TROIKA!: Numinous Edition

by Daniel Sell, Shuyi Zhang (Illustrator), Jarrett Crader (Editor)

Troika! is a self-contained roleplaying game in the British tradition. With this book, players can explore the hump-backed sky, gallumph from sphere to shining sphere, meet strange people in strange places and find adventure woven into the very fabric of creation.

Contains
- a simple yet nuanced core system
- randomly generated character creation
- a setting baked in to the system
- everything you need to start playing

Genres: Role Playing Games, Fantasy, Gaming, Science Fiction, Games, Reference

120 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

Reviews

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice sploosh into the weird, with an interesting and inspiring set of character backgrounds, but then also surprisingly lacking in much world building (this might be down to user error, but I only got that Troika is the name of the city while reading the short introductory adventure in the back of the book). I guess that's why there are quite a few supplements available.

[Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had ordered this book quite some time ago, but with the state of the mail system from the UK to the US, it arrived literally two days before I was to play in my first game of Troika! at the Gameholecon RPG convention. I crammed as much as I could, but it wasn't until I was at the table and saw the game in situ, if you will, that I saw, firsthand, just how innovative it is.

I've respected Daniel Sell's work for quite some time. With a blog entitled "What Would Conan Do?" how can you possibly go wrong by following his advice, let alone playing in a system that he created? I'd been following Daniel's blog for many years and learned a fair amount from it - and I am a very experienced gamer, so it takes some practical and stylistic fireworks to impress me on the gaming front - so I knew that Troika! would be something special. At least that was my expectation.

And my expectations were exceeded.

This isn't a D&D clone. It's an altogether different system, as if D&D had been created in another dimension where psilocybin spores fill the air, the sky is pink and cream, and anatomy doesn't behave like it does in our universe. That said, the system is incredibly light and simple. In places, most notably in its treatment of initiative, in the simplicity and broad implications of spells, and in the non-standard monsters (each replete with their own "mien" table to determine the mood of a specific being encountered at the time of the encounter), the system is downright innovative.

Simple, innovative, and incredibly quirky - what's not to like?

Like I said, I've been doing this RPG thing for a long time (since 1979, to be exact), and I've seen a lot of systems come and go. Having read through the book and played a session of Troika!, I have a strong feeling that this one is going to become a favorite of mine (ranked up there with AD&D, DCCRPG, Call of Cthulhu, and Traveller).

As with the aforementioned RPGs, it's the mix of system and setting that I enjoy. There are no maps, but the implied setting reads something like the cross between a Michael Moorcock novel, a Hawkwind album (well, this one in particular), and a really, really cool acid trip. I'm thinking that The Ultraviolet Grasslands and The Black City might be the ultimate campaign setting for this game. Oh, my. Now I really, REALLY want to run a campaign of this! Where are my six-siders? I'm ready to roll . . . er, role . . . I mean . . . you know.

[Diz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the setting for this roleplaying system. It is bonkers science fantasy with world/dimension hopping. The art is very imaginative, so that helps bring the setting alive. The most impressive thing for me is the character options. I haven't seen a system with such a wide variety of interesting and strange character types. However, the 2d6 system seems a bit wonky. So, I like it thematically, but have doubts about it mechanically.

[Derek · Rating 4 out of 5]

So you say you've watched that Birdie Nam Nam "The Parachute Ending" video umpteen times, supplemented with Mœbius comics from Heavy Metal magazine, and asked yourself if a TTRPG version exists? Perhaps in a book binding that can hide comfortably on the shelf among the Elephant & Piggie collection?

Well, have I got the thing for you.

The whole of the setting concept is succinctly explained in a single introductory paragraph that dumps the entirety of the problem on reader/GM initiative, aside from some very provocative suggestions within random tables and character options. An extremely experienced and/or ambitious gaming group would have to grapple with this salmagundi of Michael Moorcock at his weirdest and The Book of the New Sun and assemble the tinkertoys from the ground up.

