Saturday, July 19, 2014

Adventures in the East Mark Red Box

Adventures in the East Mark (AitEM from now on) is a retroclone of D&D Red Box (Mentzer) that was originally published in Spain under the name Aventuras en la Marca del Este translated and distributed by Extra-Dimensional Publishing thanks to a successful kickstarter campaingUnlike Mentzer's Red Box that cover only 3 levels AitEM human characters can get up to 20 levels with the rules presented in the box set. Also aside from the iconic classes (Warrior, Mages, Clerics, Thieves, Elves, Dwarves and Halfling) AitEM separate Paladins from the Warrior and include a non-magical Ranger called the Explorer.


The system is as simple as Dungeons and Dragons can get. Here you will not find rules for mass combat, strongholds, skills or proficiencies. Those will be available in the Green Box (in Spain AitEM have 4 box sets, the Red one with the basic rules, the blue one that includes the setting, the green box with advance rules and additional classes and the black box consisting of a full campaign). Here you will find the rules of combat and exploration, aquatic and air combat, equipment list, up to 9 levels of spells for those capable of casting magic, over 60 monster, a brief summary of the East Mark and Robleda (the main city of the setting) and 2 introductory adventures.


The production value of the Red Box is outstanding. Inside the box you will find the rules (in beautiful color), a set of  dice, a crayon and a Judge's screen with all the necessary tables, some of them on the side the players, like saving throws, since that information is useful to them. If there is one complain about the book is that sometimes you can tell that the book is the product is a translation with the occasional wonky sentence here and there but is not as bad as other translated games.


Finally if physical products are not your thing or are having trouble getting hold of a print copy you can download the demo at DrivethruRPG or the full rules at the same site.