by Rachel

Happy 8th Friday of 2026, everyone!! And as always on Friday, here are the current Friday links: 2026 Friday on Friday: Play Friday EVERY Friday of 2026 and Friday on Friday, February 2026.

Hello again, Level 4!

Nooooooooo!!!!

Dun dun dun, another Yellow Phase Loss.

My final score was -28 pts: 24 points from Fighting Cards, -10 points from Aging Cards, 0 points from lifepoints, 0 points for defeating neither pirate, and -42 points from Unbeaten Hazards. I'll be staying on Level 4 for at least one more week. That's okay, there's plenty of 2026 left to hit Level 5 🏝️.
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Weekly Updates:

Challenge Updates:
:d10-1: 2023 Extreme Numerology Challenge / 2024 Extreme Numerology Challenge / 2025 Extreme Numerology Challenge: Wrapping up. Microbadges for 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 will be awarded, please stay tuned! 2026 is live: 2026 Extreme Numerology Challenge
:d10-2: Fire in the Library- Summer/Fall 2023 Solo Challenge- Extended!!: Done! Stay tuned for a new series of mini challenges that include some more Weird Giraffe-themed fan promos. COMING THIS SUMMER! (2026)
:d10-3: 2025 Challenge: 25 un(der)played in 25: is Wrapped! If you spot errors or make updates, please geekmail me.
:d10-4: 2026 Challenge: 26 un(der)played in 26: is Active!
:d10-5: A special note on the Friday on Friday challenges: ALL owed microbadges should be system-awarded THIS YEAR. ALL microbadge reimbursements complete! Update: Stay tuned for progress on microbadges!


