The Shadow Elves: RPG Items I Like

WHAT IS IT?
Supplement covering a race of secretive, underground Elves in the Mystara setting.

HOW DO YOU SPELL THAT?
I have to begin with something of a confession…I don’t know the Drow. I’m an old school AD&D player, but honestly I’ve never followed the whole Drow thing. I remember someone in our group in grade school had a copy of Q1: Queen of the Demonweb Pits, and I remember it had a cool map. So my knowledge of the Drow is pretty much restricted to the following facts:

1. They have a Queen who lives in a sticky and infernal hole.
2. They live underground and have dark skin in a strange response to normal evolutionary development.
3. They’re super evil.
4. There’s a guy named Drizzle who wields a pair of sweet swords and is the only good Drow. And every MMO I’ve ever played is composed of 10% of the population with name variations on his. Which might explain why I don’t know how to spell it.

Now my point in making that confession is that while GAZ13: The Shadow Elves might look like a Drow knock-off book at first glance...I honestly can’t make a comparison on that score. So I’m going to leave that issue aside. Instead I’m going to focus on the supplement as it is.

A couple of ideas to consider before plunging into this. First, calling them "Shadow Elves" does suggest at least some kind of sinister nature to them. Or perhaps more rightly that they’re seen as evil or dangerous in the outside world. And they’re also at the same time elves, connecting them to that tradition in Mystara. Second, the Shadow Elves have rarely popped up in the previous gazetteers. I can’t recall more than a brief mention or NPC. They represent the fourth major “group” of Elves in the Known World regions, along with Alfheim, the splinter elves of Minrothad, and the odd “from elsewhere” Belcadiz Elves of Glantri. Third, they might be considered tied to the other two gazetteers covering hostile, expansionist or even evil peoples: GAZ10: The Orcs of Thar and the GAZ12: The Golden Khan of Ethengar. It will be interesting to track how PCs of this race are built. Mystara offers an open alignment system with the focus on Law, Neutrality and Chaos. It has fewer absolutes.

THE BOOK ITSELF
The Shadow Elves contains two booklets plus an enclosed poster map. The 32-page Player’s Booklet and 64-page DM’s Guide follow the excellent and dense page layout of the previous volumes of the series. Two newcomers to the series crafted this volume, although both have extensive rpg credits. Carl Sargent, on the one hand wrote books for TSR, GW, FASA and other rpg companies; Gary Thomas, on the other, wrote for TSR but is probably better known for his Traveller Contributions. The cover of the volume is another Clyde Caldwell illustration, but it is a little misleading. The books describe the Shadow Elves specifically as being more fair skinned than other Elves, and not possessing a greenish or grey cast to their skin. However the cover shows three figures with distinctly grey skin. Stephen Fabian returns for the interior artwork, which is excellent as always. The maps are solid- with a nice urban overview on the inside of the folio cover. The poster map is only one sided this time, but it does offer a nice view of the Shadow Elves' cavern complexes, complete with markers for the relative position of foreign surface cities and locations.

PLAYER’S BOOKLET
I usually start with the DM’s material, but once again I have to flip the order around because the DM’s Guide presents significant secrets and spoilers about the setting. Those reverse key facts given in the Player’s Booklet.

The booklet begins by establishing several key points, most importantly that almost no one on the surface world knows of the Shadow Elves. Some humanoids know that the Elves dwell in caverns even deeper than their own beneath the Broken Lands. The Elves believed for many generations to have been the sole survivors of the destruction which visited Blackmoor. In their travels and hiding underground, the found the guidance of the Immortal Rafiel who led them to the deeper places of safety. The four clans of the Shadow Elves believed that the world had been devastated by the Rain of Fire. Only in recent years did they discover that others survived and that the fallout from those events had passed. When the Shadow Elves petitioned the Elves of Alfheim to be granted a portion of their surface bounty, Alfheim denied them. Living in caverns stretching vast distances, the Shadow Elves possess arts adapted to their circumstances. They have four major cities, one for each of the clans.

The first ten pages cover all of this player-facing history and culture. One of the more useful sections is the “Day in the Life…” which describes common routines and beliefs in four pages. That’s a solid way to give players entry into such as foreign culture. Other topics are covers over the next several pages: the Shamanic tradition of the Shadow Elves (different than that of Ethengar, more a variant clerical approach), culture, travel, trade and so on.

Most of the booklet, from page 14 on, focuses on playing a Shadow Elf PC. These are basically as Elf-class variant. They lack access to the advanced options offered in Elves of Alfheim, but have new options of their own. These include some advanced fighting techniques. They also have their own experience table. The skills rules return and are pretty heavily described in this section again. By this point, across all of the gazetteers, players and GMs will have many closely related but slightly different versions of the skill system. That’s kind of a problem. It means a chunk of mechanical rules reprinted across many of the books. It also means some items and options don’t synch up. New or Shadow Elf specialty skills ought to be better marked out in the text, to make it easier for gamers to assess the differences. Like Orcs of Thar, this book offers some skills which are “class abilities” to allow the Shadow Elves to emulate those classes (without actually taking them). That remains a can of worms for the GM, especially as those options don’t appear for other race-based classes.

Shadow Elves get their own list of accessible spells. Some are standard from the basic rules, but 26 are variants or entirely new. Descriptions are provided for all of those. Many of them deal with rock and life in the tunnels. Rare Shadow Elves may also take levels as a Shaman, with XP split between their normal progression and this class. Shamans gain a number of special ability and social benefits. They also gain access to more spells. The booklet provides write ups for these 33 spells.

DM’s GUIDE
So I’m going to be presenting some SPOILERS in this section, although I’m not going to dwell too much on the specifics. This 64-page booklet begins by emphasizing that much of the history presented earlier is significantly wrong or biased. From there it presents the fourteen “Verses” of the Immortal Rafiel and then a discussion of time and the calendar here. That’s a slightly weird leap, as you'd expect the history next. The material on time in the sunless caverns does start to get at some of the implications for life here. Beyond the “timeless” nature of such an existence, there’s the emphasis the Shadow Elves place on ritual and omens. Days have associations with past events and ritual requirements. It reminds me a little of the calendar rituals and sacred times of the Ancient Romans. But part of the problem is that this discussion gives us fragments and references to the history, before being given a better sense of what that entails.

Next we do get details of the real history, “As the Immortals See It.” The Shadow Elves originated as early colonists from the Backmoor- the earliest Elves to settle the Glantri area. During the cataclysm, they fled underground beneath the Broken Lands, believing the world had been destroyed. Later Elves who followed the, found no evidence of the early colonists. The Shadow Elves eventually made their way back to the surface, but the unearthing of another Blackmoor artifact elsewhere created devastation and convinced them that the surface had been compromised beyond measure, so they descended again. They found a forgotten Azcan temple and settled there, but eventually lost that to the Orcs before being subsumed by that blood-thirsty tradition. Pressing deeper they found signs of the Immortal Rafiel who led them to the most subterranean caverns and taught them the ways of his “soul-crystals” as used by the Shamans. Much time passed and then the Elves had word of the survivable surface, having caught and tortured some foolhardy adventurers. The Shadow Elves clashed with the humanoids of Thar and then eventually sent representatives to the Elves of Alfheim. They demanded half the lands of the surface Elves and absolute leadership. When Alfheim refused, the Shadow Elves declared war. However they were no able to overcome the surface Elves militarily, so they have invested in a long-term plan of infiltrating and undermining their tree-dwelling cousins.

