Copy aaannndd PASTE! Here is my review. You might find it useful.
Bias
As I have stated several times to various folks, Midnight is the setting I always wanted to write. It is the homebrew setting I always dreamed of, but never got around to. Fortunately for me, the good folks at Fantasy Flight Games did all the work for me. And what a job they did!
I've always been fond of dark, brooding settings and, much to my delight, FFG gave me exactly what I wanted.
Overview
Midnight is a Dark Fantasy d20 Campaign Setting produced utilizing the Dungeons and Dragons core rules. While it shares the same core rules, Midnight diverges from the core with many of its systems and concepts.
To use an often coined phrase; "Midnight is what would happen if Sauron had won." Based heavily off Tolkienesque concepts, the world of Midnight struggles to survive under the oppressive yolk of an evil god. The above phrase, while pointing us in the right direction, is also a bit misleading. While it may seem based of Tolkien's work, it is altogether its own entity.
To summarize the setting:
The people of Eredane are fighting a loosing battle. In fact, they have already lost. Thousands of years ago, their was a great war in the heavens. The dark god, Izrador was defeated, and cast out of the divine realms. But alas, when he fell, the world paid a terrible price. Izrador's fall severed the world from its heavens. All extraplanar contact was no more. The god's lost their children, and the people of Aryth lost their gods.
Izrador retreated to the frozen north to lick his wounds, and for hundreds of years, he rested. Soon he would arise and make war on the world and in doing so, ascend to heaven to finish what he started.
Thousands of years later, his army of orcs marched south out of the Frozen North and laid waste to all in its path. The human lands fell. The world was thrown into chaos. Hundreds of thousands died in the last wars against the Shadow in the North and Izrador soon gained his victory over the people of Eredane.
The setting's present time is 100 year after the last wars. Izrador's forces control most of the world. His orcs, led by the black priests called Legates, do the bidding of the Night Kings, Izrador's chosen generals.
The dwarves hide in the mountains, fighting against the never-ending tides of orcs and worse who come to dig them out. Their once great cities have become killing fields, their lives consumed by war.
The elves have retreated to the great forest of Erethor, where the forest itself is a weapon against the Shadow. They, like the dwarves, fight a war that cannot be won.
The humans have been defeated. Scattered and disorganized, they meek out whatever life they can under the watchful eyes of the legates. Spellcasting is punishable by death. Those who dare cast spells live in fear of the demon Astiraxes who hunt them. Literature, learning, weapons and armor are all likewise outlawed.
The orcs, dragons, giants and goblinoids, all under the Night King's command, roam the world freely and openly. They are the distributors of the dark god's justice and the humans fear their coming.
Art, Layout, and Presentation
The Midnight Campaign Setting is a 255 page hardbound book. The first 16 pages are glossed color (including a beautiful map), while the rest of the book is black and white. Normally I would frown on this, but in this context, it really fits the book well. The black and white pages, along with all of the excellent artwork do a wonderful job of portraying the mood of the setting. The artwork itself ranges from good to excellent and was very deserving of the ENnie it won.
The book starts off with the color introduction. Here we learn about the history of the world and learn a little bit about it people and places. Among this information, you'll encounter some of the best flavor text found in an RPG. Truly, even if you don't plan to play in the setting, the book is a delight to simply read through. The only thing I could ask for would be a some sort of "a day I the life of a Midnight commoner" type section. There is so much detail to the world, you really have to piece together the pieces to get a good look at the big picture.
Of note, there is a short introductory adventure in the back of the book that is quiet good and does a great job setting the tone for the setting.
Character Creation
Here we have a listing of the various races and classes found in Midnight. Humans are found in three subgroups, Dorns, Sarcosan's and Erenlanders. Dwarves are here as well as four subraces of elves (Snow Elves, Forest Elves, Jungle Elves, and Sea Elves). We also have Gnomes and Halfling, but there is a noticeable lack of Half-elves and Half-orcs. In Midnight, humans cannot breed with nonhuman races. However, we have a few new races. Dworgs are half-dwarf/half-orc. Elflings are half-elf/half-halfling. And lastly there is the Dwarrow, the half-gnome/half-dwarves and Orcs as a PC race. The races of Midnight are more powerful than those of a typical D&D setting. In fact, the book suggests making them +1 ECL races if you use them outside of Midnight. The added power, helps make up for the lack of magic in the setting.
Fighters, Rogues, and Barbarians can be ported directly into Midnight with no problems. In addition, we have a few new classes. The Channeler specializes in the use of magic and must pick one of three paths to take; Spiritual (Wis), Hermetic (Int), or Charismatic (Cha). The Defender is much like the monk, but has less supernatural abilities. The Wildlander is yet another variation of the Ranger and the Legate, which is the setting's only divine caster. Izrador, being the only god with access to the world, is the only one capable of granting divine spells. The lagates are his worshippers and are gifted also with an astirax companion.
The book also contains four prestige classes. Among them you'll find the Wizard and Druid which both have some of the typical abilities associated with them in standard D&D.
Because of the lack of magic in the Midnight setting, the characters need some way to survive in such a harsh world. FFG solved this problem with the advent of Heroic Paths. During character creation, every PC may select a Path. At every character level, the character gets a new ability, bonus, feat etc. based on a theme. For example, a character with the Dragonblooded Path gains bonus spells and additional spell energy. Shadowwalkers gain the ability to see in the dark and eventually teleport through shadows. In total, there are about 20 different Heroic Paths to choose from.
