This is a wonderfully lush, well thought out world book. Perfect when you wanna change up systems, start a new group or send your current group to a challenging new setting. I’ve read through this book and can’t wait to plop my group into the painted wastelands. The art work and lay out are beautiful and the production is top notch. Dreamy, gonzo, imaginative, unique and inspiring. Get this book now!

While well-made, this product is simply a step-by-step guide on how to draw exactly what's in the preview picture. I was expecting a bit more information, customization options, and tips on how to make an interesting map.

So this text box doesn't let me publish this review in the detail that I'd like, so I've left a link at the end to my blog where you can get a more in depth review.

In short, I really like this adventure, even though I don't recommend DM's run it "as is." Instead I recommend gutting it for parts, or picking a single "meta-plot" and running those. The campaign as a whole otherwise kind of falls apart.

That said, the content here is excellently polished and every individual encounter should work more or less exactly as intended. This is a high production value setting, and one of the cases in life where you can judge a book by it's cover. If you like the cover, you will probably love this. If you hate the cover, run, because you will hate this.

https://open.substack.com/pub/eldritchexarchpress/p/an-overview-of-the-painted-wastelands?r=49zgid&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Excellent both as an art book and as a RPG source book. My favorite book of 2024!

Ring Side Report- RPG review of The Painted Wastelands

Originally posted at www.throatpunchgames.com, a new idea every day!

Product- The Painted Wastelands System- Old School Essentials Producer- Agamemnon Press Price- $35 here https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/498797/the-painted-wastelands?affiliate_id=658618 TL; DR- Makes me think I have not done enough hard drugs for this awesome adventure! 99%

Basics- Fungal wine-not even once! The Painted Wastelands is a hex crawl adventure. And that sells it WAY too short. This book has maps, dungeons, encounters, tons of art, new classes, new spells, and loads of resources for any gonzo Old School Essentials game. Let’s break this down.

Mechanics or Crunch- Old School Essentials is a rules-light game, but this doesn't skimp on content here. The basic content of some monster and dungeons with traps is here, and it’s done well. The extra is what sells this book. Want to play a cat? You get a pet human! That's the level of this book. And that right there might sell a ton of you on this book. Beyond that are just tons of random tables with random events and tons of background characters that you can interact with and kill. This is a sandbox, and the book gives you all the toys you need to play in it. 5/5

Theme or Fluff- This is a fever dream of content. Two guys making a book that’s a hex crawl would be fantastic for just 35 hexes of content with a few dungeons. This has art on almost every page and it's not standard fantasy art. It’s stuff that makes most hallucinations look tame, but not in a bad way. It’s crazy, it’s otherworldly, and it’s gorgeous. It's a world that is completely alien but oddly inviting. The story is light. You don’t get the standard spoon feeding for a story, but there is a random chart with story hooks. But the star of the book is the world itself. Again, this is a fever dream of bizarre, alluring content, and a place I want to throw my players into. 5/5

Execution- This is a near perfect setting and hex crawl. First my angry one comment-no player map! Give me a map that I can give my players with stuff they might know and blankish hexes that I can use to let them play on. Too many hex crawls don't do that! But, that's the last bad thing I have to say. This is a hyperlinked book that is laid out well, reads fast, and has glorious art. I can quickly hop around this book and get to where I want to and read fast enough that I don't need to spend hours prepping an adventure. There are also dungeons and maps of places they can explore and lots of pictures of NPCs they can interact with. It’s a fantastic world that I am honestly drawn into. 4.95/5

Summary- So if you are looking for a standard “save the princess from the dragon”, medieval europe fantasy adventure, keep looking. This is not that book. If you want an LSD fever dream that will make Alice in Wonderland seem normal while you kill both Mad Max monsters and undead wizards, then this is the book. AND YOU CAN BE A CAT! There’s a bunch more from spells, to more realistic classes, to whole political things, but bla bla bla CAT! Not a Cat -person race, a straight up CAT! That’s gonna get so many people who don't care about RPGs to hang with their friends in this world. I can't stress how much this book is crazy, and I love it. It won't be what everyone wants. I love sushi and even if you go to the top sushi in the world, some people will turn their noses up. This is near perfect sushi, and I can’t get enough. 99%

Disclosure, I backed the kickstarter campaign as I was a fan of Tim Molloy's comics. Have to say, Tim and writer/designer Christopher Willet have seriously gone above and beyond, crafting a fun, tactile TTRPG set in a unique and seriously fleshed out world. Fleshed being the key word. Big fan of all the creative mechanics and how Tim's psychedelic, saturated art has clearly inspired the game's rules and specifics. Can't wait to get a game running, but a cursory read through hasn't highlighted any balance problems or mechanic issues. Can't wait to get lost in The Painted Wastelands!

Super cool! I am loving it so far and can't wait to get my hands on the paper product. Artwork is amazing, and the vibes are insane. Buy it, if you can! And if you like weird, gonzo, etc

It's a fantastic look and certainly not like anything you've seen before.

Phenomenal art and love the writing style (backer here) and eager to explore more with players at the table, we've all enjoyed Vaults of Vaarn and this gives me those beautiful vibes. Great work!

Fun and wonderful setting. With absolutely incredible art. And who doesn’t want to play as a cat?

A short, but extremely useful, and reasonably priced guide. I continually refer back to it.