Originally published on diceadventurer

The world: Scornlords is subtitled Meatlandia Book 3 and is thus part of a series. I have not dealt with the predecessors, according to the statement in the book, knowledge from books 1 and 2 is not necessary. However, here I have to say that I could not do anything or little with one or the other designation or with a few notes. Nevertheless, since Scornlords is very interesting to read, I’ll definitely take a look at the previous parts to get the bigger picture. The realm of the Scornlords is a peninsula, which is separated from the main continent by mountains and sea. In Meatlandia itself there is a storm of chaos, but it cannot harm the realm of the Scornlords, as they have a protective shield. The land is barren and marked by deserts, wastelands and canyons. The country is ruled by the seven Scornlords, superhuman beings who rule over life and death in their realm. Each Scornlord has its own territory with its own customs, rules and ideas. War is waged among one another, intrigues are forged and alliances are formed. Players will sooner or later get sucked into all of these things and have to see for themselves how they’re doing. In addition to humans, there are of course elves, dwarves and other well-known races, but the setting offers a lot more, such as the myrmeke. These huge, ant-like creatures live for their hive and tend to be more peaceful. I also find the fade very exciting, which have the property of simply disappearing from the perception and sometimes even the memory of others. Huge insects and dinosaurs are a common sight in the realm of the Scornlords and many animals are used as pack animals, a chariot pulled by raptors is completely normal. Bandits and robbers roam the wasteland, gladiators look for challenges, and cannibals hunt for their next meal. However, completely different beings and monsters also float around. My favourite are the barren elves, who don’t have any facial features. Only when they suck magic out of a victim do they temporarily take over their traits and can feel joy. That is exactly why they are always on the hunt. The Scourge of the Scornlords delivers an unbelievable amount of material, very beautiful and above all short descriptions and thus brings out the maximum of possibilities. The setting is very weird and wacky, you have to like that, but fans of a kind of Fantasy Mad Max get their money’s worth here.

The game: The Scourge of the Scornlords is written for old-school essentials, but can basically be played with any OSR. Some new mechanics are introduced, such as hydration, sandstorms, psionics, and vehicles. So players definitely have to be careful that they and their animals drink regularly, otherwise the adventure will only be very short. New classes include the above-mentioned Fade and Myrmeke, as well as the Mentalist and the Monster Honcho. The mentalist uses psionic energy, the monster Honcho gathers a large herd of monsters and animals around him. The book is packed with random tables, be it for locations, NPCs, vehicles, giant insects, and of course, encounters. You can leave a lot to chance and then no two campaigns will be the same. The system with the vehicles was one of the things that appealed to me the most and it is very simple and elegant. In addition to an armour class, vehicles have hull points that normal weapons cannot reduce (spells do 1/4 of their actual damage). Instead, you can use catapults, ballistae and flamethrowers. The generator for vehicles is very extensive and the wildest carts come out of it.

The book: The Scourge of the Scornlords is in English, is in black and white, and is just over 100 pages. It is easy to read, has a clear layout and impresses with its very coherent illustrations. Many entries in the bestiary have an illustration. The information about the Scornlords is very extensive, but also very well presented, so that you can quickly get an overview. In addition, there was an extra booklet for Backer with stats and information on various NPCs, vehicles and locations and a small pamphlet about being able to play The Scourge of the Scornlords solo. In the book, there are some possibilities for entries and for recording stats of the players, I would have liked these as a separate sheet. There are different character sheets to choose from, I would have liked a hand-painted version of the vehicle sheet so it matches with my favourite character sheet, but you cannot have everything.

Who might be interested in The Scourge of the Scornlords:

• Players and game masters who are looking for a slightly wacky setting
• People who are fans of random tables
• Players who want to roam the wasteland in their dinosaur-drawn cart

Who might not be interested in The Scourge of the Scornlords:

• Players and game masters who don’t like high mortality
• People who don’t like sandboxes
• Players who want to play heroic characters in an intact world

This introduction was originally released on my blog diceadventurer.