So that’s kind of dark- not classically evil, but instead more xenophobic, jealous and resentful. The Shadow Elves believe that the surface Elves abandoned them, and that they hold first claim to the region. That makes them unreasonable and adversarial. A darker hidden truth lies in the secrets of the Soul Crystals the Shadow Elf shamans work. They do not, as they tell others, pattern a soul and allow it to be reincarnated. Instead, these are tied to the Radiance, first presented in GAZ3: The Principalities of Glantri. In short, they use radiation energy from the engine of the crashed alien ship to power their magic. And the creation and manipulation of that energy is to fuel Rafiel’s great work. Eight pages cover these secrets. I like the guidelines here for slowly indoctrinating a Shaman PC- over time revealing the secrets and deception to them. It would be a difficult thing to pull off- and might only work for a full party of Shamans. Of course there’s the added risk of PCs dropping dead from radiation poisoning or having a limb rot off…

Pages 17-27 cover the geography of the region, in a section which tightly covers a ton of material. We get a sense of the basic locations underground, what life is like there, as well as a full and detailed breakdown of the City of Stars, the main city. I particularly like the focusing on how players might encounter elements here. Rather than take a fully abstract and objective approach, the authors focus on elements useful at the table. Six pages follow that pattern, discussing travels and military presence in the region. That’s followed by three pages on flora and fauna, including some beasts unique to the region. The middle four pages of the booklet are a pullout section offer a “What Everyone Knows” handout. This is a nice mix of rumor, hearsay and error- combined with a few correct facts. This might be most fruitfully used by a DM as a script, putting this gossip and speculation into the mouths of NPCs rather than just handing it out on paper.

Nine pages present the NPCs of the region, each given a extensive write-up (including stats and combat notes). These offer some great hooks and possibilities for the DM and nicely flesh out the other material. For the first time I can recall in any of the gazetteers, we actually get descriptions and state block for Immortals. Rafiel has an illustration which makes him look like a scientist in a kimono. Atzanteotl, a Lord of Entropy who tried to convert the Shadow Elves is also presented- though he’s more interested in a struggle for the hearts and minds of the humanoids of Thar. Six pages follow detailing the ambitions of the Shadow Elves at various levels, the nature of their spy network, and in specific how the Shadow Elves have infiltrated and affected each of the surface nations. This is rich material especially for DMs wanting to introduce the Shadow Elves as adversaries.

The book ends with a section on adventures. Two pages offer basic notes on different campaign types with Shadow Elf protagonists (military, sneaky, shamanic, etc). There’s a brief mention of using this as the basis of an enemies campaign, with the PCs fighting against the Shadow Elves. Little mention or advice is given about how to handle the lone Shadow Elf PC within a standard party. Given that you’d expect that to come up, it would have been good to see some ideas on how best to handle the difficulties. Five adventure seeds, plus one slightly developed adventure wrap things up. These are decent, but some fit more with one campaign type than another.

OVERALL
I enjoyed reading through The Shadow Elves. I’ll admit I was worried at first that it would just seem like an “evil underground Elves” treatment, but there’s some complexity to the world given here. Players have some options about their path and personality. History and culture have shaped this people, and their responses and attitudes have a logic to them. The Shadow Elves aren’t omniscient spymasters and manipulators behind the scenes of the surface world, but they do have an agenda and plots in motion. The internal contradictions and secrets within Shadow Elf culture present interesting play opportunities. Some elements of the material draw heavily on the ideas of Blackmoor, radiation magics, and the alien spaceship engines. That’s to some people’s taste and not to others. However it would not be particular hard to modify those and keep the essential spirit of the supplement. Mystaran DMs will find ideas to build from here. Other GMs will find material they can easily adapt to another campaign or setting.

The map of the Shadow Elf lands is taken from the excellent Mystaran map resource at mystara.thorf.co.uk. 

THE GAZETTEERS IN REVIEW

GAZ1: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos

GAZ2: The Emirates of Ylaruam

GAZ3: The Principalities of Glantri
GAZ4: The Kingdom of Ierendi

GAZ5: The Elves of Alfheim
GAZ6: The Dwarves of Rockhome
GAZ7: The Northern Reaches
GAZ8: The Five Shires 
GAZ9: The Minrothad Guilds
GAZ 10: The Orcs of Thar 
GAZ 11: The Republic of Darokin 
GAZ 12: The Golden Khan of Ethengar

GAZ 13: The Shadow Elves
GAZ 14: The Atruaghin Clans
Dawn of the Emperors: Thyatis and Alphatia 

Sandboxes & Finales

IS A GM LIKE A CAT TO A SANDBOX GAME?
If I could describe an ideal GMing approach, what I aspire to, I’d probably call it a structured sandbox. A game where I set up situations, draw out roads and decorate the terrain, but then allow the players to move as they wish around that world. I make those roads attractive- with interesting scenery and waypoints. But the players can and should be able to head off into the treeline. If they do so, I can start cutting trails there, building camps for them to make that travel more interesting. And if they stay on that trail then I’ll try to open it up and figure out where that trail might lead. Or I might also post billboards, have roads cut across those paths, show them something of the roads they haven’t traveled. I have stories to tell, interesting stories, and I want to dangle them into front of the players to lure them- rather than forcing choices by laying down tracks. From time to time incidents will lead in a particular direction- a valley that lies ahead. Especially as we get to the end of a campaign, the terrain will get narrower and offer fewer paths, but players can still take a pick axe and clamber up the sides and strike out elsewhere should they decide to.

I want a balance between freedom and guidance. I put in incidents and events for players to react to, and they most often reflect the larger story I have in my head. At the very least they ought to connect to or reflect the themes of the tale I have in my head. The kind of story, more than the literally plotted story. The trick lies in balance- I know when I play, I want some direction. I want some sense of where the story’s going, so that I can react to that. If I know that, I can act to make myself a part of that story or even change it. But absolute freedom, lack of guidance? That’s less fun- I want some conflict, some signposts of play. So my games should point in X direction, but if players go Y or Z or even Green, then I should make that experience equally fun and significant.

HE SAYS THAT’S WHAT HE WANTS BUT…
Now that’s an ideal, a goal and I suspect I don’t live up to that all of the time or even most of the time. For example, the shorter the campaign, the tighter I plot the storylines. As a modern example, Skyrim would seem to be the an exemplar sandbox game. But in the end, your choices remain fairly limited, your impact on the grand plot remains modest. There’s an A or B state at the end. Ideally I’d like the choices the players make in the course of the story matter to what happens in the climax.

Within limits.

See here’s the dirty secret for me of the sandbox and freedom position in rpg games. At least it is my dirty secret, and I’m going to illogically leap to the assumption that it applies to everyone. I could be wrong, but I suspect it lurks in that back of the minds of many GMs, even those who’ve torn up the railroad tracks and driven the train off the top of a dune. I don’t really want my players to end a campaign with the “Bad” ending.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE “WE NEVER FINISHED THE CAMPAIGN…”
Of course, “Bad” is a relative term. The ending of the Wild Bunch, where everyone gets mowed down in a hail of gunfire is, in rpg terms, a "Good" ending. Everyone gets to play out their character and they end up with a satisfying TPK that fits within the genre. Seven Samurai’s the same way, with a few players living though having to move on because of their nature. The other PCs have all gotten cool death scenes. The players have made their choices and gotten opportunities to play and everything fits with the tone of the story.

But bad endings, where the players try and fail, where they make horrible mistakes along the way; or where they make terrible decisions along the way- that’s not fun. Or at least it isn’t as much fun. It may fit for some kinds of games obviously: post-apocalyptic, horror, noir. But I’ll argue that the longer the campaign, the less fun a bad ending becomes. That’s why I don’t run long-term Call of Cthulhu campaigns. And even when I run horror games, if they’re longer than a few sessions, then my focus is on how the players can make a difference- how they can actually battle against the darkness. Instead of the real CoC question of when they’re finally going to fail and fall in the battle against a horror which can never truly be stopped.

