Rise of the Apes

The most recent Planet of the Apes movies are three of my favorite movies of all time - they're a strong contender for my favorite trilogy ever. This game intends to recreate the themes and action of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the first in the trilogy, and it does so with flying colors.

"APES TOGETHER STRONG"

The most important phrase in the movies, used to both bolster the bonds between the apes, and tug at heartstrings when the apes have conflict among each other. Here, the Strength and Bonds mechanics are genius and perfectly allow for not only the apes to gain power as the story moves forward, but also emulate humans' increased response to the growing ape threat.

The way character creation is handled is really cool and elegant in a way I haven't seen in other games. I love the way it emphasizes the frenetic movement of the film. During the first act, you only have attributes, because you're not doing refined and careful actions, you're frantically trying to escape captivity. During the second act, when you're trying to make your way through the city, your own personal skills come into play. And during the third act, when humanity bears down on you, your tactical prowess becomes important.

When I first saw this game, the cover pulled me in immediately, and the claim to emulate the feeling of Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a huge claim indeed. But lemme tell ya, WuDeRPG succeeded beautifully.

Oh and you bet your booty I'm gonna be making my own game using the RISE SRD. I've already got ideas.

Another great game from WuDeRPG! The mechanics are lightweight but not the same roll every time. The evolution of the characters is cleverly done but my favorite aspect is the connections created among PC's and NPC's. This both provides mechanical benefits and narrative story points. These combine to create a "stronger" game. Apes strong together! 

Rise of the Apes is an awesome game! It is narrative first and the characters (and character sheets) evolve throughout the course of the game which fits the story it is trying to tell perfectly. In short if the blurb sounds at all interesting to you pick this game up!

Rise Of The Apes is a tabletop system for playing through the new Planet Of The Apes trilogy.

The PDF is 16 pages, with a layout that's slightly cramped in a few places but otherwise flavorful and easy to read.

Contents-wise, Rise is very narrativist and very structured, but not always clear about what that structure means. The game goes through specific acts focused around canon setpieces, and the game's mechanics change as the players progress through these acts, but the GM really has to work to keep the game in a gamelike shape rather than a freeform roleplaying exercise.

The core resolution system is d6 pool, count 4+s. The pool is built from a stat, your relationships with other characters, several miscellaneous bonuses, and a floating bonus based on how organized and unified your overall group of apes is.

Skills also exist, but don't seem to do anything. They're simply a reflection of what your points in a given stat mean for your character.

There are also HP bars that show up during the final act, but no clear guidance for what happens if they run out.

And there isn't really strong guidance on how the game is supposed to end, nor hard mechanical endpoints for the individual acts, so having a GM is kind of essential for pacing and progress.

There *are* GM resources, both in the form of written advice, a character sheet, and the game's pre-planned structure, but if you're not already comfortable GMing, this might be a little tricky to run.

Overall, if you're a fan of the Planet Of The Apes prequel trilogy, you're willing to wing it and use the rulebook as a rough outline, and you like mechanics that unfold and change during play, this is a neat game with a lot of good ideas and worth checking out.

Wow! LOVE the idea of character growth within the system!

Can't wait to see what else you do with the RISE system. Heard some chatter about a Mech game?

As i said in my 5-Star review (which are private on itch so im reposting here):

Rise of the Apes is a fantastic and evocative system, that creates a game in 3 act. 

If you don't want to stop after act 3: the very simple but incredibly flexible Rise and Strength systems could be easily applied to continue the franchise or spin off in your own direction by applying a new set of 3 scene acts in the same manner presented here.

I look forward to the time i can find time to play it!

Is that supposed to be "High Threat" or "High Thread" in the right side category?