Have gone through the character creation section - as far as I can tell, all the classes from v2 are here, although you don't explicitly HAVE to roll for your class (I would probably make you, haha), and it looks as though the playtest version doesn't present the full range of abilities for each class that v2 does (unless they've simply been scaled back).

There's an nifty playtest scenario - without spoiling it for anyone, it's a pretty bare-bones grab bag of "enemies, doors, traps, a boss fight and some treasure, possibly a twist at the end", with options for continuing the adventure afterwards - but you're provided with random tables to allow you to re-use the basic structure multiple times, and to scale it upwards for more powerful adventures.  (So it's basically B1 In Search of the Unknown for Synnibarr. )

I'm at the GM section ("Book of Fate"), now.  Some interesting stuff on GMing techniques.  

Stuff on awarding merit.  "Merit" is the resource characters use to customize abilities at character creation, and they receive it as experience when they complete a mission.  It's also used to balance encounters.  There are awards for task completion, and for combat - a character or monster ("denizen") is worth 10% of their merit for kills, 20% for subduals, and 30% if they are imprisoned.  Interestingly, bringing back an allies' body is worth 5% of their merit, while rescuing them from death is worth 20%.  Successfully completing "the mission" is worth 25% of the party's total merit as an award (unless they fuck it up, in which case it scales downward).

Interesting note on spending merit - you're advised to let the party spend 25% on "acquisition" (stuff), and the remaining 75% on "allocation" (improving skills and abilities).

There is a noteworthy mechanic for "flashbacks" - basically, if you blow an important roll, Fate may decide (50% chance if you want to roll for it) to let the character tell a "flashback" story about prior use or training of the skill to allow the roll to juuuust barely succeed.  (That's right - SYNNIBARR IS NOW A STORY GAME! MUUAAAAAHHH-HAHAHAHAHA!!! *thunderclap*  :eek:)  (Don't worry, really, it's not.)  Fate is advised to only award 1/2 merit value for skill successes by this method.  Similarly, there's a procedure for "dice-lite" resolution, wherein you compare opposing characters' "cogency" (basically the value of a skill multiplied by the amount of "calories" they're pumping into the attempt) to determine who'll have the upper hand, without needing to roll for it if one participant is clearly overmatched.  (Addresses the "I'll try it" phenomenon we were discussing here, recently.)

Haven't gotten to monsters, yet, will advise as to the presence of laser grizzlies, etc.

Skills come in two types: "Deeds" and "Aims".  Basically, deeds are roll-under, aims use the combat/shot system and are roll-over.  The huge list of skills appears to be gone, task resolution looks like it's boiled down to targets based on abilities, with some basic sub-categories.

Huh - apparently, the game unit "calories" actually corresponds to 100 real, actual calories (and the corresponding ratio of 4.2 joules/calorie).  (Remember, Raven was an engineer.    )

Section on "Calamities, Catastrophes and Disasters".  Basically, at certain "merit awarded" thresholds, Fate doles these out to characters (and there's a random table to generate them with).  The character gets a save roll to avoid the bad thing, if they flub it, the bad thing happens.  Scales from "locking the keys in the car" through "major equipment failure" to "death in the family".  Nifty.

Edit: WINGED GRIZZLIES ARE IN.    Also para-drakes and (amphibious) sabertoothed tigersharks.

Quote from: DestroyYouAlot;538538Edit: WINGED GRIZZLIES ARE IN.    Also para-drakes and (amphibious) sabertoothed tigersharks.

The game has a chance then.