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Gladiator: Sands of Death
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<blockquote data-quote="Ron" data-source="post: 2008642" data-attributes="member: 1020"><p>Gladiator: Sands of Death is a sourcebook for arena-based campaigns. Although there are some references to real life Roman Empire's gladiators, the book discusses the impact of gladiators fight in a standard D&D fantasy campaign. There are descriptions of arenas, the gladiator lifestyle, as well as new feats and rules for charioting. Finally a new game, Sands of Death, is introduced in which the players take the role of stable masters acquiring and managing gladiators to fight in the arena. Production values are average to good. The cover by Anne Stokes is adequate, although not her best. Internal illustrations are most of average quality, even if there are a few very good. The layout is good and, unlike some early Mongoose products, there aren?t many spaces left.</p><p></p><p>The first part of the book describes the personnel involved in gladiator games: gladiators, stable masters (gladiators' owners and managers), arena managers, support staff, and the mob. Also, a few arenas are described, although no maps are provided. Finally, a gladiatorial campaign is discussed, either as a full campaign or as part of a bigger one. The second part covers new rules. Most of them, such as the new prestige classes, fame, and charioting is very specific to the arena and are hardly useful in the outside world. However, a few, such as most of the new feats and equipment might be useful in a regular campaign. The final part of the book describes a d20-based wargame in which the players manage their teams of gladiators in order to gain money and fame.</p><p></p><p>The book is divided in three chapters. The first detail the gladiator lifestyle, the personal and scenario involved as well as discuss the possibilities of a gladiator campaign. This chapter is very superficial. Very little is discussed about a common gladiator day. It appears that the author assume that gladiators will learn their trade in the arena. A little bit or research would reveal that the Romans had a higher concern for their propriety. A Roman gladiator would frequent a gladiator academy and spend most of his time training, as he would fight in the arena only three to five times per year. The discussion of the stable masters is a little better, although, a little of research about their Roman counterparts, the lanistas, would reveal interesting bits such as gladiator insurance (a very important deal in this business), size of the familias, as the gladiatoral staff was known (most lanistas would have small business with only about half-dozen gladiators), and so on. The arena managers, supporting cast, and mob description are adequate. However, the book fails to make any discussion about the game patron. His absence is really disturbing, as it would be adequate to discuss why someone would finance such activity, what would be his intentions and which benefits he could gain. Several arenas of different sizes are described, including their owner, history, and so on. As usual, the text is very well written and the material is good. However, a major absence is a map of each arena. Although everybody have a good idea of what an arena field looks like, I would like to have a description of the extensive dungeon complexes which are usually found in big arenas. The last part of this chapter discuss the possibility of meshing gladiators in a regular campaign, perhaps with the players been held in captivity and forced to the games, or full gladiator campaigns. This part is good save for a major absence, there is no reference to the possibility of slave revolts, as held sometimes in Rome, and portrayed in the movie Spartacus.</p><p></p><p>The second chapter refers to the gaming aspects of the book. A few new prestige classes and feats are introduced as well as special rules for charioting and a fame score. They are all very good, though most are very limited outside the arena, which is not a weakness but rather a characteristic of the book. The type of matches' section reveals several kinds of fight that are possibly held in the arena, most of them are very interesting. Although not necessarily a must in a fantasy supplement, I would expect a discussion of the Roman gladiator classes. In Imperial Rome, gladiators would be classified based in armour and weapons used, many of them inspired in traditional Rome enemies. Usually, the matches were planned to confront some specific classes one against the other. Not surprising, the new equipment list is quite limited, not providing the DM the possibility of recreate the Roman gladiators. Finally there is a nice part in dirty tricks, including the use of blood bags to fake the games. Not surprising, the Romans usually smashed the heads of the fallen gladiators with a hammer to guarantee the reality of the game to the audience.