DARK PLACES & DEMOGORGONS - Survive This! - Review

Dark Places & Demogorgons: SURVIVE THIS from Bloat Games is written by Eric Bloat and Josh Palmer. I picked up this game as it focuses on a fond part of my own life: growing up in the 70s and 80s. The pop culture and films of the 80s are a big part of the nostalgia of that time and a marketable feature. If you consider the existence of films today like Ready Player One, It, Super 8 and the TV series Stranger Things, the love of retro 80s is alive and kicking today.

DP&D casts the players in the role of 80s high school students that need to tackle dark encounters and strange phenomenon inspired by horror and Sci-fi/fantasy films from the 1980s. As a fan of the super hero RPG Mutants and Masterminds, I’m no stranger to casting PCs in the role of High School students – it’s fun and having the PCs be 80s high school students, especially when the players are my teenage kids, is a fun way to teach how different life was in the 80s. Good thing my kids have grown into 80s pop culture fans (guilty!).

The book is well constructed and the art is good. The text is peppered with type-Os and grammatical errors but this did not detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. I’d love to see a second edition come out with these fixed, however.

I’ve since purchased the Werewolf and Vampire Sourcebooks – how could I not being such a big fan of films like Fright Night and Silver Bullet? They are a great source of inspiration but I’m a fan of fully fleshed out adventures and I’d like to see Bloat Games actually develop a series of progressive DP&D adventures.

Overall, I’m now a fan and want to see this product range grow and succeed. Kudos to Bloat Games.

Get it: HERE!

Operation Unfathomable - Review.

I've been reading through Jason Sholtis' Operation Unfathomable from Hydra Collective each night when I get time and I have to say - this is a fantastic product! You can tell there is a lot of love and tabletop experience gone into this book.

For those who haven't had the chance to look over this product, the premise is that low level PCs pursue a lost magic item into the depths of the Underdark (the massive subterranean kingdom). Luckily, a high level group has preceded the PCs, providing a window of opportunity for the newbs to get further than they should.

As well as the overarching mission, there are some great scenarios waiting for the PCs on the whim of the GM or the roll of the random encounter dice - these are well fleshed out and illustrated for running the encounters. And these are not your generic drow and duergar occupants of the world downstairs. In Operation Unfathomable, you'll meet franchise cultists, devilishly cute mushroom men, bat-winged dwarves and worm servants of chaos godlings and more.

In terms of quality, the writing is engaging and well developed. The art is awesome, as those familiar with Jason Sholtis' body of work would no doubt expect. Layout is fun and convenient for the GM running the adventure in terms of an ease of finding tables and maps. Hydra Collective has also provided free print and character resources for download on OBS.

I personally can't wait to run this with my players and if you're sitting on the fence with this one, you won't be disappointed when you take the leap.

Get it HERE!!