Crystal Heart Review - A Stunning Fusion of TTRPG Energy and Fantasy Adventure

How about a true Saga in a book that has an aura of accessibility that shines with blinding enthusiasm? A game changer for the way comics can tell stories with art and storytelling prowess that will have you invested in dice rolls with a T.T.R.P.G immersion experience in our favourite medium, a beautiful melding of meta gaming and fantasy world? Nothing does this better than Crystal Heart by Eran Aviram and Aviv Or.

Eran Aviram is a London-based, heart-of-gold creative in the realms of T.T.R.P.G. with a contagious passion and enthusiasm for all forms of tabletop roleplaying. Eran has a beaverish talent for over twenty-four years in various roles, including writer, editor, translator, designer, shop owner, publisher, and event organiser. Most valuably, he can also drive a tank. His previous works include writing Singularity 1885, Three Suggestions, Ready To Roll, Rolling With Laughter and editor contributions on City Of Mist, :Otherscape and Legend In The Mist, while also being a supporting game designer on Intelligence Rising, to name just a selection.

Aviv Or is a London-based illustrator of incredible talent. She specialises in comics and character design, particularly those for roleplaying games and the Savage Worlds T.T.R.P.G. Her previous clients include, but are not limited to, Critical Role, Dark Horse, Penny Arcade, Lone Shark Games, Storybrewers and WizKids. Aviv is a long-time collaborator with Eran, stretching back to Singularity 1885. Aviv also does astonishing commission work for Tabletop player characters. All for a reasonable fee, so be sure to check the links at the end. Powerfully proficient pioneers of production promoted it's time for a review.

So, let's start with the art. Aviv Or makes crisp, clean, razor-sharp, high fantasy art with a cartoony core. Aviv is one of the highest-level talents at producing expressions and emotions in characters. This talent dominates the art on offer. This masterful skill that Aviv wields had me fully invested in these characters, whether in-game or at the table. I was fully bought into every moment, as if some hyper-geek fly were observing best friends in deep role play.

Alongside this riDonkculous (sic) ability to manifest investable expression, this art is Chonkinchu full of clever uses of art. Whether it's the simple inclusion of the depictions of the dice or the sublime in the form of the superimposing details onto the player characters. This is such a beautiful touch that adds to the immersive experience. As a reader, you are both on the adventure and playing the game with friends. There's something as warm and welcoming in this art as to feel like a much-needed thick jumper-clad hug.

To further the skill for esoteric concepts, Aviv's colour work is as decadent as a Scrooge McDuck safe dive. It's a flawless presentation with a subtle confidence. Little, clever touches festoon this artwork and elevate it into a wondrous experience. Speaking of little touches, the lettering is also absolutely bang on for delivering, enhancing, and complementary work to the eyeball, cuddling beautiful art. Advanced art admired, what about the story?

Eran Avivam has crafted a very special experience with Crystal Heart. It's a (mostly) part epic fantasy adventure, part T.T.R.P.G. manual, part humanist story, part GM reference book, part Savage Worlds expansion/introduction/How To and all gateway in a heroic dose of everything that's awesome about the experience we can have with a good set of friends and a well-written, dice-driven RPG. Utilising the base game Savage Worlds, although requiring no previous experience with it, Crystal Heart, as a setting, is a world where people's hearts are thought of as dream and desire forged stones. Amongst the "Five Lands" is a mysterious and secretive organisation known as SYN. Agents of SYN, like the three main characters, have undergone surgery to remove their stone hearts and replace them with a harness. A harness capable of housing a crystal. Relics of a bygone era, crystals imbued the wearer with essentially superpowers, although at a cost. In this most intriguing of settings, three players guided by their charismatic GM will hunt the Five Lands for crystals in the name of SYN. They soon discover a larger mystery is at stake regarding their very own organisation and the history of the crystals.

At its foundation, this is a deeply fascinating story that plays out masterfully as it builds and unfolds to its climax. What's utterly brilliant about this book is the metagaming moments or tabletalk. These very human moments add grounding to the magic and present a platform of endearing entertainment. Crystal Heart identifies itself as an actual-play comic. For those a little lost or confused, it is essentially a comic about playing a tabletop role-playing game, cutting between the fantasy narrative being played. The magic this book captures is to deliver the essence of these two worlds. That of fun and connection with friends in the real world and all the beauty to be found there, as well as the beauty of fantasy storytelling as escapism and a moralistic mirror.

If all that wasn't enough, there's a beating heart of blinding enthusiasm for accessibility that the story and art impart in a very special way, with a very broad yet no less powerful application. Accessibility that runs on the surface in a "you don't have to even know what a T.T.R.P.G is to enjoy this" way, or deep into character and story points. It is handed with immense splendiferousness. At times this book has the feel of a game that's so engaging and engrossing it's like sitting in a wet patio chair. It hugs you and clings onto you in a way you can really feel and is impossible to ignore. Which makes it marvellous.

For fans of Savage Worlds, TTRPG's, fantasy, adventure, mystery, early Harmontown or Critical Role or you used to play D & D or similar TTRPG or even if you never had but want to understand or be reminded of what and why parts of that experience is very vital for a healthy human experience, crystals, feral things, bazookas, improv and art that transports with heart, wonder and magic, the mystery can be solved with Crystal Heart.

For more on the creators, check out Eran at https://www.eranaviram.me/. For more (including amazing commissions), visit Aviv at https://www.avivor.com/portfolio/. To get your copy of the book, I'd highly recommend going here. You'll find the links to the right place to support or purchase. You'll also find a wealth of information should you decide to go for your own adventure in this excellent land.

Review: 5/5