Designer's Corner:
:d10-1: The 7th Seal : No new progress.
:d10-2: Finders Keepers: No new progress.
:d10-3: Charge the Circle: Currently re-working for self-publication via The Game Crafter in mid- 2026! Updated timeline: I want this to be for sale by August 1st! Here's the sitch: the game is fine to pitch in its current form BUT needs quite a bit of work if I'm going to put this up on The Game Crafter and get the game noticed that way. The current art.. probably isn't enough to catch attention. I've got ideas... but I'm also open to ideas, so, if you've got anything you'd like to share or anything you'd like to see, please let me know! You can follow along with the ongoing graphic development and vote for your favorite versions here: A new edition coming in 2026!. Yes, there are currently some comments/feedback waiting for me that I haven't addressed. I will get there! Promise! I'm just juggling a lot of irons right now.
:d10-4: Bears love Bows: Merry Trashmas edition: Now pitching! Pitch still ongoing??? Bow Tokens are now a thing, but forward momentum has stalled...
:d10-5: Really Retail: No new progress.
:d10-6: Barricade Brigade: Tentatively coming to The Game Crafter in late 2026. Needs work and a new coat of paint.
:d10-7: The Boxcats of Meowazon : No new progress.
:d10-8: Contagion and Calamity: The Philadelphia Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793: formerly Philly Fever 1793: Officially On Hold. Not a priority right now.
:d10-9: Read the Runes: Check out the updated TTS! I need playtesters to help me continue refining this one. I like the current art direction, but this will need more if I decide to go The Game Crafter route...
:d10-1::d10-0: 10 Minutes to Midnight: I've still got feedback to address over in the WIP thread... *sigh* This has been lower on my priority list of late... that said, THIS WILL BE COMING TO THE GAME CRAFTER! Less complex to adapt than Abydos but more complicated than Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice, I'm tentatively aiming for a mid-year release.
:d10-1::d10-1: Eight Elephants: Ready for pitching! Coming to The Game Crafter in 2026! The revised art is a bit fancier than the original and if I market it right, I think I can safely market it as a lunchbreak/quick solo game for adults. Aiming for a mid-year release.
:d10-1::d10-2: Surfboard Stealin' Sea Otters: Officially my entry in this year's 54-Card Contest! Contest complete! #2 Best Family Game and #8 Best Overall Game! Woot! Post-contest: expect some minor revisions in the next few months, then I plan on pitching the otters and seeing if I can catch some waves...
:d10-1::d10-3: Rolling Runes Game delayed to 2026 Roll and Write Contest. On Hold.
:d10-1::d10-4: Tricky Treats: Game considered complete and officially Ready for Pitching! I still need a video...
:d10-1::d10-5: Defend your Dreams: (formerly Dreamcatcher Duty): On Hold. Not a priority right now.
:d10-1::d10-6: Squirrelly (formerly Woodland Warriors) : Contest complete! #3 for Best Art! 2 mini expansions available! Ready for pitching! Could use a video when I get around to it...
:d10-1::d10-7: Trick or Treat : On Hold.
:d10-1::d10-8: Last Leaves : If I participate in the 2026 Children and Family Game Design Contest, this will be my entry for the family category...
:d10-1::d10-9: Fireworks for the Fourth: See :d10-5::d10-9: below!
:d10-2::d10-0: Composer's Cat: 2024 In-Hand Game Design Contest: 5th Best Multiplayer Game; 6th Best Innovative Mechanic; 7th Best Use of Theme; and 4th Best Low-Ink Printing! Major revision complete, new video live, AND officially entered in the 2026 Cardboard Edison! Print & Play Assembly Guide now available! Now, I wait...
:d10-2::d10-1: Unnamed design: Involves the Titanic and Jenny the ship cat... On Hold.
:d10-2::d10-2: Nine Nopes: On Hold.
:d10-2::d10-3: Book it!: On Hold.
:d10-2::d10-4: Librarian's Cat: formerly Palm Library. formerly Littlest Library. 2025 In-Hand Game Design Contest: contest is complete... but I've got plenty of unfinished business to see to and I intend to see it all through, eventually. Please stay tuned! Sell sheet available.
:d10-2::d10-5: Elements: Coming to The Game Crafter in mid-2026! The rules are fine, the graphics need work, and I really need to find that papyrus sheet that I know I still have around here. It came with a learn Hieroglyphics book when I was a kid and I never used it. Knew I'd need it someday and now I can't find it 😜.
:d10-2::d10-6: Knick Knacks: Shaker Showdown : Contest complete! #3 Best Solo Game, #3 Best 2 Player Game, and #4 Best Family Game! Not bad, not bad at all, especially since I fell woefully behind on the comments... I do plan on addressing all of the feedback. And I do want to continue to refine and improve the game. There's a decent little game here and it's worth pursuing. On Hold 'til I get at least 10 games up for sale on The GameCrafter. Ideally, I want to refine this one and putch it to traditional publishers...
:d10-2::d10-7: History Heist: On Hold.
:d10-2::d10-8: Lost in the Labyrinth. On Hold.
:d10-2::d10-9: Critter Calls: Ready for pitching!. I'm happy with the TTS and sell sheet, but do want a video. Not a high priority for pitching, but if I see any calls for party games or icebreaker games I will 100% submit it for consideration.
:d10-3::d10-0: Dragon's Draw: On Hold. Too complex for the Children and Family Game Design Contest here on BGG. It could really use acrylic tiles too... Not a priority, but something to keep simmering on the backburner.
:d10-3::d10-1: Push to the Peak: On Hold.
:d10-3::d10-2: Cardshop Caretaker: On Hold.
:d10-3::d10-3: Unlucky Spirits, Revised Edition: Uncooperative Spirits campaign in-progress. Revised Edition formally entered in 2026 Two-Player Game Design Contest! Come on folks, take a look and help me get this game off the ground! Yes, I'm behind on this contest. I've got to get the campaign done and I've got playtesting to do, but the game still isn't getting any traction and I feel like I'm once again wasting effort. Don't get me wrong: I love the game. I believe in the game. But BGG Design Contests are not helping it... The campaign will get done. I will get my playtesting and feedback in by the deadline. I will see this current contest through. But I do need to pivot and figure out a better way forward for Unlucky Spirits. The Game Crafter isn't an option for this one. They can't make the current board (30×30) and don't have good options for the larger albeit modular original design either. This game has to find a home with a traditional publisher or it's not going to make it beyond my kitchen table...
:d10-3::d10-4: Water always wins: On Hold.
:d10-3::d10-5: Sniper, take the shot!: No new progress.
:d10-3::d10-6: Abydos: Contest complete, game did not place... I'm disappointed, but I'm still committed to getting this game out there. And, yes, it is coming to The Game Crafter in mid-2026! I'm having trouble with the Mural and cut margins... Charge the Circle poses similar problems, hence delaying both a bit to get a better feel for how best to get The Game Crafter to make them.
:d10-3::d10-7: Nine Tails: Ready for pitching! This one might come to The Game Crafter, but alignment issues may prevent that. We'll just have to see.
:d10-3::d10-8: Puppy Pile: (formerly Dogpile). On Hold.
:d10-3::d10-9: Compound It!: On Hold.
:d10-4::d10-0: My Little Fish Tank: On Hold.
:d10-4::d10-1: Knick Knacks: Lovely Lamps : Sequel to Knick Knacks: Shaker Showdown. On Hold.
:d10-4::d10-2: Put a bow on it! On Hold.
:d10-4::d10-3: Gator Glory! Backburner. Some random ideas. Nothing blogworthy yet.
:d10-4::d10-4: Eighteen Eggs: Contest complete, game did not place. *sigh*. Rain, Rain Mini Expansion and Player Aids available. The future of this little game... I don't know. It's cute, but it's too kiddie for The Game Crafter. Period. And I haven't come across any publishers looking for solo games for kids... That said, if you see a call for submissions, please let me know! Not writing it off, but pivoting to a more-Game Crafter-friendly design in my forthcoming Snow Squall- similar gameplay, but "prettier" and more geared to the "cozy solo" game trend.
:d10-4::d10-5: Triskell (or maybe Triskellion): name not final: On Hold.
:d10-4::d10-6: Snow Squall: In the vein of Eight Elephants and Eighteen Eggs, but a bit bigger, no timer, and more Game Crafter-friendly art. Not much progress this week.
:d10-4::d10-7: So, you want to be a mage...: On Hold.
:d10-4::d10-8: Cursed Cards: Delayed until the 2026 contest. Again, I like this little game, but I need to concentrate my efforts elsewhere.
:d10-4::d10-9: Pumpkin Spice & Everything Nice: My entry in Button Shy's 18-Card Cozy Contest! Finalists announced- PS&EN didn't make the cut. *sigh* No Button Shy for me... yet. Contest rules, components, sell sheet, and pitch video still available. All Button Shy references removed! Cape Cozy is back! Lola the B&B Cat is cuter than ever! Rules revised! New logo! Currently re-sizing the Experience Icons and re-doing the cards. Then I need one of my Print & Fold Boxes. And then... coming to The Game Crafter this Spring! Yep, this is set to be 1 of my first 5 games going live together!