And I have had a couple of campaigns in which the players did not “Win Big.” I consider end states on a continuum: Win Big (players ride off into the sunset), Win Small (players win, but the cost had been pretty awful and preventable if they’d made other choices), Neutral (a deadlock), Lose Small (loss, but the players have some small victories and could regroup in another campaign), and Lose Big (absolute failure, based on their own choices and actions). I’ve had all of these happen in campaigns, but I’ll admit much less of the latter than the former. In fact, for non-horror short campaigns, I can only think of one: a superhero campaign where the players managed to compromise their own morals and ideals so completely that they became exactly what they opposed. They lost Big.

But most campaigns aren’t about nihilism, they enact a certain heroic or quest ideal. Given that, how does a GM move things that way without railroading? Without cheating? Without shifting the playing field a little? They don’t, I’d argue. The trick is how much the hide that. I still try to force my campaigns to have consequences, dilemmas and often bad choices the players have to make at the end. I want them to feel some kind of cost and struggle to achieve that victory. But I’ll admit every once in a while the players go down a horrible path, bad choices and alienating allies. It doesn’t happen as much as it used to with my groups. They’re by far smarter than I am and tend to see where I’m going to throw horrible obstacles in front of them. They work hard to reduce those problems through planning.

COULD I CHARGE MONEY FOR A BETTER ENDING AT THE TABLE?
So of course the reason I’m thinking about this SPOILERS is the current buzz SPOILERS about Mass Effect 3 and SPOILERS how some people don’t care for the endings.

SPOILERS

Actually, I haven’t played any of the Mass Effect games, primarily because they’re shooters and I’m lame. But in my gaming circle several have. We ended up talking about it a little last session. They’re bothered by the awful choices facing them in the game- in particular "save NPC X or save NPC Y" questions. Used to being able to replay again and again to fix things, places where they have to make those kinds of awful decisions really bother them. Of course that assumes that they like and are invested in both characters. Some NPCs have been with them since the first game, while newly introduced characters might easily get kicked out the airlock. Now know I like tough choices in my games- choices that don’t have an obvious white and black side to them, that have a cost. But as one of my players put it- if they had to choose who would live and who would die between two NPCs they cared for- that they’d campaigned with in my game...well, there’d better be huge payoff for that dramatic choice.

That’s one dimension of the complaints I’m hearing about Mass Effect 3 and the ending. ME 1 & ME2 branched choices out, choices which had a significant effect on the story and the experience. ME3 has even tougher choices to make. However, some people feel that those choices end up thrown out the window when you reach the finale. Essentially the choices you made earlier don’t pay-off or impact the story. Instead those endings are purely a function of the final couple of moments of the game, rendering the work, suffering, and decisions of the earlier games moot.

Mass Effect creates its own problem in promising that the choices made throughout will have an impact. Certainly the early PR has sold the game on that basis. That’s in contrast, honestly, to many of the JRPGs I play and enjoy. Some have multiple endings, but most of those are cosmetic variations. Consider the Final Fantasy series. I enjoy it, but the games really have one of two endings: a) you stop playing or b) you finish and get the ending. Your choices, your contribution affects ease of finishing and possibly the number of achievements you end up with. There’s little expectation about your impact on the actual game world. That’s why I have a love/hate relationship with the two most recent games.

Again, SPOILERS.

I enjoyed Final Fantasy XIII because it was pretty, it had fun combat and I liked a couple of the characters. But the ending’s a downer, with two characters I liked sacrificing themselves to save everyone. I picked up Final Fantasy XIII-2 and played that to the end. It was pretty, it had fun combat, and I liked one of the characters. I enjoyed some of the new mechanics and the chance to see more locations. But then I reached the end, having played through carefully and uncovering just about everything I could (since some stuff only unlocked post-game). And I won by beating the bad guy and watched everything move towards the good stuff- and then one of the two main characters drops dead. And then the cute mascot collapses and dies. And then the world ends because I failed. Followed by the words “To Be Continued…”

Here’s the thing: that’s the ending. It isn’t like I messed anything up. That’s what you get if you finish the game in the standard way. That seems to me a little dark. And if a GM did that, especially in a railroad-y campaign, I’d probably lose my sh*t right there at the table.

What makes this even more weird and potentially unpleasant is that they have said that they’re not making a sequel. Instead they’d said that they ended the game that way so that they would offer room for DLC. That leaves me two ways of seeing this. On the one hand, this is a blatant money grab. They give you a bad ending for your game such that you have to buy additional content in order to actually get a story that doesn’t punch you in the face. I can buy that from a marketing stand point, but I don’t have to like it. There’s an ironic parallel with the Mass Effect situation, in that people have been demanding a DLC which offers an alternate ending, or at least some kind of more satisfying coda.

There’s another way of reading this: that the FFXIII-2 team thought that was a reasonable ending. Perhaps the game is about the bleakness of existence, about the inability to change one’s destiny. Perhaps the cyclical nature of the game, with its time travel aspects is meant to echo those themes. Maybe, like Neon Genesis Evangelion or Watchmen, it’s a middle finger in the face of their fandom. It could be a commentary on the nature of video games itself. I doubt it, and I’m not sure if that makes me any happier than the corporate greed reading.

YOU GOT YOUR PLOT IN MY SANDBOX…
Tabletop sandbox games have to offer an ending or they just stop being run. Or at least I'd argue that if they don't offer a coherent ending, they end up weaker. A couple of things make crafting a satisfying ending for a sandbox game more difficult. The first lies in the kinds of conflict they offer. Sandbox games often allow players to avoid conflicts outside their comfort zone. In other words those with real stakes, those with added pressures or those not involving physical combat. A truly sandbox game, without restrictions, allows players to do all of the prep and planning- the equivalent of “leveling up” before heading into a situation. If players develop that approach, they may react badly when the GM tries to offer obstacles or additional complications to the setting. They’d rather have control of the stakes and choices and make those on their own terms. Time pressures, traditionally a useful tool for moving things forward, may be resented by players who fight any time lapse.

But that’s a more extreme case. I think a more common difficulty facing sandbox games concerns story resonance. Novels, films, comic books set up a spine to their story. They have controlling ideas, often supported by symbolism, allusion or mention throughout the story. Often these reflect values of the protagonist and the questioning of those values. Earlier references and details can help reinforce the theme of the story and give it more weight or resonance. That’s tougher with an interactive story. It wouldn’t surprise me if one of the reasons that Mass Effect 3 tightened the chain of choices, rather than expanding them, was to add weight to the story they told: to make everything show have a role and place in underscoring those themes. A tabletop game faces similar challenges if the game is truly open. At the very least it adds complexity to the kind of improvisation a GM needs in order to craft a sandbox game into a coherent story over the course of the campaign.

Of course I’m making a value assessment: that a game with a story is better than one without. It seems obvious to me that it is, but the question lies in what actually serves as a “story” over the course of play…

As I was writing this The Rhetorical Gamer posted an excellent piece on related topics: "Thoughts on Campaign Down Design"

Using FATE for Scion: Starting Thoughts

APPARENTLY TITANS WILL CLASH  
Scion’s on my top ten of published rpg settings/premises. I ran a solid campaign with it. Think of an adult and serious version of Percy Jackson or a modern version of Clash of the Titans. There’s a real pleasure for players in being able to take on potent character types in a modern setting, but still have challenges. GM’s can grab on to the chance to put out full mythic elements, as well as the amazing balancing device of Fatebinding. But my gaming has progressed, my desire for complex or involved rules- especially involving combat has dropped. I’ve mentioned that shift before and Scion really shows some of those problems. For our group, it wasn’t so bad in the beginning. Most had played Storyteller before so the very basic elements we knew.

