Author: Matt Banach; Cover Artist: Trung Ta Ha; Supplement for the Lords of Gossamer & Shadow (Jason Durall) from Rite Publishing; System: Erick Wujcik’s Diceless Role-Playing
Price: $1.49
Brokeworld is where everything we have ever discarded goes and where the universe’s constant decay is manifested inexorably. This product describes a plane in the Lords of Gossamer & Shadow game setting, using the Diceless rpg system.
Digital Content/Appearance: 6 pages – 1 cover page, 1 titles page (credits, logos), 4 pages of content with one graphic (a reprint of the cover) and one chart that fits this supplement into the Lords of Gossamer and Shadow setting.
The layout is very pleasant. The 5 content pages are mostly two-column justified with a purple (mauve? lavender?) top-down fade border, visually easy on the eyes.
The graphic, used for the cover and again as a half-page inside, is imaginative and evocative.
The content is absolutely great. The concept is an excellent one and the descriptions are very illustrative and inspirational. Banach uses a nice narrative flow that reminds me of Planscape while being something I could still follow (whereas Planescape descended into jargon and phonetic idiolect). He references a couple of creatures (or creature types), a bit about the nature of the portals and a bit of descriptive geography, wrapping up with a little adventure seeding. This product may be specific to the Diceless system and the Gossamer setting but I really feel that the content is adaptable to other systems and settings. I very much look forward to knocking together my own random encounter tables and using Brokeworld for a side quest in my Pathfinder campaign.
There was only one typo that I could find. I also found the big primary portal onto the plane to be a little difficult to visualize; I felt that it seemed small and low for a portal that drew detritus from everywhere in all the universes and slowly filled this place up.
I highly recommend this purchase. It is very affordable and easy to bundle with a couple of other digital downloads a GM might make and it is a nice, mid-length read. If your party goes to three or more random planes, Brokeworld should be one of them. Any environment that is reminiscent of urban decay or rot or discarded uselessness needs this short supplement to help flesh out its details.
