This was a long time coming. Estimated delivery of the Kickstarter was June 2023, and I received my copy 4/19/24. While it may be a little bit of a flag to anyone considering whether or not to back a Kickstarter, it isn’t very normal but can, and does, happen. I will say the communication during the wait period was phenomenal and Wet Ink Games controlled what it could control, and went with the flow with what it couldn’t. Situations come up. It’s life. So I would say if you’re considering backing on Kickstarter, do it! The vast majority of the games I’ve backed were on time or within 3 or 4 months of “estimated” delivery. I did the $50 buy-in which got me a pdf and softcover of the rules, dice, and a set of cards. The game does utilize the +one (plus one) system, which allows you to amass a dice pool of d6 and a 5 or 6 is a success. A deck of cards is used (any deck will do, with jokers) for various reasons depending on the RPG, and are used a little differently here than say in Heckin’ Good Doggos.
After the obligatory ‘welcome to RPGs’ and general rules, we get information on the power deck, which is how the deck is used during the game. A big thing in the book, and is mentioned multiple times, is that you are playing a younger character (they suggest 8 - 11, but a little older works as well), so while there will be danger, there’s no death, as there are no lethal weapons. They designed it to emulate Saturday morning cartoons. As you can probably figure from the title, you play a gifted child. 12 powers are listed, included are: Astral Travel, Clairvoyance, and Telepathy. You have a fuzzy memory of being free and you and your friends escape from The Facility to go in search of this fleeting memory and try to avoid recapture.
Though small at just over 80 pages, you get all the information needed to get ears deep in the game. The powers are well-defined and explained, the Facility is explained very well, and there are adventure hooks, including a ‘pilot’ adventure where the kids escape from The Facility and start their journey. The artwork is amazing, some of the best I’ve seen in an RPG and it’s in full color. What makes the system and consequently the game a little more interesting is the notion of threat levels. The threat level is how many successes the PCs need to roll to end the threat, and could be an individual or group number to reach.