But Scion uses some dramatically different mechanics, including a straight defense/offense calculation and a fancy combat wheel, and it scales up rapidly to high power early on. The latter combats of the campaign ended up weird- taking too long, showcasing slightly broken powers, making certain actions worthless, and reinforcing that speed trumps everything else. Even after filing off the more complicated bits and modifiers from the system, the core engine didn’t work for me. That isn’t to say it is bad, but more that it didn’t mesh with the kind of game I wanted to run.

ADAPTATION
But I still want to run Scion, and much as I’ve done with adapting Changeling the Lost to our homebrew system, I want to adapt Scion’s basic material to a system I’m more comfortable with. After thinking about it for a while, I’ve decided to use FATE. I have a couple of reasons for that. One, I want to see how well FATE works in adaptation to other distinct material. Two, I want to introduce the system to the group. We’ve been using elements from it, but I want to try it in a fully-fleshed form. Three, it will likely be a short run game so if the reskinning doesn’t work, it won’t be a problem to retool for another game. Four, the aspect system seems to lend itself to the kind of mythic elements present in the setting.

I own several versions of FATE (Diaspora, Agents of SWING, Strands of Fate) and I’m going to borrow from and focus on three of them: Kerberos Club, Legends of Anglerre, and Dresden Files. I’m going to focus on Scion's Hero level for most of these things, as I think that’s where the game shines.  

IN THE DETAILS
*Character Basics: Generally I’ll be sticking with the basic structure of FATE. Characters will consist of Aspects, Skills, three Stress Tracks, Stunts (renamed as Knacks), and Powers (renamed as Purviews). As well PCs will have access to Epic Attributes and some additional Birthrights which can include some variable bonuses- I’ll come back to handling that grab bag in a moment.

*Aspects: I’ll probably have some directed choices for starting aspects. At least one, for example, should be either about the character’s divine parent or their relation to that parent. Another ought to be a dramatic flaw (as in Dresden).

*Skills: Most of the FATE systems as well as Scion have a list of about two-dozen skills. I’ll need to go through and figure out a useful and relevant list from those. Ideally I want the skill named in the most obvious way. I probably won't bother will outlining trappings for each skill, beyond a set of words or phrases to define common uses. Stunts won’t be necessarily tied to particular skills.

*Epic Attributes: One of the central mechanics to Scion lies in characters having powerful bonuses to their attributes, like Epic Strength or Epic Charisma. Each attribute in the game had an epic. Access to these initially comes from the specific divine parent, but others can be bought at higher costs. They always give a static bonus to any check involving them. So Epic Strength 2 always adds +2 dice to the pool for wrestling and the like. They can have other bonuses as well such as increasing the Defense Value or increasing Soak. Each Epic also allows access to Knacks related to that Epic Stat.

Since this FATE version won’t have attributes, Epics will exist as their own beast on the character sheet- a kind of power or large scale skill. The Scion division of Epics put a great deal of power and effect into a couple of attributes (notably Dexterity). I’m going to use ten Epics:

• Epic Perception: Spotting, Seeing, Awareness
• Epic Accuracy: Hitting, Precision, Trick Shots 
• Epic Strength: Might, Lift, Physical Damage 
• Epic Stamina: Damage Taking, Additional Phys. Stress, Resilience 
• Epic Charm: Rapport, Empathy, Seduction, Additional Social Stress 
• Epic Presence: Intimidation, Leadership, Willpower, Additional Mental Stress 
• Epic Movement: Speed, Climbing, Leaping 
• Epic Reflexes: Reaction Time, Defenses, Sleight of Hand 
• Epic Knowledge: Stuff You Know 
• Epic Wits: Coming up with Clever Things, Puzzling Out

For purposes of this version, Epic 1 gives a +1 to all skill checks related to that (-3 to +5), Epic 2 gives a +2 to all skill checks (-2 to +6), and Epic 3 has you replace one of the FATE dice with a d6 (-2 to +9).

The breakdown of the Epics tries to split the weight given to certain attributes in the original game. My intent is to carefully manage the combinations of Epics available to any divine lineage. So there won’t be any that combine Epic Strength & Epic Accuracy or Epic Stamina & Epic Reflexes. Players will still be able to purchase Epics from outside of their parentage, but they will cost double. I’m also considering Epic 3 purchases offering an Aspect based on the ability, but I’m not sure of that.

*Stunts/Knacks: In Scion players chose a knack for each point of an Epic Attribute they took. Additional knacks could be purchased, provided the player had at least a dot in the attribute. I suspect I’m going to do something like that for this system. Knacks will wholly take the place of Stunts (aka Advantages, Merits, etc in other systems). They will be divided under each of the ten Epics mentioned above.

I’ve gone through the Knacks as presented in the Scion Hero, Scion Demigod and the Scion Companion. Some of those I’ve eliminated outright as not really working in this system, some as just goofy and others as overly complicated. To those I plan to harvest stunts from the various FATE books. I want to divide knacks into major and minor, with major costing double. That price change will be the only substantive difference (nothing regarding difficulty or the like). I don’t want to break down the categories any further than that, but there’s definitely a difference in power between something that allows a character to fling something far and something that allows them to shake off bullets. Ideally I can have a nice range of Knacks under each Epic. I might impose a limit- any specific knack can only be taken by up to two players.

*Stress Tracks: Because of the scale of things and the interactions of the Epics with things, I’ll probably significantly increase the base Stress tracks. Dresden has characters starting at two stress for each track, with a max of four. I’ll probably just double that and see how that works. I’ll likely use the basic consequence mechanics as they are.

*Powers/Purviews: These are abilities, not all that functionally different from knacks, but representing different areas of mythic influence (Chaos, Animal, Dark, etc). I’ll have to go through and do a quick rewrite on them to make them fit with the Scion system. I’ll just stick with the level 1-3 of these as given in the basic book. I probably won’t worry about balancing them too much. I do want to make them a little more interesting and useful- if they can add or affect aspects, that’s an easy approach. Right now a couple of the Purviews are pretty weak. In Scion players could buy the level 3 and skip the level one & two. I have to decide if that’s how I want to handle these. FATE points will be the fuel for most of these things.

*Birthrights: Scion originally allows players to purchase advantages in several different areas: Creatures, Followers, Guides and most importantly Relics. The first three I’ll probably handle as aspects if players want to have something like that. For example they could choose a starting aspect to reflect their access to a mentor who can guide them. Relics will be a little more complicated. I suspect I’ll adapt some of the mechanics from Legends of Anglerre to handle that. Most importantly Relics allow characters access to their purviews- in order to use those powers, it must be in their possession.

*Other Stuff: I have to figure out how I want to handle weapons and armor, probably as simply as possible. The Dresden numbers should work. I’ll also want to figure out how to handle the Fatebinding mechanics in an easy way. I imagine that getting a mortal tied up in one’s fate could serve as a temporary sticky aspect, allow some kinds of compels (depending on the character’s personality). I also want to revisit the FATE mechanics for Assessment/Declaration/Maneuver. I want to make that distinction clearer and offer a tangible benefit for taking an action to add aspects (more or better aspects).

The Golden Khan of Ethengar: RPG Items I Like

WHAT IS IT?
Sourcebook covering dangerous rider-tribes and their supreme Khan in the classic TSR setting of Mystara.

