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The Isle is written for a specific system called The Vanilla Game, which you can find online. It's a very stripped down OD&D-related thing, from what I've seen of it.
Worth mentioning that if you want a little more meat on TVG's bones, it looks to be largely based on Whitehack, so it should work nicely with that system as well.
For what it's worth, the inside of this book is exactly what I want to see when I'm picking up a Gearing / Anderson book. I've really come to appreciate the way the page breathes and doesn't distract me while I'm trying to understand what's happening, and lets me imagine what I'm seeing in liminal space. I've become a huge fan of his work, especially Wolves Upon The Coast which has been consuming my time not just like a good adventure, but like a gripping novel. I also want to mention that I appreciate you giving a subjective opinion, but also showcasing the adventure in its entirety. This showed me that this book is entirely for me, and that there's no use dawdling any further on picking it up.
For those wondering about the system, from the product page: > An adventure for The Vanilla Game or another fantastic or historical roleplaying game of your choosing, by Luke Gearing. Includes the isle itself, the monks that inhabit it and protect its secret, and the large, open-ended dungeon beneath.
I've been running this for the past few months and it's honestly one of the easiest game books to use at the table that I've seen in a long time. Luke's prose is amazing and there's no massive frontloading of information for the GM. You get what you need, when you need it. Easily one of my top adventures of the past decade.
Also worth noting there’s a post mortem, I think on Spear Witch that Jared wrote. If I recall correctly he really wanted to use a different, fancy, binding but the costs didn’t work out.
Hint for OSR games: When an Armor Class is "low" and the subject has no/weak armor, it's safe to assume the system uses ASCENDING Armor Class, and not the classic Descending AC of classic D&D. When an unarmored mook has an AC of 1, it's a system where higher is better. Instead of a THAC0 chart, all you need is to roll a higher attack than the opponent's AC.
The prose makes this book worth the buy. Haven't run it yet, but cannot wait to bring it to the table (making sure to dull down some of the more disturbing things in there.)
I love minimalist design, but I prefer more visuals for games. I do a lot of VTT primarily, so having no maps or illustrations just makes me do a lot of extra work I otherwise wouldn't have to.
The book looks like it's made for a minimalist OSR system called The Vanilla Game. The rules on the game's website state that to attack, you roll a d20, no bonuses. If you roll BELOW your Attack Value (AV), but ABOVE the enemy's AC, then you hit. AV caps out at 17 at max level as a fighter. So basically, leveling up expands the space of possible hits by raising the "ceiling", while higher enemy AC shrinks the space of possible hits by raising the "floor." Since the whole point of this system is to be minimalist, this seems like a clever way of calculating hits without using any bonuses. It does take a bit to wrap your head around though! :')
Hint for OSR games: When an Armor Class is "low" and the subject has no/weak armor, it's safe to assume the system uses ASCENDING Armor Class, and not the classic Descending AC of classic D&D.
I don't know why but i get a Mork Borg vibe in everything apart from the presentation. I could imagine Stockholm Kartell making a product like this then giving it to an artist to spice up
The minimalism is excellent for format and maps. However, the lack of illustrations means I'm not paying $5. Maybe the dearth *is* the art, what the author was going for, but scarcity is a thing, and there are just too many RPG books out there that offer a great minimalistic experience without failing to cue aesthetics with illustrations.
In addition to Cloud Empress KS, a shout out for Kevin Crawford's new KS for "Cities Without Number" that recently began. Thanks for the review. I like dead tree versions of all books, but the amount of whitespace in the layout here (a) rubs me slightly the wrong way [mrreow] and (b) makes me wonder if I could have had a bit more of the details...
If I remember right from what I was told when I picked it up at Necronomicon, it's written to use with Bastards. For combat you have to roll under your stat and above the AC on a d20 to hit.
I can only imagine the look of shock and bewilderment on the face of my players when they attack the Druid and wolves and boars flow from the wound. I may not buy this book but I am stealing that mechanic!
What often really impress me about the OSR scene is this much needed focus on layout, clarity and utilization of space (Knock! magazine is excellent example, while I've found Goodman Games really bad at it) and often minimalism is useful precisely because it lends itself to focusing on the essentials (What is in this room? Where is this room?). I definitely agree with Ben that the extensive margins and blank spaces is both surprising and a clear minus.
Sexual violence just for "tone" purposes? I don't thing the RPG industry has a very good track record with handling sexual violence as a topic. This is a big "no" to this adventure for me personally. (EDIT: changed typo "tome" to "tone")
It's dark. That's the point, if you want to have a less dark atmosphere, that's up to you. Don't slam on the book giving recommendations on creating tone
In the world of cook books there are two main types: The first are written to genuinely help you learn a recipe and increase your cooking skills. The second type are cook books written not to help you actually ever cook anything, but to showcase the creativity and artistry of the chef who wrote the cook book. This book looks like the TTRPG equivalent of the second kind of cook book.
