Dark Legacies Player's Guide

[Khur]

Initiative Round
Dark Legacies Player's Guide is the first book in a new d20 fantasy campaign setting by Red Spire Press. Between the color, perfectbound covers lay 144 black-and-white pages, only one of which is used for the OGL. Notably, a full-color map of the world, by Skeleton Key's Ed Bourelle, is bound into the book after the OGL--an extra, foldout page. The crew at Red Spire is small. Yuval Kordov wrote the book, which was produced by only five other persons (counting Ed Bourelle). The Dark Legacies Player's Guide retails for $25.95.

Red Spire proves you don't need a huge crew to produce a striking volume. The layout and presentation of the book are better than almost every other d20 company's, excepting the fine work of Super Unicorn. It rivals the graphic design of Wizards of the Coast, and would only be better if the typography didn't create gaps with unnecessary hard spaces between each paragraph and superfluous indents under headers. The typography is virtually perfect in each individual passage, however, with great page color and easy readability. Designers who copy fit by over-manipulating kerning, tracking, and font size should take a lesson here. The art is great, even if the humans tend to look largely the same within a given sex, and it's exaggerated forms (how do those guys wear such huge suits of armor?) add to the dark atmosphere of the book. Cartography is all but absent, with only the map at the end of the book, but it's a great map. Rounding out the presentation, Kordov's writing is compelling, and his editor (Duane Wheatcroft) has done a good job with the prose--only a few errors here and there and most of them very minor.

Dark Legacies is a macabre campaign set on Earth. It's not the Earth any of us know, however, but instead a grim, pre-industrial, low-magic setting limited to a Europe surrounded on all sides by the demonic realm of the Abyss. From complete subjugation to the Abyss, the world rose to see the sun again in an event called the Reversion--an incident attributed to a deific benefactor, Diehass, who is the basis of human religions. Religion holds an essential position of power in the setting, yet the Church is itself splintered into factions based on religious schisms and secular ambition. The forces of the Abyss themselves are such a threat that most mortals mass atop one another in sprawling megacities, and the storms on the edges of the known world mark the entrance to the Abyss itself. That plane threatens to swallow hope, and the world, at any time. In the middle ground lay normal mortals from a variety of races.

Most of these races are familiar. Despite an attempt to rename them, make minor changes, and give them a special place in the world, the majority of the races in Dark Legacies are mere reworks of those found in the Player's Handbook. The recognizable races (and their D&D counterparts) include humans, briggs (half-orcs), dwerofs (dwarves), eldrin (elves), and novags (gnomes). These peoples all have unique features that make good sense (such as the briggs' racial bonus on Intimidate), and it's arguable that they're essential parts of the book since they're part of the world, but the history of Earth places the origin of all these races as an "unknown." This latter fact only serves to make these races feel tacked on and unnecessary, while the cool changes require each to have a full description in the Dark Legacies Player's Guide, instead of being able to point to the Player's Handbook. The Dark Legacies versions are, in many ways, more gripping than their core counterparts. The space used to detail them is therefore tolerable, but may have been better utilized with brief, campaign-relevant changes only.

More than tolerable are the two wholly new races found in Dark Legacies--the assar and hybrids. Assar are scions of a race that rose to prominence above humanity when the Earth was still wrapped in the Abyss. They are inhuman and graceful, yet humanoid and mortal. They worship themselves only. The callous elegance of the assar is colorful and interesting, and their lack of significant weaknesses makes them a powerful race (+1 level adjustment, called ECL in the book). Unfortunately for the would-be player, the assar gain very little for their level adjustment, exactly like then poor hobgoblin in core D&D, pointing out again the real weakness of the level adjustment system. Hybrids--demon-blooded eldrin--should have suffered the same fate, because their +2 racial ability score adjustment, which can be applied to any one ability score besides Wisdom, will, in most cases, be granted to a score that is not balanced by the -2 Wisdom penalty. Hybrids are as appealing as a player race as the assar, made more so by their lack of level adjustment and the inevitably rich and miserable history such a character must have. Severe prejudice requires them to stay on the move or out of sight. A hybrid makes an ideal adventurer.

Adventurers need skills and abilities, and character classes provide those. Dark Legacies has no shortage. The setting eliminates the core bard, cleric, druid, paladin, ranger, sorcerer, and wizard on the grounds that magic works much differently on Dark Legacies' Earth. Only the barbarian, fighter, and rogue are retained, each in slightly altered form, with complete treatment in the Dark Legacies Player's Guide. Further, Kordov sees fit to provide a few new classes in the arcanist (demonic magic practitioner), lurker (rangerlike survivalist), priest (unique clergy), and soldier (unit-trained warriors).

Dark Legacies could have been more efficient in its use of the three core classes it retains, especially since this is a d20 book and not a stand-alone, OGL product. The changes to the classes are not significant enough to warrant the complete treatment each is given, repeating large swathes of core rules material. Briefer descriptions, with an eye to how the barbarian, fighter, and rogue fit into the Dark Legacies setting, would have been more appropriate and could have saved space for more unique or important information (or merely shortened the book).

The Player's Guide's new classes are interesting but possess many points that show the designer(s) should have been more careful when creating and judging the new classes. The arcanist and priest deserve their own analyses in relation to their supernatural abilities, but the lurker and soldier can be explored now.

The lurker is a ranger sans the divine connection to nature--she is a guerilla warrior and mistress of the wild. Many of the abilities of the class are quite appropriate and fun. A lurker is a deadly sniper, for example, reducing her penalty on Hide checks after making a ranged attack by her lurker class level. A 20th-level lurker snipes with no Hide penalty at all. She also possesses heightened abilities to cover tracks and move through the wilderness unhindered. It's the lurker's abilities to craft and fabricate certain items that leave the class wanting.

A lurker can inappropriately use the Survival skill to craft healing salves and poisons. Both are Craft skills, (herbalism) and (poisons) or (alchemy) respectively (though it does make sense to allow Survival to be used to find materials for natural salves and poisons). The latter ability to craft poisons is given a whole subsystem that is not only unnecessary given the parameters of the Craft skill, but it also allows the character to make poisons that are less potent than the craft skill might ultimately allow. In both cases, these abilities should have been dealt with as uses of the Craft skill and not made class abilities. Similar problems with the lurker's ability to build traps, but they have more to do with the weird way the Craft skill is used by the core rules to determine time taken to make an item than the design of the class ability.

Whether something should be a class ability or a feat is a major discussion when judging the viability of the soldier class. That judgment can be summed up in a simple statement: The interesting and viable class abilities of the soldier make better feats than class abilities, and the soldier should be a fighter. (The soldier's added skill points and logical skill additions make sense for the fighter, and could be added to the fighter class for Dark Legacies or via a relevant feat). In fact, some unit and tactical feats from Complete Warrior, such as Phalanx Fighting and Hold the Line, show how this might be done. The soldier class of Dark Legacies Player's Guide has too many abilities that stack too effectively when used with other soldiers (such as the 20th-level soldier's +5 on melee attack and damage rolls when fighting adjacent to just one other soldier) and not effectively enough or at all within a small tactical group like the typical adventuring party (likely to not have another soldier in it). Elite or specialized soldiers of specific Dark Legacies races or groups would make great prestige classes, but the soldier doesn't make a good class by itself.

Taken each by itself, the skills and feats of Dark Legacies are a mixed bag that favors the thoughtful and useful end of the range. Most of the skills are included because the needs and themes of the setting change the way in which a specific skill works. The only new skill is Preach. Only the inclusion of all the Knowledge skill prose that already appears in the core rules weighs the skill section down. The feats are likewise good and setting focused, with most centered on expanding the abilities of priests or increasing the efficacy of certain skills and skill uses. Exceptions to this goodness include Improved Dodge, which is simply miswritten (should be an additional +1 dodge bonus that can be split), and Signature Weapon, which grants a small bonus with a specific, individual weapon but is rendered useless if that unique weapon is lost. The jury is still out on Craft Demonic Item, which is impossible to wholly evaluate without the rules set to appear in the Dark Legacies Campaign Guide but seems too limited for a feat.

Expanded, though, are weapon, armor, and equipment options for Dark Legacies. The steam-tech world doesn't have ballistic weapons, but it does have unique arms such as the repeater--a crossbow that is built to be rapidly reloading and can be fired once per attack the character is allowed. Armor can be had in many (but not all) standard varieties and unusual ones actually like that bulky, ornate plate shown in the artwork (siege plate, +9 AC, -9 Armor Check). Dark Legacies also has some pretty good rules for piecemeal armor. Masterwork options are replaced by "masterpiece" options that allow you to build weapons and armor with differing bonuses on various levels, not unlike the options in Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed. Equipment standard to most D&D campaigns is available, along with some unique items such as incendiaries (thrown or launched explosives) and crossbow-mounted, bullseye lanterns (though the user of this latter item takes a strange -1 penalty to attack rolls when the lantern is mounted to the bow or repeater).

The magic in the setting finds its source in the Abyss and is useable by all classes, though those dabblers from classes other than the arcanist are unlikely to acquire anything besides minor power or grisly death. Spellcasting is difficult, dangerous, and disturbing (to put it mildly). Spells are so rare that even the arcanist does not automatically learn them by progressing in levels, and casting requires a successful Spellcraft check, the DC of which is very high for any but the lowest level spells. Success with a spell still results in strain--damage which can take the form of nonlethal, lethal, ability damage, and/or ability drain--and taint, a corrupting force that inevitably leads to insanity or worse. Failure not only results in normal drain and taint, but can also lead to severe side effects that range from minor supernatural signs (the temperature drops for a moment) to utter annihilation. Veteran spellcaster players shouldn't plan on casting may of these spells quickly in combat either, because casting time is usually one round or (much) longer. Failing a Concentration check is very bad. Worse still, the material components and casting procedures for many of the spells are ghastly and certainly more adult-oriented than anything appearing in Book of Vile Darkness.

This point of adult orientation is so true, and must expand to include some of the book's other subject matter, that the producers of Dark Legacies may have done well to place some warning in the introduction and/or back-cover marketing blurb of the book. Adult players can take warning that this setting is not for the lighthearted gamer, and there's nothing wrong with that if your style has dark leanings. Sometimes the bleak and gruesome can be fun, and heroes often shine more brightly against a dark backdrop. Morality plays, religious duality and dissent, hope versus despair, temptation, corruption, abuse of power, spiritual decay, demonic possession, and sexuality all have a place in a game that attempts to portray a darkly fantastic reality--so long as the players of the game are informed, mature, and consenting. However, such themes are something of which parents should be aware and take time to judge for themselves, especially the gory and violent ones that take prominence in Dark Legacies. Lack of any concrete support for this factor is a strike against this product.

Another fault, though equally as slight, is that Dark Legacies claims to be a setting where combat is so dangerous as to be a poor choice. In fact, a section in the Player's Guide is taken explaining how to deal with combat and why it's wise to avoid it. The mechanics don't back up this perspective. Firstly, most of the classes find their significant niche in combat. Secondly, the setting uses altered clobbered and massive damage variants, taken in root form from those found on page 27 of the Dungeon Master's Guide. The Dark Legacies variants are more dangerous than the ones delineated in the Dungeon Master's Guide, but not much more due to the fact that the required saving throws in Dark Legacies are too easy to make, at least in relation to normal weapon damage (including critical hits and sneak attacks from lower-level foes). One must assume that the same will hold true for many monstrous adversaries, unless the setting is ridiculously overwhelming. For example, using the Dark Legacies variants, a character with a 10 Constitution must take 21 points of damage before his chance of being clobbered becomes statistically more likely than not. 31 points of damage begins places instant death in the same category. Effectively, and equally faulty with the DMG variants, these variants are only applicable to higher-level characters. Low-level characters will be dead before the variants ever become a factor, which simply makes no sense. A low-level character should suffer the potential of being clobbered or killed just as much as, if not more than, a high-level one. That's real consequence.

The fact is, though, that these little problems don't matter much. Dark Legacies still feels heavy and nihilistic, and probably would without any alteration to the combat rules. Red Spire has done a great job with the tone of this game. Novels based on the setting would probably be great, gloomy fun.

