So... Gen Con happened. To like, all of us. The annual gaming con held in Indianapolis brought “record breaking” numbers of fans through the convention center. Also, a few awards. Yours truly lost the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming to a truly excellent and deserving game, Coyote & Crow. Additionally Free League came away as a massive winner at this years’ ENnie awards with Vaesen snagging four medals across the night. Taking a minute to brag, but I got one myself for January’s D&D reporting.
Featured this week is Gila RPGs’ Reap, a solo RPG that uses tactical combat and narrative storytelling. There are stories within parts of the map that players can explore, as “pointcrawl exploration meets environmental storytelling as you uncover what has happened here,” according to a press release for the game.
Spencer Campbell explained why he decided to pursue more solo RPGs after releasing Rune in 2022. “Reap was a natural follow up,” Campbell said in the release. “The story of a lone necromancer lends itself perfectly to the system. However, I haven’t just repainted Rune with some blood and skulls. Reap may be built on the bones of Rune, but it has brought about some really cool changes that I’m excited for people to see.”
One of the tweaks from Rune to Reap is the combat, which allows for a more “fluid” and “soulslike experience.” Campbell describes a game where “spells take center stage, and fueling them with the components you reap from the corpses of your enemy gives you even more control over how you want to approach the game.”
