A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Jorogumo Farmers’ Almanac

Jorogumo Farmers’ Almanac by David Hyman and Kentaro Jackson is a role playing game supplement published by Elk and Unicorn.

The supplement is available as a 14-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $5 but was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover and most of one page is the front matter.

The two opening paragraphs explain that this is a game where the players are Jorogumo – a creature out of Japanese folklore – who manage their own waterfalls, and that there is no GM, though a Facilitator can help run the system.

This is followed by an explanation about Jorogumo, which are spiders that can transform into human form and have loyal spider minions. Your home is a waterfall and you raise resources in the surrounding land that can be sold in Town. Occasionally, you capture and eat humans for Soul Points. How many Spider Minions you start with is rolled, and it’s said what these can do.

Next is a discussion on safety.

There are three types of Waterfalls to choose from. Each has a sentence description and a list of their Fields, Ponds, Wild and Holy. This is followed by the character sheet.

The Annual Cycle explains that the game uses a standard 52 card deck. The cards determine the weeks of the year, with 13 for each season. Each type of produce has a different Grow Season and different seasons also have different things that can be done in them.

The four seasons follow. The card suit for each week determines any events for that week. With only four suits, there will be a lot of repetition.

Fauna uses the numbers from the card for each week. This determines what animals may be seen that week.

The different types of crops that can be grown are then covered.

Shopping in Town covers what produce can be sold for, what money is and the different things that can be bought.

The final section explains how Soul Points work, though it doesn’t and what the different rewards do.

Jorogumo Farmers’ Almanac

The PDF lacks bookmarks and, though short, has enough different sections that these would have been useful. The text maintains a single column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are some stock illustrations. Presentation is okay.

This is for all intents and purposes a resource management game; probably why the font chosen is called “Arcade.” It seems to lack any win or lose conditions; all that can be inferred is that you play until you stop. Players don’t seem to compete against each other in any way and it doesn’t even look as if losing all your Spider Minions is a definite problem; more can be gained in the long term. Consequently, the game feels a little purposeless. Jorogumo Farmers’ Almanac is an interesting idea, but it feels like it needed more work on execution and it’s not cheap at full price, and it can be found by clicking here.