Troika! Numinous Edition

Troika! is just a delightful game. The art is fantastic and weird; really setting the tone for what to expect. The physical book itself of great quality, it feel like it's going to last for a long time compared to say, books from what may or may not be the world's most popular tabletop role playing game.The highlight of the system are easily the backgrounds, they provide just enough setting or story information to get you hooked but are wide open enough to tweak and explore on your own. The rest of the rules are straightforward and easy to pick, creating an easily hacked and homebrewed foundation. It is explicitly stated in the rules that there is an expectation for players and MC to add extra rules as they need during play, and after running the game I can say that this is *very* easy to do. The initiative system is fantastically weird, but does actually work (this is the part of the game that might require the most practice to really get down, but there's some great fan-made resources out there to help).As a game, Troika! is a blast to play. As a book, it's a blast to read. As a design space, I'm addicted. You owe it to yourself to check this out.

In general: the book is beautiful and well organized. The system is flexible, simple, and elegant. The rules emphasize predictable skills but HIGHLY unpredictable combat. Play this game if you like an OSR style of play, roll-under mechanics, unpredictable combat, and skills that advance through use.Art: 5/5. What really gets me about the art is how it gets your imagination going. The only aesthetic part of the book I don't like are the character sheets, but there are some very cool sheets available through some brief googling.Layout: 4.5/5. The structure of the book is simple and generally easy to navigate. The use of different colored pages makes use at the table a lot easier too. My only real complaint is that an index would be helpful (though I realize that they suck to make, and the book is small enough that an index isn't strictly necessary).Mechanics: 5/5. The mechanics are simple and elegant.Unopposed checks: 2d6 roll-under Target Number (= General Skill lvl + Advanced Skill lvl).Opposed check (e.g. melee combat): both contestants roll 2d6 + Advanced Skill lvl. High roll wins. Luck points can be used to break ties. This means combat is dangerous because someone is almost always going to get hit.Initiative: Probably the most unique mechanic, you determine initiative by drawing tokens out of a bag. Each player puts in two tokens. Then you put in tokens for the enemies/NPCs. And finally you put in an "End Round" token. You draw a token, and the corresponding character takes an action. Repeat until the End Round token is drawn. Then put all the tokens back in the bag and repeat until combat ends.Backgrounds: Backgrounds determine your basic stats, skills, and equipment. They are imaginative and evocative--but also very whimsical. If those aren't your thing, there are easy rules for creating your own backgrounds.Advanced Skills and Improvement: These come from an inchoate list--the list isn't exhaustive and you're incouraged to create your own as needed. You improve skills through use, like in Mythras or Call of Cthulhu. When you succeed at an Advanced Skill (like tracking), you put a tick mark next to it. At the end of the session, roll 2d6 for each skill with a tick. If the roll is higher than your skill level, you increase the skill by 1.Bestiary: For the size of the book, you get a very nice number of monsters. Stating monsters is very easy in Troika. The best part is that each monster comes with a 1d6 chart that provides it's demeanor/attitude when encountered. This gives some easy personality and some incentive to roleplay monsters beyond existing merely to be stabbed and looted.

The book is nice. It has a nice feel in hand, as do the pages. Endpapers being used for reference is always a plus and more books need to be doing this.The cover art is nice. There does appear to some kind of border artifacting on some of the images but that could be a stylistic choice as it is more of the even faded border rather than some awful image compressions.Art is all super something, the implied setting of Troika! is great, even better if you mosey over to Daniel Sell's blog and read up on his Troika and see all the stuff he didn't include. He gives you a setting, but not wholly his setting. There is plenty of space to make it your own setting, something the space demands imo.So some complaints.The lack of pricing for the equipment that is in the book, but that's also probably super intentional and I'd have probably ignored it anyways. And it is clear my priorities are elsewhere.Funny things. Section 13 Items has its subsections labeled 14.x instead of 13.x. The monster entries do not have a consistent line-spacing, and the khaibit lists its stats Stamina, Skill, Armour, Initiative, instead of the usual Stamina, Skill, Initiative, Armour.Good things.I wouldn't even call this advice, but this:"If a Skill isn't listed here then make it up. Anything can be a skill from Jousting to Eating. Skills are primarily used as flavour..."Dan Sell tells the players that they are not beholden to only what he has written in this game. And then a followup in the sample adventure showing how and when you might want to add a new advanced skill. Conclusions? (For Now <ominous music>)4/5Not perfect but definitely not a purchase I regret.

high flavor and weirdness that emerges naturally

Troika! is just the right amount of silliness for the tabletop. It's low-key on information overload for the players, keeping character creation fairly short and dodging the tropes that come with current day RPG's. Character background/classes are bizarre, and players will have fun trying to find a way to incorporate their weird characters together so that some kind of sense is made (but if you can't make any sense of it... that's okay!)Character backgrounds/classes are as wild as Gremlin Catchers (who start with an angry gremlin in a jar!) and as bizarre as an eccentric member of a food critic club whose palate is so sensitive that the character can identify items by eating them.Troika! allows players and game masters to just go wild without feeling super constrained, playing off zaniness and letting everyone be the sincere weirdos they always wish they could be.

the production quality is lush. it feels lovely.the heavy grain paper, different colours for different sections of the book, make it truly stand out. the pseudo monochromatic art is evocative and lush.the game itself is a bonkers gonzo hybrid of moorcock meets douglas adams meets flash gordon meets pendleton ward, and it has so many sublimely innovative and subtly wonderous mechanisms its ... well.a worthy addition to any gamer's shelves.

This is a great game. The writing is magical and funny, the rules are simple but thoughtful, and the art is fantastic and confusing in equal measure! It's genuinely fun to GM for this game - the weirdness of the world almost writes itself.

Excellent game but if you want a pdf copy too buy direct from publisher.