Overworld Review

Overworld is Eric Bloat's loving tribute to Legend of Zelda. Much like Nightworld, the zine was released in three different rules formats: system neutral, D&D 5e, and SURVIVE THIS!!. There is also a second zine that features items from Overworld. However, unlike the Nightworld zine of the same nature, these are just system neutral. 

Like Nightworld, the 5e zine is a bit larger than the others, due to their stat blocks being larger. Each version of the zine features a different monster from the books. Once again, like Nightworld, all of the art is done by the extremely talented Phil Stone. That man is a real workhorse and seems to be a part of everyone's projects these days. In the main Overworld zines Eric gives us 29 monsters. There are three unique boss monsters: Armanamentus the unicorn dragon, Gleeko the three-headed dragon enforcer of the Underworld, and Kandar the Terrible. Obviously Kandar,  a giant pig-man, is Gannon and he is the true boss monster of the zine. The rest of the monsters are an interesting mix of humanoids, aberrations, and undead. 

The system neutral version of Overworld (and Overworld 2) are easy to use. The are general guidelines for adapting it to other systems and as I mentioned in another review, their are some strokes of brilliance here. Hearts for health is just inspired. The 5e and SURVIVE THIS!! versions are solid too. There are a variety of challenge levels spread throughout. The monsters of Overworld could fit easily into SURVIVE THIS!! Fantasy or any standard D&D setting. For a fun twist, use Overworld with Dark Places & Demogorgons and you could have a really fun D&D cartoon tribute campaign. 

There are really fun zines and I'm obviously a big fan. If you love Legend of Zelda too, these are must haves. You can order print copies here and pdfs here.