:d10-5::d10-0: Monk's Cat: The Book of [Pawprints]: The third game in the Cat Companion Card Game series, sequel to Composer's Cat and Librarian's Cat. My entry in the 2026 In-Hand Game Design Contest! V3 and V3B (alt. art) Print & Plays available! Workshop Assembly Guide available at the end of updated V4 rulebook. New logo! TTS updated! Photo Workshop Assembly Tutorial coming soon!

:d10-5::d10-1: War of the Wilds: On Hold.
:d10-5::d10-2: Unnamed Puzzle Game: multi-level campaign puzzle game in the vein of Abydos, Read the Runes, and Charge the Circle. Fuzzball-inspired. Backburner.
:d10-5::d10-3: Nine Lives: Pitch in Open Owl's court now. Maybe I'll hear something soon... even if it's a no...
:d10-5::d10-4: Who's ready for the owlidays?: On Hold.
:d10-5::d10-5: Scratch-off: On Hold.
:d10-5::d10-6: The United Cards of America (America 250 Edition): Art progressing. Playtesting in-progress. Card Back Design exists :geek_grin:. Aiming for a Spring release on The Game Crafter.

:d10-5::d10-7: Lincoln's Cat (America 250 Edition): Playtesting went well! I'm happy! Now- playing with fonts and experimenting with art. Aiming for a Spring release on The Game Crafter.
:d10-5::d10-8: Liberty, Death, or Taxes (America 250 Editon): Playtesting this week went well. I had to change some rules a bit and I had to expand the game to accommodate the larger player counts. And I decided that Player Aid cards would be a good idea. Rules now fully written and tested. New logo! Fonts! Cards are DONE! I think... Now- the hook box... which will have the full rules written on the inside... Hmm, now it's getting tricky. Aiming for a Spring release on The Game Crafter.

:d10-5::d10-9: Fireworks for the 4th: Semiquincentennial Edition: Game assets, art, and rules refinements in-progress. It's getting a board! Aiming for a Spring release on The Game Crafter.


