I love this game so much I have been telling all my gaming friends to check it out and bought a print on demand copy after reading the PDF.
I've read at least a dozen versions of OSR looking for the perfect one and this is the one where I thought, that's it, I found it. Mechanically, it combines the best elements of B/X and 3e/5e D&D. And thematically, it gets away from the increasingly played out conceit of a tenth generation photocopy of Tolkien in favor of an assumption that the default otherworld is the realm of fairy, with goblins being nasty fairies. The magic system is based on the 3e/5e distinction between cantrips, spells, and rituals but with the important distinction that a) spells are safe but finite whereas cantrips and rituals are risky but infinite and b) all the powerful spells (anything that in 3e/5e would be 3rd level or higher) are rituals.
The star of the game is the character generation, a brilliant system that I haven't seen used in any other game (except of course for BtW's sword and sorcery edition, Through Sunken Lands). There is a standard character generation option, but the preferred way is to choose an archetype and then roll from a series of tables that in about ten minutes give your character not only stats and gear, but also a backstory and relationships with the other PCs. All this is built on a dead simple three class system (warriors, casters, and rogues/specialists).
Both mechanically and thematically, Beyond the Wall makes the supernatural feel weird and this notion of magic as something that is out there makes magic feel much more magical than "my tiefling sorcerer fires a 1d8 firebolt cantrip again." If you're interested in weird fantasy I highly recommend this. If you prefer sword and sorcery, try Through Sunken Lands (same publisher and game mechanics, different genre). If you want Tolkien-esque standard fantasy in Forgotten Realms maybe still check it out just for the character generation.
I have to admit that I haven't been brave enough to run the scenario packs (BtW's version of adventure modules, which are presented as a series of random tables). It might be that they work great but they require more GM improvisation confidence than "here's a map and a series of keyed entries." However I was very happy running Beyond the Wall with Winter's Daughter, a module written for OSE (a B/X retroclone) -- pretty much all I had to do was tone down the treasure as BtW doesn't use gp=xp. My players (one old grognard who played AD&D in the 80s and another guy who had only played 5e) hadn't read the book but still immediately understood the rules based on my brief summary.
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