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Oathbound: Domains of the Forge
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<blockquote data-quote="trancejeremy" data-source="post: 2010658" data-attributes="member: 924"><p>Birds? Birds? A place ruled by birds? Ick.</p><p></p><p>That was pretty much my first impression of Oathbound (a d20 campaign setting from <a href="http://www.bastionpress.com" target="_blank">Bastion</a></p><p><a href="http://www.bastionpress.com" target="_blank">Press</a>), because the world of Oathbound (the "Forge") is ruled by 7 feathery beings called the "Feathered Fowl" or the "Flock".</p><p></p><p>But rather than actual birds, they seem to be angels. At least, they have the same names as angels (with names changed just a</p><p>bit), and they formerly served an all-powerful (or close to it)</p><p>god. </p><p><a href="http://www.poedecoder.com/Qrisse/works/israfel.html" target="_blank">Israfel</a>,</p><p>Barbelo, Orifel, Nemamiah, etc, while not household names, are</p><p>generally considered to be important angels, usually archangels</p><p>or better.</p><p></p><p>In some cases, there is something of a connection between the</p><p>angel and the figure here - Hailael was the chief angel of holy</p><p>beasts - here, Haiel is the former "Defender of</p><p>Nature". Colopatiron had something to do with opening</p><p>prisons - in Oathbound, Colopitiron is the "King of</p><p>Thieves". But in many cases, they're quite different, the</p><p>Orifel in Oathbound has nothing to do with toothache relief. </p><p></p><p>As mentioned, these 7 were chief servants of a very powerful and</p><p>somewhat mysterious god. Angry and jealous at his/her power, the</p><p>rest of the gods of the multiverse fought with him, and</p><p>imprisoned him, as they couldn't kill him. They made the 7 into</p><p>guardians of the prison. (This is where the name of the setting,</p><p>"Oathbound", came from), but in many ways, they are</p><p>also prisoners. </p><p></p><p>Call me crazy, but a world ruled by 7 former angels (or similar</p><p>to them) is far more interesting than a world ruled by 7 bird</p><p>people. So once I realized that, I liked the setting a lot more</p><p>than I thought I would from reading the back of the book.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, The Oath that binds the 7 rulers to the prison has</p><p>something of a loophole - they can be replaced by a more powerful</p><p>being. So these rulers bring in people from other planes and</p><p>worlds, and try to test them, in the hopes that someone will</p><p>eventually replace them. This is why the world is called</p><p>"The Forge"</p><p></p><p>The world of Oathbound, the Forge, is something of a roach motel</p><p>- you can enter, but leaving is somewhat difficult. Not</p><p>impossible, or even that hard, but it does require some extra</p><p>effort.</p><p></p><p>It's a fairly original, interesting world. There are 7 pretty</p><p>distinct regions (1 for each ruler), and the setting allows for</p><p>just about any style of play - combat heavy, politics,</p><p>exploration, etc. It seems to be mostly set around Penance, which</p><p>is a large and ancient city. So old, it's built on the rubble of</p><p>itself, and rises into the sky. </p><p></p><p>Other regions include The Arena, which is a desert full of gold</p><p>that people fight over (which apparently explains the high prices</p><p>in the book - inflation); The Kiln, a giant semi-dormant volcano;</p><p>The Anvil, a mountain range full of skytop castles and hidden</p><p>valleys full of jolly green giants (er, not so jolly and green,</p><p>but giants and giant beasts, over 100 feet tall. Kaiju, or close</p><p>to it.); Wildwood, a tangle of forests; Eclipse, which is inside</p><p>a giant crater at the top of the world, for those that hate</p><p>sunlight; and the Vault, which is a wasteland full of undead and</p><p>lawyers.</p><p></p><p>The downside is, it's quite alien. Of the 10 or so new races</p><p>introduced in the book, all are pretty weird. 4 of them are</p><p>lizards or reptiles. One looks an awful lot like an upright giant</p><p>rooster, like that </p><p><a href="http://www.toonopedia.com/foghorn.htm" target="_blank">Foghorn Leghorn</a></p><p>character. One is a floating Jellyfish. There's also a dog race,</p><p>and a cat race. The cat race is almost literally like housecats,</p><p>only they walk upright. Rounding out the selection is a goat race</p><p>(not like Satyrs, they're literally like goats that walk upright,</p><p>though the picture of them makes them look more like Elk), and</p><p>something that looks somewhat like a demon, but not a very</p><p>attractive one. A bit more gargoyle-ish.</p><p></p><p>If you're sick of elves, dwarves, etc, then this is a good thing.</p><p>But I found them to be very unattractive and uninteresting, too</p><p>close to real world animals than something truly original.