Something Purple This Way Comes

So here are my meandering thoughts on The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, a campaign setting of weird science-fantasy that contains all manner of oddness and trouble. If the players aren't running from purple-stained crazy worshippers, they'll be hiding from deadly robots, or uncovering strange alien artefacts while dodging the destruction of a giant sea beast, or perhaps doing some old fashioned princess rescue missions to thwart an evil twisted sorcerer. In a nutshell its old-school hyper-active tacky goodness.

I first came across The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence a few weeks back when +Kiel Chenier posted his cartoon review. His review did a great job of highlighting some of its pros and cons but despite the low rating he awarded it I was curious and decided to read a few more reviews. The general gist is that its a super-charged sci-fi/fantasy mash-up that has over-the-top encounters waiting around every corner.

The provocative eye-catching cover shows the behind of who I believe to be Taarna from Heavy Metal which, well, lets cover the cover in more detail before we go on.

That Cover

There are very heated debates raging at present about the depiction of women in games and about equality across all genders. So into all this enters the cover of Purple, like some sort of smelly silent fart into a crowded elevator. The cover to me does two things:

1. Quips, "Look at this, aren't I an edgy kind of book?!"
2. Smugly nods, "Remember Heavy Metal? Yeah, that's what I'm going to play like."

A number of people however will likely look at it and think it's not very tasteful and be put off which is a shame considering the book itself has so much to offer. Had I come across this in a shop with no prior knowledge I'll admit I'd likely have skipped over it. My one personal issue with the cover however is that there's no title on the spine which is a frustration when it's on a shelf between other books.

Why Did I Buy It?

I've turned into something of a LotFP nut. I've got nothing but adoration for the style and theme of game play it channels, and my friends equally seem to be thoroughly enjoying themselves in the games that I've ran. I wanted however to try something new and have been looking at hex-crawls.

While both Carcosa and Isle of the Unknown tickled my fancy, the chances of me ever owning a copy of Carcosa are slim and the reviews of the Isle of the Unknown seemed to be a bit of a mixed bag so I was reluctant to splash out for it in my recent LotFP store purchase order. Purple however is currently a mere £11 on Amazon and, as I say, the reviews had been for the most part quite promising.

At the local club we have a 'long block' phase; eight weeks of a set game, determined by a voting night just before it starts. It's a great idea and its exposed me to some really cool games that I wouldn't ordinarily have had a chance to try out, as well as a large pool of players to tap into when I'm offering games.

One of the biggest issues I face when I GM during these blocks however is keeping a narrative paced so that it lasts bang on the 8 week mark. I've ran games where the players have blitzed through an 8 week planned plot arc in 3 sessions, while there's been others where I've had to rush the conclusion due to the players following up on other hooks. The idea of running a sandbox hex-crawl and allowing player's to set their own pace seems a quite promising alternative!

I imagine the pitch will be something like, "Think Conan the barbarian with random sci-fi stuff dropped in from time to time." along with a warning regarding the mature content and the kind of encounters its likely to generate.

So What's it Like?

One of the first things that caught my eye was the choice of tables. From determining random encounters through to a character's 'darker secrets', there's a lot on offer here and it certainly keeps things interesting from a GM's perspective. I think I may be a little in love with the magic sword table to boot but that's a separate matter to be studied at a later date.

Despite the cover art, the artwork inside is predominantly in the vein of 'that's some messed up looking evil right there'. The layout is straight forward: once the tables and background info on the inhabitants are out of the way, it moves onto listing what exists in each hex. There's an 'unusual items' list at the end but to be honest the majority are a little bit over-powered - yeah, I want them to be involved in a bizarre adventure but I don't want them feeling like they're superheroes.

A quote by +James Raggi rings true:

"RPG characters should be awestruck during an adventure, not awesome."

How Will I Run It?

I'm predicting that some of the players from previous LotFP sessions will fancy running their characters through this so I'm going to run with the idea that the islands are something that have always been there but no one's managed to explore properly (or at least return to tell the tale). The prince of the realm, keen to claim new land to prove his worth to the king, will be sending a ship to the islands with the intent to explore and set up a port.

While the characters will be used to civilised society (well, places like Pembrooktonshire), they'll stepping into what should come as a shocking land where the crazy dial has been turned to 11. The characters that make it back to the mainland will certainly not be the same though hopefully they'll have some great stories to tell.

I'll be putting a damper on some of the more sci-fi elements and instead hinting more at the possibility of alien life interfering with the island both in the past and the present. I will definitely however be utilising creations like Kaelsynda, the half spider high priestess who is worshipped as a minor goddess.

"The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence" is by +Venger Satanis and is available from Amazon and DriveThruRPG. Circle me (if you haven't already) for session write-ups and reviews!