Stefano Buonocore
Today we are pleased to offer you the review of Last Embrace, a free adventure for Knights of the Round: Academy. So let’s talk about the role-playing game of MS Edizioni with a strong narrative imprint inspired by the shonen manga genre. In particular battle shonen with mecha and a strong slice of life component. First of all, we want to thank Filippo Franco, the author of Last Embrace, for sending us a copy of the adventure.
We have already dealt with Knights of the Round: Academy in a our review. Even then we were able to demonstrate a strong appreciation for the game. It is currently available on MS Edizioni online store for the price of 45 euros for the physical version. Alternatively, the digital version alone can be purchased for 20 euros. In any case, we remind you that with the code NoDiceUnrolled10 you can receive a 10% discount on your purchase.
Review of the Volume of Last Embrace
Last Embrace, as stated, it is available as a downloadable for free content from the itch.io page by MS Edizioni. Despite this, the work is absolutely in line with the professional and commercial standards of the publishing house. 54 perfectly legible and layout pages, in a horizontal format that allows ample lateral margin for images or for marginal notes and author’s notes.
The only concession that is made by Filippo to work with non-commercial purposes is the use of images created with Midjourney. These are therefore illustrations obtained through Artificial Intelligence, a very hot topic in the world of recent gaming publishing. However, since the adventure is free, the possibility of making “profit” is avoided. There is no theft from the artists whose work is preyed upon by this type of software. A compromise, which however is acceptable. Above all, a compromise that guarantees the manual a very pleasant aesthetic and a rather consistent style, both on humanoid figures and on mecha. Maybe a little flat, but still of a professional level.
Adventure Premises
Last Embrace unfolds through 15 scenes, plus three different possible epilogues depending on the choices made during the game. The whole thing ends with a “finale” of pure narration.The adventure was clearly designed to be taken to the fair, but it does not have a purely demonstrative value. Indeed, the work behind it required some adaptations, and makes it perfectly playable even in a handful of sessions.The adaptation was necessary both because the young heroes played by the players are not Academy Cadets, while maintaining the game terminology. In Last Embrace penultimate year students play.
This allows the adventure to push the emotional side of the game a lot, taking advantage of already strong bonds and a common background. Of course, there are some more mechanical bottlenecks, but also a greater focus on the daily life of the characters. Right here you will notice some more similarities with the classic Japanese atmospheres; at least the atmospheres that are usually felt in slice of life manga, without betraying the Arthurian cycle soul at the basis of KotR:A.
Safety Tools: Review of Last Embrace
As always, our reviews are spoiler-free, especially since it is an adventure that can end during a single game session. But it’s important to highlight how in Last Embrace you bring rather delicate issues to the surface. Players will be asked to deal with loss and grief. They will start playing with simple skits in a high-speed train. They will soon end up dealing with concepts such as sacrifice and racism. There will be no absence of seduction scenes or particularly crude ones.
Filippo suggests agreeing with your gaming table which security tools to adopt. This is precisely because of the intensity of the topics covered. However, he also specifies that they are not the only relevant aspects of Last Embrace. After talking between players and understanding what you want to play together, you will be able to choose where to place the emphasis. Insist more on the slice of life part, on the action part or whether to incorporate both into the more mature aspect of the adventure. These are all legitimate choices. Above all, none compromise the functionality of the adventure.
Game Tools
Last Embrace It is accompanied by four appendices. Two of these are game material: Threats and Cadets sheets. The other two are instead ideas that allow purely narrative elements to be brought into play. In fact, a first table allows you to use the other PCs, or key NPCs for events, as Affinity. These can therefore take on a mechanical weight, being called into question as Traits.
The second appendix explains how to implement “mini games” during the characters’ initial journey. This is nothing complex, simply a series of scenes that can be assigned to each of the pre-generated characters. This will have a double benefit. On the one hand, it will allow players to immediately empathize with them, bringing their characterization to the surface. On the other hand, the themes of a certain depth of this adventure will begin to emerge immediately. Here, in my opinion, Last Embrace allows you to choose exactly where to place it between “shonen” and “seinen”.
Conclusions of the Review od Last Embrace
Knights of the Round: Academy it is an adventure that struck from the beginning with the power of its narrative. Not everyone can combine an extremely action game with scenes of enormous emotional intensity. A game which, like any good manga and any good comic in general, has a plot aimed at bringing out the themes linked to the characters. Narrative is not made of anecdotes, but of choices.
Last Embrace fully embraces this philosophy, and makes some adaptations to elevate these aspects to the nth degree. It is an adventure that for those who loved Knight of the Roundt: Academy is definitely unmissable. However, all lovers of games with a strong narrative component should absolutely not miss it; especially those who see action as a means of bringing painful issues and intense stories to the table.
