System Spotlight: Open Legend RPG

Well Met Travelers.

This is the first Game System Spotlight, and this time I am talking about one of the Newer RPG systems brought to the stage by Brian Feister, Open Legend RPG.

For those of you who don't know what this system is, it is an Open Source genre ambiguous system that focuses on a narrative rather than a restrictive rule set. This means that the game is first of all free to access, and second, it can be played in any genre, whether it's traditional fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk, etc. This game is meant to be played by those who wish their story to be told as they want rather than how the rules allow it to be told. As Mr. Feister says on the game's homepage, "Everything about the game has been built to open up the doors of possibility so that every table tells a legend worth telling. 

The Link to the website can be found: Here
The Link to the Game's Rules is: Here

Now that The game's premise is out there, I want to discuss some of the things that I like and dislike about the game. Overall, let me just say that I love this system. As such, my discussion is going to be a little bit Biased in favor of this game.

First my likes. These are many and I will just shear it down to my top 5 favorite things about this system.

1. Classlessness 
Open Legend, being Genre ambiguous, sports no strict class system to which players must abide during character creation. This means that players can build practically any character they wish. Wanna Build a Bearzerker? It can be done. Have you always wanted to play a sentient lettuce who casts salad based magic? I mean if you really want to, it's possible. The possibilities of characters you can build are limited only by your imagination.

2. Dice Explosions
This is perhaps one of my favorite rules in this entire system. Now you're probably wondering, " Weasel, What in the World is a Dice Explosion?" I'm glad you asked, random commenter. A Dice Explosion simply means that whenever you roll the maximum number on a Die, it explodes. This means that you roll another of that die, so if you roll a six on a d6, roll another d6 and add it to the total. The best part of this mechanic, all dice explode, even dice that are rolled because of an explosion, meaning that you can, in theory, explode indefinitely.

3. Every Roll Matters
This is is another of my favorite rules. Rather than a roll meaning success or failure, it can mean any roll completely changes the situation, come success or failure. I feel the best way to explain this rule is to just insert the text from the rules:


This rule makes failing a role much more significant than just not picking the Lock or Breaking Down the Door.

4. Freedom
When there is no set rule on how to handle an action, the rules call for the DM to ask the players to make a roll with one of their attributes, and the DM will compare the roll to the DC that the DM sets allowing for actions not accounted for by the game designers to be enacted with no need for homebrewing rules. *Shia Labeouf voice* JuSt DO IT.

5. Community
Open Legend Has such an active and friendly community. The people there are more than willing to help one another with anything OLRPG related, and it is such a great place to hangout.

You can find a link to the Open Legend Community HERE


Now for my dislikes of the Game. These are far less prevalent and partially nit-picky.

1. No Bestiary
While this game has a wonderful system for creating Monsters and NPCs for the players to encounter, there is no premade resource to get a feel for the power levels of the Monsters and NPC's so that a DM Knows what to throw at his or her players. (Mr. Feister has told me that they have plans for the release of a bestiary, but none exists as of yet).

2. Learning Curve
This game is so different from so many other RPGs that it has a bit of a learning curve that is much more challenging to grasp. This is only a problem until you learn the rules of the system, after a while, everything becomes second nature. Like I said, Nit-picky.



That's all for now, Until next time,
Farewell and Safe Journeys Travelers

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