And of course in a form factor that made my wife think I was revisiting some children's book until she saw the cover. That was an unexpected bit of fun.

Is it good? HellifIknow. It's certainly evocative, with crisp writing and images and little bits of worldbuilding crammed into the unlikeliest crannies. The mechanics are Fighting Fantasy simple and seemingly designed to be as unobtrusive as possible. The art style is striking, and it uses even the inside covers to convey tables. But my only gaming outlet is a preteen son whose focus is currently the depth and horror of Minecraft server gaming and YouTube videos of abrasive man-children playing simplistic, moronic idle games and yelling wildly the entire time. But I digress.

[Dom Mooney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several people I know recommended Troika! to me, and it's been one of the darlings of the UK OSR movement so what else could I do but back the Kickstarter when it was announced. It arrived over a year ago and I read it cover to cover pretty swiftly at the time, and then parked it. I know at the time it was one of those games you read, like and then think "Will I really do something with this?" simply from the shelf on which it was placed. It's in the RPG cupboard rather than immediately adjacent and available. It wasn't in the sell-on pile. And there it stayed, right until I read about Acid Death Fantasy and bought that Troika! setting on impulse. I've talked about that setting elsewhere on Goodreads, so I thought it was worth looking at the rules once more.

TL;DR: Troika! is a delight, both in terms of the light and simple - but comprehensive - system and the setting implicit from the backgrounds of characters and enemies. There aren't many science fantasy games out there, making this feel unique and very different. It's sharply crafted and stylish, and a good base to build from, as can be seen with the Acid Death Fantasy expansion (which although very different, could easily be in the same universe). The artwork is distinctive and adds to the flavour. It's definitely worth exploring.


The Troika! Numinous Edition is a 118-page full cover hardback book, printed at what I think is A5 (but I'm willing to be corrected). The artwork is quirky and unique, and very evocative, and shares an artist with Patrick Stuart's Silent Titans. The game defines a setting through the backgrounds of characters and their possessions and also with a very tightly focussed - and somewhat bizarre - introductory scenario. The setting is best described as science-fantasy.

If you've played any of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, the character stats will feel familiar; you have Skill (rolled on d3+3), Stamina (rolled on 2d6+12) and Luck (rolled on d6+6). Your character gets some standard possessions and then you roll a d66 to find your character background. It's random. Although I'd probably let a player decide which way they read the dice (sucks if you roll doubles, lady luck has pigeon holed you).

Each background has an illustration, a short paragraph loaded with hooks, possessions with give further hooks beyond their immediate usefulness. Often you have an either/or so you can choose how this plays out. Finally, you have some advanced skills. These define what your character is really good at. Or maybe not, if you base Skill is high.

Core mechanics use 2d6. You roll equal to or under a target number (which is either just your Skill, or your Skill plus Advanced Skill) or you roll versus. That's typically when you're competing against something, for example fighting. You add your Skill and any appropriate Advanced Skill to the role, looking to get higher than your opponent to succeed.

You may have to test your Luck to avoid consequences. This is a 2d6 roll under. Whenever you do this test you lose a point of Luck, which is a finite resource. Luck recovers every eight hours or so. You can test your Luck to break a tie in combat or use it to increase the damage that you roll if you successfully hit.

There's an option to Test your Luck if your Stamina hits zero to have your character be incapacitated rather than dead, but it's only an option. If you hit zero Stamina, you're dying and will be gone when the current combat round ends. Messy. Stamina regenerates from resting, and can also be boosted by eating provisions.

The initiative system is a bit different; each character gets two tokens, and their opponents get a variable number of tokens based on how nasty they are. An end of round token is added, and then the GM pulls the tokens from out of a bag. Thus turn order is completely random, and it's possible that the end of the round could come before you have a go. This means that advanced planning isn't something that you really need to be doing; you need to think on your feet.

