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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Psion" data-source="post: 2010712" data-attributes="member: 172">TestamentTestament: Roleplaying in the Biblical Era is the first book in Green Ronin's Mythic Vistas series of books detailing new settings. Testament provides details for play in a mythical version of the cultures present in northeast Africa and the Middle East during the time period covered by such religious texts as the Old Testament and the Torah, including Babylonians, Canaanites, Egyptians, and Israelites.The book is written to version 3.0 standards as it was released before the revision was.A First LookTestament is a 236-page perfect bound softcover book priced at $32.95. This is reasonable for books of similar size and format.The cover of the book is dominated by a depiction of ancient horsemen and charioteers being consumed in an onrushing wave of water; I am guessing that this is supposed to be a depiction of the Egyptians that pursued the Israelites through the parted red sea. The cover illustration is by WotC alumni artist Sam Wood.The interior is black-and-white. Interior illustrators include Ilya Astrakhan, Kent Burles, Toren "MacBin" Atkinson, Chris Keefe, Mike May, Josh Parker, Chris Martinez, and James Smith. Overall the quality of the art is good. Some art has similar tone to typical d20 fantasy products, though much of the art has a much more personable tone, showing more in the way of expressions. However, considering that much of this book's audience will doubtlessly hail from Christian and Jewish gamers, I was a bit surprised that they showed a bare-breasted demon in the book.Cartography is done by Todd Gamble and is of excellent quality.The interior body text uses a rather small font. This delivers a very good text density, which is impressive for a book of this size. Unfortunately, the pages have a grey texture on the pages that comes out a little dark, making extended reading a little taxing.A Deeper LookTestament is organized into 25 chapters (enough to defy a chapter-by-chapter breakdown in this review), plus a glossary, reference table, and index.The author sets forth stating that it is specifically not his intention to write the book from the standpoint of Christian and Jewish religion. This claim seems fair enough considering further examination of the text. Treatment of religions and practices of non-Israelite cultures of the era seems as even handed and non-judgmental as that of the Israelites.Overall, the book provides a mythical feel to the era, drawing strongly from many myths of the people of the time. However, a great deal of historical attention is paid to the book. Cultural practices, attitudes, history, economics, and religious observances are all very detailed, which should provide good grounding for roleplaying in the era.Testament does not focus on a single era. Rather, it provides a number of different eras which the GM may be interested in running, from the antediluvian (pre-flood) era circa 3000 BC, to the time of the Seleucid Empire circa 135 BC.Similarly, there are a number of possibilities for the nationalities of the characters. The primary choices supported by the setting are Babylonian, Canaanite, Egyptian, and Israelite. Each of these nationalities has a listing of available classes. Many of these classes are core and prestige classes are drawn from the (pre-revised) d20 System core rules (not replicated herein; you need the core rulebooks).However, there are a number of new core and prestige classes defined for each nationality to help fit the feel of the culture better. Some new classes are open to most or all nationalities, while others are specific to certain cultures. For example, spy is a core class open to all nationalities, desert hermit is a prestige class available to all nationalities, and idol-maker is a prestige class available to all nationalities but Israelite. On the other hand, Levite priest and Psalmist are Israelite specific core classes (replacing cleric and bard respectively), the magus of the starry host is a wizard of Babylon, and the Khery-heb is an Egyptian wizard.For the most part, the new core classes are variants of existing classes (primarily cleric, wizard, and bard) with a number of changes to their spellcasting ability and/or class abilities to let them better fit the cultural and mythical details associated with them. For example, the Levite priest is a divine spellcaster like a cleric, but casts spells spontaneously, is restricted from casting certain spells, and has variant abilities from the cleric. The Levite priest can turn or rebuke demon possessed or (at higher levels) dragons, and has special protection against arcane magic (which was depicted as blasphemous by Israelites.)Similar to the classes, a number of feats are provides appropriate to the era and cultures depicted herein.A new aspect of character generation in testament is that of Flaws. No, you don't get any special goodies from taking flaws; all PCs in Testament are all expected to take one or more flaws, though it may change through the course. This should help engender roleplaying without courting the the "min/maxing" mentality associated with such systems in other games that grant special boons.Another major mechanic to help bolster the biblical feel of the setting is the piety rule. Characters in Testament gain and lose piety during the game; the precise factor that affects piety varies according to the character's culture/nationality. Much like an ability score, piety provides a modifier equal to half of the piety score.Piety can affect a number of things. Most notably, it can affect the character's vulnerability to certain spells. In addition, a piety check may be called for it the character is present in various religiously significant locations and events. Failure can result in deleterious effects to the character.Further, characters with positive piety scores may call upon their deity for a favor up to once a game. Possible results of this include increasing hp, improving saving throws, smiting evil, or seeking divination.Another major accommodation