Barrens of Carcosa (Carcosa Module 6) Review
Sept 22, 2017 15:38:35 GMT -6
stevemitchell, tkdco2, and 1 more like this
Post by distortedhumor on Sept 22, 2017 15:38:35 GMT -6
Barrens of Carcosa (Carcosa Module 6)
by Geoffrey McKinney.
Overview: 32 pages that overviews a little over 60 locations in the Carcosa setting.
Art: Cover art is by Luigi Castellani, and is very nice. There is no internal art.
Packaging: Lulu sent it in a box that would survive a nuclear war. Fine print quality of quality paper and cover is durable cardstock. No printing errors.
Review: The Barrens of Carcosa cannot be discussed without mentioning what Carcosa is. I will not go over the details of the controversy (which I am not a expert on) but Carcosa is not your usual Tolkien inspired fantasy setting. It is a mix of Conan, Barsoom and Lovecraft with weird encounters and where men are men, spellcasters are questionable, and sheep are very scared. No dwarves or elves inhabit this area, but instead humanity in every hue (and two hues of oddity) live about in a world of weirdness.
And how wonderfully weird it is. A entire village living in a carcass shell of a giant caterpillar, that not all seems what it seems like. Villages of clones, mage towers with portals, fungi forests, a space ship or two. The book consists of a little over 60 encounters in designated hexes, much like The Wilderlands of High Fantasy, but with more verbose language. It is something that a hex that has a tentacled monster offspring of a elder god living in a pool is a more mundane location.
The writing style is clear and sometimes evocative, and does succeed in moving forward the data so that on the described hexes you get a strong idea of what is going on. There is not many stat blocks (using AD&D style stat blocks when used). The setting itself is something that people will love her hate. As do you want your spell caster to have to be torn apart and rebuilt as if he/she was in a hellraiser film to learn a 2nd level spell? For some people that freaking awesome, and for others it would be time to find another game table. That is the nature of all the Carcosa related material I have seen, and Barrens is no different.
There is no plot, and this is not a module or a adventure set in Carcosa, instead it is a setting document that covers and details a 26x17 hex map of a very specific game world. (five mile hexes) However each of the 60+ detailed hexes contains adventure hooks and ideas for the encounter.
Should I buy it: If you like Carcosa, the answer is a simple yes. If you do not like Carcosa and hate anything weird, then this will not be a good purchase. For those like me who do not hate Carcosa but do not run it it comes to this. Out of the 60 or so encounters, I am noted that at least 20 of them would be useful when I needed a odd encounter with little or no modification, with another five at least inspiring a idea on how I could do something like the proposal but better or my own needs. It also give insight that the way I play D&D is not how everyone else plays D&D, and D&D is better for it.
Overall rating: A for Corcosa players, B for non-Carcosa players.
Note: I did receive a free copy in order to review the module, but it did not impact my views on the product.
by Geoffrey McKinney.
Overview: 32 pages that overviews a little over 60 locations in the Carcosa setting.
Art: Cover art is by Luigi Castellani, and is very nice. There is no internal art.
Packaging: Lulu sent it in a box that would survive a nuclear war. Fine print quality of quality paper and cover is durable cardstock. No printing errors.
Review: The Barrens of Carcosa cannot be discussed without mentioning what Carcosa is. I will not go over the details of the controversy (which I am not a expert on) but Carcosa is not your usual Tolkien inspired fantasy setting. It is a mix of Conan, Barsoom and Lovecraft with weird encounters and where men are men, spellcasters are questionable, and sheep are very scared. No dwarves or elves inhabit this area, but instead humanity in every hue (and two hues of oddity) live about in a world of weirdness.
And how wonderfully weird it is. A entire village living in a carcass shell of a giant caterpillar, that not all seems what it seems like. Villages of clones, mage towers with portals, fungi forests, a space ship or two. The book consists of a little over 60 encounters in designated hexes, much like The Wilderlands of High Fantasy, but with more verbose language. It is something that a hex that has a tentacled monster offspring of a elder god living in a pool is a more mundane location.
The writing style is clear and sometimes evocative, and does succeed in moving forward the data so that on the described hexes you get a strong idea of what is going on. There is not many stat blocks (using AD&D style stat blocks when used). The setting itself is something that people will love her hate. As do you want your spell caster to have to be torn apart and rebuilt as if he/she was in a hellraiser film to learn a 2nd level spell? For some people that freaking awesome, and for others it would be time to find another game table. That is the nature of all the Carcosa related material I have seen, and Barrens is no different.
There is no plot, and this is not a module or a adventure set in Carcosa, instead it is a setting document that covers and details a 26x17 hex map of a very specific game world. (five mile hexes) However each of the 60+ detailed hexes contains adventure hooks and ideas for the encounter.
Should I buy it: If you like Carcosa, the answer is a simple yes. If you do not like Carcosa and hate anything weird, then this will not be a good purchase. For those like me who do not hate Carcosa but do not run it it comes to this. Out of the 60 or so encounters, I am noted that at least 20 of them would be useful when I needed a odd encounter with little or no modification, with another five at least inspiring a idea on how I could do something like the proposal but better or my own needs. It also give insight that the way I play D&D is not how everyone else plays D&D, and D&D is better for it.
Overall rating: A for Corcosa players, B for non-Carcosa players.
Note: I did receive a free copy in order to review the module, but it did not impact my views on the product.