Damage is rolled on a combat results table; you roll a d6 and reference the weapon type. Weapons that aren't included are interpolated from the others on the table. Shields give a reduction to the roll made, not the damage itself. Armour reduces damage, but you will always suffer a minimum of a point.

The encumbrance system is simple; you have a number of inventory slots and the order is important, as the further down your bag they are, the more chance that you can't pull them out in a hurry.

You can't increase Skill, Stamina or Luck from experience, but you can increase Advanced Skills by rolling over your Skill total on 2d6. Once skill hits 12, you're very unlikely to raise it. If you find a teacher, you can learn new skills, with your aptitude for this determined by your base Skill. There is a list of Advanced Skills but you're encouraged to make them up if appropriate.

There are several pages of spells; these cost Stamina to cast plus a roll under your (advanced) skill with that spell. Double 1 is always a success, and Double 6 gives a trip to the OOPS! table, a d66 table which - amongst other things - can turn the unsuccessful wizard into a pig. Mmm. Bacon.

There's a collection of enemies, which are mostly unique. The scale of Dragons reminds me a little of Gloranthan dragons. Troika! dragons are "beings of hyper-light, unburdened by base matter, able to sort across the dark sea of sky between worlds. They're immortal but can manifest to cause base damage and wanton destruction, knowing that they cannot be truly hurt. Tower wizards are also entertaining; basically, they're wizards-gone-feral who raise towers and give magic a bad name. All in all, it's a great bestiary to perplex and threaten your players with.

The final section is the introductory adventure, called the Blancmange and Thistle. The characters have all recently arrived in the city of Troika! perhaps even on a Golden Barge pulled between planets on its Golden Sails. They have booked into a hotel - 'The Blancmange and Thistle" - and end up in the unfortunate situation that they have to share a room on the sixth floor and they must attend the party on the roof garden or cause offence. So, they get to take the lift or the stairs and events ensue. It's a very unique feeling adventure but gives a great way to bring a disparate party together. Attending the party leads to a series of plot hooks for future delights.

The book rounds out with character sheets and the OOPS! table across the end covers.

Troika! is a delight, both in terms of the light and simple - but comprehensive - system and the setting implicit from the backgrounds of characters and enemies. There aren't many science fantasy games out there, making this feel unique and very different. It's sharply crafted and stylish, and a good base to build from, as can be seen with the Acid Death Fantasy expansion (which although very different, could easily be in the same universe). The artwork is distinctive and adds to the flavour. It's definitely worth exploring.

4th October 2020

[??????? · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous hardcover. One of the most creative and delightful RPG's I've read in a decade.

[Nis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn’t grab me at all. Feels like a “soup on a stone” kind of game, that does come with a spice rack. The spices are just so weird they are little more help than the stone.

[Shane · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a whole lot to like here. The fabulously original art, cool stack initiative mechanic, the fun writing, the surreal character backgrounds, the extremely creative mini adventure etc... With all that though, it's probably a little too strange for a lot of people (including me) and there are a couple things I didn't like. Still giving it 5 stars for originality, style and chutzpah.

I'll add more detail about 2 things I didn't like and the 2 things I liked the most.

The system only uses d6's. I didn't spend 40 years and 10's of dollars collecting all these pretty dice just to use the same ones I used playing Monopoly and Risk when I was 8. I do like how they use them to do the 11-66 thing, but really d6's are just boring.

The magic system, has some fun spells, but not enough detail. For example one breaks bones, but it doesn't really say how that effects the game. It doesn't say how much damage it does to break a bone, or if it makes certain skills impossible or gives penalties etc... Then there's a permanent polymorph other spell, that's not really that expensive.

When I first read the initiative rules, I was screaming inside, "What is this? Why would they do that?" Obviously so was someone else, because immediately after it, there's a section called "Rationale", and after I read that I was like, "This is SOOOOO cool." Basically the order changes and sometimes people get skipped, you don't know ahead of time, so you can "meta-plan" your next move.

