(14) Hellwhalers, by Brewist Games. Oozing with atmosphere, this was the only one of the three anchored specifically in human history, with lots of Christian religious horror elements baked in. Accordingly the characters were extra gross for being real-world tropes of people who might find - ThreadSky

benefiction.bsky.social • 66 days ago

(14) Hellwhalers, by Brewist Games. Oozing with atmosphere, this was the only one of the three anchored specifically in human history, with lots of Christian religious horror elements baked in. Accordingly the characters were extra gross for being real-world tropes of people who might find

Comments

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

--themselves hellbound. Also of appreciative note with Hellwhalers was the Sic-Bo board which anchored a sort of gambling minigame, using poker chips and all to wager resources in the hopes of summoning the monstrous whale representing... redemption? Not totally clear. But thematically razor-sharp.

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

(15) Ink, by @mxcollins.bsky.social and @snowbrightstudio.bsky.social. Honestly loved this one, probably my favorite of the three sailing-the-afterlife games. Nailed the cozy-creepy knife-edge, with interesting and surprisingly unforgiving mechanics. Would gladly play more than a demo--

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

--with a longer campaign giving space to see more of the juxtaposition (narrative and mechanical) between the spirits and their shadows, a kind of representation of their lingering fears or regrets. More than anything Ink reminded me of a dark and dangerous Spiritfarer - high praise.

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

(16) Pirate Borg, from @limithron.bsky.social. The only d20 game in the lineup, notably! I had never had the chance to try a Borg title before, and managed to get onto a table for "Lost in the Locker," a new module featuring - you guessed it - dead sailors trying to escape the afterlife.

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

Mixed results for me with this one. I loved the character creation, the random tables, the incredible material quality of the book, the opportunity to deploy sea shanties for mechanical advantage. But... I wonder if d20 systems are just losing their luster for me - so many of our maniac schemes--

benefiction.bsky.social•66 days ago

--were squashed anticlimactically by one failed roll after the next, resulting less in high-stakes "things get worse" dynamics and more in daisy-chained attempts to do the thing. It felt less like edgy pitch-black fantasy and more like ineffectual pirate comedy! But here too I'm eager to try again.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply