If you are fan of Norse mythology, or the Germanic era between the Fall of Rome through the Norman Conquest, or thought the Rohirrim were the coolest folk in LotR, and want a duet DnD experience for one DM and one player, then this game could be for you.
I backed the first KS and Twin Seas, too. I already DM a weekly OSE game and have two other regular games as a player, so I haven't had room for a regular Beowulf campaign, but I've run Hermit's Sanctuary on Roll20 for a few players. My experience was that my player who enjoys OSR-style DnD also understood how to succeed at Beowulf 5e and the two players who were quickly frustrated with OSR DnD also struggled with Beowulf gameplay. In Beowulf, a solitary hero and a band of loyal henchmen have to defeat a Monster, but the Monster is Undefeatable until the hero discovers its weakness. A player who pays attention to the DM's descriptions, asks questions, explores, makes good use of their followers, seeks help from and finds ways to help the local NPC's, and finds creative ways to interact with the environment will discover the edge they need to defeat the Monster. These are the same player skills needed in OSR games, so my OSR player uncovered a lot of clues, defeated the Monster in an epic battle, and thought the game was awesome and rewarding. He keeps asking me when we're going to play again. The other two would explore one place, talk to one NPC, decide that further investigation was pointless, and march off to find the Monster with the hope the key to victory was somewhere on their character sheet. Neither of them was able to defeat the Monster, and. they thought the game was an unsolvable puzzle.
Heading into the final few days of the Kickstarter campaign for Trials of the Twin Seas, we have already unlocked some great stretch goals and are closing in on adding a brand new campaign arc in addition to the 6 adventures in the Twin Seas book. I really can't say enough about how much I like this game. Mechanically it works like 5e but the setting and game play feels different from high fantasy or swords and sorcery. It's rooted in semi-historical Dark Ages northern Europe, but also in a mythic age where the Old Ways and the old magic are still very real, and elves, dwarves, trolls, giants, dragons and witches still haunt the desolate wastes outside the meadhalls.
Beowulf Age of Heroes is a true labor of love by the designer Jon Hodgson. His devotion and respect for the source material shine through the whole project. His artwork evokes an age shrouded in mystery and the mood of grim heroes in a cold, damp, windswept land. Most important of all, his game design adds many layers to the base 5e rules to create an immersive game experience that should feel very authentic to anyone familiar with the Beowulf poem. The portents, follower gifts and burdens, heroic feats, equipment, bestiary, random generators - it's all well thought out. Everything just feels right for the setting.
Some other reasons that I have enjoyed backing Beowulf Age of Heroes:
Value. Backers of the core rules KS received a trove of extra material through DrivethruRPG. Six adventures ( he ones being published in this KS). Extensive VTT resources including maps, tokens, and even music files. Periodic supplements and play aids, now published in the 2022 Annual. And if you are playing in person games there are cool inspiration tokens, play aids, dice, and even metal miniatures. All of this material is already produced and will be available to backers of this KS, and new digital packs are already unlocked.
Community. As a fan of D&D, a billion dollar business with millions of players worldwide, it's a nice change of pace to participate in a corner of the hobby that numbers in the hundreds. There is an active Discord channel with good advice on running the different adventures. Jon is frequently there to talk about Beowulf and his other games.
