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Uresia: The Grave of Heaven d20
Uresia: The Grave of Heaven d20 is fantasy setting for Guardians of Order's BESM d20 anime RPG. The book requires the BESM d20 book today; it is not a standalone like Slayers D20. The setting is written by S. John Ross, who is also known for other RPG offerings, primarily for GURPS and Star Trek, as well as some great online publications. The d20 material is written by Ian Sturrock, primarily known for his work for Mongoose Publishing.
A First Look
Uresia: The Grave of Heaven d20 is an 80 page book priced at $19.95.
The cover of the book is illustrated by Niko Geyer, and depicts four somewhat anime-esque fantasy characters.
The interior is black-and-white, illustrated by Christina Contiris, Niko Geyer, and Ed Northcott. The quality varies from acceptable to excellent, though with the exception of a few full page pics, the book is somewhat sparsely illustrated. Some anime style exaggerated caricatures are used, but they are (for me, thankfully) in the minority.
A Deeper Look
Per the introduction, Uresia is inspired by Japanese anime fantasy, a trend that was started by the old DragonQuest laserdisc videogame, and later influenced by western RPGs and videogames. This is a good thing to me, because of all anime, some of my favorite titles are fantasy (Record of Lodoss War, Princess Mononoke.)
The backstory of Uresia is not that unlike that of Record of Lodoss War - a divine war resulted in a wracking upheaval of the land. In the case of Uresia, the war in heaven resulted in the fall of the great halls of heaven (called the Skyfall), shattering the world below. The result was a ring of shattered continents and islands, though the divine essence left those lands lush and inviting.
For that matter, this background is not that dissimilar from The Scarred Lands, but the divine apocolypse is a bit more distantly in the past, to the tune of 1300 years. Only four deities are known to have survived this divine conflict, formerly unimportant figures - the primal one (god of animal urges), the sea dragon (an aloof and fickle creature controlling storms at sea), the arbiters, and the wine god.
The book devotes a chapter entitled The Islands to describing the nations that have arisen since the Skyfall. Each nation's description is short, ranging from 1/2 page to 2 pages. The chapter does make good use of this space, and each section highlights specific strong characteristics or notable locales of each nation, such as the Loreseekers of Sindra and the Minotaur Coast and Avians of Helt and Lochria.
The third chapter, Characters and Magic provides a few guidelines on how to use the BESM d20 rules to create Uresia characters as well as additions to the BESM d20 rules to facilitate this. Rules guidelines include such topics as how to use the BESM d20 rules to represent magic styles as represented by different character types, and new attributes such as God of Cookery, which provides some pretty incredible (though still of questionable utility) abilities to a cook, and helps (for good or ill) bring the somewhat whimsical nature of anime fantasy to the table, so to speak.
Uresia includes Humans, Elves, and Dwarves like most d20 System fantasy settings; the statistics for these races differ from the d20 System and BESM d20 definitions, however; for example, elves receive no dexterity bonus but have innate animal friendship, "sexy", jump, and light-footed abilities.
However, Uresia broadens out the racial template quite a bit, with beastmen (various animal people common in anime fantasy), ghosts (and ice spectres, ghosts with bodies of snow), trolls (regular and mushroom), slimes, and winnowite demons.
The chapter clearly defines which BESM d20 classes are appropraite (something that it has over Centauri Knights d20), and defines new classes appropriate to the setting:
-Boru Sorcerer: These are an unusual sort of sorcerer. Hailing from the somewhat decadent land of Boru, Boru Sorcerers are exotic dancers who work magic with their movements, though they can only use it to affect the minds of others.
-Child of the Sea Dragon: These are cultists of one of the few remaining deities, the fickle and destructive sea dragon. Though they gain a number of sea related benefits, they are a flexible class with many discretionary character points handed out through its progression.
-Dreed Sporting Chef: As if the God of Cookery ability weren't enough, we get the Dreed Sporting Chef. In Dreed, cooking is considered a major mark of status, and Dreed Sporting Chefs hold many high positions. Of course, the class gains ranks in God of Cookery as they advance, and also gains additional abilities, primarily stemming from its social position in dreed.
-Duandralin: The Birah are a nation of elves that entered a pact following the Primal One. Duandralin are martial artists, elves inspired by the beastial styles of the beast-demons of Birah. In addition to their unarmed combat abilities, they practice the wild magic of their nation which allows them to emulate abilities of beats.
-Elu Pirate: This one's a bit more straightforward. Citizens of the Elu Islands often find themselves employed as pirates, tough fighters and skilled with seafaring.
-Emerald Knights: Emerald knights are the "paladins" of Uresia, as it were. Part of the Emerald Orders sworn to seek out and eliminate evil, one of their primary boons is that they, at 2nd level they gain use of enchanted emerald armor, which is treated as a mecha.
-Questing Scholar: Questing scholars adventure in search of knowledge. The are decent (not great) warriors. They are fairly flexible, gaining a number of discretionary character points; some gain magical ability.
-Charcoal King: The Rego Corunda, or "Charcoal Kings" are elite warriors of the dwarven nation of Laochrian. They combine magic with their martial arts. Their magic requires them to draw runes on their skin in soot.
-Troll Shaman: Troll shamans wield dynamic sorcery that can only affect life force. Like many other classes in this book, troll shamans receive many discretionary points, making it a flexible class.
-Yemite Necromancer: Yemite necromancers draw spiritual energy to power their magic. They are the most potent and flexible spellcasting class in Uresia, and actually can use their power to achieve effects beyond what is normally considered necromancy in the d20 system.
The Wonders of Uresia chapter is somewhat of a miscellany of highlights and unusual aspects of Uresia, pulling together alchemical equipment, magical items, locales, and creatures of interest in Uresia. Examples include the magical emrealds of Dreed (which are handled as plot devices), sea serpents, trolls, enchanted armor and ships.
The final chapter details Shadow River, a city in the fractured duchies of Temphis. The maps are nicely done, and the chapters spends a page or two on each quarter, defining the character of the quarter and highlighting a number of interesting locales, such as the ugly "Urleg Temple", an unsightly bastion built by a man who was so happy after finally consumating a marraige (after several failures) that he named himself a god.
Conclusions
Uresia, like the fantasy anime that it names as inspiration, has many similarities to typical D&D tropes. But the fact it does not directly use D&D as a basis makes it a bit further from the pack than the typical d20 fantasy setting. It is a fine setting with lots of colorful tidbits if you are interested in using BESM d20 for a game but don't have something specific in mind.
Uresia d20 shares the major weakness of Centauri Knights d20: it's almost too small to really do a setting justice. That said, I think that the book is written in a bit more balanced manor, giving the GM enough background material and "color" to work from.
Overall Grade: B-
-Alan D. Kohler
Uresia: The Grave of Heaven d20 is fantasy setting for Guardians of Order's BESM d20 anime RPG. The book requires the BESM d20 book today; it is not a standalone like Slayers D20. The setting is written by S. John Ross, who is also known for other RPG offerings, primarily for GURPS and Star Trek, as well as some great online publications. The d20 material is written by Ian Sturrock, primarily known for his work for Mongoose Publishing.
A First Look
Uresia: The Grave of Heaven d20 is an 80 page book priced at $19.95.
The cover of the book is illustrated by Niko Geyer, and depicts four somewhat anime-esque fantasy characters.
The interior is black-and-white, illustrated by Christina Contiris, Niko Geyer, and Ed Northcott. The quality varies from acceptable to excellent, though with the exception of a few full page pics, the book is somewhat sparsely illustrated. Some anime style exaggerated caricatures are used, but they are (for me, thankfully) in the minority.
A Deeper Look
Per the introduction, Uresia is inspired by Japanese anime fantasy, a trend that was started by the old DragonQuest laserdisc videogame, and later influenced by western RPGs and videogames. This is a good thing to me, because of all anime, some of my favorite titles are fantasy (Record of Lodoss War, Princess Mononoke.)
The backstory of Uresia is not that unlike that of Record of Lodoss War - a divine war resulted in a wracking upheaval of the land. In the case of Uresia, the war in heaven resulted in the fall of the great halls of heaven (called the Skyfall), shattering the world below. The result was a ring of shattered continents and islands, though the divine essence left those lands lush and inviting.
For that matter, this background is not that dissimilar from The Scarred Lands, but the divine apocolypse is a bit more distantly in the past, to the tune of 1300 years. Only four deities are known to have survived this divine conflict, formerly unimportant figures - the primal one (god of animal urges), the sea dragon (an aloof and fickle creature controlling storms at sea), the arbiters, and the wine god.
The book devotes a chapter entitled The Islands to describing the nations that have arisen since the Skyfall. Each nation's description is short, ranging from 1/2 page to 2 pages. The chapter does make good use of this space, and each section highlights specific strong characteristics or notable locales of each nation, such as the Loreseekers of Sindra and the Minotaur Coast and Avians of Helt and Lochria.
