by Brant Guillory, 18 January 2024 ~ #UnboxingDay
Kickstarted last year, the Realms of Elghrune are a new RPG that’s not part of some old school revival or new-fangled open-source or apocalypse engine related game. It’s a custom design from some new kids on the block, and comes in an attractive, if slightly-cartoonish, half-sized box.
click images to enlarge
It’s not a packed-to-the-gills box. I did spring for an extra pad of character sheets to help the designers move some extra product, even though I could’ve easily printed some more out myself.
You get a rulebook, the first issue of their ‘zine, a bookmark, a d20, the character sheets, a sticker, and a packing slip.
It’s a well-illustrated rulebook, with easy-to-read text. Whoever did the graphic design on this did a tastefully-understated job. The perfect binding on the book is a little tight, though, so you’re not going to be laying this flat on the table to reference during the game. The rules are heavily dungeon-focused, but the worldbuilding explains the ‘why’ enough so that while it’s a little hokey, it at least fits into the overall ‘story’ of the world.
The ‘zine is mostly small adventures, focused on dungeon-running. The “boss” parts of each adventure of clearly video-game-inspired, but that’s pretty much most of the game.
The character pad will tell you that this isn’t a terribly complicated ruleset.
The packing slip includes a randomizer table. The bookmark is handy. The die is… well, it’s a basic d20. You’ve probably already got buckets of them, right?
One of the best endorsement quotes I’ve yet to see on a game box.
Thanks, Uncle Troy!
Thanks for joining this month’s #UnboxingDay with the Armchair Dragoons and we hope you enjoyed a look under our hoods! You can always leave us your feedback in our #UnboxingDay thread, or in the comment area on this article, below.
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The Armchair Dragoons with glee,
Unbox games for all to see.
With dice and cardboard so neat,
They strategize, can’t be beat,
In their world of tabletop glee!
