What adventures do crows get up to when nobody is watching?

Be like a Crow is a solo RPG where you play as a corvid, crafted by Tim Roberts, the creator of Be like a Cat which we have previously reviewed. Both of them are silver best sellers on DriveThruRPG. What is actually needed to get you started are the rules, of course, your prefered way of documenting your progress(either digital or physical) and a standard deck of cards.

Content

We are greeted by an introduction to solo RPGs and the concept of Be like a Crow. You create your corvid, choose the setting where it lives and write that information on your character sheet, which can be found at the end of this supplement or online. Then you use the deck cards to generate events and encounters according to prompt tables. You are encouraged to keep notes of your adventure in a journal, or document or whatever works for you.

Chapter 2 focuses on character creation. There are 5 corvid species to choose from when creating your story, which are carrion crow, magpie, rook, raven and jackdaw. Each of these species comes with its own characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, skills and special abilities giving you plenty variations to approach the game. I particulary like that the supplement includes details such as dietary habits, nesting and size not to just fill the page, but give you extra details to help you bring your feathered character to life. Once you have made your choice, you need a place to explore, and that’s where the fun comes. You can choose from 6 settings which have their own map, prompts, locations, objects, objectives and characters. There is plenty of room for different stories as you get to pick from Urban Crow, Cyber-Crow, Gothic Crow, Fantasy Crow, Clockwork Crow, Ravens of The Tower.

System

The system is built around the deck of cards. In Chapter 3, you can find all the details about it. You use the cards to generate events, encounters, objectives and even combat, making the game unpredictable and unique. As mentioned above, your setting comes with a map, divided into hexagons. You first choose your nesting place, mark it on the map and describe it in your notes. Then you draw a card from your deck to generate your first objective from the corresponding prompt table, and then you take turns. The joker cards are quite special, as they let you succeed on one skill check, win one combat attack, heal or discard and redraw a card.

In each of your turns, you can do one action:

• Generate an Objective.
• Generate an Event.
• Travel to a New Hex on the Map.
• Take Flight or Land
• Use an Object.
• Take a combat action.

Flying and landing generate events, and you can carry one object in your beak and one in your claws, but you are able to hide an object in any hex and automatically find it the next time you land there. Pretty cool, right?

Instead of using the traditional levelling system, the game uses 4 lifecycle stages. Each stage improves skills and abilities, and you need to complete a number of randomly generated objectives to move between them, an approach which I find very fitting to the game’s concept as your crow becomes more capable while it experiences the world around them.

Scenarios

Chapter 4 contains the prompts and maps for every setting option available. The prompts are written in a way to inspire you and not dictate your story, as you are encouraged to be creative and craft your own tale, even if it means that you may ignore some of these prompts. In urban crow, for example, you navigate a modern city and can come across humans, foxes, dogs and cats, but some prompts also include mobile phones and a bag of fries, while in cyber crow you take a completely different direction with your own virtual assistant. Sometimes, the prompts use placeholders for objects, locations and characters, where you draw additional cards to fill them and turn something simple into a completely unexpected situation.

Layout & Art

The supplement is clearly structured, with a table of contents at the very beginning, making it easy to get an overview of the contents. The prompts occupy most of the pages, with dedicated sections for each setting, which kinda makes sense since they play a significant role in the game.

I really like the illustrations because I’m very fond of creatures. They feature feathered protagonists in a very distinct way and are carefully placed across the pages without cluttering them.

The game also provides printable character sheets and maps for free, so bonus points for that.

Final Thoughts

Be like a Crow is highly recommended and definitely gets the #NicoleRecommends hashtag. It lets you see the world through the eyes of a crow, with adventures shaped by cards and your imagination. We would love to hear your thoughts if you have tried this game.

Stay crafty and caw-caw,
Your new favourite author.

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