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A review by erfenden
Troika! by Daniel Sell
4.0
There’s been a great deal of chatter about Troika! floating around Twitter so I had to check it out.
It seems, in my inexpert estimation, to be pretty typical modern OSR fare. That’s not to say that it is without value in anyway, just that it’s not the kind of game I typically search out.
It has pretty simple rules with a very casual, disjointed feel. I think the intention is to present them as flawed and accessible to hacking by GMs. It also presents a bit of setting, which may be different from other OSR games that tend toward the generic fantasy. Troika! seems inspired by the weird chaos of planescape and spelljammer. But it’s not a well developed setting with deep lore, just a hinted at sketch of things that are left to individual gamers to flesh out.
There are also a few original and interesting ideas (namely the initiative stack and giving mechanical significance to inventory order). There are a few bits (like how skill success ticks affect advancement) that remain unclear after rereading a few times.
It also has great art. I love when games make bold decisions with their art.
If you like B/X D&D or The Black Hack But want something in a gonzo metropolis at the center of the multiverse, Troika! is your game.
It seems, in my inexpert estimation, to be pretty typical modern OSR fare. That’s not to say that it is without value in anyway, just that it’s not the kind of game I typically search out.
It has pretty simple rules with a very casual, disjointed feel. I think the intention is to present them as flawed and accessible to hacking by GMs. It also presents a bit of setting, which may be different from other OSR games that tend toward the generic fantasy. Troika! seems inspired by the weird chaos of planescape and spelljammer. But it’s not a well developed setting with deep lore, just a hinted at sketch of things that are left to individual gamers to flesh out.
There are also a few original and interesting ideas (namely the initiative stack and giving mechanical significance to inventory order). There are a few bits (like how skill success ticks affect advancement) that remain unclear after rereading a few times.
It also has great art. I love when games make bold decisions with their art.
If you like B/X D&D or The Black Hack But want something in a gonzo metropolis at the center of the multiverse, Troika! is your game.