In this review we want to talk about PEW PEW! – A Complicated Profession, a role-playing game where you can play intrepid bounty hunters in a western sci-fi setting, enriched by fantasy elements.
This product was developed by Mike Lafferty and published by Fainting Goat Games (whom we thank for providing us with a review copy), following a successful Kickstarter campaign. We advise you to follow them on their website and Facebook page.
If you decide to buy it, keep in mind that this role-playing game is available on DriveThruRPG at a price of about $ 7.99 in its digital edition and $ 10.99 in the physical one.
The Setting of PEW PEW! – A Complicated Profession
The basic setting of PEW PEW! A Complicated Profession is a sprawling metropolis called Vrik City. A futuristic agglomeration of many different species located at the edge of the known universe, where even the law struggles to arrive; the ideal place for bounty hunters. The handbook offers a good description and a map of the city, so that the players and the GM have the possibility to live it and customize it to their liking. There are also indications for expanding the setting and creating your own custom.
Following the philosophy of simplicity and immediacy, the handbook offers the inspiration for a mission, well realized and pleasant, which can be taken and brought to the table without preparing anything. If you want to do multiple sessions with the same group, there is a list of instructions in the handbook to create additional missions.
Review of the System of PEW PEW! – A Complicated Profession
PEW PEW! – A Complicated Profession’s system is based on Grant Howitt’s Havoc Brigade but makes some changes while sharing the same principles of extreme simplicity and immediacy. There are no numerical values and no operations of any kind; when your Bounty Hunter (so they are called the PCs) performs an action whose outcome is uncertain, she will have to roll a 6-sided dice and overcome the difficulty imposed by the GM.
If the test is extremely complicated, the character can call into question one or more of her Traits and adds as many dice to his hand as there are Traits put into play; in this case the chances increase, since it is enough that even a single die overcomes the difficulty to pass the test.
A remarkably interesting mechanism is the Chaos Factor Pool; it is a dice pool, whose base number is determined by the area in which the scene takes place, which increases directly proportional to the actions of the Bounty Hunters that could jeopardize the success of the plan. From this pool the GM can take dice to make the challenges more complicated; here also lies an interesting feature: the Bounty Hunters once per session can take all the dice in the pool and roll them to describe a spectacular action and the difficulty will be based on the level of chaos in the area. Once the action is complete, the dice pool returns to its starting level.
Characters and Starships in PEW PEW! – A Complicated Profession
Like the whole game system, in PEW PEW! – At Complicated Professioneven the characters are simple and really fast to create and to play. They are just defined by a few but specific Traits:
- Drives: the dream of the PC, what pushes him to go ahead and risk the neck bone.
- Skills: what the PC can do best.
- Equipment: what the PC has with her and can be exploited during her raids.
- Background: the history of the PC.
To create a character, simply define the various sections and elements of the character sheet; here you can feel again the simplicity of the game because there are no predefined lists from which you must draw, but only examples from which to take inspiration. The player is only asked to enter elements that are in line with the setting. There is also a set of tables so you can create a PC quickly and with the thrill of the randomness. As this is a very light system there are no hit points, but each character can suffer a maximum of 5 wounds before ending up out of combat or dying.
What would a group of Space Bounty Hunters be without a spaceship? Surely, they wouldn’t be very interesting. To overcome this problem, the handbook provides a large list of examples of spaceships from which to take inspiration to design their own. Creating the spaceships is very quick because they have 7 wounds and all the equipment, special features and more are left blank at the game table.
There are also several paragraphs, in my opinion well realized, that suggest to Masters and Players interesting ways to manage space fights to make them interesting, fast and lethal.
The Antagonists
In PEW PEW! – A Complicated Profession antagonists do not have a statblock or anything like that. They are characterized only by their equipment and their Morale score. The latter is the representation of the desire to continue fighting. Being an abstract value, it allows PCs to have total freedom in narrating and describing how they harm and fight enemies.
A really interesting feature of the regulation is that the Antagonists do not act but react to what the characters do. This means that in a fight the PCs will always start and then follow the Antagonists. The handbook also contains indications to exploit groups of Antagonists and make each fight dynamic and lethal.
The handbook contains a good number of premade Antagonists, each with their own equipment, background, and Morale score.
Structure and Art
The handbook consists of 40 pages, with a classic double-column layout.
There are also the map of Vrik City and a good number of pre-generated characters. In addition, various tables and lists to customize the game even more are included.
The illustrations, although they are not many, are well made and are adequate to the feeling of the setting.
Conclusions of the Review of PEW PEW! – A Complicated Profession
In conclusion I find PEW PEW! – A Complicated Profession a good handbook with a nice system, light and fast, suitable for one-shots but also adaptable in order to make longer adventures. I find it perfect for novice and veteran players who can experience the thrill of impersonating intrepid Bounty Hunters and focus on intense action sessions rather than getting lost in regulatory quibbles.