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Neverland |
| 2020-11-17 |
Neverland
You, the Gamemaster of this game, this is your Neverland. This is your world to shape and create. Your sandbox to play in. Your board upon which the pieces move. (...) It's time to tell your own tales of Pirates and Mermaids and children who fly.
Neverland is a beautiful book. Actually it's not limited to Neverland, it also describes the Land of Fairies, Elphame, where Queen Mab reigns. There are a few connections between the Island and Elphame, mostly at the discretion of the game master.
I did a jump to Wikipedia and it told me that "Queen Mab lives in Kensington Gardens and grants Peter Pan his wish to fly again", in The Little White Bird.
My favourite chapter of Neverland is chapter two "The Cast", which describes the denizens of Neverland and Elphame. The entries for the creatures living in Elphame are marked with red tree leaves to distinguish them. James Hook has two hundred hit points and an armour class of eighteen, he's proficient in "manipulation and deception through charm and civility". There are menhirs that are sentient rocks and can slam into you, and there are mermaids arrayed in alto, baritone, soprano, and tenor.
The cast follows roughly fifth edition rules, but "the information does not perfectly adhere to that system, so there's flexibility to adjust". That makes for compact stat blocks easily digested.
There are a few creatures that'll make the jump from that book to the mythical britain campaign we're currently leading, if Queen Mab lets them.
The Island is divided in twenty-four big hexes and each of those hexes gets its description in chapter three. An hex description sports an encounter table further broken into creature or NPC tables. There is an are effect table and a description of what happens at "Chime Hours" (6am / 6pm).
Special locations are further described in chapter five, "Resources". A nice collection of tables for (plot) hooks, encounters, loot, etc closes that fifth chapter.
The book's final chapter, the sixth, presents "Tales from Neverland" for further inspiration. It's followed by a "sketchbook" section presenting some pieces of the art in the book, but in their first iterations.
I came across this setting book via Questing Beast. I am not sure I'll run adventures in there, maybe in Elphame, but the book is wonderful, it's like being drawn immediately in there. It is so crisp. The cast / bestiary, as written above, is my favourite part, with the set of various tables a second.
Oh! England, my Lionheart / Peter Pan steals the kids in Kensington Park / You read me Shakespeare on the rolling Thames / That old river poet that never, ever ends / Our thumping hearts hold the ravens in / And keep the tower from tumbling
