JoeGKushner
Adventurer
The Hunt: Rise of Evil World Book
Written by Doug Herring and Andrew Thompson
Published by Mystic Eye Games
ISBN: 0970826508
Stock Number: MYG0001
http://www.mysticeyegames.com/
144 pages
$19.95
So what is the Hunt? It’s a campaign setting by Mystic Eye Games with many similarities to many parts of Earth during the dark ages mixed with a liberal amount of high magic and dark horror. In some ways, it’s easiest to compare it to the Warhammer setting, a dark fantasy with lots of historical based background.
The book has no real chapters, but is broken up by subject. The Hunt introduces the reader to this gothic setting. One of the nice things about the Hunt is that it’s a variable world where the level of magic and horror change according to the time frame as the setting of Gothos moves nearer and further from Earth and the planes interaction sparks different levels of power. There are eight options so the GM can crank up the heroism or horror as needed. One option not touched on is having players have multiple sets of characters in different time frames which can lead to a very big campaign.
Another benefit from this odd relationship is the Children of the Waking Dream. These individuals are characters who use up a feat to take the feat Bonded. This feat provides the character with a link to the waking world. Good characters are Children and evil characters are Dark Walkers. Through the use of Dream Points, gained through character advancement and slightly dependant on the number of characters, the Children can influence reality about them through luck by gaining bonuses to saving throws or even extra actions. This section adds a nice flavor to the setting and makes it stand out among the competition.
Another unique factor are the different types of magic. Wizards and Sorcerers can take affinities to elements or are encouraged to take school specialization. The Sorcerer affinity grants the user extra spells, like a clerical domain so those who take Fire, gain spells like Burning Hands, Fire Shield, and Sunburst among others and those who take Air gain Feather Fall, Gaseous Form, and Whirlwind. Water seems to suffer the most because most of their spells involve ice as opposed to water but whose going to complain about Cone of Cold or Ice Storm?
Another difference in magic is Blood and Blight Magic. Those who shop early and often know that Blight Magic already has it’s own sourcebook and Blood Magic’s on the way but these arts are given enough detail so that the GM can incorporate them right away. Suffice it to say that both rely on the user draining either people or the land of vital elements and using that vitality to power his spells. Of course power corrupts and here, the corruption occurs on a physical, mental, and stat level so use with caution.
The religion factor in this game deserves some note. While there is a standard pantheon that most civilized races follow, there are numerous ‘wild’ and demi-human ‘outsider’ gods. The current setting has the Pantheon, a family of allied gods who more often than not work together. The church structure, also called the Pantheon, is massive and spreads through many countries. Because the Pantheon is one of the strongest organizations, it tends to dictate how things are done from the Pantheon’s home country, Romanus. Another difference in the way religion is used here, is that there are Saints. In game play, Saints rarely come into use. Here, they can act like demigods and grant special abilities to those who pray to them.
In game terms though, it does something rarely seen. It provides titles and notes on how to achieve said titles. Because church is a political organization as well as a religious one, the character must worship all the gods and provide his first loyalty to the head of the Pantheon, Barticus. Clerics can move through Initiates, Acolyte, Bishop and High Priest on their way to becoming the Arch Priest. Also provided are new domains for the more unusual gods like Clockwork, Pestilence, Corruption, Smithing and Decay.
One thing I enjoy about this wide spread Pantheon is it provides the GM with abundant opportunities for different role-playing types. Want to hunt down evil cults? Join the inquisition. Want to battle corruption within your own church?The Strictor inquisition is for you. Want role-playing drama as civilization encroaches upon the untamed wild and the druid ways are challenged and pushed out? It’s all there.
The lands of Central Gothos are provided a brief overview. Each section has a stat block that starts with the symbol, name, proper name, ruler, government, cities, provinces, resources, population, law, allies, and enemies. After the stat block, the Description provides information on general background and history. The section on Religion is important because it helps set the stage for future conflicts with the Pantheon. The Pantheon itself, central to the setting, gets its own section and mixes with the Religion aspect for a fuller view. The Politics provides a brief look at what law is like in the country and how to add a little intrigue into the setting. The section on the People draws on Earth history to help provide quick culture sketches. For example, people from Gildor “are a cross between the renaissance French, Portuguese, and Spanish cultures of Earth p.46”. That’s great for people who actually know what that means, but more detail would’ve been nice.
For central foes, the demon lord Ithganin is not only an epic enemy, he has his own country, Ithganin with samurai and demonic servants to antagonize players. Those looking to serve a vast empire can hail from Romanus, while those with a more barbaric spirit might emerge from the frosty lands of the Nord.
