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Silent Titans
This is Silent Titans – an adventure, a game, a work of art, a mystery, a book of post-singularity dream-imagery and local history, and a sensory feast for the eyes.
Silent Titans includes an overland area isolated by mysterious phenomena, a central town, a scattering of settlements and five unique non-Euclidian dungeons. Brave the strange environment, investigate the dungeons, get the treasure, and you can escape. If you are familiar with the general conventions of old-school play or light d20 mechanics, you should be able to expand Silent Titans to any of the main OSR systems.
Silent Titans includes the stats, rules, and character generation you need to run it, (using Chris McDowall's Into the Odd system) in the book itself. The book contains advice on creating encounters, an interview with Chris McDowall about his design goals and creation of the ruleset, slimmed down simple character generation that gives everyone a vivid and engaging character to interpret and play right away and an opening encounter designed to kick off the adventure and teach the basics of conceptualization and play at the same time. So if you have never played or run an RPG before, you can probably run this, all on its own.
The players are thrown immediately into conflict with a twisted antagonist who has stripped from their minds all recall of their mission and purpose. As they discover the world of Wir-Heal, and the sleeping Titans who make up its strata, they must find out what is going on; why do wavering dreams from a blizzard of ruined futures poison the air?
Why is a medieval world threatened by drone war and extra-dimensional beings? Why does the Marcher Lord in charge of this frontier town own a sub-machine gun? What are the Titans, where did they come from?
And most importantly, who are the players and why are they here?
Silent Titans includes an overland area isolated by mysterious phenomena, a central town, a scattering of settlements and five unique non-Euclidian dungeons. Brave the strange environment, investigate the dungeons, get the treasure, and you can escape. If you are familiar with the general conventions of old-school play or light d20 mechanics, you should be able to expand Silent Titans to any of the main OSR systems.
Silent Titans includes the stats, rules, and character generation you need to run it, (using Chris McDowall's Into the Odd system) in the book itself. The book contains advice on creating encounters, an interview with Chris McDowall about his design goals and creation of the ruleset, slimmed down simple character generation that gives everyone a vivid and engaging character to interpret and play right away and an opening encounter designed to kick off the adventure and teach the basics of conceptualization and play at the same time. So if you have never played or run an RPG before, you can probably run this, all on its own.
The players are thrown immediately into conflict with a twisted antagonist who has stripped from their minds all recall of their mission and purpose. As they discover the world of Wir-Heal, and the sleeping Titans who make up its strata, they must find out what is going on; why do wavering dreams from a blizzard of ruined futures poison the air?
Why is a medieval world threatened by drone war and extra-dimensional beings? Why does the Marcher Lord in charge of this frontier town own a sub-machine gun? What are the Titans, where did they come from?
And most importantly, who are the players and why are they here?
Hardcover
Published May 7, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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February 8, 2026En konstform är som mest relevant när dess uttryck är unika för dess medium och i Silent Titans visar Patrick Stuart på narrativ som endast rollspelsböcker har tillgång till.
Sidenote: Förra året skrev jag en rollspelskampanj som fick ett oväntat gott mottagande, jättefina recensioner, samt nomineringar (men inga vinster!) i Fenix Awards. Detta förde med sig att jag låtit hobbyn ta lite mer plats i mitt liv, vilket i sin tur har gjort att min redan pågående lässvacka har fortgått (och ökat). Jag läser alltjämt, men rollspelsböcker har fått mer utrymme i min bokhög, medan poesi och romaner fått mindre. Tar därför ett kraftbeslut att hädabefter inkludera rollspel på min Goodreads-lista.
PS: min rollspelsbok heter Kaskelot och finns här på Goodreads.
Sidenote: Förra året skrev jag en rollspelskampanj som fick ett oväntat gott mottagande, jättefina recensioner, samt nomineringar (men inga vinster!) i Fenix Awards. Detta förde med sig att jag låtit hobbyn ta lite mer plats i mitt liv, vilket i sin tur har gjort att min redan pågående lässvacka har fortgått (och ökat). Jag läser alltjämt, men rollspelsböcker har fått mer utrymme i min bokhög, medan poesi och romaner fått mindre. Tar därför ett kraftbeslut att hädabefter inkludera rollspel på min Goodreads-lista.
PS: min rollspelsbok heter Kaskelot och finns här på Goodreads.
November 11, 2019
Strange, funny, horrific. It's a game module or mini-setting, but it's also a work of art. Not the easiest book to read and play, but once you finish reading, you will know everything you need. And, unlike most RPG books, this is well written (it's Patrick Stuart, guys, of course it's well written), and it's delightful to read and discover progressively as the pages go on. Not the most accessible books for referees, but, come on, would you ask William Burroughs or Alan Moore to be more accessible? Don't ask Patrick neither, then!
