The Midderlands

"A green-hued - dark fantasy, old-school mini-setting and bestiary set in a twisted middle-England." Nominated for Best Cartography among this year's ENnies, The Midderlands is a sweet little (green) gem that fits perfectly in the palm of my hand and into my OSR collection. It is quirky and original and oh so beautifully rendered in a book that is art itself. I came late to the Midlands party and picked up digital copies of the work after reading good stuff about it. I soon began my journey reading and studying this fantastic place, part fairy tale, part nightmare, written by Glynn Seal, Edwin Nagy and Mark Nolan and started mining it for ideas. There are so many good ones, that I quickly began thinking how I could just run their version whole (I never do that).

The Midderlands was released last year and received such a good reception in the hobby community online that this year when a campaign to fund publication of a follow-on book, The Midlands Expansion, gave me the chance to get the printed bundle of green-hued goodness, I delightfully placed my order. I now have the original volume as well as the expansion, color maps and referee screen. Written using Swords & Wizardry as the default system, The Midderlands material works well with White Box or any of the OSR simulacrum.

Everything about The Midlands breathes a rich (green) atmosphere. This is the kind of game product that keeps on giving. It is inspiring to read and look at. It is filled with details that beg to be borrowed and used in one's own campaign setting and it is complete and integrated and full of random (table) surprises so as to never grow stale even if used straight out of the book. The Midderlands is representative of what the OSR does in SPADES. Creativity dialed to eleven.