Note: This is the first of a series of posts about the games that I have on my shelf. The goal with these posts are not to review the games, but to write something personal about them and why they are on my shelf. There might be some opinions, some ideas or just a story about playing the game.
I have written about John M. Stater's (of Land of Nod fame) games on this blog before, with a review of Deviant Decade.
The Bloody basic series of games from mr. Stater serve as introductions to his fantasy heartbreaker game Blood & Treasure. The Bloody basic games (and Blood & Treasure) are OSR games, but they are not retro-clones. System-wise i read them as a stripped down 3rd edition meets Swords & Wizardy. Simple, not simplistic, old-school but not nostalgic (so firmly OSR stuff).
System however, is not the reason i picked up Bloody basic - Weird Fantasy Edition. I wanted it because it feels like old time phantasy when you read it.
You don't play a figther or a magic-user in this game. Your class isn't going to be rogue. In Weird Fantasy edition you can play a Magus or a Puissant. You wear a byrnie of maille instead of a chain shirt, and just as easily fight with a poinard as a dagger. The list of clothing articles include caftans, codpieces and a cotehardie. You pay quadruple for a vestment decorated with brocade.
This use of language is even reflected in character stats. Where characters with high Strength are mighty and those with high Wisdom are sophic while low Charisma characters are vile. There is a Rake subclass and a subclass called the Odalisque. Familiar first level spells have names like Illuminate and Slumber, and a completely original race is called Grotesques.
Language is a powerful thing and choosing resonating terminology can provide inspiration in my mind on a level that regular fluff texts rarely manage. I found myself thinking about Shakespeare's The Tempest and ancient pastorals when i read the game for the first time. Of course there is a lot of Lord Dunsany in it, and other proto-fantasy, as well as the fantasy dreamscapes of one Howard Phillips Lovecraft and, to my mind, perhaps Catherine Lucille Moore most of all.
The game is, of course, about sword & sorcery adventure, but it is also about experiencing wonder. There are suggested XP rewards for having your senses shattered by wonderous vistas or for falling in love with a non-human resident of a fantasy realm. The author suggests that the game be used for a portal-fantasy where inhabitants of the real world cross over into phantasy, but i think both a fantasitcal take on history or just building your own beautiful land of otherworldy phantasy, populated by men with "ruddy jackets of leather that reached to their knees" and elven princesses named Lirazel.
I may never find the right time and the right group to play this game, but my dreams and the implied setting of this game are made of the same stuff. So it truly deserves it's place on my shelf.
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