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2000AD: Sláine RPG
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<blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010681" data-attributes="member: 18387"><p>Review of Slaine by Mongoose Publishing</p><p></p><p> Slaine is a new campaign world based on the Slaine comic books. I’ve never even heard of Slaine until Mongoose announced this license earlier in the year. So, this review is from the point of someone totally unfamiliar with new world and the characters that it makes up.</p><p></p><p> Slaine is a world of Celtic heroes. It takes place in Tir Nan Og, the legendary Celtic lands. Many traditional things are altered to fit this setting like the races and the classes available. But before I get into that meat of the product, I really need to talk about the art. This book has some of the best art I’ve seen. It’s beautifully done with many full-page color pictures. If you see the book in a store, just pick it up and look at the pictures. It’s one of the things that convinced me to get this product. There are many black and white pictures that seem to be taken from the comic books. For the most part the editing and writing is very good. There are two instances I saw of placeholders for pictures that were not taken out, but other then that I did not notice any problems. The book is a little expensive for its size. It being a licensed product probably has some thing to do with that. However, it is well worth every penny. </p><p></p><p> The book starts with an introduction that gives a nice overview of that has parts written for Slaine fans new to role-playing, and role players new to Slaine. It’s a very nice approach. Next we get to a general overview of the Slaine. And finally we get to character generation. There are three playable races: Humans, Dwarves, and Warped Ones. Humans are pretty much unchanged. Dwarves are changed quite a bit. They are still smaller then humans and have a flair for crafting, but they are also thieves and have a hard time using magic. The Warped Ones are like humans but can change into a large fighting creature on the battlefield. The races are well done and seem exciting to play.</p><p></p><p> The classes are also different from those in the PHB. The first one is the Druid, who is a highly respected member of the tribes. He is the keeper of much knowledge as well as one of the most powerful in terms of magical ability. Next is the Noble Warrior, a highly trained combat specialist. The thief is similar to the rogue but even more skill focused. The Tribal Warrior is very much like the Barbarian and the Witch is another spellcasting specialist that deals more with summoning. There is a lot of flavor with these classes and they all fit into the rich culture very well. There are a few prestige classes in the back part of the book. The Bard is a Druid that takes up music and has magic related to that. Battle Smiter is a powerful warrior dedicated to protecting an important person like a King or Druid. The Charioteer is a master of the vehicle and Fool is a very odd character that can actually be ignored on the battlefield because he doesn’t seem like a threat. The Red Branch warriors are an elite group of Warped Ones that are defistating in combat, and the War Witch blend the art of combat with magic.</p><p></p><p> The skills are mostly the same with one large difference: spells are skill based. So there are two new skills Bless and Divination that are needed to cast those types of spells. There is also the skill sorcery. For each rank in it, a character learns a new spell. Any character of Slaine can learn spells, it is not something limited to the Druid and the Witch. </p><p></p><p> There is a whole section on honor, or Enech as they call it. There is no alignment system, as honor and reputation replace it. One’s Enech is very important to everyone. Only Druids and their Prestige Class the Bard are outside this system. It is much easier to lose Enech then to gain it, so this will be something interesting for players to get used to. Also, every human and Warped on has a Gease on them from birth. This is a certain action or type of situation the character has to do or avoid. There are a few examples given like the character always has to accept a boon from a Bard, to never run or charge in or outside a battle. Alternately, the character can have a Weird instead of a Gease. A Weird is a destiny that will come true like the character will be disfigured or have an annoying companion. </p><p></p><p> There is a chapter on feats, and first it tells which of the ones from the PHB are allowed. There are no item creation or met magic feats in a Slain game. Most of the new feats are combat related and are very dramatic in what they enable someone to do. There are chariot feats and feats to increase the defense of a shield. There are feats that allow one to take steps in between cleave attacks and feats to leap over charging attacks and attack them as you go by. Many of the feats might be too powerful in other games, but they are fit the setting and the power levels here. </p><p></p><p> The money system in Slaine is a little odd. The main piece is called a Set and it’s a five-pound iron bar. Other forms of currency include chickens, pigs, cows, and cumal. A cumal is a female slave. There are no steel weapons in Slaine; so all weapons are made of either flint or iron. There are also wooden weapons like clubs and staves, but any warrior worth his salt will have an axe or a spear. Flint and iron weapons both have their problems. Flint weapons are difficult to make and when the break cannot be repaired. Iron weapons need to be sharpened after every battle and can bend in battle. There are pictures of most of the weapons in here and they are all explained in great detail. </p><p></p><p> Combat in Slaine is mostly the same except for Taunts and calling opponents out. Taunts are a ranged attack that insults your opponent and tries to drive them into a maddened