Alright. Thanks a lot. I picked your system because I was looking for a way to play "Lorn Song of the Bachelor." I realized that you are already playing the adventure and have written a play report about it on your blog. I was astonished! I'm reading your report with interest (and I'm asking if it'd be possible to somehow get the stat blocks for the NPC´s you used? That would be great!)
Haha thanks for the interest in my play reports! I enjoy writing those out.
My stat conversions are written on the actual zine that I printed out. I do need to sit down and type it out (maybe even submit it to the Cairn website). Maybe sometime this week.
I kinda didn't go 100% accurate with the conversion. I mostly ran with the vibes, sometimes I ignore immunities (like for immunity to mundane weapons, I just turn attacks into impaired), etc. I went with what made sense in my head so I don't know if the conversion is any good. Works for me though!
Also I just want to inform you that I use an unreleased updated version of Mangayaw for that campaign. This is sort of a playtest of it so I can iron out some kinks before I release it.
This reminds me a lot of yoon-suin, but with a more specific setting. I love settings that are not traditional fantasy, but I can't ever seem to get others to play in those worlds.
Regardless, thanks for your hardwork in bringing another culture to life in the RPG space!
I'm happy someone other than me would want to run my game or play in my world. I'm trying to work on adventures and modules, so I can flesh out more of this setting. Thank you for the nice comment!!
Kudos on the release! Reminds me of a more expanded version of Adventures in the Hundred Kingdoms. And I meant that in a good way. Will take this for a spin. Padayon!
Mangayaw is a serious and substantial Cairn-based adventure rpg.
The PDF is 30 pages with a clean, well-organized layout and some nice atmospheric illustrations. The cover in particular is super evocative and fun, and it's a great tone-setter for the osr feel of the book.
Contents wise, Mangayaw's setting is based on the colonial era of the Phillipines. Players work together to navigate a hostile and supernatural chain of islands, torn by factional conflict and invaders.
In terms of support for the GM and players, there's a *lot.* There's detailed guides on how to play the game, what to expect, the designer's intentions, safety tools, and it's all frontloaded. There's also a robust guide to the setting---its factions and cultures and metaphysics---and a corresponding bestiary.
The game wants to feel lethal and meaningful, with no character being invincible, and no character particularly wanting to die. And it definitely achieves this goal. It also feels a grim and messy, as appropriate for any colonial era.
By default it deals with heavy themes that it doesn't want to handwave as 'just part of adventuring.'
Mechanically, Mangayaw's engine is going to feel pretty familiar to anyone who's played osr before. You have three stats to roll on, rations and resources to track, ancestries and backgrounds, armor and magic.
However, there's a little more complexity here than something like Into The Odd. Weapons have a lot of potential traits that change how they function, giving everything its own niche. Ships are important for travel between islands, and have their own detailed statlines. Inventory is capped at 10, and there are status effects such as Fatigue that can block those slots Mausritter style.
Combat cares about positioning, and features AoE attacks---although most attacks will be of the standard single target roll to hit variety. Combat also revolves around relatively low amounts of HP that's easy to recover, and there's lasting changes to your character if you take lethal damage and survive.
Magic uses a neat keyword system, where each keyword has a set of spells associated with it and once you've learned all of them you can develop new spells. Casting spells is powerful---it just works---but the tradeoff is that it imposes status effects on you, such as the Fatigue mentioned above.
Non-casting characters can use mentala, anting-anting, oils, and other consumables to get spell-like effects without needing to carry a sorcerer around. These are part of an extensive list of equipment that the book provides, and they're all varied and flavorful.
Mangayaw's game-loop isn't purely focused on adventuring, and there are mechanics for building and upgrading a community. There's also rules for followers, foraging, hexcrawling, and quite a bit of strategic meat on the lightweight system.
Overall, if you're looking for a serious-toned fantasy adventure game with osr sensibilities, that's easy to learn and teach, and that has a really solid structure, this should be in your game library. It's got a ton of content. Everything in it is clearly explained. And it feels more grounded than fanciful. If anything I've said here interests you, check it out.
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I´m very interested and want to try this game. Please, can you tell me how many words a Hiwaga wizard can start the game with?
Just 1! Having more at the start would be a bit too much.
Alright. Thanks a lot. I picked your system because I was looking for a way to play "Lorn Song of the Bachelor." I realized that you are already playing the adventure and have written a play report about it on your blog. I was astonished! I'm reading your report with interest (and I'm asking if it'd be possible to somehow get the stat blocks for the NPC´s you used? That would be great!)
