Slaine: The Role-playing Game of Celtic Heroes
Format: Hardcover, full color interior, 192 pages
Genre: Fantasy, Licensed
Publisher: Mongoose Publishing
Authors: Ian Sturrock, Tim Hitchcock, Karen Peterson and Robert Byrd
Rating: 5
Slaine presents a fantasy setting based on the British comic created by Pat Mills and Angela Kincaid. It is a dark world of Celtic fantasy, where berserking (warped) heroes battle the mysterious Drune Lords, where life is cheap, death is fast and blood flows aplenty. I was drawn to review this book, not because of any familiarity with the comic, but because of my interest in the setting. What follows is an analysis of the work, not as an adaptation of the comic, but as a d20 setting/sourcebook.
On the surface, this book is amazing. The full color cover captures the essence of the setting, presumably Slaine freaking out in the throws of battle frenzy. The interior is on high quality paper, with full-color borders. Much of the art derives from the comic, but its placement is impressive insofar as how it ties in with the text. At 192 pages and at the hefty price of $34.95, it costs about .18 cents per page.
The book opens with an introduction to the book that is cognizant that many consumers may have never encountered Slaine before, a good thing in my case. Herein is a roadmap to the general layout of the book and a description of the contents of each chapter. In addition, there is a small sidebar introducing the book’s namesake to the readers. Accompanying the introductory text is a brief survey of the history, geography and political boundaries of the Land of the Young. All of the material here is consistent and very interesting.
“Characters in the Land of the Young” is the building block chapter for character generation. Here, Sturrock delineates the basic differences between the standard d20 system and character generation. Three races dominate the world: humans, warped ones and dwarves. Humans belong to one of four tribes and membership in a particular tribe confers specific benefits and characteristics, essentially hiding four races in one. Aside from the tribal characteristics nested in the class section, dwarves fulfill the next niche. I have already confessed my ignorance of the comic book, and so I must say, mechanically and apart from the knowledge of the comic, dwarves in this game seem somewhat handicapped. They have a good assortment of abilities (including resistance to beatings!), but they seem to fall into a category of second class characters, always in the shadow of the humans and warped ones due to their lack of class options (they cannot warp, make poor druids and witches, leaving only the thief as the best option). Last of the races are the warped ones (and my personal favorites). These characters are the heroes of destiny, forced to abide by powerful geases (see below), gaining the ability to explode into bizarre and violent shapes (warp-spasms) and capable of resisting a vast amount of damage (due in part to their high Con bonus). The races are a good mix (excepting my reservations of the viability of the dwarf) and well presented.
Also in this chapter is a discussion on the classes in Slaine. Included are the Druid, Noble Warrior, Thief (excellent), Tribal Warrior and Witch, and none of these classes are the same as those presented in the SRD or in other sources (Quintessential Witch, Way of Witch, et al). Furthermore, multiclassing (except into prestige classes) is prohibited, improving character career choice distinctions, over the ambiguity found in Min-Max games in the d20 system. The druid captures the sense of the classic Merlin druid, a respected sorcerer of vast power with deep connections to the chthonic elements prevalent in the pagan religious systems pre-Christianity. The druid is no wild shaper and seems to be a combination of a bard, wizard and sage, coupled with nature overtones. Furthermore, this game does not employ the Vancian magic system and utilizes one more fitting to the system (see Earth Power below).
The Noble Warrior is Slaine’s version of the fighter, but the class changes characteristics to fit the character’s tribe. The thief blends elements of the bard and rogue, being a highly skill oriented class, with a moderate BAB, and two good saves. The tribal warrior is a beefed up barbarian and the best class for warped ones, customizable based on tribal selection. The witch is in many ways an inversion of the druid, focusing on ritual sacrifices, blood magic and paying homage to the more sinister side of the powers of the Earth.
Slaine removes several skills from the SRD from the gain to their inappropriateness, but replaces them with variant versions of standard skills and new skills forming the basis for the setting's unique magic system-Bless, Divination and Sorcery (used for the magic system, allowing access to spells, or to determine the results of a particular subset of spells). Other cool elements in this chapter include rules for honor (Enech), sarhaed (the price in the barter currency the character is worth if illegally killed or injured or the maximum amount the character can owe), Geases (obligations and restrictions placed upon the character; for example, a character with a minor geas may never refuse to grant hospitality) and Weirds (penalties for breaking geases, or options to take in lieu of a geas; an example, the character is struck by temporary blindness). This chapter is extremely good, with only a few typos, all of which are easily overlooked by the sheer ingenuity behind the work and setting.
Like most d20 books, Slaine uses almost every feat in the SRD. The next chapter details the feats that crossover from the PHB, while introducing new ones specific to the Land of the Young. Everything from Blood Eagle (a ritual sacrifice that draws the ribs of a victim out through their backs as a means to generate magical energy), Celtic Wife Strike (like Rapid Shot, but unarmed dealing a fixed die of damage and for female characters only) to Ritual Feast (a feat allowing a character to gain magical benefit from eating the heart of a kill). All of the feats are well conceived and in play add a certain grotesquely cinematic effect to game play. One small point, however, in the Chariot Leap feat description, it references another feat Chariot Control. As of this time, I have been unable to locate the description in the book, but it may be available in errata. Small oversights like these have been the bane of many an otherwise good book, but this one is so darn good I swallowed my frustration.
A good sign that this book divorces itself from the standard d20 generic milieu is in the game’s economic system. Slaine relies heavily on haggling and barter to facilitate the exchange of goods, in some ways similar to FFGs Midnight, except coin, in the form of iron bars, cows, pigs and chickens (and a few other, more standard types of units of value) are how things are valued. For example, a wooden mattock normally carries the price of a pig. In weaponry, Slaine employs a coherent system to demonstrate the evolving weaponry of the time. There are throwbacks to flint and wood materials, both of which are phasing out in favor of the superior iron weaponry. Yet even iron is not without flaws, if a character deals a certain amount of damage with the iron weapon, the weapon bends, requiring a certain amount of time and effort to either stamp the weapon or straighten it with the hero’s teeth. The weapon selection is adequate (from the log to the razor-edged shield), but as I am an old school kind of guy, perhaps a few more tools of war would have been nice. Following weaponry is armor covering seven armors, two shields and two armor/shield features. As Slaine heroes typically disdain the use of armor, it is no surprise this section is short. The rest of the chapter covers the standard assortment of equipment as found in the PHB, but priced using the setting’s currency system.
The Combat chapter is small and functions as a supplement to the standard rules found within the PHB. Here are rules for Naming Weapons (a form of signature weapon), Taunts (excellent), revised Damage Reduction, Warp-Spasms, Chariot rules and more. One important note about Slaine, +1 weapons just don’t appear in this book. Instead, the amount of Earth Power (point-based spell system) infused along with the skill of the craftsmen determine whether the weapon is magical or not. Nevertheless, this chapter is very nice, with a special kudos in order for the warp-spasms.
The Slaine setting is one of war and so, unlike the DMG, it contains a Mass Combat system. Basically, this system originates from Matthew Sprange’s, Quintessential Fighter. I for one have been in search of a viable mass combat system since 3rd Editions debut as much of my own campaign’s involve politics and politics-by-another-means style of play. The OMCS in the Quintessential Fighter was too loose for my tastes, AEGs War had no substance in this regard and Chainmail failed to provide a large enough scale without the transparency needed to integrate the rules with standard DnD play. Therefore, when I saw this system presented as an extension of the OMCS, I had some reservations. However, after looking at the system, I realized that it is extremely viable. The rules are elegant, true to the flavor of 3rd ed and fast paced. Furthermore, with a little work, and the help of the revised Quintessential Fighter, the system is portable to just about any fantasy rpg. Technically speaking, units reflect the predominate members of the combat group. Thus, a unit consisting of 70% human commoners, 20% tribal warriors, and 10% dwarf thieves, would function as a unit comprised solely of commoners. Of course, to take advantage of such a composition, the player would be better suited to branch off the tribal warrior into their own unit, thus making them a more effective fighting unit. In short, units have many of the same stats as a regular d20 character including such things as race, class, level, Initiative, Ability Scores, Saves and feats. Some interesting home brew expansions could include new feats to reconfigure the unit formations (closed, skirmish, mob, etc), shield walls, and so on. In all, this is a very good chapter.
Earth Power, the next section in this sourcebook, examines the magic system in Slaine. Essentially magic is a point-based system, where characters must employ the land around them, sacrifices and magical conduits to enhance their natural powers. Each time the character buys a rank in Sorcery, they gain access to a spell whose prerequisites they meet. The actions the characters take, such as sacrificing a victim slowly over the course of many hours, to tapping a monolith to unlock the hidden energies, enhance the spell-users abilities. In some ways, I think I like this system better than the default magic system in d20.
Each spell has a requisite amount of EP (earth power) in order to cast the spell along with the usual verbal, somatic, material and XP (in some cases). In addition, many spells have prerequisites that the character must meet prior acquiring the spell. These prereqs take the usual form of another spell, a magic attack bonus +X and so on. Many spells smack of the same spell assortment found in the PHB, but the new one's are very particular to this world. Such spells include flea infestation (curse, nuff' said), divination by entrails and my personal favorite for the sheer horror factor, wear skin (allowing the caster to disguise herself by stitching the skin of the creature to be imitated over her own!).
After the mechanics, the sourcebook goes about educating the reader in a deeper analysis the Slaine's cosmology. All of the locations noted on the interior map receive some degree of detail. Culture discusses such information as nobility, the legal system, customs and more. By the time I finished this section, I felt fairly well versed in the setting and was ready to play.
"Adventures in the Land of the Young" is basically the Games Master's guide to running Slaine, covering many of the mechanical details of the DMG plus adding particular touches of its own such as rules for flying ships (sky chariots), an expanded leadership table, and the like. Also present are prestige classes including the Bard, Battle-Smiter, Charioteer, the Fool, Red Branch Warrior and War-Witch. In comparison to other setting books, the number of classes here feels about right, not too many, but enough to give a taste. These classes function well within the context of this setting, and in line with how prestige classes ought to function.
True to the Celtic roots so vital to this setting is the Gods chapter, where the reader tours through Slaine's religious cosmology. Given that clerics just do not exist, the chapter is small, and there is a feeling of distance between the mortal affairs and the gods, the only link being the geases that drives the hero.
The lack of CRs in the bestiary reinforced my suspicions about how good of a game Slaine really was. The justification for this lack, underscores the focus on role-playing (eliminating the video game feeling found in so many d20 games) and the finitude of life in the setting. How the monster functions, its tactics and potency informs a player’s intuition rather than the monster's ambiguous CR. A goodly number of regular animals have homes in this chapter ranging from badgers and deer to sabre-tooths and elks. The more fantastic monsters include animated trees (reminiscent of Tolkien in many ways), really scary dragons, orcs, and half-dead to name but a few.
The book wraps up with a few smaller chapters cover how to run a Slaine campaign, offering tips and advice for handling seasons, experience points, geases, and character death and so on. A timeline, glossary and pronunciation guide follow until the Designers Notes (reaffirming my suspicions about the principle writers' commitment to the setting) and an extensive index.
Conclusions: This is by far Mongoose Publishing's best showing of their talents and their commitments to licensed product. The art is top-notch, the writing is solid, easy to read and digest, format and lay-out well done. Even if you never plan to play in Slaine, the book is a great read and with some minor adjustments, a DM could mine any number of hidden treasures from the text. This book is five stars and worth every penny.
