Staff Pick (January12): Guilded Age Volume 1 TP

Publisher: Guilded Age
Item Code: JAN121144
SRP: $19.99
PREVIEWS Page #306
In Shops: 3/7/2012

Over the decades, the realm of Gastonia has done what humans do best: expand, invent, and outsource. A strict class structure leaves the money and the clout to a select few families.  The church hierarchy takes the side of rich oppressors. Wizards are wrecking the kobold pelt market, while budding inventors find ways to live without magic and to piss off Elves. The current system stifles the small business man — in this case, the solo adventurer.  What’s an unemployed team of butt-kickers to do in such hard times? Get a government job, band together, and represent Gastonian interests at the point of a sword, if necessary!

Guilded Age is more than just some World of WarCraft pun. T Campbell, Erica Henderson, and Phil Kahn have padded their world with just enough of the standard roleplaying tropes to make their characters immediately identifiable and welcoming.  Elves and gnomes, thieves and meat shields—all present and accounted for.  Once the reader settles in, the story takes a sharp turn off into uncharted territory!

~ Sarah Martinez