Full disclosure: I Kickstarted this book. I’ve known the author for over a decade, and we’ve survived cons together. This is going to be a completely biased review.
Powerchords is an RPG book from the madman behind Mage and Deliria, Phil Brucato. I could do an entire blog post just on the trials and tribulations to get this thing done after seven years, but that’s not the point. The better question is:what is it, and is it any good?
Powerchords is subtitled “Music, Magic & Urban Fantasy”. It was origiannly started as a supplement for (IMHO) Phil’s best work, the late lamented Deliria. It became something more, though there are fingerprints of that work all over the work. In short, Powerchords is designed to bring music to your urban fantasy game.
The book contains rules, mostly based on Deliria’s Compact System. That system is designed so you can take your characters anywhere, from table top to LARP to online.You can use either cards or dice to resolve actions. Folks looking for dice crunchy or rules heavy systems should shop elsewhere.
Rules in Powerchords are for making musicians and the various hangers on. You can make them as fantastical or gritty as your campaign needs. Want to play an half-ogre rapper? Or maybe a fae-touched busker? Those rules for those characters are here.
The meat of Powerchords are in its performance rules. There are rules here for any sort of musical performance, mundane or magical. I found them easy to digest, with minimal tables.(Though I do want a Powerchords GM screen now). There’s also rules for that forbidden topic in most RPGs, drugs. Most systems either are too short and heavy handed, or non-existent. Phil’s rules on them are straight up, consistent, and form all I can tell, medically correct.
The special sauce around the meat of those rules is what makes Powerchords so nice in my eyes. There are section dealing with music based magical systems, how to get players together, and how to start campaigns at different points in the characters career. Nice to see something beyond the “young heroes all meet in a bar” trope.There’s also mass amounts of recommendations for supplemental reading,listening and viewing. There are ones I wouldn’t include(Big Hoodoo?), but in general it’s a really tasteful and personal selection.
A big part of this book is the layout and art. From the cover that looks like a road case for speakers, to all the great art by folks like Bryan Syme, this thing is a beauty to behold.
The only flaw I could see in this book are the multiple references to the Deleria RPG and books. I know this started out as being written for that game, I’m worried the references will put off some who don’t wont he game or are familiar with it.
This was originally designed as one book, and is being expanded into several books I, for one, can’t wait for the others.
Four and half stars.
Note:Phil is having some financial issues this month, so if you read this and it sounds like something you might want, please buy from the DriveThruRPG.com link below. I’ll also post the Amazon link as well.
Drive Thru RPG(PDF & Hardcover) http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/221813/Powerchords-Music-Magic–Urban-Fantasy
Amazon(Hardcover only):https://www.amazon.com/Powerchords-Music-Magic-Fantasy-Roleplay/dp/0982353278/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524612398&sr=8-1&keywords=powerchords