Pyramid Review
Pocket Universe Basic Rules Set
Teenage Demon Slayers -- Pocket Universe Campaign Book #1
Published by UNIgames
Written and Illustrated by Jeff Dee and 'Manda
18 7"x4" b&w pgs; $4.95 each
Designer Jeff Dee has given us two games worthy of note. The first was Villains & Vigilantes, published by FGU in 1979 and was among the first superhero RPGs. The second was The World's Easiest Role Playing System (T.W.E.R.P.S.), which -- as the name implies -- has to have been the simplest RPG to date. For the twenty-first century, he has published a game that stands between these two in complexity, but which falls into the same price bracket as T.W.E.R.P.S. The Pocket Universe RPG line from UNIgames follows the model set by Steve Jackson Games' GURPS: Release a basic set of rules and then expand upon them with sourcebooks detailing particular genres and settings.
The first release is the Basic Rules Set, which comes in an odd little format -- 7" by 4" -- and slipped inside a ziplock bag. The tiny eighteen-page booklet is illustrated with just a single piece of artwork besides the portrait on the sample character sheet. That said, there really is little room for interior art in what is a simply laid out and clearly written game. Indeed, one has to say that the layout is rather reminiscent of the original GURPS rules and more so of its ancestor Melee, Wizard and The Fantasy Trip. The similarities don't end there, however . . .
A Pocket Universe character has four attributes: Physique (health, . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: April 26, 2002
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