D20 Shakespeare: Othello

[Crothian]

First performed at the court of King James I on November 1st, 1604, The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s more unusual works. Set during the war between Venice and Turkey of almost a half-century prier, the play tells a sordid story of lust, hatred, revenge, murder, and suicide. Granted, these elements alone hardly mark the play as different from any of the Bard’s other tragedies. What makes Othello unique, however, is the title character; the play’s tragic hero. Men of color and Moors had often been portrayed in Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre, but usually as comic buffoons or as scheming villains. In Othello we find a noble and heroic man worthy of admiration; and by play’s end, the audience — no matter how white or how Christian — finds itself empathizing with the ruined warrior. This RPG sourcebook focus on the history and setting of this well known Shakespeare piece and how to integrate it into your regular local gaming session. This sourcebook also comes with several adventures seed with different endings to this classic play. You have read the dramatic piece, now play the adventure.Written by Jason J. McCuiston. Page Count: 11 Pages

 

[Crothian]

Othello d20

The d20 market has been around for five years. Dozens and dozens of companies have produced thousands of books on a variety of topics. At times it seems that the topics are never ended, but sometimes I read a book and I wonder if it means that topics are really becoming hard to come by these days. I am not saying this is a bad topic for a book; in fact any topic made interesting and done creatively will make for a good role playing book. However, Shakespeare d20 is defiantly not a topic that ever crossed my mind and I was very surprised to see it being done.

D20 Shakespeare: Othello is a PDF by Louis Porter Jr. Designs. They have produced a number of different PDFs. This eleven page PDF is written by Jason J MrCuiston. The PDF has no art and little borders. The borders there make it appear as an old paper and it is a nice look. The book though has no book marks though the information here is about the play. There are few rules here and flipping from page to page to reference items is not as needed here.

I will admit I am not sure how much attraction this book has. Basically it provides one the basics for playing in the play Othello. Now I am no Shakespearian expert, but I have read and studied the play some in my school days. The over view of the play given here is complete and it does a nice job. The major NPCs arte stated out for the DM’s use. However the book does not go far enough. It presents the play as it is written. It does not provide much for when the players deviate from the story though. Players are going to do that either by accident or by choice. Even being familiar with the play would not make it easy to stick to it at all times.

The book does give some suggestions for running the play as is or with alternate endings. One of those is assuming Othello is in fact evil and the other one assumes Iago is a demon. It is interesting alternatives, but the short paragraphs devoted to them is just not enough. The book gives good ground work, but I think a DM should take a little extra time in preparing for what the PCs might do and how that could alter the situation and the scenes of other characters. Running this play, or any Shakespearian play for that matter, could be a difficult and complicated event depending on how in depth the DM wished to take it. It would have been nice to have this book discuss some of the major themes in the book and how to apply them to the player characters. I think some extra effort like that would really pay dividends for this product.

I really like the effort and the attempt of doing this play as an adventure. It will have some great chances for role playing and problem solving for the players. If they are familiar with the play or not it shouldn’t matter too much. The product though really could be better served by going more in depth into the topic and offering suggestions for taking a DM and guiding the players through. The product seems to be written more for people already familiar and fans of the play then for those new to it. Opening it up for people not familiar with the play would have also been a great addition.