The Good
Low hit points. Even high level characters do not have a lot of hit points. This makes combat speedy and exciting.
Three classes is elegant. You can be Strong, or Deft, or Wise. The Strong have a number of combat manoeuvres and the exciting ability to temporarily gain a power or bonus from defeating an enemy. The Deft are skill-based characters who can succeed at nigh impossible tasks, and can have pets or attuned items. The Wise are spellcasters, who can also create magical items. With these three classes, you can build a wide range of character concepts. That is elegant and simple. You can also build the same character in a variety of ways. For example, you could build a bard who is a taunting swashbuckler as a Strong character. Or you could build the same character as a Deft expert swordmaster who can perform astonishing feats of swordplay. Once I'd played my first session, these possibilities dawned on me.
Great freedom with character concepts. Players have a lot of freedom to cut loose and create some wonderful and creative characters. Any concept that fits with your setting can be mechanically created, and we had some wonderful ideas. A cursed witch, born of a hag, who used hex magic. An alchemist who concocted explosive bombs and potions. An engineer who got magically partially transmuted into a half-construct. Great stuff!
Loosely defined magic. Your spellcaster character knows how to do a handful of Miracles. These can be visualised in any way. You could be a traditional mage, or a gadgeteer, or a rune scriber, or whatever. Your Miracle will be loosely defined, for example, "Winged Feet". What this actually means at your table is discovered *during play* in an emergent way. When you want to cast the spell, you describe an effect you want to achieve that is on-theme for the descriptor. For example, for Winged Feet, maybe you want to run really fast. Then the GM assigns a magnitude to the spell, which defines the base cost (in hit points) for casting. You can negotiate a bit and accept a lesser effect, or a drawback, or costly ingredient that can reduce the casting cost. This kind of magic system is quite unlike most games. It is very free form. I also found it quite intimidating at first. What if I get it wrong? What if I allow something that is too powerful? Then I relaxed into it and realised it is not a big deal, as long as everyone is having fun. After I accepted that then it became permissive and freeing.
Short. The entire game is about 60 pages. The rest of the book contains GM advice, a bestiary, and optional rules. This brevity is possible when you are not describing dozens of spells and a large number of classes. It's also possible when you are using dense post graduate language to explain a game of pretending to be an elf. More on this later.
Simple stats for monsters. Each monster basically only has 4 numbers to worry about. Hit points, attack value, damage and saving throw. Any special abilities they have are purely descriptive. You describe the spider shooting web at the PC, and ask the PC to make a saving throw. Then you simply invent, on the spot, what being trapped in a web means. This supports a very improvisational style of play. It is story based rather than tactical.