I recently ordered a couple of books at my FLGS and got a copy of The Magical Land of Yeld. I supported the Kickstarter but the delivery costs to Europe were too expensive for me, so I just backed for the PDF-Level. Now I have my book in front of me and would like to introduce it to you.

The world:

Yeld is set in the world of the same name and comes from the creators of the webcomic Modest Medusa, where a little Medusa from Yeld landed in our world. The game works the other way around, a number of children enter Yeld through a door (completely in the style of The Chronicles of Narnia). This door closes relatively early and the children are trapped in Yeld. Time is ticking, because every child turns into a monster on their thirteenth birthday and can’t go back home. The world is full of magic, but also full of dangers, because a dark vampire prince rules it. The children take on the role of heroes and try to find the seven keys so that they can open the door again, which, however, are kept by seven loyal servants of the prince.

The system:

At the beginning, the friends, as the PCs are called in Yeld, end up as normal children in Yeld. The friends have four attributes (Strong, Brave, Tough and Smart) and a certain type (e.g. the liar, the princess or the big sister). In addition to the core dice (the attributes), there is also special dice, which are rolled in certain situations. The liar starts, for example, with a special Die “Lie” and can use it when he is not telling the truth. There is a whole range of Special Dice with many different effects and possibilities.

When a friend wants to do something, he rolls the Core Dice and (if appropriate) Special Dice. The game master then also takes dice (depending on the challenge or NPC) and rolls against them. Simple D6 are used and everyone adds up the result. Whoever has the higher roll wins the test. It is interesting that the players tell how something turned out, even if it failed. This dice principle is used everywhere, also in combat, for magic, etc.

The fight takes place on the action board, for which you can also use a chessboard. Whoever yells “first” attacks first (no joke) and when it was your turn, then you decide who is next to move. The more friends who are successful in a row, the more bonuses they get. If someone fails or puts his action on the bench (in order to use it later), he breaks the chain. The other side can also try to get the initiative. Everyone has a move action and a fight action. Attacks are made against a defense roll. If this is unsuccessful the opponent loses a core die. If he runs out of these, then he is dead. Friends who go to the ground continue to haunt the board as ghosts and can carry out ghost actions (such as looking for loot, haunt opponents, etc.). They can be brought back to life in the next inn or with the right magic, just like in a video game.

But that’s not all, because very early on, the friends get a heroic job (basically a class). These jobs give them more core dice, special dice and their job skills. The jobs are very interesting and are reminiscent of video games, such as the black magician and the white magician or the Soul Thief. Later the friends can also take on legendary jobs, for which they have to complete a quest beforehand. Whoever reaches the thirteenth year gets access to the monster jobs, such as the werewolf or the Deep Mage with a gigantic squid on his head. When it comes to character development, Yeld reminds me a little of Shadow of the Demon Lord, where you gradually get more and have to do more for it.

Generally, the friends do grow over the adventure. The players decide for themselves how challenging or dangerous an adventure should be. In addition, there is the maximum amount of die for challenge dice. At the end of the adventure there are the reward dice, rolls on the loot tables, etc., which are shared among the friends, so there is not always everything for everyone. This also motivates the friends to approach tasks that are more dangerous.

Depending on the level of danger, the game master gets many things at hand. For example, how strong the monsters can be and on which tables the players can roll the dice as a reward. The GM part is pretty darn good in my eyes. There are construction kits for everything (e.g. to build equipment or monsters). To this date, the way of building monsters in Yeld is the best I’ve seen in a long time.

The goal of the game (yes, it has a goal) is to get the seven keys. To do this, you explore Yeld and receive an empty map made of squares. Only the magic door is drawn. Gradually the map fills up with places that you have discovered and played on, similar to a hexcrawl. However, the game doesn’t leave you alone, because it gives you a lot of help, especially with the guardians of the keys.

