Arduin Eternal

by Monty St John

Arduin Role-Playing game - the 4th incarnation, released 2009.

824 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

I'm always thinking.

Its a rare moment I'm not making connections, threading themes or tinkering with ideas.

It also means I make up a lot of things and then jot them down for others to read and tinker with too.

All that thinking takes me from role playing games to mind-opening fiction and occasional jaunts into technology or cybersecurity, two of my other passions.

My current series is 8-book series Eschatos Diagram. Book 1 - Ogygia and Book 2 - Nephele are out.

Prepare to follow the lurching life of Bret as he weaves his way to master the Eschatos Diagram in Book 3 - Syzygy, set for publication in June 2022.

www.montystjohn.com

Reviews

[Adam Windsor · Rating 2 out of 5]

After a couple of weeks, the binding on the book gave way, unable to cope with the weight of the 800+ pages. This is a useful metaphor for the game itself. It is stuffed with content, including some interesting ideas, but the rules and editing aren't up to the task of containing them. Different pages frequently contradict each other, rules are ambiguously worded or seem not to have ever been used in actual play (the 'flaws' rules in designing devices for instance, or the use of the medical skill to treat serious injuries). And then there are multiple references to sections that simply do not exist: including all the rules for handling animal companions or running a business. Both of which seem like critical oversights in a book which features character classes that specialise in exactly those things.

Some interesting ideas here if you want to go mining for them, but the game as written is a near incoherent mess.