Steamforged Games Dark Souls RPG Book Bundle: Core Book, The Tome of Strange Beings, The Tome of Journeys, and GM Screen (4 Items)

This bundle includes the Dark Souls RPG core rulebook, which is a standalone game based on the 5e system, as well as the Tome of Strange beings, a manual of monsters, and a GM screen. One concern that I had was that this game has a reputation for having had a difficult launch. The initial book was said to have been riddled with typos. That is not the case with the book I received, which is clearly the updated reprint version. I was very pleased with this.The quality of the printed materials is very high. The books are beautiful. If you enjoy the Gothic Dark Fantasy aesthetic of the video games, you're probably going to love the look and feel of these books. I would have liked a ribbon in the core book at least, but other than that I have no complaints at all about the quality.I read through the rules very closely and I'm experienced with 5e. The rules will be familiar to 5e players but there are interesting adaptations to the system in order to evoke the tactical dungeon challenges of the video games. Hit Points are replaced with "Position", which describes both your resilience to damage and your tactical advantage. They are rerolled frequently and added to a base value determined by your choices in character generation. You can spend position to increase die rolls or trigger certain abilities. You might therefore use your position to obtain a crucial advantage or do something that doesn't pay off like you hoped and find yourself out of position. At 0 position you will be down and ready to reanimate at a nearby bonfire, just like in the video game.This is not a playtest review; I haven't gotten it to the table yet. I picked this one up due to my interest in the video games and I was not disappointed. There appears to be another book on the way, and lots of nice miniatures if you want to add those to your experience so the line seems well-supported. I'm very happy with my purchase; it also shipped out quickly and arrived in excellent shape. Highly recommended for fans of Dark Souls and tabletop RPGs.