I have much love for the Role Aids line from Mayfair Games and I at least respect the intentions behind their non-D&D RPG material. Even Chill 2E! But City-State of the Invincible Overlord (1987)? Very bad. Like, upsettingly so. I think the fact that the box set cover so boldly hypes an introduction by Gary Gygax, a person who had nothing to do with Judges Guild’s original City State, says a lot.

Please don’t get me wrong. I think the original City State (no hyphen, annoyingly) is fun and interesting, but I don’t consider it a holy text. I bought this box specifically because I wanted to see an ‘80s-era renovation of the original setting, something the same but different. Instead, we get the city of Briarwood, which is an entirely new place in an entirely new world, and that would be fine if it wasn’t so bloody boring. But it is. The one book consists of an ominous history of the Overlord (who is maybe cursed) and some hints at a looming apocalypse that is all very vague and leans into fantasy lit cliches. The second book details the entirety of the city and I don’t remember a single noteworthy feature except that there are no details on the central castle — that’s a separate box set. There are neat class-specific tourist guides, which I do like, and pamphlets detailing new player races (lizardmen, centaurs, pixies) which are odd, but fine, I guess. The whole thing is illustrated by Tim Bradstreet, which normally would be something to be excited about, but here is…hard to appreciate.

I was going to do some of the supplemental box sets, but my heart really isn’t in it, so the rest of the week is about Grimtooth’s Traps.