</p><p>Compare them to say, the aliens of Star Wars. Sure, some are just</p><p>people in a fur suit (Wookiees, Ewoks, Ed Asner*), but there are</p><p>a lot of aliens that aren't like real world animals, but really</p><p>alien. Rodians, Ithorians, Bith, Sullustians, whatever the heck</p><p>Yoda is, etc.</p><p></p><p>For a d20 book, there's really not all that much new rules</p><p>material. There are stats for most of the major NPCs, the new</p><p>races (most of them), and some new monsters, but there are only a</p><p>handful of new prestige classes and only a couple new feats.</p><p>Something of a refreshing change, as those are generally things</p><p>that are overdone.</p><p></p><p>The biggest difference from this and regular D&D/d20 is</p><p>"prestige races" and gifts.</p><p></p><p>Prestige Races are somewhat similar to prestige classes, in they</p><p>are better than normal races, but they're just more evolved.</p><p>Basically, by spending XP, you get special abilities. In most</p><p>cases, I don't think these things are worth the experience points</p><p>they cost. They work somewhat like a chain or even class, you</p><p>have to buy the first change, then the second, and so, they get</p><p>better (and more expensive) the further up you go.</p><p></p><p>Gifts are what they sound like - gifts to characters. Because the</p><p>god imprisoned in the forge is so powerful, some of his divine</p><p>energy leaks out, giving people special abilities (a similar</p><p>thing happens at Graceland).</p><p></p><p>Characters get one gift when they enter the Forge. These gifts</p><p>are relatively minor - about twice as much as a feat - for</p><p>instance, an ability boost of 2 points, or a skill can get a +6</p><p>bonus.</p><p></p><p>Characters can earn more, but there doesn't seem to be any hard</p><p>and fast rules for this. Earned gifts are somewhat more powerful</p><p>(say 50% more powerful). Gifts of either type are lost when a</p><p>character leave the Forge to go to another world/plane (the</p><p>prestige races abilities stay).</p><p></p><p>Generally speaking, for d20 games, I don't like mechanisms like</p><p>this, because they make it difficult for the GM to gauge how</p><p>powerful a character is. Pretty much the whole purpose of having</p><p>a level system is so you know what you can and can't throw at</p><p>your PCs and have them survive.</p><p></p><p>The prestige races in particular, seem to be perfectly suited for</p><p>classes. As they are all chained together, and they cost xp, it</p><p>seems more or less what a prestige class is for. The only benefit</p><p>of doing it this way is that it allows characters to improve once</p><p>they hit 20th level (at the time Oathbound was originally</p><p>released, the Epic Advancement rules weren't released as open</p><p>content). So I can at least understand it, but it's hard to</p><p>figure out the proper CR for characters with lots of gifts and</p><p>prestige race improvements. Especially as not all the gifts or</p><p>evolutionary improvements are combat orientated - someone with a</p><p>+5 bonus to STR is better at fighting than someone with a +5 CHA</p><p>or a +10 bonus to Craft(Basketweaving).</p><p></p><p>It's a remarkably complete book, probably the single most</p><p>complete d20 setting book I own (which is quite a few, actually).</p><p>Pretty much the whole world is given fairly detailed atlas style</p><p>description, and one section, "Penance", is given a</p><p>very detailed description, about on par with most dedicated</p><p>location sourcebooks. So the GM has pretty much all the info</p><p>needed to run a game in Penance, and enough to handle visits to</p><p>other areas of the world.</p><p></p><p>The level of detail of the world is quite impressive, as is the</p><p>complex relationships between the inhabitants. This goes a long</p><p>way towards making the world feel real. Which I consider to be</p><p>the litmus test when using a setting for an RPG, for me there</p><p>really has to be a suspension of disbelief.</p><p></p><p>There's also a long (64 page or so) adventure. While the</p><p>adventure is well done, I think it highlights another potential</p><p>problem of Oathbound. The PCs in it are servants of a much more</p><p>powerful lord (a "Bloodlord", one of the rulers of part</p><p>of the city of Penance).</p><p></p><p>Basically, the PCs are given one task after another by the</p><p>Bloodlord to do. These tasks vary greatly, from working as tour</p><p>guides to exploring dungeons to diplomatic missions.</p><p></p><p>Do you want to be the main characters, or the supporting cast?</p><p>Most players would prefer to be the main characters. Going</p><p>through a lot of effort for the glory and enrichment of others is</p><p>not much fun (too much like paying taxes).