Another Bundle - Equinox
Mar. 21st, 2022 06:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ffutureshttps://bundleofholding.com/presents/Equinox
This Equinox Bundle offer presents Equinox, a fantasy setting from Vagrant Workshop of magic and mysticism in a war-ravaged dark future. Equinox is about action, intrigue, and mystical powers in the far future. Equinox conjures a Sol System thousands of years from now, long after humanity "managed to tame the Mayan-predicted mystic cycles that brought magic to their homeworld and colonies." In the Great Netherwar, demons from beyond the Veil attacked and destroyed Earth. Now, a century later, humanity has constructed the great Gateway Station, a giant ring structure that tames the shattered remains of Earth. The Earth Belt is a portal to astral space and the far-flung worlds of the Consortium.
Beyond the Belt, Sol is a lawless place, a hive of misfits, lowlifes, refugees, pirates, and mystics. You are one of these restless outcast "Vagrants" who seek freedom in the void. Hiding in magically maintained bases on asteroids and space stations, scraping by on the fringes of society, you rebel against the corrupt and oppressive Consortium. Ride hybrid ships through astral space -- wield awesome mystic powers, nethertech relics, and cutting-edge technology -- fight the nightmare monsters that invaded the universe -- oppose the fascist Consortium -- and explore space beyond the Veil.
Equinox debuted as a system-free 216-page setting guide (2012) that works with any universal rules set of your choice. Vagrant Workshop followed with not one but two separate rulebooks for the setting -- both included in this offer. The full-featured 282-page Equinox Match System Guide (2014) supports detailed games of larger-than-life characters with high-tech equipment and extremely powerful mystical abilities. Your character's six Attribute ratings determine the number of six-sided dice you roll in Tests; the roll is Attribute + Skill versus an opponent or a fixed target number. Matches (three or more dice showing the same result) and Mishaps (three or more dice showing a 1) influence outcomes; skills increase Match effects. You can take a Risk to increase all Match and Mishaps sizes by one, or use Caution to decrease sizes. Face-Offs let you condense longer encounters into a single roll by making bets and calls as in poker.
The rules-light Storygame Guide (2015) gives Equinox players a simple story-oriented rules set -- a lightweight alternative to the Match System. Based on FU: The Free, Universal RPG, a stupefyingly simple game engine by Nathan Russell, the Storygame Guide lets you create, with minimal prep, exciting stories about powerful mystics in a war-ravaged dark future. The system is suitable for conventions, short campaigns, and quick pick-up games.
This all-new Equinox Bundle presents the Equinox Setting, Match System, and Storygame Guides plus all their sourcebooks and adventures -- everything you need for high-tech spacefaring fantasy. We provide each title complete in .PDF. Like all Bundle of Holding titles, these ebooks have NO DRM (Digital Restrictions Management), and our customers are entitled to move them freely among all their devices.
Ten percent of each purchase (after gateway fees) goes to this offer's pandemic-related charity, Direct Relief. Direct Relief sends protective gear and critical care medications to health workers, with emergency deliveries to medical facilities across the US and to regional response agencies across the world.
The total retail value of the titles in this offer is US$110. Customers who pay just US$12.95 get all three titles in our Core Collection (retail value $50) as DRM-free ebooks, including the complete system-agnostic Equinox Setting Guide (retail price $20), plus its free Quickstart Set, along with two standalone rulebooks that take different approaches to the setting: the full-featured Match System Guide (retail $15) and the rules-light Storygame Guide (retail $15).
Those who pay more than the threshold (average) price, which is set at $24.95 to start, also get our entire Bonus Collection with six more supplements and adventures (retail $10 apiece) worth an additional $60, including the Elite Paths character rules expansion, the location sourcebooks Gateway and the Protectorate and The Pirate's Guide, the adventures Fellos Shard and Patient Zero, and the aptly named supplement Bits & Pieces.
This looks like an interesting idea, especially since there seems to be more than one theme to the setting - you aren't necessarily locked in to "fighting the demons" as the only style of play. There's a lot of it for your money, and while I haven't had time to study it in detail what I've seen looks well-presented and playable. But I should mention (and I'm sorry I often forget to!) that I get this free, if you're paying for it your mileage may vary.
