by KatharinaKuo

Authors: Laurie Blake & Rhi Sanders
Publisher: Stop, Drop & Roll
Genre/Setting: Solarpunk
Rule family: PbtA, FATE and OSR influences
Number of pages: 100
Review basis: I played one solo adventure and decided not to play the game with my group.

Setting:
Why We Fight is set in the near future. The country is ruled by a fascist government, but there are resistance cells living in the wilderness and carrying out (sometimes violent) missions against the regime. Each player takes on a crew of 4 characters.

Character creation:
Despite having to create four characters at once, character creation is quick and easy: you choose a name and 2 (mechanically irrelevant) traits and decide on a special ability. For one character, you also determine why they are fighting (you can find out about the others while playing). These “Personal Discoveries” can be used later to gain an advantage on checks in appropriate situations.

Gameplay:
Why We Fight is a GM-less game. You roll (or choose) a mission and determine how long the journey to the mission location will take—the longer it takes, the more scenes you play. To flesh out the scenes, you roll for the area (village, farm, etc.), a conflict, and the factions present. On this basis, you then set up the scene. This part worked well for me: I first had to deal with a clash between farmers and civilians, as the latter had been allocated land by the government on the farmers' property for a new settlement. Then I came across an unexploded rocket in a field, which was in danger of falling into the hands of the regime's henchmen.

For each scene, you choose from a list of actions how the crew deals with it. In my case (mediating between the two groups and dismantling the object), both scenes were resolved with a single roll. These rolls follow a PbtA logic: There are failures, partial successes, and complete successes (and critical successes and failures if a double is rolled).

My main mission was to find a new arms dealer. Since I also wanted to test the combat system, the crew decided to first stock up on weapons from him and then take out the guy, since he primarily sells weapons to government officials. The combat works in a similar way to the other scenes: you define the scene (who is present, what are the environmental characteristics), determine the fight ratings, set the opponents' goal, and then select the first actions. Each action causes time to pass, and if the (previously determined) time has elapsed without all opponents being taken out, they achieve their goal.

Criticism:
Why We Fight is a beautifully designed book, but its rules presentation is terribly confusing. There is no index and no overview of the (countless) rule terms. You are constantly asked to jump to other sections of the book, making it impossible to simply read from front to back while playing a first session.

What I found most frustrating is that many rules are located in illogical places: for example, it is mentioned in two places that certain equipment fills an equipment slot, without any mention of equipment slots in the chapters on character creation or rewards. Even a search for “slot” in the PDF yielded no results. At some point, I noticed that the chapter “Special Equipment” near the end of the book states that each character can hold two equipment items. Why not mention this earlier and in a more appropriate place? I am also still puzzled by how ammunition is handled. I rolled the die on a random table to discover my crew has found “2 ammo” with the rocket. However, nowhere does it say what that means, whether you can only use firearms if you have ammo in your equipment, etc.

My second criticism relates to the rule system, where I feel that too many approaches have been crammed into one product: I like PbtA and the concept of advantages that arise from narration and partial successes. I like FATE and its aspects that give bonuses on rolls. And I also like OSR systems with all their tables and different combat actions. Why We Fight combines all of these approaches, and for me this is simply too much. This became most apparent during combat, where I had to calculate values and consult several tables for every roll—without that effort adding anything exciting to the story. Added to this were the many actions and opponents, all of which work differently and have different tactics, while at the same time controlling 4 characters and (in my case) 4 NPCs. It was too much effort for me, considering that the fight was ultimately over after a few actions (most of which were unspectacular). And even after the fight was over, I was unsure whether combat in Why We Fight is meant to be primarily strategic or primarily narrative. The combat rules suggest the former, even though the game otherwise seems more like a narrative game.

Conclusion:
Why We Fight contains many good ideas. The scene generator produced scenes that were not particularly innovative or complex, but definitely usable. It's also clear that the designers put a lot of thought into what kind of adventures can be played in this setting. However, I find the rules to be a major turn-off. I would have liked to see a clearer focus (e.g., PbtA with one to a handful of game moves). I also feel that the rules were not sufficiently playtested or proofread by external parties, which is a shame, given how many interesting ideas Why We Fight contains. Finally, I would have liked it if the game did not dictate which political principles the resistance follows, but instead provided suggestions for developing your own approaches to the fight against dictatorship.

by sdonohue

Pirates of Pugmire Guide Screen is a 2020 release from Onyx Path Publishing. Like most accessories in this category, there are no credits for designers or artists. This one is designed to make it easier to use the Pirates of Pugmire setting.

Presentation
This is available in pdf and as a print product. The print version includes an 8 page booklet in addition to the screens. The screen is a color tri-fold, laid out in landscape format with each panel being 8.5 x 11. The booklet is also 8.5 x 11 and is black & white.

Content
The booklet is taken from chapter 4 of Pirates of Pugmire and is nothing new to those who own the rulebook. The screen is three pieces of art depicting pirate life on one side and charts and tables on the other. The panels of the screen side summarize some important rules and charts of the game. The first panel explains how to roll dice and the results of those rolls; it also has the skill list, information on ranged weapons, bonuses based on family, and a list of free actions. The second panel focuses on melee weapons, actions, proficiency bonuses and some artifacts. The third panel describes the combat sequence, conditions, coin progressions (Pugmire doesn't really use numbers for coins found), and some additional equipment.

Evaluation
The screen is easy to use and does have the charts and other information most likely to come up during a game of Pirates of Pugmire. It's well laid out and readable and the organization makes it easier to use. The booklet is probably best shared with player who want or need a little more background on the life of pirates in Pugmire. It's a nice piece, but I think I'd rather have had a scenario, which is a much more common inclusion in accessories like this. Overall, it's a good and useful tool and worth it if you're thinking about a Pirates of Pugmire campaign.

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