The mini adventure was such a cool idea. You're in a hotel going up on an elevator. At every floor there is a new challenge. I've never seen anything like it, yet it was so simple. Just absolutely brilliant.

So if you like weird pushed to the point of silly, but also kinda dark and cool, give this a try. It's medium crunch, with an extra helping of style.

[Jason Pym · Rating 5 out of 5]

TLDR: A brief fanzine-style rpg with a minimalist but neatly elegant 2d6 system in a hinted at Terry Gilliam-esque fantasy world.

I love this book. It has restored my interest in table-top roleplaying games after being away for decades. This is a compact wonder in just 50 pages, you’re just given a bit of a taste and your imagination spirals out on its own creative explorations. Imagine you’re a player and roll up one of these as your character:

Monkeymonger
Life on The Wall is hard. One is never more than a few yards from an endless fall, but those precarious villages still need to eat. This is where you come in with your edible monkeys (the distinction is purely for appeal, since all monkeys are of course edible). You used to spend days on end dangling your feet off the edge of the world watching over your chittering livestock while they scampered hither and thither, but there was no future in monkey meat or on The Wall. You wanted much more and so stepped off. Or you fell. Either way you and some unlucky monkeys are here now and that’s all that matters.
Possessions: Monkey club, butcher knife, d6 small monkeys that do not listen to you but are too scared and hungry to travel far from you, a pocket full of monkey treats.

Thinking Engine
Your eyes are dull ruby spheres, your skin is hard and smooth like ivory but brown and whorled like wood. You are clearly damaged, you have no memory of your creation or purpose, and some days your white internal juices ooze thickly from cracks in your skin.
Possessions: Soldering iron, detachable autonomous hands OR centaur body (+4 Run)
Special: You don’t recover Stamina by resting in the usual manner — instead you have to spend an evening with a hot iron melting your skin back together like putty… You may recharge plasmic machines by hooking your fluids to them and spending Stamina.

Life Line (a spell)
Created by the Horizon Knights to enable them to take the fight to the Nothing. They would cast this on their squires and dive off the edge of creation. While this Spell lasts the caster’s essential bodily functions are linked to another, enabling them to breath or eat for them. They will need to breath and eat for two, making it hard to do anything useful while linked. The Spell lasts for a day, until cancelled, or on the death of the linked person. Note, if the linked person dies, starves or is choked you will suffer.

There’s also the Exotic Warrior, whose possessions include and ‘exciting accent’ and ‘a tea set or three pocket gods,’ the lost and Lonely King without a kingdom, the members of Miss Kinsey's Diner’s Club who carry an embroidered napkin and metal dentures that can strip all the flesh from one small appendage, and the Befouler of Ponds. It’s just begging to be played.

Even if you just got your players to roll up characters and got them to just talk to each other the stories would just make themselves.

Troika! lurches enjoyably from weirdness, to humour to the horrific. Here are some of the spells, many taken directly from the old Fighting Fantasy rpg which Troika! is built on, but given a far more entertaining write up:

Darksee
The wizard reaches into his sockets and extricates his eyes. Thus freed, the dark void behind them can see perfectly well in pitch blackness and suffer excruciating pain in light… Be careful not to lose those eyeballs though, they are the only way to end the spell.

Drown
Cause the targets lungs to fill with water… They start to drown and are incapacitated with water pouring out of their mouth.

Leech
The necromancer must place his hands on a living subject, allowing his fingertips to transform into sucking apertures, draining them of blood.

Presence
Creates the sense of being watched by a patriarchal figure. Some find it comforting, others not so much. (I love this one because it is purely a story telling spell, not something you could use to give yourself superpowers or in combat as a spare weapon).

Whereas D&D, even fifth edition which looks closest to what I’d be interested in, never grabbed me enough that I'd actually spend the time and money on it, this is really a breath of fresh air.

