Helvéczia First Impressions, pt. 1

 Previously posted at the RPGPUB, collecting here to begin campaign notes.

The box features great art from Peter Mullen. He's always a favorite, and this piece, with its undead monks and that stylish fellow with the handcannon, is peak Mullen. The box is very sturdy. Much better than the 5e starter/essential boxes, I'd say it's comparable (but deeper than) the recent Call of Cthulhu starter set box.

First item in the box is a deck of cards. I'm not sure yet if they're used in play at all, but the artwork is beautiful on them.

Next up is an almanac. The interior cover has tables for travel and common item prices. Each 2 page spread has 2 months of the calendar on the left and a page for notes on the right.

Errata sheets like this kind of make me want errors in a game.

This comes with a whole stack of maps. Player and GM versions, double-sided, on thick, rough-textured paper. They are gorgeous and make me want to dive in and explore this place.

Two cantons of the setting get a more in depth exploration in the Ammertal and the Oberammsbund supplement. 60 pages of hex locations, and a couple pages of adventure seeds ("Penny Dreadfuls").

Character sheets and magic sheets are pretty clean. It comes with a fairly thick stack, probably about 20 sheets. The back of the character sheets is space for notes under the header "Catalogue of Sins".

The rulebook is a 200 page, matte textured hardcover.

Layout is about what you'd expect.

The rulebook is all black and white, with pretty frequent art throughout.

The paper quality feels like a slightly thicker stock than most RPG books. Text is dark and clear, easy to read. There is minimal clutter, no borders or page background art. Sections have a very ornamented first letter and some tables have a little flourish above the header.