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JAGS Wonderland


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An interesting little RPG I ran across at www.jagsrpg.org

The central premise of JAGS Wonderland seems to be that malignant alternate universes hover just under the surface of our own, seeking to infect us with their madness. Madness that is at least a little contagious. And of course, there's plenty of Alice in Wonderland allusions.

The good: Writing was generally decent. All the flash fiction and short stories of a genuine White Wolf product with none of the pomp. Very, very interesting concept. Reminds me a bit of Changeling: the Lost with an emphasis on madness and confusion, and a more nuanced Hedge. The presentation was generally quite good, and the kewl powerz felt genuinely thematic and balanced to the game, as far as I can tell. I refuse to deal with the system. Which brings me to...

The bad: um. The system for one. JAGS (Just Another Gaming System) is as complex as GURPS and twice as ugly. Fractions, subtle, nitpicky distinctions for things like the sort of collision a character might have, and generally rules where rules ought not be. The sort of dice needed is never specified, the three main attributes have nine secondary attributes, but that's not important because everything is skill driven anyway. Pass. I'd just convert the bastard to Fudge. Save time and blood vessels.

The ugly: Ergh. Some of the art (the photoshopped-looking stuff) was pretty hideous. Some was ok, and I saw a few pictures that I thought were quite good. And typos abound. Not only was it apparently not proofread, the writers didn't even bother to run it through a spellchecker, yeesh.

But all in all, it's an amazing, intriguing, and cool book. The best part? It's free. Go download it.

End mini-review.

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