Haha thanks for the interest in my play reports! I enjoy writing those out.
My stat conversions are written on the actual zine that I printed out. I do need to sit down and type it out (maybe even submit it to the Cairn website). Maybe sometime this week.
I kinda didn't go 100% accurate with the conversion. I mostly ran with the vibes, sometimes I ignore immunities (like for immunity to mundane weapons, I just turn attacks into impaired), etc. I went with what made sense in my head so I don't know if the conversion is any good. Works for me though!
Also I just want to inform you that I use an unreleased updated version of Mangayaw for that campaign. This is sort of a playtest of it so I can iron out some kinks before I release it.
Thanks for your answer. I´m looking forward for your game.
Hey Aaron, I posted my Lorn Song conversion on my blog https://goobernutsblog.wordpress.com/2023/08/23/lorn-song-of-the-bachelor-cairn-...
dope game w
I freaking love this game and the setting is so gooooood!!!
Thanks!! I dunno if you noticed, but your name is in the acknowledgements! Gotta love Lilliputian
whoa! I had not seen that! I am so honored that you would list me there and am extremely humbled to be listed next to some of those other names!
This reminds me a lot of yoon-suin, but with a more specific setting. I love settings that are not traditional fantasy, but I can't ever seem to get others to play in those worlds.
Regardless, thanks for your hardwork in bringing another culture to life in the RPG space!
I'm happy someone other than me would want to run my game or play in my world. I'm trying to work on adventures and modules, so I can flesh out more of this setting. Thank you for the nice comment!!
Kudos on the release! Reminds me of a more expanded version of Adventures in the Hundred Kingdoms. And I meant that in a good way. Will take this for a spin. Padayon!
thank you!!
Mangayaw is a serious and substantial Cairn-based adventure rpg.
The PDF is 30 pages with a clean, well-organized layout and some nice atmospheric illustrations. The cover in particular is super evocative and fun, and it's a great tone-setter for the osr feel of the book.
Contents wise, Mangayaw's setting is based on the colonial era of the Phillipines. Players work together to navigate a hostile and supernatural chain of islands, torn by factional conflict and invaders.
In terms of support for the GM and players, there's a *lot.* There's detailed guides on how to play the game, what to expect, the designer's intentions, safety tools, and it's all frontloaded. There's also a robust guide to the setting---its factions and cultures and metaphysics---and a corresponding bestiary.
The game wants to feel lethal and meaningful, with no character being invincible, and no character particularly wanting to die. And it definitely achieves this goal. It also feels a grim and messy, as appropriate for any colonial era.
By default it deals with heavy themes that it doesn't want to handwave as 'just part of adventuring.'
Mechanically, Mangayaw's engine is going to feel pretty familiar to anyone who's played osr before. You have three stats to roll on, rations and resources to track, ancestries and backgrounds, armor and magic.
However, there's a little more complexity here than something like Into The Odd. Weapons have a lot of potential traits that change how they function, giving everything its own niche. Ships are important for travel between islands, and have their own detailed statlines. Inventory is capped at 10, and there are status effects such as Fatigue that can block those slots Mausritter style.
Combat cares about positioning, and features AoE attacks---although most attacks will be of the standard single target roll to hit variety. Combat also revolves around relatively low amounts of HP that's easy to recover, and there's lasting changes to your character if you take lethal damage and survive.
Magic uses a neat keyword system, where each keyword has a set of spells associated with it and once you've learned all of them you can develop new spells. Casting spells is powerful---it just works---but the tradeoff is that it imposes status effects on you, such as the Fatigue mentioned above.
Non-casting characters can use mentala, anting-anting, oils, and other consumables to get spell-like effects without needing to carry a sorcerer around. These are part of an extensive list of equipment that the book provides, and they're all varied and flavorful.
Mangayaw's game-loop isn't purely focused on adventuring, and there are mechanics for building and upgrading a community. There's also rules for followers, foraging, hexcrawling, and quite a bit of strategic meat on the lightweight system.
Overall, if you're looking for a serious-toned fantasy adventure game with osr sensibilities, that's easy to learn and teach, and that has a really solid structure, this should be in your game library. It's got a ton of content. Everything in it is clearly explained. And it feels more grounded than fanciful. If anything I've said here interests you, check it out.
thank you so much for the review!!
Thank you for designing the game!
The game is chock-full of content and lore to paint a vibrant world to play in. It's also easy to see the love and research that went into this RPG!
aaaa thank you!!