I’m experimenting, here – two reviews, one here in English, one in Italian on my other blog, strategie evolutive.

And I’ll review a game accessory.
I’ve been playing roleplaying games since the dim and distant past, and I find gaming an interesting alternative to writing.

Recently, I’ve been highly impressed by Paul Wiggy Wade-Williams’ Leagues of Adventure, a tabletop, pen-and-paper game of exploration and adventure set in Victorian times which is refreshingly steampunk-free, and based on the highly flexible, and entertaining Ubiquity System.
The game is a gorgeous hardback that aims at recreating the setting and mood of stories from Rider-Haggard, Conan Doyle, Kipling and other greats.
Maybe with a wink at Burroughs and Verne.

The game is supported by a line of cheap supplements known as Globetrotter’s Guide – 20-pages PDFs covering a single topic, to be used as resource and inspiration for the game.

And quite relevant to the topics I like to cover on this blog – and occasionally in my writing and games – I find The Globetrotter’s Guide to the Far East.
After all, this is a game of explorations and adventures, we are talking about.

In twenty well laid-out pages, the PDF (which is available for about 3.5 euro through various online retailers) provides an interesting overview of India, China and Other Places East of Constantinople.
If the single chapters are necessarily short, they provide enough information to start the players on their way.
Half-page capsule overviews of places like Buthan or Burma, longer chapters on China, India, Japan, Korea, etc.
Places of interest (The Gobi Desert) and items worth exploring (The Tomb of Gengiz Kahn) are also covered.
While obviously game-oriented, the information in the text is solid and accurate – and it would make a great tool to get some schoolkids interested in history.

The booklet also includes game-oriented informations about languages and speaking them, new player options and skills, rules for kung fu and martial arts weapons, a selection of gentlemen’s clubs and slearned societies specializing (or based!) in the Far East, a selection of henchmen, helpers and other hanger-ons, and some new character templates – of which the Yeti Hunter is my favourite.

Leagues of Adventure is certainly the most exciting discovery, for me as a game master and a player, in the last months, and this small booklet covering one of my chief interests is absolutely great.
Now I’ll just have to find some gamers.