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2000AD: Sláine RPG
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<blockquote data-quote="jaldaen" data-source="post: 2010349" data-attributes="member: 214"><p><strong><em>**Disclaimer:</em></strong> I have done work for Mongoose in the past, but these facts have no bearring on this review or its score.</p><p></p><p>First of all, this is my first review in about 19 months, but I'm hoping to start doing more and since my previous two reviews (which are woeful to look at in retrospect) I have developed as both a writer and designer of d20 material. As a result of this growth, I now believe myself mature enough in my readings of other works to provide (hopefully) fair and balanced criticisms of d20 material that should be helpful to both gamers and designers.</p><p></p><p>Secondly, I have over the past couple weeks since deciding to embark upon the path of a reviewer developed a rating system that I believe should help others to understand the overall scores that I give a product. This system is based off of the following four categories (and if you think I'm missing something let me know and I'll consider adding it to the system):</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Bone:</strong> Based on rules design and utility of product.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Fat:</strong> Base on the layout, art, and value of the product.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Meat:</strong> Based on the editing and prose of a product.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Seasoning:</strong> Based on the creativity and originality of a product.</li> </ul><p></p><p>Each of the above categories is given a score between 1-5 for each grouping of chapters in the product. At the end of the review I total up each category, average them out, and determine the final score of the product.</p><p></p><p><strong>Important Note:</strong> Now some might say my system sounds more appropriate for a steak, than a game product, but for me a game product is like a steak in many ways... I don't just eat a steak, I enjoy a steak and likewise I don't just consume the pages of a product (literally or figuratively), I taste the product, chew it over, and digest it... Some I discover are underdone and give me problems the next morning, others are overdone, tasteless and dry with little reason to return for more, and a precious few are "iron skillet" perfection making me wish I had another 30$ to feed my habit... Which brings me to my last point... for me a poor college graduate (and for many others out there) buying a gaming product is in a way deciding whether I'll be buying Ramen(tm) or a nice juicy T-bone in this week's grocery run. In light of these truths, I can do no better than to compare a gaming product to a steak for in truth that is essentially what I give up when I purchase a gaming product (actually more like three or four nice steaks for some products, but that is besides the point). Now</p><p></p><p>All this being said now I feel I can start the review of <strong>Slaine: The Roleplaying Game of Celtic Heroes</strong>:</p><p></p><p>This product was purchased (though at 70% off... so I still had some steak money that week... Woot!).</p><p></p><p><strong>First Impressions</strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Bone:</strong> 4 - The back cover provides a useful overview of what you will find in the product, though it does perhaps claim too much when it says "complete bestiary" as I believe there are much more than the couple dozen creatures they present in the Bestiary chapter for characters in the world of Slaine to face off with (in fact the first adventure "The Invulnerable King" presents almost as many new creatures as does this product). Still I chalk such a statement up to over zealous advertising or to a different interpretation of the word "complete" which in this case might mean "enough to get you started" which is really what this Slaine product is all about.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Fat:</strong> 5 - I love the front cover artwork as it is an eye catching scene of a celtic hero in full chaotic fury that I believe gets across the feel of the world of Slaine as an warlike land of untamed men. I do however wish the back cover text was not centered as my eyes naturally flow back to the beginning of a line and when they meet black space (the text is white on black) they wander where all the words have gone, but this is a personal preference. The price is a little steep for what seems to be a slim Campaign Setting book, but a quick look inside the book revealed a nice text density that more than makes up for the apparent brevity of the book in page length.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Meat:</strong> 4 - I noticed no editing errors or jarring text on the back cover and it does a good job hinting at what lies within this tome and provides the prospective buyer with just enough information to tantilize their appetite. Also on the backcover are website addresses for both Mongoose and 2000AD comics, unfortunately the back cover does not provide the web address for the 2000AD RPG site... which is unfortunately MIA (or at least difficult to find) on either of these sites, but which luckly is listed here at EN World under the Slaine: RPG product page.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Seasoning:</strong> 5 - At the top of the back cover it says, "Kiss My Axe!" and in a way the text mirrors the cover in a creative and pointed manner. Also one of the sections mentioned on the back was entitled "Eyes Without Life, Sundered Heads, and Piles of Carcassas", which deals with running mass battles and to me this title stuck in my head and helped me picture what I would find therein... The back also reveals that magic is treated differently in Slaine (and appropriately so) with its short teaser about "Earth Power" and even more tantilizing hint at how one might gain more power via human sacrifice.</li> </ul><p><strong> Overall:</strong> 4.5</p><p></p><p><strong>Table of Contents, Introduction, and Welcome</strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Bone:</strong> 5 - The only notible errors in the table of contents are that a couple page numbers are off by one (Humans, Spells and Spellcasting, Spell Lists) and a couple section headings (like the Prestige Classes heading for Chapter 8) are not included (probably for space since the Table already takes up much of the two pages alotted to it. Also the "New to...?" sections of the Introduction are helpful for those new to either Slaine or the d20 system. Finally the "Veteran Players" section provides a "heads up" for those readers familiar with the d20 system about what has been added to and changed in the Slaine RPG.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Fat:</strong> 4 - The layouts of both the Table of Contents and Introduction are well done and the arts is good, but I'm not certain that the illustration of the fool was placed next to the Veteran Players section (it might have been better placed in conjunction with the Fool Prestige Class). The map in the Welcome chapter is quite nice, though there is no key for it.