It is also important to say that the game master also builds a friend, because the game master should change after every adventure. I do not know if I would do it this way because everyone needs the book (or PDF).

Playing Online:

You can find a character sheet for Yeld on Roll20 and even without it it’s really easy to play online. The mechanics are pretty simple and you just need the action board, the world map and tokens. All my previous sessions of Yeld were online and went really smooth.

The book:

The book is in English and has an incredible number of illustrations (which is why the book came out much later). The images are all very cute and friendly, although the game is a bit dark in parts. In any case, you get a very good impression of the world. Everything is very legible and understandable, and the arrangement and order make sense. The printed book is softcover and I have the impression that the color of the pictures do not do one hundred percent justice to the pictures in the PDF.

Who might be interested in Yeld:

• GMs and players who want to play something in the style of Zelda and the like
• People who want to have a simple ruleset with increasing complexity
• Players who want to play as children

Who might not be interested in Yeld:

• GMs and players who like extensive rules and mechanics
• People who cannot do anything with a childish fantasy game
• Players who don’t want to switch between the role of player and GM

This introduction was originally released on my blog diceadventurer.

I hesitated when Space Orange 42 released Sheherazade because it is a short rulebook and the price for the PDF was quite high. However, the setting and the sample characters convinced me to try it and I was not disappointed. Let me show you the selling points.

The world:

Scheherazade, namesake for this game, might be familiar to you. She is the storyteller in Arabian Nights and is the inspiration for the game. Every evening Scheherazade tells the caliph a story with a cliffhanger so she won’t be executed. The caliph, betrayed by his first wife, decided to have a new woman every day and after the night together, she will be killed. Scheherazade achieved to stay alive for 1000 nights and the caliph fell in love with her. The next day should have been their wedding but Scheherazade fell into a deep sleep. Nobody is able to wake her up and the caliph got desperate. Now the country stands still and the sovereign is not able to reign it properly. The players take the role of people who met Scheherazade and she told their stories to the caliph. Every player character had a nightmare the night Scheherazade fell into her sleep and it is up to the players to find a cure and save Scheherazade and the country.

The system:

Scheherazade uses its own system, which is called the Unique System. You start building your character by choosing or creating a concept like Old Ghoulhunter or Nimble Street urchin. This concept starts with a value of one. Then you spend so called marks to raise your attributes. The six attributes are power, precision, courage, caution, passion and reason. As you might notice those attributes form pairs and are opposites. Every full box (later boxes need two or more marks to be filled completely) raises your value by one. You can choose to spend one mark to become gifted and be able to cast magic. You also get to choose your fist two spells. Later in the game, you need to find spells in books, scrolls or learn them with the help of a teacher. Those attribute “boxes” also have different shapes. Each fully marked heart shaped box raises your Life (your HP) and fully marked stars raise your Energy (some kind of mana).

Furthermore, every character gets to start with a unique gift, which defines the character. The formula for creating those gifts is similar to stunts in Fate. You might get a bonus under certain circumstances, use other attributes for checks or you start with a relic, an ally or have a special talent (like talking to animals). I really like the examples and you can use random tables for character creation, if you want to.

You make checks with six sided dice. The GM tells the player which two attributes are used and you pick as many dice as you have in those two attributes (e.g. XXX + YYY for XYZ). If your concept fits, you can add its value to the number of dice. Every 4, 5 or 6 is a success and you have to beat the difficulty. One die should have a different colour or size. If this die shows a “6” the check still has a positive side effect, even if the check is a failure and otherwise a “1” has always some kind of negative aspect. Beside normal checks, you can also have complex tasks. These tasks have a difficulty and a complexity. The GM sets the interval for rolling (e.g. for picking a lock you could have a roll every minute or for a complex research you can roll every 5 hours). Successes reduce the complexity of the task and by reaching zero the task is completed. Generally, the GM does not roll. The players make all actions and reactions.

