Mage of Spellford
Explorer
This first came to my attention during the Kickstarter for The Monster Grimoire. I almost pulled the trigger then on the strength of the sample art work alone. But I live in Canada where shipping costs can be...challenging. After the kickstarter was finished I haunted the Ghostfire website waiting for the the last of the Triumvirate of books to become available. A couple of weeks ago much to my delight the three books went on sale and shipping from down under is reasonable.
Just got them today and I have to gush about what an amazing world this is. The art is awesome, grim and foreboding as is the world with a variety that has to be seen to be believed. I buy a ridiculous amount of gaming books of all genres and this is without a doubt the best ’monster manual’ that I’ve ever seen. 400 pages with 400 beasties and npcs. Did I mention the art is just stunning! My players are in for some fun. And the quality of all three books is wicked.
The world fits the theme with transformations (think lycanthropy or vampirism) that allow PCs to walk on the dark side gradually gaining boons but always at a price. Dark faerie tales. A godless universe. Sub-classes, magic items, advanced weapons and combat that are thematic and well thought out.
And a chapter of session zero, how to set expectations and to set boundaries everyone can agree to (especially given the themes‘) I would characterize this as fun dark fantasy. Think hammer horror films rather than more modern slasher flicks.
MarkK
Just got them today and I have to gush about what an amazing world this is. The art is awesome, grim and foreboding as is the world with a variety that has to be seen to be believed. I buy a ridiculous amount of gaming books of all genres and this is without a doubt the best ’monster manual’ that I’ve ever seen. 400 pages with 400 beasties and npcs. Did I mention the art is just stunning! My players are in for some fun. And the quality of all three books is wicked.
The world fits the theme with transformations (think lycanthropy or vampirism) that allow PCs to walk on the dark side gradually gaining boons but always at a price. Dark faerie tales. A godless universe. Sub-classes, magic items, advanced weapons and combat that are thematic and well thought out.
And a chapter of session zero, how to set expectations and to set boundaries everyone can agree to (especially given the themes‘) I would characterize this as fun dark fantasy. Think hammer horror films rather than more modern slasher flicks.
MarkK