Not making a parallelism with the video itself, but when cooking, some people like to do it mathematical down to the milligram and exact temperature degree, and others prefer to improvise and adapt to their own style (I'm of the latter group) Both in cooking and roleplaying, I find that usually a video example helps a lot to learn what the author intended more than a thousand explanations. Thank Crom for the Internet for that.
The premise had me juiced.... until I saw the maps and the need to read each room descriptions to assess anything, not minimalist in the form I like but thanks for sharing the review. When you described it as "text based" I immediately thought of a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' vibe as I watched, or maybe a solo game?
@@micahanderson7032 hardy har har. No, I am just more inclined toward the "minimalistic" like what is found in ICRPG type adventures for example. Two distinct flavors of "minimalistic".
As the author of "It Came from the Scriptorium" I find quite irritating the recent increment of adventures taking place in damned abbeys. Especially when the order of monks has the purpose to contain an ancient evil.
Check out Cloud Empress on Kickstarter: tinyurl.com/cloudempress
Patreon: bit.ly/QBPatreon
Old-School DnD newsletter: bit.ly/TheGlatisant
Get The Isle in Print+PDF: bit.ly/IslePrint
Get The Isle in PDF: bit.ly/IslePDF
The Isle is written for a specific system called The Vanilla Game, which you can find online. It's a very stripped down OD&D-related thing, from what I've seen of it.
Worth mentioning that if you want a little more meat on TVG's bones, it looks to be largely based on Whitehack, so it should work nicely with that system as well.
@@samuraiBSD Ah right, it was based off of Whitehack, not OD&D! My bad.
It is extremely similar to Whitehack also!
For what it's worth, the inside of this book is exactly what I want to see when I'm picking up a Gearing / Anderson book. I've really come to appreciate the way the page breathes and doesn't distract me while I'm trying to understand what's happening, and lets me imagine what I'm seeing in liminal space. I've become a huge fan of his work, especially Wolves Upon The Coast which has been consuming my time not just like a good adventure, but like a gripping novel.
I also want to mention that I appreciate you giving a subjective opinion, but also showcasing the adventure in its entirety. This showed me that this book is entirely for me, and that there's no use dawdling any further on picking it up.
For those wondering about the system, from the product page:
> An adventure for The Vanilla Game or another fantastic or historical roleplaying game of your choosing, by Luke Gearing. Includes the isle itself, the monks that inhabit it and protect its secret, and the large, open-ended dungeon beneath.
I've been running this for the past few months and it's honestly one of the easiest game books to use at the table that I've seen in a long time. Luke's prose is amazing and there's no massive frontloading of information for the GM. You get what you need, when you need it. Easily one of my top adventures of the past decade.
Weird that the book doesn’t mention that it’s for Jared Sinclair’s The Vanilla Game, considering that the store page for it mentions it is.
This is.... Surprisingly deep for a minimalist book! Great video
Also worth noting there’s a post mortem, I think on Spear Witch that Jared wrote.
If I recall correctly he really wanted to use a different, fancy, binding but the costs didn’t work out.
I really like the way this gives you information on the connections between rooms in all the room entries. More products should do that.
Looking into it a bit, it looks like this is for an OSR system titled The Vanilla Game.
It is and it’s by Spear Witch himself, Jared Sinclair. The AC comes from the system’s roll under/over mechanic.
I wish more people did this style. Yes to mini maps though. But the lack of art and focus on words is so much easier to read. Unlike Mork Börg
the way its written/presented reminds me much more of a novel or book than the magazine-esque flash of most modern games
Hint for OSR games: When an Armor Class is "low" and the subject has no/weak armor, it's safe to assume the system uses ASCENDING Armor Class, and not the classic Descending AC of classic D&D.
When an unarmored mook has an AC of 1, it's a system where higher is better. Instead of a THAC0 chart, all you need is to roll a higher attack than the opponent's AC.
The way it's written really reminds me of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks.
Yes! This boss leaves after x rounds should be thebasel8nw for encounter design.
It’s the Keep II: The Monkening!
If I looked at that cover without knowing anything else, I'd imagine it was one of those Agatha Christie mysteries like And Then There Were None.
The prose makes this book worth the buy. Haven't run it yet, but cannot wait to bring it to the table (making sure to dull down some of the more disturbing things in there.)
I love minimalist design, but I prefer more visuals for games. I do a lot of VTT primarily, so having no maps or illustrations just makes me do a lot of extra work I otherwise wouldn't have to.
2:20 y’know “fear and hunger on tabletop” is not what I expect from a minimalist game, so I appreciate the warning
I would love to see a review of GROK?!
Good review. I agree the armour class is puzzling. Looks like a cool book though.
The book looks like it's made for a minimalist OSR system called The Vanilla Game. The rules on the game's website state that to attack, you roll a d20, no bonuses.
If you roll BELOW your Attack Value (AV), but ABOVE the enemy's AC, then you hit. AV caps out at 17 at max level as a fighter.
