Despite the English title here, this is a review for a French language product entitled "Les Brumes de Fulmine" published by Oriflam in the "Archipels" product line. The product has been sent to me free for review. For more information on the product line and the Archipels game world in general, I encourage readers to refer to my review of "La Guerre des Ombres" which covers this at more length. One last thing before I start in earnest, the Archipels series is undergoing an English translation for Eden Studios. You can find more information at the following url : http://edenstudios.net/. I'll try not to spoil any secrets of the supplement, but some elements in the text below could be considered spoilers, so be warned !
First of all, I don't much like the above translation of the title of the supplement. "Les Brumes de Fulmine" would in my mind more adequately translate to "The Mists of Fume", Fume being the Island that is described in said supplement. This supplement is the second in a sub-series entitled "Guides du Soutard" (Stowaway's Guides) that each describe an island of the Archipels in detail and propose a short adventure to explore the new locale. The book is standard for that product line in terms of quality and artwork, ie. nothing exceptional, nothing horrible either. I don't find the maps all that readable, but that's just a matter of looking at them with a little more attention to figure out what is where.
Fume is a very unusual place. It is decidedly anchored in the steampunk feel that was apparent in the early supplements of the Archipels line with more emphasis on steam than punk : Fume is, essentially, an island as inhospitable as they go, but with one huge redeeming feature : its underground is riddled with pockets of precious gases. One of them has heating properties, one of them has magical properties and one of them has dangerous properties.
So the island has been settled, to some extent, despite being essentially an ultra-dangerous bog. In reality, only a third of the island is settled and exploited, the rest being considered too dangerous to even explore. Many dangerous creatures inhabit the unexplored area including tribes of arbolds, a kobold subspecies. The main city of Flame and the harbor of Free Port are the main settlements, each with a very different flavour. Flame is an administrative capital whereas Free Port is a place for outcasts and adventurers to find contracts.
What makes Fume an exceptional and endearing locale in my opinion is that the society described is very different from the standards of fantasy. In a nutshell, since the wealth of fume comes directly from those who dare explore the underground and toil in the gas mines, political power is a direct result of work. The more you work, the more clout you acquire in the assemblies. From this simple premisce evolved a quasi-communist system with assemblies, syndicates and a very harsh "one-mind" mentality enforced by the "Sniffers", the local secret police whose aims are obscure even to the politicians who think they control them. It's the first time I see a "stalinist" sociiety in a fantasy setting that seems to work. I'll admit I'm a sucker for stuff that feels "different", but it doesn't always pay to be different. Sometimes striving for difference reduces believabilty so much that the purpose is in effect defeated. That is not the case with Fume.
Also, even though I haven't had a chance to read the whole product line, some of the mysteries hinted at in earlier supplements about the Archipels setting are beginning to unravel, in particular the important role devoted to kobolds and their sub-races. Nice to know it's all going somewhere !
An added bonus is that, unlike the "War of Shadows" supplement which I think would be hard to plug everywhere, Fume really is useable in any setting with minor modifications. The communist settler thing could even be used with a different resource and in a non-insular setting. All in all, you've guessed it, I loved Fume.
So why not hand a glorious 5 ? Well, the adventure (Lvl 1-3) was a bit of a let-down, to be honest. The plot is run of the mill, some of the situations are a little over the top, and all in all, it's not much of an opportunity to learn what Fume is about. Since the adventure is an integral part of the supplement, that brings the overall mark down.
However, in a context of fairly conservative d20 productions, it is refreshing to see products such as this one. I'm not saying I will use it in my homebrew (the flavour is very different and I'm not sure it would fit), but I could see my self using it, which is more than I can say of 80% of the supplements I get the chance to read these days...