Professional Projects:
:d10-1: Explosion in the Laboratory/Fire in the Library (2nd edition): Weird Giraffe Games: Campaign wrapped! Campaign fulfilled! Campaign complete!
:d10-2: Dreams of Yesterday: Weird Giraffe Games: Campaign wrapped! Campaign fulfilled! Campaign complete!
:d10-3: In the Shadows: Resistance in France 1943 - 1944: GMT Games: Complete! I still haven't managed to get this back to my table. Gah! In the meantime... see A Solo Sunday Salute - First Impressions - In the Shadows for a preview.
:d10-4: Crumbs!: The Sandwich Filler Game: Minerva Tabletop Games: Initial feedback in. First impressions and some extra crumbs: Solo Sundays- First Impressions: Crumbs!: The Sandwich Filler Game and Solo Saturdays - Continuing to make Crumbs. More formal review posted: Rachel Reviews It- Crumbs!: The Sandwich Filler Game. Campaign funded! Campaign ongoing. Fingers-crossed that Minerva Tabletop Games comes through... it looks like this is finally in the process of fulfilling...
:d10-5: Crystallo expansions and miniature edition: Light Heart Games: Initial feedback in. Previews and additional adventures shared: A crystal cavern at the garage aka mini Crystallo is here!, First Impressions: Crystallo: Untold Fortune, Solo Saturdays- First Impressions: Crystallo: Den of Dragons, and Solo Stories- Playing with all of Crystallo. More formal review posted: Rachel Reviews It- Crystallo: Untold Fortune and Crystallo: Den of Dragons. Campaign funded! Campaign ongoing... AND there's GOOD NEWS: Crystallo lives!.
:d10-6: Lost Adventures: Belltower Games: First Impressions and continuing adventures shared: Two-Player Thursdays- First Impressions: Lost Adventures, Two-Player Tuesdays- Getting Lost with Mom, and Solo Stories - Lost Adventures. More formal review posted: Rachel Reviews It: Lost Adventures. Campaign wrapped! Campaign fulfilled. Campaign complete.
:d10-7: Quirky Bird Games: The zine campaign funded! That's a wrap! Congrats Beth and Angel! Fulfillment ongoing. Keep up the great work!
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It's been a week, but I'm making good progress.

Weekend Plans: Get VGG of the Week back on track, more Game Crafter prepwork, the Uncooperative Spirits campaign for Unlucky Spirits, Revised Edition, the Photo Workshop Assembly Tutorial for Monk's Cat, and check in on the 1PG card exchange.

Game Over On borrowed time...

Happy Friday and happy playing!
-Rachel

Thank you for reading my blog. If you liked it; then please click the green thumb [microbadge=23724] at the top of the page. If you really liked it; then please subscribe.

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by Lowell Kempf

I was about two thirds of the way through Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand when I asked myself ‘Am I reading an M. R. James homage with hippy folk rockers?

Which is a crazy question to ask since any given ghost story written in the past century or so has a good chance of being influenced by James. Still, that was when I decided to write about it.

Wylding Hall is a story about a folk rock band that spends a summer at a decaying country manor to work on an album and the bad things that happen to them.

And there are a lot of elements that make me think of James. The book is told as a series of interviews taken long after the events of that summer. There are strong hints that the library in the manor contain forbidden secrets. The manor clearly has plenty of dark history. And we never get a clear explanation of what happened.

All good stuff.

However, I ended up feeling like the parts were better than the sum. In fact, the very last scene, literally the last two pages, managed to make the entire book fall flat for me. I won’t spoil it beyond that but, yeah.

Having said that, there are many individual scenes that succeeded in creeping me out. The reoccurring motif of dead song birds was very effective. The culmination of inexplicable photographs that form the climax of the book uses minimal details to maximum effect.

And the scenes that work wouldn’t work in isolation. They need the slow burn leading up to them to work. There was a lot in the book that was very promising. Unfortunately, a lot of those promises never got fulfilled.

Ultimately, I wish that Wyldness Hall hadn’t missed being an honestly great book by just a few missteps.

by Dawn Dinh

Hi, I’m Dawn, and this is Game Break.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the kinds of games I actually enjoy playing. I tend to gravitate toward games where I can build something, take my time, experiment, or just exist in a space for a while, instead of anything that feels super fast-paced or competitive.

Over the past year, I’ve also been getting back into making things again (crafting, journaling, working with my hands) and I realized that certain games give me a really similar feeling. Some of them aren’t really about winning or progressing as quickly as possible. They’re more about slowing down, exploring, or figuring things out at your own pace.

So I wanted a place to document that.