Critical Hit
The priest rocks. While it's clear that some of its elements are inspired by other sources, the class is one born of coherent vision and creative synergy (much like the atmosphere of the whole setting). The priest allows one to create a character that feels like a member of the clergy in a way that no core D&D rules have (with the possible exception of the cloistered cleric from Unearthed Arcana). The Preach skill and sermonize ability reinforces this feel and supernatural power solidly grounds it. The religious underpinnings of the setting are clear with the focus the priest class has, easily replacing the need for other divine classes.

A priest's abilities are firmly grounded in his conviction and ecclesiastical knowledge. The eight dominions, realms of knowledge that lead to true power, are cleverly constructed to provide an easy way to theme a priest. Add to this the holy Voice, an augmentation to the priests own voice that allows and increase in efficacy and range of speech-related skills and grants mystic abilities depending on which dominions a priest possesses. For example, a priest with the dominion of Purity can use the Voice to heal (in a way much less efficacious than core D&D healing spells) and rid a victim of disease, while a priest with the Dominion of Dominance can use the Voice to influence and even dominate others.

The only problem with the priest is that the class is probably too good. In granting every priest a choice of three dominions (in addition to the Piety dominion), there seems to be too much flexibility--especially since the dominions are clearly not created equal. Coupled with the ample benefits of the War dominion (increased base attack bonus, increased Fortitude saves, fighterlike weapon and armor proficiencies), the situation gets more out of hand. A priest with the War dominion stands out as superior to every other class in ability and situational adaptability, except in specific situations such as a wilderness trek or stealth mission.

For would-be looters, the priest and all related material are closed content.

Critical Fumble
The arcanist is an example of an attempt to make a low-magic setting in which the spellcasting class is one which nobody would take. The arcanist is a weak class to begin with, offering few significant abilities other than those that affect spellcasting. Add to this that spellcasting is too hard, not particularly useful in many aspects of the game due to time factors and other limitations, and offers a player character no reward that is significant enough for the price that character will have to pay for power. Insanity, persecution, and death are all that really await the arcanist. Such a tragic fool makes a great villain or antihero in a novel, and thereby NPC foe, but not a good player character--unless terminal practices are your thing. Some players, even adults, will have problems with the horrific nature of arcane magic even if they don't cast it.

A prestige class that offers significant spellcasting power over no more than 10 levels would have better served the setting. This means no character may begin play as a true spellcaster. The temptation and mysterious nature of arcanism would then be set in a place that requires dabbling in black arts and moving onto the dark road, reinforcing the thematic elements of the setting. Then, the arcanist would be a more viable PC with magic as an augmentation to other significant skills. Such a change might still require that arcane magic offer more tangible rewards such as, perhaps, immortality or transformation into a powerful outsider. Such a goal makes the awful path more palatable and more likely to interest even "good" persons who fear death and missing a chance at Heaven.

Coup de Grace
Dark Legacies is a great study in variable levels of success in game design. Its mechanics are clear and well written, but some of them fall short of the stated goal or actual requirements of the setting. The arcanist is an example, as are the variants to combat damage. As for Open Game Content, Dark Legacies clearly lists what is OGC, but can be confusing. For example, all mechanics in Chapter 6 relating to the magic system are open content, but the mechanics for Taint are not. That's clear designation, one supposes, but ignores the fact that Taint is mechanically integral to the full utilization of the magic system. Dark Legacies would be exceptionally original for today's marketplace if it had not fallen back on minor variations of the core races with no viable explanation as to how these races appeared on Earth. The playability of the book is generally as good as any other campaign, except for the fact that this one book is not the complete setting. The presentation is virtually as high-quality as it gets in this industry, and the book is worth its cover price. Whether one ever uses Dark Legacies for a campaign, it's a fun read and has more than a few ideas that can live on in other settings. Dark Legacies Player's Guide provides a base for truly dark fantasy, and you're in for a bleak and moody roleplaying if you dare its tainted pages.

Review originally appeared at d20 Magazine Rack.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

The Dark Legacies Player's Guide is a dark fantasy d20 System sourcebook that provides all the rules necessary for gritty low-magic gaming, as well as enough setting material to get started on a Dark Legacies campaign, including:

New and variant races, from humans to half-demon hybrids
Unique classes tailored to low-magic gaming, including the arcanist, lurker, and priest
New skills, feats, and adventuring guidelines detailing alternatives to combat
A complete arms and equipment section, including mechanical weaponry, piecemeal armor, and expanded weapon and armor upgrades
A dark new spellcasting system that adds casting difficulty and moral ramifications to magic use
60 new demonic spells (behold the Armageddon Device!)
Grit & Consequences: supplemental rules covering lethal combat and the consequences of using magic, including a complete spell failure system, corrupting taint, and demonic possession
Brand new "Voice" mechanic used by priests to summon supernatural powers
A full color map of post-Reversion Earth

 

[Samothdm]

Curious about the Priest class being Closed Content. How exactly do they do this? I would think that the entire thing is "derived" from OCG stuff so at least the BAB, class skills, saves, etc. would be Open.

 

[Psion]

Dark Legacies Player’s Guide

The Dark Legacies Player’s Guide is a d20 based setting and system sourcebook set on a post apocalyptic Earth. The book bills itself as a dark fantasy sourcebook. The book is written by Yuvol Kordov and published by Red Spire Press.

A First Look

The Dark Legacies Player’s Guide is a 144 page perfect bound softcover book priced at $25.95.

All art is credited to Adrian Smith. The cover of the book is a wrap-around painting with two armored figures (one apparently a priest-figure with a mace, the other in exotic steampunk-style battle armor) standing amidst a battlefield as troops pass by. The interior is black and white, with a textured gray background. Interior art is highly detailed, with several impressively detailed ink pictures. The pictures definitely betray a Warhammer feel, with squat figures in chain and stud covered armor. Overall, the graphical presentation of the book is outstanding, especially out of what was a previously unpublished company.

The book includes a fold-out full color map of the Earth (or what remains of it). Essentially it appears that everyone outside of Europe didn’t fare so well in the far future. The remains landmass appears like a slightly morphed Europe with Asia totally calved off, and Britain pulverized.

