A Review - Mithgarthr

Mithgarthr RPG Core Rulebook written by Matthew Evans
You can find it here. The PDF is $19.99 and the Hardcover Color Book + PDF is $49.99
There is also a website here.
** This review is based on the PDF version**

From the back of the book:
"Enter a rich, original world inspired by Norse and Germanic culture. Explore the dark places where Gooblitts and Dyrverr roam. Battle against the treacherous forces of Chaos led by Orcus and The Thrir. Die horribly at the hands of greenskins while trying to get rich quick with your friends! Included in this core rulebook is everything you need to play the game. Character creation rules, combat, adventuring, equipment, magic, monsters, world setting information, and even a fully fleshed out town and surrounding wilderness to start in."

What is Mithgarthr
The quick and easy explanation is this: A reduced 5e system hacked to fit a low-magic and deadly setting. The book is almost 200 pages but it has everything you need to play a 5e style game. Races, Classes, 5e Rules, Custom Rules, Bestiary and a Campaign Setting.

First Impressions
I don't know about you, but the first thing I do when I get a new RPG product is examine the cover/back art and just flip through the pages (in this case virtually flip through the pages).
The cover art tells me instantly that inside this book is going to be a dark and grim world. Sadly, what it doesn't tell me is the name of the game. Though, to be fair Mithgarthr is written in a different language on the cover. I don't have a physical copy so I don't know if Mithgarthr is written on the spine of the book but it is on the back cover. But I did find this product on a webstore and it isn't like it was sitting on a shelf in a local bookstore so no real issues with the lack of title on the cover.
Flipping through the pages the layout and design is nice and easy to read. The colors are a great combination and the font and size is easy to read.
Now, the art. Man oh man. The art is great. Most of the artwork is very grim and it paints a picture that this setting is dark. As I flip through the book there are some pieces that make me stop and admire the work. Which is most of the artwork for the classes and races. When looking at the artwork for the classes and races you can easily see that this isn't the usual fantasy setting that most of us are used to. It is a nice change from the Forgotten Realms.

Races
There are the normal races we are all familiar with, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Halfling and Human. There are two other races that are unique to Mithgarthr: Fjothr and Ratten. The Fjothr is a bird-like humanoid race with wings. The Ratten is, well, a man-sized rat-like race.

Classes
Again, there are the normal classes we are familiar with, Barbarian, Bard, Druid, Ranger, Rogue and Warrior. There are two other classes that we are still familiar with but they have different names: Godi (Cleric) and Zauberer (Wizard).

Now, this is when things change from 5e. When creating a character you select your race but you don't select your class. You actually start out as a 0-level character. You pick a profession that gives you some equipment and proficiencies. There are a total of nine professions:
Acolyte, Con-artist, Craftsman, Entertainer, Forester, Outlaw, Sailor, Soldier and Urchin.
When you get 500 xp you then select your class and are now level 1. But you also keep what you received from your profession including hit points and proficiencies. So technically, a level 1 character in Mithgarthr is slightly more powerful than a level 1 character in 5e. Also, I received a doc file from Matthew that shows a comparison of what a 5e Challenge Rating is compared to Mithgarthr's Challenge Rating. For example: A 5e CR of 6 would be a Mithgarthr CR of 3.

There are also race restrictions with some of the classes. I know some people may not like that for their 5e game but I am a fan of this. Plus it makes sense for the campaign setting and some of the restrictions are fairly unique. For example: Halflings and Gnomes have a 10% chance of becoming a Barbarian once getting enough XP to select their class.

5e Rules
Note: I am not a 5e player but I am somewhat familiar with the rules but not enough to know what changes (if any) have been made from the official 5e rules.
That being said after reading through this it appears to have everything you would need to run a 5e game. And this is one of the things that I love about this book. All the rules I need to play 5e in a single book instead of split up into three different books.

