We’re off to the desert in this vaguely Middle Eastern inspired issue of Cursed Scroll.  Again we have three new classes, some new monsters, and some new rules, as well as a hex-crawl map and an adventure to plug into it.  Pit fighting, mounts, and enduring wounds are some of the big new rules I can imagine folks being into.

There are another three new classes.  First up is the Desert Rider, a mounted warrior type.  Then there’s the Pit-Fighter, which is pretty much what you’d expect it to be.  And finally, there’s the Ras-Godai, which is something between the Ḥashshāshīyīn of Persia and a fantastical East Asian masked warrior.  Like with the previous issue’s new classes, I think I would allow players to gain access to them after they’ve reached a certain level with the core character classes.  I’m also not sure how well the Desert Rider would work outside of the provided hex-crawl setting.  Even though the Ras-Godai are deeply connected to the setting, I could definitely see this class being used in a sort of fish-out-of-water story, where perhaps a new temple has been built in secrecy somewhere in your game’s region.

Pit fighting, gladiatorial combat, or in a more contemporary form, boxing and wrestling, is something that has never really been my jam.  It’s a pretty common subject in Fantasy RPGs (and a fair few in other genre), but just does nothing for me at all.  However, for those who are into it, the rules look fine.  The lasting wounds and poison rules seem pretty cool, though.  And I can imagine having some guidance for using mounts will come in handy.

Like the Gloaming in the previous issue, the hex-crawl map of The Djurum gives you a bunch of brief, but evocative locations, plenty of room to add your own stuff, and an adventure, Fortress of the Burning Brothers, to plug in.  This adventure deals with two Efreeti brothers who are trying to kill each other, a dwarven fortress and mine with tons of lava and fire, and a bunch of salamander guards to fight or sneak around.  I could definitely see pulling a Red Harvest/“Fistful of Dollars” situation here, playing the two Efreeti and their crews against each other.

If you’re into ShadowDark or other similar games and you’re looking for this sort of material, definitely check it out.

You can see my unboxing here.

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