One thing that makes this section stand out from other setting is that it provides the reader with ideas on what each of the different types of classes are like from that setting. This makes it easier for players and GMs to showcase the unique aspects of each country as well as each class. Alas this isn’t done for the races that receive some brief information at latter points in the book and in sidebars.
To help start up campaigns; each section also includes People of Interest and Fable and Places of Interest. The characters are given a bit of background and an extremely abbreviate character write up: Name, classes and levels.
One of the things I personally enjoyed the most though was the inclusion of Freeport and Bluffside, two cities that are independent of any specific world on their own, but incorporated here. This isn’t the first time for Freeport, which made an appearance in Arcanis, but this is Bluffside’s first printed ‘official’ appearance in a campaign setting. This provides the GM with the opportunity to use two fully fleshed out cities.
Those looking for crunchy bits will enjoy the chapter Classes & Prestige Classes. New core classes are provided so GMs can add the bold Centurions of Romanus and wise White Witches to battle alongside Shaman and protect Merchants as they face the dangerous Samurai. That’s right. Someone went and made a new Samurai core class. It’s a bit powerful and may be better off in the hands of the GM as the country that they hail from, demon haunted Ithganin, is at war with the rest of the world and said characters are required to be of certain alignments with strict religious believes.
Those looking for Prestige Classes have several new choices as well. One of my personal favorites, the Road Warden, once again reminds me of Warhammer with guardians needed to keep the king’s roads safe. Another class perfect for every campaign, the Officer, grants the GM and player a PrC that gains promotions via level advancement and commands over higher and higher numbers of men until they are Commanders with control over a legion, which is 2 cohorts, made up of 4 details, made up of 20 swords, made up of 25 Fists, with each fist being 10 men. Not bad but a little math heavy. Are most players ready to command hundreds?
The racial information lacking in the setting chapter takes front place in The Races and Cultures of Gothos. Here, human races are broken up into different cultural and game information. For example, the Romanus people are cursed with some dark elf heritage and spell resistance, immunity to magic sleep, and some other goodies, but are a level +1 race. Most races follow the standard human of extra feat with specific cultural feats available only to members of that branch of humanity.
Standard demi-human races get little information here. The name of the race, followed by a breakdown of where they are in each country provides the GM some starting ground, but not enough to get a good feel for them. The new races, the Canites, humanoid canines, and the Werefaynoddin, a race of Elves that can shapechange into foxes, are provided in depth information including personality, physical description, relations, alignment, lands, religion, languages, sample names, what type of adventurers these races make, as well as game stat information.
Those more interested in feats have a separate chapter that includes the new type of feat, Bonded Feats. Those more interested in Blood or Blight Magic have to take a feat in order to practice it. The Cultural/Regional Feats are broken up by country and provide the GM some food for thought in any setting. For example, Light Armor Mastery provides the character with a +2 AC bonus when wearing light armor that has a armor check penalty of –1 or less. This is a good option for those swashbucklers, duelists and rogues that need a little benefit. Those more interested in missile weapons cane take Master Archer which provides a bonus to hit with strength based bows and extra damage with them.
Art is sparse but good. Marcio Fiorito provides most of the illustrations for the different countries. Scott Purdy does a few illustrations as well and his style is a nice contrast to Marcio’s. The dual tone black text with tan-light brown art and headers makes the book easy to read. Some editing errors did creep up but in dozens of reviews, I can’t recall any book not troubled at least a little by such. Layout is simple with two columns of fairly dense text. The two page index makes finding things a snap.
The only issues some may have with the Hunt are the numerous references to Mystic Warriors, a sourcebook for the setting. The setting also suffers a little from overgeneralizations with the various nations but the web expansions should solve that problem. The first supplement, Dunreth, provides extra 16 pages to those who purchased the book. My own problem is that no one land was selected to help the GM start a campaign and no city maps means that GMs either have to wait for support or start writing up their own material. Even the free supplement Dunreth, with all the extra information on cities and locations, doesn’t provide the GM with any maps.
The Hunt provides a good overview of the campaign setting along with a lot of crunchy bits for a reasonable price. The use of dual tones augments the appearance of the book nicely and outside of a module by Atlas, is rarely used. GMs looking for a setting that has built in variety should enjoy the setting and players looking for extra core classes and crunchy bits will enjoy the new feats, core classes and prestige classes. Those looking for something completely off the wall and unlike any other fantasy setting with tons of detail need to look elsewhere.
RESOURCES
http://www.mysticeyegames.com/ Mystic Eye Home Page
http://www.mysticeyegames.com/corebook.html Webpage for Core Book. Some art here wasn’t included in the book and provides the reader with a good idea of what art style to expect. In addition, there are extra regional sections available with a 1t page expansion already ready for download.
