Fixi Novo. This publisher has its own manifesto!

When I go to the bookstores, I sometimes scroll through books by Malaysian writers. One publisher's books however caught my attention. After reading a first few pages, I had a feeling that I am going to like that publisher's books. Check out the Malaysian publishing company Fixi Novo's manifesto!

 

I LOLed after reading this. So, I bought one of their books. "Love in Penang" sounded fantastic because, as you should already know by now, I love Penang. This book turned out to be a collection of short stories by various writers; for RM20 only, its a real good bargain. 

Full review forthcoming!

Windhammer 2014 Review: Archipelago of Omens

Last year, I submitted an entry that had a problem of rules being too complicated. This year, as if by providence, an entry appears to show me how a gamebook with complex rules system would look like if done properly.  Archipelago of Omens is an entry where the rules don't complement the reading experience because they are the reading experience. 

The story revolves around a two deity lovers who were separated and only by uniting them can the world be saved. You get to play as characters in 3 different time periods to accomplish that mission. The story was plain and simple. Playing different characters just gives you different rules to toy with. I was hoping that somehow finishing a story with a character in an earlier time period will change the story for the other characters if I replayed.

The rules was where the game truly won me over. However, having to swallow 5 pages of rules and 3 pages of appendix was very off-putting at first. But once I start playing, slowly with plenty of page flipping, I managed to get the hang of the rules and boy it was fun! Very quickly, I forgot what the story was about and obsessed over every new item, weapon, and armor I got. However, I can foresee that this will not suit everyone's taste. I only find it enjoyable because I am a fan of tabletop RPGs and this type of game was just my cup of tea.

Complex rules eh? My munchkin senses are tingling

Despite the rules being its strongest selling point. It had a few minor weaknesses. The armor system was kinda confusing, the crafting rules did not clarify what counts as safe location, and the random encounter table sometimes coughed out enemies that were not in the same time period as my character.

Overall, this was a fun game but it will only be so for people who like pen and paper RPGs. In my opinion, complex rules works best when combined with an open world. So perhaps with less railroading and a nice map, this game will be solid. However, to make this game fun for the general public, the author must answer this question: "If I liked games like this, why am I not clicking away on Diablo 3 or World of Warcraft instead?"