“Their arcane and occult practices transformed the fort into a grotesque living mass”
I’m back in the saddle again y’all. I stopped reviewing in August last year as I focused on Morkkabeans 1.1, and then jumped immediately into writing Whispers of the Dead Saint. And while, yes, I do have another KS project launching, literally tomorrow, I want to get back into these reviews, because my zines and books are piling up and I need to get through them!
So we are starting with the first Adventure Chapbook that Rugose Kohn put out.
Physical Product: 4
This chapbook is more Zine than almost any other product I’ve bought. Black and white, thick paper, it looks like something a madman threw together in his basement. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it fits a vibe, certainly. On the other hand, it isn’t likely to be something you would display.
Art: 6
The art in Volume 1 is a mixed bag, some original and some hand drawn by Rugose himself. Now initially I scored this a little lower, as a lot of the art is a little blocky but honestly Rugose is one of my favorite map-makers in the community, and I had to bump that score for his map-art alone.
Writing/Editing: 7
The editing is good, and the quality of writing is on point. It’s a little drier than some of Rugose’s other work, but I’ll cover that in a bit.
World/Fiction: 8
- Design: The chapbook consists of 3 separate adventures one after another. These adventures don’t interlock, but tonally they are very similiar.
- Originality: explanation
- Fleshed out: explanation
- Engaging: I enjoyed reading these, but they are more descriptive than action, I felt like more could have been done to create the environments as part of the adventure rather than set pieces. But that may just be me getting picky.
- Mechanics: One interesting mechanic is “X happens if the characters dawdle” creating a sense of urgency.
Overall: 7.05
Final Thoughts: This is the first of four Zines that Rugose has done for the 30 Days of Mork Borg series, and I think it’s good, but I started with reading the second and third zines and then went back, and the development since this zine is pretty obvious when you work your way backward.
That isn’t necessarily a condemnation, after all, you always want your products and work to reflect that you are improving. The adventures are quick one shots, so they could be really great for a pickup and play game, or when you want to teach someone how to play. All in all, I think this is a worthwhile product to grab, just go in knowing that the Volumes get more polished over tim.
Have a physical game or supplement you want John to review? Contact him below!
Wandering Monster 