A Deeper Look

The book opens with a short introduction about the goal and feel of the Dark Legacies setting. To sum up, the setting has a much lower level of magic, with fewer direct effects of magic on combat, and with a murkier moral outlook, totally eschewing the alignment system.

The setting presents a new pallette of races. The races are fundamentally similar to those of the core game, but with different names and distinct backgrounds and racial traits:

-Humans: As with most d20 variants, the human race remains with few changes. They receive the typical skill and feat bonuses, but instead of the stale generic "common" racial language, humans use regions in the setting as a guide to language.
-Assar: Probably the least like any of the core races, the Assar are the fallen rulers of the world. They are somewhat elf-like in appearance, and are graceful and charismatic. The race receives a number of bonuses and is a +1 ECL race.
-Briggs: Fundamentally similar to the half-orc, the Briggs are brutish creatures that are not hybrids, but primitive brutes that have had large numbers integrate into human societies.
-Dwerofs: The name probably sounds similar enough to the core model for this race, the dwarf. The race has a dexterity penalty vice charisma penalty, a popular variant for d20 system dwarves.
-Eldrin: Yep, elves. Eldrin have the typical elven modifiers plus a strength penalty and intelligence bonus. Not dissimilar to Warcraft elves, they are adept with dark magic, but tainted by it.
-Hybrid: A new race, the hybrids are the results of breeding experiments with eldrin and demons. They can select a variety of ability score bonuses, but always take a wisdom penalty, are adept and stealth and resistant to some demonic effects.
-Novags: Gnomes. Typical gnone stat modifiers, proficient with technology.

One touch that should give you your first whiff of the tone of the game is that most of the races include penalties related to their social attitude.

The collection of classes used in Dark Legacies is largely redefined, primarily in the area of magic (much like FFG’s Midnight setting. The core fighter, rogue, and barbarian are here essentially unchanged outside of a few tweaks (like allowing barbarians to use their strength score for intimidate rules by default), though the background information is changed to better reflect the setting and the other classes. For example, the fighter’s background material is changed to reflect a bit more of a mercenary background owing to the presence of the soldier.

The new classes presented her are:
-Arcanist: In Dark Legacies, anyone with the appropriate skills can cast spells, but the arcanist is a specialist, a scholar dealing in magic. The arcanist receives many skills, is able to memorize spells (which means to cast them without referring to written text, not "memorize" in the sense of preparing spells as per older editions of the D&D game), and gains other bonuses with relation to the casting of spells.
-Lurker: The lurker is essentially a non-spellcasting ranger variant. The class does not use combat styles, either. In place of these abilities, the lurker receives a more detailed set of abilities letting them deal with a wilderness environment and prosper there, such as being able to better hide while sniping, and gaining an initiative bonus due to their acute senses.
-Priest: As mentioned above, spellcasting is not inherently a class ability in Dark Legacies. This means a big revamp to divine caster types. The priest in Dark Legacies is a charismatic leader, who can evoke almost bard-like supernatural abilities by their voice, by invoking scriptures. A priest also receives three dominions. These are somewhat similar in concept to domains, but as clerics receive no inherent spellcasting, they are composed entirely of class abilities, including special abilities and additional class abilities. By default, the priest is not a good warrior, but characters with the war domain gain an improved BAB progression.
-Soldier: Not unlike some unit-fighting classes presented in other supplements, the soldier gains class abilities that are primarily useful when fighting as part of a formation.

Of these, I find the priest the most interesting and flexible. It can be used to represent a variety of faiths, and is potentially useful in other games if the GM does not automatically assume priests are divine spellcasters.

A brief chapter on spells and feats outlines new or changed skills and feats for the Dark Legacies game. Examples of modifications are the spellcraft skill (adapted to the Dark Legacies magic system) speak language (discussing languages possible in the setting), and craft (covering tech used in the game.) A new skill is preach, a skill that priests use in the same way that bards use perform in the core game.

Equipment in the Dark Legacies setting have a bit of an early industrial tone. Many heavy and ceremonial armors are featured, and crossbows (including repeating crossbows) seems to be a favorite of the setting, giving the setting a feel a bit more modern than typical fantasy. The chapter features a few more specific rules tidbits, such as a somewhat abstract piecemeal armor system, a number of masterpiece weapon qualities (nonmagical weapon qualities that have a variety of effects that can be added to normal items).

The most significant chapter of non-rules related material in the book is that regarding religion. The core faith in the Dark Legacies revolves around the worship of Deihass, or God, who is opposed by an adversary figure named Azrae. This is a monotheistic faith and the only major faith discussed in the book, but is split into four major denominations which are oft-times openly antagonistic. Each of the denominations, their symbols and character, are discussed herein.

Magic is handled differently in Dark Legacies than core d20. Though the spells are split into levels like the standard system, any character who can read the language of demons can learn to cast spells. In Dark Legacies, arcane magic is demonic in origin and carries with it a taint that corrupts humans.

Spells require a longer time than typical d20 system spells to cast, and require a spellcraft check. Failure at spellcasting can result in random side effects in edition to specific side effects listed in the spell descriptions. Low level spells are not especially difficult, but the difficulty increases as a square of the level (a 1st level spell only has a casting DC of 11, but a 9th level spell has a DC of 91!), meaning that spells that are tossed around with relative impunity in a core game would be beyond the reach of most Dark Lgacies characters.

Every time a character casts spells, they acquire taint points that they must track. As a character accumulates taint, that character reaches certain taint thresholds which inflict effects on them, mostly in the form of madness.

A final brief chapter provides advice for GMs of a Dark Legacies game. It is primarily a brief overview of potential party motivations and activities.

Conclusions

Dark Legacies seems squarely aimed at those who like the d20 system, but who are looking for the gritty Warhammer feel in a fantasy dark ages style setting. The book provides some well crafted and illustrated iconic set-peices for such a setting. Further, I must add, it has very good graphical presentation for the initial offering from a small company.

As a setting, it seems very incomplete. A lot of attention is paid to some central setting pieces like religion, magic, and races. But much detail on the much alluded to demons, locales, and nations, are notably absent. Those whose taste has been whetted by this book will have to wait until the campaign guide due out in early 2005.