The impression I get of the Troika! world is a kind of mishmash of eighties fantasy and horror films, mostly Terry Gilliam, a bit of Jim Henson’s Labyrinth and Story Teller, the Gremlins movies, that kind of thing. Sell himself says he aimed at a mix of Gene Wolfe and Viriconium, inspired by the feel of Planescape, and the humour of 2000AD/1980s games workshop. Although we only get hints and glimpses, that’s the atmosphere, and the writing style reinforces the idea of the sarky, off-key, gonzo, feel. The character types mentioned above are a good example, but also what comes through is that in Troika! the universe is made up of the ‘million spheres’, which seem to be weird little pockets or reality, like different planes. Beings move between he spheres on golden barges, and sometimes there are other interactions between the spheres: Troika goblins, for example, seem to be a pesky sphere infestation:

The moment a sphere bobs to the surface, the goblins will creep out of the nooks and crannies to start expanding their labyrinth. Left to their own devices, they will eventually tame and cover every surface in walls and hedges and tunnels and steel and whatever else is in goblin-vogue.

Like the system, which is so simple and easy to run, the idea of the spheres is a great rationale for anything goes. We played through the Slumbering Ursine Dunes adventure (also a fantastic publication) and had a blast. Highly recommended.

For an even more rambling review looking at the rules in depth, compared to Advanced Fighting Fantasy, can be found here.

[Bill Weaver · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the mystical and far out sphere of Razzmatazz, anything can happen! Your imagination is the limit! Or as Bill Murray phrased it in the movie Stripes, “Raaazzle Daaazle!” Here in Razzmatazz, the emperor is a skeleton that you doth clothe with only the power of your own mind! Like Narnia entered through a cupboard, but with a jaded quality reserved for grad students, its elements appear to comment obliquely on our own world, in an obscure and occult way dictated mostly by a sense of avant-garde fashion. All the characters look like they stepped out of Max Ernst’s painting Ubu Imperator. Is this science fiction?! Is it fantasy?! Does anyone even know what is going on here!? Does anyone care?! Jump down the rabbit hole and find out!

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Troika! is a brilliant RPG. The art is wonderful and the sense of whimsy in it is infectious. It's a simple game to run with nigh infinite possibilities to explore the weird and wild realms of Science Fantasy. It is a little vague at times but this seems to be done in an effort to push GMs to create their own worlds rather than pull from stock. But there's still plenty to pull from.

[Jim Rossignol · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tremendous thing, gleefully weird. I doubt I will ever run a campaign of it, but the book is worth reading for the character classes alone.

[Benjamin]

How? I think maybe an itch.io bundle in support of Ukraine -- both this and the setting book Acid Death Fantasy and the adventure Fronds of Benevolence.

What? A rules-lite gonzo science fantasy -- wait, I gotta tell you about the rules: as I've learned, the rules are a stripped down version of Advanced Fighting Fantasy (1989) rules, which sort of puts this in the category of old-school renaissance. Which it absolutely is in terms of gonzo-ness, with its world of planar excursions, very lightly described. Really, most of the setting/world-building here comes from the character creation and bestiary, with a little bit from a light adventure which is just exploring a hotel staffed by mandrills, with a bunch of ambassadors from slug folk, etc.

Acid Death Fantasy is just a setting, which again -- after two truly amazing pages describing the weirdness of the world -- mostly comes through in terms of the characters and monsters, like the duelists who coat their body in plastic armor from the sea of plastic, or the blue apes who rule the jungles but are too frightened to enter the ruins therein.

Fronds of Benevolence is, well, just look at that name: all of this is Gene Wolfe and Michael Moorcock and Jack Vance riffs: a benevolent plant king needs you to get him some rare earths to survive -- will you take the Golden Space Barge or the Stilt Loper across the mire? What will you find in the Rainbow Badlands -- probably baba yaga monsters -- and how will you deal with the Gardener Knights?

