An Endzeitgeist.com review

This installment of the Gossamer Worlds-series clocks in at 10 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, leaving us with 8 pages of content, so let's take a look!

So what is the Verse Arcanum? In one sentence, I'd describe it as "ye old fantasy setting" - elves, dwarves, magic galore, curses, prophecies and adventurers - fey and miles-long wyrms (true dragons in the most lethal, city-leveling sense...) and just about all other things and creatures you know from these settings can be found in this UNIVERSE (not just world!). Rainbow bridges? Check. Nasty Umbra-worshipping subterranean dwarves that specialize in unmaking magic? Check. Dual-natured elves that are at once light and dark elves? Yup.

Now of course, in the context of Lords of Gossamer and Shadows, the Verse Arcanum works differently - each Lord (or Lady) may erect one tower and said tower acts as his/her domain - no total control to be gained here. The influence of the tower and the respective ruler is felt via the demesne, or domain of said tower, in which the respective ruler controls the land. Now logically, this is not something most locals are keen on - and adventurers questing to take down the wizard's tower, annoyingly self-righteous paladins...here's the chance to hurl all those characters back at the players...

Beyond world trees containing whole worlds and civilizations, wizard academies and the like, the Verse Arcanum offers potential galore for a more meta approach to fantasy gaming.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I didn't notice any glitches. Layout adheres to Rite Publishing's full-color two-column standard for LoGaS-supplements and the pdf comes with glorious, thematically fitting original pieces of artwork. The pdf comes excessively bookmarked, which is nice to see, even at such a short length!

Matt Banach's Verse Arcanum is at once very conservative and one might argue, not as unique as some of his other creations. On the other hand, it could be seen as creative by its trope-inversion, by its essentially post-fantasy-gaming perspective on traditional fantasy tropes and as such, has quite some merit. Now one thing that personally didn't wholyl gel with me would be the focus of this Gossamer World - it's a universe, I get it. But why not devote a larger source book to it? The wyrms, for example, being the awesome beasts that they are, could have used some stats in the context of LoGaS and the dualistic nature of elves, dwarves etc. almost begs for an array of unique cantrips, spells etc. to learn. The tower defense angle is also rather awesome, but more concise effects on the demesne et al would have been awesome.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great book, but it also is essentially a teaser-level pdf that can only go into so much detail for an idea that is slightly too much for the constraints of the pdf. Unlike other Gossamer Worlds, this is more about the twists on fantasy in the context of LoGaS, not about playing grounds, and it just doesn't follow up on the ideas with proper effects.

Hence, my final verdict will clock in at 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 due to the low price point and awesome production values.

Endzeitgeist out.

Matt Banach is back with another Gossamer World and this is one of my favorites. Gossamer worlds full of fantasy tropes and wizard towers. I have created a similar one in my own Grand Stair and it was quite nice to see the details that Matt picked up on with Gossamer World: Verse Arcanum.

I have to say that the writing in these little source books keep getting better and better. I even have a favorite passage from this one that reads "would produce inevitable and acrimonious conflict between covetous claimants". Such an awesome descriptive passage and the little book packs these in all the way through giving a layered, textured feel to the world.

I especially like the approach given in here of how many of the Gossamer Lords and Ladies have infiltrated this realm and that they are seen as a threat by the local denizens. They are disgusted by the gaudy towers erected by these interlopers and some of the denizens even have the power to do something about them. I especially like the narrative characters discussion on his own tower and I can see the point of the natives.

This is a world filled with elves, dwarves, humans. There is a touch of Tolkien, a bit of Asgaard and even the fey realms to keep you on your toes. I even think there may be a tongue in cheek reference to disc world in this one if you can find it.

This one is a nice little fun romp into fantasy. It has some beautiful descriptions in it and the art suits it fantastically as well. Great work Matt Banach, I look forward to your next one. If you are looking for inspiration have a look at my NPC's and steal a world from there :) That would be awesome! Anyhow, everybody buy this book. It is fantastic. 5 out of 5 missing dice!