What do you think about it?
What is cool about it?
How do the mechanics work/differ from other OSR/Retroclone type games?
How is the magic system?
What doesn't quite work for you?
Boxed set of PDF? (I'm poor.)

Okay first, we've had an enormous thread where we took AS&SH apart for quite a while. If you want some in-depth information about the game, including input from the author, art, pictures of the final product and all that, this is the place to go:

http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=18668

What do you think about it?

I think it's the best game to come out of the old school revival scene. It is now my game of choice, along with the classics, AD&D First Edition and Original D&D (1974). It is a game that is clearly in that tradition, and yet differs in a number of ways on a technical level, while adding a completely original setting, Hyperborea, inspired primarily by the fiction of authors like Clark Ashton Smith, Lovecraft, Howard and the like, into the mix. It represents that game that combines the forces of two of the absolute best role playing games of all time, to me, O/AD&D on one hand, and Call of Cthulhu on the other, and manages to craft a world of weird and dark swords and sorcery that is its own thing, as opposed to just a copy of one or the other of those games.

What is cool about it?

First, it is a game that is true to the tradition of O/AD&D. It uses these games' premise and basic rules, and doesn't screw around with them to create something completely different and unrecognizable from these sources.

It adds a lot of side rules and optional treatments that create its own take on this original game paradigm. From chances-in-6 to succeed at various tasks with your attributes that are taken from OD&D and normalized to the whole game, to extraordinary feats (think the bend bars percentiles of AD&D) that you can attempt with your other physical stats, to a Vancian casting system that allows you to cast your spells directly from your spellbook while running the risk to see it all burn to ash, to different takes on the concept of classes with options like the Shaman, Witch, Warlock or Necromancer, to ... you get the gist of it.

It's entirely rewritten and redesigned, and yet true to the underlying logic of the OD&D and AD&D games on which it builds.

Second, it is Hyperborea, an entire setting described in depth including cultures of men, history, gazetteer, map and so on which can be pretty much whatever you want it to be in your home campaign: it can be a Realm in the Ether like the Ravenloft domains, or a pocket plane apart of the Prime, "just beyond the North Wind" of your world. It could be in the same world, and yet isolated by some forces, like the winds that surround the continent themselves and/or some other devices of your own making. Or it could be its own self-contained setting that isn't attached to anything you previously made or played with.

I will be running AS&SH and Hyperborea soon as its own game and setting (I'm thinking of running an open online game table using google plus, at the moment). I also would like to use Hyperborea as an extension of the Dreamlands to use in conjunction with a 1920s Call of Cthulhu game as well, some time in the future.

Hyperborea is a realm that is surrounded by the North Wind of legend. The basic premise is that it was once part of the ancient world, back in time where Atlantis, Mu and Lemuria were the lieges of the Hyperboreans. And then something happened that cut Hyperborea from the rest of the world, while still occasionally welcoming new comers and lost travellers to its shores. It's a setting where you can play men of Kelt, Kimmerian, Pict, Viking, Amazon, Atlantean, Hyperborean heritage, and others besides (if you want to play a Roman or a Saxon or whatever else comes to mind, that's also possible and workable without problem as the origins of your character are mostly there for color and role playing, and aren't super hard to come up with from a mechanical standpoint). It's a hodge podge that mixes all these elements from the real world with elements from the fiction of CAS and others with the Mythos elements you are accustomed to as a gamer like the existence of the Great Race and Elder Things and Serpent Men that ruled the world in the past and the legends of R'lyeh being somewhere deep under the seas, and manages to make sense of it all, with an identity and feel of its own.

Third, AS&SH is a vibe and feel that combines these elements with the art of Ian Baggley which is all over the game. It is absolutely stunning, and really inspires me to visualize the setting and get to see it in my mind's eye. Stuff like this:



Or this:



That's Hyperborea. That's the feel of the game.

How do the mechanics work/differ from other OSR/Retroclone type games?

I guess I covered that above: the basic conceits of the rules are similar to O/AD&D. There are D&D attributes. And classes, and experience, and Vancian magic and descending AC and all these sorts of things. But each of these things has some particular tweaks and/or options tacked on to it that make it really its own thing. Some parts are standardized and streamlined (the d6 rolls for this or that), others are tweaked (like say the way the thief's skills work with d12 and how that meshes with more standardized tests of skills for all characters), others are added (like standard moves and options in combat, the weapon skills, the structure of the round in phases, the fact the combat round is 10 seconds, not one minute as in 1e, etc).

You recognize the system clearly as part of the O/AD&D paradigm, and yet, once you start skimming through the details, it really shines as its own game.

How is the magic system?

Vancian magic, but with a lot of tweaks to it. Like the Chances to Learn spells that are more forgiving than in AD&D, various options like the one I talked about that allows you to cast spells from your spellbook running the change to see it all turn to ash, those kinds of things. If you like traditional Vancian magic, you'll like it, as well as the numerous tweaks it proposes around that concept. If you don't like Vancian magic, chances are you won't be satisfied by the game's take, which embraces it fully.