to stories of the era is the inclusion of a mass combat system. The combat system is very abstract, more so than other d20 mass combat systems I have seen, but like most other system, relies on abstracting a number of soldiers into the equivalent of a single combatant and using the d20 combat rules. The system assumes there are two armies, and armies have three or four "sides".Each side has characteristics like hit points, armor class, BAB, damage, and initiative modifiers like a single d20 system combatant. In addition, sides have a morale modifier, part of morale system that has been added. The hit points represent a number of combatants; most other aspects of the side are represented by the relative skill of the troops in the side.A variation of the standard d20 combat rules are used to resolve the combat. The movement rules are more simplified, and special rules are used to resolve the effects of spells and individual scale combats between leaders.In addition to this basic system, sides are allowed a certain number of "battlefield feats" that alter their characteristics or make special maneuvers available.To help fit the d20 fantasy assumptions to Testament, a few chapters are devoted to equipment, spells, magic items, and creatures appropriate to the history and beliefs of the depicted cultures at the time.The equipment chapter deals with two fundamental issues. The most obvious is that the equipment available would vary; new equipment and equipment list is provided. A bigger complication is that there was no coinage in most of the era covered by Testament. As a result, some brief rules are provided to represent the barter system. Bluff and appraise skills govern the resolution of an exchange in the system, with scarcity of the items controlling the DC of such checks. Overall, it appears to be an interesting alternative to a rather mundane aspect of the game.The spells chapter provides new spells and spell lists for the new classes, new domains (desert, fertility, heaven, pestilence, and thunder) and some new spells are added to existing classes used in the setting, namely clerics, paladins, blackguards, and sorcerers. I had expected a significant list of spell restrictions, but the only spells that are restricted are spells like astral travel and plane shift which allow travel to other planes of existence, though many are noted as being difficult for some new classes earlier in the book.Some of the new spells are restricted to one of the four major new religions depicted in Testament. Many of the new spells are some form of curse, divination, cure, or protection. The spells are interesting, but I fear that with so few restrictions, players not in the mood to self-govern might fall back into the old pattern of using flashier spells from the core rules.The magic items chapter includes new weapon qualities, staves, wondrous items, and artifacts (including the Ark of the Covenant). In addition, two new forms of items are introduced. Incense is produced by Babylonian magi, and produces effects when burned (generally helpful effects.) Mekhtets are Egyptian amulets that can hold a number of single use charms (generally protective), the exact number depending on the wearer's wisdom.The Biblical Bestiary chapter provides game statistics from the religions of the four major cultures of Testament. In addition to the new monsters, listings are provided for four major regions of the setting describing which monsters might be encountered in the area, including new creatures introduced here and existing creatures from the core rules.Israelite creatures are predominantly outsiders (angels, demons, and devils), but also include the behemoth mentioned in Job, wild cattle, the "sin dragon", the leviathan, and a demon possessed template. The coverage of creatures of the other cultures are less extensive, and also include many outsiders (good and evil) and other fantastic beasts such as Babylonian scorpion guards, dragons, and the Egyptian phoenix.Overall, the creature statistics seem well done, mechanically sound as well as being interesting opponents. The only error I caught was that one creature (the Babylonian Imhullu demon) has its con bonus to HP calculated as if its constitution were one point higher.Most of the remainder of the book – nearly 100 pages – is devoted to detailing the background and cultures of the region. Chapters cover geography, cultural details, historical timelines, temples, religious rites and figures. Important characters are statted out in d20 System terms for each era and culture, including such notable figures as Cain, Moses, Abraham, Daniel, King Nebuchadrezzar, Imhotep (no, he's not quite the Imhotep of the Mummy movies for those not familair with the actual historical figure), Akhenaten, Ramesses II, and Cleopatra. More attention is given to Isrealite and Egyptian figures that less-well known Canaanite or Babylonian figures.The last, short chapter (2 pages) provides a guide for the GM in running a Testament campaign. This includes language and cultural tips that the GM can use to achieve a more biblical feel and campaign ideas including some interesting alternate history scenarios.Finally, the book provides a bibliography, reference table, and indices.ConclusionTestament is an intriguing and daring product. Some controversy has already arisen around it, but for the most part, the author and editors did a good job portraying the depicted era is a balanced manner while at the same time making it an intriguing setting to game in.The mechanics are solid, with just enough changes to the d20 System elements to do the job. The amount of research that went into the product shows, and the author does a good job in picking out the more gamable elements and matching them to the generally high fantasy feel of the base d20 System.If there is anything else I thought the book could use, it would be a background tone that is a little lighter on the eyes and perhaps a little more effort to filter out some of the less appropriate magic from the d20 System core spell list.Overall Grade: A-Alan D. Kohler</blockquote>

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