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Lamentations of the Flame Princess
Lamentations of the Flame Princess
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 7, 2017
This game is as gorgeous as is disturbing. Definitely not for everybody!
In terms of retro-publishing quality, it doesn't get much better than this. It's not the glossy, large format of the current RPG books. They're fine alright. This is not this kind of book. It's meant to give you a pocket-size book that feels it was taken from decades ago, updated with modern printing processes, and left on you doorstep. My only nitpick is with the "s" of the type used for titles: it's the IPA symbol for the sound that "sh" makes in English. So I kept reading "shpellsh" and "poishonsh", hehehe.
The muse of this game is the Old School Revival, although it fells less like a D&D retro-clone and more like a 1980s D&D rulebook who went to hell in 1989 and came back in 2011 — with all the fixin's. The whole theme and development of the game stems from the premise: what kind of deranged psychos abandon a perfectly normal life to become "adventurers", aka people who venture in blatantly haunted dungeons and face literal flesh eating monstrosities? Not normal people, for sure! And people with very, very short lifespans, for this world is Dangerous with capital D. You think the zombies from the haunted manor just sit there? No no no, they go to town (literally) eating anything that moves — and the DM should describe everything. And the demon that the Wizard at the tower invoked? Well, the wiz is dead and the demon is going to satiate all his Pinhead-like depraved desires with any and all adventurers who naïvely step foot in the tower. So prepare to create new characters every couple of sessions.
The stories meant to be told with Lamentations are the most disturbing, gut-wrenching, stomach-churning, psychologically traumatizing possible. This is the most death metal game I've ever seen. Slayer band members would run screaming from some of the proposals in this book.
If you like your horror stories truly frightening, your rulebook illustrations beautiful yet disquieting, Lamentations of the Flame Princess is your game. Stay away if you have bad dreams watching Alien. I'm serious. The things seen in this book can't be unseen. I mean, one of the scenarios published for this game is called Fuck for Satan! What do you think you're going to find pictured inside?
In terms of retro-publishing quality, it doesn't get much better than this. It's not the glossy, large format of the current RPG books. They're fine alright. This is not this kind of book. It's meant to give you a pocket-size book that feels it was taken from decades ago, updated with modern printing processes, and left on you doorstep. My only nitpick is with the "s" of the type used for titles: it's the IPA symbol for the sound that "sh" makes in English. So I kept reading "shpellsh" and "poishonsh", hehehe.
The muse of this game is the Old School Revival, although it fells less like a D&D retro-clone and more like a 1980s D&D rulebook who went to hell in 1989 and came back in 2011 — with all the fixin's. The whole theme and development of the game stems from the premise: what kind of deranged psychos abandon a perfectly normal life to become "adventurers", aka people who venture in blatantly haunted dungeons and face literal flesh eating monstrosities? Not normal people, for sure! And people with very, very short lifespans, for this world is Dangerous with capital D. You think the zombies from the haunted manor just sit there? No no no, they go to town (literally) eating anything that moves — and the DM should describe everything. And the demon that the Wizard at the tower invoked? Well, the wiz is dead and the demon is going to satiate all his Pinhead-like depraved desires with any and all adventurers who naïvely step foot in the tower. So prepare to create new characters every couple of sessions.
The stories meant to be told with Lamentations are the most disturbing, gut-wrenching, stomach-churning, psychologically traumatizing possible. This is the most death metal game I've ever seen. Slayer band members would run screaming from some of the proposals in this book.
If you like your horror stories truly frightening, your rulebook illustrations beautiful yet disquieting, Lamentations of the Flame Princess is your game. Stay away if you have bad dreams watching Alien. I'm serious. The things seen in this book can't be unseen. I mean, one of the scenarios published for this game is called Fuck for Satan! What do you think you're going to find pictured inside?
February 24, 2013
The first "OSR" book I read. Art is by turns amazing, idiosyncratic and very, very graphic. Generates lots of controversy because of a) the art, b) the author, c) the term "weird fantasy", which nerds can't stand because it's very vague.
One of the few rulebooks that's immensely improved by the published modules.
SYSTEM PROS: Influenced by doom metal and stoner metal (and it shows). Very simple class system. Most things are resolved with a simple d6 roll. Character creation is pretty quick. Neat treasure-as-xp system. Combat is pretty simple. Magic is weird, dangerous and significant. Lots of rules for little things (if that's your thing). Overall tone is pretty entertaining. Pretty difficult to powergame. Allows metagaming but punishes it heavily. Pretty good for new players. Will make you a better DM. Will make you a better player.
SYSTEM CONS: Lots of rules for little things (if that's not your thing). System lacks some "granularity" in that success or failure is determined only on a d6--means you will fail 15% of the time at a minimum. Game seems to include a lot of magical items but the "game world" doesn't really reflect that, meaning you can easily end up with low-level characters that are fantastically wealthy. The art is not for the squeamish/prudish.