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Meat:</strong> 5- The Introduction does a good job of both presenting the core themes of Slaine as well as fleshing out the table of contents in a more complete manner than the back cover (in fact the portion that fleshes out the chapters is for the most part what is used on the back cover). <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Seasoning:</strong> 5 - The Introduction draws you into the book and makes you want to read more, which is exactly what it should do.</li> </ul><p><strong> Overall:</strong> 4.75</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapters 1 and 2: Characters and Feats </strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Bone:</strong> 4 - The rules in both of these chapters seemed to be solid, though I have not playtested them (too many campaigns already planned for the summer). There are two races beside humans, dwarves and warped ones, both having an interesting combination of strengths and weaknesses that seem to balance out. The former are definately not the dwarves of D&D, and are instead charming and roguish creatures, while the latter are a sub-race of humans who have the blood of "beast folk" flowing through their viens and with it the ability to warp spasm. Unfortunately the information on warp spasms is not let forth along side the Warped One, but instead placed in the Combat chapter so at this point in the book you are asking yourself what does this do and quickly flip ahead (at least I did). Also missing from the race section is the human's traits is their Starting Earth Power (though it can be found at the beginning of the Earth Power section). <br /> <br /> The classes are quite interesting and are all adaptations of existing classes to fit the atmosphere of the Land of the Young. It should be noted here that the rules do <em>not</em> allow for multiclassing (except into Prestige Classes) because as the book states "Life is short." The Druid is quite a striking departure from the one in th PHB, but there can be no doubt about the feeling that this <em>is</em> a Druid in the world of Slaine. My favorite class abilities of the Druid are the Druidic Awe (essentially Druids are under a constant <em>sanctuary</em> spell) and Salmon of Knowledge (which grants a bonus to all knowledge checks) features, which are flavorful and provide a player with a real grasp of the role that Druids play in the Land of the Young. The next class the Noble warrior is essentially a fighter with a tribal trait (which grants the noble warrior a special ability based on the tribe he comes from) and free weapon specialization. The thief is next up and is essentially a rogue, but with slower sneak attack progression, and much much better skill-based class abilities, especially Jack-of-All-Trades which starts the thief off with 1 rank in every non-exclusive skill before spending his normal skill points for first level... not to mention a healthy dose of skill mastery. The tribal warrior is similar to the barbarian, but with an interesting twist, he gains a tribal style, which grants a class ability to a character based on his chosen tribe (such as damage reduction that increases with level or competence bonus to ranged attacks with certain "named" weapons) and is an expert at some Craft or Profession (to reflect his peace-time occupation). Finally, the classes wrap up with the Witch, which certainly made me a little frightened, not of rule imbalances, but the flavor the rules attached to the Witch... let's just say that in the Land of the Young is is best not to cross a witch, else curses will fly and one might find oneself tortured to death for greater power... a cool class, but one that frightens me (as it should).<br /> <br /> The Skills come next and are sort and sweet, but unfortunately the new magic-based skills refer you to the Earth Power rules for more details rather than providing a list of spells that each skill allows (which they do provide in the Earth Power chapter) and their rank prerequisites (which are attached to the individual spells, but are not listed in one easily accessible place).<br /> <br /> The Starting Money section is straight forward as are the rules for determining one's Enech, Sarhead (Honor-price), Geases, and Weirds. <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Fat:</strong> 4 - The organization of both chapters was quite good with very minimal wasted space, which primarily came from the design decision to space out the bullet points. The art was good, but they don't show a normal human illustration along with the human entry (instead a warp one is presented on the opposite page) and no height comparison of the three races is given. The rest of the art is well placed and those comic cells used get across the feel of those concepts they are paired with, although I must admit that I am having a hard time picturing exactly how the "Shield Kick" feat works (essentially the character kicks up an opponent's shield, leaps atop it, and then attacks from it). Perhaps a frame by frame comic of the technique might have helped.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Meat:</strong> 4 - The Character Chapter starts with an overview of what will be presented in the rest of the chapter and had no blatant or jarring editorial errors that I noticed. Each of the races, classes is presented in a flavorful manner that helped to envision their roles in the Land of the Young. The Skills section was well done though the new skills lacked flavor text. The rest of the first chapter was again well written and added to the atmosphere by explaining some of the new aspects of roleplaying in the age of Celtic Heroes. I especially liked the discussion of Enech, i.e. Honor and Reputation as it made the concept both intriguing and understandable. In the same category as Enech was the Geas (obligation that your character must always seek to meet) and Weird (a fate that <em>will</em> befall your character, none of which being pleasant) sections and their entertaining and illustrative examples, which go from the geas to "Never refuse hospitality when offered to you" to the geas "Never listen to birds when the sun sets" to the Weird of having an "Annoying Companion" who the character will never be able to shake. Finally, the Feats Chapter was generally well written, though some of them did not have the traditional introductory flavor text, which might have helped readers to get a feel for the place of the feat within the world of Slaine.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Seasoning:</strong> 5 - From the races to the weird section, the concepts presented in the first chapter were all fresh and flavorful. They also drove home how different the world of Slaine was from a normal fantasy campaign setting. The feats also brought out the forboding feel of the Land of the Young, especially with the gruesome Blood Eagle and Wicker Man feats (both based off of sacrificing creatures, particularly other humans).