This end of March features the release of a project I'm extremely excited for, and proud to have been a part of, and fortunately I've got some time to give a short update about it.
My primary editing project for the month of February was a wonderful module for Old School Essentials, created by the impeccable Hexagnome. There's so much for me to say about it, but Hexa's asked me not to spoil too much about the story, so I've decided to discuss the many delights of working on this project instead.
For starters, I have to give a special thank you to Technical Grimoire for recommending me for this project. You may recognize him as my collaborator on Overpowered, which was released last year (and has a new 2.0 version of the core rules available now for free)! I wouldn't have had this opportunity without him, and I am deeply grateful.
As for Hexagnome, he was a wonderful collaborator, and the two of us found many shared interests in our time working together. Most importantly, he's a kindred spirit with a love of words just like my own, and you can see that through his work. You'll be introduced to words you've never heard before throughout this module, I can almost guarantee it. Some come from different languages, others are archaic, literary or religious terms, but all are rewarding to encounter in the text and make the reading experience all the more engaging. Even if you don't look up every unfamiliar word, the presence of surprising twists of language helps capture the feeling of reading nonsense words, like you might in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It's all a part of the experience! And as any game master should know, it's a big benefit when a module isn't just fun to run, but also fun to read.
Speaking of Alice, this module is inspired by both her stories, along with The Wizard of Oz, and Peter Pan. Think of a whimsical world existing just beyond our own, filled with creatures of strange appearances and statures, and all the bizarre escapades that inevitably ensue when someone from our world can find them. There's a world like that waiting for you in this module, though the journey to get there is not as light-hearted as in any of these tales. This story has its perils and the adventurers are pressed for time: the town they're tasked with saving is both under inquisition by religious zealots and cursed by pagan fae of old. The player will confront all this and more, and will be tasked with making sense out of all the nonsense they're confronted with (or at least using it to their advantage) as they attempt to find a resolution.
Those who know me should be quite familiar with my love of classic fairy tales: the ones with darker themes and grander stakes than those of modern day. This module captures that feeling near-perfectly, balancing the sinister and the wondrous on a knife's edge. It's sure to make for a marvelous experience at your table. I can't wait to run it for mine.
From a game master standpoint, the module provides all manner of tools to help you run the game. The maps link to the text that describes each location in just a click; there are checklists for monitoring changes in the town over time, and progressing events as the limited days of this module tick by; and there's even a system for determining the results of town council votes using playing cards, which really tickled my fancy for its ingenuity. It has quality of life features that I've never seen in a PDF before, and I've told most everyone I've spoken to since starting this project how thrilled I am with its thoughtful design.
In conclusion, this project was a delight to work on and I'm thrilled to see it out there in the world for all to enjoy. Even if you're unfamiliar with the OSE system, the setting and details are strong enough that you can use them anywhere, with a few tweaks. There are even certain minigames, exploration tables, and loyalty systems you might find useful in any setting! Not to mention the module is compact enough that it might just be worth trying out something new; running an OSE short shot if you haven't played the system before. And barring all that, the module is undeniably worth the read just for the joy of reading it. I would recommend it to anyone who likes the things I've talked about above. You can get a copy for yourself on itch.io or DriveThruRPG.
Thank you, as always, for your interest in my projects. I've got plenty more upcoming, especially with Roll Your Destiny's next game right around the corner, but that's a subject for a different post. Until next time!
~Hannah
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