Gubat Banwa

Before going into the review itself, I need to state that this is the first time I'm reviewing a TTRPG book. As such, I'm coming at it with far more emphasis on things like lore and narrative, as opposed to the more crunchy bits like mechanics. Also, I'm a player and a game master, not a game creator, so I cannot speak to that aspect of this game either. 

But with that being said: THIS BOOK IS AMAZING. I've already got a sense of how well this plays, since I've had the privilege of playing it twice (once with the creator GMing, and another time with one of the artists as GM, and the art director as a co-player), and that was in the pre-First Edition versions of the game. I'm sure that the team behind Gubat Banwa have since smoothed out the mechanics even further, and I bet it plays like a dream now. Fortunately there's rules for Solo Play in the First Edition so I'm going to take a crack at those when I've got a bit more brainspace.

Even without getting into the gameplay though, this book is still incredible. The artwork is absolutely stunning, and not just the big pieces like the cover and Discipline illustrations; even the borders around the pages are gorgeous, as are the font choices and the layouting. The art provides excellent visual cues for players and GMs who are looking for inspiration and an anchor for their characters and games, helping them to ground and flesh out their characters and the setting.

Speaking of grounding and fleshing out things: the lore is EXTENSIVE, which I deeply enjoy and appreciate. The lore works together with the art to provide inspiration and a framework to help players and GMs both to get into the spirit of things. In the lore and the art, the reader really gets a sense of how much of a work of love this book is - a work of love, and of righteous anger. 

Actually if there's any terms that best capture the feel of this book, it'd be those two: love, and righteous anger. As is clearly stated in the Note on Intended Audience of this book, “This game is explicitly written with us in mind, us being Filipinos and other Southeast Asian people.” And the “us” described here are peoples who've managed to somehow, against all odds, survive and continue to survive against the deleterious and erasing effects of colonization, which continues to this very day. If there is love, that is only right; and if there is anger, then that is only right too. Those two things are inseparable - both in the world and in the play of Gubat Banwa, and the reality it springs from, that is the impetus and driving force behind the entire project. It'd be fantastic if more people could get to experience it too.