Though the present classes and magic rules do address the look they book seems to seek, it seems like it could use a lot more treatment of other topics (like gritty combat) to complete the gritty, low magic feel. In fact, it might mix well with other books that address similar areas, like Grim Tales and Darkness and Dread.

Overall Grade: B

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[Messageboard Golem]

The Player's Guide contains all of the core material needed to play Dark Legacies. As noted in the review, the Campaign Guide will expand on setting info and other tasty bits. For more ideas, setting info, adventure ideas, etc visit us at http://www.redspirepress.com and check out the features and forums.

 

[GameWyrd]

Dark Legacies Player Guide

The biggest limitation in Dark Legacies: Player's Guide is that it is just a player's guide. Here we have a refreshingly different d20 supplement which dips into what promises to be a hugely interesting campaign world but doesn't explore further. This, of course, is what a player's guide will do - there's enough world information here to make your character.

This is Earth. This was Earth. The planet fell into the Abyss and with the eternal night came a plague of demons. Mankind lost control of Earth, mankind barely continued. When civilisation returned to the planet it was not humanity's. The cruel and aloof Assar ruled. Dark Legacies is a gritty game and the campaign world is not content with simply being a post apocalyptic setting. An apocalypse came to the Assar too. The Assar fought back against their own apocalypse and although their empire fell they met with some important successes against the demons and persist (as a possible player character race) to this day. After the fall of the Assar all seemed lost and then the Sun returned. The Sun returned to shine over some parts of the world but much is still lost to the Abyss. Mankind was abke to fight back. The First Priest walked the world and explained that it was his God who had brought the Sun back. The First Priest used The Voice and people listened. The contemporary setting for Dark Legacies is some three thousand years after this event, after yet another great war, after the destruction of the Novag's great city and after the Church has suffered schism and splits.

From the outset Dark Legacies makes some important decisions and, I think, gets them right. D&D's awfully simplistic, restrictive and black and white alignment system is kicked out. Good riddance. You can't have a gritty game where you're never sure who to trust or what to do if you can sense someone's likely intentions - and perhaps even be resurrected in the rare even of something going tragically wrong. That's another nice Dark Legacies success; resurrection magic is squished, in fact, the magic system is entirely re-written. Dark Legacies is one of those few d20 supplements that manages to grasp the nettle in hand and drag the system into a "low magic" setting. Magic is hard to cast and can go dangerously wrong. If you're successful in your spell then you're only facing damage, pain and the taint of corruption. Magic comes from demons and it corrupts.

There's no divine magic. Priests replace Cleric as a character class and make formidable use of The Voice instead. The Voice is a miracle working power and at high levels nothing can stop a Priest using it - not even removing their tongue.

The Cleric bowing out in favour of the much scarier Priest is not the only character class swap. We've the Arcanist as the only magic user. We keep Barbarian, Fighter and Rogues in the game. There is plenty of scope for each class in game. The Lurker replaces the Ranger and very much more suited to the dark and survivalist nature of Dark Legacies. The Lurker is an ambush specialist with an excellent in camouflage and poison. The last of the new classes is the Soldier. Ah now. Soldier and Fighter? I braced myself to be disappointed but Red Spire Press actually makes this work. The soldier gets a raft of impressive combat abilities when fighting alongside other Soldiers.

What about races? Again Dark Legacies sheds the typical d20 skin and does something new - new and familiar. Fair enough, swapping dwarf with dwerof may seem like a small syntactical change but reading about the dwerofs paints a picture of an intriguing, stalwart and xenophobic race. Of course, there's the Assar too. There's no doubt that you can hope to play an Assar and waltz into a village and get a friendly reaction. Briggs are the orc equivalent but horribly more tragic. The Eldrin replace the orcs and still suffer the shame from their role in the last Great War. The shame of Eldrin is directly to the Hybrid race - half Eldrin, half demon. The last race are the Novags - militant, aggressive and technically astute, er, gnomes.

Dark Legacies goes on with improvements. There are some mechanical changes in the book. There are rules for piecemeal armour, for example, in this future Earth you're lucky to find yourself a full and complete set of armour - unless you're in one of the armies. There are simply but effective combat rule additions that make fights more brutal. These are the sort of rule observations which aren't out of place in a player's guide as they will affect your character generation choices.

As a player's guide it is not surprising to find skills and new feats. There are new weapons - fairly macabre and grisly designs at that - and new spells. Since the magic system has been so thoroughly re-tooled we do need new spells for Dark Legacies. Although Dark Legacies is a low magic setting I suspect there's need for more spells.

There's a specific look and feel to Dark Legacies as well. The rules are nicely and subtly different. The campaign setting is more drastically different but still a nice change. There's not a world of scope available in layout changes there is a distinct "Dark Legacies" look and feel to the artwork here. Actually, the artwork reminds me of Warhammer 40K.

Dark Legacies has been one of the surprise packages of my shelf. I knew nothing about it before picking it up and having a flick through. I always flick through RPGs before sitting down to the read them properly but there are those rare occasions when the casual perusal is aborted so that I can get on and read the book properly.

* This Dark Legacies Player's Guide review was first published at GameWyrd .

 

[Crothian]

Dark Legacies Players Guide

The assumption of d20 fantasy is a world with plenty of magic. After five years it might be seen as too much magic given that of all the new settings that have come out only one that I can think of, Oathbound, actually uses a high amount of magic. The rest are either close to the base game or much lower in magic. It is interesting to see what publishers do with the system to make it low magic but keep it within the bounds of d20. The more that needs redefined and invented the harder it is to use all the hundreds of other potential source books out there. The sheer amount of material is one of the strength of the d20 system and new settings really do themselves a favor when they have ways for people to use the other material.

Dark Legacies Player Guide is the first book by Redspire Press for their Dark Legacies campaign setting. One of the weaknesses of the book is it does read like half a book having in lots of good player information but not enough setting information to actually make me feel comfortable enough to run the game. So, I wait with eagerness to see the Dark Legacies Campaign Guide that their website says is coming out this August. The book is one hundred and forty four pages long, black and white, and softbound. The art is the book is really good all of it by Adrian Smith. There is one map in the book, but it is a nice color map that folds out and is easily separable from the book. The map is by Ed Bourelle and he is one of the more well known and respected cartographers in the business today.

