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Message: <blockquote data-quote="trancejeremy" data-source="post: 2010786" data-attributes="member: 924">Wrack & Ruin is a location sourcebook for the Oathbound d20 settingfrom<a href="http://www.bastionpress.com" target="_blank"> Bastion Press</a>. It details the outlying (wrack) and underneath(ruin) parts of the city of Penance, which is more or less the primaryarea of Oathbound.Penance was actually detailed fairly well in the Oathbound campaignbook, with around 150 pages devoted to it, but this details the outerand under lying parts. Its an unusual city. Because it's so ancient(tens of thousands of years old) and has a fixed location (around thecitadel of Israfel, one of the 7 rulers of the world of Oathbound),people just keep building up and up and up. But when buildingscollapse, rather than fixing them, they either build on top of thewreckage, or move to another place in the city.It sounds weird, but it's not unprecedented. Several old real citiesare supposed to have similar underground areas. There was an episodeof Scooby Doo that took place in one of them.After an intro is a chapter on rules related material. There are 3 newPC races introduced. Another reptile race (goodness knows Oathbounddoesn't have enough of those), this one fairly snake like, somewhatreminding me of the Sathar from Star Frontiers, only with tentaclesinstead of arms & legs.There's also a race that is like the Drow, but not quite like theDrow. They're sort of to the Drow what a Hobgoblin is to a Goblin, ora Flind is to the Gnoll. At least they think so. They havemulti-faceted eyes, like a spider or bug. It has odd (-1/+1) statmodifiers, which can be a problem in d20 (it's advantageous duringcharacter creation, or can be), but is somewhat unavoidable here(they're supposed to be slightly better or worse than Drow in a statthat they have a -2/+2 in, so it couldn't really be helped).Lastly there is a near human race, but one that happens to have asymbiote skin covering to protect them from light (without it, theyget really really bad sunburn). As if that weren't bad enough, thesymbiote gives them the appearance of lepers. A very unique race, allin all.There are also some new prestige races. Prestige races are essentiallya mechanism in which a character can spend xp and get special powers,basically, by evolving. The ones in this book are a bit, er, icky,being taken from various underground critters. For instance, the Focusof the Arachnid, the first step gives a character compound eyes.Rounding out the section are some new "Gifts", which are rewards givento characters who enter the Forge (some of these are pretty funny,like "Mr. Creepy", which means a character no longer needs to blink,or the "Bladder of Holding", which is perhaps self describing), andsome obligatory prestige classes.The abandoned parts of the city (the Lost City, it's called) get about20 pages. They're really not abandoned (or lost), because some peopledo live there, but because of the peculiar laws of penance, unless1000 people live in an area (a canton, it's called), there can be nolaws or ruler. So essentially they are lawless regions.This is a fairly interesting chapter to me, because it answered a lotof the questions I had about how cantons work, and how to go aboutdeveloping them (to eventually take them over). There's enough detailin it to let your PCs become real estate agents or land developers.Fairly detailed info is included on two of the groups that areprominent in the ruins, the Band of the Sun (a criminal group) and theRage Maidens (a militant feminist organization that works to freefemale slaves). It uses the guild rules from their previous product"Guildcraft". Basically, you spend xp and get a power. Personally, Idon't like that system, I think that is exactly what prestige classesshould be for, but it's not too unbalancing.There's also a description of the many interesting places of the LostCity, including bits on the history of lost cantons. Almost like atravel guide in depth, though with some legendary places mentioned asrumors. There's even an Penance version of Brigadoon, thoughthankfully minus the singing.Next is on the "ruin" or the part underneath the city (notsurprisingly, called "The Undercity"). It's around 30 pages, and ismostly a detailed description of the place itself, not much rulesmaterial. It's a very interesting read, as there are dozens offascinating locations underground. Again, it's somewhat travelguide-ish, so it can be somewhat dry reading, but enjoyable, if youlike that sort of thing (which I do). There are literally dozens ofadventure ideas present.Highlights include a canton run by a vampires and a cannibal cult;just about everything there is to know about the Grinder, a rathercurious monster that alternately chats with and eats people, dependingon her mood; and a lost, technologically advanced civilization thatliterally polluted itself to death.The last 32 pages or so are devoted an adventure. It's apparently ametaplot adventure, there seems to be something of a story arc goingon. I'm not sure if it's directly tied into the adventure in the"Plains of Penance" book (which I don't have), but it's pretty muchstand alone.Like most metaplot heavy adventures, this one features a fair amountof rail-roading. The PCs have to recover a magic item from the depthsof Penance, then they have to give the magic item away to the guy thathires them. It's a bit straight forward, going from point a to b to c,but there, there is a bit of variety, including opportunities forrole-playing. It also reveals some of the mysteries of the world ofOathbound to the PCs, and they get to meet some of the major players,not just in Penance, but the setting itself.Physically, it's a solid book. It uses the fairly heavy paper thatthey've used since switching to black & white interiors. The marginsare average sized, but the type face is pretty small, so the textquantity of the book is pretty good. Art is somewhat sparse, but isgenerally good, much better than in the original Oathbound book.There's one really nice full page picture of a Rage Maiden (nonsleazy, too). They seem to be going away from frequent smallillustrations in past products in favor of fewer but larger and higherquality ones. (Good move, I think).This is a must-buy book for Oathbound fans. B+. It answered many ofthe questions and things I wondered about when reading about Penancein the Oathbound setting book. (Though I still have more things Iwonder about, like why technology is so low (that one lost cantonexcepted). And I still think it needs a supplement featuring mechanicsfor running a canton/bloodhold, like the old Birthright setting forAD&D 2nd edition).I also have to say that it's nice to see a company support it's setting so well. I'm a fan of a couple of other settings, but they seem to have almost been abandoned, or put on the back burner.</blockquote>

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