</li> </ul><p><strong> Overall:</strong> 4.25</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapters 3, 4, and 5: Weapons, Combat, and Battles</strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Bone:</strong> 5 - The third chapter presents some general rules for flint (they break somtime after two years) and iron weapons (they need to be sharpened constantly and if used too successfully can bend and become unweildy). The latter rules were quite well thought out and interesting whereas the former was more nebulus and I wish that Flint weapons had been given a little more flavor in light of what was done with the iron weapons. The rest of the chapter seems to have solid rules with the only extremely powerful (and possibly broken) weapon being the Gae Bolga (a war spear that hooks into your opponent's skin and continues to cause damage even after being removed - though at a slow rate - with no sorcerous means to heal... not to mention the x4 Crit!).<br /> <br /> The Combat chapter introduces some marvelous rules concepts that can be used in any game, in particular those involving Naming Weapons, Taunts, and Chariots. It also details how damage reduction works (particularly the difference between enchanted and artifact weapons) as well as warp-spasms, which although powerful, also balance in their difficulty to predict and control and the limitation of only one per day. Still, my favorite part of this section is the Taunt system (which is based on Enech, but could be modified to work without it) that illustrates how to make an verbal attack that pushes your foe into a maddened state which you can than use to gain the upper hand in battle. <br /> <br /> Finally, the "Eyes without Life, Sundered Heads, and Piles of Carcasses" Mass battle chapter is in a word, "Awesome!" It presents the system in a concise and understandable way and will definately be useful when running Mass Combat for those who want the feel of epic and primitive battles, but don't want to spend hours of game time running in-depth tacticals. The only portion of the rules which might be problematic is the magical attack section, but as I have not playtested the system thoroughly yet I'll give it a pass. The rest of the system is perfect for primitive warfare where the range and uniqueness of units is limited by technology and is well worth a look.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Fat:</strong> 4 - The art and layout of the goods and weapons chapter is pretty straigth forward and plain, though some of the new non-weapon items are not given illustrated treatment. The presentation of the Combat chapter was an improvement upon the barren nature of Chapter three with perfectly placed illustrations helping to get across the feel of the actions being described by the text. The Mass Combat chapter had an intuitive layout, but the artwork seemed more focused on individual combat, which I think deteracted from the feel of the section (not that the art was bad, but I would have like to see armies or skirmishing forces facing off rather than Slaine being front and center with only the hint of combat around him).<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Meat:</strong> 5 - The goods and weapons chapter is straightforward and had no noticable errors in it as well as a good description of each new item... I especially liked the "Property" list that gives one an idea of the worth of land and buildings in the Land of the Young. The combat section really shines in regards to its prose getting across the feel of the new combat options in particular the Taunts section. The best part of this section is the sample taunts which really help to set the mood for some major butt-kicking, a favorite being: "I'm sorry - are you attacking me? Only your blow was so puny, I'm not sure." The Mass Combat chapter is well written and I noticed no errors therein, this section like the goods and weapons section was dry, but appropriately so as it presents a rules system, though it might have been nice to add some atmosphere though some well placed prose. All three chapters, but particularly the one on Combat help to set the primitive and barbaric tone of the Slaine setting and help to portray the world in a lively tone. <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Seasoning:</strong> 5 - The rules and text of both chapters present some original and intriguing concepts with the highlights being the Iron Weapon rules, Taunts, Warp-spasms, and Chariot rules, which all present their concepts in an appropriate and creative light. The Mass Combat chapter does a good job at what it sets out to do (ie present an easy and fast way to determine the outcome of Mass Combat) and in a way that reminds me of Birthright for some reason (one of my favorite CS), which is a good thing.</li> </ul><p><strong>Overall:</strong> 4.75</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 6: Earth Power</strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Bone:</strong> 5 - This chapter presents the concept of Earth Power and does a good job of it, though I do wonder about how dwarves could ever use Earth Power (as hinted at in the Character chapter) as they have no Base Earth Power and according to the rules one can <em>never</em> have more than twice their Base Earth Power score. This may be an oversight (on my or their part), or it is intented that tapping weirdstones and sacrifices (which are mentioned as ways to gain Earth Power for the dwarf) are not affected by this "maximum" of 0 problem. The rest of the rules for this chapters seem to be well-thought out and balanced though I wish the prerequisites of the spells had been listed in one place for ease of reference.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Fat:</strong> 3 - The organization of the chapter is logical and flows well, but this section starts to introduce "twin full page, full color" pieces (which was probably due to keeping printing costs down by only having certain double pages in full color) that seem more a vanity than approriate to the section... now if these had been portraying some cool aspect of Earth Power I'd not have had as much of a problem with it, but all they do is present Slaine and his dwarf sidekick and some angry barbarian neither of which has any baring to the chapter at hand... similarly some of the smaller art pieces throughout this chapter don't really fit well with the sections or spells they are paired with. Still there were a couple gems in the chapter and I loved the depiction of "Crom Cruach's Revenge" spell (essentially worms and magots eat your foe).<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Meat:</strong> 5 - Solid all around on the editing front (except a couple places where illustrations were meant to be placed and the art editing text is left in, but no artwork is found) and the spell descriptions were well written and provided a good atmosphere to each. I was especially fond of the sacrifice and weirdstone/dolmen sections which really helped get across the mood of the Slaine setting.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Seasoning:</strong> 5 - The concept of Earth Power and the system designed around it was quite creative and drives home the point of magic in the Land of the Young being a subtle magic tied to the lands and its people. I loved the idea of tapping weirdstones (magical stones) and dolmens (an arrangment of weirdstones) for more Earth Power to be quite cool and brought home the connect of the inhabitants of the Land of the Young and the Earth. The spells presented are a mixture of unique magics with a great amount of flavor to them and tried and true magic like summoning and control water, wind and weather spells.