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!

September & The Tome of Horrors Light

As you all know, or most, I write One-Page Adventures designed for Swords & Wizardry Light. So of course I am excited for the release of The Tome of Horrors Light Volume 1. This means I now have more monsters I can reference without having to write the stat blocks for. Which means I highly recommend that you go and download that now! Because if an OPA states that a Hill Giant crashes through the door you're going to need to know those stats. So go download The Tome of Horrors Light Volume 1. And while you're at it you can download the Swords & Wizardry Light rules (which you already better have it!) and these amazing Character Cards for your players to use for Swords & Wizardry Light.

So what's going on for September? Honestly, I don't know yet. I am currently waiting to hear back from two artists. But don't worry there will be an OPA for September.

The Fallen Star on DriveThruRPG

The Fallen Star was released earlier today on DriveThruRPG. It is my second One-Page Adventure to be released on the site. It has already gotten some downloads!

So go download it! It is Pay What You Want (which we know means free!!) and leave reviews/feedback!

Remember, this OPA is designed to take your Swords & Wizardry Light game to the White Star system.

You could do this by having the characters figure out a way to get the ship running and making their way back to the dimension their alternate-selves are from.

You could also do this by bringing the White Star system straight to their planet by some distress beacon on the ship or some alien virus spreading across the planet from the crash site.

Also, I would like to say thank you for your support.

The Fallen Star

The Fallen Star is complete!
This is August's One-Page Adventure. It is an adventure that is designed to tie-in both Swords & Wizardry Light and White Star. Included in the OPA is something I call, "Adventure Points." Adventure Points is my idea/style used for character advancement in the Swords & Wizardry Light system. This OPA has the potential for the characters to receive a total of two adventure points. Adventure Points is the same as saying, "completing an adventure."
Also, this OPA features the artwork of Peter Saga. You can go here to see more of Peter's work and contact information.
I hope everyone enjoys this One-Page Adventure!

Download Here!

One-Page Adventure's Facebook Page
One-Page Adventure's Facebook Group
One-Page Adventure's Patreon

August News

It is now August so you know what the means! A new One-Page Adventure!!

But....it isn't ready yet. Sorry.

I currently have a bigger priority. A priority that I can finally share with you!
Taloc: An Apocalyptic Adventure with Miniatures and Terrain
It is going to have a Swords & Wizardry RPG Sourcebook.
The Kickstarter will be kicking off August 30th so keep an eye out for it. So for now go to the Taloc's Facebook page (link above) and click like so you can keep up with any updates.

But don't worry I will have The Fallen Star completed this month for you all!

One-Page Adventures Facebook Page
One-Page Adventures Facebook Group

The Siege of Crasmere Now on DriveThruRPG

The Siege of Crasmere is now on DriveThruRPG. I wanted to add it on there so I could track any downloads and for feedback/reviews. Also, to reach a wider audience that may not be a part of some of the Facebook groups and Google+ Communities. 

I'm pretty proud of this Starter One-Page Adventure for Swords & Wizardry Light. It has everything you need to start: A town, an adventure and room to expand. Why is the Brokentusk Clan attacking the village of Crasmere? That is for you to create and for your players to discover!

The Siege of Crasmere is Pay What You Want (AKA Free!!!) so please do share with others!

August Updates & Female Artists

Just wanted to give a quick update on what I'm working on!

I recently received the artwork I wanted for my next OPA that will be released for August. The artwork is by Peter Saga. You can find his work and contact information here! 

This OPA will help merge, both, Swords & Wizardry Light and White Star.

I am still working on a project for Illusionist (priority) but I have my notes jotted down for my August OPA.

Also, I am always looking for more artists to be featured in my OPAs and to help promote their work! Currently, I am looking for female artists (Black & White Art) to be featured in future OPAs. I see plenty of OSR dedicated artists that are male but not many females. If you know of any or if you are one and would like to do some artwork for my OPAs please contact me!

