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| Recent Acquisitions, with a Cameo from Kia |
This Kickstarter boom, though, has been kicked in the teeth of late by the global situation, not just the perils of the pandemic but the shipping crisis as well. The backup has delayed delivered even further and small shipments are getting lost in the shuffle. And, given Brexit, I do think twice before ordering anything from England, as the shipping fees can rival the cost of the product itself.
However, I do have a long trail of material that I've ordered previously which continues to show up at my door. And this is a very mixed bag this time. As always, these are not reviews,. in that I feel you need to play the game in order to review it fully, but a rather is a first glance and reactions to them.
Southlands (Richard Green, with Wolfgang Baur, Basheer Ghouse, and Kelly Pawlik; Kobold Press; 316 page hardbound) as well as the Southlands Player's Guide (Green, Marks, McFarland, Merwin, Pawlik and Suskind; 80 page softbound) and City of Cats by Richard Pett; 202 page hardbound). The Southlands was originally detailed for the Pathfinder Game, but makes the transition to D&D 5E with this volume. It deals with the territory south of the core Midgard territories and is a melding of Arabian Nights, Dynastic Egypt, and Lost World African themes. Looking forward to reading it in more detail, given my background with Al-Qadim. The Player's Guide gives you a lot of the nuts and bolts for creating characters and new races in this region for 5th Edition. The City of Cats looks at first blush to be this world's Cairo analogue, with a lot of urban fantasy intrigue. Full color, high production values, excellent maps.
Bayt Al Azif (Jared Smith, editor; Bayt al Azif Inc.; Issues 1-3; 80-120 pages squarebound magazine) This is an irregular magazine on the Call of Cthulhu game. The release schedule is "When the Stars Are Right" which means I have three issues so far, the most recent from 2020. I got it off Amazon, but you can order it in real-world or pdf form off DriveThruRPG. Really high production values, echoing the old World of Cthulhu magazines from Pegasus Spiele. Contents are a mix of adventures and articles, the latter being about the history of the game, and reviews/overviews of recent Cthulhu products. Their website is here.
The Oracle #14 (Stephen Hart (writing/design/layout) and Jane Spenser (editing); The Grinning Frog; 50 page squarebound). Ordered this during the 'Zinefest on Kickstarter, but to call it a 'Zine is to round down. Landscape formating, glossy stock, excellent art,. This particular issue deals with a fantasy version of Venice, with canals, duels, masques, masks, and magic. Great on flavor and inspiration, light on mechanics. Website is here.
The Dee Sanctions Adventures - (Paul Baldowski and Richard August; 44 pages squarebound) I got the ruleset for this a while back, and while the kickstarter included these rules in pdf, I picked them up in print and got a bonus adventure as well. Short version - John Dee's Suicide Squad. This one is softback and nice production values. Website is here.
All Must Bow (Ryan Hatt and Joshua Flaccavento,; Bleak Horizons Press; 58 page saddlestitched) This one is weird, and more of art-project than a game setting.The idea is that there are uncaring, monstrous Dreadful Ancient Things in our universe, and you're working with/for them to achieve - whatever it is you think they need to achieve. It mentions the use of X-cards at the start and actually feels like it may need it. System Agnostic (with hints and helps about particular systems in the back it almost feels like it is an experience hung on an RPG's blasted skeleton than a full RPG itself. Includes a sealed envelope that I am quite frankly a little frightened to open. Company website with links to other sites is here.
Nahual (Miguel Angel Espinoza, 288 pages Squarebound)- This one is very interesting. An RPG by designer of Latino heritage, Nahual is based on a comic book that has only been published in Mexico, where the angels, representative of Western Colonizers, are hunted by descendants of native shamans, Upon slaying the angels, the shamans turn the bodies into drugs and food served from taco trucks Powered by the Apocalypse Engine but complete in and of itself,with high production values and good B/W art, it is an urban fantasy not based on traditional western tropes. . Website? Here.
Orun (Misha Bsuhyager, Jerry D. Grayson, Eloy LaSanta; New Agenda Publishing; 288 hardbound) Also from diverse voices and avoiding traditional western tropes, this game is billed as Post-Apotheois Afro-Futuristic Space Opera. So that's a bit of a niche market, but it looks great. Pulling from the "Lost Present" school of SF (like Tekumel and Dune, our present is far in the game's past and Western Civilization has wiped itself out long before mankind made it to the stars), the game uses Nigerian/Yoruba terminology like Oya (for Earthers) and Orisha (for ascended humanity) to craft a futuristic setting with multiple planetary heavens and a Sauron-level meme-devil as an ultimate big bad. The product itself is high production values - Hardback, full-color, glossy stock, with a book ribbon and a slip case. Worth a deeper dive.
The Black Hack (David Black, Black Label/Squarehex, 124 page hardback)- Hacks are something that have popped up in the past decade - Minimalist designs, using old-school games that push ease of play over detailed background. Take a system (usually a 3d6 one) and reducing it to its most basic components. This Black Hack is the revision and has a clean presentation and art that would fit in the liner notes for the Gorillaz Clint Eastwood album. Player's section has four classes, like the classic. DM's section has a lot of tables for random results. The Kickstarter came with a bunch of small tchotchkes, like mini-booklets for maps, lore, and spells. This one (and the Dee Adventures) actually shipped from England, and made it in a timely fashion. Stripped-down web page is here.
And that's about it. If I get a chance to actually play any of these, I will come back to them. But in general, Kickstarter has produced some really fine opportunities to get hold of games that might not otherwise make their way to your friendly neighborhood gaming store.
More later,