DM INFO: James Raggi's world is inherently mean to players. Not to player characters, mind you, they survive as best they can in the most dangerous occupation on the planet. Players that attempt to open every door, kill every goblin and seize every treasure will find themselves rolling up new characters with alarming frequency. In short, the game rewards careful, thoughtful play. High level spells are just as likely to rip apart reality as they are to do whatever they are supposed to do (although occasionally they are supposed to rip apart reality). The world overall has a weird/strange/horror feel to it, with lots of Truly Terrible Things lying right beyond the veil. Gameplay is simple and the rules for most things are pretty simple.
EXTRAS: Includes a few (good) starter adventures. I highly recommend picking up James Raggi's other work, like the God That Crawls, Death Frost Doom, and the Green Devil Face zine series. You'll be slaughtering PCs during the first adventures and the players will thank you for it.
One of the few rulebooks that's immensely improved by the published modules.
SYSTEM PROS: Influenced by doom metal and stoner metal (and it shows). Very simple class system. Most things are resolved with a simple d6 roll. Character creation is pretty quick. Neat treasure-as-xp system. Combat is pretty simple. Magic is weird, dangerous and significant. Lots of rules for little things (if that's your thing). Overall tone is pretty entertaining. Pretty difficult to powergame. Allows metagaming but punishes it heavily. Pretty good for new players. Will make you a better DM. Will make you a better player.
SYSTEM CONS: Lots of rules for little things (if that's not your thing). System lacks some "granularity" in that success or failure is determined only on a d6--means you will fail 15% of the time at a minimum. Game seems to include a lot of magical items but the "game world" doesn't really reflect that, meaning you can easily end up with low-level characters that are fantastically wealthy. The art is not for the squeamish/prudish.
DM INFO: James Raggi's world is inherently mean to players. Not to player characters, mind you, they survive as best they can in the most dangerous occupation on the planet. Players that attempt to open every door, kill every goblin and seize every treasure will find themselves rolling up new characters with alarming frequency. In short, the game rewards careful, thoughtful play. High level spells are just as likely to rip apart reality as they are to do whatever they are supposed to do (although occasionally they are supposed to rip apart reality). The world overall has a weird/strange/horror feel to it, with lots of Truly Terrible Things lying right beyond the veil. Gameplay is simple and the rules for most things are pretty simple.
EXTRAS: Includes a few (good) starter adventures. I highly recommend picking up James Raggi's other work, like the God That Crawls, Death Frost Doom, and the Green Devil Face zine series. You'll be slaughtering PCs during the first adventures and the players will thank you for it.
January 9, 2019
An old-school tabletop RPG in the vein of AD&D. Here, dwarves and elves are classes in addition to races, loot = experience, and running into fights with monsters will get you killed more times than not. Spell-casting is crazy powerful, and even more dangerous. Combat has been updated and will be at least recognizable to modern D&D fans. The game includes lots of detailed and fun rules for building your household/keep/castle and filling it with all manner of servants and colleagues. There is a full chapter dedicated to naval warfare, so if you want to do a pirate campaign, this system would suit nicely. They also include rules for running firearms (although nothing more complicated than a flintlock), so there are plenty of options for additional settings there as well.
February 22, 2018
Makes for a bit of a dry read. Rules are simple and comprehensive but there's not that much interesting about it. In fact, the most exciting bit is the appendix on firearms in the back. I perused the free version which has no art, and judging by the copious amount of placeholder blank spaces there's a lot of it in the paid-for product which I am sure would add a significant amount to the atmosphere and enjoyment of perusing this.
December 29, 2017
You like OSR?
You like wierd shit?
look no futher!
You like wierd shit?
look no futher!
Read
December 25, 2013Hardcore RPG madness, this one! Very brutal and weirdly fun, with a dose of Weird Tales and Fangoria thrown in. If you like your witches fiery and fireball slingin', well this game is a dose of that and more. Good read and can't wait to run or play it!
August 27, 2016
A solid "retro-clone" that takes the simple-yet-powerful adventure-building framework of "old-school" D&D, and tweaks and refines it into its own beast. The art-free edition can be gotten for free on the website, so if you're interested in pencil-and-paper RPGs, give it a look.
April 26, 2011
Nice new take on old D&D.
November 4, 2011
Old school RPG renaissance purchase. Boxed set complete with mini dice (cute!). Written by a Scandinavian metalhead, but in a good way.
June 9, 2014
Meh... Don't see what all the fuss is about. It's a simplified D&D with some fairly strange spells most PCs will never want to cast.
Read
December 11, 2015Interesting retro D&D system, would like to try one of these days.
January 4, 2013
Si te van los juegos de rol de fantasía clásicos necesitas este juego.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews