Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea may be old hat to many old school RPG fans by now, and certainly to those who backed the kickstarter a year or so ago....but it's new to me. I've been thinking I was burned out on fantasy, tired of all the retro (and not so retro) clones out there....but AS&SH proves me wrong, as this is a fantasy RPG using Dungeons & Dragons as its springboard, but doing so in the coolest most interesting way possible. I really, really got a genuine "this is cool, must buy" vibe from this product while reading it. Not a "walked into the gamestore today, circa 2013" vibe. I mean a "It's 1983 and I just made it for my once every six months trip to Wargames West, and I am still 13 years old" vibe. Seriously....this is a cool game. I will be speaking more on it soon, gotta go order the boxed set on the website as soon as possible. Will not link to the print edition (PDF here), I don't want them to run out before I get my copy!
Survivors of the Fire is so full of cool vignettes and interesting post-apocalyptic stories that I've barely begun to absorb the system, but I've already gotten my money's worth. I have the original here, as apparently Matt Frisbee is releasing a stand alone set of rules and each setting will then be a separate sourcebook. So far it's seriously good stuff, a post-apocalyptic tale that started in 1974, and we get to pick up circa 1980, six years after a straight up third world war has decimated the planet. Get it here for $1.99 right now.
Although AS&SH and Survivors of the Fire have been sucking my time away, Cosmic Patrol also beckons. The intro story is great, and I am looking forward to delving more deeply in this retro SF extravaganza. Only $4.99 right here. More to come!
