Here is a game I picked up on ITCHIO:

https://trollish-delver-games.itch.io/stargazer

Stargazer is a nice little OSR game that I really liked. It is a very Rules-Lite RPG. I like such games, but sometimes they can be too derivative and so ‘lite’ that they are unplayable as written.

This is not the case for Stargazer!

Stargazer is of course a bit derivative since it is OSR, but it is not slavishly so. The structure is similar but not identical. The mechanics are also not just repetition of prior works, and the classes, or in the rules Archetypes, are very different and interesting. But…

The backstory is awesome!!!! The magic of the game is based upon a Vancian world with a dying sun. I normally don’t like the Vancian magic, but in this case it makes sense. At least to me. The author spends a bit of time explaining it, and I appreciate that. There is a Song of Power that rides upon the wind, and infuses the very nature of the Universe (in a somewhat Tolkienian way?). That is where the magic comes from. What I really like is the work that the author puts into suggesting a ‘source’ to gain access to this Song of Power: precious ‘black sound discs’ dredged up from the underworld of the the ancient world containing the works of Ronnie James Dio! Throughout the short rules of the book there are references to Dio and some appropriate snippets of his lyrics.

I hope I can convince my gaming group to play this with me. People get set in their ways and sometimes it is difficult to get folks to try something different. Luckily my group is pretty open to new things as long as I don’t bully them too much…

My only real complaint is that I don’t think the author went far enough into the ‘Song of Power’ and the ‘black sound discs’ as the link between characters and the magic — the amazing music of Ronnie James Dio! If you are going to put that into the backstory why not put it into the rules? Perhaps the Magician must sing certain lyrics linked to certain magic — each spell has its own Dio lyric inspired Incantation that must be successfully performed to release the POWER!? Perhaps the Magician must listen and (re)learn the music and the lyrics before going off on his or her adventures by playing the ‘black sound discs’ in order to gain inspiration, motivation, and the power of the magic itself!?

All in all very interesting. Give it a try. Let me know how it goes. I will try to update this review if I get a chance to play!

Now back to listening to ‘The Very Best of Dio‘!