Rokugan d20 Review

 

It seems that a lot of people from China are viewing my blog, based on my blog's statistics. Although, I'm no Communist -- and I'm not for dictatorships either -- it seems that I am at least ready to review the Rokugan Campaign Setting for the d20 system.  Produced by Alderac Entertainment Group in 2001, it was written by Rich Wulf, Shawn Carman, and Seth Mason.  This is a beautiful book, lavishly illustrated like the Oriental Adventures book for third edition.  I'm reviewing a PDF copy of this book, and I do own the hardcover.

 The first thing to remember is that Rokugan isn't Japan.  It's a high fantasy land based on the culture of Sengoku era Japan and Miyamoto Mushashi's Book of the Five Rings.  There are some Chinese elements in Rokugan, but it's not China either.  Like I said, it's a High Fantasy land that borrowed a lot from Japan and some from China.  I love this book, Rokugan -- next to Greyhawk -- is a place where I would set an ongoing game.  Also, I did another review of this book on RPG.net. 

So, lets go for it.

The Introduction

The introduction of Rokugan goes on to explain  to players of the d20 system all about Rokugan, the Five Rings, and explains to players that they take on the roles of noble Samurai, mysterious Shugenja, enlightened monks, shadowy ninja, and finally wily courtiers.  Whole games can revolve around one or more of these elements. 

Next, it explains how one can use this book with Oriental Adventures. Since this book, Rokugan, expands on the information explained in Oriental Adventures.  Finally, it does explain why Rokugan is based on Miyamoto's Book of the Five Rings.  The roleplaying opportunities are endless.

Character

 This section goes over the Great Clans of Rokugan, their families, and favored classes for each major family.  Like for instance, the Doji of the Crane Clan make good Courtiers.  While the Isawa family make good Shugenja.  And the Shoshuro family produce good ninja, or so they say. After this, they talk about the minor clans and their schools, along with the Naga (an Indian aspect), and the Nezumi (Rokugan's take on ratfolk).

After this part on creating your character, the various character classes from the 3rd Edition Player's Handbook are talked about.  Along with two classes from Oriental Adventures (3rd Edition).  The Samurai and the Shugenja.  After that, the monk, ninja, and courtier classes are discussed.  

After all this, the Feats are discussed.  And yes, there are a lot of Feats here that are talked about.  Each great clan gets their own feats.  From Kakita's Techique, to Way of the Crab, to Akodo's Technique, to Way of the Unicorn.  All are included.  Especially one of note is Void Use.  This feat, which you can take instead of a Ancestor Feat, grants you two points of void.  Which of course you can use to modify your die rolls.

 After the feats, you get a discussion on Rokugani equipment.  Including new weapons, and old weapons that are expanded upon, new armor types, and other considerations.  After that, Religion in the Emerald Empire is discussed.  After that, Honor is discussed, along with the alignments of the d20 system -- and how they work together.  Like for instance, if someone is Lawful Good, he's considered to have an honor rank of 5.

After that, some prestige classes are introduced.  Although none of these are needed, some are recorded.  As prestige classes are meant for NPCs originally, players would take them.

Magic

 Magic in D&D is supposed to be presented as mysterious. For Rokugan, this is no different.  There are more Samurai than Shugenja in Rokugan. Magic revolves around the Kami, the great kami as well as the lesser and minor kami.  A shugenja learns to importune the kami to produce magical effects.  This can be from a simple sleep spell to a magnificent void spell worked by the mysterious Ishiken of the Isawa family.

Each clan has their own special magical technique.  The Crane works on Tsanguri, or magic items -- for example.  The Unicorn shugenja work with meishodo.  Finally, the Isawa family of the Phoenix teach the Ishiken-do -- or magic of the void.  There are four other examples of magic of the great clans.  Other aspects of magic are also discussed.  After that, there are some new spells for Shugenja to select, learn, and cast. 

Life in Rokugan

This chapter goes over adventures in Rokugan.  It discusses what a Samurai might be and how to act.  Also, the chapter goes over Rokugan itself, and how a party of disparate Samurai and Shugenja (and possibly ninja) might operate.

The culture and layout of Rokugan are discussed.  Along with how campaigns operate in the Emerald Empire.  Also, magic and magic items, how they are viewed -- are discussed.  Also, social hierarchy is discussed.  A lot of Rokugani culture is discussed in this book. This is the most important chapter in the whole book.  If you want to role play your Samurai as authentically as you can, you must read this section.