</p><p></p><p>The last part of the book, the Sands of Death, is a d20-based wargame in which the players take the position of stable masters, purchasing and managing their gladiators in the arena. Usually the players will be allowed an amount of money sufficient to purchase first-level gladiators, which eventually will grow in level as the game proceeds. There is a table of costs on acquiring gladiators. Perhaps some tweaking is necessary, as it is a good strategy to purchase an Ogre, which will easily destroy most fist-level adversaries, or a half-orc. A random match table will provide the kind of matches and order that they will be taken in a day. Special rules for healing between the matches are provided as well as payment rate. Finally, sample gladiators of different level are provided. Although I may point that a pointless contest between high levels characters under d20 rules may be a little boring, this is a point of personal opinion. A problem I have with this game is that experience is only achieved in the arena, which will slow down the character improvement a lot. Also, it became pointless to keep training between the games, which is, at least, consistent with the lack of upkeep costs in between the games days.</p><p></p><p>There are some major absences in the book. Some were already pointed previously in this review. A few others include the costs of sponsoring a game or what to expect visiting an arena in a day of games. By omission, the sourcebook suggests that gladiator matches, chariot races, and beast handler fights are the only activities in the arena. Would that take a full day or just an afternoon? How much this would costs? A Roman average day of games would include full day activities such as executions, beast-to-beast fighting followed by survivals slaying by beastiarii, lottery, theatre, musicians, rodeo like activities, and of course, gladiators match. Not only all these performers, as well as the arena staff, needed to be paid, but also it would be necessary to purchase the animals and pay advertising. Except for the gladiators, none of these activities are cited, much less their costs, in this sourcebook. Although briefly discussed in this book, roman gladiators were disputed among noble women as lovers, as a matter of fact it was customary to the patron to hold orgies in the night before the games with his invited guests as well as the major gladiators. It is pity that this book did not touch such social intricacies; they would be particularly interesting in a multiracial society such as the standard D&D campaign.</p><p></p><p>As clearly admitted by the author is his design notes, this sourcebook was written inspired in Hollywood's portrait of Gladiator, particularly the recent movie by Ridley Scott with the same name. This appears to be a fair assessment of the book, as it fails to demonstrate any deep in real life gladiators or to create something new as it should be expected from a fantasy game. Perhaps the readers would judge me too rigorous in my criticism of this game and point me that a fantasy sourcebook should not be considered a history book. I partly agree with that, although I should argue that gladiators are a special case as this modality of events was particularly of Rome alone. My problem with this book is that not only it fails to represent in game terms their source of inspiration but also fail to develop a complete setting for gladiators, being much less creative than their real world counterparts.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ron, post: 2008642, member: 1020"] Gladiator: Sands of Death is a sourcebook for arena-based campaigns. Although there are some references to real life Roman Empire's gladiators, the book discusses the impact of gladiators fight in a standard D&D fantasy campaign. There are descriptions of arenas, the gladiator lifestyle, as well as new feats and rules for charioting. Finally a new game, Sands of Death, is introduced in which the players take the role of stable masters acquiring and managing gladiators to fight in the arena. Production values are average to good. The cover by Anne Stokes is adequate, although not her best. Internal illustrations are most of average quality, even if there are a few very good. The layout is good and, unlike some early Mongoose products, there aren?t many spaces left. The first part of the book describes the personnel involved in gladiator games: gladiators, stable masters (gladiators' owners and managers), arena managers, support staff, and the mob. Also, a few arenas are described, although no maps are provided. Finally, a gladiatorial campaign is discussed, either as a full campaign or as part of a bigger one. The second part covers new rules. Most of them, such as the new prestige classes, fame, and charioting is very specific to the arena and are hardly useful in the outside world. However, a few, such as most of the new feats and equipment might be useful in a regular campaign. The final part of the book describes a d20-based wargame in which the players manage their teams of gladiators in order to gain money and fame. The book is divided in three chapters. The first detail the gladiator lifestyle, the personal and scenario involved as well as discuss the possibilities of a gladiator campaign. This chapter is very superficial. Very little is discussed about a common gladiator day. It appears that the author assume that gladiators will learn their trade in the arena. A little bit or research would reveal that the Romans had a higher concern for their propriety. A Roman gladiator would frequent a gladiator academy and spend most of his time training, as he would fight in the arena only three to five times per year. The discussion of the stable masters is a little better, although, a little of research about their Roman counterparts, the lanistas, would reveal interesting bits such as gladiator insurance (a very important deal in this business), size of the familias, as the gladiatoral staff was known (most lanistas would have small business with only about half-dozen gladiators), and so on. The arena managers, supporting cast, and mob description are adequate. However, the book fails to make any discussion