BACK IN THE GAME
GAZ12: The Golden Khan of Ethengar comes late in the lifespan of the Gazetteer series. We only have one more (GAZ13: The Shadow Elves) that maintains the format; the final volume (GAZ14: Atruaghin Clans) switching up styles in a way that seems like a rush job. There's also a boxed set not assigned a GAZ code oddly. The previous two gazetteers have been problematic. GAZ10: The Orcs of Thar has great stuff but feels like designers chose to lighten the tone to allow Orc & Co. PCs. Then there’s the previous volume, GAZ11: The Republic of Darokin. It heads off in a strange direction that makes it the weakest of the series. So I came back to rereading Ethengar with some trepidation.

And I fell in love again. I’d used some of the material from this for a campaign over a dozen years ago. I recalled solid material, and going back I immediately found story and adventure ideas popping up. The authors of Ethengar recognize what works in the series: surface/reality contradictions; easy but interesting character options; campaign discussions; rivalries among groups; and clear cultural elements. Ethengar also offers a distinct society, unlike anything else presented in the series. The borrowings from the Mongol and Central Asian cultures are handled well, with a world that’s both inviting and strange. Ethengar also pays off some of the promises made in earlier volumes, such as the amazing GAZ3: The Principalities of Glantri, where we first got some insight into the exiled Ethengarian family of Singhabad.

THE BOOK ITSELF
The supplement comes with two booklets: a 32 page Player’s Guide and a 64 page DM’s Guide. The folio cover has a decent Clyde Caldwell illo (though not his best). The folio interior has a map of the relations of Ethengarian tribes- as they’re publicly perceived. There’s also a map of the region divided by tribes as well as a clan camp diagram. The enclosed map is double-sided again thankfully. One side offers two excellent “city” maps for the two different locations of the Golden Khan’s encampments. The other side has a classic hex map for the region, but with new elements distinct to the Ethengarians (poor/good grazing lands, horsefair sites, etc). As well a set of armor illustrations for various humanoid raider peoples (nicely labeled) and diagrams of Ethengarian arrows finish out that side. The booklets once again have Stephen Fabian’s art, with some of my favorite illustrations of the series. Ethengar marks the first entry in the series by the amazing Jim Bambra, known for other TSR products as well as contributions to some of the most amazing Warhammer Fantasy products (Death on the Reik, The Enemy Within). Matt Connell and Pat Whitehead provide additional material, but the book doesn’t feel at all like the product of multiple authors. In fact, it is one of the best written and clearest of the gazetteers.

GM’S BOOKLET
The strength of this supplement lies in how well it focuses on playable material: what does a DM need to run the setting? What kinds of elements might come up at the table? How might other details (like history) be considered in this culture? Throughout the author manages to focus the discussion and present everything cleanly and clearly. For example, some Gazetteers have spent many pages going over history. This volume offers only two pages, plus a timeline. Yet within that smaller page count, we get a sense of the cycle of history and what it means to present-day society. Likewise the geography section, handled in three pages focuses on the essentials, with clear headings to make referencing the material easy. The section on culture offers a glance at daily life and The Camp, which lies at the heart of the people. The calendar of the land is covered in three pages. In other gazetteers we’ve gotten a run-down of holidays. Ethengar offers some of that, but combines it with the seasonal life-cycle of the tribes. As a nomadic people the seasons signals times of change and movement.

The Khanate itself offers DMs an interesting challenge. More than any other nation, with the possible exception of The Broken Lands, the Ethengarians have a hostile relationship with other nations. Called “The Outsiders” they have historically suffered Ethengar hostilities, with invasions of the Heldann Freeholds and Principalities of Glantri. But the present situation has shifted, with a new Golden Khan who has begun stronger ties and interactions with the Outsiders. Some see this as a good thing, some as a cunning stratagem, and others as a violation of the old ways. That central conflict and the place of the new Khan drives the relations between the eight tribes. The book presents those tribes succinctly, focusing on one or two interesting details which could lead to long term stories.

The Golden Khan and his Golden Court are covered in six pages. That court will be an important fixture for an Ethengar campaign, for travelers or native characters. While the set-up obviously echoes Marco Polo’s experience, having the current Golden Khan be more open-minded and inviting is a smart design move. This is a radical shift, so tensions run high within the kingdom. That means many factions shifting for power and trying to subvert or destroy one another. Since the change has occurred relatively recently, players can take advantage of new opportunities and carve out a niche for themselves.

While keeping a central focus, the DM’s booklet covers many different topics. One of the longest sections of the book presents the NPCs of Ethengar. These characters only get a small stat block, with the focus instead being on their personalities, agendas and potential plot hooks. A four-page pull-out section considers the military forces of the Khanate. This includes War Machine and Battlesystem stats. Two pages covers several humanoid tribes of the Steppes. These Orcs and Goblins offer an interesting contrast to the human Ethengarians. They borrow much from their neighbor’s culture and stubbornly cling to life despite the nomad’s predations. The DM might handle these peoples as infiltrating enemies or as more sympathetic underdogs. An extensive section details the Spirit World of the region, offering a different take on the intersection of the supernatural and daily life.

The last third of the book deals with adventures and campaigns here. It offers several campaign frames, most revolving around the Golden Khan’s future plans. Although Moglai Khan appears enlightened, he carefully lays the groundwork for future invasions and conquests. He recognizes that eventually he will have to turn the energies of his people outward or risk being consumed by them. The book offers other interesting campaign variations including dealing with the humanoids, a “no-war” option, and a future where the Golden Khan dies early. Most importantly the material considers the elements necessary for the two primary campaign types in Ethengar: outsiders passing through versus a group of native PCs. The sections on staging common events and bringing the world to life are especially rich and useful. The book finishes with an excellent and extended adventure framework, a mini-campaign outline and a page of scenario hooks.

PLAYER’S BOOKLET
The smaller Player’s Guide begins with nine pages of background, broken into easily digestible chunks. In the past I’d had some problems with the gazetteer player sections offering an info dump. I’ve also criticized some first person narrations for feeling gimmicky. Somehow this section, despite providing rich information in the voice of different characters, manages to feel real and useful. Covering the basics of Ethengar life: the nature of the Khans, customs, crime, appearance and faith; it is an excellent primer for players who want to play a native and PCs thinking about traveling through.

The section on creating Ethengarian characters takes an excellent (and new) approach. Previous gazetteers have offered new skill rules and/or a single new class based on the region. The Golden Khan of Ethengar offers several slight variations on the standard classes. Horse Warriors are fighters, gaining a few unique bonues, Brataks are native Thieves, Hakomons are Magic Users, and local Clerics can select from Ethengarian Immortals with new spells. These local variations offer every player something novel. They make a fighter from here distinct from a Karameikan or Darokinian. That’s a great approach and one I can see going back and adding to the previous gazetteers. Rather than reinventing the wheel, designing entirely new classes or just distinguishing with new skills, this gives a simple alternative. The rules do include a new class as well, The Shaman, based on the spirit world mentioned in the DM book. It also includes rules for tribal standing, wealth, new arms & armor and skill mechanics (with some new ones like Terrorize and Make Yurt). Finally it presents a sample name list, plus basic rules for converting the supplement to AD&D.

OVERALL
I really enjoyed The Golden Khan of Ethengar. I’ve used material from it in the past and will do so again in the future. Cleanly written and tightly focused, it offers DMs (and players) what they need to actually play these concepts out. Yet at the same time, there’s plenty of room for everyone to craft their own spin. The author manages to balance concrete details with interesting multiple possibilities. The Ethengarians could be a benevolent force, with a Khan moving it towards modernity or it could be a dangerous and subtle force lying in wait for the right opportunity to strike. Or it could be both. Like the best of the gazetteers the material embraces conflict, complications and contradictions. I recommend this to Mystaran DMs and to any GM looking for resources covering a nomadic, horse tribe or historical Mongol peoples.

