Bastion Ein Sof review

Oh yeah, Bastion Ein Sof! I haven't heard a peep about this around on the interwebs. It's a setting for Into the Odd, taking place after the apocalyptic destruction of Bastion. There are some other post-apocalyptic Into the Odd hacks, but this is distinctly less Mad Max and more weirdly metaphysical.

The remnants of humanity crouch in the shadows of Giants, beings which cannot be directly seen. The Angels and their minions cannot come into the shadows, and so there humanity is safe. But the Giants are vulnerable to the machinations of the Angels, and require tribute to continue to provide shelter, to stand still. Humans must tithe silver, Angel blood, or their own flesh to the Giants.

It's evocative and creepy. The Angels can be wounded and can change form, sometimes turning into Oddities or Arcanum, which Ein Sof dubs 'Daemons.' Daemons can, when destroyed, turn back into Angels, so you have a built-in risk/reward for arcanum.

The setting is mythic - the Angels Destroyed Bastion, and the Giants came to save us. The Giants Destroyed Bastion to save us from ourselves. Angels can turn into Giants, PCs can be Angels somehow rendered mortal and able to entire Bastion. The setting is amorphous, shifting, unclear, rumor, like how the crystal of fact would shatter or cloud, after an apocalypse.

The setting is not perfect - in its current form there are a few mechanical things I'm not totally clear on, or that the author wanted to leave up to the DM or the table. You owe the giants a tithe at the end of every session, so in theory you're returning from your expedition. It's not clear, the book states "At the end of every session, you must cross the gates of Heaven" and that this is when sacrifice is made. If not made, the Giant may, based on a 2d6 roll, inflict harm upon the humans in its shadow.

So the gates of Heaven are not described, but I think that's easy enough to envision or hack. I run short sessions so I'd probably have an expedition take 2 and have this happen on the PC's return.

The other strange quibble is how gear purchases are made - to create a character, you get random equipment from a d66 chart, but this random equipment system is suggested as the way characters buy anything at any time. It's odd and not elaborated upon. You have an equal chance of getting a fine weapon, a Daemon, a normal weapon, a drum, a dog, a ferret, a fine hat... So, I can see some players being into this weird shop selling random unknown things like something out of The Legend of Zelda, but I can equally imagine people being annoyed. Still, it's not hard to just use the equipment prices from Into the Odd here.

Oh, there is a third quibble - there is no PDF of this. It only costs four quid plus postage from the UK, which is not insane, but I cannot imagine a PDF would hurt. The book is also quite small, so the fonts are a little small, especially the tables. A PDF could ameliorate that.

The setting slightly hacks damage rules - you only need a d6 for damage rolls, which range from 1d3, d6, d6+2, and then to 2d6 for heavy weapons. I'm fond of this, the game is built to only need a d20 and a d6, as all the random tables follow Chris' Small Tables approach.

Characters have a failed career from a d66 table, and a question - generally telling us, via the question, about the job, and letting the players add some person linking them to the setting or to another character. The book suggests that one should think of what the backgrounds mean and perhaps even ask the players for setting information related to their profession, which one can take or leave at one's preference. Either way the backgrounds are useful for imagining the world.

So the 26 page book, slightly larger than a Field Notes pocket notebook, has principles for running the game, character creation rules, Daemons, Angels with examples and a table of what they turn into when wounded, Giants and examples and their Tribute, and an example adventure with random encounters and some detailed locations. There's a 1d6 reaction roll and some small random tables for giants/angels and their domain, and some locations. For an ashcan edition, it feels like plenty thanks to how much is implied, for me.

Overall it is fantastic for four quid. If you're interested in an apocalypse which concerns itself with shadow-walled cities and evil Angels at the border, Bastion Ein Sof is what you need.