On here, I’ll be sharing:
- Board game reviews and session reports
- Video games I’ve been playing (especially cozy or narrative ones)
- Dev logs for games I’m working on
- Physical builds and gaming-related prototypes
- Thoughts on mechanics or player experience
- My journey getting into tabletop RPGs like D&D

Right now, I’m working on building a replica of Mechs vs. Minions for my boyfriend since it’s been sold out, making a cozy farming social RPG game about recovering from burnout and discovering how to live a more peaceful life, and looking into making game pieces for Ryuutama while learning more about TTRPG mechanics.

This blog is really just a space for me to keep track of what I’m playing, making, and learning as I go, across board games, video games, and RPGs.

Thanks for reading.
– Dawn

by bryce0lynch

By Kabuki Kaiser
Self Published
OSR
Hex Crawls - Levels 1-whatever. Don’t fuck up

Danger Will Robinson! The vibe here is how I would live my life if I could. So, you know, I don’t think this is a based review but I’m aware of my love for the vibe.

Fly Me to the Moon gives you the fantastique Moon stitched into a majestic hexcrawl where each entry promises sleepless hours of adventure and d’Amberville conundrums, a moose head of a Moon in 168 hexes compatible with everything OSR from Basic to Advanced.

This 169 page hexcrawl uses about 120 pages to present about 160 hexes to explore on the moon. This is a romantic moon, with every lunar pop culture reference present. Fanciful, it remind a hex crawl, presenting situations that the party can involve themselves in. And, thusly, like most hexcrawls, you must bring to it your murderous intent to play as is. IE: hex connections/an overall thrust are weak Which isn’t a bad thing is your group like to loot The Keep in B2 cause that’s where the most XP is.

I think perhaps we need to talk about three things here. The vibe of THIS hexcrawl and then what a decent hexcrawl is in the context of if this is a decent hexcrawl. What I’m not going to do this time around is cover the evocative nature of the writing and formatting. The evocative writing is fine to good and the formatting is plain, with decent cross-references present, and at about two paragraphs to a column per, written in such a way that it is terse enough and “front loaded” enough to run pretty on the fly.

This is a romantic moon, as is romanticism, mixed in with pop culture. Every type. Cheese. Verne. About a dozen different selenites, including the Selenites, from every incarnation fo media. And, yes, this includes Apollo, the mission. Romantic as in what I’ve always wanted The Dreamlands to be.

In one hex you stumble across a hunting party. “The party consists of eight hunters led by Turambol, a petty lord clad in a star–studded pyjama, and accompanied by two court poets, both of whom ride zebras and strum luths as they travel. Turambol himself rides a white gazelle with long horns.” Fanciful, in places. If the moon has ever had a reference, in media or culture, dating back three thousand years, then it’s probably in here. And it’s going to have a fanciful bend to it. Think slim arcing towers, silver and blue light and so on.

We have incursions from other lands. An ambassador from other words, or references to Emperor Norton. Dreamy, but with consequences. “The Rotunda of Earthly Mirrors, a monumental structure of slate and alabaster tipped with a metallic silvery dome stands atop the Mons Piton’s highest peak here. The rotunda is visible from afar, its silhouette contrasting with the darkness of space.” Thematically pretty much everything matches perfectly here.

A few notes on mechanics before I move on to the nature of a hex crawl. The map is nothing, really. Imagine a black page with hex numbers in it. There’s your terrain. There’s a light background image on the map but it’s artistic. What “travel type” we should consider the moon is not noted, although there are some low gravity notes. Whatever “These basaltic plains lie buried

beneath silt, ash, and black sand” is/are. Except in some places we have wildflower meadows, cultivated fields, groves of fungi and a land of chasms and canyons and the Marsh of Rot. No clue man, we’re just handwaving that. These are ten mile hexes, but mostly flat, I think? There is a landmark or two on the map, but, really, a better job at landmarks on the map would have been nice, as well as horizon stuff, to get players moving from hex to another with “in the distance you see” type of things. A better version of the map would solve most of my bitching here, maybe with a couple of travel/vision notes on it.

And then, the nature of a hex crawl. What is its purpose? Dread has you wandering around, looking, essentially, for lairs, which contain loot, so you can level. Wilderlands, being a more platonic example of a classical hexcrawl, contains loot hexes as well as things for the party to exploit, or to get in to trouble with. More of a situational encounters, in that there is a situation to interact with … while you still look for personal gain to exploit. This is going to fall solidly in to the situational category, as you will meet a wide variety of people and encounter a large number of areas to find some gain in, either through looting or through making friends. There are lots of ogres wearing bejeweled crowns to talk to, to reference a favorite situation of mine in other adventures. Stab the potentially friendly dude to get the XP? Make friends?

