System Review: Havoc Brigade
I love this game. I'm admittedly a Grant Howitt fanboy (possibly to an obnoxious degree) but I think I can look at this game objectively and still say that it is a great pairing of theme and mechanics. It's not a super deep system, but the systems it provides mesh with one another tidily.
What is this game?
This game doesn't set out to handle every type of story, or every setting. It's a game about being noisy, chaotic orcs on a "stealth" mission in the human city, and getting into trouble along the way. It's about smashing heads, stealing stuff, and revelling in the chaos. Completing your quest is an optional bonus.
The setting is a techno-fantasy carnival city. It's wizards and gnomes and orcs and goblins, but with magical robots and lodestone powered railguns and things. Zoos filled with indescribable Jabberwocks. Squads of golden-haired Prince Charmings in the palace district and gangs of beard-tugging dwarves in the pubs. It's a no-holds-barred mashup of whatever fantasy-tech nonsense you please.
My experience with this system
I've run this system numerous times for numerous groups and it's gone over very well with almost every player. The worst review I got was that it wasn't quite what they expected. Because the game is built to handle one type of story it is not designed with a ton of replayability in mind. That said I've had two repeat players, and I think both had fun both times.
Resolution Mechanic
The core system extremely easy to understand: roll six-sided dice, succeeding on 4, 5, or 6. There are a few subsystems to explain to new players, but they basically boil down to different ways of adding more dice to your dice pool so your odds of turning up successes increases.
The game does require players to negotiate with their GM, which may challenge people who prefer more granular mechanical subsystems. The rulebook encourages using your skills and supplies in creative, unexpected ways, which has two effects: First, it provides players a lot of flexibility in how they solve (or create) problems. Second, it demands that everyone be comfortable negotiating what is a "fair ruling." This doesn't suit all tastes, and I think that's worth making clear in this review.
Characters
Curiously, the system provides six pre-generated characters, and offers no guidance whatsoever creating your own. For a game of this nature (silly, low-stakes, and with few provisions for replayability) that is fine. I think creating your own character would be entirely doable for anyone reasonably comfortable with TTRPG design, but a novice player might find this experience frustrating. A lot of people want to bring their own special little guy to life when rolling dice and might chafe at having to pick from a list. But if you're fine with that, this game is perfect to pick up and play with no prep whatsoever.
As for the characters provided, they are simple yet flavourful. They range from big shouty orcs, to mad scientists, to a swarm of goblins. Each has a custom list of thematically appropriate inventory items and special abilities which paint a pretty clear picture of their personalities.
Characters get:
- three skills (short phrases like "KNOWIN' ABOUT HUMAN STUFF" or "GOIN' FAST")
- a handful of equipment items (items like "Sacred parsnip of Bog-Al-Karukk" or "Miscellaneous, unlabelled keys") with one to three uses each
- two drives (such as "To fight a powerful enemy champion" or "To nick some awesome technology")
- empty slots for scavenged items
- five wounds (in the case of the goblins each wound is the name of an individual goblin in the swarm)
- three one-time-use mechanics that everyone gets
Very simple stuff. Most of the items on the list exist to be tagged for extra dice in your dice pool.
Crunch & Character Progression
This game doesn't have any. It has no crunch and no character progression. There is no tactical complexity and no min-maxing. Do not look to Havoc Brigade for such things.
Final Thoughts
If you're looking for a fun, light-weight romp that encourages maximum hijinks, play this game. It's crammed full of flavourful world-building ripe for improvisation.
If you like games that encourage a serious tone, tactical combat, and deep character customization, this might not be the game for you.