The Ethengar map here is taken from the excellent Mystaran map resource at mystara.thorf.co.uk. 

THE GAZETTEERS IN REVIEW
GAZ1: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos

GAZ2: The Emirates of Ylaruam

GAZ3: The Principalities of Glantri
GAZ4: The Kingdom of Ierendi

GAZ5: The Elves of Alfheim
GAZ6: The Dwarves of Rockhome
GAZ7: The Northern Reaches
GAZ8: The Five Shires 
GAZ9: The Minrothad Guilds
GAZ 10: The Orcs of Thar 
GAZ 11: The Republic of Darokin 
GAZ 12: The Golden Khan of Ethengar

GAZ 13: The Shadow Elves
GAZ 14: The Atruaghin Clans
Dawn of the Emperors: Thyatis and Alphatia 

A Tale of Two Kickstarters

MULTIPLEX
For  Christmas this year, Gene Ha generously commissioned an image from one of my favorite webcomic artists, Gordon McAlpin. He writes the amazingly funny and creative Multiplex. I will admit to a certain bias given the several years I spent working and even serving as assistant manager at a local movie theater. That theater, the Forum Cinema "caught fire" several years after I left. Today, when I go into Showplace 14 and see they're now serving chicken nuggets and pizza, I can only cringe with the thought of what cleaning that up involves.

More importantly, Gordon has begun a Kickstarter project for the second collected volume of his webcomic. I have the first and I've read it cover to cover a half-dozen times. The Kickstarter page for the project is here, and I recommend you check it out.


SOLUTION SQUAD
My friend Jim McClain is working on a math-based comic called Solution Squad. He has some pretty amazing concepts he's put together for this: combining years of experience as a math instructor with his passionate love for comic books. Jim ran some of my favorite sessions of Champions in the past. He crafted and ran an extended arc which essentially brought the elements of Norse Ragnarok to the game world, and presented an actual "Twilight of the Gods" changing the setting significantly. It remains one of the best sets of sessions I've ever played in. His diceless take on Star Trek remains another campaign that actually showed me how games could transcend limits and really emulate an experience.

The Republic of Darokin: RPG Items I'm Unsure About

WHAT IS IT?
Sourcebook covering a merchant-centered nation in the classic TSR setting of Mystara.

REALLY, A RANT? SPARE ME
I had a very strange reaction to GAZ11: The Republic of Darokin. I recall skimming it years ago, and thinking it was interesting but a little one-note. Re-reading it, I felt the same way, but I also became increasingly bugged as I went along.

I’ve worked my way through the Gazetteer series- with tales of Halfling Revolutionaries, Radiation-Backed Magicians, and Multi-Stage Elvish Migrations- and yet this is the first time one of these shattered my suspension of disbelief. Robert McKee (among others) talks about the paradoxically strict rules governing a fantasy story. The rules may be made up but they’re adhered to so that the reader can follow the story logic. To extend that further, fantasy and sci-fi introduce "what if" elements and then consider how they play against our experience of the real world. That gets more complicated the more fantastic elements one has to juggle. But we all have some understanding of people, of human nature, of impulses, of society, to compare with those stories. If the transformed world fits with that, it feels right and true. If not, it rings false.

And Darokin, despite a lack of magical or fantastic trappings, rings false for me. It is a plutocracy, a country of merchants. That’s interesting (despite that being the base premise for the Minrothad Guilds from earlier in the series). Merchants effectively run the nation, with everyone tied to that activity in some way. And there’s no underclass, because everybody wants to get ahead. And everyone enjoys a high standard of living. And there’s absolute class mobility. And there’s democracy for local representation. And there’s no need for heavy-handed regulation, charity or lawyers because everything regulates itself based on the culture. And merchants only rarely take advantage because doing so would be bad for business in the long run. And despite it being a competitive world of free market capitalism, the driving force of the country is that everyone believes in fair play.

Have you ever been in one of those ‘arguments’ with someone of an opposing political stripe where they’re talking about some plan or scheme which would solve everything. And when you point out the historical evidence, the structural obstacles and/or the cultural factors they say “Well, if everyone just XXX…”

Or as my wife and I say “Assume a spherical horse…” ( reference one and reference two)

The problem that I have is that the society presented here seems so unreal- so apart from my own sense of how people operate. It also doesn’t sync up with my knowledge of history. I don’t want to claim any deep understanding, but I’ve read enough to know that this wouldn’t function in the real world. In the last year I’ve read Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World by Bernstein, The Ascent of Money by Ferguson and and Basic Economics by Sowell. I took a several courses in economic anthropology for my degree as well. It may very well be that I'm talking out my ***, but the premises and assumptions the setting makes (and not magical or divine ones) seem a stretch.

Now I’m a liberal, but one tempered by a political scientist father who stressed the need to understand economic forces and concerns when considering issues. So I have to ask myself- am I coming at this with a bias? Am I like the conservative commentators who condemned the children’s anime film The Secret World of Arriety for promoting an agenda of sharing? I don’t think so. I think the world presented for Darokin has limited dimensions and depth, with some very strange premises and assumptions about human nature and behavior- and the power of ambition to both push and limit people’s behavior. There’s a strange, almost Randian air to the material- but without the subtext of more ‘worthy’ people. If there had been, perhaps, an Immortal introduced who stood for “The Invisible Hand of the Market” I could have bought into the material. That might have answered some questions about how this could sustain itself without exploitation given the economies of trade partners, modest local resources, and limits on communication and information.

The lack of significant conflict and contrast within the setting underscores and abets the problem. In most of the Gazetteers, we see conflicts running beneath the surface. There’s a contrast between the stated character or ideals of a place, and the actual nature of it. The tension between those two creates drama and interesting opportunities for the DM. This comes through most clearly in the presentation of “Players’” vs. “DM’s” material. The best offer a clean and unified face to the world, but have an ugliness underneath. We learn that some of those details are lies, some hide battles between powers, and some speak more to ideals than reality. However in The Republic of Darokin, we get a squeaky clean presentation in the DM’s book, and the player’s section covering that simply regurgitates that through first person narratives. In fact the DM’s book seems to stop at many points to emphasize and reinforce that the country is as great as it appears- answering concerns like a spokesman selling a line of goods.

THE BOOK ITSELF
As usual the main contents of this supplement split in two: a 32-page player's book and a 64-page DM’s guide. The folio cover has a set of maps on the inside- one a city map of Darokin and the other a map of the central market. The former’s nice and the latter's a little sketchy. There’s also an interior panel with assembly instructions for the cardboard cut-out caravan. This comes on two pages of cardstock and seemed a little primitive at the time and even more so now. The poster map included is disappointingly single-sided. Most of that side is taken up with the map of Darokin (and Alfheim since it lies completely within Darokin’s borders). It also has some images of coins, some less than useful island outlines, and a detail inset of the port of a city (but not the city itself).

Clyde Cadlwell supplies a very Italianate renaissance cover image and the excellent Stephen Fabian returns to provide illustrations- some of his best- within the books. Layout and text design remain excellent, but there are more than a few editorial mistakes in this one- including a chuck of material repeated within two pages. Scott Haring and William W. Conners are listed as designers. But Karen S. Boomgarden and William H. Connors are listed for “Development” which isn’t a credit I recall from previous Gazetteers. This is Connors' first entry in the series, though he has extensive Traveller and TSR credits, and would return for GAZ14: Atruaghin Clans. That’s not shocking since this is the first gazetteer to actually mention them in any detail. Karen Boomgarden’s name appears on several TSR products, including several Amazing Engine items and the Mystara-related Hollow World Campaign Set. Scott Haring, on the other hand, I associate more with GURPS products.