In a fight, the players roll for initiative and compare it to the level (the difficulty) of the enemies. The battlefield consists of zones. A successful attack results in either doing damage or hindering the enemy. Hindering the enemy lowers its level until its next turn (which is great to enable weaker player characters to do damage). Every success beyond the difficulty can be traded into one point of damage or an effect. Therefore, you need two successes to hit a level 2 bandit. With four successes, you could deal two points of damage and lower its level by 1. Defending works the same, but instead of dealing damage, you can lower the amount taken. Scheherazade is a very heroic game and by default, characters don’t die easily. There are optional rules to make it grittier and more dangerous.

Gear doesn’t have mechanical effects, they are just for the fiction. Some objects are special and have keywords (e.g. tool or two hands). Those who know PbtA-games might feel right at home, but those tags/keywords also have a mechanical effect. The examples and instructions in the book are really good how to use those keywords and with this system players are encouraged to create individualized gear.

A special resource are the Moon-Points. With these points you can reroll or create fictional elements (e.g. a cart in the street to reach the rooftops). You gain those points by being heroic, selfless or finding creative solutions to a problem. You can also tell a tale at a campfire or write a poem or story between sessions. What I really like is that these stories could be rumours or legends and the GM is encouraged to implement those elements into the world. So if a player recites a legend of a flying carpet in a hidden cave, the GM could drop hints in the game where to find it. This is a great way to get the players invested and interested in the world.

The magic system in Scheherazade is very simple and easy to use. A gifted person needs to spend Energy and most of the spells require a simple check. If you want to get more spells after character creation, you have to find them. You get marks after adventures (basically XP) but most of the time the GM should reward the players with other things, like objects, contacts and treasures. The book contains some examples for things like spells and objects, but the GM should come up with his own creations and with the given rules, it is quite easy. Enemies consist mostly of background and description. They have some keywords and which level their attacks and initiative have (some enemies are stronger so their attack lvl is higher). As with objects and spells, it’s really easy to build your own enemies.

The book:

I own the PDF and the hardcover. Both are in English and are full colour. The artwork is beautiful and the art style was the decisive factor in buying the book. The layout is good as well, very clear and good to read. Scheherazade has only 171 pages and the GM and the group has to put in some work. You don’t get much adventure hooks, but you can just take a story of Arabian Nights and you have your adventure. I think the PDF and the hardcover are quite expensive for the amount of pages you get. However, the system is amazing and I already hacked it for a session One Piece. I think the Unique System would fit perfectly for Star Wars, Pulp (like Hollow Earth Expedition, Indiana Jones, etc.) or Harry Potter.

Who might be interested in Scheherazade:

• GMs and players who like to play ruleslite and pulpy/heroic adventures
• People who want to focus on storytelling
• Players who want to bring their ideas to the setting

Who might not be interested in Scheherazade:

• GMs and players who want to have complex and extensive rules
• People who need lots of ready to play material (items, adventures, enemies)
• Players who want to create mechanically detailed characters

This introduction was originally released on my blog diceadventurer.

Wicked Ones is now available to the public. Before that, the supporters of the Kickstarter were allowed to hold the finished game in their hands. I had already written my thoughts on a playtest, but with the release, I want to introduce the full game.

The world: There is no fixed world for Wicked Ones and so the group has complete freedom in which setting they want to play. However, there are a few guidelines. The players are monsters and behave like that. They have enough ambitions that they can stand out from the conventional monsters and lead them. As a group, the players build a dungeon together and try to gradually expand it and increase their power. There are a number of playable origins, such as orcs, demons or goblins, and it is no problem to implement your own ideas with the system. If you want some help, you can choose between four sandboxes in the book, each of which consists of a beautiful map and suggestions for factions and possible raids and operations for the players.

The system: Wicked Ones is a Forged in the Dark game based on Blades in the Dark by John Harper. Basically, the game follows the same principles and once you have understood the concept, you only have to worry about the subtleties of the respective FitD games. The FitD games are very structured and sometimes have a lot of small game elements that I can’t all go into. I go into the main points that make up the game.

