First impressions: Gorgeous cover art - very atmospheric. Interior artwork varies from atmospheric to okay. I had mentally envisioned something A4 sized, so was surprised to find it was 'graphic novel' sized (I'm sure there's a technical name for that!), but that means I can shove it in a comic bag and save it getting battered in transit to and from games - bonus!
The background is nicely mysterious and open-ended, so the GM can create their own causes and consequences for events, or tailor it to what the players enjoy. That's a game style I like, so again it ticks the boxes for me. [For those that don't know, Summerland is a post-apocalypse science fantasy game - overnight the world has been overgrown by forest. People get hypnotised by the "call of the leaves" and wander into the forest to go mad, degenerate into savages or never be seen again. The PCs are resistant to this because of a traumatic event in their past.]
Mechanics seem nice and simple (add a stat and one or more 'tag value' to get a number, then try to roll under that on the dice). There are no skills as such - everything works from stats and their tags (descriptors). Difficulty is increased or lowered by changing the number of dice rolled. So if a dog attacks you, it might be rolling under 9 on 3d6 to hit. However, if a trio of dogs attacks you, there would still be a single dice roll but the difficulty would drop - so they roll under 9 on 2d6. How much they make the roll by determines damage etc.
It strikes me from the background and the premise of the game (PCs overcoming mental trauma to be accepted into a community and cease their travels) that it really, really needs players who are going to buy into that feel and premise. For example, one friend who had a look thru the book and was chatting to me about it said "What happens if you don't WANT to lose your trauma?" By which he partly meant losing a roleplay hook that you enjoy, but mostly meant "What if I want to rumble around the forest being a munchkin, fighting, looting and pillaging for evermore?" The response to which is: then you've totally missed the whole concept of the game!
I also have gamer friends of a 'practical' bent, so if I set a game in London, they would immediately head for the Thames and attempt to spend the rest of the game sailing up and down from Henley to the Isle of Sheppey without ever coming within more than 100 metres of a tree ever again... Another friend suggested Sargasso Sea type seaweed and a marine version of the game's "call of the leaves" to put paid to that sort of player bloody mindedness.
One thing the game doesn't cover is the practicalities of your PCs losing their trauma at different rates and times. If Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb are playing, then Cuthbert may have his character de-traumatised several sessions before the others do. Given that a de-traumatised character is a liability in the woods (can't resist the Call of the Leaves), then Cuthbert has to decide whether to retire him, or struggle on with him until the rest of the party reaches the same state for a nice neat end to the campaign.
