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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%
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