Custom Rules
Now, this is where Mithgarthr hacks away at 5e and makes it into it's own game. And I love it!
Some custom rules:
1. One extra ability score: Sanity. Sanity measures mental health, rationality and reason.
2. Magic Points for spellcasting (I LOVE this!).
For an example the Zauberer gets 1d10 Magic Points per level. Though, how I may use that rule is instead of adding 1d10 Magic Points to what you received in the previous levels I would reroll for Magic Points. For example: Instead of a level 2 Zauberer rolling a 1d10 and adding to their level 1 result the Zauberer would roll 2d10 and keeping the result.
3. Madness rules. I love how the mechanics for this work and I already have ideas on how I would take advantage of this system. Especially, if I run Curse of Strahd ;)
4. Chaos Magic & Creating Chaos Shamans.
This is another thing I love about this book. Chaos Magic is one of the ways evil casts magic. And Chaos Shamans are those that wield the power of Chaos Magic. And there are rules to take any monster and turn them into a Chaos Shaman. Which makes things deadlier because now a group of Skeletons are no longer just a group of Skeletons if one or more of them are Chaos Shamans.

Bestiary
Now, the Bestiary in this book is no Monster Manual but it is definitely more than enough for this book. Plus, any 5e monsters will work if you need a monster from a different book or need to create a new one.
The Bestiary is divided up into ten different categories: Animals, Beasts, Demons, Dragons, Elementals, Fey, Humanoids, Monstrosities, Undead and Non-Player Characters. A total of 127 monsters (if I counted correctly). Like I said, it is more than enough.
Though, I do have one complaint about the Bestiary. There is no Dschung! Dschung is mentioned under the Elf description under the races. Dschung are the dark elves of the world.

Campaign Setting
This is an amazing bonus! Seventeen pages with information on the disc world of Cairnvarthi and the Kingdom of Karak. The information here gives you just enough that you can use to explore the world of Cairnvarthi to make it your own. There is enough details of the entire world that you could easily adapt the official 5e adventures and place them in this world. One of my favorite parts of this lore is how Cairnvarthi was created and how humans created their own gods. There's also a list of the gods with some information about them and the creation of Chaos.
There is a beautiful map of the Kingdom of Karak. And the area is massive! 1,728 miles wide and 1,368 miles tall. There is information on the history of the Kingdom of Karak, the land and the towns/cities. Something that I also enjoy in a campaign setting are factions and guilds. And Mithgarthr has them! Though, they aren't listed out in their own section but they are mentioned and described throughout.
There is also a more detailed section of The Kingdom of Karak with a starting town mapped out. There are plot hooks and locations on the map of the "starting" area that are ready for adventures! The town is fleshed out some with NPC information and what equipment/goods there are to be purchased and by whom. Though, the one thing that slightly bugs me about the NPCs is all of them are good. There isn't one that could be turned into an antagonist. Though, it really isn't a big deal at all. I could just easily create one myself.

Overall Summary
Get it! Get it now! Especially, if you are someone like me who is on the fence about 5e. This is a great starting point for 5e. Plus, it is more affordable than the official 5e game. It was small enough for me to be able to read through it once and already feel pretty comfortable about the mechanics of 5e. But if I need to reread the rules it's just a quick read.
So, why get it now?
- Cheap/Affordable 5e system.
- Great custom rules that takes 5e and molds it into it's own game but yet still able to run the official 5e adventures.
- It comes with a campaign setting with a clear "starting point." Which, for me is very important. Often campaign settings just throw you details after details but never give guidance on how/where some areas could be used as a starting point.
- Shadows that drain Sanity score instead of Strength (not in this book but an idea I got while reading this)!
- The artwork on pages 152, 146, 109 and 48.
- 5 out of 5 stars from me. I had some minor issues but nothing that was actually serious.

A Review - The House of the Broken Sky

I recently purchased Forged Locale #1: The House of the Broken Sky by The Forge Studios.

The Forge Studios can be found on Facebook, Patreon and DriveThruRPG.

The House of the Broken Sky was written by Douglas Zielsdorf and the interior art by Maciej Zagórski. This is a true system neutral adventure and/or campaign. There are NO stats whatsoever; which is actually great because this could easily be used with OSR systems, 5e, Pathfinder or any other fantasy or sci-fi (will explain later) system!

