I just received the hardback cover after having kickstarted this project, and I am extremely pleased at the size and weight of the book. This isn't some tome you have to heft around in a backpack. It's lightweight and bound beautifully.

Now down to the content. The core of this game is the Apocalypse engine, so if you don't like having fun, go watch paint dry elsewhere. Those new to the PbtA engine, relax! In the very beginning of the book/PDF, Sean Gomes explains the system so you don't have to worry about buying a core edition player's handbook for another $50. Skill tests become Face Adversity, Assessments, and Get Involved, where the Game Master determines the level of difficulty for the players. Want a set of new people to break into tabletop? Have them roll during combat and critical plot moments. Want them to fear you as they should? Make them roll more often. Having a GM that can weave the game's narrative in such a way as to give the players these opportunities is key; if your GM can't find a way to make choices hard, get a new one.

Uncharted Worlds gives the players the ability to literally create their character how they want. There's no "dwarf barbarian" or "elf mage" linear feel at all. If you don't like your character, it's truly your own damn fault. Sean Gomes gives the player 10 different backgrounds, and you get to pick TWO. That's literally DOUBLE the amount of backgrounds I have ever played as before. This gives you 45 different archetypes to mold and shape your in-game character. See what I mean? Plus, after that you get to pick from ANOTHER ten different facets. If I'm doing the math right, that's literally 450 DIFFERENT WAYS to play this game! (Spoiler Alert: there's an expansion coming out too. LITERALLY MORE OPTIONS.) If a player wants a generic way to play, they have that option. For the player that buys five books to explain how a troll can be a mesmer and proceeds to break the game, they can do that too! The choices you get after will flesh out and give life to your character. Hate having to start with a simple claymore and adventurering clothes? YOU CAN DESIGN YOUR GEAR STRAIGHT OUT THE GATE. How bitchin' is that?

Sean Gomes also gives dynamics for your game to experience. How many of your GMs stop the game and say, "You've been camping on the road for weeks to get to the dungeon. What grinds your gears about player X because of the trip?", and make you solve it right there? I'll answer for you: very few. Tabletops are typically reactionary games, where you just react to what's happening. With Uncharted Worlds, the GM is given the ability (or even demanded from them) to create the human aspect of life that people don't think about. Not because you're a LG paladin and the party's rogue is likely up to some shady shit in the night and you can't quite detect their alignment, so you just call them out during every chance in your game, but because sticking a group of roided up high octane adventurers in one confined place for weeks has never gone well. There are social experiments to back me up here. You'll want more of this in your game when you start to realize how well it works.

The additional chapter just for GMs and the subsequent later chapters highlights their place in the narrative. Again, if your GM can't do anything with the vast array of tools in this playset, get a new one who's up to the challenge. You don't always have to roll to get something done! That's the mark of a true GM; they ROLE PLAY, not ROLL PLAY.

Looking for a hack that will let you relive the glorious only season and one movie squad inter-relationship moments from Firefly/Serenity? Look no further. Want to bang hot alien chicks? Make sure your GM is okay with that first. Ever sit back after binge-playing the Mass Effect series and think to yourself, "Jeez, I want to have a crew like that to try my hand at saving the universe with the help of factions I once thought my enemy but are now funding/supporting me with an ulterior motive in mind but I can't do anything about it, and I want Seth Green to pilot my ship with his broken ass legs..."

BUY THIS ALREADY!!