It's perfect. It's imperfect, of course; ugly and messy, and that's exactly what makes it my cuppa tea. This is real DIY, punk rock OSR.

Only one thing is missing: an official character sheet.

Anyway, you should purchase it. Unless you want your cofee with too much sugar and vanilla.

So, some people are giving poor reviews because the book is not misogynistyc or transphobic as they would have liked, or because this game is not a different game. Damn!

I give 5 stars because the system is excellent, the writing is for the most part great (there's some ambiguity, but nothing a good call from the referee can't solve), the artwork is perfect, the layout is almost perfect, the options are great, the rules are easy (there are many rules and it's hard to learn everything, but it's easy to make a ruling when in doubt).

If there is one thing I really miss, is a character creation example. It took me long to make one (because the character sheet is huge and I made it while I was reading the book for the first time; that's how I learn, theory and practice at the same time). Still, it's not real a flaw.

Old school perfection. Well, almost. There are a few errata but nothing important. It's the same old Labyrinth Lord and its advanced edition companion, all in one nice tome.

The Return of the Blue Baron is the sequel to An Invitation From the Blue Baron, but it is designed to be played without needing to have played the first part, since it is the continuation of Blue Baron's story, not the PC's.

Return is a free two-level, medium-length collaborative dungeon written for Blueholme, the retroclone that emulates the first revision of D&D Basic. It is designed for a group of 4 to 6 adventurers, level 3.

This adventure includes some traditional elements (goblins, for example) and others that only seem traditional but have completely unexpected twists (ying / yang trolls; wait to see them and you will understand!). There's also a hole that is actually a huge mouth.

The adventure of Return consists of a contest. The Blue Baron has died (in strange circumstances), and his widow organized a competition: the first group that manages to find the body of the Baron, which is hidden somewhere in a dungeon, will be the winner.

The strongest points of this adventure are its originality and its cohesion. Although it was written by 10 people, most of the dungeons have a certain flavor that makes it plausible; that does not mean that there are not unexpected and surprising moments, it means that almost all the rooms are unexpected and surprising, maintaining the same tone during the whole adventure, with only few exceptions.

Speaking of tone, this is partly whimsical and partly serious. Many of the encounters can become hilarious for all players with the same ease with which they can be taken seriously; one could say there is almost no place for vanilla fantasy, because Return is more on the weird, or even gonzo sides of game style.

Other highlights are the depth of the plot (intrigue, and several factions that operate at the same time), the ability to play as a sequel or independent module, the rules to measure time (they have 3 days to find the body or escape of the dungeon), strange and original monsters, and the multiple endings according to whether or not they manage to find the Baron's body before the others.

If there are two things I can complain about, it's, first, the descriptions of some rooms are quite long; and the second is that the text appears in a single column, not double column. None is too serious a problem when found separate, but when they come together, reading becomes a bit more difficult and exhausting. The descriptions of most of the rooms are so interesting allow a funny adventure, though, but sometimes it gets alittle tedious to read through a not particullarly interesting room, which, fortunately, are few.

Other small details that are strange are the numbering of the maps (when reading room 1 there is no indication of where the entrance to the dungeon is; in fact, it's until we get to room 3 that we discover the entrance) and the appearance of rules when it seems that the adventure has already begun (the widow makes an announcement and the players can make their characters get equipped and roll for rumors), after that fake start, some more rules come, which causes confusion. But none of these details is too important, and when the exploration of the dungeon begins, which is the central part of the module, there is no interruption until the end.

In conclusion, Return is an interesting adventure that will challenge your most ingenious players. Will they be able to assemble the Baron's body in time?

Source

I purchased Woodfall yesterday and read half of it last night. I can say that it's a great setting and tool, but I don't think it's really appropriate for Lamentations of the Flame Princess, as some reviewers have stated, but it will be great for a more or less conventional, yet darker, setting.

As some have said, yes, this book is overtly political, so it's not for everyone's tastes. And it endorses (at least that's my perception) Socialism, which is perfect to me. But even anti-Socialists will benefit from it because it would be easy to run the game as satire and portraying the good guys as evil commies (as in Paranoia). Actually, the book allows you to join the authority and murder every single communist out there.

Basically, it's a hexcrawl with a swamp, a forest and factions operating on the area. It's funny and a little creepy. There is a necromancy commune and punk goblins and a troll gardener. If your game is dead serious, it might be too disruptive (that's why I won't bring it to my LotFP campaign), but if you like funny things and weird humour, it might be a good addition to your not so serious game (that's why I will drop it into my Labyrinth Lord game).

I don't give 5 stars because, personally, I don't find the artwok that great. I mean, some pieces are amazing, but others a little more than sketches and I don't like sketches, but you might.

Funny little zine! It includes a weird spell, a magic item, a monster and the Jonah Hex starring Clint Eastwood character class. The class alone is worth the 50 cents.

Simply put, one of the best OSRs in the market. The rules are clear, altought the writing is a little verbose. No matter that, it's perfectly elgible, the rules make sense and Dan proctor has eliminated tons of ambiguities and absurdities from the original game. And now, finally, the basic/expert options are combined with the advanced options in one book. It deserves a place of honour among your games, and you deserve to have this game even if you usually don't play OSR games. It's like not having a Cthulhu or a D&D in your shelf.

Black humour, silly tables, story hooks, starting locations other than taverns, weapon names and everything else that will add a twist to your games.

Is there such thing as perfection? If this module/sandbox/mini-setting is not the perfect product for your roleplaying games (OSR or otherwise), then it's the closest to be it.

There is a dark plot here, one that will happen whether the adventurers (PCs) take part in or not; oh, that doesn't mean the result will be the same, by god, no! It means that there is a story that happens if the players don't get involved, but getting involved will change the story, at least to a degree.

But they don't have to get involved if they don't want to, there are lots of stuff to be done in the area: exploring witched, fighting thieves, helping peasants (or abusing them), dethroning a "theocracy", profiting of other's misery, and more. What's not to love here?

A very evocative map, easy to read, so it's useful on the table.

The text was poorly edited, the combat rules are wrong and can't be followed as written. It needs a better copyeditor or line editor.

It's a mess! Simply not worth the effort. It was poorly edited, the information is incomplete and contradictory and ambiguous. The combat rules don't make sense as written.