What's Different?
Perhaps one of the easiest ways to define the Midnight seting is to highlight how it differs from the standard D&D settings like Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk.
Magic
Midnight has a very different magic system than D&D. Its system is point based and any class can cast spells if they possess the right feats. While the channeler core class gets certain bonuses and perks, spellcasting simply isn't tied to class. The magic system works as follows:
To cast spells, the PC must take the Magecraft feat. Doing so allows the PC to pick a path (Spiritual, Hermetic, or Charismatic). With this feat, the character gains an amount of Spell Energy equal to the modifier for his spellcasting ability score and gains the ability to cast a cantrip from a small list.
The PC may then take the Spellcasting feat. This feat allows the PC to choose a single school from which he may learn and cast spells. This feat must be taken each time the PC wants access to a new school. The spells a character can learn to cast come from all sources except those that are specific only to the Cleric spell list.
Learning spells is not tied to a specific table, nor must the character prepare spells ahead of time. The character learns new spells throughout his career, either from study or from another caster, and can cast them as long as he has Spell Energy. Once you run out of spell energy, you may continue to cast spells, but you suffer a point of Con damage for each level of the spell you cast.
Magic is very rare in Midnight. A character should count himself fortunate to have a +1 weapon by the time he hits 12th level. The astiraxes can smell the presence of magic items, and can lead their legate masters to those who possess them. Carrying such items are very dangerous and the more you have, the better your chances of being caught. For this reason, Midnight has what are referred to as Covenant items. These are magic items who gain multiple powers as its owner gains levels.
The Sundering
The world of Aryth is cut off from all extraplanar travel. No one can get in, no one can get out. Teleportation is not possible and spells that summon creatures summon them from other parts of Aryth. Divine magic is impossible for all except the servant of Izrador.
Another side effect of this is the Fell. When a character dies, his soul has nowhere to go. Neither heaven nor hell are open to him. His soul, bound to his body, rests eternally there. However, many who die do not rest. Instead, they rise as one of the Fell. Reborn as undead, their body animates and they feel the overwhelming need to feed. Their food of choice is, of course, warm living flesh.
While a newly animate Fell will be much like he was in life, maybe not even aware he is dead, the hunger will soon come upon him. If he does not feed, he will eventually begin to decay. In time, the Fell decay into little more than common zombies and skeletons who haunt the night looking for victims.
Economy
Eredane's economy has collapsed. Most everyone barters for what they need. What good is gold and gems? You can't eat them. You can use them as weapons. They can't be used as tools. They are, in most cases, worthless.
The book goes to great lengths to show you how to use a barter economy in your game. While some areas of the continent, those under total control by the Shadow, may use gold and other currency to some degree, most do not. I must admit, at first I was put off by this, but after giving it a fair chance, I've discovered that bartering can be great for roleplaying. In fact, it has become one of my favorite aspects of the setting.
Focus
A typical D&D character has his weapons, his armor, his spells, his magical trinkets etc. If you aren't careful, these things may become what defines the character. The character becomes less of a person, and more of a coat rack upon which all these neat things hang. Midnight is very different in this regard. All of the magic trinkets are replaced by things much more personal. The heroic paths give characters advantages that come from within. Magical weapons grow and mature with the characters. Every magic item has it's own story to tell or was forged by the character himself. The focus of Midnight if shifted heavily toward the character, and not the items he has managed to gather or his spellbook.
Purpose
There will be little of the "kill the monster and take its stuff" mentality in a good Midnight campaign. This is mainly because, the creature whom you usually kill and loot are now in control of the world. There is a resistance movement however, and conflict likely as character ambush supply routes and infiltrate enemy strongholds. Survival is the name of the game. Most people live their lives trying to go unnoticed by the Shadow. If a band of adventurers arrive in town preaching rebellion and conflict, they may find themselves being stoned by the very same villagers they hoped to free.
That's not to say the entire world is hostile. Resistance groups are scattered and varied, hidden just out of sight. The elves and dwarves continue to fight. Their strongholds, under constant siege as they may be, are a bastion of hope for those fortunate enough to make it there.
Balance
When 3rd edition was created, its developers made a conscious decision to eliminate things that don't have a balancing factor built into the rules themselves. Midnight steps away from this mentality and takes off the training wheels. The systems and concepts within Midnight are well balanced. However, take them out of the setting itself, and the balance fails.
In Midnight, you can have 1st level characters that are size Large, or can cast a dozen 1st level spells per day. However, those same characters will stand out and be an easy target for the Shadow. Casting spells should be a last resort and the PC who goes around casting them because he can will soon find himself torn to pieces by one of the magic sniffing Astiraxes or being hanged by its legate master.
Conclusion
Midnight is a harsh, dark setting. If that's what you enjoy, then look no further. There isn't a better dark fantasy setting on the market. However, if you like settings with abundant magic, a sense of high adventure, and PCs who rule the lands, this is definitely not the setting for you. It can be a very depressing setting. There is little hope in stopping the forces of evil. However, there are some who are willing to die to make even the smallest difference or to spread even a little hope to those who suffer under the Shadow.
