Thursday, October 31, 2013

Unboxing: Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea

Every Halloween I buy myself a new game or game supplement.  Usually something with a horror theme.
I got mine 2013 one last night.


Nice big box from Noble Knight Games.  What's inside?


OOOO  a Game in a Red Box!


Nice thick spiral bound books and dice that I have to color in!  No crayon though.


The Witch class looks awesome.


Lots of character sheets!


And a big hex map of the lands beyond the North Wind.


Cool back of the box.



Looks great with my other boxed games.


And I saved some space for it on my OSR/Clone shelf.

So far I am far, far more pleased with this game than I have a right to be!  In fact I like it even more than the when I reviewed the PDF back in March.   I think it is because I have been spending most of my summer and fall reading the Pulp/Appendix N classics.  I was always a fan of Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith, but I have been reading Edgar Rice Burroughs (John Carter,Pellucidar) and Robert E. Howard.
This game is called "Weird Tales: The RPG" in the Forward, I think that is very, very apt.  And since Weird Tales is my new current favorite thing to read, I really enjoy this.

I talked before about wanting to add a Hyborea/Hyperboria to my own world/playing and this might is exactly the sort of thing I wanted to do.

Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea covers a lot of the same ground as Adventurer, Conquer, King. But the ground in AS&SH is older, colder and has the foot prints of unnamed horrors.

Among other things this game is one of the best I have seen that mix the Lovecraftian Horrors and classic "AD&D" demons together into a believable whole.

Expect me to be going on (and on and on) about this game in the future.

8 comments:

Rhonin84 said...

Knew u would like it...

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Indeed. I loved the PDF.

Dr. Theda said...

Thank you good Sir for the info on Larry Elmore... Was Eastley who passed away...???
I always liked their work....

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Not sure. I'd have to look it up. But Elmore is one of my favorites.

Brutorz Bill said...

I love AS&SH! I'm planning on starting up a full blown Campaign soon.

Rhonin84 said...

I know you loved the PDF but sometimes you cannot beat the feel of paper in hand.

Jeff Easley is still alive, if that is who you meant...not sure about and Eastley though...

Rhonin84 said...

Bill!! Saw your post on your blog and I am entertaining the notion of the same.

I will keep a look out on your spot!

Timothy S. Brannan said...

Greg, yeah. The books are so much nicer.