</li> </ul><p><strong>Overall:</strong> 4.5</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapters 7, 8, and 9: Guide, Adventures, and Gods</strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Bone:</strong> 4 - I found the Guide chapter to be extremely useful in its discussion of the geography and culture of the Lands of the Young, especially the rules for crime and punishment. The Adventures section starts off well with a discussion of "sky chariots" (longships that can fly) and how they work in Slaine, but then goes into a section on Environmental Conditions which seems to be unnecessary as most of the rules presented can be found in the DMG and the space could have been better used to flesh out the other adventuring concepts introduced by the chapter like more info on sky chariots and a couple more Prestige Classes.... Which brings me to the next part of the Adventuring chapter... and a high note (pun intended): the Bard and his fellow exemplars of Slaine goodness! All of the Prestige classes have what seem to be solid and worth while abilities, such as the Bard's Satire ability (essentially a curse laid upon another that causes reputation damge and can even cause death!), the Charioteer's Chariot Bond (grants bonus when the charioter is fighting with his chosen warrior), and the Fool's Innocuous ability (makes others have to make a Will save to attack him while he is at least apperently unarmed). Also in this chapter are the Battle Smiter (a Celtic Body-guard), the Red Branch Warriors (Warp masters and frightening combatants), and the War Witch (sorcerous female warriors who can come to control other worldly creatures). In the God's chapter there are some rules about divine intervention that are interesting, but leave you wanting more than what was presented.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Fat:</strong> 3 - My first complaint about the Guide section is that it does not have a map in it... instead you have to flip to the front of the book each time you read a section to find out where exactly the regions and locations are in relation to each other... moving the map to this section might have been a better decision for the reader. Again the artwork in the Guide and Adventure chapters (but not in the God section which is quite good) is hit and miss with my main complain being that there are too many full page art pieces (8 of them in a 16 page section spaning the end of the Guide chapter to the beginning of the Adventure chapter) that don't relate directly or only tagentally to the text that surround them. The comic cells on the other hand are well placed and do a great job of providing flavor that highlights the sections they are related to .</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Meat:</strong> 4 - The Guide is a great source of information and provides the setting with a lot more depth especially the cultural aspects. The Adventure chapter is quite good, despite the large section on environment which seems to be more filler than actually intregral to the setting (now if they had provided this information is a seasons of the Land of the Young format with a good amount of flavor text perhaps it would not have seemed so jarring). The Gods chapter does a great job of presenting the pantheon of the Land of the Young with my only complaint being the desire for more information about their followers.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Seasoning:</strong> 5 - The flavor of these three chapters (baring the environmental conditions section) does a great job of placing the reader in the world of Slaine and presenting information that sparks ideas and adventure seeds.</li> </ul><p><strong>Overall:</strong> 4</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapters 10, 11, and Beyond: Bestiary, Campaigns, Timeline, Index, Character Sheet</strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Bone:</strong> 4 - Reviewing the creatures from the Beastiary chapter I did not notice too many monster mechanics problems... the one that seemed a commpn theme (and one that is easily forgotten by us designers) was not multiplying the Strength modifier by 1.5 for those creatures with only a solo attack like the Elk's Butt attack being listed as 1d8+5 instead of 1d8+7 (in light of their 20 Str)... Also the spectral dragons do not have a standard hit point progression... Other than these two things nothing else jumped out at me, but than again I did not break down each creature either... As for the Campaigns chapter it does an effective job of presenting information that is useful for putting together a campaign in the Land of the Young. The most notable difference here is that experience is not awarded for defeating creatures (which reminds me... there are no CRs given for creatures (which might be problematic for some who might want to use the beasts presented in this book outside of Slaine). That's right instead of getting more powerful from killing stuff (a common occurance in the Land of the Young) you get XP from from simply surviving with XP awards provided for each session and on occasion for exemplary individual play. The Index isn't bad, but I did notice a few important concepts not located here for ease of reference, like the El worlds. The Character sheet is simple, but does the job well. <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Fat:</strong> 5 - The layout and art of the Bestiary chapter and beyond are good and appropriately place. No complaints here.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Meat:</strong> 5 - Similarly the editing and text of these final few chapters is quite good, especially the bestiary chapter and its portayal of the creatures that populate the Land of the Young. The Campaign chapter also revisits some of the concepts discussed in previous chapters from enech to geases and does a good job of reminding GMs of their role in portraying the Land of the Young.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Seasoning:</strong> 5 - The creatures in the Bestiary are almost all original and imaginitively described. In particular I thought the Shoggey Beast (the Celtic version of a lycanthope, but of a more twisted nature in that its shape is an combination of various beasts) was well done. The Campaign chapter presents the idea of seasonal adventuring, which is an interesting idea and quite helpful in picturing life in the Land of the Young and its effects on what types of adventurers are most likely to occur during each season. There is a nice page o' names for players to look over and garner ideas for names to give their characters and a Designer's Notes section that give background on the design decisions and debates that were had in the production of Slaine.</li> </ul><p><strong>Overall:</strong> 4.75</p><p></p><p><strong>Final Thoughts</strong></p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Bone:</strong> The rules were solid throughout with only a few glitches here and there. Some of the rules even have usefulness beyond the Land of the Young, in particular the Taunting (though it would take a little bit of work) and Mass Combat rules. <br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Fat:</strong> The weakest point of Slaine was the art placement. I like to have artwork and text work together, but unfortunately this was not always the case with Slaine.