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Barrowmaze Complete
Publisher: OSR Publishing
by Grahame H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/29/2018 05:37:26

A solid, classic exploratory style 'almost' mega-dungeon. The strong point of this module is the central undead theme, though some people might like a more varied environment to explore through. This module will certainly appeal to players who like undead though and is jammed pack with all sorts nasties from beyond the grave, both new and familiar.

This is a big dungeon and will certainly provide hours and hours of play. As a module of this size you'd expect some gems for encounters and interesting locations. This doesn't disappoint in this area, there are certainly some great encounters and locations in this dungeon.

The only faults with it for me is the way information is presented, it does not always follow the most logical sequence so might be a little inconvenient at times to scan during play. Most of the entries however are short and succinct, so this won't be too much of a problem. As an overall product, you can't go wrong with this. The author obviously put a lot of effort and love into it and it is jammed pack with great, old school art. It might not take you to the imaginative or evocative heights of Operation Unfathomable or Maze of the Blue Medusa, but if you love classic old school, exploratory style dungeon crawls this will hit your buttons. A solid choice for any fan of OSR games.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Barrowmaze Complete
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Operation Unfathomable
Publisher: Hydra Cooperative
by Grahame H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/29/2018 00:01:49

A fantastic, weird gonzo exploration into the deeps. This module is an imaginative romp through a mysterious and evocative underworld setting filled with giant chaos godlings and remnants of advanced beetle civilizations. This module will tick all the right boxes for those who love a humurous gonzo themed adventure, but may not appeal so much to those who prefer a grittier, more 'serious' style of play. The only issues with this module are the layout and presentation of information which at times is not logical or helpful for the GM when running at the table. Information should be provided in a logical manner that assists with quick scanning during play, this module at times fails on this point. Other than this, this is a solid module and should not be missed by any lover of OSR systems. 4 out of 5.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Operation Unfathomable
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Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (Compleat Second Edition)
Publisher: North Wind Adventures
by Grahame H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/26/2018 05:18:53

A great version of AD&D minus the elves, dwarves and other high fantasy elements, mixed in with weird fantasy monsters and elements. I ordered both the PDF and the print version from the author's site, so I'll comment mostly on the print version.

This is a beautiful book, well-organised, written and edited. I know art is subjective but some of the artwork is great, some of it not so (in particular the black and white water ink pieces IMO). You can feel that a lot of love and passion went into making this book.

Talanian has his own preferred vocab, such as 'betwixt' in place of 'between'. I have mixed feelings about this, but at least it gives the book a unique tone. On the whole the book is clearly written and conveys the information in a well-organised and easy to understand way.

This book provides a new, cleaned up version of AD&D. For gamers who play these older versions, there actually won't be that much new or unfamilliar in here aside from the setting, some spells, some new classes and some tweaks with the basic mechanics. This game is a homebrew, high fantasy-free version of AD&D. If you have always hated elves and dwarves etc this will be right up you alley.

Talanian has attempted to make a weird-fantasy and sword & sorcery inspired version of AD&D. This is where I think this game doesn't really hit the mark. Firstly, aside from a few new spells, the magic system is just an AD&D magic system. This just doesn't carry the feel of sword & sorcery for me. Magic should be a dangerous, corrupting force in the sword & sorcery genre. And just referring to all spell casters consistently as 'sorcerers' in the text doesn't make it feel that way either. The same goes for the magic items, they are on the whole standard D&D magic items; there should be something dangerous and corrupting about them in a S&S setting, but there isn't. The loot, hoard and run around with an arsenal of magic items AD&D sort of game just doesn't really fit the S&S genre. The addition of Lovecraftian monsters doesn't really carry the 'weird fantasy' thing either when they just appear along beside the standard D&D monsters.

And this is where comparisons need to be made with Crypts & Things, the other D&D inspired OSR game that aims to do S&S. Crypts & Things just gets the grittyness of S&S better than AS&SH. This is due to the combination of the more simplified OD&D inspired rules, but also the dangerous, corrupting way magic and magic items work in that system (although not perfect either IMO). C&T's monsters are almost all new, but somehow feel closer to capturing the danger and horror of S&S than the AS&SH's use of already familiar Lovecraftian monsters. C&T's class system, with its mechanics of choosing a class then specialising via skill choices within the class rather than tons of different sub-classes feels more free-form and S&S in style too.

If you want to play an S&S style version of D&D choose C&T. If you want to play a clean version of AD&D stripped of its high fantasy elements, play AS&SH. Tired of dwaves and elves? Want a cool, humano-centric setting with heaps of class options and Lovecraftian monsters? Then this game will be right up our alley.

This is a great product, one I recommend to all lovers of OSR systems. 4 out of 5 stars.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea (Compleat Second Edition)
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Tomb of the Necromancers
Publisher: D101 Games
by Grahame H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/31/2018 07:16:33

I really like what they have done with the Crypts & Things game, but there is a point where poor proofreading and editing cannot be forgiven. I ordered the pdf and the POD version of this product and have only read the pdf at this stage, so I hope that the poor proofreading is only a problem with the pdf version.

The amount of typos in this adventure is almost overwhelming and I found it hard to make it through the whole thing. Some of the word choices and sentence structures appeared 'off', but this may be because the author is not a native English speaker (?). I can usually let this pass, but the almost complete lack of proofreading is hard to forgive. Here is an example sentence and I'm not kidding when I say this product is full of sentences just as bad as this:

"Nahi is ‚empowered to negotiate‘ with the player characters by his employer, ‚the mighty enchantress, Magda of Tetronis‘."

The adventure itself is not too bad, with a reasonably done crypt/undead encounter area and a hostile town overrun by bloodthirsty berserkers. There are some decent opportunities for roleplaying and the art is pretty good. Something can be made out of this, but you have to have more patience than me and not mind random punctuation marks being randomly strewn through sentences. A thorough proofread, a good edit to remove unnecessary material and you've got something at least decent.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
Tomb of the Necromancers
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Crypts and Things Remastered
Publisher: D101 Games
by Grahame H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/13/2018 04:27:51

Great product. This game certainly does S&S better than Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea (AS&SH). If you want an S&S style game rather than a high fantasy one, this is certainly one of the best options out there. The rules-light system works fantastically to capture the S&S feel, and the magic system, while not perfect IMO, does a decent job of ensuring sorcery is a dangerous endeavour as befits the genre. The treatment of magic items is well done, with most having negative side effects or other unpredictable consequences. This game feels like a dangerous, low magic S&S setting, rather than a form of AD&D minus demi-humans + pulp fiction monsters.

The only negatives I have are that I don't feel that the optional exotic classes added in this remastered version are very well done. They just feel a little too tied into the setting for my tastes and although this is based on OD&D/S&W, I've never been a big fan of the 'race as class' thing. My other negatives were more cosmetic in nature, there being a large quantity of white space in some sections in the book and quite a few typos, though these do not impede comprehension.

All in all a great product for any fan of this genre.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
Crypts and Things Remastered
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