Still waiting on Dolemwood
Arrivals:
The Caverns of Thracia
Yoon-Suin 2nd Ed
BX Essentials
Ryecroft
The Caverns of Thracia 😍😍😍👿
I'd paid for caverns on a wait list and was returned money because it took so long to come out. Ive been running New Edition 2024 so its usable mostly with that. So I miss Janell and we used to dunk on the same awful people at least weekly online. Her surviving partner Rebbecca now has health issues and is doing a funding campaign to survive. Its a great book and has lots of content. Im kinda startled it has x amount of rooms but will take you to 10th lv as a modern adaptation which im curious about, but as I ignore xp and difficulty ratings and wing it instead, so im not gonna go too much into this. As im running a greek bronze game parts of this will leak into my game. I do like the Bronze Age runequest like setting and elements. Most of the art seems to be "modern" murder hobos rather than bronze. I did like Roger Raupp in Dragon, illustrating a bronze party in multiple works. Its something we could see more of but the art is appropriate and some is good. Setting implied to fit with the previous Dark Tower book. Its sad to see their recreations of old TSR stuff end, and the trap volume not of much interest to me. Im not sure if series will survive. There are elements of this dungeon that are more common now but its a great example of how a long dungeon history and factions can be managed and tied to the physichality of the dungeon, its decor and rubbish. It has an archaeological depth and stratification that adds realism most dungeons do not have and no 6-room dungeon can do. It did convince me of some plans for my Ethyria game, so that made this book worth it.
Yoon-Suin 2nd Ed 😍😍😍😍
So my older, barely used book has worn a bit over the years. This version is superior, but I'll keep the old one for when I use it at the table. The paper is glossier, it's a beautiful, fat, long book well well-made. I find the font hard to read for size and weight, even with glasses. As much of the book has white space (for notes?) while adventure section is more dense. The art is nice but not quite my taste for a frpg. The poster included by Mockman is fantastic and non-gamers liked. Has some colour maps now for some ready-to-use hex areas as examples of the tables.
Olschool BX type gamers could run with this fast. Improved monster art appreciated. I guess my imagination is the setting as grimy Carcosa+Irem is incongruant with illustrations a bit and thats on me. There are lots of cartoon type games now with cute art which i like but my games are not. I did admire EPT setting as a teen but as the creator turned out to be closet super trash so id rather play this (+ your own oldschool system choice is easier to utilise vs the specificity of EPT). This book helps you be creative from prompts while other games bamboozle you with exact trivia and lore. One of best KS campagns and a 2nd ed that really works. One of best rpg books of the year and one of best oldschool settings ever.
This book is like my work, a sandbox setting full of tools to create roleplaying and violent encounters and stuff to explore. Every shrine you see, you can generate a new petty god. I like that there is minimal set lore or history or story to be pedantic, just some rolling to prep. Every adventure will be weird and exotic without being a specific real-world orientalist fantasy clone setting. I will be using it for the South Region of my Western Continent. While possibly the best table-based sandbox kit campaign, it's a bit intimidating despite its simplicity. The new adventure section is one of the best ive seen and more rpgs need to do lots of short, dense, basic adventures built from content in the book. I would probably let players roll some relationships themselves, and home information, and maybe some DMs might ask for players to roll some stuff or contribute to interpretations if that is your thing. This book will make me a better table designer and I like how the info conveyed prompts wild creativity.
Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Players Tome 😍😍😍😍
I finally went for this instead of Shadowdark. I find it more auhentic and closer to my homebrew. Ive now played both and Keys dungeoneering games. Keys i like simple system but it cant do resource horror the same way as BRP or old D&D grit I like. I feel this sytem might be good for ppl who want to play more talky d&d and would be fine for the Beyond The Witchlight adventure and maye even ravenloft. Shadowdark has nice elements but possibly my DM is too nice. I dislike games that give you extra dice and + maths and dont like more dice rolls as often. Im not very imaginative and play basicly 3 systems most of my 42 years of gaming so what would I know. I guess while i like shadowdark table aproach I have written 2000 tables as game prep so im ok and hold my beer. So the OSE game is a streamlined BX retro clone mostly superior to my red and blue box set games. I dont agree with every take like xp, class-species limits and tables to say what you cant do as a character suck. But If im not playing my own game this would be it.
