Imhotepthewise
Explorer
I feel I own a debt to the many reviews Joe, Psion, and others have provided that allowed me to carefully spend my meager gaming dollars. I bought Sorcery & Steam without waiting for a review. Because I don't think I would finish my own review this decade, I would like to annotate Joe's review as a thank you to him and all of you who took the plunge before I did and were kind enough to provide a review.
JoeGKushner's Sorcery & Steam review, annotated by Imhotepthewise.
Good
Score: 4/5 I think Joe is right on with this assessment.
Added:
2003-08-20
17:34
So why is Sorcery & Steam a book you should buy?
Sorcery & Steam is a book you should buy if you'd like to incorporate Steampunk into your campaign. It includes campaign ideas on how to incorporate this type of technology in a few ways. We've got the hidden, secret technology that's been around for a long time, to the brand spanking new stuff that's only around in short quantities. We've got building from the ground up, where the whole world is a whirl of steam. Those looking at running different types of campaigns get some brief advice, but the majority of the information is in bringing steam feel to the setting, regardless of the actual technology behind that.
Authors provided nice intro into the genre and and keys in how to incorporate it into an existing campaign. There are fresh new ideas within.
It's very heavily player focused. The player focus starts off with a look at how the core classes can interact with this new type of setting. This often includes minor rule changes like allowing a barbarian an easier time of destroying delicate and complicated technology to new skills. Want new core classes, prestige classes and more feats than you can shake a stick at? Then dive on in. For core classes, we've got the Animal Lord, a Tarzan style character raised in the wilds, as well as the Artificer and Musketeer, both of whose names kinda give away what they do.
I agree with Joe here, this book is very heavily biased towards the player. In a way, this doesn't drag the GM right into a Victorian themed campaign. Given so many player choices, the GM can steer his campaign by the choice of classes allowed.
On the prestige classes, we've got basically anything you need. Need someone to main the airships? We've got the Arcane Airman. Need to bet on a sure thing in an alley fight? Put your money on the Brawler. Need a man of keen mind and wit? Seek out the detective. Like previous books in the Path series, these include the prestige class as well as an organization. I've always enjoyed this set up as it provides the GM background and a quick means of introducing the PrC into the campaign without a lot of huff and puff about where the new PrC came from.
I found that many of the PrCs here were more fitting to a city campaign than those in the City Works book. Who doesn't want to see a detective in their city or a noble bodyguard, physician, street runner or watchman? Those worried about the Steam and Sorcery aspect don't fear though, we've got the Steamcraft Mage, a master of building odd inventions as well as the Gun Glyph, a spellcasting class that gains spells every other level but is a mean shot and has an arcane bond with his special firearm.
I also liked the addition of the organizations to support the PrCs. If anything was in this book to support the GM, this is the most helpful.
The only thing missing here is the Legendary Class. Now as FFG is one of the few to use this concept, I'd like to see them use it more often and this book could've probably used something like a Mek Killer or a City Maker but hey, save it for book two.
I am not overly familiar with Legendary Classes. I have seen a few and thought they were interesting. I second the motion that another book might contain this additional material.
In terms of skills and feats, there's a nice section on crafting different types of devices like clockwork and steamcraft, as well as disabling devices and new knowledge skills. There aren't a lot of new skills, but drive and munitions will prove very valuable to those either using the new vehicles or explosives.
For feats, we've got the a wide standard here including those focused on specalizing with your gun, like Combat Reload where you don't suffer attacks of opportunity while reloading. Others relate to the time setting and new material like Mad Bomber where your explosives do an extra point of damage per die or having great skill at hypnotism. Of more interest, but almost all overpowered, are the Heritage Feats.
Many of these have to be to be taken at first level and build along a chain but the chain is potent. For example, you could start with Feral Child with a +3 to Handle Animal and Intimidate and move up to Feral Athleticism, getting a +4 to Climb and Jump. Now most feats give a +2 to two separate skills or now a +3 to one skill and some give a +4 to a single skill with a circumstantial limitation to it. These bonuses are just too high for most games. For those who don't mind and want their players to follow that chain, you're going to love 'em.
