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Harvest Rites
by Aaron G. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 01/02/2018 10:28:34

Great little seasonal source for my Clockwork games!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Harvest Rites
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Clockwork: Dominion Core Rulebook
by A customer [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/03/2016 15:10:27

So far this game has been very fun to play. I own both the Core Book and the Cabinet of Curiosities and have been extremely happy with the quality/playability of the game.

A couple of situations arose within our game that I wasn't sure how to handle and I was able to get feedback from the design crew in a very timely manner. Their customer service is beyond compare.

I highly recommend both books and the cards. It is fun to play, full of excellent story material backed by a great team of designers!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Clockwork: Dominion Core Rulebook
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Clockwork: Dominion Core Rulebook
by Timothy O. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 08/18/2016 00:08:51

This is a full-bodied world, and it is beautiful. Love that the creation of the world (the entire universes, actually) is tied into the glory and sickened parts of the present state of Earth's existance at the present time, which is the late 1800s.

Strange scientific discoveries (many of which come from our real world) are allowed to flower in full bloom in Victorian British society. This help create a unique and fascinating world. Adding a steam punk element is seamless, and makes sense.

Everything you need to start a journey in this world is layed out in a very well written book. The artwork is gorgeous. You learn about the history and the world, right up to the present time. It is well detailed, engrossing, and immerses you completely. Character development, n.p.c. creation, creatures, sciences, magic, and mystery are all explained in an easily digestible, understandable way.

This system uses cards instead of dice, which is refreshing and a bit more organic in how players can deal with encounters of all types.

Highly recommend. If you can afford it, but the book instead of the PDF. The artwork is worth the price all by itself.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Clockwork: Dominion Quick Start Rules
by Lori W. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 10/03/2013 10:31:52

At Temple Con ( February 2012), I was lucky enough to join in on a beta game of Clockwork: Empire led by one of the creators, Nathaniel Dean. My friends and I absolutely loved the game and set up another opportunity to play a couple of weeks later at TotalCon.

The available adventure is the first one we played and I would have to say is my favorite. The pre-made characters are interesting and quirky. I would love to play the character I had again, as I was unable to even scratch at the many hidden layers in one adventure.

The story itself was engaging and allowed us to actually play our characters. It had flow and purpose and we weren't simply sent off on wild goose chases to waste time for hours until the "big bad" was finally revealed. (I've experienced this with other games two too many times!) The research and twists on history that have gone into this game provide a game that is also truly a story.

I was unsure if I would enjoy diceless combat, but the card system works so well for both battle and social conflict that I am more than willing to keep my dice comfy in their bag for this game. And believe me, that is saying a lot.

What is social conflict? Clockwork: Empire is not simply a beat up the bad guys RPG. It is a wonderfully intricate, complex storytelling RPG that is surprisingly simple to learn (as the player anyway!). The world is rich and full and the system allows for PCs to guide the story the way they wish. Sometimes this involves serious battles. Other times this involves negotiation, seduction, or heated arguments. While the last three can be fun with the right person, it is not always what you want to see from your gaming group. The cards allow for these social conflicts to take place within the story, without turning your group itself into a bickering battleground.

When we played the second adventure, we never engaged in a single battle. Not one. The entire story was told and resolved through social conflict and we were not bored or wanting to stab someone to "get the show on the road". Again, this is saying a lot. I tend to play impulsive characters because I hate sitting around waiting for people to roll on the nature of the gazebo they've stumbled across. Because of the brilliant game system, we were able to enjoy an entire adventure with only social conflict and we loved it.

If it seems as though I am gushing about this game, it is because I am. Personally, I cannot wait until the full version is released in 2014. I want to play my Idle Hands character again and I want to run a different adventure for my group. Both roles seem exciting to me.

If you like RPGs, storytelling, or steampunk- grab this game now. It is a winner. I love, love, love it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Clockwork: Dominion Quick Start Rules
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Clockwork: Dominion Quick Start Rules
by Benjamin M. [Verified Purchaser] Date Added: 09/28/2013 18:54:28

The Quick Start Rules are well laid out, but can be a little confusing at first. The overall mechanic for everything from task resolution to Social conflict is pretty straight forward, add all applicable modifiers and draw a card, if you get a value of +1 or better you succeed, otherwise you fail (with some exceptions). There are varying levels of success and failure, but that's it in a nut shell. Most other elements of the game are fairly basic, each character has a class, aptitudes, skills, etc.. However there are a few parts that are fairly unique, for example reputation, affinities and dispositions, which all have mechanical effects on Social conflicts. They have also taken a far more realistic view of wounds, which, unlike some RPGs, will only heal after weeks of recovery. There are mechanics in place for how a character can continue while wounded, but with some hefty disadvantages. I could go on and basically regurgitate the whole of the Quick Start Rules, but I don't want to do that, you can just go and download them yourself at the link above. What I really want to do is talk about the two things that, mechanically, stand out to me.

First are the Empire cards. I was a little skeptical about playing an RPG without dice, but was quickly put at ease by the simple elegance of how the cards are used. Obviously they are used for trait tests, as I have already mentioned. But they are also used for determining the Initiative Sequence, adding conditions to characters during conflict, and can be used in place of percentile dice, as each card has a unique number from 1-100. All the cards have a numerical value ranging from 5 to -5 and include the dreaded DOOM and the desired FATE cards, one each. Because there is only one of each of those cards, the deck is reshuffled at the end of each Initiative Sequence, for both physical and social conflict, and when either the FATE or DOOM card is drawn during non-conflict scenes. This ensures that everyone gets a chance to draw one of the cards.

The second thing that stands out to me mechanically is the Guard Characteristic. A characters Guard is basically their ability to ward off attacks. There are no 'hit points' in Clockwork: Empire, there is Guard and wounds. As a conflict progresses a characters Guard will go up and down depending on how things are going for them. Once a characters Guard is down they begin to take Wounds. I like the way this works over some other games. It represents a character getting tired, falling for a feint, tripping over their own feet. It doesn't hurt them, but it makes them easier to hit. So, on a successful attack you don't take damage as long as your Guard is up, but if you have been at this fight for a while, your going to start seeing the toll it takes as your Guard goes down.

Read the full review at www.geeksplainggames.com



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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