First Review

We are honoured to announce that Vlätkrig has received it's first public review, from Korean blogger Gear Man!

http://gearman32.egloos.com/3113428

Not knowing any Korean, here is some machine translation of the review:

According to the producers, the setting of the dwarf dwarfs appearing in folk tales, which are the prototypes of dwarves and gnomes, is set up as prickly and tricky authors called Gnörves, who have refined it to suit the classic fantasy set by Tolkien or Pratchett. Even though I made a comment to use it in a way that is disrespectful to dwarves and gnomes from the point of view of the person who uses it. First of all, if you look at the product group description under the name of Vlätkrig and call it Set 1, I think that additional sets will be uploaded in the future. However, this set is only a sample of the public beta version. Aren't you still pretty?

Well I'm glad they think it's pretty! The discussion on Dwarves and Gnomes is an interesting one, as I have a clear idea of what Gnörves are and their relationship to  ancient folktales and modern fantasy fiction, and utility as generic gaming peices. Perhaps a short (ahem) essay on such design consideration would be entertaining inclusion in the package. Prickly, tricky and disrespectful are all very nice thoughts to conjure with.

User Lapis left a comment saying:

If you paint well, you can make a nice model. In particular, the female model, who seems to have just come out of the kitchen, is great. As I got older, the non-human race… It's also a race with slightly ambiguous morality.

Glad the female representation is appreciated (something Dwarves are lacking in somewhat), although the apron is as much for woodworking and gardening as cooking,  all things should be open to interpretation, which is great. 

To which Gear Man replies:

But what does it mean to throw away humanity?

Which is a little deep, and best answered, I think, by creating the rest of the Vlätkrig figures and 'world' - but at the moment there is no plan for a 'human' faction, which might give some indication to the answer to that question.

Internationalism is central to Zhu Industries philosophy, The International Style, after all, provides much of the guiding principles for the typographical design.   As it stands, TTRPGs and miniatures games are dominated by one or two very large players in the anglosphere, and while I am aware of some of the European scene -  the German Das Schwarze Auge (particularly in it's first edition with illustrations by British comics giant Bryan Talbot, and Norbert G. Matausch's retro-clone or  Neu-Interpretation  Das Auge), and the French RPGs Rêve de Dragon and Mega, and some of the Japanese old-school miniatures scene.   So seeking Vlätkrig reach outside the Anglosphere is highly encouraging, and perhaps something to focus on going forwards.

Unfortunately, the blogpost also includes a link to a download of the beta file hosted away from itch.io I have no way of contacting the Gear Man to request removal. While I am aware that some level of piracy is going to be  inevitable for any digitally distributed product, find it a little disheartening to have encountered unauthorised distribution so early on in the project. Also need to reflect on whether the  PWYW / Free aspect of the development versions is sustainable, or if some alternative methods would be better.

Thanks Gear Man for taking the time to write and publish a review, and helping spread the word about Vlätkrig.