<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Meat:</strong> The flavor text was pretty good and drew me into the work, there were no jarring moments that one can sometimes get when reading a work like this. Well done!<br /> </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Seasoning:</strong> Slaine was both creative and original in many of the concepts presented and much of the material was good adaptation and atmospheric rules design.</li> </ul><p><strong>Overall Score:</strong> 4.5 </p><p></p><p>Slaine is a solid product in its rules design, prose, and creativity, but slightly marred by the placement of its art work and the an overall feeling that it could have presented more interesting information (by dropping a few of the weaker sections). Still a superb product, but it could have been even better...</p><p></p><p>Thanks for sticking with me through this my first (and long) in-depth review...</p><p></p><p>Good Gaming!</p><p>Joseph Miller</p><p></p><p>PS: Please feel free to comment and provide constructive critisms of this review (it's the only way I'll ever learn to be good at it ;-)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jaldaen, post: 2010349, member: 214"] [B][i]**Disclaimer:[/i][/B] I have done work for Mongoose in the past, but these facts have no bearring on this review or its score. First of all, this is my first review in about 19 months, but I'm hoping to start doing more and since my previous two reviews (which are woeful to look at in retrospect) I have developed as both a writer and designer of d20 material. As a result of this growth, I now believe myself mature enough in my readings of other works to provide (hopefully) fair and balanced criticisms of d20 material that should be helpful to both gamers and designers. Secondly, I have over the past couple weeks since deciding to embark upon the path of a reviewer developed a rating system that I believe should help others to understand the overall scores that I give a product. This system is based off of the following four categories (and if you think I'm missing something let me know and I'll consider adding it to the system): [list] [*][B]Bone:[/B] Based on rules design and utility of product. [*][B]Fat:[/B] Base on the layout, art, and value of the product. [*][B]Meat:[/B] Based on the editing and prose of a product. [*][B]Seasoning:[/B] Based on the creativity and originality of a product. [/list] Each of the above categories is given a score between 1-5 for each grouping of chapters in the product. At the end of the review I total up each category, average them out, and determine the final score of the product. [B]Important Note:[/B] Now some might say my system sounds more appropriate for a steak, than a game product, but for me a game product is like a steak in many ways... I don't just eat a steak, I enjoy a steak and likewise I don't just consume the pages of a product (literally or figuratively), I taste the product, chew it over, and digest it... Some I discover are underdone and give me problems the next morning, others are overdone, tasteless and dry with little reason to return for more, and a precious few are "iron skillet" perfection making me wish I had another 30$ to feed my habit... Which brings me to my last point... for me a poor college graduate (and for many others out there) buying a gaming product is in a way deciding whether I'll be buying Ramen(tm) or a nice juicy T-bone in this week's grocery run. In light of these truths, I can do no better than to compare a gaming product to a steak for in truth that is essentially what I give up when I purchase a gaming product (actually more like three or four nice steaks for some products, but that is besides the point). Now All this being said now I feel I can start the review of [B]Slaine: The Roleplaying Game of Celtic Heroes[/B]: This product was purchased (though at 70% off... so I still had some steak money that week... Woot!). [B]First Impressions[/B] [list] [*][B]Bone:[/B] 4 - The back cover provides a useful overview of what you will find in the product, though it does perhaps claim too much when it says "complete bestiary" as I believe there are much more than the couple dozen creatures they present in the Bestiary chapter for characters in the world of Slaine to face off with (in fact the first adventure "The Invulnerable King" presents almost as many new creatures as does this product). Still I chalk such a statement up to over zealous advertising or to a different interpretation of the word "complete" which in this case might mean "enough to get you started" which is really what this Slaine product is all about. [*][B]Fat:[/B] 5 - I love the front cover artwork as it is an eye catching scene of a celtic hero in full chaotic fury that I believe gets across the feel of the world of Slaine as an warlike land of untamed men. I do however wish the back cover text was not centered as my eyes naturally flow back to the beginning of a line and when they meet black space (the text is white on black) they wander where all the words have gone, but this is a personal preference. The price is a little steep for what seems to be a slim Campaign Setting book, but a quick look inside the book revealed a nice text density that more than makes up for the apparent brevity of the book in page length. [*][B]Meat:[/B] 4 - I noticed no editing errors or jarring text on the back cover and it does a good job hinting at what lies within this tome and provides the prospective buyer with just enough information to tantilize their appetite. Also on the backcover are website addresses for both Mongoose and 2000AD comics, unfortunately the back cover does not provide the web address for the 2000AD RPG site... which is unfortunately MIA (or at least difficult to find) on either of these sites, but which luckly is listed here at EN World under the Slaine: RPG product page. [*][B]Seasoning:[/B] 5 - At the top of the back cover it says, "Kiss My Axe!" and in a way the text mirrors the cover in a creative and pointed manner. Also one of the sections mentioned on the back was entitled "Eyes Without Life, Sundered Heads, and Piles of Carcassas", which deals with running mass battles and to me this title stuck in my head and helped me picture what I would find therein... The back also reveals that magic is treated differently in Slaine (and appropriately so) with its short teaser about "Earth Power" and even more tantilizing hint at how one might gain more power via human sacrifice. [/list] [B] Overall:[/B] 4.5 [B]Table of Contents, Introduction, and Welcome[/B] [list] [*][B]Bone:[/B] 5 - The only notible errors in the table of contents are that a couple page numbers are off by one (Humans, Spells and Spellcasting, Spell Lists) and a couple section headings (like the Prestige Classes heading for Chapter 8) are not included (probably for space since the Table already takes up much of the two pages alotted to it. Also the "New to...?" sections of the Introduction are helpful for those new to either Slaine or the d20 system. Finally the "Veteran Players" section provides a "heads up" for those readers familiar with the d20 