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Fantastic system. Always lots of fun to use. Very different from your typical TTRPG but in a 'breath of fresh air' kind of way. Instead of a bunch of rules for the players to follow it's more a framework to channel all their chaotic high imagination energy into meaninful fun. The engine is lean, the math is quick and simple, and there is a huge allowance for the players to do whatever thrills them do.
One of the key elements that drives this engine is that the GM sets the Position (how bad failure will affect the character) and Effect (how likely a success will achieve the desired result). Example - OrcBurger wants to jump out from his hiding spot to tackle a farmer to knock him to the ground. As the GM I would say Position is Good - failing this roll might mean the farmer runs away screaming for help which is annoying but not bad and Effect is also Good - if you succeed on this roll you will flatten this guy. Alternatively, if OrcBurger wanted to jump out a High Elven bodyguard armed to the teeth I might say Position is Bad, if you fail this roll that guy is going to cause you pain, and Effect is normal - if you succeed in this roll you'll take him by surprise and knock him prone, but it's not going to keep him down for long.
This is something you need to be prepared for, deciding Position and Effect for pretty much everything. It's a lot of subjectivity on your part that results in a lot of flexibility for the players to go wild or strategic while meting out success and consequences fairly. The players also have the ability to block consequences... for a price... but this adds another level of epicness or strategy or possibly silliness depending on the group.
This system also heavily leans into the players as the creators and the GM as the facilitator. It is the players who build the world, set up its factions, build the dungeon, and pick the adventures, create their own gear / concoctions / inventions / spells, determine what success and failure looks like. That's a huge pile of creative flexibility! The GM, on the other hand, facilitates the creative process, sets the challenge, redirecting creative energy into something that works within the framework of the game system, and provides final say on things for the sake of balance and the integrety of the challenge. As the GM you have no idea what the players are going to do beforehand. They might raid a farm, seige the king's castle, enter into high stakes negotiations with the ratfolk, change the princess into a werewolf, or try changing the ocean into Soda Pop. The framework in this system accommodates for all of these things and so as the GM you're not prepping the story or the adventure like you would in more traditional TTRPGs so much as reviewing the framework and the structure of the game loop to properly facilitate whatever the players throw at you and any existing timers ticking in the background that will affect the factions in the world or the players' dungeon.
Character creation uses the Forged in the Dark approach, so there are a handful of monstrous arktypes and races to choose from that determine primary and secondary ability choices with three main attributes divided into three abilities each which get between 0 and 3 dots beside them. The leveling system rewards trying new things and being monstrous so players will intentionally try things their characters are not good at to maybe level them up... which is often hilarious. And of course if you have a really cool idea for some other powerful monster type that isn't properly represented in the initial set, there are rules for creating your own.
The blowback system provides meta-consequences for missions that go badly (they chose to do a stealth mission, but ended up parading down main street setting things on fire) and the GM can leverage the dark desires of each character to tempt players to veer off course. Basebuilding and downtime projects lead to inspiration for the players to come up with missions (I really want to get 2 tons of fabric to build the float for our our Dirigible of Death!).
Without going into any more detail, the system really pulls a group of people together in a creative process where the players become super invested in the world, their lair, and the their characters. This isn't a platform for grand narrative arks and Shakespearian RP or technical strategy, this is a platform for wild creativity, monstrous fantasy, and just getting to the action quickly with enough meaningful decisions between action scenes to set a good pace.
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