Tolkien unburdened from Tolkien: Back Again from the Broken Land RPG

Unfortunately, this isn’t a playtest review, although I have some comments from playtesters. This is an “I really should tell the world about this RPG” article.

The game in question is Back Again from the Broken Land from Cloven Pine Games. You can get the PDF from Itch ($12) and more recently a black and white softcover ($20) from Indie Press Revolution.

The name should make you think of The Hobbit, and in the game, you are playing as small people who walked into a war, played a pivotal role and are now walking home. The catch? Despite the Doomslord’s fall, the Doomslord’s Hunters are out there and annoyed at you.

So much, so Tolkien, right? Yes, but no. For a start, Back Again from the Broken Land takes the emphasis off combat. Your little half-sized person can’t fight the Hunters.

I talked to co-designer Alexi Sargeant and asked whether this was a cooking RPG instead. It isn’t, but, I hope, when I share a designer quote with you, you’ll see why I asked;

The world of RPGs owes so much to Tolkien. But it feels sometimes like only the surface of his work shows up in major fantasy rpgs—Elves, Dwarves, magic swords, yes, but what about the terrible cost of facing despair, the small acts of mercy that keep hope alive?

The RPG is Powered by the Apocalypse that suits 3 to 5 players with a GM. The game is built for one-shots or, perhaps, a short series. Alexi and Leah Sargeant designed and wrote the book; the latest edition has an Emily Cheeseman cover, and Epidiah Ravicool and Meguey Baker both designed archetypes. I imagine many Powered by the Apocalypse fancy getting Merguey involved, try and most fail.

Back to the cooking…

Back Again from the Broken Land comes with mechanics for sharing Stories and naming Burdens. Sam Roberts and Sam Tung’s Escape from Dino Island is cited as an inspiration for that.

It’s the Burdens that the game begins to hinge around. The number of named and cleared Burdens influences the game’s ending and may make the conclusion joyful or bittersweet.

Named Burdens, those surfaced through Storytelling, can be cleared by sharing a meal. As the designers note, this is a Hobbit-like characteristic and a crucial part of the small adventures in this RPG.

An epilogue mechanic is provided so that when the champions reach their hometown, this fellowship of sharing can all be wrapped up gracefully, if not dramatically or entirely happily.

Playtester Leon Hewitt was a fan of the approach, saying;

I loved the epilogues. Seeing my players tying together all the stories we had just built together was such a wonderful, rewarding and unique experience. I’ve never experienced anything like that before in my time playing ttrpgs.

Actual plays of Back Again from the Broken Land

There’s a healthy playlist of actual play videos, from several sources, available to watch.

You may well already recognise the name. The RPG was originally a feature in Gauntlet Publishing’s Codex – Home and had a Kickstarter in 2021 to expand. Zine Quest liked it, and the game finished in the top 20 by backer count, which was enough of a success to expand to 60-pages and bring on illustrator Emily Cheeseman.

Final thoughts

As noted, this isn’t a review, but I hope my indie club will pick up the game. Instead, I’ll leave the last words to the designers;

We thought about some of our favorite moments from The Lord of the Rings, like Samwise comforting Frodo during their long walk into Mordor, or all the Hobbits sharing meals and songs before running for cover at the approach of the Black Riders. We designed Back Again from the Broken Land to center on moments like that. We used the basic framework of many Powered by the Apocalypse games we’ve loved.

Quick Links

• Back Again from the Broken Land PDF | Print.
• Codex – Home