state. Calling opponents out on a battlefield is simple and will almost guarantee a one on one combat even if there are thousands on the battlefield. Next, it goes into Warp-Spasms, the changing the Warped Ones do. The chapter ends with chariot combat and chariot descriptions and improvements. Chariots are a big part of a Celtic Warrior and can be used to great effect in combat. </p><p></p><p> The mass combat chapter has the greatest name of any chapter I’ve come across: “Eyes Without Life, Sundered Heads and Piles of Carcasses”. The mass combat system emphasizes simple use of combat groups. Player Characters and spell users exist outside this system and it has roles for how they affect the large battles. In Slaine having battles of thousands on a side is not unheard of and this system should allow players to easily play through them. </p><p></p><p> The magic system is very changed from standard d20. The amount of spells known is based on the Sorcery skill and it’s available to everyone. All creatures have some potential for storing Earth Power. How much Earth Power one can hold depends on their race, class and level. It’s spent to cast spells and returns at a slow rate through out the day. Many spells have requirements not unlike feats to select. All the spells here are new and none of the ones from the Players Handbook is used. Their skill roll or the magic attack roll of the caster sets the DC for most spells. </p><p></p><p> The world of Slain is very rich in adventure. The tribes war with each other, there are the Norse berserkers from the frozen tundra, and the Drune Lords and their minions destroying the earth to the south. The known world is described in good detail starting with the lands of the tribes and their cities. The culture and tradition of the tribes is gone into and their independence and strong family ties are two very important parts of their personalities. All the tribes have the same laws and same system to deal with criminals. Nearly all crimes are punishable with a fine that the defendant and his family is responsible for paying. There are lawyers and debt collectors as part of the system, but honor plays a very big part for determining what actually happened. It’s interesting since these are very upfront and honest people. Crimes through violence have a smaller fine then crimes through stealth for instance. </p><p></p><p> One thing that the book does differently is getting rid of the challenge rating system. Players are allowed to attempt to defeat anything or anybody they want, and should use wisdom to know when to cut their losses. I’m not sure how well this work, especially in a world were resurrections are a legend. However, the creatures described in the books are very interesting and are filled with the same flavor of the world as everything else. </p><p> </p><p> This is one amazing book. Reading through it was like emerging myself into the world of Tir Nan Og. It is ripe with descriptions and does a great job of making one appreciate the importance of the tribe’s family and personal honor. This book has impressed more then any other I have read for the d20 system.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Messageboard Golem, post: 2010681, member: 18387"] Review of Slaine by Mongoose Publishing Slaine is a new campaign world based on the Slaine comic books. I’ve never even heard of Slaine until Mongoose announced this license earlier in the year. So, this review is from the point of someone totally unfamiliar with new world and the characters that it makes up. Slaine is a world of Celtic heroes. It takes place in Tir Nan Og, the legendary Celtic lands. Many traditional things are altered to fit this setting like the races and the classes available. But before I get into that meat of the product, I really need to talk about the art. This book has some of the best art I’ve seen. It’s beautifully done with many full-page color pictures. If you see the book in a store, just pick it up and look at the pictures. It’s one of the things that convinced me to get this product. There are many black and white pictures that seem to be taken from the comic books. For the most part the editing and writing is very good. There are two instances I saw of placeholders for pictures that were not taken out, but other then that I did not notice any problems. The book is a little expensive for its size. It being a licensed product probably has some thing to do with that. However, it is well worth every penny. The book starts with an introduction that gives a nice overview of that has parts written for Slaine fans new to role-playing, and role players new to Slaine. It’s a very nice approach. Next we get to a general overview of the Slaine. And finally we get to character generation. There are three playable races: Humans, Dwarves, and Warped Ones. Humans are pretty much unchanged. Dwarves are changed quite a bit. They are still smaller then humans and have a flair for crafting, but they are also thieves and have a hard time using magic. The Warped Ones are like humans but can change into a large fighting creature on the battlefield. The races are well done and seem exciting to play. The classes are also different from those in the PHB. The first one is the Druid, who is a highly respected member of the tribes. He is the keeper of much knowledge as well as one of the most powerful in terms of magical ability. Next is the Noble Warrior, a highly trained combat specialist. The thief is similar to the rogue but even more skill focused. The Tribal Warrior is very much like the Barbarian and the Witch is another spellcasting specialist that deals more with summoning. There is a lot of flavor with these classes and they all fit into the rich culture very well. There are a few prestige classes in the back part of the book. The Bard is a Druid that takes up music and has magic related to that. Battle Smiter is a powerful warrior dedicated to protecting an important person like a King or Druid. The Charioteer is a master