Cleaning Off the Workbench--Three from Silverarm
Yes, I know that 15 days ago I said I would clean my workbench. Yes, I know I haven't even started this.
So, let's get this started.
First up to be put away from my workbench are three books from Silverarm Press: Desert Moon of Karth by Joel Hines; Secret of the Black Crag by Chance Dudinack, Joel Hines, Sam Sorensen, and Logan Stahl; and The Shrike by Leo Hunt.
I'll begin with Desert Moon of Karth, primarily because it is the one I have the least to say about--so much has been said already. I'm a big fan of Mothership, but really haven't had the chance to play it aside from a few one-shot runs through the beginning of Another Bug Hunt.
Karth offers a great spin on the "default" Mothership package, but is still discernably part of the same world. The images speak to the spaghetti western setting, while the layout is of a piece with Mothership as a whole. I would love to put this module within an open world Mothership setting--this along with Hines' Tide World of Mani are two of the most realized and distinct settings for the system. I wish that more Mothership modules made for as distinct settings--Karth feels particularly lived in and storied.
Next up, Secret of the Black Crag, which was the module of these three which most surprised me. As a general rule, I am not a huge fan of pirate fantasy. This isn't to say I don't like pirates--but I like pirates historically. Pirate fantasy typically comes off to me, ironically, as a bit shallow.
But Secret of the Black Crag is a deep module. Not only do you have the eponymous Black Crag, but you also have the entire surrounding seas. I think this may be the best bang for your page count I have ever seen--less than 100 pages, but I feel like I could run a game for years out of this bad boy.
Of special mention is the Black Crag dungeon itself. This dungeon does a great job of revealing truths to the PCs as they go deeper into it. A real delve, you could say. Also worth shouting out are the NPCs--well characterised and with playable descriptions. I'll be stealing a few of these folk for my own games, even if I never end up running Black Craig, but it has absolutely shot up the list of things I need to bring to the table.
However, to get to my table Black Craig will probably have to get through The Shrike first. Wow, this one is special. A few years ago, I tried my hand at running a Mork Borg campaign inspired by Dark Souls. For reasons outside of my control, that game fizzled out hard, but one thing I had difficulty with was maintaining the consistent "Dark-Soulsiness" of the setting. For anyone wanting to run a Dark Souls game--The Shrike is your setting. This is the one you want to use!
I could go off for a long time about what makes this module special, but I'll stick to my absolute favourite part--the sense of place that this module creates. The defining feature of the Dark Souls games, at least to me, is the hub where NPCs you encounter congregate and build a little community. While this game does not have a hub, the number of distinct NPCs here who you could use to build a similar hub are innumerable.
I especially like how this game lays out which factions each NPC is related to, and provides for the GM a clear vision of what the material impacts siding with each faction would have on the setting. Since The Shrike is set in a prison within hell, this level of realistic political grounding in what could otherwise easily be an edgy mess is appreciated.
Shout outs to Auditor Yomiel--the semi-tragic devil auditor who is destined to be either a critical friend or the final boss of the campaign. Yomiel might be in the running for my favourite NPC from a campaign--a spot currently held by Abbigail Wright in Delta Green's Impossible Landscapes.
Anyway, that's my quick review of these three books from Silverarm Press. I had some...disruptions to my sleep schedule over the past few weeks, and since I do my hobby writing in the mornings before I go to work it's been a bit difficult to get things done. Hopefully that has passed, so let's see if I can clean the rest of my workbench off this week!