History is the new, all-Italian project that will aim to insert a world full of anthropomorphized animals into the Fifth Edition, ready to conquer the hearts of the players through OGL. We talked about it earlier in this article on day 1 of the launch of the loan.
The project, which is leading to funding for History, born from the collaboration between Mirko Failoni (Illustrator for Age of Sigmar, Vampires the Masquerade etc), Michael Paroli (founder of Mana Project Studio and author of Journey to Ragnarok) is Matthew Pedroni (designer of Journey to Ragnarok etc).
Why is this project so important?
Se Journey to Ragnarok (we talked about it here) was a stepping stone for the Mana Project Studio, History it will be the real test bench that can confirm the qualitative aspect of the future projects of these guys.
The international and non-international collaborations that will arise during this Kickstarter will make it possible to give these world creators an even more authoritative voice.
But let's analyze the quickstart which released during the early stages of the funding campaign.
What does the Historia quickstart look like?
I just got to browse the quickstart, released during the Kickstarter campaign. I was surprised how good it was layout and by the choice of arabesques ornamental elements of the page, which strongly recall the Renaissance themes.
The manual begins with a rundown on the geography of the world and then present us with the map of Historia.
Here I have not understood why, in a quickstart in English, the map it appears to be written in Italian language. Oversight? Forgetfulness? Honestly, I hope they can correct everything so as to favor any interested in the language of the Albionian lands and beyond.
Breeds and Classes in History
After the story we find a small tracking shot on the families (familye) playable and other races, divided into terrestrial and avian races. Each family has other "subraces" that modify some characteristics and make their character more characterizable.
This is where we begin to see an interesting innovation that will help players during their games: theanimal instinct that characterizes them. This will help, in my opinion, the players to deepen certain themes and give depth to the characters.
The classes, or rather, the professions in History, reflect in everything and for the whole world of the Middle Ages. We find the Alchemist, the Merchant, the Flagellant (mortified, or at least I would translate it like this) and many others. The perception I had of the classes is that some of them, when combined with others, are very, very strong. But there will certainly be time to "correct" the shot!
Fame, careers, “Ventura” and optional rules in Historia
Another interesting paragraph is the one dealing with the development of career of a character linked to his fame and his exploits. In fact, relationships change with the growth of adventures and actions, more or less heroic, which are carried out.
Le wounds, in a world where gunpowder exists, they are serious and can make even the greatest leader fearful. They can cripple the character, disfigure him and even give some additional narrative inspiration. But there are not only “negative” rules. There is also the moment of the heroes and how, when you are in a situation congenial to your "I" or to your experience, you can have and spend additional dice to perform deeds worthy of you, a hero.
The "Ventura”And the optional rules, which have been mentioned in this quickstart, give the characters and adventures a depth that has already been tried in the past in the game of D&D. For my part, let's face it, with little success, having always found people more related to the bucket of dice rather than to roll.
Conclusions
Without a doubt, the manual gives those who read it a broad vision of the world of History, as well as the adventure in the last pages of the quickstart.
As always happens, when a product has to come out with a certain rapidity, the quickstart of History it is not free from errors. Perfection is impossible, everyone knows it, but I have great faith in the group. I also had the opportunity to talk to the guys from Mana Project Studio and point out some inaccuracies myself, which will be corrected by updating the quickstart itself.
Now all we have to do is wait for it funding campaign terms to understand which others stretch goal they will unlock. Fortunately, the money to give birth to this new world full of pets has already been raised.
