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Into the Wyrd & Wild
Beyond the reach of roads, past the scope of mortals there lies a darkened place. A shadowed tree-line where no-one dares cross and whose boundaries go undisturbed.
This is not the woods of peaceful fey and beast, but the dark and twisted children’s tale that kept you full of terror. It is a world of fear, madness, and bloodshed; ruled over by the uncaring watch of ancient trees. There is no bargaining with the primal forces that rule the uncivilized world, as you have nothing they could ever want.
The Woods do not care for you. Never forget that.
Into the Wyrd and Wild is a supplemental book for those seeking to incorporate a weird and terrifying wilderness into their role-playing game.
This is not the woods of peaceful fey and beast, but the dark and twisted children’s tale that kept you full of terror. It is a world of fear, madness, and bloodshed; ruled over by the uncaring watch of ancient trees. There is no bargaining with the primal forces that rule the uncivilized world, as you have nothing they could ever want.
The Woods do not care for you. Never forget that.
Into the Wyrd and Wild is a supplemental book for those seeking to incorporate a weird and terrifying wilderness into their role-playing game.
240 pages, Paperback
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 19, 2021
I LOVE this book. Everything about it sparks my imagination as a GM and makes me actually want to do overland adventuring. The idea of wilderness as dungeon is a fantastic way to imagine outdoor adventuring.
July 28, 2022
I did only skim through most of this while I read the parts relevant to what I was looking for. But this was very well put together, interesting and an easy read. I am definitely coming back to this on a later occassion.
Perfect for roleplayers, Dungeon masters, and for those creating their own imaginary worlds for whatever purpose or reason (me).
Perfect for roleplayers, Dungeon masters, and for those creating their own imaginary worlds for whatever purpose or reason (me).
November 16, 2024
A forest full of creepy monsters and well thought out mechanics that thoroughly support this immersive survival horror experience. I can't wait to run it!
September 4, 2022
This book is packed with creative ideas for world building and enhancements in creating a rich wilderness. Every DM comes up with their own solutions for trying to make wilderness travel interesting (many just skip over it altogether), but this book contains the secret to success!
The wilderness becomes such a rich place with this book that it is tempting to reject civilization as part of a campaign entirely. I know in D&D 5e there is a pretty substantial gap in wilderness threats-effectively capping out at around level 5-6, so this book points to and solves that not unsignigicant problem.
A+, absolutely loved it!
The wilderness becomes such a rich place with this book that it is tempting to reject civilization as part of a campaign entirely. I know in D&D 5e there is a pretty substantial gap in wilderness threats-effectively capping out at around level 5-6, so this book points to and solves that not unsignigicant problem.
A+, absolutely loved it!
July 10, 2024
Dang. This is good.
If you want your Fantasy games to have dark, scary, unsettling, and truly dangerous wilds, this is a fantastic book. Though aimed mostly for variations of D20/D&D type games, it's pretty adaptable for what have you. I was thinking it would be really helpful for something like Dragonbane, for example.
It also has a lot of useful stuff for the solo RPG player, including some good random tables.
The monsters are wonderful and evocative.
This will be a useful toolbox going into the future when I'm running DCC, Dragonbane, Basic Roleplaying, or whatever.
Highly recommended.
If you want your Fantasy games to have dark, scary, unsettling, and truly dangerous wilds, this is a fantastic book. Though aimed mostly for variations of D20/D&D type games, it's pretty adaptable for what have you. I was thinking it would be really helpful for something like Dragonbane, for example.
It also has a lot of useful stuff for the solo RPG player, including some good random tables.
The monsters are wonderful and evocative.
This will be a useful toolbox going into the future when I'm running DCC, Dragonbane, Basic Roleplaying, or whatever.
Highly recommended.
June 15, 2019
A manual for a TTRPG add-on
Creepy and cool- can't wait to run it!
Creepy and cool- can't wait to run it!
Read
August 23, 2023How? A random pick-up in the RPG section at the library.
What? A system-neutral (wink-wink) supplement for wild and dangerous woods (that's the Wild) -- something primeval where the laws of our reality don't entirely hold (that's the Wyrd). The book itself breaks down into
* ~20 pages of new rules for adventuring in the wilderness, including tracking food and shelter (and the effects of missing that), getting lost, going mad, harvesting resources from what you track and kill, the phases of the moon.
* ~100 pages of new monsters for the wild woods, including feral knights, root trolls, false beggars, et al.
* ~16 pages of factions, i.e., mostly powerful spirits that control areas or creatures.
* ~30 pages of magic items (and equipment) and magic spells.
* ~50 pages on designing wilderness hex-crawl adventures, including 100 random locations in the woods.
Yeah, so? I find this book both very compelling and also a little wearying.
What's compelling is that there's a real focus here on what the book is (a supplement on wilderness adventures which you could cherry-pick from, but which really goes together). I also like-ish how the "system-neutral" aspect of this is handled, which is to say, this is squarely launched at D&D and OSR games, but doesn't get too bogged down. (It's a little bogged down for my taste, but I really do think that's a taste thing.) I like a lot of the rules ideas (to turn wilderness travel into a real danger, a la Oregon Trail), some of the monsters, and some of the advice on building wilderness adventures / hex-crawls.
What I find wearing is, well, this is very much a taste thing, but I found the voice of the writing to veer a little towards the poetic & dramatic rather than the clearly technical. For instance, a lot of the monster writeups start with a sense of what the characters might see or experience -- "A single brilliant light drifts through the darkness" for the moon slaver -- rather than a description for the GM of what the heck this thing is or isn't. That's clearly tone-setting, which absolutely has its place in RPG writing. Is that place at the beginning of the entry? I think not, especially in a book that... doesn't quite go as far as Mork Borg and other art-rpg books: if you're gonna be tone-forward, I say go full vibe.
