays away from "rules light" into convoluted by adding mutiple types of tests using cutesy verbage that would require frequent looking up of to keep straight.

As for the art, they went full on furry/disney style and it doesn't do it for me at all (acknowledging art is subjective). The internal art is all B&W pencil sketches which isn't too big of a deal, but some of it looks like it wasn't cleaned up and some pieces are repeated which seems to be a lame attempt at filler.

In general, it's super touchy/feely with character sheets referencing characters' "emotional wellness" and "moods" along with emojis. It seems to be designed for kids and teenagers. If that wasn't the intent, I don't know many RPG tables ever wanting to play it as is. I wish it was more accurately marketed as such or at least that there was a more extensive preview so that I could have made a more informed decision.

That said, I give it a couple of stars for having a decent layout along with hyperlinks (PDF) and for providing a handful of ideas I can use elswhere.

This was an intriguing premise for a game.

Pro: Rules lite , good art, emphasizes character, can be a fun experience where players shape the narrative with currency. Concise character sheet that summarizes key concepts with all the moves on one page.

Con: Will be too rules lite for some. For example, there is little guidance on how to handle a physical fight. Might be too easy to change PC's fate with narrative currency (I houseruled this).

I am so happy that this was released. For one it is a much better option for players and it still contains everything you ned to play and run Tiny Dungeon games for those looking at taking on the role of GM. While I love Tiny Dungeons 2e I felt the original books Micro settings were not very useful as they were more ideas than fleshed out usable campaigns. I picked up five copies of this to hand out to my gaming group and we have been having a balst. This is such an easy system to teach to new players and VERY hackable. We are now on our second campaign and twelve sessions in. Many have asked me if this system can nadle a long running campaign and my answer is YES. My last campaign lasted 62 sessions of weekly Wednesday night gaming. Our newest campaign has custom classes, races and weapons that were an absolute breeze to create. Now my group is coming from D&D 5e and they were able to play through a 62 session campaign. OF course having played it so much we now have custom rules to fit our settings and campaigns and the best part is everyone in the group now takes turns running games whereas with other systems I was always the GM. In conclusion a great game with a great chasis for building it into whatever you wnat it to be without breaking the game. Happy gaming!

I backed the project and ordered the hardcover, and I'm very happy -- it's a well-made little book full of goodness. It's a quick and easy system that suits the mood and content well, AND the content is versatile enough for use more broadly. You can start a campaign right out of the book using the good ruleset, or use the book's material as an addition to an existing campaign in any other system. Either way, I recommend it.

The Tiny d6 engine continues to intrigue me. It reads as a very complete, though light system. And the Archetypes in Magnum Vice give you the perfect opportunity to run that 80s action hero game you're embarassed to mention.

very poor and distinctive proposal. I am a backer of the project and I cannot find the idea that were pitched during the financing cmpaign. On 120 pages there are only a few specifically dedicated to the "grimdark "proposal. Moreover, the rules do not seem to be reliable , well balanced and fully playtested.

Starting with the good: -This is a great looking book. The cover and inside art is creative and fun. Overall, a very inviting presentation. -The rules are LIGHT. Character creation is FAST. This system will best benefit players who are new to role playing and younger, first-time game masters.

The bad: -The “Microsettings” section is half the book and as a whole, isn’t all that useful. At best, I would call this collection “setting ideas.” While these scenarios could be considered inspiration, most are too short and have no useful structure for a new GM to follow. Also, I’d love to see some of them include a map. -I was excited to see all the dinosaurs in the monster section until I realized all of them are very similar mechanically. -The “Running Adventures” section for game masters just isn’t helpful. It’s 4 pages of very general advice. I want some actionable points, things a young GM can take and directly implement at their table. Example of play is absent and could prove very helpful. -There is no list of items or equipment. The book states that these are provided by the GM but I feel like this is a lost opportunity to introduce cool magical items.

Conclusion: While anyone can pick up and play this system easily, I think it would be best for young adults (8-10) who are interested in GMing for the first time. With that in mind, the GM section and Microsettings section should provide more focused, comprehensible advice for what a GM does on and off the table. There’s no talk of homebrewing rules, traits, or spells, no advice for creating magical items or weapons. I think these are important subjects for a rules-light system that is bound to attract first-time rpg players.

This was the first game we played irl in months. I ran a one shot. Everyone had a fantastic time, the rules are simple, but provide enough guidance that I never ran into a situation where I was stuck. Character creation was the best aspect. Each player gave me a comic character they wanted to emulate powerset, i created 5 characters in 20 minutes. If I had structured the campaign for anything other than a one shot, the experience rules are the most robust of any of the "tiny" rulesets. Great game for those who want a supers game without needing to read 10 pages on how to break a door down.

There's a lot of good material in here and I love the concept behind this system. We're developing a pilot session of a show for my Twitch channel using this but it's REALLY hard to recommend it to others for one single reason... the rulebook.

I've had to basically rewrite the rules for my players to understand the game. There are numerous grammatical errors, references to sections and chapters that don't exist, concepts (ex. Compel) that are simply not explained in depth at all...

The book reads like a crib sheet or a module of how to play House of the Blooded / Blood & Honor in a different setting instead of being a stand alone rulebook. I had to reread the source material to fully understand how this game is supposed to be played, and even then had to homebrew a mashup of the two for it to flow.

Great idea, poorly executed. Hoping there's a second, HEAVILY revised edition in the future.

Druid covens, yes, fine, good.

Drawback Traits, those are awesome, this is a big step forward for the game, and you need to pick this issue up just to get these.

Setting a camp, this is really interesting, really want to try this. Nice work.

Teamwork rules, intuitive, concise, and immediately useful. Excellent.

PATRICK TRACY'S SWORDS AGAINST DEVILTRY IS THE BEST TD2e MICROSETTING YET PUBLISHED. Ladies and gentlemen, that sound you hear is the bar being lifted. Wow. Just... wow.

GET THIS.

Shorter TinyZine, but solid.

The Roll-and-Play feature is all about Cities, and although these columns are supposed to help you quickly generate random crap on the fly, I honestly think you could use this one to build your own Lankhmar, Camorr, or Ankh-Morpork. Definitely worth your time.

There are three new heritages as well: Gnome, Halfling, and Fungoid.

Some people hate Gnomes, some people adore them--personally I can take them or leave them. I like the Creative Heritage Trait (which reminds me in fun ways of the Gadgeteer/Inventor Trait from Tiny Supers) but my favorite part of this Heritage is that the flavor text says Gnomes hate pointy hats, which is what the guy in the illustration is wearing.

Fungoids. "They're mushroom people. They're weird." Agreed. Not sure anybody was begging to play one of these, but... sure! Why not?

The next article revises the Brawler and Martial Artist Traits. I think those worked well as they were, but apparently this is how it's going to be from now on. So if you play an unarmed fighter, you should pick this up.

The Bard Trait Tree is the last thing in the Zine, and I have some mixed feelings. I agree that this has been missing from Tiny Dungeon, and I really like the idea of magical music being primarily useful to alter moods and influence emotions. Very cool! I also like the idea of powerful magical songs (aka Song Traits), but the four Song Traits listed are a bit underwhelming, especially you're basically spending a whole Trait to get a single spell. Archmage seems like a much better deal. On the other hand, there is the promise here that future Tiny Zines will have more songs, so I'll just look forward to checking those out when they come out.

Bottom line: Not a must-have IMHO, but still a good issue-- especially the first three articles.

I am a big fan of the Tiny series and this one is my favorite due to my love of kaiju and super robots. I highly recommend it

I collect superhero games, fully knowing I'm never going to play most of them. This one, on the other hand? Pretty sure it's going to be my go-to going forward! Easy to learn, easy to teach, super quick chargen. What's not to like?!