system about what has been added to and changed in the Slaine RPG. [*][B]Fat:[/B] 4 - The layouts of both the Table of Contents and Introduction are well done and the arts is good, but I'm not certain that the illustration of the fool was placed next to the Veteran Players section (it might have been better placed in conjunction with the Fool Prestige Class). The map in the Welcome chapter is quite nice, though there is no key for it. [*][B]Meat:[/B] 5- The Introduction does a good job of both presenting the core themes of Slaine as well as fleshing out the table of contents in a more complete manner than the back cover (in fact the portion that fleshes out the chapters is for the most part what is used on the back cover). [*][B]Seasoning:[/B] 5 - The Introduction draws you into the book and makes you want to read more, which is exactly what it should do. [/list] [B] Overall:[/B] 4.75 [B]Chapters 1 and 2: Characters and Feats [/B] [list] [*][B]Bone:[/B] 4 - The rules in both of these chapters seemed to be solid, though I have not playtested them (too many campaigns already planned for the summer). There are two races beside humans, dwarves and warped ones, both having an interesting combination of strengths and weaknesses that seem to balance out. The former are definately not the dwarves of D&D, and are instead charming and roguish creatures, while the latter are a sub-race of humans who have the blood of "beast folk" flowing through their viens and with it the ability to warp spasm. Unfortunately the information on warp spasms is not let forth along side the Warped One, but instead placed in the Combat chapter so at this point in the book you are asking yourself what does this do and quickly flip ahead (at least I did). Also missing from the race section is the human's traits is their Starting Earth Power (though it can be found at the beginning of the Earth Power section). The classes are quite interesting and are all adaptations of existing classes to fit the atmosphere of the Land of the Young. It should be noted here that the rules do [i]not[/i] allow for multiclassing (except into Prestige Classes) because as the book states "Life is short." The Druid is quite a striking departure from the one in th PHB, but there can be no doubt about the feeling that this [i]is[/i] a Druid in the world of Slaine. My favorite class abilities of the Druid are the Druidic Awe (essentially Druids are under a constant [i]sanctuary[/i] spell) and Salmon of Knowledge (which grants a bonus to all knowledge checks) features, which are flavorful and provide a player with a real grasp of the role that Druids play in the Land of the Young. The next class the Noble warrior is essentially a fighter with a tribal trait (which grants the noble warrior a special ability based on the tribe he comes from) and free weapon specialization. The thief is next up and is essentially a rogue, but with slower sneak attack progression, and much much better skill-based class abilities, especially Jack-of-All-Trades which starts the thief off with 1 rank in every non-exclusive skill before spending his normal skill points for first level... not to mention a healthy dose of skill mastery. The tribal warrior is similar to the barbarian, but with an interesting twist, he gains a tribal style, which grants a class ability to a character based on his chosen tribe (such as damage reduction that increases with level or competence bonus to ranged attacks with certain "named" weapons) and is an expert at some Craft or Profession (to reflect his peace-time occupation). Finally, the classes wrap up with the Witch, which certainly made me a little frightened, not of rule imbalances, but the flavor the rules attached to the Witch... let's just say that in the Land of the Young is is best not to cross a witch, else curses will fly and one might find oneself tortured to death for greater power... a cool class, but one that frightens me (as it should). The Skills come next and are sort and sweet, but unfortunately the new magic-based skills refer you to the Earth Power rules for more details rather than providing a list of spells that each skill allows (which they do provide in the Earth Power chapter) and their rank prerequisites (which are attached to the individual spells, but are not listed in one easily accessible place). The Starting Money section is straight forward as are the rules for determining one's Enech, Sarhead (Honor-price), Geases, and Weirds. [*][B]Fat:[/B] 4 - The organization of both chapters was quite good with very minimal wasted space, which primarily came from the design decision to space out the bullet points. The art was good, but they don't show a normal human illustration along with the human entry (instead a warp one is presented on the opposite page) and no height comparison of the three races is given. The rest of the art is well placed and those comic cells used get across the feel of those concepts they are paired with, although I must admit that I am having a hard time picturing exactly how the "Shield Kick" feat works (essentially the character kicks up an opponent's shield, leaps atop it, and then attacks from it). Perhaps a frame by frame comic of the technique might have helped. [*][B]Meat:[/B] 4 - The Character Chapter starts with an overview of what will be presented in the rest of the chapter and had no blatant or jarring editorial errors that I noticed. Each of the races, classes is presented in a flavorful manner that helped to envision their roles in the Land of the Young. The Skills section was well done though the new skills lacked flavor text. The rest of the first chapter was again well written and added to the atmosphere by explaining some of the new aspects of roleplaying in the age of Celtic Heroes. I especially liked the discussion of Enech, i.e. Honor and Reputation as it made the concept both intriguing and understandable. In the same category as Enech was the Geas (obligation that your character must always seek to meet) and Weird (a fate that [i]will[/i] befall your character, none of which being pleasant) sections and their entertaining and illustrative examples, which go from the geas to "Never refuse hospitality when offered to you" to the geas "Never listen to birds when the sun sets" to the Weird of having an "Annoying Companion" who the character will never be able to shake. Finally, the Feats Chapter was generally well written, though some of them did not have the traditional introductory flavor text, which might have helped readers to get a feel for the place of the feat within the world of Slaine. [*][B]Seasoning:[/B] 5 - From the races to the weird section, the concepts presented in the first chapter were all fresh and flavorful. They also drove home how different the world of Slaine was from a normal fantasy campaign setting. The feats also brought out the forboding feel of the Land of the Young, especially with the gruesome Blood Eagle and Wicker Man feats (both based off of sacrificing creatures, particularly other humans). [/list] [B] Overall:[/B] 4.25 [B]Chapters 3, 4, and 5: Weapons, Combat, and Battles[/B] [list] [*][B]Bone:[/B] 5 - The third chapter presents some general rules for flint (they break somtime after two years) and iron weapons (they need to be sharpened constantly and if