The Retroverse seeks to fill a niche role with its setting, and options in the tabletop market with its 80s, synthwave inspired asthetic, and saturday morning cartoon sensibilities.
The test wave boosts a sample platter of content for player and dms alike to player with, most of which can be integrated into more tradition settings relatively seamlessly, for those wishing to try the content without creating a whole campaign based in the provided setting.
Races
The Retroverse introduces the Wolf-like Wonari, and the noble dinofolk the Cerans, each with three subraces, as well as four new Dragonborn varients. The new races have interesting lore to work off of, as wells cool new abilities to give players more options without unbalancing when compared to existing content.
Classes
Holo-Knight: a stylish class with a lot of interesting ideas. Balance wise it seems slightly less powerful than existing classes, and the wording of some abilities is a little confusing, Construct healing, and the first part of Holo armor read a bit awkwardly, but are otherwise functional.
Synthweaver: The bard like synthweaver seems more like a subclass for the bard than a class of its own. that being said it does a lot different from the class that inspired it. one of the more powerful classes in the Retroverse, it gains full spellcasting, some powerful support abilities, and potential with melee damage, and an interesting but confusing ability with their Roller blades, and multiplying Dexterity.
De-Fragger: This class, closest to the paladin in the traditional sense focuses on the setting specific Corruption rules, but can easily be retooled against undead if brought into a setting without such rules. This class tries many new ideas walking a razors edge of balance between under powered and over powered, so its probably fine.
Goreangyr: The weirdest class of the four, this class puts your character in control of a giant robot creature, based off of an animal, abberration, dragon, fiend or elemental. the restriction of 1/4 CR seems somewhat restrictive, and its hard to envision how this class would play in game without actually using it. there is certainly a lot to keep track of, and it shouldnt be a casual choice for a player to attempt using this class as it is now.
DM Features
The Monster stat blocks are geared towards lower level encounters, but boast some interesting abilities and designs, the Glass Shadow being a stand-out for its combination of dangerous slippery, creepiness.
The Items are somewhat disappointing. most are simple enchantments with odd aesthetic requirements for use, or overly complicated like the "keysword" weapon. There aren't many included, but what is here could be improved upon in the future.
Summary
While not perfect, the Retroverse accomplishes what it has set out to do, and is worth looking at for anyone interested in some fresh new races or classes. the lack of subclasses is a bit disappointing and the magic items could do with some reworking, but over all this is a solid sample platter of things to come.
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