</p><p></p><p>While some of that is probably just because the adventure was</p><p>meant to be an introduction to the world, it's also just a really</p><p>high powered world, and until the PCs reach 20th level or so,</p><p>they won't be powerful enough to challenge any of the existing</p><p>Bloodlords of Pennace, or even survive against them.</p><p></p><p>By contrast, in most settings, a 10th or so level character can</p><p>pretty much set their own agenda, maybe start a castle or</p><p>stronghold someplace. That doesn't seem possible in The Forge</p><p></p><p>At least in the main area of the world, Penance, you can't become</p><p>a leader unless you have 1000 people living in an area already.</p><p>Why? Whim, apparently. The main ruler of Penance, Israfel, has a</p><p>rule about ordering people around if you have less than 1000</p><p>people in an area. So you can't work up your way gradually. You</p><p>either have to gather up a whole lot of people, then colonize a</p><p>place all at once, or depose another leader.</p><p></p><p>(Actually, the Penance area of the Forge would be ripe for</p><p>something of a miniature version of Birthright or even Diplomacy</p><p>- rules for creating and expanding your territory, maybe with</p><p>troupe style play)</p><p></p><p>Physically, it's a nice looking book. Sturdy, well laid out, with</p><p>both a nice table of contents and index. The outer margins also</p><p>list the chapter, so finding something is a breeze. There's also</p><p>a handy glossary</p><p></p><p>The art didn't do much for me. There were some nice pieces, but</p><p>most of it was drawn in a very abstract sort of style - bodies</p><p>aren't proportioned properly, they have all these lines on them,</p><p>like you're seeing muscles without the skin (but it's skin</p><p>toned). Very very creepy, I think, though at the same time, it</p><p>makes me hungry for fried chicken (especially the foghorn leghorn</p><p>illo). </p><p></p><p>The sticker price is pretty high, but pretty reasonable for a</p><p>full color book this size (352 pages), and the amount of info in</p><p>it (lots!). You can also get it on Ebay for pretty cheap - I got</p><p>mine there for about 1/3 cover price. It's definitely worth that.</p><p>I personally am not going to use it as my campaign setting, but I</p><p>have used it as a place to visit (I have something of a</p><p>plane-travelling campaign) and it seemed to go over well enough.</p><p></p><p><strong>B+.</strong> More if you like alien settings, it was a</p><p>bit too much for me in places. The new races, anyway - I'm just</p><p>not into hermaphrodite lizards (even if they buy me dinner).</p><p></p><p>Also as a note, they have a </p><p><a href="http://www.bastionpress.com/Downloads/Akaya.zip" target="_blank">free</a></p><p><a href="http://www.bastionpress.com/Downloads/Akaya.zip" target="_blank">introductory adventure</a> (around 20 pages) on their </p><p><a href="http://www.bastionpress.com/Downloads.htm" target="_blank">downloads</a></p><p>section of their website, and they've supported the setting</p><p>pretty well. I think 4 or 5 supplements for it (in about a year)</p><p>and most of their other d20 supplements have some tie in with the</p><p>setting. Also apparently they have novels coming out.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>* He's in "Knights of the Old Republic".</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="trancejeremy, post: 2010658, member: 924"] Birds? Birds? A place ruled by birds? Ick. That was pretty much my first impression of Oathbound (a d20 campaign setting from [url=http://www.bastionpress.com]Bastion Press[/url]), because the world of Oathbound (the "Forge") is ruled by 7 feathery beings called the "Feathered Fowl" or the "Flock". But rather than actual birds, they seem to be angels. At least, they have the same names as angels (with names changed just a bit), and they formerly served an all-powerful (or close to it) god. [url=http://www.poedecoder.com/Qrisse/works/israfel.html]Israfel[/url], Barbelo, Orifel, Nemamiah, etc, while not household names, are generally considered to be important angels, usually archangels or better. In some cases, there is something of a connection between the angel and the figure here - Hailael was the chief angel of holy beasts - here, Haiel is the former "Defender of Nature". Colopatiron had something to do with opening prisons - in Oathbound, Colopitiron is the "King of Thieves". But in many cases, they're quite different, the Orifel in Oathbound has nothing to do with toothache relief. As mentioned, these 7 were chief servants of a very powerful and somewhat mysterious god. Angry and jealous at his/her power, the rest of the gods of the multiverse fought with him, and imprisoned him, as they couldn't kill him. They made the 7 into guardians of the prison. (This is where the name of the setting, "Oathbound", came from), but