[Summary]
Daniel (@dungeondive) has fallen head-over-heels for the deluxe edition of The Land of Eem, a whimsical-yet-meaty RPG that genuinely earns the “Lord of the Rings meets The Muppets” tagline. The core rulebook runs thick at 240+ pages, layered with system depth that belies the charming art: D12-based skill checks with degrees of success, a quest points economy that lets you burn currency to augment rolls or trigger abilities, and a crafting system boasting 200+ components and recipes. Daniel lingers over the XP system, which brilliantly incentivizes everything but combat—solve problems creatively, complete quests, discover new creatures, explore hexes, build relationships. The bestiary is comprehensive and gorgeous, stuffed with intelligent creatures who have language, desire, and knowledge. But the true centerpiece is the Mucklands Campaign Setting: a 426-page sandbox lavishly detailed with settlements, NPCs, dungeons, rumors, and points of interest all keyed to a hex map so beautiful that exploring it becomes its own reward. Daniel’s honest observation: while the book lacks random dungeon generators, the created content is so inviting that discovering what already exists—as a touring adventurer with a map—feels more appealing than procedural generation.
How would you approach The Land of Eem’s sandbox—as a pure explorer checking off locations like a travel log, or do you crave more procedural chaos mixed in?