The third chapter, Characters and Magic provides a few guidelines on how to use the BESM d20 rules to create Uresia characters as well as additions to the BESM d20 rules to facilitate this. Rules guidelines include such topics as how to use the BESM d20 rules to represent magic styles as represented by different character types, and new attributes such as God of Cookery, which provides some pretty incredible (though still of questionable utility) abilities to a cook, and helps (for good or ill) bring the somewhat whimsical nature of anime fantasy to the table, so to speak.
Uresia includes Humans, Elves, and Dwarves like most d20 System fantasy settings; the statistics for these races differ from the d20 System and BESM d20 definitions, however; for example, elves receive no dexterity bonus but have innate animal friendship, "sexy", jump, and light-footed abilities.
However, Uresia broadens out the racial template quite a bit, with beastmen (various animal people common in anime fantasy), ghosts (and ice spectres, ghosts with bodies of snow), trolls (regular and mushroom), slimes, and winnowite demons.
The chapter clearly defines which BESM d20 classes are appropraite (something that it has over Centauri Knights d20), and defines new classes appropriate to the setting:
-Boru Sorcerer: These are an unusual sort of sorcerer. Hailing from the somewhat decadent land of Boru, Boru Sorcerers are exotic dancers who work magic with their movements, though they can only use it to affect the minds of others.
-Child of the Sea Dragon: These are cultists of one of the few remaining deities, the fickle and destructive sea dragon. Though they gain a number of sea related benefits, they are a flexible class with many discretionary character points handed out through its progression.
-Dreed Sporting Chef: As if the God of Cookery ability weren't enough, we get the Dreed Sporting Chef. In Dreed, cooking is considered a major mark of status, and Dreed Sporting Chefs hold many high positions. Of course, the class gains ranks in God of Cookery as they advance, and also gains additional abilities, primarily stemming from its social position in dreed.
-Duandralin: The Birah are a nation of elves that entered a pact following the Primal One. Duandralin are martial artists, elves inspired by the beastial styles of the beast-demons of Birah. In addition to their unarmed combat abilities, they practice the wild magic of their nation which allows them to emulate abilities of beats.
-Elu Pirate: This one's a bit more straightforward. Citizens of the Elu Islands often find themselves employed as pirates, tough fighters and skilled with seafaring.
-Emerald Knights: Emerald knights are the "paladins" of Uresia, as it were. Part of the Emerald Orders sworn to seek out and eliminate evil, one of their primary boons is that they, at 2nd level they gain use of enchanted emerald armor, which is treated as a mecha.
-Questing Scholar: Questing scholars adventure in search of knowledge. The are decent (not great) warriors. They are fairly flexible, gaining a number of discretionary character points; some gain magical ability.
-Charcoal King: The Rego Corunda, or "Charcoal Kings" are elite warriors of the dwarven nation of Laochrian. They combine magic with their martial arts. Their magic requires them to draw runes on their skin in soot.
-Troll Shaman: Troll shamans wield dynamic sorcery that can only affect life force. Like many other classes in this book, troll shamans receive many discretionary points, making it a flexible class.
-Yemite Necromancer: Yemite necromancers draw spiritual energy to power their magic. They are the most potent and flexible spellcasting class in Uresia, and actually can use their power to achieve effects beyond what is normally considered necromancy in the d20 system.
The Wonders of Uresia chapter is somewhat of a miscellany of highlights and unusual aspects of Uresia, pulling together alchemical equipment, magical items, locales, and creatures of interest in Uresia. Examples include the magical emrealds of Dreed (which are handled as plot devices), sea serpents, trolls, enchanted armor and ships.
The final chapter details Shadow River, a city in the fractured duchies of Temphis. The maps are nicely done, and the chapters spends a page or two on each quarter, defining the character of the quarter and highlighting a number of interesting locales, such as the ugly "Urleg Temple", an unsightly bastion built by a man who was so happy after finally consumating a marraige (after several failures) that he named himself a god.
Conclusions
Uresia, like the fantasy anime that it names as inspiration, has many similarities to typical D&D tropes. But the fact it does not directly use D&D as a basis makes it a bit further from the pack than the typical d20 fantasy setting. It is a fine setting with lots of colorful tidbits if you are interested in using BESM d20 for a game but don't have something specific in mind.
Uresia d20 shares the major weakness of Centauri Knights d20: it's almost too small to really do a setting justice. That said, I think that the book is written in a bit more balanced manor, giving the GM enough background material and "color" to work from.
Overall Grade: B-
-Alan D. Kohler