in many ways, they are also prisoners. Call me crazy, but a world ruled by 7 former angels (or similar to them) is far more interesting than a world ruled by 7 bird people. So once I realized that, I liked the setting a lot more than I thought I would from reading the back of the book. Anyway, The Oath that binds the 7 rulers to the prison has something of a loophole - they can be replaced by a more powerful being. So these rulers bring in people from other planes and worlds, and try to test them, in the hopes that someone will eventually replace them. This is why the world is called "The Forge" The world of Oathbound, the Forge, is something of a roach motel - you can enter, but leaving is somewhat difficult. Not impossible, or even that hard, but it does require some extra effort. It's a fairly original, interesting world. There are 7 pretty distinct regions (1 for each ruler), and the setting allows for just about any style of play - combat heavy, politics, exploration, etc. It seems to be mostly set around Penance, which is a large and ancient city. So old, it's built on the rubble of itself, and rises into the sky. Other regions include The Arena, which is a desert full of gold that people fight over (which apparently explains the high prices in the book - inflation); The Kiln, a giant semi-dormant volcano; The Anvil, a mountain range full of skytop castles and hidden valleys full of jolly green giants (er, not so jolly and green, but giants and giant beasts, over 100 feet tall. Kaiju, or close to it.); Wildwood, a tangle of forests; Eclipse, which is inside a giant crater at the top of the world, for those that hate sunlight; and the Vault, which is a wasteland full of undead and lawyers. The downside is, it's quite alien. Of the 10 or so new races introduced in the book, all are pretty weird. 4 of them are lizards or reptiles. One looks an awful lot like an upright giant rooster, like that [url=http://www.toonopedia.com/foghorn.htm]Foghorn Leghorn[/url] character. One is a floating Jellyfish. There's also a dog race, and a cat race. The cat race is almost literally like housecats, only they walk upright. Rounding out the selection is a goat race (not like Satyrs, they're literally like goats that walk upright, though the picture of them makes them look more like Elk), and something that looks somewhat like a demon, but not a very attractive one. A bit more gargoyle-ish. If you're sick of elves, dwarves, etc, then this is a good thing. But I found them to be very unattractive and uninteresting, too close to real world animals than something truly original. Compare them to say, the aliens of Star Wars. Sure, some are just people in a fur suit (Wookiees, Ewoks, Ed Asner*), but there are a lot of aliens that aren't like real world animals, but really alien. Rodians, Ithorians, Bith, Sullustians, whatever the heck Yoda is, etc. For a d20 book, there's really not all that much new rules material. There are stats for most of the major NPCs, the new races (most of them), and some new monsters, but there are only a handful of new prestige classes and only a couple new feats. Something of a refreshing change, as those are generally things that are overdone. The biggest difference from this and regular D&D/d20 is "prestige races" and gifts. Prestige Races are somewhat similar to prestige classes, in they are better than normal races, but they're just more evolved. Basically, by spending XP, you get special abilities. In most cases, I don't think these things are worth the experience points they cost. They work somewhat like a chain or even class, you have to buy the first change, then the second, and so, they get better (and more expensive) the further up you go. Gifts are what they sound like - gifts to characters. Because the god imprisoned in the forge is so powerful, some of his divine energy leaks out, giving people special abilities (a similar thing happens at Graceland). Characters get one gift when they enter the Forge. These gifts are relatively minor - about twice as much as a feat - for instance, an ability boost of 2 points, or a skill can get a +6 bonus. Characters can earn more, but there doesn't seem to be any hard and fast rules for this. Earned gifts are somewhat more powerful (say 50% more powerful). Gifts of either type are lost when a character leave the Forge to go to another world/plane (the prestige races abilities stay). Generally speaking, for d20 games, I don't like mechanisms like this, because they make it difficult for the GM to gauge how powerful a character is. Pretty much the whole purpose of having a level system is so you know what you can and can't throw at your PCs and have them survive. The prestige races in particular, seem to be perfectly suited for classes. As they are all chained together, and they cost xp, it seems more or less what a prestige class is