While this does feel like half a book, it is a good half. The best part of the book is the magic system. This is the best magic system for d20 that I have seen that makes magic difficult and dangerous. I can see people getting the book for the magic system alone. It works with the existing magic system of spell levels and preparing spells. There is no divine magic. The magic here comes from the powers of the Abyss. It does require spell check rolls to cast spells and has taint rules and some nasty side effects if one fails to cast the spell. The spellcraft checks get tough fast requiring a DC of 10 + spell level squared. This makes some mid to high level spells impossible for all but the highest level and most powerful caster. However, anyone can learn spells and cast them. They have to make a spellcraft check as well and they do not get the bonuses and abilities of the one spell casting class in the book. Many of the classes have either been tossed or redefined to fit with the setting and theme of the game. Spells are hard to decipher and hard to learn. It takes hours to decipher a spell and then days to learn it. Each day a successful spellcraft check needs to be made or that day is wasted for trying to learn the spell. The characters will need lots of chances for down time if they want to use spells. Down time will also be needed to heal as healing is going to be harder in this setting as well. Spells are divided by spell level and by rarity as well. There are uncommon, rare, and legendary spells. It does not list the ones in the PHB in the book with their rarity and that would be very useful. Not all the spells from the player’s handbook fit in the setting and a list of which ones would fit would also be a good edition. The spells in here though are very creative and can be super powerful. There is a lot here about the spell system and I am not going to cover it all here but it is really impressively done.

The setting is not exactly clear. It is a future earth but at some point earth fell to the Abyss for a few thousand years and then rose halfway out. The map covers a lot of Europe and Eastern Asia and everything off the map lay dark storms and the abyss. The tech level seems to be pretty much the dark ages with some exceptions. There are what are like advanced crossbows, steam powered vehicles, and even some perhaps gas powered large metal ones. Not a lot of information is given on these but in some sections of the book there are hints to a varying level of tech. I trust though that the setting and information will be cleared up in the next book though.

The setting is for players so it does have new player races and classes. There are no prestige classes here, just some new base ones. The races are different yet familiar. They are nicely defined to fit in this setting filled with mysteries and unknown elements. The races do not really get along but know they have greater enemies out there like the demons from the Abyss. The classes are also nicely done. The Fighter and Rogue are reprinted and unchanged. The Barbarian is altered a little getting damage reduction sooner and bonuses to intimidate. There is only one spell casting class though anyone can potentially learn spells. The Arcanist gets some cool bonuses and abilities that help them with spells. There are lots of good character ideas between the races and the classes. There is also the Priest, who has the power of Voice and speaks from God though a different one it seems then most are used to. There are four different churches really all splintered from the main one. Not a lot of information is given on the Almighty but the churches themselves are nicely defined.

There are other changes to the base game for the setting as well. Alignment is thrown out completely and that is a good and common change. Armor is mostly piece meal and it gets warn down and needs replaced at times. There are some alterations to healing and taking so much damage at once can stagger a person and have other effects making the combat system a little more deadly.

Overall, this is a nice first look. It does feel incomplete but what I read here is good. The magic system is really creative and does some very cool things with it. The changes to the core rules I read here are all good changes that really enhance the setting and the feel of the game. For people wanting to see some good grim and gritty rules this book will serve them well. Others interested in the setting might want to hold off till more is released since this book does not cover that much at all.

 

[Red Spire Press]

Review comments and link to more info

Thanks for the review Crothian! As far as completeness goes, the Player's Guide contains all of the basics you'll need to play Dark Legacies. The forthcoming Campaign Guide will cover items of power (holy and demonic items that replace standard 3e magic items), monsters & demons, prestige classes, advanced tech (siege weapons and vehicles), and of course complete setting information. In the meantime, you can find a lot of support material on our forums including a complete encounter primer, some prestige classes, game world info, and more. Cheers.

 

[Soel]

I think this book is great. I love the setting and background. I like some of the class revisions, especially the Lurker (ranger.) Its all put together very well.

I must say though, that I found the magic to be a little lacking. I'm referring to the spells themselves. As all magic stems from Abyssal sources, many of the spells just don't give that feeling, IMO. Many come off as rather tame, the process of casting being the only signifier of their source. One spell in particular, a second level spell mind you, gives a +5 bonus to a skill check (this is after risking potentially horrible consequences to cast the spell.) Such a spell just doesn't seem like it would ever warrant the risks involved.

One spell that does fit the bill for living up to the abyssal heritage lets you bulid a device that brings annihilation when used. More spells like this (but lower level) would have helped me like the spell section more. I do love the taint, and tables for effects of failed spellcasting. Other than the spells themselves, the magic system is solid and makes magic wondrous again. Let's just have some more nastier, weirder, and more evil spells!

I recommend this book for the setting. If you, like me, have always been low on gnomes, them wait'll you see what they've done with them here!

 

[JoeGKushner]

Grim and Gritty

Dark Legacies Player’s Guide
Written by Yuval Kordov
Published by Red Spire Press
Stock Number: RSP001
ISBN: 0-9735654-0-3
www.redspirepress.com
144 black and white pages
2 page full color map
$25.95

Dark Legacies Player’s Guide is the first step into a campaign setting that is stepped in the old Warhammer tradition of one part horror, one part fantasy and one part grim perilous adventure. Written by Yuval Kordov, the author has a vision of a dark fantasy world where man is not alone and has been humbled from great times to a near feudal system, following various branches of religion in an effort to bring himself back to that pinnacle of strength that he once had.

In this setting, Earth fell into a plane like the Abyss, a demonic realm. During that time, new races assumed domination of the Earth as humankind fell from it’s reach of mastery. When the world returned to its former spot, an event known as the Reversion, those who were on top fell and religion began its meteoric rise, at first only in the name of Deihass. Religions eventually split, the human continued to learn more about their new home, including the introduction of non-human elements, and Empires rose and fell even as major events, like the Cleansing, the Great War, or the Kingdoms Wars. Not a lot of background is included as background, but rather, it often comes in the descriptions of other things, like racial backgrounds or how classes fit into the setting.

Dark Legacies includes everything you need to get started. Like some other d20 products that have a unique setting, it does this in part by using different interpretations of the core classes and races, as well as adding its own touches. In doing so, it includes not only the game information, but how that race or class fits into the new setting.