But overall, I enjoyed skimming through this book, and I'm about to write up a wilderness adventure, so I might reference the getting lost rules, which are the two highest praises for an RPG book: entertaining on its own right; and possibly useful for a game.
***
Goodreads doesn't have an entry yet for Into the Cess & Citadel, so:
How? A random pick-up in the RPG section at the library (also).
What? A system-neutral (wink-wink) supplement for a weird city. I'm not going to do a breakdown of the book but it's not the same as the first: where the first broke down into topics (here's some monsters, here's some rules, here's some factions), this book largely breaks down into the areas of the city. So there's a chapter on the undercity, the spires (where the immortal weird nobles live), the archivist quarter, the ... plant-human quarter, and some others.
Yeah, so? This is an interesting book because of how much the tone is weird, unreal city. Like: in D&D these days, there's a lot of... sort of realism with a dash of supernatural. So, yeah, there are dwarves, and they might be near the gem and stone quarter. There may be a council of elders and one of them might be a wizard. But it's all pretty recognizable.
This book really goes deep into the dream and weird logic that rules a lot of OSR stuff these days.
Honestly... I liked parts of it, but it's so specifically weird that it feels more like something that you should build a game or game world around (cf. Spire, Heart -- all about the tension with the immortals who live as an over-class, or even D&D's Ravnica, all about a city with very distinct sections).
What? A system-neutral (wink-wink) supplement for wild and dangerous woods (that's the Wild) -- something primeval where the laws of our reality don't entirely hold (that's the Wyrd). The book itself breaks down into
* ~20 pages of new rules for adventuring in the wilderness, including tracking food and shelter (and the effects of missing that), getting lost, going mad, harvesting resources from what you track and kill, the phases of the moon.
* ~100 pages of new monsters for the wild woods, including feral knights, root trolls, false beggars, et al.
* ~16 pages of factions, i.e., mostly powerful spirits that control areas or creatures.
* ~30 pages of magic items (and equipment) and magic spells.
* ~50 pages on designing wilderness hex-crawl adventures, including 100 random locations in the woods.
Yeah, so? I find this book both very compelling and also a little wearying.
What's compelling is that there's a real focus here on what the book is (a supplement on wilderness adventures which you could cherry-pick from, but which really goes together). I also like-ish how the "system-neutral" aspect of this is handled, which is to say, this is squarely launched at D&D and OSR games, but doesn't get too bogged down. (It's a little bogged down for my taste, but I really do think that's a taste thing.) I like a lot of the rules ideas (to turn wilderness travel into a real danger, a la Oregon Trail), some of the monsters, and some of the advice on building wilderness adventures / hex-crawls.
What I find wearing is, well, this is very much a taste thing, but I found the voice of the writing to veer a little towards the poetic & dramatic rather than the clearly technical. For instance, a lot of the monster writeups start with a sense of what the characters might see or experience -- "A single brilliant light drifts through the darkness" for the moon slaver -- rather than a description for the GM of what the heck this thing is or isn't. That's clearly tone-setting, which absolutely has its place in RPG writing. Is that place at the beginning of the entry? I think not, especially in a book that... doesn't quite go as far as Mork Borg and other art-rpg books: if you're gonna be tone-forward, I say go full vibe.
But overall, I enjoyed skimming through this book, and I'm about to write up a wilderness adventure, so I might reference the getting lost rules, which are the two highest praises for an RPG book: entertaining on its own right; and possibly useful for a game.
***
Goodreads doesn't have an entry yet for Into the Cess & Citadel, so:
How? A random pick-up in the RPG section at the library (also).
What? A system-neutral (wink-wink) supplement for a weird city. I'm not going to do a breakdown of the book but it's not the same as the first: where the first broke down into topics (here's some monsters, here's some rules, here's some factions), this book largely breaks down into the areas of the city. So there's a chapter on the undercity, the spires (where the immortal weird nobles live), the archivist quarter, the ... plant-human quarter, and some others.
Yeah, so? This is an interesting book because of how much the tone is weird, unreal city. Like: in D&D these days, there's a lot of... sort of realism with a dash of supernatural. So, yeah, there are dwarves, and they might be near the gem and stone quarter. There may be a council of elders and one of them might be a wizard. But it's all pretty recognizable.
This book really goes deep into the dream and weird logic that rules a lot of OSR stuff these days.
Honestly... I liked parts of it, but it's so specifically weird that it feels more like something that you should build a game or game world around (cf. Spire, Heart -- all about the tension with the immortals who live as an over-class, or even D&D's Ravnica, all about a city with very distinct sections).
February 5, 2022
This was amazing! A cool topic that hasn't been explored ad nauseum, great writing, fun, if not amazing, art that really fits the (or maybe sets) the tone of the book, and just tons of great ideas.
When I read books that have 100 spells, I don't usually read all of them, I skim the section to get an idea of what kind of spells there are. In this book I read ALL the spells. Same thing with the monsters section, almost every single monster was super cool and exciting.
This is a book I would be very proud to have written and I think it contributes to fantasy gaming like a rare few have.
I promise I don't know Charles B.F. Avery personally and he has not paid me to write this review, I'm just a guy who reads a lot of RPG books and happened to LOVE this one.
When I read books that have 100 spells, I don't usually read all of them, I skim the section to get an idea of what kind of spells there are. In this book I read ALL the spells. Same thing with the monsters section, almost every single monster was super cool and exciting.
This is a book I would be very proud to have written and I think it contributes to fantasy gaming like a rare few have.
I promise I don't know Charles B.F. Avery personally and he has not paid me to write this review, I'm just a guy who reads a lot of RPG books and happened to LOVE this one.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews