Saturday, November 17, 2018

Lone Wilderlands - where Shelly can finally be a fire-breathing Ankylosaurus






From sci-fi novels to a fantasy RPG? Why not?

I really liked role-playing games as a kid, but finding a group and a place and a time that worked happened only twice. Scratch that, it was only once, because my friend running the game forgot to get his books and maps out of his room before his mom shampooed the carpet. "What if I walk across the carpet? Your mom won't get mad at me," I said. I was right, but my friend knew it still wouldn't save him from the beholding gaze of his Great Mother. "Unless you have Drow elf powers, we have no game." No treasure type D&D that day.

I stumbled across Mertwig's Maze a few years later, loved it like crazy, and modified it into a solo game I played for hours. Ouch. Did I just admit to that level of introversion? Well, the concept percolated for a long time, and then started to leak out. Rather than plug said leak, I organized and edited and play tested and here you go, an open-ended fantasy adventure game. A little like choosing a hero from Catan with a bigger island. Or adding a storyline and dice to Munchkin.

I figured some less-loner-than-me types might enjoy it too, so I made sure it would work for a group. I also had a professional gamemaster take a look. Really! That's her job title. She pointed out how useful to her it would be for world-building, simplifying her job significantly. Hey, bonus!

Thanks to the print-on-demand board and card game gurus at TheGameCrafter.com, it's available right here:




Here is my ever-growing Play Tester List of Gratitude. May you all have a seat in the Halls of Mandos!

Ion
Mellie
Max
Mr. Whitato
El Corona
Cannon
Fyrecon 2018 students
JW Dalton and Irish younglings