I once used LOTFP as my travel clone game but dropped that over garbage people and personal interaction and sold almost everything except veins of the earth. This will be my default game for travel and short games and online. I like the monster stat blocks also which is why i came back to D&D for the less record keeping vs BRP which i played 20 years. Also I treid to buy this for ages. I found a local shop with some volumes and looked online for ones i wanted. I paid for some and shps returned my money. Everyone here was out but some even dropped prices after running out and say they want more. But nope. I can get for 65AUD here but price from available US publisher would be more than double. It would be over 200 AUD for two books and post so i want it local but everybody is out. To be fair comic trade is a mess too right now.
Shadowdark pricing was far worse and design is part of their business savy. Seems to revive a kind of D&D played on G+ 2012-2019 which i wasn't really involved in. It was a style for world and campagn hopping characters as was the high death toll and its not what I want for a casual or campaign game. Random abilities vs choosing abilities always wins for a campaign game. Mayby So I have only players book currently but will get more. The adventures and licensed products I prefer more also. Im seeing some good stuff and some slop from Shadowdark. The OSE adventures and settings I find weirder and more detailed, i had quite a few before i had rules while half shadowdark stuff i gave away.
Ryecroft 😍😍😍😍
I got KS version with pile off maps, some booklets of tallies for the fetch quests and a very nice book that sits next to the OSE players book. We were updated well in campagn so well done Monkeyblood. It fits in fine with Dolemwood and I will run with The Bats of Saint Abbans. Its a huge sprawling graveyard with catacombs and several fetch quests. You can work your way through grave robbing or looking for relics and magic stained glass pieces. The checklists are great aids and I have started using in my games - the design of this is high. My only complaint is maybe just one use of any stat block per spread in a sidebar instead of repeating. I probably prefer monster FX to be more significant than -1 if it involves a dice roll also but this is a minor note. The big surprise in this location is that it has no cults or undead. So that really ought to get people curious. Those poor clerics selecting spells will elarn fast i guess. There are many various monster factions you can deal with or even manipulate or dominate. The original Dolemwood was for a different retroclone but im fine with it going OSE. Fun, easy to read, very good layouts, great spot art and stunning player and DM maps. Its a large adventure but a single location and it is just not a megadungeon, thankfully. The tunnels are more about factions rather than every room is important to see. There are dangerous beings in this easily able to smear a party like golems and even a petty spider godlings so players should learn to flee. I hope to run this in future. Like St Abbans you could keep up game with roleplaying or combat or you have ways you could finish the scenario off if you sense player feel like they are in a tarpit
Arrivals:
The Caverns of Thracia
Yoon-Suin 2nd Ed
BX Essentials
Ryecroft
The Caverns of Thracia 😍😍😍👿
I'd paid for caverns on a wait list and was returned money because it took so long to come out. Ive been running New Edition 2024 so its usable mostly with that. So I miss Janell and we used to dunk on the same awful people at least weekly online. Her surviving partner Rebbecca now has health issues and is doing a funding campaign to survive. Its a great book and has lots of content. Im kinda startled it has x amount of rooms but will take you to 10th lv as a modern adaptation which im curious about, but as I ignore xp and difficulty ratings and wing it instead, so im not gonna go too much into this. As im running a greek bronze game parts of this will leak into my game. I do like the Bronze Age runequest like setting and elements. Most of the art seems to be "modern" murder hobos rather than bronze. I did like Roger Raupp in Dragon, illustrating a bronze party in multiple works. Its something we could see more of but the art is appropriate and some is good. Setting implied to fit with the previous Dark Tower book. Its sad to see their recreations of old TSR stuff end, and the trap volume not of much interest to me. Im not sure if series will survive. There are elements of this dungeon that are more common now but its a great example of how a long dungeon history and factions can be managed and tied to the physichality of the dungeon, its decor and rubbish. It has an archaeological depth and stratification that adds realism most dungeons do not have and no 6-room dungeon can do. It did convince me of some plans for my Ethyria game, so that made this book worth it.
Yoon-Suin 2nd Ed 😍😍😍😍
So my older, barely used book has worn a bit over the years. This version is superior, but I'll keep the old one for when I use it at the table. The paper is glossier, it's a beautiful, fat, long book well well-made. I find the font hard to read for size and weight, even with glasses. As much of the book has white space (for notes?) while adventure section is more dense. The art is nice but not quite my taste for a frpg. The poster included by Mockman is fantastic and non-gamers liked. Has some colour maps now for some ready-to-use hex areas as examples of the tables.
Olschool BX type gamers could run with this fast. Improved monster art appreciated. I guess my imagination is the setting as grimy Carcosa+Irem is incongruant with illustrations a bit and thats on me. There are lots of cartoon type games now with cute art which i like but my games are not. I did admire EPT setting as a teen but as the creator turned out to be closet super trash so id rather play this (+ your own oldschool system choice is easier to utilise vs the specificity of EPT). This book helps you be creative from prompts while other games bamboozle you with exact trivia and lore. One of best KS campagns and a 2nd ed that really works. One of best rpg books of the year and one of best oldschool settings ever.
