I’m quite a slow writer, and I’m not the biggest fan of these artificial “this is the time that we do the thing” sort of events. These are two of the reasons that I’ve never taken part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), though I appreciate that it’s worked for a lot of people.
This latest offer from Bundle of Holding appears to be a tie-in to NaNiWriMo. Deary me, that abbreviation is unsettling to type…
Tier 1
The idea of this bundle, is that the games contained therein can help you to develop plot, characters, setting, and the like. As is normal for bundles from Bundle of Holding, the books are split across two tiers. The first tier contains 4 items for a cost of $7.95:
I’m actually not familiar with any items in this bundle. The only one I’d heard of at all was Artefact, which a friend had once recommended to me. Artefact is a solo game, perhaps explaining why I have never tried it. I have firm views about people sitting and playing with themselves! The concept is pretty cool, though. It’s essentially an exercise in storytelling and worldbuilding as you track the progression of a single magical item as it winds its way through the ages. Tempted to grab this to try a bit of solo play, and perhaps even attempt a review.
Apothecaria is also a solo game, letting you play as a village witch as you brew potions for the locals. It’s a journaling game. I don’t completely know what that means, but if I’m thinking along the right lines, then it will be a fantastic writing prompt, albeit on a very specific theme. Again, I’m tempted to give this a go out of sheer curiosity.
The remaining two games in this tier, Epitaph and Mappa Imperium, are not solo games. I was starting to assume that all the games would be solo. As a writing tool, Epitaph is all about character development. You start at the character’s death and work backward, filling out the events that shaped them until you have developed a backstory that hopefully describes a well-rounded character with motivations and reasons for what they became over time.
Unlike other titles in this tier, Mappa Imperium can be obtained for free. It’s priced at pay-what-you-wish. Of course, in any such situation, I would suggest at least giving something to the creator, and I hope that a share of the bundle proceeds will go to them as well. Mappa Imperium is interesting. It sees each player develop a portion of a world map and then play on it, taking on the roles of different factions and kingdoms, and leading them to glory, or to ruin. I like this sort of collaborative storytelling.
I’ll be honest. When I started looking at this bundle, I wasn’t sure that it was going to interest me. I just don’t care about NaNoWriMo (and I actively dislike typing that series of letters) but these games actually seem really cool.
Tier 2
The second tier contains another selection of 4 items (well, actually 5, but we’ll get to that in a bit). The price is set on a threshold. At the time of writing, this threshold is set at $23.60, and that will also get you all of the content from the first tier. The contents of the second tier are:
Like Apothecaria, The Magus is a solo journalling game. This game seems somewhat less amiable than Apothecaria, however. Whereas that game is all about being a local witch and helping the villagers, The Magus sees you engage in a story of ambition, the pursuit of power, and mastery of your arcane craft. It promises a ‘crunchy’ (rules-heavy) experience. I’ll be honest, I think Apothecaria is more my sort of thing.
If The Magus was comparable to Apothecaria, then Bucket of Bolts is definitely comparable to Artefact. Where Artefact tracks the progression of a magical item, Bucket of Bolts does the same with a starship. Unsurprisingly, given this similarity, both Bucket of Bolts and Artefact come from the same writer, Jack Harrison. Of the two concepts, I actually think I prefer Bucket of Bolts. There’s something really cool about the idea of a starship, passed from owner to owner, with a storied history of which the current owner may not even be fully aware.
Back Again From the Broken Land is a PbtA game, meaning that it’s based on a popular, pre-existing engine that has been proven to have a lot of flexibility. The concept is really interesting. Imagine the four wee Hobbits walking back to the Shire at the end of The Lord of the Rings, sharing stories and telling each other of their adventures. That’s what this game is. It’s just a nice, collaborative storytelling game. I think you’d need the right group to really make this sing, but once you had that, you’re golden.
The final item is actually two items (I told you we’d get to it), both of which are expansions for Apothecaria. Yeah, fine. Okay. They seem to add a lot of new content. I just think I’d need to really get into Apothecaria and see that I enjoy it before I’d get particularly excited for the expansions, you know?
Final Thoughts
Is the bundle worth it?
I went in thinking that it would not be a good purchase for me. I genuinely expected these game, especially the solo ones, to be really uninteresting to me. I think I might have been wrong, though. Most of the bundle actually seems really cool.
I do have three favourite items from the bundle. One is from tier 2 and the others are from tier 1. If you’ve read the rest of the post, these should come as no surprise:
I’m probably most interested in Bucket of Bolt. The sci-fi theme puts it ahead of Artefact for me. Apothecaria is a close second. I’ve never tried a journalling game before, and this one has grabbed my attention. Finally, I love the idea of Mappa Imperium. Collaborative mapping, combined with playing out the fates of different kingdoms? Sign me up.
I do think that this bundle is worth the asking price. I think tier 1 is slightly stronger than tier 2, but the second tier does contain my favourite item, so it balances out for me.
You can click here to visit the Bundle of Holding page for this bundle.
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