My take on overpowered/underpowered feats is that the bad guys get them, too. This provides the balance for seemingly extreme bonuses and penalties.
On the other hand, the spells aren't vast and powerful and may in fact be underpowered. Take Lightning Missile as it only does 1d6+1 points of damage or the 2nd level Harvester of Death where you make a coup de grace attack as a standard action. That's tough stuff to use a 2nd level spell for a quick kill. Spells don't go that high in level either with 6th level Wizard and 7th level Cleric spells being the top of the line through Steam Fog, a hot fog that deals steam damage. Of more interest perhaps are the Steam and Technology Domain, but alas, no sample gods to grant them.
There are never enough spells.
More goods for players can be found under the equipment section. Some of these are magical-steam versions of technology like the Bard in a Box that takes a piece of vellum and plays the song encoded upon it to a Clockwork Chess set. Players though are really going to be looking for the good stuff like the Gauntlet of the Iron Ogre or the Sparking Sword or the Steambow. Their going to want the grenades, steamcraft armor and black powder weapons. One thing I'm glad to see is that with the steamcraft armor, it's not all freebies, even after the cost is paid as there are malfunctions that can happen, putting some limits on the technology.
Players and GMs will have to think about what they'll do with the Steamcraft Vehicldes. The rules for movement, attacking and defending are very clear and the vehicles themselves get stats similar to a monster, similar to Redline's system in many ways. The actual descriptions of the vehicles are a little thin for my taste though and the fact that they're not mapped out with details puts some work on the GM.
If the GM wants tighter vehicle rules, there are plenty of places to get them from, many free or reasonably cheap. They would augment those provided here, which are enough to support general travel and combat. I WAS frustrated by the omission of crew/passenger entries for most of the vehicles.
So why isn't this book a five? Well, while the feats may be a little over the top and the spells putter out a little too soon in power level, those aren't the main reasons. The biggest problem is that outside of the setting up of a campaign, the book isn't helping the GM enough. No monsters for instance. I could live with no steam golems or other critters like gremlins to ruin the technology, if we had some templates. Nope, none of them either. How about construction rules? Nope. How about artificial limbs and other goods? Nope. Art for all of the new and exotic equipment under the equipment descriptions? Nope. Floorplans for the new vehicles similar to those found in their early sea faring book? Nope.
As I've gotten older, I have found that the single most memorable and campaign enriching factor is interesting NPCs. Monsters are great and appropriate, but the characters the PCs interact socially with will always be remembered by the players. Sometimes the best monsters in Steampunk cannot be defeated by the player's might as much as their guile. I believe Steampunk is a genre that should be played close to the PCs races as possible to keep it from sliding headlong into another genre.
I can understand why this stuff isn't there. The book is jammed packed with good stuff but it feels like there needs to be another book for it. A meta-issue also creeps up that doesn't effect the grade of this product but may effect it's overall utility in the future and that's 3.5. This is a solid 3.0 book, but 3.5 already has some minor rules in the Warcraft book and the Iron Kingdoms looks like it's finally gearing up for release in Winter of 2003. I'm going to merge the stuff to the best of my ability.
I think the things that Joe is looking for are around. The omission of monsters and specific setting information does invite a second book. On the other hand, it does not railroad the GM into a setting that really doesn't light the fire. I love a lot of Deadlands, and Pulp, and Shadowchasers, but know I don't like it enough to GM it well. To interest players from a setting they love, like "basic" DnD, into something weird like Steampunk, the GM has to be very excited and personally directed. Choosing and using interesting characters, organizations, and tools provided by Steam & Sorcery, a very personal Steampunk adventure can be created that will be fun and memorable.
Sorcery & Steam is great from building up a whole new campaign to building up a secret base of steamships powered by ancient demons of lost legends.
