Shadows of Esteren?

[Comet]

Apparently there was a dark fantasy roleplaying made in France and then kickstarted into the larger world in English. It received quite a bit of praise and, based on a quick googling, looks gorgeous.

I wasn't really paying attention to roleplaying games back when this came out. Does anyone have any experience with it? I'm tempted to order it based on looks alone, but it would be nice to hear whether or not the setting and rules are as solid as the production values.

[aspekt]

That does look great.

You can apparently get Book 0 Prologue for free as a pdf here:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/produc...ook-0-Prologue

[Comet]

Thanks, didn't notice that free pdf before. Read through it and things are definitely looking good. The art is, as I thought, great throughout. The system seems really simple but also thematically appropriate with some neat ideas of its own. The setting seems like an extensive, melodramatic mix of iconic grim fantasy stuff. Not bad, on the whole.

I also found out that they are running a Kickstarter at this very moment, which would be an ideal opportunity to get the core books at a decent price. Decisions, decisions...
Any more opinions are welcome. Is there any depth to the system? Is there anything surprising about the setting?

[Yora]

Got to check out this free one right now.

[Tyndmyr]

Apparently there was a dark fantasy roleplaying made in France and then kickstarted into the larger world in English. It received quite a bit of praise and, based on a quick googling, looks gorgeous.

I wasn't really paying attention to roleplaying games back when this came out. Does anyone have any experience with it? I'm tempted to order it based on looks alone, but it would be nice to hear whether or not the setting and rules are as solid as the production values.

I helped a 'lil with the proofreading when it came to the US. I've got a copy, but have never played. Not my style. Not bad, necessarily, just not a style of game I seek out. Setting is...very europeanish. Hard to explain, but US made stuff tends to have a very distinct feel from Europe written stuff. And of course, very based on old timey european stuff, as many fantasy systems are wont to do.

Honestly, if I'm doing horror, I'm gonna do DCC.

[Grinner]

I like the setting, personally. It goes more for a mysterious, reverent atmosphere than an epic one.

Mechanically, it approaches the idea of innate aptitude from a very different angle. Instead of having physical traits like strength or mental traits like intelligence, you instead have personality traits. Your personality then informs what sort of things you're naturally good at.

[Yora]

The setting reminds me a lot of Thief. Pagans, Hammerites, and Mechanists. And those evil spirits are a lot like the Trickster's Dark Project.

However, I got the free sample of the actual rulebook/setting book, and it's pretty much unreadable. The entire things is written as stories as dialogues. I absolutely hate that!
Writing the sections of a setting book from an in-universe perspective is great. In Planescape it reads very well, even the crazy talk of Xanxost the slaad.
But the ways it's done here is just terrible. The density of actual facts seems to be very low and there is so much text wasted on fiction. I just want the facts, I don't want to read half a page to learn two small snippets of detail.

The Role of the Demorthèn

Of Society

Well, Master Jánn... from the day you suddenly disappeared, people felt betrayed and lost. Yet, everything was fine. Spring was coming to life , there had been no disappearances for a long time, the militia kept watch but had witnessed nothing out of the ordinary for weeks, and yet, fear had seized the village for a while. They felt like they had lost their confidant, their healer, and their guide all at the same time. Even our chief, Ansailéir Eoben, seemed at a loss. They all knew me, of course, and knew that I had been your disciple for a long time, but at first, I think they did not trust me.
You had taught me to reassure and to seek in everyone what is best for the community. But there is a fine line between observing a master and actually doing something. Fortunately, it was thanks to the skills I had developed by your side that I earned everybody’s trust. One day, the young daughter of Karl, the lumberman, fell ill. Dàmàthair Dyánnair knew a few things about this sickness, but there was nothing she could do. I was able to bring down the scalding fever that afflicted the girl by preparing a potion with some herbs and plants that I could only gather at the heart of the forest. Once the villagers established that I was able to provide what they previously expected from you, things went much better.

So a Demorthen is a healer. Couldn't that have been said like that? It's terribly inefficient and you can't just simply look up any detail you want to know about. You have to read the entire fiction on a topic and then piece together the pieces yourself. For a setting book, that's really bad.

Which is sad, as the setting seems intriguing and the books look amazing. I dare say probably the best looking RPG books I've seen. But I don't feel like reading through 300 pages to maybe get 50 pages worth of information before I even known the basics of the world.