Wow. Simply wow. I just started looking through the Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing and it is a beauty. Art? Spectacular. The layout is clean and the table of contents are bookmarked.
System-wise, Eldritch Tales is built of the Swords &Wizardy White Box rules you already know with some twists. Attribute feats are checks against one of the ability scores. Basic difficulty gives a 50% chance of success on a d6. High ability scores make that a 4 in 6 chance. More difficult situations will adjust the chance of success downward. Class skills can give bonuses. Simple and effective.
There are four classes: the Antiquarian, the Combatant, the Opportunist, and the Socialite. It covers the range of what you need and the optional Occupations allow further specialization.
Wait. What about insanity? Wisdom is not a dump stat here.
Contacts are the game juice that players can use to move things along. They also add depth to the characters and the campaign. It's a great touch and could easily fit into an urban fantasy campaign setting.
I personally like the Random Occupations Table. I think it adds depth to the characters.
Alright, only six chapters in thus far. More later, likely a full review, once I digest this fully. But damn does it look good this far.
Aeons before man arose from the primordial mire, ancient creatures descended from the stars or stepped through dimensional passages to inhabit the Earth. Whilst many of these Old Ones have since passed into inactivity, the secrets they carried with them have been shared with man and now terrible cults haunt the fringes of modern society. These ancient terrors thus still menace mankind and, if the prophecies are to be believed, the Old Ones shall return to reign again over the Earth!
Eldritch Tales: Lovecraftian White Box Role-Playing in an OSR rule set with its roots in the Original version of the world's favorite RPG, but instead of exploring musty dungeons, characters in Eldritch Tales investigate Mythos horrors in the 1920s! The setting and background are based on the cosmic horror tales of Howard Phillips Lovecraft and other members of his writing circle.
Within the pages of Eldritch Tales you will find four character classes representing many classic pulp archetypes, occupations, rules for insanity, spells, monsters, esoteric tomes, artifacts, and setting material, as well as advice on using Eldritch Tales with other White Box games. This game is compatible with Swords & Wizardry White Box and other OSR games.
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Wow, thanks for sharing Erik! It's great to hear that you're digging the game so far!
ReplyDeleteIf anyone is looking for additional info, check the backlog of posts at ravengodgames.blogspot.com
Cheers!
Ia Ia Cthulhu f'tahgn!
ReplyDeleteI was lucky enough to have seen Eldritch Tales some time ago,as Joe asked me to do some editing for it. I've been waiting a while for the final release as this is SO GOOD. Looking forward to running it at upcoming events and at home.
ReplyDeleteSounds good, Joe. Any plans to go POD?
ReplyDeleteTheodoric,
DeleteI just dropped an update to my blog yesterday and talked about upcoming plans. Short answer - yes, color POD on OBS, B&W on Lulu; hardcover and softcover for both. Thanks for your interest!
Yes, Joe's game Eldritch Tales is a home run! Can't wait for the print copies to become available!
ReplyDelete