Written by Doug Herring and Andrew Thompson
Published by Mystic Eye Games
ISBN: 0970826508
Stock Number: MYG0001
http://www.mysticeyegames.com/
144 pages
$19.95
So what is the Hunt? It’s a campaign setting by Mystic Eye Games with many similarities to many parts of Earth during the dark ages mixed with a liberal amount of high magic and dark horror. In some ways, it’s easiest to compare it to the Warhammer setting, a dark fantasy with lots of historical based background.
The book has no real chapters, but is broken up by subject. The Hunt introduces the reader to this gothic setting. One of the nice things about the Hunt is that it’s a variable world where the level of magic and horror change according to the time frame as the setting of Gothos moves nearer and further from Earth and the planes interaction sparks different levels of power. There are eight options so the GM can crank up the heroism or horror as needed. One option not touched on is having players have multiple sets of characters in different time frames which can lead to a very big campaign.
Another benefit from this odd relationship is the Children of the Waking Dream. These individuals are characters who use up a feat to take the feat Bonded. This feat provides the character with a link to the waking world. Good characters are Children and evil characters are Dark Walkers. Through the use of Dream Points, gained through character advancement and slightly dependant on the number of characters, the Children can influence reality about them through luck by gaining bonuses to saving throws or even extra actions. This section adds a nice flavor to the setting and makes it stand out among the competition.
Another unique factor are the different types of magic. Wizards and Sorcerers can take affinities to elements or are encouraged to take school specialization. The Sorcerer affinity grants the user extra spells, like a clerical domain so those who take Fire, gain spells like Burning Hands, Fire Shield, and Sunburst among others and those who take Air gain Feather Fall, Gaseous Form, and Whirlwind. Water seems to suffer the most because most of their spells involve ice as opposed to water but whose going to complain about Cone of Cold or Ice Storm?
Another difference in magic is Blood and Blight Magic. Those who shop early and often know that Blight Magic already has it’s own sourcebook and Blood Magic’s on the way but these arts are given enough detail so that the GM can incorporate them right away. Suffice it to say that both rely on the user draining either people or the land of vital elements and using that vitality to power his spells. Of course power corrupts and here, the corruption occurs on a physical, mental, and stat level so use with caution.
The religion factor in this game deserves some note. While there is a standard pantheon that most civilized races follow, there are numerous ‘wild’ and demi-human ‘outsider’ gods. The current setting has the Pantheon, a family of allied gods who more often than not work together. The church structure, also called the Pantheon, is massive and spreads through many countries. Because the Pantheon is one of the strongest organizations, it tends to dictate how things are done from the Pantheon’s home country, Romanus. Another difference in the way religion is used here, is that there are Saints. In game play, Saints rarely come into use. Here, they can act like demigods and grant special abilities to those who pray to them.
In game terms though, it does something rarely seen. It provides titles and notes on how to achieve said titles. Because church is a political organization as well as a religious one, the character must worship all the gods and provide his first loyalty to the head of the Pantheon, Barticus. Clerics can move through Initiates, Acolyte, Bishop and High Priest on their way to becoming the Arch Priest. Also provided are new domains for the more unusual gods like Clockwork, Pestilence, Corruption, Smithing and Decay.
One thing I enjoy about this wide spread Pantheon is it provides the GM with abundant opportunities for different role-playing types. Want to hunt down evil cults? Join the inquisition. Want to battle corruption within your own church?The Strictor inquisition is for you. Want role-playing drama as civilization encroaches upon the untamed wild and the druid ways are challenged and pushed out? It’s all there.
The lands of Central Gothos are provided a brief overview. Each section has a stat block that starts with the symbol, name, proper name, ruler, government, cities, provinces, resources, population, law, allies, and enemies. After the stat block, the Description provides information on general background and history. The section on Religion is important because it helps set the stage for future conflicts with the Pantheon. The Pantheon itself, central to the setting, gets its own section and mixes with the Religion aspect for a fuller view. The Politics provides a brief look at what law is like in the country and how to add a little intrigue into the setting. The section on the People draws on Earth history to help provide quick culture sketches. For example, people from Gildor “are a cross between the renaissance French, Portuguese, and Spanish cultures of Earth p.46”. That’s great for people who actually know what that means, but more detail would’ve been nice.
For central foes, the demon lord Ithganin is not only an epic enemy, he has his own country, Ithganin with samurai and demonic servants to antagonize players. Those looking to serve a vast empire can hail from Romanus, while those with a more barbaric spirit might emerge from the frosty lands of the Nord.