This is a PDF only product for $2.45 which is a great deal for how much you will get out of this.

The PDF is a total of twenty pages. Eight of the pages is history/lore and detailed information about the adventure. One page for the title, one page for the credits/legal jargon and the rest of the pages are handouts/maps. The only page that is in color is the title page so everything else is printer-friendly. 

1. Handouts

There are a total of nine handouts and they are:

 - Map of the overhead view of the area AND the same map with a squared grid over top of it.

 - Map of level 1 of the structure AND the same map with a squared grid over top of it.

 - Map of level 2 of the structure AND the same map with a squared grid over top of it.

 - Map of the cave area AND the same map with a squared grid over top of it.

 - A great drawing of a side view of the structure to show the players as they approach it.

The maps are wonderfully drawn. There is great detail within the structures and it is pretty clear what things are even with it being black ink only. I'm sure anyone with photoshop or any other program that is similar could go through and add color to the maps for personal use. I'm also a fan of having the two different styles of maps: With and Without Grids. I'm more of a Without Grids kind of guy and I know there are others out there that prefer to have Grids on their maps. 

2. Content

The eight pages of content is really all that is needed for this adventure and/or campaign. There is the history/background of what exactly is The House of the Broken Sky that takes place two years before the adventure. The background and setting can easily be placed into an existing world with or without a name change here and there. The background could even be used in your campaign as something that is currently happening and then future sessions could lead up to the aftermath (which is the adventure). The adventure is covered in only four pages. A page for each location being described: Overland, Level 1 & 2 of the House of the Broken Sky and Caves. The maps for the House of the Broken Sky are not keyed but rather there is information on what is going on in that level and what is in that level. The overland and caves are the only maps that are keyed but even then it is just to point out key locations. Then there is also information on what's going on in those locations and what's in those locations. There is a pretty strong foundation that can be used to create the adventure and/or campaign as you see fit. And I keep saying, "campaign," because as I read through it I can already see how this small but extremely useful PDF can be constructed into a larger campaign.

There are also two clear factions within this adventure and one of them is already playing the other. So this could lead to some very interesting story development depending on the GM and the players. 

So, what's in the House of the Broken Sky? The Others. What are the Others? Otherworldly Beings. Or are they....? This is why I am a fan of this product. There is just the perfect amount of information that can be easily manipulated to fit your campaign.

This could also be used as a great tie-in for those that play Swords & Wizardry to introduce White Star into their fantasy game. Or the other way around. Taking your White Star campaign onto a new planet that is filled with Swords & Wizardry. 

3. Overall Score

Honestly, I would give this 5 out of 5 stars. I love the story/background and I'm already a fan of splicing/mixing fantasy with sci-fi. A huge bonus for me is having the maps with no grids on it. It also feels like it is in the style of my OPAs by giving you the foundation to work from. Rather than giving you every detail that you must feel like you need to memorize before running the adventure. So go purchase it. Less than $3 so you can't really go wrong. Even if you don't want to use the adventure the maps are really good to be used in your game for something else. 

The Future of One-Page Adventures

It is September and I know it is about time for the next One-Page Adventure.

But there are some major changes that are happening with One-Page Adventures. There is a re-branding in the works and I've become a very busy person. I currently have nothing in the works for September. Some of the artists I have been talking with have also become busy with bigger projects. So this month won't feature any artwork but I am still looking for female artists to be featured in OPAs. 

That being said I am still waiting back on more information on what this re-branding entails for One-Page Adventures.

Also, I recently got InDesign and I'm currently working out a layout that will look much better than what I have been doing with Apple's Pages. I still want it to be Black & White only for printer-friendly reasons.

But I am busy working a full-time day job and now working on other projects besides my OPAs. Sadly, this means my OPAs are at the bottom of the list. But I will still try to release one once a month once I receive all the information I need for re-branding and the guidelines that come with it.

But I guess I can tell you that I am currently working on a project for Mythoard Crate. So if you want to see future work from me that just isn't the OPAs then head over to http://www.illusioni.st/ I am working on various projects for multiple crates so who knows where you'll see my work!