So basically, leveling up expands the space of possible hits by raising the "ceiling", while higher enemy AC shrinks the space of possible hits by raising the "floor."
Since the whole point of this system is to be minimalist, this seems like a clever way of calculating hits without using any bonuses. It does take a bit to wrap your head around though! :')
Hint for OSR games: When an Armor Class is "low" and the subject has no/weak armor, it's safe to assume the system uses ASCENDING Armor Class, and not the classic Descending AC of classic D&D.
Around the 3:24 mark, who is the second name mentioned? I head Patrick Stuart, but cannot make out the name of the second writer.
Zedeck Siew
Zedeck Siew - one part of the team who makes the Thousand, Thousand Islands setting & adventures.
I don't know why but i get a Mork Borg vibe in everything apart from the presentation. I could imagine Stockholm Kartell making a product like this then giving it to an artist to spice up
I like all of this. Feels very me. Hmm.
The minimalism is excellent for format and maps. However, the lack of illustrations means I'm not paying $5. Maybe the dearth *is* the art, what the author was going for, but scarcity is a thing, and there are just too many RPG books out there that offer a great minimalistic experience without failing to cue aesthetics with illustrations.
In addition to Cloud Empress KS, a shout out for Kevin Crawford's new KS for "Cities Without Number" that recently began.
Thanks for the review. I like dead tree versions of all books, but the amount of whitespace in the layout here (a) rubs me slightly the wrong way [mrreow] and (b) makes me wonder if I could have had a bit more of the details...
Awesome!
If I remember right from what I was told when I picked it up at Necronomicon, it's written to use with Bastards. For combat you have to roll under your stat and above the AC on a d20 to hit.
Not quite - it's for The Vanilla Game.
Nah its for The Vanilla Game, which i got with the Isle also at Necronomicon lol theres also a website / carrd for it
afair it would work with bastards. with veeeery little changing
Have you reviewed Shadow of the Demon Lord?
Does 1st edition mothership, finally have a paper or hardback? I can’t find anything about it
The game is not yet finished. It has a prerelease pdf.
@@Simonbergot why did the kick starter say Nov 2022?
the campaign for Yoon-Suin: The Purple Land, 2nd Edition is about to finish!
I can only imagine the look of shock and bewilderment on the face of my players when they attack the Druid and wolves and boars flow from the wound. I may not buy this book but I am stealing that mechanic!
What often really impress me about the OSR scene is this much needed focus on layout, clarity and utilization of space (Knock! magazine is excellent example, while I've found Goodman Games really bad at it) and often minimalism is useful precisely because it lends itself to focusing on the essentials (What is in this room? Where is this room?). I definitely agree with Ben that the extensive margins and blank spaces is both surprising and a clear minus.
I'm all for stripped down minimalism but this looks a little TOO minimal
Sexual violence just for "tone" purposes? I don't thing the RPG industry has a very good track record with handling sexual violence as a topic. This is a big "no" to this adventure for me personally. (EDIT: changed typo "tome" to "tone")
Strong agree.
It's dark. That's the point, if you want to have a less dark atmosphere, that's up to you. Don't slam on the book giving recommendations on creating tone
@@muhammadedwards8425 I think I was pretty clear with "for me personally" in my comment.
The product page says what system it is for but it's never mentioned in the product itself. I think the minimalism has gone a bit too far this time
In the world of cook books there are two main types: The first are written to genuinely help you learn a recipe and increase your cooking skills. The second type are cook books written not to help you actually ever cook anything, but to showcase the creativity and artistry of the chef who wrote the cook book.
This book looks like the TTRPG equivalent of the second kind of cook book.
Not making a parallelism with the video itself, but when cooking, some people like to do it mathematical down to the milligram and exact temperature degree, and others prefer to improvise and adapt to their own style (I'm of the latter group)
Both in cooking and roleplaying, I find that usually a video example helps a lot to learn what the author intended more than a thousand explanations.
Thank Crom for the Internet for that.
Please consider providing a Spoiler Alert for these kinds of overviews in future, especially for a book like this..
Holy CRAP today’s sponsor looks DOPE.
This sounds like it was written for White Hack with its AV (attack value) and AC of 1.
The premise had me juiced.... until I saw the maps and the need to read each room descriptions to assess anything, not minimalist in the form I like but thanks for sharing the review. When you described it as "text based" I immediately thought of a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' vibe as I watched, or maybe a solo game?
"the need to read the room descriptions"
you're surprised a book requires you to read it?
@@micahanderson7032 hardy har har. No, I am just more inclined toward the "minimalistic" like what is found in ICRPG type adventures for example. Two distinct flavors of "minimalistic".
Love the layout, will pass on the content…
As the author of "It Came from the Scriptorium" I find quite irritating the recent increment of adventures taking place in damned abbeys. Especially when the order of monks has the purpose to contain an ancient evil.