used too successfully can bend and become unweildy). The latter rules were quite well thought out and interesting whereas the former was more nebulus and I wish that Flint weapons had been given a little more flavor in light of what was done with the iron weapons. The rest of the chapter seems to have solid rules with the only extremely powerful (and possibly broken) weapon being the Gae Bolga (a war spear that hooks into your opponent's skin and continues to cause damage even after being removed - though at a slow rate - with no sorcerous means to heal... not to mention the x4 Crit!). The Combat chapter introduces some marvelous rules concepts that can be used in any game, in particular those involving Naming Weapons, Taunts, and Chariots. It also details how damage reduction works (particularly the difference between enchanted and artifact weapons) as well as warp-spasms, which although powerful, also balance in their difficulty to predict and control and the limitation of only one per day. Still, my favorite part of this section is the Taunt system (which is based on Enech, but could be modified to work without it) that illustrates how to make an verbal attack that pushes your foe into a maddened state which you can than use to gain the upper hand in battle. Finally, the "Eyes without Life, Sundered Heads, and Piles of Carcasses" Mass battle chapter is in a word, "Awesome!" It presents the system in a concise and understandable way and will definately be useful when running Mass Combat for those who want the feel of epic and primitive battles, but don't want to spend hours of game time running in-depth tacticals. The only portion of the rules which might be problematic is the magical attack section, but as I have not playtested the system thoroughly yet I'll give it a pass. The rest of the system is perfect for primitive warfare where the range and uniqueness of units is limited by technology and is well worth a look. [*][B]Fat:[/B] 4 - The art and layout of the goods and weapons chapter is pretty straigth forward and plain, though some of the new non-weapon items are not given illustrated treatment. The presentation of the Combat chapter was an improvement upon the barren nature of Chapter three with perfectly placed illustrations helping to get across the feel of the actions being described by the text. The Mass Combat chapter had an intuitive layout, but the artwork seemed more focused on individual combat, which I think deteracted from the feel of the section (not that the art was bad, but I would have like to see armies or skirmishing forces facing off rather than Slaine being front and center with only the hint of combat around him). [*][B]Meat:[/B] 5 - The goods and weapons chapter is straightforward and had no noticable errors in it as well as a good description of each new item... I especially liked the "Property" list that gives one an idea of the worth of land and buildings in the Land of the Young. The combat section really shines in regards to its prose getting across the feel of the new combat options in particular the Taunts section. The best part of this section is the sample taunts which really help to set the mood for some major butt-kicking, a favorite being: "I'm sorry - are you attacking me? Only your blow was so puny, I'm not sure." The Mass Combat chapter is well written and I noticed no errors therein, this section like the goods and weapons section was dry, but appropriately so as it presents a rules system, though it might have been nice to add some atmosphere though some well placed prose. All three chapters, but particularly the one on Combat help to set the primitive and barbaric tone of the Slaine setting and help to portray the world in a lively tone. [*][B]Seasoning:[/B] 5 - The rules and text of both chapters present some original and intriguing concepts with the highlights being the Iron Weapon rules, Taunts, Warp-spasms, and Chariot rules, which all present their concepts in an appropriate and creative light. The Mass Combat chapter does a good job at what it sets out to do (ie present an easy and fast way to determine the outcome of Mass Combat) and in a way that reminds me of Birthright for some reason (one of my favorite CS), which is a good thing. [/list] [B]Overall:[/B] 4.75 [B]Chapter 6: Earth Power[/B] [list] [*][B]Bone:[/B] 5 - This chapter presents the concept of Earth Power and does a good job of it, though I do wonder about how dwarves could ever use Earth Power (as hinted at in the Character chapter) as they have no Base Earth Power and according to the rules one can [i]never[/i] have more than twice their Base Earth Power score. This may be an oversight (on my or their part), or it is intented that tapping weirdstones and sacrifices (which are mentioned as ways to gain Earth Power for the dwarf) are not affected by this "maximum" of 0 problem. The rest of the rules for this chapters seem to be well-thought out and balanced though I wish the prerequisites of the spells had been listed in one place for ease of reference. [*][B]Fat:[/B] 3 - The organization of the chapter is logical and flows well, but this section starts to introduce "twin full page, full color" pieces (which was probably due to keeping printing costs down by only having certain double pages in full color) that seem more a vanity than approriate to the section... now if these had been portraying some cool aspect of Earth Power I'd not have had as much of a problem with it, but all they do is present Slaine and his dwarf sidekick and some angry barbarian neither of which has any baring to the chapter at hand... similarly some of the smaller art pieces throughout this chapter don't really fit well with the sections or spells they are paired with. Still there were a couple gems in the chapter and I loved the depiction of "Crom Cruach's Revenge" spell (essentially worms and magots eat your foe). [*][B]Meat:[/B] 5 - Solid all around on the editing front (except a couple places where illustrations were meant to be placed and the art editing text is left in, but no artwork is found) and the spell descriptions were well written and provided a good atmosphere to each. I was especially fond of the sacrifice and weirdstone/dolmen sections which really helped get across the mood of the Slaine setting. [*][B]Seasoning:[/B] 5 - The concept of Earth Power and the system designed around it was quite creative and drives home the point of magic in the Land of the Young being a subtle magic tied to the lands and its people. I loved the idea of tapping weirdstones (magical stones) and dolmens (an arrangment of weirdstones) for more Earth Power to be quite cool and brought home the connect of the inhabitants of the Land of the Young and the Earth. The spells presented are a mixture of unique magics with a great amount of flavor to them and tried and true magic like summoning and control water, wind and weather spells. [/list] [B]Overall:[/B] 4.5 [B]Chapters 7, 8, and 9: Guide, Adventures, and Gods[/B] [list] [*][B]Bone:[/B] 4 - I found the Guide chapter to be extremely useful in its discussion of the geography and culture of the Lands of the Young, especially the rules for crime and punishment. The Adventures section starts off well with a discussion of "sky chariots" (longships that can fly) and how they work