And this gets to the reference to The Keep in B2 earlier. Are you willing to murder hobo this place up? That would be a more traditional Wilderlands way to explore. Taking each hex individually and exploiting it. You’re going to need a party in the right mindset. And this succeeds admirably in that. You can rescue people/creatures and do some tasks for others if you are so inclined, and you can put the place to the sword and gather the loot also.

What is lacking here is an overall plot. And I’m using that word very VERY loosely. Interconnections between the hexes. There are a few of those, but they feel intentional and constructed in a blunt way.

I want to take this hex as an example: “t’s that time of the year again! Once more, the Flying Broom Acrobatics Competition has gathered next to an antique blue marble amphitheatre rising from the cloudy Mare” The Selenians here are excited about this. But no other Selenian encountered will mention it. There is no overview of a larger situations/situations going on that a DM can sprinkle in here and there to make the place seem more like the realm of intelligent beings that it is. There’s a loose “my enemy is the aphid-lord, please help me kill them” but no larger … geopolitical context? Not in politics, perse, but in terms of larger situations to embroil yourself in. And no summary, anywhere, to help a DM toss some things in. A page of this would have really helped, and perhaps a little more work on the hexes to help connect them just a bit more. Again, some of this DOES exist, but it feels isolated. So, read a 120 pages and take some notes.

As noted, I like this vibe/theming a lot. It’s consistent. And it provides interactivity for a party willing to mix things up. As a view of the moon, in terms of theming and encounters, I would be hard pressed to believe someone could do better. The map/mechanics are a let down, and it would be a much stronger product with a little summary of situations to help the DM interconnect things more and/or a few larger situations embedded i a stronger way.

Experienced murder hobos are gonna have a field day.

This is $8 at DriveThru. The preview is listed as fourteen pages and although a few are blank pages you do indeed to get see several hexes and get a sense of the style of encounters you are to encounter, both in romanticism and in hex-crawl nature, so, good preview.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/540802/fly-me-to-the...

A question came to mind during this. How do you handle “hidden depth” of resources? This happened in several places in this, and in other adventures as well. A platonic example here may be some mushroom that, if you kill, you could make their large caps in to umbrellalike things that act as feather falling. How do you telegraph this to the party? I mean when you encounter a note like “The spleens can be used to make an amulet of proof against poison.” Great! How do we know that? A simple DM note to the party, maybe during combat, that they seem to fall slower than they should?

by bryce0lynch

By Joseph R Lewis
Dungeon Age Adventures
OSE, etc
Levels 3-5

In the Garden of Amuul, the fey raised a palace for their human guests. But the humans betrayed them, so the fey swiftly slayed them. Now Amuul is a Wasteland, where the dead cannot rest. Twin necromancers, a sister and brother, found the jade palace, and then turned on each other. They raised undead armies and decadent courts, and turned the palace into two warring forts And in the Fey Realm, the Twilight Empress watches and rages, sending her goblins and elves to pay the intruders bloody wages. But all the while, the palace groans with cruel weapons and bright treasures, mythical creatures, and strange magics beyond measure. So will it be wealth, justice, glory, or bliss that entices you to enter the Lovely Jade Necropolis…?

This 81 page adventure uses about sixty page to describe one hundred locations in and around a complex full of undead and fey. Lewis always does at least a fine job, and that’s present here also. It does seem to lack a bit in the joy category though, as in a sly wink and wry grin. It is better than the vast vast majority of the dreck produced today and easy to run.

Lewis is a good designer and a good writer. There’s some balance between specificity and abstractions that needs to be obtained in order to provide effective encounter text. In the very best you can kind of detect a bit of glee in the designer as they were writing it. I’m not entirely certain that this Dungeon Age is quite up to the standards of most of the others.

The set up here is a cave/camor thing that was built by the fey queen for her prince lover, then they betray her and the fey, there’s a big slaughter. Now, long later, two necromancers move in and start animating bodies, and then turn on each other. So we’ve got a fey queen section, and a section for a necromancer interested in having a good time and a necromancer interested in killing just about everyone. This is mostly backstory though. It explains the “please go kill my sister/the other necromancer” deal one of them is willing to make, and the bored/jaded/disgusted elves wandering around who just want to go back to the fairy realm instead of carrying out the gruesome work of their mistress. Otherwise … meh, it’s a framing for some conversations and a different way of saying Die Petty Human Scum/Adventurer.