It's a great product, in the same way Ulysses or Gaudete are great products. Neither Joyce nor Hughes added any explanations or gave the tools the reader would find useful to understand their works. Why shoud Patrick, then? Well, he says you need to read the book before you can run the game. And that's the truth. But these tools, these analyzes, most usually come from other sources, if at all. You're lucky, then, because I analyzed Silent Titans and can help you to run the game. Here.
It's a great product, in the same way Ulysses or Gaudete are great products. Neither Joyce nor Hughes added any explanations or gave the tools the reader would find useful to understand their works. Why shoud Patrick, then? Well, he says you need to read the book before you can run the game. And that's the truth. But these tools, these analyzes, most usually come from other sources, if at all. You're lucky, then, because I analyzed Silent Titans and can help you to run the game. Here.
December 11, 2020
Patrick Stuart is always an interesting writer. At a basic level, Silent Titans is a standard D&D-type playset; you've got a central base to which the players can return once they've been out to explore the adventure locations surrounding it. There are dungeons, monsters, and treasure.
But that's just at a basic level. It's the embellishments and twists that Patrick applies to the structure that lift the book up to something special, something that I want to get to the table right away. It's quirky, strange, and often quite witty and there isn't a single moment where Patrick sits back and just sticks in 2d6 orcs (or whatever) just because it's easier. The amount of invention going on is impressive.
Silent Titans isn't perfect. There are one or two minor bits that could do with a clear explanation of exactly how they are supposed to work, and I think the campaign as a whole needs some stronger -- or at least more overt -- hooks. All that said, the flaws are minor, and any decent GM should be able to fix them.
All in all, this is a great little adventure setting for your fantasy role-playing games. It's designed for Into the Odd, but would work well enough in D&D, and I could see it making for a memorable, if eccentric, Pendragon campaign.
But that's just at a basic level. It's the embellishments and twists that Patrick applies to the structure that lift the book up to something special, something that I want to get to the table right away. It's quirky, strange, and often quite witty and there isn't a single moment where Patrick sits back and just sticks in 2d6 orcs (or whatever) just because it's easier. The amount of invention going on is impressive.
Silent Titans isn't perfect. There are one or two minor bits that could do with a clear explanation of exactly how they are supposed to work, and I think the campaign as a whole needs some stronger -- or at least more overt -- hooks. All that said, the flaws are minor, and any decent GM should be able to fix them.
All in all, this is a great little adventure setting for your fantasy role-playing games. It's designed for Into the Odd, but would work well enough in D&D, and I could see it making for a memorable, if eccentric, Pendragon campaign.
June 10, 2019
Creative and insightful writing paired with brilliant and beautiful art. Many have said they don't feel that Silent Titans is very "gameable" or that it would be challenging to run. I disagree. All the information, descriptions and visuals you need are there. The challenging part is that the layout and prose are very experimental. Information is dispensed in long bulleted lists that just aren't very functional due to their length and choppy style. I had hoped it would be easier to digest. Still, this is an exceptional book to have in one's collection and is packed with great ideas and visuals. I'm proud to have helped kickstart it.
One final nitpick. I'm not a fan of dust jackets and this one is just the worst. The material and fit just get under my skin. Personal preference, though because it does hold some usable material on its underside and isn't a worthless addition.
One final nitpick. I'm not a fan of dust jackets and this one is just the worst. The material and fit just get under my skin. Personal preference, though because it does hold some usable material on its underside and isn't a worthless addition.
November 10, 2019
Strange and imaginative, Wir-Heal and this book easily fit into the growing multiverse and library of truly excellent OSR offerings. Fun to read, more fun to reread, and a bit annoying to reference at the table. Bonus: It's also a great coffee table book (with dust jacket removed).
May 26, 2019
Funny, charming, exciting, horrifying, upsetting, deeply strange, strangely relatable. One of the best things I've looked at or read in a while.
January 19, 2021
This book calls itself a game and I think it would be amazing to play, however it also works as an open-ended pomo as hell novella that gets more horrifying the deeper you go. Dang.
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July 3, 2020Wicked concept thick with evocative art, tables, encounters, maps, etc. Only complaint is some of the layout decisions make some things difficult to read for me, maps could have used some direct lines to make it more intuitive for quick reference, and the larger map with sections could have really user page XX to their specific locations. In the intro says the rules are in the back of the book but they actually follow that page directly in the front.
Everything else is compelling and beautifully put together. Had a great time reading it and look forward to a re-read to grok it better.
Everything else is compelling and beautifully put together. Had a great time reading it and look forward to a re-read to grok it better.
November 13, 2025
one of the classes in the character creation table is fred daggs, a 17 year old fella from new zealand, who is wary of the new fascist a holes in his home dimension
i specifically believe this is john clarkes fred daggs. incredible reference if true
lotta other incredible writing too.
i specifically believe this is john clarkes fred daggs. incredible reference if true
lotta other incredible writing too.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews