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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011868" data-attributes="member: 18387">By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine RackSizing Up the TargetOathbound: Wrack and Ruin is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement for the Oathbound campaign from Bastion Press. This is a 128-page black & white softcover by Darrin Drader and Greg Dent. The cover art by C. Michael Erikson depicts what might be a rafter (an adventurer in the Forge) standing in a glass room, overlooking Penance. Alexander Leonard, Ben Eargle, C. Michael Erickson, and Christopher Pickrell contribute to the interior art. Oathbound: Wrack and Ruin retails for $25.95.First BloodIn the Forge (the setting in which Oathbound campaigns take place), the city of Penance sits on a plateau measuring an incredible 67 miles in diameter. However, only about 30% of the city is occupied. The remainder of the surface has been abandoned. Sometimes this is due to a massive die-off, such as the result of a plague. It might also be because of a war between rival forces, or simply a natural result of the residents having moved on. These uninhabited regions have come to be known as “the wrack.”In Penance, the buildings are very close together, with little or no room for outward expansion. Thus, when a building becomes old, unsightly, or just no longer useful, it is common for residents or owners to build atop the old structure and most buildings are designed to hold far more weight than just that of the original edifice. Sometimes, however, the underlying structures give way, causing the buildings that are supported to fall beneath the surface. This phenomenon is known as “sinking.” Over the years, it has become common practice that when an area sinks, the residents just patch the hole and build something over it. The end result is that beneath the streets of the city lie the remains of buildings of the older city, in a chaotic, twisting design known as “the maze.”The maze is home to the dregs of society, the beasts that have been driven from the city proper, and those who wish to travel unseen. No one knows exactly how deep the maze goes, but given that the plateau is one-quarter mile high, there’s plenty of room to work with. The wrack, on the other hand, is a lawless zone outside the established Bloodholds, where the Bloodlords hold sway. Loners, cast-outs, and dangerous beings inhabit the wrack, for a variety of reasons. Needless to say, either region is a place to find adventure.Wrack and Ruin opens with a brief introduction that explains these two concepts (the wrack and the maze) in a little more detail, as well as familiarizing both newcomers and veterans with Penance itself. The system of cantons and Bloodholds is explained, and the Radial Coordinates system first introduced in Plains of Penance is recapped here (along with a new coordinate for measuring depth beneath the city). The dominant races of Penance and how they fit into the scheme of the wrack and the maze are examined, and the established Bloodholds (and their Bloodlords’ views on the ruins) are described.Cantons, which in previous Oathbound products have been explained as being simply square-mile sized designations of land, are given a detailed treatment here. Though seemingly arbitrary, the canton lines are quite real (and discernable to those with the proper training). Each canton is a tiny city in and of itself, with an individual name, center, distinctions, and style. Lost cantons are sometimes reclaimed and often renamed and rebuilt in a new style. The face of Penance is constantly in a state of change.Explorers of the maze may also encounter another of Penance’s little surprises; warped realities. These are areas where the magic of the unbound gods have congealed with permanent spells and great age to form zones of organic magic that take on a unique form. These may include regions that impede magical movement, wards against teleportation, anti-magic fields, magic amplified zones, fear zones, monster lures, gravitational anomalies, or temporal anomalies. The effect is enough to keep explorers constantly on their toes, and can make rafting (exploring the maze) not only very entertaining, but also very challenging.Wrack and Ruin also introduces some new rules for your Oathbound campaign. Three new PC races and a new template are offered for your use. The nkoll are an aggressive and charismatic snakelike species, the scar are disfigured humanoids that dwell on the fringes of society, and the wyrgith are a subrace of drow who have been changed by the magic inherent in the Forge. The Lost is a template that can be added to any living creature to represent a being better suited to life underground than on the surface.Two new prestige classes, the career rafter and the spellwarden, provide new avenues of advancement for the PCs. The career rafter is an explorer supreme, who picks his way through the catacombs as easily as walking down a crowded street. The spellwarden makes use of a new ability, also described in this section, called channeling. Channeling was first introduced in Plains of Penance but is recapped here for those lacking that reference. In brief, channeling is the ability to tap and focus divine power for a specific purpose. A channeler has learned to channel the innate energy of the Forge so as to be able to manifest spells without having to prepare them. They differ from sorcerers in that, instead of being limited to a certain number of slots per day, channelers are limited by their physical and mental endurance. Spellwardens are individuals who have refined the science of channeling to an art form. They contain magical energy into non-living objects, setting specific conditions for the release of the magic.Newcomers to the Forge gain special abilities known as arrival gifts. Several are described in Oathbound: Domains of the Forge, but there are a few new ones added here, along with a few new earned gifts (abilities that are received as rewards). In addition, five new prestige races are described in Wrack and Ruin. All are quite interesting, if a little unnerving. They are the Focus of the Arachnid, the Focus of the Chameleon, the Focus of the Cockroach, the Focus of the Exile, and the Focus of the Mole.With the introductory material out of the way, Wrack and Ruin jumps right into the wrack, describing the feel of the ruins, how to get in and out, conditions and travel hazards, staying on course, and survival tips. Each Bloodhold has its own entrances to the wrack and the maze, and each sets its own tolls, entry fees, and cost of membership in the local rafter’s guild (and only a fool would go rafting alone). The survival tips are of particular importance, not simply because they add flavor to the game, but because they can actually affect game mechanics. For example, roping your group to one another grants a +8 bonus on Reflex saves to avoid sinking should a section of the maze or the wrack give way beneath your feet.There’s more to the wrack than just exploring empty streets and ruined buildings, though. A body can earn a good living by helping in the rebuilding process. There are several reasons that one might wish to reclaim lost cantons, though the most obvious are to expand an existing Bloodhold or form a new one, naming yourself or one of your friends as a Bloodlord. It isn’t an easy process and it takes a significant investment of time and money, but if you’re willing to persevere, you can claim your own little section of Penance.Penance, like any living city, is forever changing, and Bloodholds are lost and reclaimed with startling frequency. Also, given that an area usually sits empty for hundred or even thousands of years before it becomes a part of the maze, the wrack generally holds more of value for treasure seekers. Though largely unexplored, the wrack does have some locales that have been well-visited, but still hold plenty of adventure for those of a mind to seek such things. Wrack and Ruin describes five Bloodholds that have fallen in “recent” history (within the last few thousand years), as well as a number of well-known sites that are worth visiting.No discussion of the wrack would be complete without mentioning its populace. Yes, despite the dangers, a great many people, from outcasts, to settlers, to criminals choose to inhabit the lost city. Likewise, though there are no formal laws upheld within the wrack, there are several guilds and criminal syndicates that can be a boon to members and a bane to strangers. Two such criminal organizations, the Band of the Red Sun and the Ragemaidens, are described (using the guild structure from Bastion Press’ Guildcraft), along with a secret Bloodhold that exists within the wrack, unknown to most of the populace of Penance.If the wrack is dangerous, then exploring the maze is downright suicidal. Despite this, there are several rafters who ply a comfortable living delving into the dark corners where sane people fear to tread. As with the wrack, the maze is given its own chapter, which tells the GM everything they need to know to make it an exciting source of endless adventure. Hazards, flora, and fauna, as well as the more commonly known ways in and out are all given the same detail that the wrack was given in the previous chapter.The maze differs from the wrack in many ways, the most notable being that everything found underground is older, most often far, far older than anything on the surface. A feather in any rafter’s cap is the rediscovery of a lost canton or, more rarely, an entire lost Bloodhold. It does happen, however, and Wrack and Ruin describes but a few of the lost regions, both discovered and yet waiting to be found.As above, so below, the saying goes, and the Forge is no exception. Some regions of the maze are as much legitimate Bloodholds as any on the surface, and just as fiercely contested over. Four such regions are described in the book, leaving plenty of room for the GM to develop her own. And, just as above, there are organizations that offer protection and predation to those who would risk the maze.“Black on Black” is a 34-page scenario for Oathbound that draws a party of adventurers into the depths of the maze in search of an artifact that will prevent a mad member of an ancient race from killing the Bloodlords and taking over Penance. This is not an introductory scenario, but is designed for characters that are familiar with the Forge and with Penance. Though intended for 10th-level characters, notes for scaling the adventure for those of levels 8 to 12 are included.Following the scenario are a series of three appendixes; Spell & Items, Monsters, and Designing the Maze. Appendix A introduces six new spells and a handful of specialized equipment and magical items. Appendix B contains five fearsome new foes that will fit well into any Oathbound campaign, and Appendix C is a detailed essay on generating believable maps of the maze, as well as typical denizens thereof.Critical HitsEven at 128 pages, Wrack and Ruin is a fairly small and lightweight book, but still packs a powerful punch! If you’ve been putting off running an Oathbound campaign, this may be the book that motivates you to action. Light on mechanics, Wrack and Ruin breathes life into the wild areas of the city of Penance, providing the GM with plenty of descriptive atmosphere, while still giving them all the necessary rules to handle adventures set therein.Since I first laid eyes on Oathbound, the maze has held my fascination, and with the addition of warped realities, I’m hyped to send my ground deep into the bowels of the city. I admit that I hadn’t thought much of the wrack until I read this book, but it has opened my eyes to the possibilities there, as well. Critical MissesOne thing that stands out immediately is the lack of an index! Look guys, indexes not only serve to provide a means by which to reference key points from the book, they also provide closure. They let us know that the author didn’t just die at the keyboard and the book was shipped off to press. I know they’re a pain to provide, but every good reference book should have one. Okay, enough harping on that.Now, the three new races that are found here. In general, I like them, particularly the scar, but I could have done without the wyrgith. As a foe, I like the drow, but they’ve been overused to the point of being cliché and the wyrgith are just, well, spider-drow. I’d rather have seen a race that was a little more original. Besides which, a cardinal “rule” of 3E is violated by granting the wyrgith a +1 modifier to Intelligence and a –1 modifier to Constitution. Racial ability score modifiers (or any ability score modifiers, for that matter) should occur in even intervals.Coup de GraceGMs running Oathbound campaigns should move this book to the top of their wish list. It is absolutely essential reading for any GM seeking to capture the flavor of the Forge (and Penance in particular). The material is aimed specifically at Oathbound campaigns, of course, but there’s a good bit here than can be squeezed into other settings easily enough. It wouldn’t be difficult to create a city very much like Penance in a homebrewed campaign, and even if you don’t want to go to that extreme, some elements of the wrack and even the maze can apply to any good-sized ruined city.Overall, the book is an excellent value. The margins are standard for the industry and the typeface is perfect for readability, with few (I didn’t notice any) spelling or grammatical errors. The artwork is sparse but of good quality and is well-matched to the text. Open Game Content is largely limited to game mechanics (about 30% of the book), but the work maintains a high-level of adherence to the d20 standard.Final Grade: A-</blockquote>

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