Vox Arcana - Blog

 It’s time for me to do a readthrough of ACKSII. I can’t believe I haven’t done one yet.

 While doing some thinking through Dragonbane, I was reminded of this game’s existence. I’m not sure how I initially learned of it (for some reason, I recall an Instagram advertisement was involved), but I soon bought the book, read some of it, and promptly forgot about it (as one does). This book came out, I think, around 2020, which was a unique year for all of us. During that time, I was eyeballs-deep in running Dwimmermount, plus my soon-to-be-ex-wife was pregnant and deathly sick, and I was making every effort to finish my Bachelor’s degree. In short, I didn’t have much margin to really sit down and read much of anything. Now, with my life being what it is (rich in everything except money), I have enough free time to make a go of this book. From what little I remember (and have read since I reacquired the book yesterday), there’s a certain feeling similar to Annihilation or Roadside Picnic; a dangerous and unthinkably strange Zone, into which the brave and foolish venture. I...

 I kickstarted this game over three years ago, and I’ll admit that I never read the finished product. What I wanted was the hex crawl project that came afterward. I’m reading through the player’s book and the GM book and capturing my thoughts as they bubble up. Note: I did this readthrough before I had fully developed my normal format for this kind of thing. I may revisit these books using the newer format, which is both more organized and thorough. Player’s Guide I like it It has classes, but each one is a “menu” of feats you can choose from. Players can mix and match class features at will. Not really sure why they’re separated by class, though. Seems like thematic bundles at best, when a complete list of feats would make sense too. Dwarves, elves, and halflings can select between racial talents upon level up in addition to class features. Humans can only choose class features. During level up, races can select class or racial features. Lots of racial talents. My halfling i...

 Let’s read through and annotate my PDF copy of the Western Reaches, the first major content release from the latest Kickstarter. The GM’s book is more interesting to me, but it’s not out yet. Key (++) Love it (+) Like it (-) Meh (x) Dislike it (+) Front cover. The art is the same black-and-white pen-and-ink drawing style that Shadowdark is famous for. The cover of the player’s book is half of a complete image that is only visible once this book and its GM’s book sibling are placed side by side. Sadly, I don’t have that book. (+) The map of the western reaches. All of the Cursed Scroll regions have been shoved together in an incongruent map that, I suspect, is less than 100 miles from top to bottom. (Edit: It's actually 127,000 square miles, about the size of Italy, or the UK, or Wyoming). Despite its small size (and minimal keying, if the Cursed Scrolls are any indication), it should provide plenty of fertile soil for GMs to run games. (-) Nonsensical neighboring terrain...

It’s time for me to do a readthrough of Shadowdark. I can’t believe I haven’t done one yet.