Yeah man, what he said.
-JoeGKushner, as annotated by Imhotepthewise
Thanks to Joe and all of you providing insightful reviews for all the rest of us. Tim.
JoeGKushner's Sorcery & Steam review, annotated by Imhotepthewise.
Good
Score: 4/5 I think Joe is right on with this assessment.
Added:
2003-08-20
17:34
So why is Sorcery & Steam a book you should buy?
Sorcery & Steam is a book you should buy if you'd like to incorporate Steampunk into your campaign. It includes campaign ideas on how to incorporate this type of technology in a few ways. We've got the hidden, secret technology that's been around for a long time, to the brand spanking new stuff that's only around in short quantities. We've got building from the ground up, where the whole world is a whirl of steam. Those looking at running different types of campaigns get some brief advice, but the majority of the information is in bringing steam feel to the setting, regardless of the actual technology behind that.
Authors provided nice intro into the genre and and keys in how to incorporate it into an existing campaign. There are fresh new ideas within.
It's very heavily player focused. The player focus starts off with a look at how the core classes can interact with this new type of setting. This often includes minor rule changes like allowing a barbarian an easier time of destroying delicate and complicated technology to new skills. Want new core classes, prestige classes and more feats than you can shake a stick at? Then dive on in. For core classes, we've got the Animal Lord, a Tarzan style character raised in the wilds, as well as the Artificer and Musketeer, both of whose names kinda give away what they do.
I agree with Joe here, this book is very heavily biased towards the player. In a way, this doesn't drag the GM right into a Victorian themed campaign. Given so many player choices, the GM can steer his campaign by the choice of classes allowed.
On the prestige classes, we've got basically anything you need. Need someone to main the airships? We've got the Arcane Airman. Need to bet on a sure thing in an alley fight? Put your money on the Brawler. Need a man of keen mind and wit? Seek out the detective. Like previous books in the Path series, these include the prestige class as well as an organization. I've always enjoyed this set up as it provides the GM background and a quick means of introducing the PrC into the campaign without a lot of huff and puff about where the new PrC came from.
I found that many of the PrCs here were more fitting to a city campaign than those in the City Works book. Who doesn't want to see a detective in their city or a noble bodyguard, physician, street runner or watchman? Those worried about the Steam and Sorcery aspect don't fear though, we've got the Steamcraft Mage, a master of building odd inventions as well as the Gun Glyph, a spellcasting class that gains spells every other level but is a mean shot and has an arcane bond with his special firearm.
I also liked the addition of the organizations to support the PrCs. If anything was in this book to support the GM, this is the most helpful.
The only thing missing here is the Legendary Class. Now as FFG is one of the few to use this concept, I'd like to see them use it more often and this book could've probably used something like a Mek Killer or a City Maker but hey, save it for book two.
I am not overly familiar with Legendary Classes. I have seen a few and thought they were interesting. I second the motion that another book might contain this additional material.
In terms of skills and feats, there's a nice section on crafting different types of devices like clockwork and steamcraft, as well as disabling devices and new knowledge skills. There aren't a lot of new skills, but drive and munitions will prove very valuable to those either using the new vehicles or explosives.
For feats, we've got the a wide standard here including those focused on specalizing with your gun, like Combat Reload where you don't suffer attacks of opportunity while reloading. Others relate to the time setting and new material like Mad Bomber where your explosives do an extra point of damage per die or having great skill at hypnotism. Of more interest, but almost all overpowered, are the Heritage Feats.
Many of these have to be to be taken at first level and build along a chain but the chain is potent. For example, you could start with Feral Child with a +3 to Handle Animal and Intimidate and move up to Feral Athleticism, getting a +4 to Climb and Jump. Now most feats give a +2 to two separate skills or now a +3 to one skill and some give a +4 to a single skill with a circumstantial limitation to it. These bonuses are just too high for most games. For those who don't mind and want their players to follow that chain, you're going to love 'em.
