I have seen many games based on licensed properties. I have seen over a dozen game based on book series, comics, anime, movie sagas and most of them have the same thing in common, they all suck. They are not necessarily bad games, but they either A) Did not do enough research/ made stuff up based on assumptions, 2) too broadly focused and doesn't quite capture the feel of its license, 3) Is too narrowly focused and can capture the License and nothing else, or 4) isn't fun at all.
When I first heard about TDFRPG, I took it lightly because of all the failures I've seen in the past. When I started to see the preview content, I was fairly convinced, but still iffy.
When I saw the Baltimore chapter, power list, and Rick Neal's QA, I was sold.
This morning, I found my anticipation well founded and my Easter money from Grandmother well spent.
Being so close to the Author, the designers have really put a lot of effort into the book and into the research. There are times in my read-through I found reference to stuff in the books that I forgot about like Abby in White Night. The artwork is high quality and from various sources and capture the various crowning moments of awesome from throughout the series. I had several burst of adrenaline that kept me up til the early hours after seeing things like Chauncy, the Scarecrow and other favorites realized.
Being based on an already existing game system, the game is not too narrowly or broadly focused. If used as-is, the game will do TDF or an assortment of related ideas very easily. Since FATE has different iterations and interpretations, you can use elements from other FATE games to add missing elements into you games as desired. For example, I could use another FATE game's vehicle rules in TDF if I wanted and it wouldn't necessarily break the game.
I haven't determined fun factor yet, but already it looks promising. Why? Because I have spent the past few hours when I should be sleeping playing the game-within-a-game, City and Character creation. That is the mark of a FUN ASS GAME!!!!
Other notes include things like.....I can't think of many complaints. Having been around so many dang Min-Maxers for so long I tried to break the game at creation several times and found myself head off every single time. A fifth complaint about many RPGs, not just RPGs based on licensed properties is that they aren't tested enough (As a former Game Tester myself, I consider this a personal bias.) and a few loop holes fall through the cracks. I thought, "I'll just take multiple Items of Power and get a load of discounts" only to read that I had been head off.
Bravo.....