Yeah, so? I have no idea how this game plays. Honestly, given the starting characters mostly have stats ranging from 1-3, and you're trying to roll under that stat with a 2d6, how could this start out as anything but a meatgrinder? OK, so maybe underpowered characters aside -- no, wait, there might be an aesthetic reason for having your characters be so prone to failure: to remind y'all of the impermanence of the world and its fallenness or something.

But that aside, I'm pretty charmed by an RPG book that describes a Banish spell by saying: "The wizard explains, clearly, sternly, why it is impossible that the spirit could be here at this time."

Frankly, I'm not sold on the system or really anything here beyond the animating spirit: make something new out of the old! It's a rallying cry for the OSR movement and for the poor schmucks in these dying fantasy worlds.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spoilers for the included adventure - You have been warned - - -

For the past few days, I have soloed my way through the adventure that is included in Troika! Numinous Edition (120 pages, on sale at DriveThruRPG). I used the six characters in Active Time Battle!!! (8 pages, free/pay what you want at the same place). For the solo engine, I used Forge Version 1.0. The adventure starts at the front desk of The Blancmange & Thistle. They are told that they can have the last room that is available. It is on the eighth floor which is also the location of a big party. After the PCs pay, they are invited to that party. In the lift they try to converse with the lift attendant, but that is a one-way conversation. On the second floor, The Old Lady enters the lift. She asks lots of questions. The PCs answer her questions and get awarded with a bonbon apiece.

On the second floor, The Gas Form enters the lift. The PCs can’t breathe, so they get out on that floor. They take the stairs up (no more elevator trips for them). They find the merchant on the third floor and they sell their bonbons for coins. On the fourth floor the PCs encounter a woman and her tigers. The PCs do not bother the tigers. On the fifth floor, they notice that their group has increased to seven. He is the Mysterious Friend. Further down the hall they are attacked by Spiteful Owls. The PC mechanic has a drone which does take damage. The PCs kill three of the owls and the others fly out the broken windows. For loot, the PCs collect owl feathers. On the sixth floor stairs, they encounter puddles of Demon Seawater. Two of the PCs can’t get past the puddles and the PC Android attacks the PC named Kunai. The wounded Kunai follows the advice of his ancestral totem. This enables him to bring back the Android to his senses. Kunai makes sure everyone gets past the puddles and he drags them if he has to.

On level seven, they encounter The Slug Monarch and his Heralds. The PCs pay the toll with owl feathers. In the hallway they see two Mysterious Strangers, but the PCs do not interfere with what is going on. They climb some more stairs and do not take The Alien Maw option. Instead, they make attempts to jump from step to step to avoid falling down into the Wide Carnivorous Sky. The PC Felicia and the android fail the attempt and fall. On the top step, the rest of the PCs find a sleeping woman and their two friends who had fallen. Next to the woman is a spellbook (missing some pages). The PCs quietly take the spellbook and continue on. This puts them in The Dream World of Madame Belloza, but this is an adventure for another day. Give this fun adventure a try!

[Matt Bohnhoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s been a great deal of chatter about Troika! floating around Twitter so I had to check it out.

It seems, in my inexpert estimation, to be pretty typical modern OSR fare. That’s not to say that it is without value in anyway, just that it’s not the kind of game I typically search out.

It has pretty simple rules with a very casual, disjointed feel. I think the intention is to present them as flawed and accessible to hacking by GMs. It also presents a bit of setting, which may be different from other OSR games that tend toward the generic fantasy. Troika! seems inspired by the weird chaos of planescape and spelljammer. But it’s not a well developed setting with deep lore, just a hinted at sketch of things that are left to individual gamers to flesh out.

There are also a few original and interesting ideas (namely the initiative stack and giving mechanical significance to inventory order). There are a few bits (like how skill success ticks affect advancement) that remain unclear after rereading a few times.

