Slavelords of Cydonia

[Zoatebix]

Hey Remial!

Try these pdf/spreadsheet products:

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4035&

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4036&

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4037&

Creature Creation (the CR system), Gamemastering (the EL system), and Mass Combat, respectively.

You can also pick up U_K's version 4 CR/EL document here: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=66470

The Grim Tales versions definately have more bells and whistles and an equation-based system for EL developed on these boards rather than the table-based system in U_K's document, but the v4 document has calculated CRs for all SRD fantasy monsters and some pretty robust design parameters and discussion. Really, I recommend all of these things. And the Grim Tales book itself, of course

 

[remial]

FWIW I was asking about Upper Krust's system. I already have Grim Tales and a copy of Slavelords is on it's way to me as I type.

I spent about 3 hours last night searching the boards. it mad eme really wish that they had a search function.

 

[Teflon Billy]

FWIW I was asking about Upper Krust's system. I already have Grim Tales...

It's in there.

 

[tameszu]

If you run this, please consider doing a storyhour!

 

[GameWyrd]

Yus. Pick up Slavelords of Cydonia and you'll feel that is has the "Yus Factor!". This is a chunky hardback and, to be honest, this is what you'd expect for any adventure supplement that promised to take your players from Level 1 to Level 20. Chunky adventure supplements enjoy the "Yus factor".

According to Bad Axe Games an 'adventure supplement' is a product which contains an adventure and has room for standard supplement-esq rules. Slavelords of Cydonia has over 230 pages - it has room for both an adventure and supplemental rules.

One of the reasons why Slavelords of Cydonia appeals to me so much is that it's a Grim Tales supplement. It's a low fantasy supplement. Or it's a gaslight London supplement. Or it's a modern age supplement. Or it's a post-apoc supplement. Herein lies Grim Tales's strength (not to be confused with Grimm, also well respected) - it's about a style of play rather than a genre/theme of play. Slavelords of Cydonia and Grim Tales are pretty grim at times - players are likely to be, er, well, slaves at some point.

Holy silt. If you're worried about spoilers then flee now. Flee! Flee! Flee!

I don't think the fact that the players are likely to become slaves is much of a spoiler. If they didn't see it coming from the title of the book and the fact that they're level one to begin with then they're blooming unlikely to be reading this review.

Slavelords of Cydonia is also an unusual type of adventure - handy since I don't think the usual, scripted, linear adventures work very well. The fact of the matter is that your players will do something that the linear plot didn't expect. They will. Face it. Slavelords of Cydonia deals with this issue in an intelligent way (and as the professional extension of the way many of us have been designing our own notes for years now). Slavelords of Cydonia is modular. It's not modular in the sense that it contains a linear module/adventure but modular in the sense that the GM can pick or choose plot points, adapt and respond as needs be to get players from outcome A to outcome B.

Slavelords of Cydonia achieves this mean feat by providing the framework an experienced GM needs to make things happen. I should note that the book makes no apologies for requiring an experienced GM - but, once again, if you're reading this then you probably are. We know what the NPCs are up to. We know what the players need to learn to set the mood for the next chapter and we know what they shouldn't learn yet. We have locations and some nice events. What we don't have is the step-by-step walkthrough through which we neither need nor expect to happen. If the players are mean to a NPC then they can expect no help but if they are helpful to an NPC then they're more likely to be their friend - the GM can moderate this. Of course, it's also possible that if the players are helpful to an NPC that the NPC is a Lethid spy sent to win their favour.

Oh! Such are the tempting plot twists of low fantasy. I suppose I should also say that if don't have Grim Tales (why not?) and if you're not fond of low fantasy (why not?) that the book provides conversion suggestions for you. You can take a spell caster from another setting (Grim is low magic) and use them here but it is worth noting that this tome begins at a very low level.

Slavelords of Cydonia might be a low fantasy (if you want) adventure but it is set on an epic scale. Taking characters from level 1 to level 20 is no mean feat. We begin on Earth but quickly ramp up the exotic flavour from there! To find the beginning of the plot you must go back to a time now low to history. To a time where the cruel Sli'ess Empire (lizards, don't you know) ruled Earth from... yes, Atlantis. We need to go back to the first Lethid War when the unfathomably evil Lethid race moved across the stars to defeat the Sli'ess. By the end of the book you'll never want to see the word "unfathomably" beside the word "evil" again. If "unfathomably evil" has something of a Lovecraft ring to your ears then your ears are not alone.

The Lethid are tentacled psions and whereas they might be the obvious blend of Mind Flayer and Lovecraft at least they are a good and interesting blend. These alien baddies are the behind the scenes terrors for the first couple of chapters. They're truly scary. I think one great example of how scary the Lethid are is the fact that the players may never realise who their enemy actually was in chapter one...

