And now for something more pleasant ... or may I say Red & Pleasant?

Long story short: A Red & Pleasant Land arrived yesterday at my doorstep!

It's gorgeous! (Proof of Ownership)

You might have guessed it (or already know), but it's the most beautiful thing. 

Now let me tell you a bit about me and role playing books

It's been years since I felt the need to buy something. But at some point I had to check out some of the product people kept talking about in our little neck of the woods. If I were to put my finger on when I decided to fold and pay money (again ...) for a hobby where you mostly need just one set of rules to be set for the rest of your life (*cough* D&D Rules Cyclopedia *cough*), it would be the day I realized I couldn't get Vornheim anymore, because everyone else had been faster than me. I still regret that.

So I started buying books again: I got The Dungeon Alphabet quite cheap on a Con, also bought BRP (I love Runequest and Cthulhu, so I had no choice), Dungeon World (loved the cover, liked the premise), Terra Primate (anyone seen Dawn of the Planet of the Apes? Yeah, that), Conspiracy X (Unisystem and X-Files ...), The Magnificent Joop van Ooms, Isle of the Unknown and The Monolith from Beyond ... (you see a pattern?)

That was one and a half years ago and the collector in me still tells me I need way more shiny stuff (well, I do!). The girlfriend disagrees ... mostly. But when we agree, it's almost always about some Lamentations of the Flame Princess books. Because they are awesome.

And that's not just the opinion of two fans, but somewhat supported by the fact that I am a bookseller by trade (just not working as one right now, but anyway, I learned it ...) and my girlfriend is right now writing on her bachelor thesis in (I kid you not) book science. So yes: we are book nerds. And we have elaborated opinions on that, too.

I'm writing all this because I am about to repeat my statement above and I want it to have some punch:

The Red & Pleasant Land is a beautiful book. And not just compared to other role playing game books, but compared to other books in general. Those Finns sure know how to print them, +James Raggi knows how to work them and +Zak Smith knows how to write and illustrate them (for the slim chance that you, dear reader, never had the pleasure to read Zak's awesome blog, here is a link).

It shouldn't be possible for a small publisher like LotFP to produce something that good and for the price they did. This is no small feat and whatever you think of Raggi, to make this possible deserves a lot of respect. Add great writing (what I've seen so far, but Zak is good for it) and fantastic art to that and you get a book that'd do very well in every gamer's collection. It's what you show people who are new to the hobby to inspire awe (but not before giving them gloves ...).

Finally I'd like to give my thanks to James and Zak.

This is a real treat and I will treasure this book.

And if I'm lucky I'll even get to use it in the game. I'll sure try ...