Big Projects & Big News

Well, it is a good thing I am ahead on my One-Page Adventures because I have some major projects that I am currently working on. I am currently working on two projects for Illusionist. The two projects go hand in hand and I am really excited that I get to be a part of this whole thing. Once I have the OK to let you know what it is I am working on I will let you know.

Now, for the big news!

So as you can see, I'm going to be pretty busy for the next couple of eternities.

Exclusive One-Page Adventures & Plans for August

July's One-Page Adventure Blood & Villainy has only been out for 7 days. And it is getting plenty of hits! Thank you for your support! Now on to the news...

I'm currently working on an exclusive OPA that is a tie-in to my campaign. I am designing it to be part 1 in a series of OPAs. Now, I am creating these in hopes that they will be used through Illusionist. So these won't be released to the public. Unless I know they won't be getting used. Also, I am creating these to work with Swords & Wizardry Continual Light. I've been playing around with formatting so I can get more lore and detail on the page.

For August I already have the adventure stored in my head. I even have artwork being made for this OPA by Peter Saga. What this OPA will do is combine two game systems; Swords & Wizardry Light and White Star by +James Spahn. This OPA will open up your fantasy game to science fiction.

Again, thank you for all of the support!

My Campaign Setting: Tanlentin

I am currently developing a campaign setting to be used for my Swords & Wizardry (Continual) Light game.
Tanlentin is an idea I had for a fantasy world for many years. Originally it was supposed to be used as the setting for a Young Adult book series. But that hasn't happened...yet.


We are starting small with an area I've made previously using Inkarnate.

I am using elements from other campaigns/adventures that I own and that I would like to see working together. Village of Hommlet, Rappan Athuk/Mouth of Doom, and Temple of Elemental Evil. Though, there is no Temple in this setting but rather rifts in the elemental planes. I also plan on including at least one or two artifacts/relics from the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. Multiple stories that are a part of one story.

I am going with races as a class format and I've also created new classes for this campaign. I am also using the Optional Classes from the Swords & Wizardry Continual Light beta.

Humans - Fighter, Cleric, Magic-User, Thief, Shifter, Berserker and the optional classes.
Elf - The Elves of Tanlentin live on the tops of mountain peaks. They are the defenders of the realm. They cast protective wards on the mountains of the realms to keep the evil within from escaping. Though, occasionally some evil does make its way out of the mountains. Mechanically, the Elves are a hybrid class of Fighter and Magic-user.
Dwarf - The Dwarves of Tanlentin are seamen (haha!) and shipwrights. They live on their ships that they have crafted. Their stout bodies keep them grounded on their ships in even the treacherous of storms. Some of their ships are as large as small villages. Mechanically, the Dwarves are Fighters but with some armor restrictions and their BHB is lower than that of the human Fighter.
Halfling - The Halflings of Tanlentin were once humans many, many years ago. They fell upon a curse and their offspring were much smaller and weaker than what they once were. Eventually the humans of that region died out and all that was left were the Halflings. The Halflings can only reproduce with each other. In order for them to survive and be useful to the other races they have learned to be engineers and tinkerers. Mechanically, the Halflings are a custom class that is more like a gunslinger.
Construct - The Constructs of Tanlentin are created structures of the Halflings. They were created as guardians for the Halflings. They have also been created to serve as servants for the other races. They can be found in the homes of the wealthy, working in shops and hard labor jobs. Mechanically, the Constructs are a custom class that I have designed just for them.

So yes, to answer the question you may have, there is a hint of Steampunk in this setting. Thanks to the Halflings.

Later I will post the classes that I will be using if anyone else chooses to add them to their games. They are designed to go to level seven for Swords & Wizardry Continual Light.

My Daughter the Dungeon Master

Today my daughter (10 years old) started her Swords & Wizardry Light Campaign. Yesterday I showed her that she could make her own maps on her Chromebook using Inkarnate. And the map she made is where the campaign is currently taking place. She called her location, Dragon Island, and she placed it in the ocean of the Gulf of Akados Region which is the map that is on the back of the SWL Legion folder.