My take on overpowered/underpowered feats is that the bad guys get them, too. This provides the balance for seemingly extreme bonuses and penalties.
On the other hand, the spells aren't vast and powerful and may in fact be underpowered. Take Lightning Missile as it only does 1d6+1 points of damage or the 2nd level Harvester of Death where you make a coup de grace attack as a standard action. That's tough stuff to use a 2nd level spell for a quick kill. Spells don't go that high in level either with 6th level Wizard and 7th level Cleric spells being the top of the line through Steam Fog, a hot fog that deals steam damage. Of more interest perhaps are the Steam and Technology Domain, but alas, no sample gods to grant them.
There are never enough spells.
More goods for players can be found under the equipment section. Some of these are magical-steam versions of technology like the Bard in a Box that takes a piece of vellum and plays the song encoded upon it to a Clockwork Chess set. Players though are really going to be looking for the good stuff like the Gauntlet of the Iron Ogre or the Sparking Sword or the Steambow. Their going to want the grenades, steamcraft armor and black powder weapons. One thing I'm glad to see is that with the steamcraft armor, it's not all freebies, even after the cost is paid as there are malfunctions that can happen, putting some limits on the technology.
Players and GMs will have to think about what they'll do with the Steamcraft Vehicldes. The rules for movement, attacking and defending are very clear and the vehicles themselves get stats similar to a monster, similar to Redline's system in many ways. The actual descriptions of the vehicles are a little thin for my taste though and the fact that they're not mapped out with details puts some work on the GM.
If the GM wants tighter vehicle rules, there are plenty of places to get them from, many free or reasonably cheap. They would augment those provided here, which are enough to support general travel and combat. I WAS frustrated by the omission of crew/passenger entries for most of the vehicles.
So why isn't this book a five? Well, while the feats may be a little over the top and the spells putter out a little too soon in power level, those aren't the main reasons. The biggest problem is that outside of the setting up of a campaign, the book isn't helping the GM enough. No monsters for instance. I could live with no steam golems or other critters like gremlins to ruin the technology, if we had some templates. Nope, none of them either. How about construction rules? Nope. How about artificial limbs and other goods? Nope. Art for all of the new and exotic equipment under the equipment descriptions? Nope. Floorplans for the new vehicles similar to those found in their early sea faring book? Nope.
As I've gotten older, I have found that the single most memorable and campaign enriching factor is interesting NPCs. Monsters are great and appropriate, but the characters the PCs interact socially with will always be remembered by the players. Sometimes the best monsters in Steampunk cannot be defeated by the player's might as much as their guile. I believe Steampunk is a genre that should be played close to the PCs races as possible to keep it from sliding headlong into another genre.
I can understand why this stuff isn't there. The book is jammed packed with good stuff but it feels like there needs to be another book for it. A meta-issue also creeps up that doesn't effect the grade of this product but may effect it's overall utility in the future and that's 3.5. This is a solid 3.0 book, but 3.5 already has some minor rules in the Warcraft book and the Iron Kingdoms looks like it's finally gearing up for release in Winter of 2003. I'm going to merge the stuff to the best of my ability.
I think the things that Joe is looking for are around. The omission of monsters and specific setting information does invite a second book. On the other hand, it does not railroad the GM into a setting that really doesn't light the fire. I love a lot of Deadlands, and Pulp, and Shadowchasers, but know I don't like it enough to GM it well. To interest players from a setting they love, like "basic" DnD, into something weird like Steampunk, the GM has to be very excited and personally directed. Choosing and using interesting characters, organizations, and tools provided by Steam & Sorcery, a very personal Steampunk adventure can be created that will be fun and memorable.
Sorcery & Steam is great from building up a whole new campaign to building up a secret base of steamships powered by ancient demons of lost legends.
Yeah man, what he said.
-JoeGKushner, as annotated by Imhotepthewise
Thanks to Joe and all of you providing insightful reviews for all the rest of us. Tim.
