Root RPG: Core Book

Fast and no issues

The biggest surprise in ROOT, The RPG, has been the depth of the material. Without reading volumes and volumes of background lore, the core book allows you to generate a complex military/political situation for your Vagabonds to explore. There’s lots of room for gravitas. I love the art, but it does not suggest the grit of dueling factions with an insurrection brewing underneath that obvious struggle. That is, however, exactly what is going on.The mechanics are not complex but have sufficient nut-and-bolts to allow for good character differentiation. Combat will likely be important in your game, but there are also lots of opportunities for social interaction (or manipulation). Socially focused characters should have ample opportunities to move the story rather than (as I have seen in many other games) suffer relegation to the periphery.There is no magic in the core book rules. The Tinker, though, can accomplish feats like magic (essentially steam punk feats) with tools and skill. I can also imagine an expansion set for those of you who require magic, or, if you are ambitious, you might try to write an expansion rule set. This is not a game that supports an antagonist of ultimate Evil, furthermore, like Sauron in LoRT. The woodland animals that make up the cast of this story are, instead, very human. That has sufficient opportunity for evil in my humble opinion.Finally, ROOT is a pure RPG; it is not a wargame. This could be considered an advantage. I can imagine running a campaign via Zoom meetings because issues like, “what is long range in yards for a composite short bow?” do not come up. Your Vagabonds probably will have sweet gear, but detailed maps and miniatures won’t be necessary to resolve a confrontation.

i wish i could give this book a better review because i really like the setting and the overall story but this game is not great. In short:- The combat is very poorly explained and comes down to no on ever dying and negotiations being the only way for change in the story.-items are bizarre and have either terrible stats that make them worthless or a single ability that causes them to break down quicker but make challenges easier. makes any usefull item short lived.-The politics.... oh the politics of this game are incredibly complicated as you need a map similar to the board game and you need to trace every territorial change as they happen. Occassionally, you even need the DM to make changes that the players have never interacted with.-Classes make no sense as you can be a bird and just get "flight" from level 1 whereas a mouse gets nothing.There are other issues but overall this is not a well polished game and not as much fun as the board game.

The book is well made. The pages feel great, the illustrations look crisp, and there is no problems after reading and using it for a couple of months.Regarding the content, it's a great role-playing heavy silly TTRPG based on the boardgame. The mechanics are fitting to the lore, the set-up is easy. Definitely recommend it for a one-shot or a fun light-hearted adventure.

One of the best RPG's I've seen in a long time! System is well designed, book is beautifully made and illustrated (some grammatical errors but it's still understandable), and arrived quickly. I recommend this for all fans of RPG's!