of the vehicle and Fool is a very odd character that can actually be ignored on the battlefield because he doesn’t seem like a threat. The Red Branch warriors are an elite group of Warped Ones that are defistating in combat, and the War Witch blend the art of combat with magic. The skills are mostly the same with one large difference: spells are skill based. So there are two new skills Bless and Divination that are needed to cast those types of spells. There is also the skill sorcery. For each rank in it, a character learns a new spell. Any character of Slaine can learn spells, it is not something limited to the Druid and the Witch. There is a whole section on honor, or Enech as they call it. There is no alignment system, as honor and reputation replace it. One’s Enech is very important to everyone. Only Druids and their Prestige Class the Bard are outside this system. It is much easier to lose Enech then to gain it, so this will be something interesting for players to get used to. Also, every human and Warped on has a Gease on them from birth. This is a certain action or type of situation the character has to do or avoid. There are a few examples given like the character always has to accept a boon from a Bard, to never run or charge in or outside a battle. Alternately, the character can have a Weird instead of a Gease. A Weird is a destiny that will come true like the character will be disfigured or have an annoying companion. There is a chapter on feats, and first it tells which of the ones from the PHB are allowed. There are no item creation or met magic feats in a Slain game. Most of the new feats are combat related and are very dramatic in what they enable someone to do. There are chariot feats and feats to increase the defense of a shield. There are feats that allow one to take steps in between cleave attacks and feats to leap over charging attacks and attack them as you go by. Many of the feats might be too powerful in other games, but they are fit the setting and the power levels here. The money system in Slaine is a little odd. The main piece is called a Set and it’s a five-pound iron bar. Other forms of currency include chickens, pigs, cows, and cumal. A cumal is a female slave. There are no steel weapons in Slaine; so all weapons are made of either flint or iron. There are also wooden weapons like clubs and staves, but any warrior worth his salt will have an axe or a spear. Flint and iron weapons both have their problems. Flint weapons are difficult to make and when the break cannot be repaired. Iron weapons need to be sharpened after every battle and can bend in battle. There are pictures of most of the weapons in here and they are all explained in great detail. Combat in Slaine is mostly the same except for Taunts and calling opponents out. Taunts are a ranged attack that insults your opponent and tries to drive them into a maddened state. Calling opponents out on a battlefield is simple and will almost guarantee a one on one combat even if there are thousands on the battlefield. Next, it goes into Warp-Spasms, the changing the Warped Ones do. The chapter ends with chariot combat and chariot descriptions and improvements. Chariots are a big part of a Celtic Warrior and can be used to great effect in combat. The mass combat chapter has the greatest name of any chapter I’ve come across: “Eyes Without Life, Sundered Heads and Piles of Carcasses”. The mass combat system emphasizes simple use of combat groups. Player Characters and spell users exist outside this system and it has roles for how they affect the large battles. In Slaine having battles of thousands on a side is not unheard of and this system should allow players to easily play through them. The magic system is very changed from standard d20. The amount of spells known is based on the Sorcery skill and it’s available to everyone. All creatures have some potential for storing Earth Power. How much Earth Power one can hold depends on their race, class and level. It’s spent to cast spells and returns at a slow rate through out the day. Many spells have requirements not unlike feats to select. All the spells here are new and none of the ones from the Players Handbook is used. Their skill roll or the magic attack roll of the caster sets the DC for most spells. The world of Slain is very rich in adventure. The tribes war with each other, there are the Norse berserkers from the frozen tundra, and the Drune Lords and their minions destroying the earth to the south. The known world is described in good detail starting with the lands of the tribes and their cities. The culture and tradition of the tribes is gone into and their independence and strong family ties are two very important parts of their personalities. All the tribes have the same laws and same system to deal with criminals. Nearly all crimes are punishable with a fine that the defendant and his family is responsible for paying. There are lawyers and debt collectors as part of the system, but honor plays a very big part for determining what actually happened. It’s interesting since these are very upfront and honest people. Crimes through violence have a smaller fine then crimes through stealth for instance. One thing that the book does differently is getting rid of the challenge rating system. Players are allowed to attempt to defeat anything or anybody they want, and should use wisdom to know when to cut their losses. I’m not sure how well this work, especially in a world were resurrections are a legend. However, the creatures described in the books are very interesting and are filled with the same flavor of the world as everything else. This is one amazing book. Reading through it was like emerging myself into the world of Tir Nan Og. It is ripe with descriptions and does a great job of making one appreciate the importance of the tribe’s family and personal honor. This book has impressed more then any other I have read for the d20 system. [/QUOTE]
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