in Slaine, but then goes into a section on Environmental Conditions which seems to be unnecessary as most of the rules presented can be found in the DMG and the space could have been better used to flesh out the other adventuring concepts introduced by the chapter like more info on sky chariots and a couple more Prestige Classes.... Which brings me to the next part of the Adventuring chapter... and a high note (pun intended): the Bard and his fellow exemplars of Slaine goodness! All of the Prestige classes have what seem to be solid and worth while abilities, such as the Bard's Satire ability (essentially a curse laid upon another that causes reputation damge and can even cause death!), the Charioteer's Chariot Bond (grants bonus when the charioter is fighting with his chosen warrior), and the Fool's Innocuous ability (makes others have to make a Will save to attack him while he is at least apperently unarmed). Also in this chapter are the Battle Smiter (a Celtic Body-guard), the Red Branch Warriors (Warp masters and frightening combatants), and the War Witch (sorcerous female warriors who can come to control other worldly creatures). In the God's chapter there are some rules about divine intervention that are interesting, but leave you wanting more than what was presented. [*][B]Fat:[/B] 3 - My first complaint about the Guide section is that it does not have a map in it... instead you have to flip to the front of the book each time you read a section to find out where exactly the regions and locations are in relation to each other... moving the map to this section might have been a better decision for the reader. Again the artwork in the Guide and Adventure chapters (but not in the God section which is quite good) is hit and miss with my main complain being that there are too many full page art pieces (8 of them in a 16 page section spaning the end of the Guide chapter to the beginning of the Adventure chapter) that don't relate directly or only tagentally to the text that surround them. The comic cells on the other hand are well placed and do a great job of providing flavor that highlights the sections they are related to . [*][B]Meat:[/B] 4 - The Guide is a great source of information and provides the setting with a lot more depth especially the cultural aspects. The Adventure chapter is quite good, despite the large section on environment which seems to be more filler than actually intregral to the setting (now if they had provided this information is a seasons of the Land of the Young format with a good amount of flavor text perhaps it would not have seemed so jarring). The Gods chapter does a great job of presenting the pantheon of the Land of the Young with my only complaint being the desire for more information about their followers. [*][B]Seasoning:[/B] 5 - The flavor of these three chapters (baring the environmental conditions section) does a great job of placing the reader in the world of Slaine and presenting information that sparks ideas and adventure seeds. [/list] [B]Overall:[/B] 4 [B]Chapters 10, 11, and Beyond: Bestiary, Campaigns, Timeline, Index, Character Sheet[/B] [list] [*][B]Bone:[/B] 4 - Reviewing the creatures from the Beastiary chapter I did not notice too many monster mechanics problems... the one that seemed a commpn theme (and one that is easily forgotten by us designers) was not multiplying the Strength modifier by 1.5 for those creatures with only a solo attack like the Elk's Butt attack being listed as 1d8+5 instead of 1d8+7 (in light of their 20 Str)... Also the spectral dragons do not have a standard hit point progression... Other than these two things nothing else jumped out at me, but than again I did not break down each creature either... As for the Campaigns chapter it does an effective job of presenting information that is useful for putting together a campaign in the Land of the Young. The most notable difference here is that experience is not awarded for defeating creatures (which reminds me... there are no CRs given for creatures (which might be problematic for some who might want to use the beasts presented in this book outside of Slaine). That's right instead of getting more powerful from killing stuff (a common occurance in the Land of the Young) you get XP from from simply surviving with XP awards provided for each session and on occasion for exemplary individual play. The Index isn't bad, but I did notice a few important concepts not located here for ease of reference, like the El worlds. The Character sheet is simple, but does the job well. [*][B]Fat:[/B] 5 - The layout and art of the Bestiary chapter and beyond are good and appropriately place. No complaints here. [*][B]Meat:[/B] 5 - Similarly the editing and text of these final few chapters is quite good, especially the bestiary chapter and its portayal of the creatures that populate the Land of the Young. The Campaign chapter also revisits some of the concepts discussed in previous chapters from enech to geases and does a good job of reminding GMs of their role in portraying the Land of the Young. [*][B]Seasoning:[/B] 5 - The creatures in the Bestiary are almost all original and imaginitively described. In particular I thought the Shoggey Beast (the Celtic version of a lycanthope, but of a more twisted nature in that its shape is an combination of various beasts) was well done. The Campaign chapter presents the idea of seasonal adventuring, which is an interesting idea and quite helpful in picturing life in the Land of the Young and its effects on what types of adventurers are most likely to occur during each season. There is a nice page o' names for players to look over and garner ideas for names to give their characters and a Designer's Notes section that give background on the design decisions and debates that were had in the production of Slaine. [/list] [B]Overall:[/B] 4.75 [B]Final Thoughts[/B] [list] [*][B]Bone:[/B] The rules were solid throughout with only a few glitches here and there. Some of the rules even have usefulness beyond the Land of the Young, in particular the Taunting (though it would take a little bit of work) and Mass Combat rules. [*][B]Fat:[/B] The weakest point of Slaine was the art placement. I like to have artwork and text work together, but unfortunately this was not always the case with Slaine. [*][B]Meat:[/B] The flavor text was pretty good and drew me into the work, there were no jarring moments that one can sometimes get when reading a work like this. Well done! [*][B]Seasoning:[/B] Slaine was both creative and original in many of the concepts presented and much of the material was good adaptation and atmospheric rules design. [/list] [B]Overall Score:[/B] 4.5 Slaine is a solid product in its rules design, prose, and creativity, but slightly marred by the placement of its art work and the an overall feeling that it could have presented more interesting information (by dropping a few of the weaker sections). Still a superb product, but it could have been even better... Thanks for sticking with me through this my first (and long) in-depth review... Good Gaming! Joseph Miller PS: Please feel free to comment and provide constructive critisms of this review (it's the only way I'll ever learn to be good at it ;-) [/QUOTE]
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