It's jolly easy to write adventures when your players are slaves. It's easy to send them off on hairbrained missions or have them fight in the gladiator pit. Or both; classic. Slavelords of Cydonia is aware of this fact and keeps this chapter particularly loose and this suits me well. As an example of how thorough Slavelords of Cydonia is - whilst being "hands off modular" - is that we have from the supplement a couple of pages of slave gladiators and gladiator plot ideas... and there's no compulsion to have the PCs as gladiators in the first place. It's this flexibility which helps push the adventure supplement into the mighty tome (with the "Yus! Hefty supplement!" feel) that it is.

The adventure section has these plot hooks, it has NPCs and locations as well as a succinct set of GM eyes cartography.

The other half of Slavelords of Cydonia is the "supplement side". To this end we'll note that the Appendices begin at page 158 - so that's half the book.

We have a whole appendix on the humanoid reptiles, the six sub-species, know as the Sli'ess. Just for the flavour let's list the six sub-races; the Sli'ess'ra are the high snakes (bosses) of the lot, we've the Sli'ess'lor, the Sli'ess'suul, the Sli'ess'bru (the gator warriors), the Sli'ess'yul and the half-blooded abominations the Sli'ess'got. The Sli'ess are divided into houses and bloodlines. Appendix A also dabbles in new spells.

Appendix B focuses on the lethid. I'm in two minds about a resource section which beings; "Little is known - or will likely ever be known - of the Lethid". Fortunately, Slavelords of Cydonia does not play silly buggers with us and tell us all about the Lethid. And yes; cosmic alien horrors from beyond the void are on topic here.

By the time we reach the next appendix horrors like the Plasma War Golem and the Aurag (Beast of Infinite Wastes) are on topic too and the players are much more likely to have to deal with them. In fact there's a nice balance of creatures in the bestiary.

Appendix D is a true appendix in that it gives us the full stat blocks for previously truncated entries. Slavelords tries very hard to ensure that you have all the stats you need on the same page as any encounter or plot strand you might be dishing out of the players.

Let's just skip the equipment section because no one wants to fall asleep and rush on to the mass combat rules. I must admit; mass combat is a thoroughly unexpected twist and bonus from the book. Slavelords of Cydonia present one of the most abstracted mass combat rules yet - and one of the best. To be harsh (and let's be) I maintain it's still too bitty for my tastes (having to deal with each unit) but its over in a few pages and that's a jolly good sign.

I really quite liked Slavelords of Cydonia. I'm not a fan of linear junk as my players will avoid it like true experts (do your players still explore dark basements alone or venture out on wolf invested moors without silver, no? neither do mine) but I do admit that Cydonia has cracked this thorny issue by simply crediting the reader with some intelligence. I think the average Slavelords of Cydonia reader will be of above average intelligence so this assumption should work out for the best. Whereas I appreciate Cydonia's method of preventing adventures to the GM I'm not convinced there's really enough here to take players smoothly from level 1 to level 20. There are about 230 pages; I wonder how many experience points a page that works out to be? Only half of those are plot pages too. I suspect the GM will have to weave a substantial amount of plot themselves.

Is the meta plot the easy part and are the individual scenes the hard part? Slavelords of Cydonia hopes this is not the case.

I thoroughly enjoyed Slavelords of Cydonia. The book is a great idea resource. It's an uber-plot worth running and has enough help in its mass of pages to make it easy enough to run - though the work needed on the GM's side should not be understated. It's a credit to Slavelords that I see that the GM will need to do plenty of work and yet it's very tempting to run the game.

I'm not sure how much of a stand alone supplement the book is. The supplemental rules support the new adventure bits (and most adventures offer that, at least) but it is possible to cherry pick bits from this tome and use them yourself.

I think if you're a Grim fan then you should consider Slavelords of Cydonia strongly. If you're a fan of coordinating with paid-for adventures then snap up this hefty hardback before they rise the price to over $40 ( US $35 at time of writing) . If you've no desire for uber-plot input then I think it's fair to say that although you'll appreciate Slavelords of Cydonia's style that you probably won't use the book.

Good book.

* This Slavelords of Cydonia review was first published at GameWyrd.

 

[JoeGKushner]

In terms of xp, when I was running it, I just hand-waved it and made the characters whatever level was appropriate for the parts they were in, using things like gladiator training and actual gladiatoral combat to help them earn it.

 

[Psion]

[imager]http://www.badaxegames.com/mm/images/products/slavelords_of_cydonia/photo_slave_lords.jpg[/imager]Slavelords of Cydonia is an adventure sourcebook, principally written for Grim Tales, but with adaptation notes allowing it to be used in other games. The adventure concerns the players struggling against the lethid, Grim Tales’ take on the aboleth and related psionic creatures, against the backdrop of a Barsoom-like fantasized version of Mars. The book is written by Benjamin Durbin and published by Bad Axe Games.

A First Look

Slavelords of Cydonia is a 240 page hardcover book available with an MSRP of $34.95.

The cover of the book, by Ken Kelly, has a somewhat Frazatta-like style to it, and features a warrior amongst a trio of panthers with a reddish-orange backdrop.

The interior is black-and-white, and features artwork by Andrew Hale, Peter Johnston, John Moriarty, Claudio Muniz, Scott Purdy, and Chad Sergesketter. The artwork is a mixture of line art and detailed shaded grayscale art. The work is competent, and I particularly like Purdy’s exotic style. The book as a whole is a little light on artwork and comes across a bit dry in presentation.

