The Grand Stair stretches behind the scenes of the multiverse, the Doors upon its unfathomably vast span leading the way to gossamer worlds of limitless variety and infinite possibility. While some Doors lead to cozy little realms and quaint pocket realities, others lead to a greater stage where whirling galaxies dance and distant stars twinkle, calling out from the far side of the void.
The Black is a realm of deep space exploration and adventure among the stars, filled with faster-than-light starships, bizarre alien races, and the intrigues of colonial fleets and galactic empires. This starry cosmos is grand and eternal, but things as we know it have changed—the Eidolon and Umbra are in dire flux, and the once-stable laws of time and space are bending, breaking, and letting impossibilities leak in through the cracks. Step in and hire the fastest ship you can, because the next Door is out there, somewhere far, far away.
Gossamer Worlds: The Black presents one of the infinite possibilities within Lords of Gossamer and Shadow by Jason Durall, powered by Erick Wujcik's Diceless Roleplaying.
Author: Matt Banach Cover Artist: Adrian Mark Gillespie Pages: 10
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This installment of the evocative Gossamer Worlds-series clocks in at 12 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, leaving us with 10 pages of content, so let’s take a look!
So what is The Black? The Black is a vast universe of thousands of high-scifi empires, galaxies-spanning confederations and empires, a realm where terra-forming and faster-than-light-travel are a dime a dozen among the civilized races; A realm where a powerful, immortal space-pharaoh has fleets of black pyramid-shaped ships at his beck and call, each of which can blast whole planets asunder. It is a realm where lobster-like xenobiologists and Nietzeschean centaur-like species abound, where a viral/fungoid psychic infection may depopulate whole planets.
It is a realm of infinite possibilities, only recently subject to the intrusion of the rare magic and teetering on the edge due to this influx – planets slowly plunging out of orbit, wobbling suns – something is distinctively wrong and when literally more than billions of minds far advanced beyond you and me set their minds to it, sooner or later, there *will* be an answer.
Whether it is the cult of those hapless people claiming that there was an original earth, the infections (including helpful guidelines for the DM) or the table is concerned – the Black is inspiring to the point where it can carry a lifetime of games regarding its concepts….I caught myself thinking rather often: “If only this were a full 300+ page setting…” – yeah, this is good.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to Rite Publishing’s beautiful 2-column full-color standard for LoGaS and the pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. Artwork consists of a blend of glorious full-color pieces that are absolutely gorgeous to behold.
Matt Banach’s The Black is definitely an inspired high-scifi setting – somewhere between Mass Effect and George R.R. Martin’s Thousand Worlds, the gossamer reality offer nigh limitless possibilities and writing-wise, is exceedingly inspired. That being said, it also suffers from the limitations imposed by the presentation – the sheer scope of The Black may be inspiring, but more often than not, I caught myself thinking that this deserves more detail – ships, tech, hazards, you name it: The frame is so inspiring you can create them yourself, yes, but still – this is a perfect candidate, where more quite simply would have been more: A 32 page gazetteer, a full-blown setting book –either would have been better to detail the vast scope of this colossal and evocative setting. The pdf left me wanting more – and that is a good thing. On the other side, though, there is so much touched upon that could use some closer inspection, it also left me with simply not enough – my final thought on the last page was “Oh, come on – I want more!” What I’m trying to say is that the scope of this gossamer world is too vast for such a small pdf and it suffers from it. My final verdict, hence, will “only” clock in at 4.5 stars, rounded down to 4 for the purpose of this platform.
(based on 1 rating)