In terms of magic, let me quote the introduction, “spells are oriented more toward ritual and non-combat effects, they take longer to cast, and spellcasting in general is extremely difficult.” Every time you want to cast a spell, it requires a skill check and has some dire elements for those who fail that skill check.

This low-magic attitude doesn’t stop with just spells though. For example, while there are priests, they use an ability known as voice, as opposed to casting spells. Magic items are here in the form or holy and demonic weapons, but are very rare.

Another element that some will love is the lack of alignment. Any spell or ability that relies on alignment as its base, are useless.

Chapter one starts with the races. Each race starts off with a quote or how the race is seen, then moves into background, personality, physical description, relations, lands, religion, languages, names, adventurers, favored class, and racial traits. Also included is a size chart that shows where the race falls in terms of size and power.

Humans are pretty standard here but are separated by culture and background, no game effects this time around. The assar and eldrin seem to be variants of the good old elf, the former being haughty, tall, and former rulers of the world, the latter shorter, less long lived and hated for their role in unleashing great evil upon the setting. Note these two races are not related to one another, I’m merely musing on the roles they fill.

While lacking half-orcs, we do have the briggs, huge brutes without a rising culture who work in human lands and cultures. It should be simple to guess what role that dwerofs are filling as they are often called, yes, you guessed it, dwarves. Novags would be the technological gnomes of the setting, being shorter than the dwarves.

A unique race native to the setting, hybrids are the results of breeding demons with eldrin and were made in mass prior to “the Great War”. Also known as demonkin, they are not welcomed in many places and are a little more customizable in some ways than other races. For example, you assign a +2 to one stat outside of Wisdom, and get a –2 to Wisdom.

Next up, chapter two introduces us to new classes and how the traditional classes have been changed. Included are the following: Arcanist, barbarian, fighter, lurker, priest, rogue, and soldier. Classes include a paragraph of how the class is seen, background on the class, adventurers, characteristics, religion, background, other classes, role, and game rule information. This includes the standard hit dice, abilities, class skills, skill points, and table with bab, saves, and abilities.

The arcanist faces a dangerous life because magic is seen as the power of demons, or chaos itself. I’ll get to the magic system in a minute.

Barbarians are pretty similar to their standard versions with rage, damage reduction and other abilities, but also have other powers like Brute Force, allowing them to use Strength instead of Charisma for Intimidate checks.

Fighters are well, fighters.

Lurker: So what do you do to replace the ranger in a low-magic setting? Bust out the Lurker, a fair amount of skill points, (6 per level), fair hit dice (d8), tracking, wilderness survival abilities, and other nifty little abilities like making their own healing salve, or improved sniping ability, or even ‘Combat Acuity’, giving them a bonus to Initiative equal to their Wisdom modifier. A solid class that can probably help replace a spellcasting ranger in any d20 fantasy campaign.

Priests take the place of clerics. Not quite as robust (d6 hit dice), and a little smarter (4 skill points a level), priests have Holy Dominions or schools of training, that they start the game with. These dominions provide different abilities depending on what the priest selects. In addition, they can Sermonize, similar to a bard’s ability to inspire or influence people, as well as use the “Voice”, a supernatural power.

For example,, say that you have good old War. You get Jump, Ride, and Swim as class skills, a better Fort save, and a higher BAB than a standard priest. You also get more profiencies in weapons and armor. Let’s look at something not to standard. How about Sanctity. You get Knowledge (Magic), and Spellcraft, a bonus language, and abilities like Holy Warding (bonus against spells and spell like abilities), and Disrupt Magic, similar to a Dispel Magic check. The whole idea of different Dominions allows for priests to play many different roles in the game as opposed to the standard band aid they are in D&D, and without taking the war Dominion, most priests aren’t going to be as martial as D&D has portrayed the cleric. A good deal all in all.

The rogue is well, the rogue.

Soldier: A specialized fighter that lacks the general bonus feats, but gains numerous special abilities that relate to fighting in a unit.

To continue customization of characters, chapter three covers skills and feats. Use Magic Device isn’t used here, and Concentration is expanded upon a bit. Others include details for Crafts and Knowledge skills, as well as new skills like Preach, used by Priests and using Charisma to showcase the wide variety of duties that a Priest has in the setting.

Feats focus on the new elements like Dominion Focus. You select one of your holy dominions that has a Voice ability, and are treated as one level higher than you normally would be. Battle Preaching gives you a bonus on Concentration checks made in the middle of combat. One variant feat seen in many forms, Improved Dodge, gives you a higher bonus that you can use against one opponent, or split against two. Another one I’ve seen some variants about, Signature Weapon, gives you a bonus on attack and damage rolls with a specific weapon.

It’s a small chapter and the use of skills and feats here are more for tweaks and to make up the differences in the spells and priests than to fill out the ranks of the fighters and rogues.

Because it’s a different world, it has different standards. Chapter four, equipment, gives a breakdown of how wealth works. We have random starting gold for all the classes, character wealth by level, how much spells cost by level and rarity, what the currency is, and it varies according to region having Illfernese, paper money, and different racial funds from races whose nations were demolished during the Great War.

Weapons are broken up into simple, martial, and exotic, and broken up by light, one-handed, two-handed, and ranged. Weapons include cost, damage for small and medium, critical range and multiplier, range increment, weight, and type. Weapons include some old favorites update to reflect their new cost or revised damage, as well as some that I’ve been curious to see for a while. Take the cleaver. Anyone whose played Warhammer has undoubtedly seen Orcs using weapons that could best be described as cleavers or as they call them “choppas”. It’s a good selection marred by a lack of art showcasing the unique weapons of the setting, slightly offset with the various illustrations thoughout the book of various characters using some of those weapons.

Armor is broken up into light, medium, heavy, and shields, and includes many of the standards like chainmal and plate, but also includes a new type, siege plate, a heavy armor usually used only for specific missions as opposed to being found in the field.