One thing that makes this section stand out from other setting is that it provides the reader with ideas on what each of the different types of classes are like from that setting. This makes it easier for players and GMs to showcase the unique aspects of each country as well as each class. Alas this isn’t done for the races that receive some brief information at latter points in the book and in sidebars.
To help start up campaigns; each section also includes People of Interest and Fable and Places of Interest. The characters are given a bit of background and an extremely abbreviate character write up: Name, classes and levels.
One of the things I personally enjoyed the most though was the inclusion of Freeport and Bluffside, two cities that are independent of any specific world on their own, but incorporated here. This isn’t the first time for Freeport, which made an appearance in Arcanis, but this is Bluffside’s first printed ‘official’ appearance in a campaign setting. This provides the GM with the opportunity to use two fully fleshed out cities.
Those looking for crunchy bits will enjoy the chapter Classes & Prestige Classes. New core classes are provided so GMs can add the bold Centurions of Romanus and wise White Witches to battle alongside Shaman and protect Merchants as they face the dangerous Samurai. That’s right. Someone went and made a new Samurai core class. It’s a bit powerful and may be better off in the hands of the GM as the country that they hail from, demon haunted Ithganin, is at war with the rest of the world and said characters are required to be of certain alignments with strict religious believes.
Those looking for Prestige Classes have several new choices as well. One of my personal favorites, the Road Warden, once again reminds me of Warhammer with guardians needed to keep the king’s roads safe. Another class perfect for every campaign, the Officer, grants the GM and player a PrC that gains promotions via level advancement and commands over higher and higher numbers of men until they are Commanders with control over a legion, which is 2 cohorts, made up of 4 details, made up of 20 swords, made up of 25 Fists, with each fist being 10 men. Not bad but a little math heavy. Are most players ready to command hundreds?
The racial information lacking in the setting chapter takes front place in The Races and Cultures of Gothos. Here, human races are broken up into different cultural and game information. For example, the Romanus people are cursed with some dark elf heritage and spell resistance, immunity to magic sleep, and some other goodies, but are a level +1 race. Most races follow the standard human of extra feat with specific cultural feats available only to members of that branch of humanity.
Standard demi-human races get little information here. The name of the race, followed by a breakdown of where they are in each country provides the GM some starting ground, but not enough to get a good feel for them. The new races, the Canites, humanoid canines, and the Werefaynoddin, a race of Elves that can shapechange into foxes, are provided in depth information including personality, physical description, relations, alignment, lands, religion, languages, sample names, what type of adventurers these races make, as well as game stat information.
Those more interested in feats have a separate chapter that includes the new type of feat, Bonded Feats. Those more interested in Blood or Blight Magic have to take a feat in order to practice it. The Cultural/Regional Feats are broken up by country and provide the GM some food for thought in any setting. For example, Light Armor Mastery provides the character with a +2 AC bonus when wearing light armor that has a armor check penalty of –1 or less. This is a good option for those swashbucklers, duelists and rogues that need a little benefit. Those more interested in missile weapons cane take Master Archer which provides a bonus to hit with strength based bows and extra damage with them.
Art is sparse but good. Marcio Fiorito provides most of the illustrations for the different countries. Scott Purdy does a few illustrations as well and his style is a nice contrast to Marcio’s. The dual tone black text with tan-light brown art and headers makes the book easy to read. Some editing errors did creep up but in dozens of reviews, I can’t recall any book not troubled at least a little by such. Layout is simple with two columns of fairly dense text. The two page index makes finding things a snap.
The only issues some may have with the Hunt are the numerous references to Mystic Warriors, a sourcebook for the setting. The setting also suffers a little from overgeneralizations with the various nations but the web expansions should solve that problem. The first supplement, Dunreth, provides extra 16 pages to those who purchased the book. My own problem is that no one land was selected to help the GM start a campaign and no city maps means that GMs either have to wait for support or start writing up their own material. Even the free supplement Dunreth, with all the extra information on cities and locations, doesn’t provide the GM with any maps.
The Hunt provides a good overview of the campaign setting along with a lot of crunchy bits for a reasonable price. The use of dual tones augments the appearance of the book nicely and outside of a module by Atlas, is rarely used. GMs looking for a setting that has built in variety should enjoy the setting and players looking for extra core classes and crunchy bits will enjoy the new feats, core classes and prestige classes. Those looking for something completely off the wall and unlike any other fantasy setting with tons of detail need to look elsewhere.
RESOURCES
http://www.mysticeyegames.com/ Mystic Eye Home Page
http://www.mysticeyegames.com/corebook.html Webpage for Core Book. Some art here wasn’t included in the book and provides the reader with a good idea of what art style to expect. In addition, there are extra regional sections available with a 1t page expansion already ready for download.