What doesn't quite work for you?

I honestly can't think of a thing right now.

Boxed set or PDF? (I'm poor.)

The Boxed set is available for order from the AS&SH/North Wind Adventures website for $50 plus shipping. The shipping can be quite expensive depending on the part of the world you are in, in part due to the hefty weight of the game. I LOVE my boxed set. I love the way the books were put together with spirals to lie flat on a table, I love the map, I love the dice that include the d20 numbered 0 to 9 twice, I love everything about it. It is beautiful and practical and usable. It's awesome. It's worth every cent I spent on the kickstarter, to me.

Now, the PDF is available for $10 from DriveThru/RPGnow. At this price the PDF is a STEAL. If anything I've said about the game caught your attention and you are still on the fence for the print product you should DEFINITELY check out the PDF, which is high quality and really, at worse, will inspire your games in some way, shape or form, whether you like the rules, the systems and subsystems, the setting, maps, art, or all of the above. At best, you'll fall in love as I did and get the boxed set when you can.

Pictures I took of the physical product.

Contents of the boxed set.



Map of Hyperborea unfolded.



Detail of the map of Hyperborea.

Quote from: Silverlion;594245What do you think about it?

It's nice to have.

Quote from: Silverlion;594245What is cool about it?

The setting, pretty much.  Conjures up notions of Weird Tales in the 20's and 30's, when fantasy was actually interesting.

Quote from: Silverlion;594245How do the mechanics work/differ from other OSR/Retroclone type games?

I'm not too familiar with OSR, but if you're looking for something streamlined, well-oiled, and efficient...this isn't really it.  Apparently the ruleset is mostly AD&D 1E, with some tweaks here and there.  I haven't really tried it out yet, but the mechanics are not very inspiring.

That being said, there are some sweet sub-classes here: Warlock, Witch, Bard, etc.

Quote from: Silverlion;594245What doesn't quite work for you?

Again, the rules are passable at best.  I'm thinking of blending the best parts of Dungeon Crawl Classics with the Hyperborea setting and some of the more granular aspects of DnD, in the hopes of producing the perfect sword & sorcery game.

Benoist: Your pics aren't showing for me.

Quote from: Silverlion;594382Benoist: Your pics aren't showing for me.

OK. That should be fixed now. Is it on your end?

Yes, very nice.

Quote from: Benoist;594263Detail of the map of Hyperborea.

Spoiler

The font used in the map in the section The Black Waste.  That's an old school D&D font, what's the name of it?

Quote from: CRKrueger;594394The font used in the map in the section The Black Waste.  That's an old school D&D font, what's the name of it?

It "looks" like a bold Century Gothic (like the font in my sig for the Delver's quote), though I'm not actually sure.

Quote from: Benoist;594398It "looks" like a bold Century Gothic (like the font in my sig for the Delver's quote), though I'm not actually sure.

S'pose I could just ask Jeff, but he's busy boxing up games, so I don't want him to pause until he ships mine.  :cool:

Quote from: CRKrueger;594400S'pose I could just ask Jeff, but he's busy boxing up games, so I don't want him to pause until he ships mine.  :cool:

James Mishler used the same font on his AGP stuff and I asked him about it back in the day.

Quote from: James Mishler, back in 2008The font in the titles is Baldur, a clone of Feinen Bold that was used in the Mystara and Forgotten Realms books and maps.

Feinen Bold is expensive ($320!?!?!), so I use the Baldur clone from Mad Irishman ($12):

http://www.mad-irishman.net/fonts.html

His fonts are for sale on MyFonts:

http://www.myfonts.com/search?search%5Btext%5D=mad+irishman

We also use the Ronan font for section headers and will find uses for more of his fonts eventually. Great guy, cool fonts.

You can find a great source for old TSR fonts here:

http://www.geocities.com/rgfdfaq/tsrfonts.html

Good gaming!

James

Also,

I just remembered the best Mystara font FAQ:

http://mystara.thorf.co.uk/fontfaq.php

That has a list of just about everything ever used in the old Known World/Mystara products

James was a really cool guy. Too bad AGP tanked, I wonder what he's up to these days.

I bought this game in PDF and wish I had bought the box set.  Just looking at the maps and rulebooks reminds me of opening my first box set (World of Greyhawk).
  Also, thank you, Ben, for posting pics of this stuff...I really dig your preview and unboxing posts.

I want this box set so effing bad... I just wish I had more disposable income, (and the game shipped with captive players so I could run it whenever I want).

And what about its differences in setting/premise to other OSR Sword & Sorcery-oriented games, like Crypts & Things and Dungeon Crawl Classics ?

Sweet art & maps.

Well, I have zero interest in the system, but I have been running a CAS-inspired setting for a while now, so plundering it for setting elements is definitely something I am wont to do.

What proportion of AS&SH is setting?

I may snag the PDF just for that.