Our zombie friends bring a bit of joy to the environs, retaining a bit of their old selves and acting, perhaps, more like a charmed undead person than a mindless undead ravenous thing “Under rare circumstances, a zombie may be able to bend the meaning of their commands to act more freely: “I’m looking for supplies! Just not very quickly…””

I am not exactly thrilled about the treasure here. The magic contains that Lewis charm of effects over mechanics, but the mundane loot is handled by a loot table. I love it in The World of Gamma, but here “ivory flute” or Glass lens” have no monetary values mentioned. Nor does “Walls, floors, and ceilings are solid green jade covered in elegant carvings of forest plants and animals.” What was that adventure I just reviewed that had the villagers stealing the old abbeys walls for their own uses? I guess I’m supposed to not be a murder-hobo and just IGNORE walls and doors made of solid jade. What do you think that does to the local jade economy? Don’t I recall some system or article about inflation and devaluation beaue of the party when they flood a town? Anyway, Gold=XP and that’s all abstracted away here with no treasure values. Boo, Hiss. And “silver chalice” and “ivory flute” are not exactly winning me over either in the description department.

Writing of the encounter descriptions remains relatively solid “Two massive dead trees flank the broken road, their fragile branches interlaced overhead. Tiny white slivers dot the trunks, and tiny black nodules pepper the ground” Thats a decent rooms one, Elsewhere “Giant dragonfly wings glitter in the ceiling, high above a long table laden with sumptuous dishes. A well-dressed couple and a dozen soldiers linger by the buffet.” Glitterring, sumptuous, well-dressed, linger. All great word choices that communicate a lot without being purple. I’m not sure, though, that I ever got the complete picture, room after room. I’m not sure why. The descriptions are there, in each room, but it never clicked in to a unified whole for me.

And, at times, that balance between specificity and abstraction seems off to me. Those two well-dressed people lingering at the banquet table? “COUPLE. “Master Dulcim” and “Mistress Vina” (spice sellers from Kalahar). Silken robes, sparkling veils. Lured here by dreams of opulence. Want to escape. Fear the undead. Unaware of the fey. Suspect “poison (so no one is eating). Also, the soldiers are undead zombies. Pretty much everyone you meet who was lured in are “Lured here by dreams of opulence. Want to escape. Fear the undead.” This just seems off, there’s little personality here, none I would say. The grounding, the think to hang your hat on, is missing. And that’s a little too common here.

I do like the general set up here. Some fey loathe their existence and just want to go home. Some are still greatly embittered by their experiences with the humans. One old goblins living in a hut that is precariously balanced on a silt is slowly dying from a col iron splinter in gut form a hundred years ago. Embittered, he will try to collapse his beloved house down on the party if need be. Elves tasked by their still-enraged queen to torment and torture the undead with salt knives, not to their noble callings of grace. Pixies as thumb sized mindless eaters of bones. The bored, jaded, disgusted undead zombies. The totality here is great, “ZOMBIES in gray tunics drag an old corpse toward #19 for Lord Marfest to animate” but that wandering example could use one more word. Chatty zombies. Jaded zombies. Upbeat zombies. The final bit of framing for the encounter is often missing, as with the two spice-merchants agave. And maybe that’s the theme running throughout; there’s one more bit that seems to be missing to add life to it. The NP’s, the ire between the the parties and their machinations, even the room … themes/layouts/interactivity? There just seems to be one bit more missing that would really send it. Maybe it seems, passive? In an expansive sense of that word?

It’s not bad. It’s certainly better than the vast majority of stuff I review. But I think you can see what this almost is and really WANT it to be that.

This is $12 at DriveThru. Lewis comes through on the preview. Forty pages; more than enough to get a sense of the work and see a great many parts of it. Great preview!

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/540137/lovely-jade-n...

“When a PC spends a turn chanting this word, there is a 2/6 chance that each nearby fey will be stunned for one turn.” OMG! You have to chant a word for ten minutes and then there’s a 33% chance the fey will be stunned for ten minutes?! Oh Dungeon Turn, you are the gift that keeps on giving long after the thrill of living is gone.