DM’S BOOKLET
The Dungeon Master’s Guide covers a wide swath of material. It presents a country effectively run by commerce. While in the past there existed a conventional sense of nobility, that has been replaced by social class (and rights in some cases) based on wealth. The people are focused on wealth, but aren’t conspicuous about its consumption with gross displays seen as gauche. And there’s no bigotry or snobbishness. And everyone has an opportunity. And if someone rises to the top there’s no sense of jealousy. And there’s democracy and low taxes and little corruption. And everyone loves fair play and values it above anything else. And there’s rivers that run with chocolate and a late morning rain of gumdrops. And I’ll try to make that the last snarky thing I say.

The Republic of Darokin does present  several interesting features. The first half of this booklet covers the basics: history, government, trade and culture. Culturally, Darokin borrows early modern and renaissance Italian and Swiss primarily, with a few other bits thrown in. Darokin is pretty much what it appears to be on the surface- a semi-utopian merchant nation in the midst of other nations far behind in technology and mercantilism. But DM’s will find some richer details to draw on. In particular, the fact that Alfheim lies entirely within the borders of this nation. The continuing struggles with the Orcs of Thar also present a serious issue for the people- especially since military readiness and defense costs money without tangible output. The orcs here appear much more threatening than in their own gazetteer. Beyond merchants, Darokin’s also known for producing professional diplomats and mediators. That’s an interesting concept and a niche not filled in the setting. There’s an extensive section means and methods of trade within Darokin, and the roles the Guilds serve in that. Nine Merchant Houses serve as the narrative backbone of the Darokin setting (as families and clans do in other gazetteer books). These only get a brief overview, which means DM’s will have to do some significant fleshing out to run a campaign here. Darokin’s notable both for racial tolerance, as well as little in the way of organized religion- that’s something of a non-factor in people’s lives.

Pages 32-54 cover Cities & Towns and Places of Interest. Most of these entries actually get more detail and discussion than the earlier family notes. The materials given more depth than usually shown in the gazetteer books. In others you might get some of the major cities discussed, plus notes on a few interesting places. This book presents thirty-one cities and towns, including forts and small villages. A small bug for me is the number of these entries which begin with the same letter. That’s a pet peeve; while it might not be realistic a little better spacing of those initial sounds makes it easier for the DM and Players to keep them separate in their mind. Ten places of interest are presented, including the Merchant's Guild Hall (covered in keyed entries over six pages). Some of these are interesting, but all need more hooks for the DM. This section includes a two-page map of the guild hall as well as a one-page map of a fort.

Pages 55-58 present seven adventure seeds, broken down by experience levels (Basic, Expert, Companion, and Master). Each seed offers an Introduction, Resolution and Aftermath. These adventures are very lightly detailed and a DM will have to spend significant time fleshing out the bones. Oddly, the beginning of the book suggests that it will present a “complete D&D adventure set in the Republic, and plenty of ideas for an extended campaign set in Darokin.” There’s certainly not a complete adventure here, and the book would have benefited from some discussion of what a Darokin-centered campaign might look like. Most of the previous gazetteers have taken time to do that, so I don’t think that’s asking for too much. Finally, the book ends with eleven NPCs, some with great character portraits. The actual discussion of each characters motives, goals and backgrounds is shorter than in the previous gazetteers, with more space given to stats.

PLAYERS’ BOOKLET
The Players’ Guide opens with the ToC for both books (a new design approach for the series) followed by five pages of “What Everyone Knows About Darokin” first person narrative entries. These echo pretty much what’s given in the DM’s Guide. Rules for creating Darokinian PCs follows. This is pretty much restricted to rolling for your family’s social class (and therefore money), picking skills or choosing to be a Merchant (as a secondary class). The book repeats much of the skills system given in previous gazetteers, with a few new and increasingly specific skills offered based on the region. These include Advocacy, Bargemaking, and Lawyer. There are no Darokin-specific skills, although some racial specialty skills are listed for elves, dwarves and halflings.

Darokinian characters may also choose the Merchant class, covered in pages 13-20. This is not unlike the Merchant Prince class offered in GAZ9: The Minrothad Guilds, but actually gains experience based on profits earned. Like the MP class the Merchant gains access to a number of trade-specific spells, but a smaller number and of less power. DM’s wanting to use both these classes will want to look closely at them. They seem, at first glance, asymmetrical- using different rules to do fairly similar things. Likewise, DM’s interested in trade as an activity will want to compare the Mercantile Trade systems given here (pages 21-29) with those from the Minrothad Guilds DM’s book. They cover slightly different material, and have slightly different mechanics.

The booklet also includes a nice two-page trade map showing where goods sell high and low. There’s also another first person narration and a reprint of the rules for the AD&D game. The cover of the book specifies the AD&D 2nd Edition game, but that’s not noted here.

OVERALL
I probably tipped my hand about my reaction to The Republic of Darokin book at the outset. The setting feels weirdly disconnected from reality, in the sense that the society rings false to me. As much as anything, I’m disappointed by the lack of drama and conflict. There are bits and pieces- rivalries between some of the houses and the like, but they are few and far between. That’s disappointing because all of the other Gazetteers, even those I had problems with, offered those kinds of moments and contrasts. That means that making this region as deep, complex and compelling as the other in the series will require much more effort on the DM’s part. Mystaran DM’s may find this interesting, but GM’s looking for material to adapt would be better advised to look at other Renaissance sourcebooks (The Swashbuckler's Handbook for example).

The Republic of Darokin map here is taken from the excellent Mystaran map resource at mystara.thorf.co.uk. 

THE GAZETTEERS IN REVIEW
GAZ1: The Grand Duchy of Karameikos

GAZ2: The Emirates of Ylaruam

GAZ3: The Principalities of Glantri
GAZ4: The Kingdom of Ierendi

GAZ5: The Elves of Alfheim
GAZ6: The Dwarves of Rockhome
GAZ7: The Northern Reaches
GAZ8: The Five Shires 
GAZ9: The Minrothad Guilds
GAZ 10: The Orcs of Thar 
GAZ 11: The Republic of Darokin 
GAZ 12: The Golden Khan of Ethengar

GAZ 13: The Shadow Elves
GAZ 14: The Atruaghin Clans
Dawn of the Emperors: Thyatis and Alphatia 

Running the Races: Some Picks for My Favorites

Today I finish up my discussion of fantasy races with some of those I particularly like. I’m not sure I have reason reasons for liking them, and a couple I haven’t really used in games. But they’re ideas I’m fond of- in physiology, culture, implications or the like. As I said in my last post, I think fantasy races serve many functions. From a GM perspective I enjoy these races & concepts I enjoy and can see building stories around. 
 

Half-Elves
Well-handled, I think that the half-elf offers an interesting way to see into both cultures. Unfortunately, I’ve seen it as a “get out of jail free” card for interactions in the past with players switching their stated identity depending on what would gain them the most (or cost them the least). In a few systems, Rolemaster IIRC, the Half-Elf offered a balanced choice for power gamers. But the presence of half-elves raises several implications- not least of which that different humanoid races can successfully cross-breed. If so, what are the circumstances behind that? Doomed romance? Wartime rape? Or is such a step across boundaries a common thing in the setting.