for. The only benefit of doing it this way is that it allows characters to improve once they hit 20th level (at the time Oathbound was originally released, the Epic Advancement rules weren't released as open content). So I can at least understand it, but it's hard to figure out the proper CR for characters with lots of gifts and prestige race improvements. Especially as not all the gifts or evolutionary improvements are combat orientated - someone with a +5 bonus to STR is better at fighting than someone with a +5 CHA or a +10 bonus to Craft(Basketweaving). It's a remarkably complete book, probably the single most complete d20 setting book I own (which is quite a few, actually). Pretty much the whole world is given fairly detailed atlas style description, and one section, "Penance", is given a very detailed description, about on par with most dedicated location sourcebooks. So the GM has pretty much all the info needed to run a game in Penance, and enough to handle visits to other areas of the world. The level of detail of the world is quite impressive, as is the complex relationships between the inhabitants. This goes a long way towards making the world feel real. Which I consider to be the litmus test when using a setting for an RPG, for me there really has to be a suspension of disbelief. There's also a long (64 page or so) adventure. While the adventure is well done, I think it highlights another potential problem of Oathbound. The PCs in it are servants of a much more powerful lord (a "Bloodlord", one of the rulers of part of the city of Penance). Basically, the PCs are given one task after another by the Bloodlord to do. These tasks vary greatly, from working as tour guides to exploring dungeons to diplomatic missions. Do you want to be the main characters, or the supporting cast? Most players would prefer to be the main characters. Going through a lot of effort for the glory and enrichment of others is not much fun (too much like paying taxes). While some of that is probably just because the adventure was meant to be an introduction to the world, it's also just a really high powered world, and until the PCs reach 20th level or so, they won't be powerful enough to challenge any of the existing Bloodlords of Pennace, or even survive against them. By contrast, in most settings, a 10th or so level character can pretty much set their own agenda, maybe start a castle or stronghold someplace. That doesn't seem possible in The Forge At least in the main area of the world, Penance, you can't become a leader unless you have 1000 people living in an area already. Why? Whim, apparently. The main ruler of Penance, Israfel, has a rule about ordering people around if you have less than 1000 people in an area. So you can't work up your way gradually. You either have to gather up a whole lot of people, then colonize a place all at once, or depose another leader. (Actually, the Penance area of the Forge would be ripe for something of a miniature version of Birthright or even Diplomacy - rules for creating and expanding your territory, maybe with troupe style play) Physically, it's a nice looking book. Sturdy, well laid out, with both a nice table of contents and index. The outer margins also list the chapter, so finding something is a breeze. There's also a handy glossary The art didn't do much for me. There were some nice pieces, but most of it was drawn in a very abstract sort of style - bodies aren't proportioned properly, they have all these lines on them, like you're seeing muscles without the skin (but it's skin toned). Very very creepy, I think, though at the same time, it makes me hungry for fried chicken (especially the foghorn leghorn illo). The sticker price is pretty high, but pretty reasonable for a full color book this size (352 pages), and the amount of info in it (lots!). You can also get it on Ebay for pretty cheap - I got mine there for about 1/3 cover price. It's definitely worth that. I personally am not going to use it as my campaign setting, but I have used it as a place to visit (I have something of a plane-travelling campaign) and it seemed to go over well enough. [b]B+.[/b] More if you like alien settings, it was a bit too much for me in places. The new races, anyway - I'm just not into hermaphrodite lizards (even if they buy me dinner). Also as a note, they have a [url=http://www.bastionpress.com/Downloads/Akaya.zip]free introductory adventure[/url] (around 20 pages) on their [url=http://www.bastionpress.com/Downloads.htm]downloads[/url] section of their website, and they've supported the setting pretty well. I think 4 or 5 supplements for it (in about a year) and most of their other d20 supplements have some tie in with the setting. Also apparently they have novels coming out. * He's in "Knights of the Old Republic". [/QUOTE]
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