This instalment of the Pick Up Pile is on a book that’s been out for a while, but is new to me (as I got it for Christmas). Free League’s Tales from the Loop, the game of kids and mysteries in the 80s based on the art of Simon Stålenhag. Available in physical form from most FLGSs and in digital from Drivethru RPG here.
Physically this is a nice solid hardcover book with obvious high production values, as one can expect from Free League if you’re familiar with any of their products. It’s 192 pages, and thick pages they are too. To give an idea, this volume is about the same thickness as my Alien Colonial Marines book which is 350+ pages. Each page is off white with easy to read, well spaced, good sized text. Artwork is of a high standard, as you’d expect from the inspiration, and scattered throughout.
There are 12 chapters in the book, the first 5 being for everyone playing, covering background, setting, character creation, and rules. The last 7 are for the Game Master only covering mystery structures and sandboxes, and four adventure that can be strung together into a campaign with one adventure per season of a year.
First up is the usual “What is a roleplaying game?” and “What’s this game about?” sections. The usual fare that anyone reading this has probably seen a million times. Also covered here are the Principles of the Loop:
Welcome to the first post in a new series, The Pick Up Pile. I’ve been looking for something to do with this blog as it’s been sitting idle apart from the January Character Creation Challenges, especially with my solo Twilight: 2000 game being on hiatus as it’s a bit depressing to play in light of current world events.
Also it keeps my little grey cells bubbling away and it kinda justifies my game collection whilst I don’t have a game group.
So whats in the Pick Up Pile? Well, as the name suggests it’s going to be about games and game related stuff I’ve recently picked up. I got a few game books for Christmas and have picked up a bunch of things on Ebay and elsewhere recently.
Christmas gifts were the Paranoia core cook, Fallout: The Role Playing Game core book, Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades, Tales from the Loop, and The Deck of Many things.
Initial thoughts on each of these;
Paranoia is a slim hardcover, with substantial glossy pages. The writing is quite large and well laid out making it easy to read. Art is interspersed throughout and is of a decent quality, showing characters, scenarios, equipment and organisation logos
Fallout has a ribbon bookmark, more books should have ribbon bookmarks. (I have a thing for ribbon bookmarks!) It’s a hefty book, that looks well laid out and separated into clear sections. Lots of really nice art that I think is concept art from the videogames.
Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades is a nice convenient smaller size hardback, with 260+ pages. The art is great, thematic and consistent all the way through. The text is clearly laid out in, full page width and of a easily readable size.
Tales From the Loop has some THICK paper, 192 pages in a book thicker than some 300+ page ones I have. As expected in a game derived from an artist’s work, the art is fantastic. From what I’ve read this really gets what the 80s were really like, more than a lot of properties do. I’d bet on it having been written by people that actually lived through the decade.
The Deck of Many Things box set is striking. The books and cards are really nice looking pieces. The Book of Many things appears to be a good DM targeted expansion, items, creatures, idea prompts etc. The cards themselves feel nice and the companion book details a few ways of using them.
Purchases were all D&D related, I got the 4th edition PHB, the 3rd edition DMG MM and PHB, and the 1st edition DMG.
Initial thoughts on these;
I like the cover art on the 4th Edition PHB having spot gloss effects highlighting the logo and the central figures in the art. The interior is clearly laid out and readable. The art in each section has a very distinctive style that seems unique to this edition, everything’s so curvy and pointy at the same time. It’s odd seeing magic items in the PHB, I’m more used to seeing them in the DMG. From an initial skim combat does seem very minis and grid based.
For my tastes 3rd Edition has the best spine artwork, that old mage’s tome look. The text looks a little cramped and the sketchy lines around it make it a little less immediately readable to me. The sections seem laid out as you’d expect from 5e. The Monster Manual has a bunch of critters in it that don’t appear to have been updated to 5e, that’s something I might look into doing. Finally it is nice to see the tables listed in the contents page at the start of each book, so if you know what table you are looking for you can jump straight to it, this needs to return.
The 1st Edition DMG shows people in the 70s had better eyesight, the text is tiny. It’s a solid book, from what I can tell my copy is 44 years old, and even missing its spine the text block is holding together. There’s a lot of detailed stuff in here and it will take me a while to work though. As shown in the Character Creation Challenge I really like the funny little guy generator in Appendix D.
I intend posts for this to be split into two categories. “Pickups” where I post about something new I got in, maybe a photo or two and a couple of thoughts after a brief skim through (I guess this counts as the first “Pickup”) , and “Ponderings” where I’ll put up a larger entry for each book as I work through them. I’ll give and overview of the physical appearance of the book, and a few thoughts for each chapter highlighting things that stand out to me.
I’ll also add new purchases to the pile as I pick them up, putting them in the queue to be covered. They won’t necessarily be covered in the order that I got them, more likely when they excite my “Ooh shiny!” impulse.
If I ever get to the end of the queue then I’ll pick something older out of my collection and cover that until I get something new and shiny.
No plans for a schedule yet, as that depends on how long it takes me to get through a book and how much I have to say.
Three Kobolds With A Trench Gun 