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A review by svarnyp
Genesys Core Rulebook by Tim Cox, Daniel Lovat Clark, Max Brooke, Sam Stewart, Jason Marker, Sterling Hershey, Katrina Ostrander, Tim Huckelbery, Jay Little, Andrew Fischer
4.0
A general RPG rulebook from Fantasy Flight seemed like an interesting thing to check out and it truly was. Obviously, when reading such a book, one is going to also discuss the rules and not just the writing style. In general, if you are new to RPGs and want a modern RPG system that is close to the classical D&D games but with some original and interesting designs and applicable also to other settings quite easily, then Genesys seems like a good option.
I liked many aspects of the book. The quality is top, with great sketches that suggest that also the book content is more like a sketch, not a full painting.
The semantics of dice (i.e. having successes, advantages) seems really good and is used in other FFG RPGs, so I believe it stood already some test of time. Reading about it excited me to use it in-game with its potential for narrative storytelling. In the same topic, I liked how even dialogues or other social encounters are treated similarly as combat encounters and the GM is motivated to think about the goals and outcomes of each encounter and what purpose they play in the story.
The focus on narration is also present in explaining what skills should be used for and what they shouldn't be used for. Similarly, I loved how dice results are often illustrated by a piece of narrative that shows how differently very similar dice results can be interpreted based on the context of the throws. There are many other interesting design decisions, as streamlining encumbrance less as a weight problem but more as a "ease to carry" problem or a deep dive into the character's desires.
As a long time FATE player, I also liked the use of similar tiers of adversaries (i.e. a bunch of low enemies, one mid enemy and the nemesis). Speaking of adversaries and combat, I liked also the idea of different scales (especially discussed in the vehicle section), or the two different styles of initiatives.
The thing I loved the most about this book, however, is how honest it seemed about the design decisions in many places. The book details why there is a skill cap, why the rules work in a given way and what are the bad/good decisions of some rule changes. This way they give insight into the design but also help the GM to make more informed decisions when he alters the rules for his own settings.
On the other hand, I found plenty of shortcomings. For me personally, it still seems like the classical rule-heavy system of the old D&D with plenty of rules to remember and go through. Yet that is just a personal taste. The others, I think, are more universal observations.
The original dice used in the game still forced me to think if they are just a tool how to force people to buy proprietary FFG dice and if the distribution of the tokens on the dice was based on any statistical insight or just on gut feeling and is a must. Yes, you can have an app to throw as many FFG dice as you want. But are you really enjoying throwing digidice?
The text often felt uselessly verbose or even repeated. Example, the specification in what setting can the skills be used is repeated also for general skills so almost every skill finishes with the mantra "This skill should be used in all settings.". Or explaining on 6 (!) numbers how rounding up halved number works. Sometimes it felt as if the authors were paid per word (see the incredibly detailed and verbose description of a backpack).
Concerning game mechanisms, I found the system interesting and worth playing with one weird exception that I either misunderstood or is going against all my RPG instincts - the player initiative in a turn is agreed upon. This seems really weird and gives the player characters a lot of strength especially as they often already have more initiative slots than the NPCs.
Content quality-wise on the GM part I saw two shortcomings both tied to not following the same idea. The GM guide introduces scenario sheets for the different settings, but when the book introduces these settings, the sheet format or fields are not used at all. Second, the book introduces for many things well-detailed explanations of the
Also, the "tone" section at the end of the book seemed quite random to me, especially as the term is already used earlier with regards to the settings and was not tied to this final section.
I liked many aspects of the book. The quality is top, with great sketches that suggest that also the book content is more like a sketch, not a full painting.
The semantics of dice (i.e. having successes, advantages) seems really good and is used in other FFG RPGs, so I believe it stood already some test of time. Reading about it excited me to use it in-game with its potential for narrative storytelling. In the same topic, I liked how even dialogues or other social encounters are treated similarly as combat encounters and the GM is motivated to think about the goals and outcomes of each encounter and what purpose they play in the story.
The focus on narration is also present in explaining what skills should be used for and what they shouldn't be used for. Similarly, I loved how dice results are often illustrated by a piece of narrative that shows how differently very similar dice results can be interpreted based on the context of the throws. There are many other interesting design decisions, as streamlining encumbrance less as a weight problem but more as a "ease to carry" problem or a deep dive into the character's desires.
As a long time FATE player, I also liked the use of similar tiers of adversaries (i.e. a bunch of low enemies, one mid enemy and the nemesis). Speaking of adversaries and combat, I liked also the idea of different scales (especially discussed in the vehicle section), or the two different styles of initiatives.
The thing I loved the most about this book, however, is how honest it seemed about the design decisions in many places. The book details why there is a skill cap, why the rules work in a given way and what are the bad/good decisions of some rule changes. This way they give insight into the design but also help the GM to make more informed decisions when he alters the rules for his own settings.
On the other hand, I found plenty of shortcomings. For me personally, it still seems like the classical rule-heavy system of the old D&D with plenty of rules to remember and go through. Yet that is just a personal taste. The others, I think, are more universal observations.
The original dice used in the game still forced me to think if they are just a tool how to force people to buy proprietary FFG dice and if the distribution of the tokens on the dice was based on any statistical insight or just on gut feeling and is a must. Yes, you can have an app to throw as many FFG dice as you want. But are you really enjoying throwing digidice?
The text often felt uselessly verbose or even repeated. Example, the specification in what setting can the skills be used is repeated also for general skills so almost every skill finishes with the mantra "This skill should be used in all settings.". Or explaining on 6 (!) numbers how rounding up halved number works. Sometimes it felt as if the authors were paid per word (see the incredibly detailed and verbose description of a backpack).
Concerning game mechanisms, I found the system interesting and worth playing with one weird exception that I either misunderstood or is going against all my RPG instincts - the player initiative in a turn is agreed upon. This seems really weird and gives the player characters a lot of strength especially as they often already have more initiative slots than the NPCs.
Content quality-wise on the GM part I saw two shortcomings both tied to not following the same idea. The GM guide introduces scenario sheets for the different settings, but when the book introduces these settings, the sheet format or fields are not used at all. Second, the book introduces for many things well-detailed explanations of the
Also, the "tone" section at the end of the book seemed quite random to me, especially as the term is already used earlier with regards to the settings and was not tied to this final section.