It also has great art. I love when games make bold decisions with their art.

If you like B/X D&D or The Black Hack But want something in a gonzo metropolis at the center of the multiverse, Troika! is your game.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rules light system with some of the most imaginative character classes I've ever seen. The artwork really sets the tone for the wackyness that is Troika. The 2D6 roll under based system has compact, yet descriptive abilities and spells that are quite flavorful. Combat is a simple roll verses while ability checks are roll under. After only one game of play I feel that everything, from combat to item management to ability checks, flows smoothly.

I really liked skill advancement in this game. Player check a box next to the skill when ever they use it. When you rest you can try to increase that ability's score.

The initiative system seems to be the main point of controversy for this game as everyone's turn token is put in a bag along with an end turn token. Essential, the possibility of never getting a turn, for player or DM, is there.

It comes with a starter adventure that you could run multiple times and get completely different outcomes. Lots if replay value here. Two thumbs up from me.

All in all this is a fantastic system and I can't wait to play more. 5 stars for inspiring character classes, simple yet not insufficient rules, and a great starter adventure.

[Stuart · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS!

The entirety of the setting is conveyed through PC backgrounds, spells, enemies, and a single adventure. And lots of messed up art. Absolutely brilliant use of space and verbiage. The characters are truly unique and have lots of flexibility, some of the archetypes in the bestiary (goblins and ogres, most notably) have the most perfect and original conceptual backstories, the whole thing is casual and a lot of fun.

The rules are a tad finicky and could probably be laid out slightly better, they are not obtuse or overly difficult. I respect how cleanly the whole thing fits together and how much flexibility is granted to both the players and the GM.

Rarely do I want more out of a RPG book, if the author had included 20 pages of illustrated miscellany (spheres, institutions, mythology, whatever) I would have given it 5 stars. Nearly perfect and winningly unique.

[Dan Sumption · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a set of game rules, I'm not entirely won over by Troika! - it seems a little too pernickety in places (perhaps because I've been used to playing the rules-light Into The Odd), and some of it feels rough around the edges, as though it needs more development.

As writing though, and as a game setting, I absolutely love it. The quirky mashup of surreal comedy, sci-fi and fantasy gives me big Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy vibes, and the introductory adventure, The Blancmange & Thistle, is not like any adventure I've ever read before, and is an instant favourite.

I'm not sure that you could run a successful long-term campaign in Troika!, but I've had a lot of fun playing it one-off, and got a lot of inspiration just from reading the rulebook.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something of a Fighting Fantasy retroclone with a big dash of weird and not enough actual rules. Too many gaps in things one would need to know, and almost nothing of any setting save for what the flavor gives us. It rather skirts artpunk: there's enough to actually play, but still. Also, trying to make something of a gimmick of the class system, with the bunch taking nearly a half of the book even though they don't add very much of substance to the gameplay. It'd be like if D&D started with a long dissertation over some detail, trying to build it into a Thing, and failing.

But it makes an attempt at fixing some of the inherent flaws in its parent system, so it's got that going for it. And the art is pretty good.

[Jeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Troika! is a fairly amazing revelation from the world of indie TTRPGs. It's incredibly imaginative, and pairs this creative zeal with a ruleset that is simple, yet comprehensive enough to accommodate strategy and inspire uncommon solutions to challenges encountered during play.

So many TTRPGs tend to become weighed down by unwieldy tables and complicated play mechanics that obscure the point of the hobby, which is to prompt group interaction and teamwork in pursuit of the unknown and the incredible. Troika! restores the missing flavor, and opens the door for limitless adventures in the everywhere. It's just that good!

[Chrisman · Rating 4 out of 5]

## Why I picked it up

It was included in that huge itch.io bundle for social justice

## What I liked about it

The art is whimsical really fun. There are a lot of novel mechanical aspects like the "luck of the draw" initiative system, and bidirectional combat rounds, and the Luck mechanic.

