Learning the hard way: my first TTRPG review

I tried reviewing Fallout 2d20, posted it in the Fallout subreddit, and got slapped. I expected that a little. I wanted to test what I’d written with people who knew and loved the game. I learn the hard way, a habit I picked up during my software engineering career. There’s even a Hard Way book series by Zed Shaw.

I love Fallout too. I was a hardcore fan of Fallout 2 especially. But I found the official book disappointing and lazy as material, even though we enjoyed playing. That’s covered in the review, which I revised after the discussion thanks to comments I found angry but useful.

One comment pointed out that my AI disclaimers had overshadowed the main topic. I want to be transparent, but my repeated disclaimers had turned into a tutorial on using AI. AI is so charged right now that it easily pulls the discussion away from its subject. I adjusted this to keep the focus on the book.

I also hadn’t explained my criticism in enough detail or given enough examples. Fair. I’d treated my expectations as obvious and avoided repeating things I’d written elsewhere. But the review needed to stand on its own, explaining and illustrating what disappointed me in the book and what work it left me to do as a GM.

The post was removed from the subreddit. I accept that; it’s their space, and they didn’t ban me. It still felt bad to come as a fan and feel outside the community because I disliked the book, or because people didn’t know me well enough to trust what I was saying. I can’t know their reasons, and my initial version had many flaws. But I did get something useful from the exchange, even if it wasn’t pleasant for any of us.

What I still haven’t worked out is the rating. I hesitated before adding one, and I’m still hesitating about using them again. I want to convey my taste. That’s part of why I read reviews myself: I get to know what someone likes, and that helps me use their recommendations. But a score drops so much of that context.

Overall, this first review is a useful failure. Writing a negative review is much more delicate than writing a positive one. On Krayorn’s recommendation, I’d like to try reviewing a book I find appealing and compare the process.

I also think I limited my scope to the book and didn’t consider the studio or publisher. The review probably lacks context: you don’t tell an independent publisher’s story the same way as a large publisher’s. As with our TTRPG sessions, I believe now a review should tell a story worth reading.