Freelancers: A Crossroads Game Review — A Whole Fantasy Misadventure in One Evening
B3’s verdict
Freelancers is a useful alternative when people want an RPG-shaped adventure without promising to attend a long campaign. Its comic fantasy tone gives the group permission to make questionable decisions together. B3 would choose it for a social table that enjoys reacting to a strange situation as much as solving it.
The game combines character creation, dice, choices, and locations with an app that handles the storytelling. No player needs to prepare and run a traditional game-master role. The adventures aim to deliver a complete arc in one night, although a complete evening still requires a real time commitment.
What makes the decisions interesting
The interesting decision is what kind of character you become through action. A joke can be entertaining on its own, but it becomes more memorable when it follows from something the group chose. Leave room for a player to pursue a distinctive response instead of automatically voting for the apparently best reward.
The companion app is part of the purchase. Test access and audio before inviting guests, and confirm the supported player count in the rules for your group. People who dislike narrated passages or deliberately irreverent fantasy may find the central presentation a barrier.
Character creation feeds a prepared adventure
Freelancers keeps the pleasure of making an unusual fantasy character, then supplies an app-led adventure for that party. Players make choices, attempt checks, and respond to prepared consequences instead of asking one participant to invent the whole evening. The shape is closer to a guided roleplaying session than a tactical dungeon grid.
Your practical work is listening, deciding which option the party wants to pursue, and using character capabilities when the game calls for them. Personality can make those decisions entertaining, but the app and rules still establish what the choice can do. An imaginative description does not create unlimited mechanical permission.
A good party decision gives everyone a voice
Imagine a choice between a conspicuous, risky approach and a more cautious one. A player may prefer the risk because it suits their character, while another wants to protect the party's resources. Discuss what each choice might cost before treating the loudest suggestion as the group's answer. This is an invented decision pattern, not a specific adventure branch.
The attraction is that a less efficient choice can still produce an entertaining story. That does not mean every player should be pushed into chaos. Agree whether the group wants to pursue a sensible plan, indulge character impulses, or balance the two. A comedy game remains more enjoyable when its participants want the same kind of comedy.
How it differs from a regular RPG
There is no need for one person to prepare a campaign and adjudicate every imagined action. That reduces the hosting burden and lets everyone participate as a character. In exchange, the available branches and resolutions are authored in advance. If the party wants to abandon the premise entirely, the game cannot improvise a new world around that decision.
This makes it useful for an occasional gathering or a group interested in roleplaying without a continuing schedule. It is less useful as a replacement for the freedom and long-term character development that make a regular tabletop RPG appealing. Judge it by whether the prepared adventure and comic tone suit your evening.
Preparing a smoother first session
Check the required app on the actual device you plan to use, arrange sound so everyone can hear, and keep physical sheets and resources within reach. Rotate small responsibilities so one player does not become both app operator and permanent decision maker.
Leave enough time for creating characters and learning how checks work. A game intended for a single evening still needs room for people to listen and respond. Avoid revealing later branches while looking up instructions; surprise is part of what gives the guided story momentum. Begin with the base game and add further content only after the group knows it enjoys the core rhythm.
Format and app reference: publisher's introduction.
The cost of choosing this experience
I would share the reading and encourage quieter players to choose first occasionally. A confident performer can improve the atmosphere, but performance should not determine whose character matters. Plain explanations of intent work perfectly well alongside theatrical voices.
Buy the Freelancers base game for self-contained fantasy outings with a variable-attendance group. It is a separate game from Forgotten Waters. Choose it because its humor and app-led decisions suit your table; the absence of a permanent game master does not remove the need for somebody to learn the setup.
Official game information and rules →
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