This article has been reprinted from our October 2009 magazine issue.

It's no secret that if you're looking hard enough, you can find an RPG that covers just about anything. Do you and your friends want to be vampires or werewolves? World of Darkness from White Wolf will do the trick. If they're more interested in being pulp fiction adventurers who hunt for ancient secrets and treasure, well, that sounds a lot like Hollow Earth Expedition from Exile Studios. You can even find multiple games running different systems that cover the same content. Of all the roleplaying games, out there, though, SHARD RPG does something truly unique. Based in a mix of sci-fi and fantasy, SHARD uses Asian and Middle-Eastern mythology along with anthropomorphic animal characters (called Zoics) to create a setting that is unlike any other I've ever seen.

The Setting:

If you read most fantasy RPGs, you get the sense that the writers and players who take part in these games are fairly heavily rooted in the classic fantasy mythos of Tolkien. This is certainly not the case for SHARD. SHARD bases its fantasy off of Asian and Middle-Eastern myth, making the setting feel like a mix between Chinese proverbs, heroic legend, and Arabian Nights. It's quite an interesting diversion from the regular (and sometimes boring) path that most RPGs take. Its background fiction gives the world flavor, and full color images of the world, its inhabitants, and the creatures also found there gives the setting a believable and vibrant picture into the world of Dardunah.

Unlike many unique settings, though, SHARD does not fall into the trap of having the "cool factor" junk that often leads to inconsistency and bad world design. The content is well crafted, and consistent.


The Rules of the Game:

SHARD uses a basic dice pool format that uses a D6 system. It's intuitive, and allows for some pretty interesting dice rolls, provided you do things correctly. A Success is always a 50% on each dice (success on rolls of 4, 5, and 6). Additional rules are there for more advanced players, such as a modification that gives players extra chances for success if they role 6s, and additional punishments for players that have critical failures.

Unlike a D20 system DC, the DM sets a difficulty level and subtracts that difficulty from his player's total dice pool. The same is true for opposed rolls. This makes the game a fairly simple one to pick up, because there aren't really any comparisons to make. The more successes you roll, the better you do.



Character Creation:

First and foremost, the world of Dardunah is populated by anthropomorphic animals called Zoics. This, however, does not make SHARD a furry RPG. I don't need to go into the concepts, but if you're not sure what I'm talking about, check out your local Urban Dictionary. Simply put, SHARD uses the different animal races available to play an extreme extension of race and racial differences. If you must compare it to other fiction, consider SHARD more like Redwall or Mouseguard, and less like Ironclaw.

Players use a points based buying system that allows them to purchase abilities and skills, and making a jeweler, monk, fruit-stall seller, and royal guardian are all equally possible. With over 90 animal templates that give you a base points-value for you to work with, it's easy to create a character that is unique and interesting to play. The book even gives guidelines for developing your own Zoic template for any animal you can think of, so you can go hog wild with character creation. Character creation is limited to Reptiles, Amphibians, Birds, and Mammals though, so no Praying Mantis characters. Players are also encouraged to take flaws, which can increase the amount of points they can spend on their characters.

Combat:

One of the hairier parts of the game, combat is reminiscent of an old Kung-Fu movie, and reminds me of other cinematic games like Exalted. Players and enemies roll for initiative, and then get actions based on Agility and Dexterity. Players get a whole number of actions per round of combat, but any player can react to another player's action in a action then counteraction sort of manner, again, reminding me of martial arts movies.

Damage is somewhat of a problem here - players are required to keep track of multiple damage types (Subdue and Fatal) because most weapons deal damage in each category. It's not too hard to deal with, but it's something that can make combat, which is already kind of difficult, a chaotic experience unless the DM manages things properly.

Magic:

One of the coolest things about SHARD is its management of magic ability. Unlike other games like Dungeons and Dragons where magic is nothing out of the ordinary, and spells can be cast on a whim, SHARD makes magic into a unique event. Players must collect materials and spend large amounts of time to put together a spell, which falls into 4 distinct categories: Healing, Dreamwalking, Endowing, and Summoning. Players put together a ritual and perform one of the four magic types, and since there are no specific spells, players are only limited by their imagination. Restrictions on the amount of different actions that can be performed in a single ritual keep magic balanced, along with the vulnerability of the ritual and the amount of down time a character must go through in order to complete a ritual.

Why Play (Positives):

SHARD RPG offers a great deal of flavorful game play wrapped around a fairly simplistic gaming mechanism. Its character creation system is varied, simple, and can be made to do anything you want. It is by far the most comprehensive character creation process I have seen thus far, yet its point based system makes developing a character intuitive. The 90 zoic templates make starting a character from scratch easy, but the template development tools make designing your own zoic intuitive. The magic system is top notch, and goes beyond the ordinary. The book offers creative suggestions for campaigns and gives the DM a lot to work with in terms of game fiction and ideas. Examples of gameplay take the rules and put them into an entertaining, easy to read format. The setting is interesting, and most importantly, unique. There are very few RPGs in production today with the kind of setting that SHARD has, and it really shines.

Why Play (Negatives):

SHARD is an expansive game, and without a clear goal in mind, this game can have trouble getting off the ground. Players are going to have to want to get into the setting in order to play well. The rules can be somewhat confusing at times, and although there are examples of gameplay, these can be fairly long to get across a relatively simple mechanic. The combat system, while advanced and detailed enough to provide entertaining fights, can be fairly chaotic and unforgiving if you don't know what you're doing. The magic system can be fairly tedious for some players. Anthropomorphic animal characters are always a bit of a sticking point for some people, because of their tendency to get lumped with the furry fetish, which may scare away potential players. The bestiary is thin on content for this first release, which indicates that most adventures in which combat takes place, you'll be fighting against other Zoics, which is generally more work for the DM.

Overall

SHARD is an interesting RPG that is unlike anything out there that I've seen or played on so far. It's a well developed game, an excellent setting, and an idea that I hope people will catch on to. The game is not without its faults, but overall, this is a solid debut for SHARD Studios.

This review was made possible with review copies from SHARD Studios.

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