Phasmotogaphy

Easy to read, looks fun to play, hits the major points re the Photography Triangle... A ghost hunting adventure that counts as Edutainment! Feels like a parallel development to the Shudderspeed core rules that would work for remote play and seems like it'd be compatible with the supplemental materials out there.

Good use of example text. The process for determining if a ghost has been adequately photographed requires wrapping the noggin around at first - the exemplar immediately following is helpful.

3x quicks observations/queries:

1- Pages 10 and 11 say it takes one and two actions, respectively, to rescue another photographer. If I'm not misreading it, one must be wrong.

2- The Angry Ghost's Scream is buried in the Throw A Fit text.

3- If you set your shutter speed to 10 seconds, aperture as narrow as the camera will go, and wander into the shot...does your character become a ghost?

Phasmotography is a fully realized, 18 page exploration of the idea of a highly technical camera horror TTRPG.

The PDF is 18 pages, with a clear, coherent, and well-organized layout. There's some great custom art, and nice stylized text, and the whole thing has the feeling of a well put together technical manual.

And speaking of which, Phasmotography is not afraid to teach some of the elements of photography. There's a detailed but easily digestible primer about shutterspeeds, f-stops, and other relevant tech, and unless you're already versed in photography, you'll come out of this rpg knowing more than you did when you went in.

Mechanics-wise, Phasmography uses a d100 system, but it's weird, specific, and unique. You roll a d100 aiming for a target within a range that's centered on 50 (although the exact range can change from ghost to ghost.) Then you apply a ton of modifiers based on how you've configured your camera, simulating in great detail things like light level and exposure time as you try to take a perfect picture of a ghost.

I was not able to fully comprehend how this process works, but in practice it means that you're moving around, configuring settings on your camera, and setting yourself up to take that perfect snap of a ghost while in combat.

This is neat, and it makes fights into more of a puzzle that uses real world knowledge alongside strategic gameplay.

In terms of GM resources, there's good advice on how to run the game---including pacing, scenario design, explaining the rules to players---and a mini bestiary.

In terms of player resources, character creation is simple, the game's technical terms are well explained, and there's a good bit of customization you can do while creating a character (beyond just calibrating the character and picking your film, you have a wide range of perks.)

Overall, this was a joy to read. The camera mechanics are technical and simulation-y, but the combat they produce feels really interesting, and the rest of the system is really easy to understand. If you want a camera game that you'll learn something from, or an interesting and detailed combat system that doesn't use violence, or you want to hunt some ghosts with your buddies, I'd strongly recommend checking this out.

Minor Issues:

-Page 8, "presses the shutter butter" I think this is probably meant to be button

-Page 13, is a ghost's damage value the damage it deals if it gets close enough to touch? Or can ghosts only deal damage through abilities like Throw Object?

-Page 15, Scared Spirit, "is never encountered outside for the first time outside of an object" should this just be 'is never encountered outside of an object'?

-Page 16, Scared Spirit, "to expose the Scare Spirit" Scared Spirit