The entirety of the "setting" if there is one, and indeed the lion's share of the whole book, is its huge list of character backgrounds.

Overall, I find the whole thing very intriguing and entertaining, and would love to try out the included adventure scenario with my gaming group soon.

[Mattie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Troika! is great. If you’re looking for something with a large “magic circle,” with the rules terribly well defined for every situation - this may not be for you. (That’s ok.) Troika! is the most gonzo, silly, exhilarating experience I’ve had learning a game. It’s a very simple system with enough detail and opportunity for character advancement to stand up to short or long play sessions. The art is fantastic, and it helps craft the science fantasy setting the game asks for. Troika! is for telling wild stories, and I like that.

[Marko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Troika felt like a mixture of Fighting Fantasy and Electric Bastionland - which is a good thing. 🙂

The back cover hints of a world of science and fantasy and promises, that this book has everything one needs to start. Imho, there were quite a few essential things missing - like the actual world of Troika!. The introductory adventure was nice and helped a lot in giving an idea about the city of Troika!.

I love OSR style simple rpg systems, but Troika! gets “only” four out of five stars from me.

[Jorge Villarruel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first edition was excellent, the Numinous Edition (i.e. second), is even better. I mean, it's the same game, it's the same mechanics, but it has a lot of new contents.

Troika! is a game like no other. You play a bunch of weirdos who possess abilities that, being so specific, end up being totally useless, except when a really weird situation arises (and, believe me, it will happen) and only that skill that everyone thought was useless will save the day.

And it has perfect artwork.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like thirty issues of the zine Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet ground up and milled into an RPG. Worth the read for the science fantasy writing alone, if you're into that sort of thing, but the rules strike a lovely balance between story-gaming fluidity and mechanical scaffolding. Initiative is a delight, and the skill system is happily reminiscent of Basic Fantasy (Call of Cthulhu, etc). Just a joy all around.

[FlauFly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing science-fantasy RPG which is full of mind-blowing weirdness and randomness. Setting is only implied by descriptions of randomly created characters, items and beasts. Never truly explicitly explaining what's going on exactly, but is evocative enough that it sets your imagination into motion, churning more and more creative, odd ideas.
On top of that we have abstract/dadaist/surrealist art which is very fitting and complementary to the text and which amplify good impression of the book.

[Sonia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Troika: un gioco di "scienzantazia" con meraviglia integrata, in cui tutto ha senso e niente ce l'ha, è un grande trip in cui ogni cosa può essere un'abilità (anche la terapia di coppia o la pitografica), con casualità abbondante. Potreste morire subito o accidentalmente trasformare tutti in maiali. Il cielo è gibboso.

I personaggi hanno background fantasiosi e la scheda si crea facilmente in pochi minuti. Per giocare bastano 2d6.

Non vedo l'ora di provarlo.

[Reading Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I'm on a kick of reading rules and figuring out how to solo RPG them and this is the original of the troika series--which has expanded to a bunch of different mini worlds and supplements. It really looks like fun. It seems designed for one shots or short campaigns with a system of prerolled characters with interesting backstories that fit--you might not want to play them forever, but they have fun concepts that could be explored in a short game.

[Andy Haddon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reinventing/reinvigorating, wharreva you want to call it, Troika! is an absolute joy.
It has also completely bamboozled my RPG group who have spent sooooo long saturating their noggins with the published fluff of other so-called RPGs, they'd forgotten the joys of spontaneous combustive creation.

Until now.

I've read this lite 'rule' book cover to cover umpteen times and it never ceases to enthuse and empower.

[Nathan Treme · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best tabletop rpgs around. Fun game and well-written book. Very funny and interesting, the writing has some Terry Pratchett vibes. A great introduction to the hobby, especially if you are looking for something more creative and with a healthier community than Dungeons & Dragons.
And the art is AMAZING.