about the game patron. His absence is really disturbing, as it would be adequate to discuss why someone would finance such activity, what would be his intentions and which benefits he could gain. Several arenas of different sizes are described, including their owner, history, and so on. As usual, the text is very well written and the material is good. However, a major absence is a map of each arena. Although everybody have a good idea of what an arena field looks like, I would like to have a description of the extensive dungeon complexes which are usually found in big arenas. The last part of this chapter discuss the possibility of meshing gladiators in a regular campaign, perhaps with the players been held in captivity and forced to the games, or full gladiator campaigns. This part is good save for a major absence, there is no reference to the possibility of slave revolts, as held sometimes in Rome, and portrayed in the movie Spartacus. The second chapter refers to the gaming aspects of the book. A few new prestige classes and feats are introduced as well as special rules for charioting and a fame score. They are all very good, though most are very limited outside the arena, which is not a weakness but rather a characteristic of the book. The type of matches' section reveals several kinds of fight that are possibly held in the arena, most of them are very interesting. Although not necessarily a must in a fantasy supplement, I would expect a discussion of the Roman gladiator classes. In Imperial Rome, gladiators would be classified based in armour and weapons used, many of them inspired in traditional Rome enemies. Usually, the matches were planned to confront some specific classes one against the other. Not surprising, the new equipment list is quite limited, not providing the DM the possibility of recreate the Roman gladiators. Finally there is a nice part in dirty tricks, including the use of blood bags to fake the games. Not surprising, the Romans usually smashed the heads of the fallen gladiators with a hammer to guarantee the reality of the game to the audience. The last part of the book, the Sands of Death, is a d20-based wargame in which the players take the position of stable masters, purchasing and managing their gladiators in the arena. Usually the players will be allowed an amount of money sufficient to purchase first-level gladiators, which eventually will grow in level as the game proceeds. There is a table of costs on acquiring gladiators. Perhaps some tweaking is necessary, as it is a good strategy to purchase an Ogre, which will easily destroy most fist-level adversaries, or a half-orc. A random match table will provide the kind of matches and order that they will be taken in a day. Special rules for healing between the matches are provided as well as payment rate. Finally, sample gladiators of different level are provided. Although I may point that a pointless contest between high levels characters under d20 rules may be a little boring, this is a point of personal opinion. A problem I have with this game is that experience is only achieved in the arena, which will slow down the character improvement a lot. Also, it became pointless to keep training between the games, which is, at least, consistent with the lack of upkeep costs in between the games days. There are some major absences in the book. Some were already pointed previously in this review. A few others include the costs of sponsoring a game or what to expect visiting an arena in a day of games. By omission, the sourcebook suggests that gladiator matches, chariot races, and beast handler fights are the only activities in the arena. Would that take a full day or just an afternoon? How much this would costs? A Roman average day of games would include full day activities such as executions, beast-to-beast fighting followed by survivals slaying by beastiarii, lottery, theatre, musicians, rodeo like activities, and of course, gladiators match. Not only all these performers, as well as the arena staff, needed to be paid, but also it would be necessary to purchase the animals and pay advertising. Except for the gladiators, none of these activities are cited, much less their costs, in this sourcebook. Although briefly discussed in this book, roman gladiators were disputed among noble women as lovers, as a matter of fact it was customary to the patron to hold orgies in the night before the games with his invited guests as well as the major gladiators. It is pity that this book did not touch such social intricacies; they would be particularly interesting in a multiracial society such as the standard D&D campaign. As clearly admitted by the author is his design notes, this sourcebook was written inspired in Hollywood's portrait of Gladiator, particularly the recent movie by Ridley Scott with the same name. This appears to be a fair assessment of the book, as it fails to demonstrate any deep in real life gladiators or to create something new as it should be expected from a fantasy game. Perhaps the readers would judge me too rigorous in my criticism of this game and point me that a fantasy sourcebook should not be considered a history book. I partly agree with that, although I should argue that gladiators are a special case as this modality of events was particularly of Rome alone. My problem with this book is that not only it fails to represent in game terms their source of inspiration but also fail to develop a complete setting for gladiators, being much less creative than their real world counterparts. [/QUOTE]
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