Characters are generated via playbooks. Each player chooses a calling (e.g. the brute, the crafter or the hunter) that characterize his monster. Instead of attributes and skills, there are nine actions in Wicked Ones, such as scanning, finesse or threatening, which are divided into three categories (brain, muscles and guts). The points in an action determine the number of d6 for the test (more on this later). In addition, each calling offers different abilities, similar to talents from other games. With the ability fury, for example, the brute gets the opportunity to receive an additional die if it responds with violence after an injury or humiliation. What is also important for the monsters is their dark impulse, which they should follow when the stress that they have received through failure gets out of hand.

However, it doesn’t stop with one character, the group also creates a dungeon together for themselves and the minions who help them. There are different themes for the dungeon and you have plenty options to choose from. During the game, the group draws the dungeon, its rooms and the traps, mechanisms and doors that they use to ward off or distract intruders. There are also very nice drawing instructions in the book.

The focus of the FitD games is clearly on fiction, i.e. the actual conversation of the group. The description of what and how a character does something can have a lot of influence. It is also important to say that everything is transparent at FitD, the game master and the players discuss the situation and the consequences of the action together so that everyone knows exactly what to expect in the event of success or failure. This weighing of position, effect and one’s own situation that makes the FitD games so interesting, because even a good result of the dice does not help me if I do not have the right equipment. As mentioned above, you use d6s for a roll. A 1-3 is a failure, a 4-5 is a mixed result, i.e. a partial success, a 6 is a success and several 6s are a critical success. Apart from critical success, only the highest die is used to determine the result. In addition to action rolls, there are many other rolls, such as the resistance throw. If a player does not want to suffer a consequence of a test or the circumstances (such as injuries), then he can try to resist it. He can use armor for this (it does not always have to be real armor, properties or other equipment also serve mechanically as armor in the game), which is then consumed. Otherwise, you roll the dice for a suitable action and the result of the dice tells you whether you have partially or completely resisted. By resisting, but also as a consequence or by using different abilities, a monster gets stress. If the bar fills up completely, then you become feral and you fall for your dark impulse.

The game alternates between different phases. In the lurking phase, the monsters regenerate, count their loot and take care of various projects, such as expanding the dungeon, arcane experiments or nasty plans. With raids, you can steal important objects, accumulate wealth or organize followers. The great thing about FitD is that there is no planning. You just determine the starting situation and a die roll decides your own position. Adjustments are made by using flashbacks. After a raid, other factions may want to get you back, then the dungeon has to be defended and this is where the traps, doors and mechanisms come into play. If an intruder reaches your sanctuary, then your monsters must go into battle. It is also possible that your subordinates are not satisfied with you or that unpredictable events affect parts of the dungeon. All of these are elements that dungeon owners have to deal with and the mechanics are very elegant and easy to use.

The book: Wicked Ones has 264 pages and is full color. Both the layout and the typesetting are very pleasant to read and the images are not only consistent, I personally think the style is simply fantastic and it gives a very good feel to the game. My personal highlight is the drawing guide for the dungeons, I never would have thought how easy it is to draw traps and mechanisms in such a minimalist and yet easily recognizable manner.

Who might be interested in Wicked Ones:

• Players and GMs who like to build and manage a dungeon themselves
• People who like to play structured, but narrative-oriented
• Players who like to play evil characters

Who might not be interested in Wicked Ones:

• Players and GMs who want more classic mechanics
• People who cannot do anything with the structure of FitD games
• Players who want classic character generation and development

This introduction was originally released on my blog diceadventurer.

This year there was a great Christmas present from Flatland Games, which one or the other knows from the game Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures. This time you don’t slip into the role of young people in a small village, but go out into the wide world, plunder and conquer cities and lands and discover lost ruins.

