So, this one is a bit of a behemoth. Most Print-And-Play games I buy and subsequently print out are fairly small, with a handful of pages that are quick to print and easy to use.
This is not one of those games.
Grimm World comes in at a whopping 180 full-colour pages just for the core printout, and then you have to cut the pages, and it's recommended to sleeve those cutouts.
Now, I'm going to be completely honest here - I don't know if I will manage to actually get this printed, cut, and played. It's a huge undertaking (and I have to order some more paper and ink, which is on the way).
So, if I don't know if I'll actually play it why did I buy it?
Well, first off, it was about $10 CAD or $7 USD, which isn't bad at all... and the ambition behind creating this is next-level. I cannot imagine how much work went into this! Well, I can't accurately imagine how much work went into it. I can guestimate based on the little bit of design I've done and that doesn't even begin to touch on the realm of print-and-play assets like this.
So, at the heart of it, I bought this to support an indie designer who's pushing the scope of what a 'Print-and-Play' game is.
I also do think it would be fun to print out and at least have the assets on hand, since I've found that a lot of the things I buy can be used for other games. This means that even if I never play this game as designed, it is still worth $7 because I'll probably gain that amount back in inspiration from the assets provided.
Take these icons for your heroes and some monsters as an example:
These are some neat tokens with great artwork:
And, while I may not print out every page and run it as designed, I could easily take these tokens into something like Ironsworn. They fit the vibe of that game and would give me something to look at when I'm adventuring in that world. A lot of the numbers aren't necessary if I use these for other games, but when you're mixing assets between rulesets, you pretty quickly get used to keeping the bit you need and tossing out (or in this case, ignoring) the parts you don't.
Now, as far as what I've read from the game itself... I will say that this is a fairly complex game. I wouldn't expect you to be able to pick this up and play it quickly, but I think there's a niche group of folks for whom this could be their core game.
There is a lot going on here - a lot of things you'd have to reference and keep in your head, and that can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Some folks really love crunchy games with a lot of mechanics. For me, I generally prefer a simpler game when it comes to solo. For this reason, I generally gravitate towards Ironsworn/Ironsworn: Starforged, Knave, Cairn, Stoneburner, REAP, Four Against Darkness, 2d6 Dungeon, etc... the games I most frequently reference here and have done blogs about. They're simple to get into and I can pick them up and put them down fairly quickly - which is important as a father of 3 and a programmer. A lot of time in my day is already spoken for, so games like this which would take a lot of mental space to remember what I'm doing and how it works... probably won't be something I regularly play.
But it could be something I take assets out of and use in the lighter games that I am already playing. Plundering other games, movies, and books for inspiration in my solo games (and heck, even the group-based games I run like D&D) is something I do all the time, and frequently encourage others to do as well.
With all that said, another reason I snagged this was because my kids are reaching an age where they're interested in the tabletop games I play. My 5 year old in particular is always interested in playing these, and while I don't think he's quite at an age yet where this game would be something he would enjoy... I think he will be in a couple of years. So, printing it out, setting it up, and having those assets so he can dive into this world and it's game mechanics with all the free time a kid has... well, that's more than worth the few dollars spent.
Thanks for reading, and as always: Happy Gaming my friends.