The problem with this one is that for the most part, if I want a game,
I’m old enough to go out and buy it.
It’s not that I’ve got all the money in the world, it’s just that the
new shiny doesn’t interest me in the way that it used to. Back in the infancy of games, everything was
new, everything was different, you could look at ten different games and really
get ten different games, not ten copies of the same thing, or ten new worldbooks
for a system that everyone knows such as FATE or Savage worlds.
Not that I’m saying there’s anything wrong with worldbooks and other
things, but when you’re talking about RPG’s in general, there’s a difference
between the concept of a worldbook and the concept of an RPG that stands by itself,
own system, own rules, and all such other things. The other problem of course is that wit
On the one hand, it’s like saying that PDF copies don’t count as the
game, which they absolutely do, but I’m old school, and for me, you haven’t
really got the game till it’s in your hand and you’re reading it by flipping
through the pages, not clicking the scroll bar.
With that in mind, the game that I haven’t got in print that I’d really
want to get is Shadows of Esteren, I got the PDF some time ago and I got the
print copy of book 0 (which is the images that are on the review), which
convinced me of the quality of the product in hand, but the problem for me is
that while it looks fascinating, atmosphere, artwork, reasonable system, plenty
of backup from the games creators, there aren’t enough people in the area to
get a gaming group together (Barnsley isn’t one of those cosmopolitan cities
where you can explain roleplaying and have people not judge...), and without a
group to play the game, I can’t justify the outlay of more than a hundred quid
for all the books.
And that’s a shame, because from the PDF’s that I’ve read, Shadows is
an excellent setting, part dark ages, part cthulhu, part dark fantasy, and it’s
strength is in it’s setting. The system
is reasonable but lethal, unwary people are going to go through a lot of
characters in not a lot of time, and it makes no apologies for that, which I
like a lot. There’s a lot more material
coming out for it (too slowly for some of the fans) and there’s a whole plot
arc going on that’s being fed out in steady chunks, so it’s not likely to run
out any time soon.
It’s won awards for presentation against companies that have been
around for years more and it shows no signs of slowing down, with soundtracks
and adventures being released for it as well.
When I get chance to properly play the game and see what it’s like, I
may be tempted sufficiently to buy the other books and see what I can do with
them, but at the moment...
It’s just one more piece of Shiny I’d have to polish...