The world:

Like Beyond the Wall (BtW), Through Sunken Lands (TSL) is a sandbox, but offers a little more setting. The world is roughly described and there are maps that can be used as a group. If you don’t want that, you can simply make your own maps and play on them, as in BtW. The setting is based on classic works of the Sword & Sorcery genre such as Robert E. Howard’s Conan, Fritz Leiber’s Lankhmar and Moorcock’s Eternal Champion. The description of the setting is long enough to get a rough picture and short enough to leave plenty of room for interpretation and your own creations.

The system:

Through Sunken Lands is based on the same system as BtW and is fully compatible. This is referred to several times in the book, the playbooks of both games can be used in the other game. TSL is an OSR and a d20 is used for all rolls (except damage). For normal tests you have to roll equal to or below your attribute value, with skills giving a bonus of +2. Saving throws and attack throws, however, must be equal to or greater than their respective values in order to be successful.

Characters are created through playbooks. There are three classes: warrior, rogue and mage, although there are also multiclassing characters. The playbook gives you background and the story of your character. That is the great strength of TSL and BtW, you have an interesting character within a few minutes. In TSL you start at level 2 and are therefore quite competent. You play characters like the barbaric conqueror (Conan sends his regards), the pirate captain or the temple keeper. Each class comes with its own talents and skills. Attribute increases and possible spells obtained are selected at random through the playbooks. Spells are divided into three categories: cantrips, spells, and rituals. A mage can conjure up as many spells a day as his level is, but these succeed automatically. For the other two variants, he has to make a check. There are a number of spells in the book, but most OSR spells should be convertible easily.

Fighting and healing are kept very minimalistic and the equipment part of the book is also very short. In general, the group in TSL and BtW is left with a lot of their own if they want more content in these areas. A great addition in TSL is the mass combat system. Anyone expecting diverse, tactical options here is out of place. Instead, you can handle film-like battles very quickly, in which the characters can turn the outcome of the battle in highlight scenes. These battles happen in three phases: preparation, actual battle, and aftermath. In the first phase, the respective sides can explore the battlefield, drill the troops or prepare tactics. The result of the tests later influences the course of the battle. In the actual battle, the respective leaders roll dice how they lead the battle and the previous preparations, as well as the number of soldiers, give corresponding bonuses or penalties. After this roll, the players can play a scene of how they want to influence the battle, be it a duel with an important opponent, a battle with countless soldiers or even secret missions. All of these actions are then counted towards the leader’s tide of combat roll and a table shows how successful the battle was. Then the group can choose from options what they want to do with their successes (and failures), be it capturing opponents, causing damage, looting or even taking losses themselves.

Another very interesting part is travel by sea. The group has the choice between fast travel (i.e. usually without events and the journey takes place according to the SL’s narration), the hex field exploration from Further Afield (a BtW supplement that is then required) or a medium solution. The length of the voyage is taken into account and a test by the navigator or captain decides on the number of encounters.

The heart of TSL, in addition to the playbooks, are the scenario packs. In combination of the two, a game master can play an adventure without preparation. While the players are building their characters with the playbooks, the game master rolls the dice on several tables to create enemies, dungeons and plot twists. You also get hooks for further adventures. In some tables the gm fills in npcs, places or objects created through the playbooks to get the players invested.

The book:

Through Sunken Lands has 217 pages and is full color. The layout and typesetting is as in BtW and can be read properly. Some of the pictures are in full color and partly remind me of The One Ring, while others are completely blue. I would have liked a uniform style, although I generally like the artwork. The game comes with three very different scenario packs and nine playbooks, a good starting point for your first adventures.

Who might be interested in Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures:

• Players and GMs who prefer less rules and more flexibility
• People who like to create things themselves
• Players who focus on narrative rather than mechanics

Who might not be interested in Through Sunken Lands and Other Adventures:

• Players and GMs who want a set of rules that covers everything
• People who need a comprehensive description of the setting
• Players who want complex character development