For the game I created a dwarf fighter, elf thief, human cleric and human magic-user all starting at level two. The game started out with us landing on the island about few days from Fire Town (northern town on the map). We were making our way to Fire Town to just visit but on the way there we encountered some zombies that we had to fight off. We didn't bother to examine the bodies because it was in the middle of the night and we wanted to hurry and get away from that area.

What my daughter did was determine how many days it would take for us to get to the town and she rolled to check for a random encounter twice a day (during the day and during night when we would make camp). When we finally made it to the town we asked around about the zombies we encountered and apparently the town was aware of the problem. When we asked more about it we discovered that the zombies have always been on this island before the races of the realm made this island their home. We were also told that Dragon Island is home to numerous dragons and most of which are neutral and have allowed the races of the realm to make their home on the island. During the night while we were in the Inn the alarm bell rang and we went outside and saw that the zombies were attacking the town. After we helped some villagers take down a few zombies we looked around and noticed the villagers were well equipped and were skilled enough to handle the zombie attacks on their own. The dwarf made some friends with two of the villagers who landed some brutal hits taking down some of the zombies. 

The next day there was a town meeting about the latest zombie attack and the governor of the town asked for volunteers to seek out the Fire Dragon of the island and ask her for help/information on these zombies. We volunteered and so did the two villagers (John and Alice) that the dwarf became friends with. They gave us supplies including healing potions, horses and a wagon. They told us it would be best to visit the town to the east and seek out the Water Dragon and see if he could help us on where we could find the Fire Dragon. The trip took about two weeks or so to make it to the town. On the way we encountered more zombies, some hobgoblins and a snowy giant spider. The dwarf was very proud of his kill of the giant spider. He didn't even step off the wagon and he shot two arrows in the giant spider's head bringing it down with ease. The magic-user jumped out of the wagon and extracted some of the webbing into a vial. 

When they made it to the town we talked to some people and they told us where to find the Water Dragon and we were told that he was very friendly and likes to go by the nickname, Clammy. When we met up with Clammy he was very eager to help us but he asked us to look for a crystal that was taken from him. He told us of a human who lives in the town that might know where this crystal could be. The human is the owner of the library in the town. She used to visit Clammy all the time but as she got older the trip got more dangerous for her to go out on her own. After speaking with her and finding out that one of the villagers found it when they were a kid we were easily able to acquire the crystal and give it back to Clammy.

After we gave the crystal back to Clammy he told us where we could find the Fire Dragon. He told us where her cave might be found and the area where she flies keeping an eye on the land protecting it from evil forces. But Clammy offered to give us a ride to the southern part of the coast. We accepted the offer and Clammy was also able to pick up the two horses and wagon in a separate trip. Before we made our way to find the Fire Dragon (which we forgot to ask what her name was) Clammy gave us a magical oyster. The magical oyster could only be used once but if we opened the oyster we would summon the aide of a minor Water Dragon. Then we were on our way to find this Fire Dragon. On the first night we encountered more zombies and after taking them down the cleric decided to examine the dead bodies. And that is when we discovered that one of the zombies looked like it once was human but the others looked more monstrous and ancient. Something that wasn't created from the dead....

And that is when we ended the game for the day.

Now, what my daughter did was map out how many days it would take us to get to this cave and prerolled twice a day for random encounters so she would already have it written down and know that day 3 this happens, day 7 this happens. And then she had me roll a d6 once a day to see if I could see the Fire Dragon in the sky. So far nothing.

My daughter made this entire game up as we were playing. She knew the mechanics of the game and so there really wasn't many questions. But she was harsh on some of the missed attack rolls. If I missed by just a couple it was fine. But if I missed by like 5 or more she would count that as a fumble even if I didn't roll a 1. On natural 20s her monsters would deal max damage but if I got a natural 20 she would let me choose to do max damage or roll 2d6. There were times I wish I would have just gone with max damage. 

Overall it was a fun game and I can't wait until we play next time. I am curious as to what these zombies are.....