Our group played Ghost/Echo last night. The story centered around four runners, who specialize in searching the ghost field for loot. There was Bear (the furry tank), Demon (the psycho-magician), Coil (the sneaky shape-shifter) and White (the cynical exorcist). After narrowly escaping a suspicious wraith attack, they got evidence that the big poobah in the city is actually a BBEG. The team resorted to a bunch of unscrupulous stuff to eventually reach the villain's lair, and then dispatched him in an orgy of violence and weirdness. Game highlights included: the psychic hijacking of a child, an infection of cannibalism, dozens of wasted clones, and the mysterious deaths of Vixen and Venom.

As far as the design goes, Ghost/Echo is a playset without a game attached. It's got plenty of style and flare, but there are no mechanics to help you distribute narrative authority or construct a coherent plot. There are a few suggestions for dice rolls (Commit Violence, Act Under Pressure, Channel the Ghost Field, etc.), but the mechanic is too basic to really add any structure to the game. Most of our session was essentially free-form roleplay, prompted by the playset. In short, Ghost/Echo is all icing and no cake.

All that having been said, we had a blast. The playset is super cool, and prompted some really imaginative world- and character-building. The story moved along briskly, and never lacked for action. I would not recommend this to novice roleplayers, but it's perfect for a group of vets looking for a stylish, action-filled, sci-fi blaster. Just set your minds to stun, and head out into the ghost field.

Download Ghost/Echo here: http://www.onesevende...­