This book is like my work, a sandbox setting full of tools to create roleplaying and violent encounters and stuff to explore. Every shrine you see, you can generate a new petty god. I like that there is minimal set lore or history or story to be pedantic, just some rolling to prep. Every adventure will be weird and exotic without being a specific real-world orientalist fantasy clone setting. I will be using it for the South Region of my Western Continent. While possibly the best table-based sandbox kit campaign, it's a bit intimidating despite its simplicity. The new adventure section is one of the best ive seen and more rpgs need to do lots of short, dense, basic adventures built from content in the book. I would probably let players roll some relationships themselves, and home information, and maybe some DMs might ask for players to roll some stuff or contribute to interpretations if that is your thing. This book will make me a better table designer and I like how the info conveyed prompts wild creativity.
Old-School Essentials Advanced Fantasy Players Tome 😍😍😍😍
I finally went for this instead of Shadowdark. I find it more auhentic and closer to my homebrew. Ive now played both and Keys dungeoneering games. Keys i like simple system but it cant do resource horror the same way as BRP or old D&D grit I like. I feel this sytem might be good for ppl who want to play more talky d&d and would be fine for the Beyond The Witchlight adventure and maye even ravenloft. Shadowdark has nice elements but possibly my DM is too nice. I dislike games that give you extra dice and + maths and dont like more dice rolls as often. Im not very imaginative and play basicly 3 systems most of my 42 years of gaming so what would I know. I guess while i like shadowdark table aproach I have written 2000 tables as game prep so im ok and hold my beer. So the OSE game is a streamlined BX retro clone mostly superior to my red and blue box set games. I dont agree with every take like xp, class-species limits and tables to say what you cant do as a character suck. But If im not playing my own game this would be it.
I once used LOTFP as my travel clone game but dropped that over garbage people and personal interaction and sold almost everything except veins of the earth. This will be my default game for travel and short games and online. I like the monster stat blocks also which is why i came back to D&D for the less record keeping vs BRP which i played 20 years. Also I treid to buy this for ages. I found a local shop with some volumes and looked online for ones i wanted. I paid for some and shps returned my money. Everyone here was out but some even dropped prices after running out and say they want more. But nope. I can get for 65AUD here but price from available US publisher would be more than double. It would be over 200 AUD for two books and post so i want it local but everybody is out. To be fair comic trade is a mess too right now.
Shadowdark pricing was far worse and design is part of their business savy. Seems to revive a kind of D&D played on G+ 2012-2019 which i wasn't really involved in. It was a style for world and campagn hopping characters as was the high death toll and its not what I want for a casual or campaign game. Random abilities vs choosing abilities always wins for a campaign game. Mayby So I have only players book currently but will get more. The adventures and licensed products I prefer more also. Im seeing some good stuff and some slop from Shadowdark. The OSE adventures and settings I find weirder and more detailed, i had quite a few before i had rules while half shadowdark stuff i gave away.
Ryecroft 😍😍😍😍
I got KS version with pile off maps, some booklets of tallies for the fetch quests and a very nice book that sits next to the OSE players book. We were updated well in campagn so well done Monkeyblood. It fits in fine with Dolemwood and I will run with The Bats of Saint Abbans. Its a huge sprawling graveyard with catacombs and several fetch quests. You can work your way through grave robbing or looking for relics and magic stained glass pieces. The checklists are great aids and I have started using in my games - the design of this is high. My only complaint is maybe just one use of any stat block per spread in a sidebar instead of repeating. I probably prefer monster FX to be more significant than -1 if it involves a dice roll also but this is a minor note. The big surprise in this location is that it has no cults or undead. So that really ought to get people curious. Those poor clerics selecting spells will elarn fast i guess. There are many various monster factions you can deal with or even manipulate or dominate. The original Dolemwood was for a different retroclone but im fine with it going OSE. Fun, easy to read, very good layouts, great spot art and stunning player and DM maps. Its a large adventure but a single location and it is just not a megadungeon, thankfully. The tunnels are more about factions rather than every room is important to see. There are dangerous beings in this easily able to smear a party like golems and even a petty spider godlings so players should learn to flee. I hope to run this in future. Like St Abbans you could keep up game with roleplaying or combat or you have ways you could finish the scenario off if you sense player feel like they are in a tarpit
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