A Deeper Look
(Spoiler warning: this section reveals some content of the adventures within the book. Potential players read at the peril of their own fun.)

Slavelords of Cydonia is nominally separated into two major sections, the campaign (the first five “books” containing the various adventures in the game, as a whole designed to take characters from levels 1-20) and the sourcebook (the appendices, describing world elements of Cydonia, such the reptilian sli’ess, the horrifying lethid, a mass combat system, Cydonian creatures, stat blocks, and technology.)

Some may recognize the term Cydonia as referring to a region of Mars that is accorded much attention in UFO lore, so the reference to Mars may be obvious. But the world of Cydonia is made to resemble a much different Mars, that of the pulp era Mars popularized by Burroughs’ John Carter series of books. For those not familiar, these books are a classic in the “planetary romance” genre, wherein transporting a hero from the mundane world to the fantastic is pretty much the norm.

This technique sees immediate use in the book. As fans should know, Grim Tales is not anchored to a specific time period, but allows the GM to run games from a variety of eras. Which era the characters hail from is sort of irrelevant, however, as they will soon be transplanted to the pulp-like majesty of the world of Cydonia. The introduction section provides a variety of introduction sequences for the campaign depending on the major choices available in Grim Tales (and easily adaptable to other d20 games as well.)

The progress of the campaign as presented has the PCs being captured and enslaved by the reptilian Sli’ess, where they enjoy some gladiatorial action. In the meantime, when the lethid discover that the “gateway” network that transported the PCs there is now open, they take steps to enslave or eliminate the sli’ess. It’s a rollicking planetary romance ride, with the players struggling against the lethid as well as getting embroiled in sli’ess politics (and becoming the target of it.)

The style and presentation of the campaign is somewhat of a departure from the norm. Instead of being thoroughly scripted and every event laid out for you, each section and adventure is written in more of an outline format. The format specifies such things as major players, events, and facts pertinent to the situation, as well as conditions that the adventure depends on.

This does present a challenge for those who would use the product. It requires a lot of design thought and management on the part of the GM. That said, not only does this not daunt me, I find the approach rather appealing. I find that adventures often go off the beaten path anyways, and it seems better to me to minimize the amount of material that is easily invalidated by the sheer randomness of player actions. All that you really need to do is try to manage around the key points of the adventures, and unlike so many more verbose adventure products, those are laid out clearly for you.

Another inclusion that makes Slavelords of Cydonia very flexible is the adaptation section at the end of each book. These provide guidelines for those who wish to adapt the various book

The mass combat system in the appendices is interesting as well. It is lightweight and abstract. It is built on the CR/EL system, making it possible to pull in troops from a variety of core sources. The system takes into account terrain and strategic conditions, pulling in terms that sound like they were out of Sun Tzu’s Art of War. It is an interesting, easy to use, and compelling take on strategic combat. Incidentally, the author has made the mass combat system available as a download at rpgnow. (link)

Conclusions

As mentioned, the biggest hurdle to using this adventure sourcebook is that it puts the onus on the GM to handle the details of the various adventure and make sure everything flows right. Also as mentioned, I don’t consider this a big problem, as I find that you have to rewrite or work around parts of event driven adventures anyways. I see Slavelords of Cydonia as a very lean, meaty product for that.

Another obstacle to using the campaign as a whole is that it is a campaign setting spanning 20 levels, and it spans those levels in an alien world, which could make “doing your own thing” difficult. However, the adaptation notes are very friendly making it very practical to use some sections piecemeal.

The status of PCs as slaves during much of the adventure can be a boon of a curse. It lends a unique feel to the campaign, but many players would not be tolerant of such a condition. Though the author provides some troubleshooting notes for dealing with this, I still think that a GM should carefully consider whether his group can handle being in such a condition.

Though the book was principally written for Grim Tales, I see it as eminently adaptable. Though there are some differences between d20 modern and Grim Tales, I don’t see that you would notice much difference if you used the stat blocks as-is and dropped this book in as a d20 modern/future campaign. It’s a shame that the various d20 Modern product publishers have yet to put out a large adventure arc for the game and that it seems better served by a publisher who was targeting a modestly different audience.

It’d be a bit more of a task to run this adventure for D&D or another d20 game, and would require your tolerance for massaging away differences in the way statistics blocks are handled.

Overall, Slavelords of Cydonia is a nicely written flexible campaign product with a classic SF feel to it. Grim Tales fans should naturally be on top of the book, but those playing other d20 games who are interested in the classic concept of a habitable mars-like world would do well to consider it as well. I could easily see the campaign starting in book 2 with the crashlanding of a starship (say from Traveller d20 or Dawning Star) on the world, or could see martial arts masters from Blood & Fists competing in the alien arena. Further, the lean, transparent, and adaptable presentation of the adventure should be something that other adventure writers should take note of.

Overall Grade: B+

-Alan D. Kohler