Lukukokemus: Käärmetanssija

(This is a review of a Finnish fantasy novel Käärmetanssija. Review summary in English at the end of the post.)

Petri Hiltusen Jaconia-maailmaan sijoittuvia kirjoja on viime aikoina julkaistu useampia. Vanhemmille roolipelaajille praedorien maailma tuli tutuksi ensin Conan-sarjakuvan ja myöhemmin roolipelilehti Maguksen sivuilta. Itse säästelin pitkään Maguksia juuri praedortarinan vuoksi, sillä Kuninkaan lapset edusti mielestäni Jaconiaa puhtaimmillaan. Kiehtovan erilaisena fantasiamaailmana, jonka sisäiset lainalaisuudet saivat sen vaikuttamaan elävältä.

Yhteiset tarinamaailmat eivät fantasiakirjallisuudessakaan ole uusi ilmiö. Mm. 90-luvulla julkaistu Varkaiden maailma kokosi yhteen kirjailijoita, joiden tarinat muodostivat yhdessä kokonaisuuden, jonka ristiriitaisuus vain korosti novellien maailman kiinnostavuutta.

Vaskikirjojen julkaisemat Praedor-novellit ja -romaanit esittävät Jaconian useista eri näkökulmista. Useimmat niistä ovat kuitenkin pyrkineet vain kertomaan oman tarinansa, jättäen itse Jaconian sivurooliin. Ville Vuorelan syksyllä 2016 julkaistu Käärmetanssija tekee kuitenkin kuin läpileikkauksen koko maailmaan, houkutellen lukijan syvemmälle niin valtakunnan kaupunkeihin kuin Borvarian pimeyteenkin. Ja onnistuu samalla kuitenkin olemaan loistava tarina.

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From 13th Age to Fate Core: Same World, Different Systems

13thfate2

I started a 13th Age game late this summer. I like the world and I admire the design, so I wanted to try it out. The sessions, however, were quite far apart, which was a clear signal that something wasn’t quite right. I wanted to continue the story of the characters and talked the players into converting them to Fate Core; now, I want to share my observations on how system matters. Continue reading

Sylvan World #1

use-with-dw-OnLightTwo years ago I ran my first Dungeon World-campaign and it was fun. But thinking back to it I might have not been familiar enough with the AWengine to make it the most memorable. I liked the basic idea in it though – it was a world entirely covered in forest.

This idea did not come up that too often in the few games we played. So when I started thinking about running a new campaign I realised I wasn’t done with that world. So last Saturday I got a new group together and started a new campaign with my favourite fantasy system. And this time we tried out it with Funnel World. Continue reading

Review: A Dozen Dungeons by Miska Fredman

adozendungeons_cover_thumbnailLast November I stumbled on Miska Fredman‘s Instagram account and noticed he was drawing maps with #Mapvember. I got hooked. I even draw some maps myself too and Aki wrote about automated map generation.

Since then Miska has gone on Patreon and is drawing maps in addition to his job as the founder of Ironspine (Finnish rpg publisher). It seems like his map drawing has really paid off. At the end of August he published a neat booklet called A Dozen Dungeons (link to DriveThruRPG).

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ZWEIHÄNDER is complete!

Back in the day I used to play Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay for years. It was “my D&D” (since I never really played that). I have a lot of memories about that game, I have made quite a few fan supplements for it, heck, I was even the other admin for long forgotten HAMMERZEIT (web site for WFRP3) and have been running the Daily Empire apparently for seven years…

Every now and then I have tried to get back into the game that really sold roleplaying for me but having been spoiled by Apocalypse World it has never really worked out.

Back while I was really active “some dude” got an idea of remaking the 2nd edition game. Since I really  (REALLY) loved the 2nd edition I was immediately on board on this. Then time passed. Games Workshop decided it was better to just destroy the Old World (with Age of Suckmar). I even played a little D&D! But yesterday “that dude” finally did it.

“That dude” is naturally Daniel Fox and his Grim & Perilous Studios. And the game is called ZWEIHÄNDER.

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New Games by Guild Redemund

kiltamerkki_peleihinI’m cheating with the topic but at least you are reading still, right? These games are not “new” per se but hacks and adventures. There is our newest collaborative Fiasco playset, an agnostic fantasy adventure (though it does have Dungeon World threat sheet) and a game that is built on Matthijs Holter‘s Archipelago.

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Underdark Without Darkvision #1

Spoiler Warning! Underdark Without Darkvision is a based on my experiences on playing Out of the Abyss campaign and will include a host of spoilers. Thread carefully!

D_D5E-RageOfDemons-OutOfTheAbyss_1024x1024This week we started yet another campaign and in this one I get to take the seat of a player for a change. The game in question will be the Out of the Abyss campaign for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition.

Sami will be the DM for the campaign (he ran the famous Duck Tales game as well as the Sailor at the Starless Sea last year). He introduced this campaign to me as a “horror game set into the Underdark” and I was immediately sold. We are trying to play this biweekly and hopefully get to finish this (not a given fact considering our past success with campaigns…).

In this series “Underdark Without Darkvision” I will discuss the game as it progresses. I will be playing a human ranger without darkvision (hence the name).

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About the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay

If the rumours are to be believed Games Workshop publishes a new edition of Warhammer Fantasy Battles during this summer. I am one of those who actually believe that Fantasy Flight Games might rekindle their ownership on the rpg version of Warhammer. There is nothing to prove this (so it isn’t even a rumour) and I have been known to be wrong before. But still I think it could happen.

This post is not about speculating of what would, could or should happen. As someone who has been playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying game through each edition I thought I could summarise some of my experiences with it.

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[Dungeon World] Building Dungeons on the Fly

The first draft of tunnel to the Fernkeep

The first draft of tunnel to the Fernkeep

Forewarning – Though I labeled this post as to be used with Dungeon World it should still be very suitable for most games.

I’m not exactly sure how Dungeon World wants to approach the subject of dungeons. On the other hand you should “play to find out” and on the other hand the use a ready dungeons seems to be the way to go. As the correct answer of “how I should do it” is always “however you feel most comfortable with” I’d like to discuss the topic of not using pre-made dungeons. Continue reading