Short Shelf of Picks - Vol. III

 Blood in the Roots

This is a packed little half fold pamphlet. Evocative in a way that I appreciate. I am aware of Trollish Delver Games (Scott Malthouse) putting out content that seems to hew close to woodsy, folk and horror lines, but what really strikes me about this is the New England/ Olde England Puritan Witch Hunt vibes. Priests in sober black attire and midwives performing Van Helsing missions to root out evil. It is simple, 2d6 + Ability score system. You play as “Hammers,” endorsed evil hunters.

So, aside from the cool setting, in which much fantasy material can be plugged into, I really like how in the layout, Scott Malthouse uses margins to place some mini tables for generating content. It’s simple, but a clean and smart layout choice for the small format. I also quite like the Random Place of Peace table, in which a PC rolls 1d6 to learn their place of respite and healing. Meaning, a group may absolutely need to find a Babbling Brook to revive their Scoundrel! Kind of neat role-play opportunity.

I have reached out to the author and asked about content expansion, because honestly, this genre seems underrepresented. Maybe. Puritan witch & demon hunters. I would absolutely love to see a small zine, pulling from 17th century sources, packed with lore, more beasts and spirits, and generators for more towns, taverns, cobble stoned destinations and roadside shrines. I would back that, and I think Malthouse would be the one to pull it off well!

Additionally, I would completely love to see a second zine, just like this, but the asymmetrical side of things. Players can be witches and werewolves and bitter alchemists! Please do this Mr. Malthouse…

For $2, this is a sweet deal.

Find at: https://trollish-delver-games.itch.io/blood-in-the-roots

The Vast in the Dark

I love this book. One of the recent projects I backed, and I’m very glad I did. Feral Indie excels at creating evocative generator setting books. I really enjoyed Decadent Spires, and this feels a bit like an extension of that, or Part II perhaps. A zine about exploring dark and alien megastructures of an infinite realm. [from the subtitle]

Of course, Charles Ferguson-Avery has great art in here and there is an internal system for creating “Travelers.” Honestly, didn’t spend a lot of time there yet, but it is the exploration part of the book that should pull people in.

There are travel rules for exploration, getting lost, and exhaustion (which is the real nemesis here). Characters gain Exhaustion, which directly impacts stats and rolls. Then, generating The Vast is very cool. Drop d6s onto hex map, and the numbers correspond to Wastes, Ruins, or Pillars. Then, zoom in with another regional hex map, drop dice, and generate the small scale. Then roll to create some of the small stuff. Simple, elegant, effective.

The ruins generator functions in somewhat the same way, but is grid based, and the dice results correspond to placement, which creates hallways and rooms. Again, elegant, simple. The pages of tables to populate rooms and treasure. At 25 pages, this is packed, and at $5, the pdf likely becomes a tool box mainstay.

Find at: https://feral-indie-studios.itch.io/vast-in-the-dark

Corny Gron

A small solo adventure game. Partially guided, partially random. This is a charming 21-page book by Jakub Skurzynski, with spot on woodcut illustrations by Alicia Wisniewska. With an established win condition of achieving six particular advancements, the game has a prescribed arc, in a bit of a board game way. As a solo experience, this kind of linear movement is nice, in that there is a goal in sight, and the generator material in here is not vast - 2d6 is the longest one – so play can be more gamey than perhaps trying to fill in role-playing aspects in more conventional systems with sandbox building. There are simple advancement rules, simple combat, a small bestiary. As the lone outlaw trying to carve out their place in the dark forested hills, it kind of has a play as Robin Hood feel. This book is cool, and it is modular and straightforward enough, that Ican see other “adventures” being created using the system. Perhaps a legacy component, where your Outlaw translates into a new region…?

Find at: https://nerd-sirens.itch.io/corny-gron

d8 Monthly

A new monthly zine to launch recently, put out by Russ of Yum DM. Issue 0 & 1 so far seem to really impress readers. These two issues are very thin, at just a handful of pages, but they utilize striking cover art by Dean Spencer and are full of little sections of useful tables, generators, locations! I have seen mentioned, maybe unintentionally, that they are great for the solo player. Lots of little bits to pull from, without having to scroll through a lot of pages. I know Yum DM has posted a nice article about solo play on their blog, so it is clearly a style of play they are familiar with. They are laid out very nicely. I am keen to follow this project, because, like the old adage, less is more, in that these are full of easy to access content, but not overinflated, overly artsy. They are sober in execution, usable, and nice to sit down with and take in. And as of now, these are free to download! What’s not to like?

Find at: https://yumdm.com/category/d8-zine/