Review: Supercalla

Disclaimer: A PDF of this was provided to me for review purposes. 

Supercalla is a supplement for Troika! by Random Order Creations (you can find my review of it here). It provides 37 new backgrounds for Troika! with a baked in and implied setting. It also includes character creation rules and other tweaks to the core mechanics found in Troika!.

What is the setting you ask? It is if Judge Dredd, Mad Max, and Blade Runner had a lovechild and that child was named Supercalla! Each page and the descriptions of the backgrounds are all very evocative and reinforce this implied setting. 

  

Presentation: Supercalla is 50 pages of single column full color art and formatting that really captures the feel of an highway to hell. It also includes a great custom character sheet. It is well organized with a table of contents, character background table, and various other GM friendly tables to help out in various situations. It is written and illustrated by James V. West and his art style is just fantastic and really captures the feel of Supercalla. The setting just drips out of the images and the formatting. 

Character Creation: The character creation in Supercall slightly deviants from the one found in Troika!

1.  Determine Skill Stat: 1d3+3
2. Determine Stamina Stat: 2d6+12
3. Determine Luck: 1d6+6
4. There are certain possessions the characters start with if they are not a robot or droid and there are certain possesses robots and droids start with
5. Roll d66 to determine background

This section also states a rule I really like - the whiff rule! It states that if you roll less then 5 you can sacrifice two levels of advanced skills to bring it up to 5.

 

Resolution and Crunch: My thoughts and breakdown on Troika! and its system can be found in my review if it here.

Final Thoughts: This is really impressive all the way around. All of the art and the backgrounds are full of flavor and reinforce the implied setting - you could even run a post apocalyptic Deadlands style game as well. James V. West style of art really reminds me of Bill Willingham and Vaughn Bode which is a good thing. 

There is so much potential for campaigns, one shots, and just idea mining found in these 50 pages that makes it so impressive. 

With that being said, I wish there was more setting information that was actually written out and more art. 

You can find Supercalla on drivethrurpg in pdf and print on demand.

Always remember that regardless of where your iron horse takes you, follow the rules of the Highway!