Excellent story, occasionally held back by the system
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
“So, to the prospective listener: what you're in for here is a really fun superhero story with loads of excellent characters. They take a couple episodes to find their groove, but once the character dynamics are established, it becomes really enjoyable listening- all the players and the GM really have a sense for character interaction and entertaining dialogue, and the plot moves along pretty briskly- in any given episode, there's plenty going on to dig into.
The missing star's mostly to do with the MASKS system they're running for their first season. And MASKS, honestly, plays to this crew's strengths- it's heavily narrative-focused and gives them a great structure for dealing with character development. The place it falls apart, though, is when the players get into combat scenes. MASKS combat works the same as noncombat- making Moves with circumscribed levels of narrative impact based on the outcomes of dice rolls. Particularly, there's no hit points and there are no mechanics to the heroes' powers. There's "Directly Engage a Threat" and "Unleash Your Powers" moves, but their efficacy depends entirely on the miscellaneous conditions and labels that describe the characters' emotions and perceptions. Consequently, every character is about as capable as every other character in every situation- and this kind of butts heads with one of the themes that keeps popping up in the story.
Almost all the heroes have a drive to become stronger, and pursue different avenues towards that (partially because the heroes' abilities are very situational and underpowered, such that a lot of encounters boil down to mundane fisticuffs.) But mechanically, all the actions they take to become stronger have absolutely zero impact on how likely they are to win a fight. (In fact, the emotional consequences of becoming stronger usually have a *negative* impact on their combat ability.) The rules also don't really allow for... winning? Like, the "Directly Engage a Threat" action involved in most combat has four success outcomes, none of which involve actually hurting or suppressing a foe. Fight scenes are chaotic, the players have very little ability to control the outcome, and they usually end when the GM decides they've gone on long enough and decides to bend the rules and let a player action actually have a lasting effect for once.
And, okay, I just wrote a lot of words about that one part that bugged me, but seriously, everything else is great. That's just a thing with me, is getting into too much detail about what's bad instead of what's good. Take that first paragraph, where I say how it's great and you should listen to it, and pretend I copy-pasted that a couple dozen times, possibly interspersed with some gushing about how Black Cavalier is perfect and how Davey Doomzone must be protected at all costs. I'm a big fan! I drew fanart! I bought the t-shirt! Trust me! It's good!”
Benedict_SC via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
09/14/17
More reviews of Roll to Breathe
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
“The RtB crew are playing a ragtag team of angsty superhero teens and I cannot recommend them enough.
The DM's use of the MASKS tabletop system (by Magpie Games) allows for some excellent storytelling and truly tense moments. The story is light-hearted and humorous there, gets tense and dramatic...”Read full review »
Setsuretsu via Apple Podcasts ·
France ·
07/24/17
☆
☆
☆
☆
☆
“a really wonderful podcast. charming crew, wonderful engagement with the games, excellent characters, clever wordbuilding and heartfelt storytelling.... a joy to listen to, and not just once! Only problem is a little bit of backseat dming in their fllowship campaign but that may sort itself out...”Read full review »
Frizzoops via Apple Podcasts ·
Great Britain ·
04/23/18
“I'm enjoying the content so far, but I have a major problem with the podcast that I hope is fixed later in. Unfortunately, there's an issue with the volume. Some of the players speak quietly, and turning the podcast up high enough to hear them means ears getting painfully blown out when the...”Read full review »
Kkay23677 via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
08/31/17
Do you host a podcast?
Track your ranks and reviews from Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more.
See hourly chart positions and more than 30 days of history.
Get Chartable Analytics »
See hourly chart positions and more than 30 days of history.
Listen now
Links
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Patreon
Genres
Artwork or description wrong?
Request an update »
Updates may take a few minutes.
Do you host a podcast?
Track your ranks and reviews from Spotify, Apple Podcasts and more.
See hourly chart positions and more than 30 days of history.
Get Chartable Analytics »
See hourly chart positions and more than 30 days of history.
