The newest Gossamer World to hit the stores is the mini source book on Stratospheria. Its full title being Gossamer Worlds: Stratospheria. It has been written by Matt Banach and looks at the introduction of a world that is populated by airborne cities that circulate around a super large planet with crushing gravity completely inhospitable by regular beings.
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| Such beautiful artwork… |
Let me start with the quality of the writing in this booklet. It is fantastic! I read the booklet and it read more like a novel than a source book. The stories and possibilities that arise through the text are evocative and descriptive. I just loved the idea of a floating city world but this does so much more and packs the entire booklet from the first page with ideas that would make this a fun setting to run the game in.
The idea of the planet below is largely glossed over for many pages but then there is a small paragraph in the booklet that reveals a possibility of what is on the planet that made me appreciate this little booklet tenfold! Am I going to reveal it? Hell no! Buy it and find it out for yourself.
The beauty of these booklets that are coming out for the Gossamer worlds is they are cheap $1.49 (USD) and made for the game Lords of Gossamer and Shadow but can be used for any suitable system. I can see myself using this booklet for Traveller in the very near future! Sure, there are probably a few bits and pieces that are Lords of Gossamer and Shadow specific but the overall feel of the worlds can be transferred while ignoring those components. For example, there is only one page in this booklet that has anything listed that is mechanically related to the game (great thing about a diceless system). Alternatively it may open up the urge to investigate the game of Lords of Gossamer and Shadow as well and if that happens, pursue the feeling. You will not be disappointed.
The artwork inside this booklet is phenomenal. In reality I am a very shallow human being that is easily pleased by a pretty picture and Rite Publishing’s Steve Russell taunted me in the lead up to this products release with some of the most lush pictures of this world. The layout is great and fits with the theme of all of the books so far and makes for easy reading. Great work as always by the people that work on both of these portions.
In short, I can not find a reason to dislike this book. I try to be thorough and I believe I have here and come up with nothing but love for this setting. Once you have finished this paragraph GO BUY IT. Use the link at the top of the page to get it from DriveThruRPG, or one of the ads linking there to the side. Just go buy it! It really is that good. Five out of Five drops to the planetary surface! Are you still reading? Go buy it! And remember Don’t keep rolling (with Lords of Gossamer and Shadow at least)!