I have two favorite takes on the half-elf. First, settings where the half-elf must at some point make a choice between their elven and human parentage. And that this choice is more than a social one- that the character chooses the limited life span of the human over the extended life of the elf. I think too often settings make this too easy a choice- it really needs to be a serious and substantive dilemma, with concrete gain and loss on either side of the equation. From the gamer standpoint (especially for campaign worlds where the player’s impact the history) the obvious choice is more years. How do you balance that?

My other favorite take- at least for rp possibilities- is the half-elf viewed and raised as an anathema. In one of our campaigns we had a long-running series of skirmishes and wars between elves and humans. One particularly religious community took in the various half-elves that came about over the years of the wars. Those half-elves grew up learning that their blood had been tainted by the mingling of the two races. That they lived as a kind of poison, who could only expurgate their sins through service and sacrifice. It was tough and awful- and I showcased a number of characters who had bought into that philosophy. In at least one case, a PC got tangled up trying to bring an NPC out of that sense of self-loathing. 

Warforged 
I have to admit that my experience with the Warforged and the details of their race is second-hand. I owned a copy of the Eberron book for 3e, but I think it skimmed it more than absorbed it. When I ran my Planescape Campaign, we had a warforged PC, the second in command of the company as I recall. But I don’t know all of the details. But I love the idea and implication of a race of creatures created and remaining around. I love that they versatile enough to take on any character class.

They must have senses, sensory input, but how different is it? How does that shape their experience? I wonder how their form of longevity and extended lifespan differs from that of the Elves. Does it make them more or less worldly? How do they deal with mortality- with the slow degradation of they systems over time. They don’t seem to have a centralized culture, but many of these factors could certainly impact how individuals react to the world.

I also have to admit that as much as anything else, I think they look cool.

Aperkitas 
I mentioned in my last post about the Createds, magical races usually taken from a particular animal type. Each has a small population pool, often combined with odd restrictions on behavior, such as loyalty or aggression. In the campaigns, they served to illustrate the dangers created by long-fallen Wizard Overlords who had created the Created as slaves and tools. Of these races my favorite remains the Aperkitas, small dog-like people, based in part on colonials from the Off-the-Wall Armies series of miniatures.

Loyal and friendly, the Aperkitas lack any magical talent. Additionally, they see things in a fairly straight-forward way- avoiding “fancy philosophizing and such…” They’re known for their goal of protecting pretty things, especially pretty ladies in distress. That’s the right thing to do. Each Aperkitas selects a “Great Work” for themselves when they come of age. Often a crafted object, but other times a book, a mission, or something of the sort. This choice shapes the latter years of an Aperkitas’s life. That’s important, because the Aperkitas don’t live very long, with elders being forty years of age when they reach a final rest. However their lifespan was significantly increased by one of the three wishes ever given out in twenty-five+ years of playing in this setting.

I like the Aperkitas because they have established a strong identity in the game world- earnest, reliable, but also not given to high-flown thinking. In some ways they represent a race which has manage to overcome the limitations of their own origin. 

Nezumi/Skaven 
I wonder what the first “rat-man” race was in fantasy, perhaps Reepicheep from Narnia? The Skaven remain my favorite of the WHFRP elements- they have awesome designs and a distinct image. The strange gas-mask and steampunk elements combined with their devotion to plague and disease made them the most evocative adversaries in that setting. Eventually, I ended up borrowing elements to have a neutral race of Skaven, abandoned by their gods as a fixture in my campaigns. Over the years and campaigns they have changed and evolved. They left for one of the moons, creating there an independent society with a more early modern and then eventually swashbuckling feel. They’re a far cry from the Skaven of old Warhammer. But as much as anything, I wanted a race of that type which could actually interact with the other cultures.

I’m also fond of the Nezumi, aka the Ratlings from Legend of the Five Rings. I like the idea of old non-human races who have risen and fallen, and had a history stretching back before the coming of humanity. Their role in the setting and CCG has likewise seen ups and downs. The nezumi have a number of interesting details, their tribalism and their magic and society based around the idea of names. I think they’re a great detail to contrast the seriousness of the setting. They also offer an easy “Other” to put samurai PCs into conflict with- not combat conflicts, but social or moral ones. The treatment of the nezumi by standard samurai often brings out the inner character of PCs (or their players). Despite that I really don’t like the idea of nezumi as PCs. I think L5R works best with a party of fully human characters. The presence of a nezumi adds complications that might be fun for one player, but create problems for the rest of the group.

Durulz 
I mentioned before some of the strange races from Glorantha, with their alternate takes on Elves (Aldryami) and Dwarves (Mostali). But one of the weirdest and most awesome races from the setting are the Durulz, aka the Ducks. They have, over various editions, ranged from essentially being fantasy versions of Donald Duck to more recent takes that attempt to make them a little more realistic, as feathered humanoids. I prefer the older take because it is just so crazy and something of a deliberate smack in the face. They really represent how strange a mythic setting ought to be. They combine being the butt of jokes (in game and out) with a fierce dedication to battling against the forces of Undeath.

Ducks are often cited as the dumbest race created for a setting. I like that they occupy comic relief, but at the same time can be quickly turned to more serious issues. The recent Ducks: Guide to the Durulz from Mongoose took this idea and ran with it. Essentially the cosmos itself laughs at the joke which are the Durulz, but the Ducks keep their pride and honor. From that contradiction and curse they gain power. There’s a suggestion that since the universe doesn’t take them seriously, the laws of physics and the like don’t apply to them. That’s a cool idea and would be fun to explore at the table.
 
Tortle 
There’s a lot of crazy and interesting stuff in TSR’s Red Steel setting, covering an exotic section of Mystara. This came out after TSR migrated Mystara from straight D&D to AD&D 2e. The Savage Coast area covered by this borrows from early modern Spain and settle portions of the new World. More importantly it adds magical firearms and random elemental mutations to the game. It’s one of the oddest and yet most interesting supplements I’ve read, even though it doesn’t really feel like the rest of Mystara. Importantly the setting adds a number of new races including Lupin (Dog folk) and Rakasta (Cat folk). I like both of those, but I’m more fascinated by the Tortles, the turtle people there. And they are exactly what you expect- large and slightly slower than normal (with a -2 DX penalty). Though the book describes them as not particularly ponderous thinkers in other regards. Amusingly, the default martial arts style presented in the sourcebook is based on a Tortle style. TMNT?

When I borrowed the Tortles for my game, I made a small change that actually really helped distinguish them for me. In the original setting, Tortles live 50 years and mate once. In my setting, Tortles live around fifty years, give or take a decade. If they survive that long, they go into a transformative state. The tortle retreats into its shell and into a magical hibernation. When it awakens, it emerges again with a slightly different physical appearance (though the shell remains the same). The newborn tortle retains basic life skills, but otherwise has the mind and memory of a late adolescent, their past life gone. However, when desired, the Tortle may go into a trance to recall the life and memories of one of its past lives- essentially recalling the personality to the surface. The tortle may experience memory flashes from the past, usually in the form of a kind of kindly and paternalistic vision.

Others 
I have a few others that I really like from other systems. For example, I’m overly fond of the concept of the Vargr (which I always spell Vagyr) from classic Traveller. I like the idea of a pack mentality and the difficulty of having to overcome that to operate as an “adventurer.” I also really like the T’Skrang from the Earthdawn setting. Most of the races appear barbaric, or at least more primitive than most classic fantasy settings. Part of that comes from the pseudo post-apocalyptic fantasy elements of the setting. In contrast to that you have these lizardmen, well-dressed and personable with an air of nobility. They’re swashbucklers and aerogators, dressed in silks and capes. You have to love that.