But while SotNW uses its sleepy, rural setting as a springboard to dive deep into the (admittedly vague) mythology of vsD's implied setting, Dawnfell firmly sticks to being an adventure about saving a village from a band of trolls. Which is actually a good thing, because it makes Dawnfell truly self-contained and also thematically more suitable for a group of 1st level characters. As such, one might say that Dawnfell is better at being what it is than SotNW, but it is also a little less impressive.
In my previous post, I was singing the praise of the classic Iron Crown Enterprises scenario structure, and since Shadows of the Northern Woods, the mini-campaign included in the corebook of Against the Darkmaster, follows similar design principles, I'll just jeep on singing.
Shadows of the Northern Woods (SotNW) is a joy to read. It hits exactly my sweet spot between creating a sandbox environment, but also giving lots of support for the three interconnected scenarios provided (much more support than the old MERP modules usually offered). More importantly, it really makes the environment come alive; it's a small setting, basically a village and the surrounding wilderness, but it's brimming with NPCs, factions, unique monsters, history and current events.
Rest in Peace, Terry K. Amthor
Terry K. Amthor is a name that means a lot to me, even though I've read only very little by him, and played less. His main creation, Shadow World, sits alongside several high-concept setting that I have heard of again and again and that I never found the time to delve into - along with Tekumel, Talislanta and Glorantha (though I've actually found my way into Glorantha a few years ago).
So, I'm finally ready to finish my series on vsD; on to vsD's GM chapter, which gives some generally good advice on game-mastering and designing scenarios and tools to deal with stuff like war and battles, powerful magic items, or the taint of the Darkmaster, an also presents three possible Darkmasters. None of this is groundbreaking, but again, vsD keeps its sight firmly set on creating highly thematic rules and tools for an epic fantasy rpg.
So, I kind of got stuck on writing on rpgs (or playing them) in the last months - my family relocated to another continent a month ago, and getting us settled in is basically eating up all of my free time.
Which is a pity; I really want to finish my series on vsD (the scenario in the core rulebook is pretty great, basically a sandbox mini setting, but with strong story seeds well-supported by the material), and I'd also like to get around to take a closer look at Gildor Games' Elemental system, which, by first reading, looks like a kind of GURPS ultra-light to me (highly universal in its applicability, classic attribute+skill mechanics with a few little twists, point-buy characters). Not to speak of finishing another 3-4 Mythras scenarios I have outlined, translating them into English and converting them for a few other systems like Warlock!, Troika! and, probably, Elemental. And another Ashen Stars scenario is waiting in the wings, as well.
I hope that 2022 will be my year of getting to work on rpg stuff in earnest. Until then, have a great time and stay safe, everyone!
The next part of this review covers the major game systems vsD employs: skill rolls, resistance rolls, casting magic, combat, health and healing and rules for stuff like travelling and equipment. While the core system is true to it's MERP/RM lineage, the influence of more current game design becomes more apparent in this chapter. There's rules and guidelines for the ad-hoc creation of safe havens or healing herbs that encourage player input and also minor stuff like "choose how you fumble". Both reminds me a lot of pbtA games.
I kept the subchapters about Passions, Drive and advancement for the second installment, because I want to stray a little further afield here.
In vsD, there's an interesting relationship between Passions/Drive and Achievements/Experience. Both are about getting yourself into trouble and feed into character development, with Passions being more about each individual character and achievements being more about the experiences the party makes as a whole.
So I caved in and got me that not-quite-MERP-clone I've been eyeing since the quickstarter came out two or three years ago. I played a lot of MERP back in the days, and the gory criticals and the good adventure modules made it a fun system. For us, it was always less "play something that feels like LotR" and more "Let's play some gritty low fantasy that happens to take place on Middle-Earth."
So I was a little wary of Against the Darkmaster's (or vsD's, as they abbreviate it) stated goal to drift the whole game more towards LotR style Epic Fantasy; and I was even more wary of the idea of blending all this with Heavy Metal aesthetics (as in Blind Guardian, not as in Metal Hurlant). Both seemed to imply the danger of making vsD something overly pompous, the RPG equivalent of Zack Snyder's painfully dull and self-important takes on Superman and Batman.
I'm happy to say that it's not.
Oh, there's pompousness to be had here, especially in the art: There's brooding guys in heavy armor smiting orcish scum and beautiful-but-sad women in flowing gowns weaving mystical energies. But it all feels tempered by a certain amount of both black and good-natured humor, and by the whole game obviously not being about wading through your enemies. There's a fine balance struck between the dark fantasy melodramatics of heavy metal, the cheesiness, but also creativity of 80s movies like Krull and Dragonslayer, and the simple good-heartedness of something like Terry Brook's Shannara books or David Edding's Belgariad books, which were pretty much We're going on an adventure to save the world, because, you know, we're the good guys!
Which is pretty much saying: vsD doesn't really harken back to Tolkien as the "source"; it harkens back to a mix of 70s-90s media that has been heavily influenced by Tolkien, which serves not to dilute, but to expand it.The result is the most convincing of the slew of "nostalgic but re-imagined" RPGs I've encountered yet.
In other words, I think I like it.
So let's have a thorough read-through, shall we?
I'm gushing a lot about the beautiful weirdness of Troika!, but I also have a soft spot for a very different type of fantasy, something that feels more grounded and familiar, something about relatively ordinary, good-natured characters doing the right thing. It probably comes from the fantasy I read as a child: LeGuin's Earthsea, Lloyd Alexander's Taran and, maybe most importantly, Ronja Robbers Daughter by Astrid Lindgren. (I've just read the latter to my daughter and was suprised how many of the themes and monsters I'm using when designing scenarios can be traced back to it.)