One of the smart things the author did was augment masterpiece qualities. In a setting with no magic, you have to have something to help players compensate for it. Similar to what Bad Axe did in their Dwarf book, or Green Ronin in the Black Company, you have new qualities that can be added to weapons. For example, how about a Fierce weapon that’s larger than standard and while it weights more and has more hit points, also has a bonus to damage rolls. How about extra platting that increases the armor class of heavy armor? How about harden shields that have more hardness and hit points? It’s a solid section but could use a small side bar talking about how and when to use them in a standard campaign.

Because religion plays a large role in the setting, it takes more than a page or two to address it. Chapter five covers how religion got to where it is today, as well as where it’s currently at. In essence, we have the Fiath, with different factions, and on the other hand, we have demon worshippers, most often of Azrae, the queen, or even lesser demons.

The four main denominations for the Faith, includes the Church of Deihass, Beyella Divinity, Despinus Chapter, and Prelacy of the Divine Adjudicator. Each includes background, power center, hierarchy, and relations. The different factions allow the GM to use faith as a tool for the campaign and can showcase a wide variety of types, even within the same denomination, as opposed to more standard d20 fantasy religions where the worshippers pretty much have a set pattern.

Remember when I mentioned that I’d get back to magic? Chapter six covers that. Anyone with Speak Language (Abyssal) and at least 1 rank in Spellcraft, with the proper materials, can try to cast spells by making a Spellcraft check. You have to know the spell, and have the components. Unlike some systems where spellcasting is fairly complex but simple in its results, spellcasting almost always results in accumulating taint and madness.

To start, you have to decipher a spell. It requires a Spellcraft check equal to 15 + the spell’s level. The spell must then be learned, assuming your ability score is high enough. This requires a Spellcraft check equal to 15 + double the spell level. When you learn the spell, you get one point of taint. Even learning the spells leads to taint.

To cat a spell, you have to have learned it and either have it memorized or have the formula available for reference. You then have to make any Concentration checks to avoid interruptions. Then the Spellcraft check. This is DC 10 + the spell’s level squared. Yeah, a first level spell is only 11, but a 9th level spell is 91. Mark off the material components, apply spellcasting strain, calculate the results, and then apply taint.

For those high level spells, you’re going to need help. If you have fellow casters who know the spell and aid, it’s a +5 bonus to the Spellcraft check for each additional caster after the first. A real reason for spellcasters to join together.

For strain, it’s 1d4 points of nonleathal damage per level that is only reduced if you have the arcanist class ability of casting resistances. Some spells also do temporary of permanent ability point drain. In addition, each time you attempt to cast a spell, it’s one point of taint, successful or not. Failing to cast a spell, also has it’s own side effects ranging from none, to Annihilation where the caster is destroyed along with all his belongings.

Common spells of the setting are included, as well as notes on how to incorporate spells from other resources. Spells are broken up by level, and type. This isn’t by school, but rather common, rare, and legendary, and in alphabetical order.

So what does a spell look like in this setting? Let’s look at Beatific Veil, a rare 3rd level spell that inflicts 3d4 nonlethal damage, has a casting time of 1 hour, lasts for 4d6 hours, and has a material component of perfume created from the flesh of a beautiful humanoid mixed with various ingredients that grants a +2 bonus to Charisma for the spell’s duration. Yeah, it’s not your typical d20 spellcasting system by any stretch of the imagination.

Remember how I talked about Taint making you mad? Those rules aren’t included in the chapter dealing with taint, but come in chapter seven, Grit and Consequence. It provides alternative rules for massive damage threshold (twice your Con score), rules for adding your Consitution modifier to –10 to determine your death point, and some other tweaks to showcase the dangers of the setting.

The big issue would be taint. Taint has thresholds. The thresholds are pretty generous. For example, to reach your first Threshold, it’s your Wisdom x2, and your second, it’s Wisdomx5.

Thresholds have an effect modifier, which is added to a d0 roll on a taint effect table when you suffer taint. The effects also have a Taint Effect when the effect comes into play. For example, a character may suffer from Carless Disregard and have to make a Will save or cast a spell that inflicts collateral damage. The saves are pretty easy starting at 12 and ending at 17.

My least favorite chapter, eight, Adventuring, seemed to me the first time I read it, to be saying, “Yeah, we’ve given you all these ways to smash and destroy everything but it’s a dangerous campaign so don’t be stupid.” I felt that it should’ve included more examples and more methods of playing D&D with a new mentality.

Then I played some Grim Tales and Black Company and like those games, realized that it’s not really the setting’s issue, but rather one of the GM. I still don’t see an easy way to move a group into this style of gaming if they’re used to Dungeon Crawls and I don’t see an easy way to keep a spellcaster alive for a long period of time making me wonder if the Arcanist might be better as a GM only class. Sure, it’s always nice to see the underdog struggling against his inner demons but at the same time you have to wonder what the overall utility is.

Nonetheless, chapter eight also acts as a quick guide to the types of campaigns you can run. Want to have mercenary companies fighting against the things in the waste? Want to have soldiers of the lord? Want travel to be the made focus or how to mix different races up in the party? That’s all briefly touched on here.

The two-page map is solid, but small and lacking in a lot of details. The interior layout is standard two-columns with good use of white-space on a gray background with slightly darker gray borders. The huge boon in the book’s corner, is the astounding artwork of Adrian Smith, long time illustrator of all things Warhammer and Warhamemr 40K. This includes several full page spreads and many smaller illustrations. His art gives the book a dark and gritty feel that is matched only by the Iron Kingdoms and of course, some of the Warhammer works. Unlike many books though, he’s the sole illustrator, giving the book a solid look and feel throughout the whole thing.

The only negative I have against his art style, is that almost everything is dark. A more minor complaint, is that either due to his style or the size of the book, important things, like weapons, armor, and equipment, aren’t illustrated. Minor contentions given the vast array of illustrations included here but worth noting.

The bad thing about the book, is that it leaves a lot open. For example, want more background details or a bigger map? Want to know how the creation of items of power work? Want to know about the advanced technology hinted at in the book? Want some pregenerated NPCs or maps of cities? That’s all in the Campaign Guide, which has taken some time to come out considering the original release date of the Player’s Guide.

If you want a dark and gritty campaign that’s in the d20 vein and found that Black Company and Grim Tales aren’t working for you, give Dark Legacies a whirl. The art alone will make the purchase worth it.