The Magnus Archives Roleplaying Game Review

5 thought on “The Magnus Archives Roleplaying Game Review”

1. Great review, was exactly what I was looking for!

   I haven't gotten a chance to play it yet, but from what I've read it feels like "Class Overlapping" shouldn't be as big of an issue as you'd expect with there only being 4 "Types" of characters. The Descriptor is essentially a "Background" in a d20 system, but the Focus adds a whole separate-system of growth which is interesting. Plus you'll only get to choose 2 Abilities at each Tier from your Type. I saw that the Occultist, for example, could lean heavily into paranormal effects or could lean into more of a scholarly-approach, or even a fast-talker. It feels like each Type has multiple branching paths in this way, but some consistent options across all three that bolster certain Defenses or Skills. Plus with so many skills being present, it'd be hard to truly take someone else's role over.

   I get that most people see Type here as "Class", and Class is usually "My Character's Identity at the table" but that isn't the case here. It's one-third of who your character is; "A (Descriptor) (Type) that does (Focus)". Plus the introduction of Avatars and touches from the 14 Powers really lets characters develop separately. I think it definitely mimics the pacing and development of the Magnus Archives Series itself, with most characters being largely the same in Season One, but by Season Three and Season Four they are all being touched by different Powers and taking on very different rolls in the Institute despite all being "Archival Assistants" (Except for Jon).

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2. Great review! just what I was looking for. Thank you!

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3. My group just started game. We've made it through both of the base adventures and I'm enjoying it. Our GM is pretty new to GMing though they've been into ttrpgs for a while, just haven't had a group to play with and have been a TMA fan for a while + two players. Me who is still working my way through TMA and who's only other ttrpg experiences are Dming and being a player for DnD 5e and my friend who is completely new to ttrpgs but a massive TMA fan.

   This is 100% a game that really only works well for small groups, I would not exceed 4 players if you can and not just because that's how many classes there are. With the investigation format of the game it's pretty intense on the GM and the more players you have the more difficult it is for the GM to balance the amount of stuff for the players to do, both in preparation and during gameplay, especially since there's only two premade adventures for the time being so I expect they'll be doing a lot more flying by the seat of their pants next session. There's also the horror game aspect for the players, since the monsters are super deadly having too many players I'm sure would diminish the horror aspect since there's the confidence of having a large group fighting against one opponent while with our two players I constantly felt nervous about fighting monsters and was planning with my fellow player on how to avoid combat despite my PC being the Protector which I believe is the ideal mindset for a game and world like this. Although with the statement format I can see this working well if you have a larger group where many of the players come in and out due to life constraints. There's only 6 total levels for the characters and I don't think leveling up is considered a very important part of the game as a lot of the gameplay is about the investigation so theres a lot of roleplay. Plus the two of us got through both prewritten statements in their own 4 hour sessions. Each session is an investigation and the players make the call at what point they end an investigation which includes going back empty handed which has very little disadvantage. So if you have a larger group of say 5 to 8 but typically only 2 to 4 can make it to a session I think this game is still worth running.

   I personally don't think the character creator was too difficult to work through, at least not any more difficult than making a DnD character for the first time. While I do think it definitely could've been more streamlined, once you have it all written down everything clicked into place for me and our other player has been handling everything just as well.

   As a new comer to the Cypher System through this game I have to say I really enjoy it, especially compared to DND 5e. In Dnd it often feels like you're at the mercy of the dice and your stats to have fun but in Tmarpg the ability to lower Checks and contests through your stat pools gave me a sense of control even with the randomness of the dice, I even got into a skirmish with my playermate where I rolled pretty poorly against them it didn't feel unfair like it often could in other games. And I don't know if the Players doing all the rolls is standard in the cypher system or its unique to tmarpg but I really enjoy it. While it took a bit for my GM to adjust to it I like the control it gives the GM over the game where they also aren't at the mercy of the dice where they don't have to debate whether or not to fudge rolls for the sake of fun and I think it personally helped my GM be more assertive.

   Overall while I don't know how this holds up compared to other horror rpgs if you are interested in TMARPG in particular it's very worth it to try out.

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4. My favorite Cypher system ttrpg is Tidal Blades.

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5. It seems like an okay system. Like you said: I doubt it'd be one a larger group like ours could really play. There seems to be a bit of a learning curve with the cypher system. You'd need to be super patient with idiots like me in your group. 😉

   Nice video, my dude! I have never heard of this podcast before you reviewed this book, but it sounds kinda cool.

   Also, your stache is magnificent! ;D

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