Geography

The Geography of Rokugan is discussed in this chapter.  This is the geography of the Emerald Empire, as of the Four Winds saga. Important details of each Clan's holdings are discussed in some detail.  Along with writeups for certain NPCs as of the Four Winds saga.

Cosmology 

This chapter teaches the cosmology as seen by the Rokugani.  There are several realms, including the mortal one, that are discussed.  These realms are discussed more simply in the Fortunes and Winds supplement (to be reviewed later).  Also, the worship of the Fortunes and who they are is presented.  There are seven major Fortunes, and thousands of lesser ones. Then Rokugan's mythology is presented.  Including the creation of the world as the Rokugani understand it.

History

The history of Rokugan is presented.  Nearly complete and up to the Four Winds saga.  It's enough to fill a Rokugani DM with adventure seeds and beginnings of a good campaign.  After that, a few appendixes discuss magic items, magical creatures, and finally an index.

Hits

 The colorful aspect of the book is definitely a hit.  There are colorful illustrations throughout the book. Including pictures of Shugenja, Samurai, and even a Ninja.  The writing is concise and well edited.  DJ Trindle, the editor, did a good job of editing the book for press.  The writing is top notch, definitely different than what you get in a modern D&D book (modern D&D books are atrocious in writing, editing, and illustration).  There is more, the layout is in two columns, and uses a ten point font.

 Misses 

 There is little that's missed in this book. The metaplot of the Legend of the Five Rings card game at the time -- used as a backdrop for the campaign -- is definitely a miss.  This book is for players and DMs to get into the setting of Rokugan, and the Metaplot does restrict some aspects.  Is it something I'd change: probably.  I would have started the plot during the Pre-Scorpion Clan Coup saga, as that is the most popular era setting for L5R rpgs.  Including the fifth edition of the L5R RPG.

 The Future

Again, the future looks uncertain.  It seems that Asmodee might keep the L5R property. However, they aren't expecting that someone might come to them and buy Legend of the Five Rings from them.  Fantasy Flight bought L5R from Alderac Entertainment Group in 2017, then Asmodee bought them. However, Legend of the Five Rings is a good property, one I wanted to purchase from Wizards of the Coast when they put it up for sale.  Looks like I'll have to buy it from Asmodee.  Oh well, cheers!

The Grand Duchy of Karameikos Review

 

My first Basic Dungeons and Dragons product review.  The Grand Duchy of Karameikos is the first in a series of Gazetteers done for the Known World, the campaign setting of Dungeons and Dragons (BECMI).  It's also called Mystara, but that came later. Anyhow, is the product worth it to buy?  Lets find out.  This product was written by Aaron Allston for TSR.  Cover artist was Clyde Caldwell.  I got a hard copy from Lightning Source and also a pdf copy as well.  Note, if you buy the hard copy, you will find that the cover has a lot of red (magenta) in it.  The hard copy is paperback instead of hard back.

The Grand Duchy of Karameikos is a small book, and comes in three sections.  The Introduction: where Aaron talks about the book.  The Gazetteer Section and finally the Adventures section.  Which is for the Dungeon Master.

Introduction.

Here, Aaron says he is pleased with the book.  He mentions that fantasy worlds often grow in leaps and bounds.  The world started with a map and a few lines of text in D&D Expert.  But that has grown into the Known World through published adventures that TSR, inc. had put out.  A lot of these adventures are available on Drivethru.   He gives thanks and shout out for a few adventures that he referenced to put together the Grand Duchy. 

Part One: the Gazetteer Section

Here is where the most of the detail about the book was written.  You get into the Grand Duchy's history, some of which is for the players to read.  And you also get into region's customs, cultures (there are two human cultures: one is the Traladara culture and the other is the Thyatis culture), and also talk about the demi-humans of the Grand Duchy.  The history of the region is recounted.  How the Traladarans had a golden age, but that came to an end.  How Thyatis conquered the region, and how a duke traded favors for the land.  You also get into detail about the economy of the Grand Duchy.  A calendar was made, and a list of NPCs for the land.  A lot of information was packed into sixty-four pages.  Which was an astounding feat for writers for TSR.

The Adventures Section

 This is for the Dungeon Master or DM.  It lists some adventures you can run for your players.  They are all short form, allowing the DM to use his creativity to flesh out and present to his or her players.  At the end of the section are the maps detailing the Grand Duchy, castles, cities, and other items. 

Hits

TSR at this time, relied on a full color cover.  Inside, they use a fortified tower to add visual interest.  The book is laid out in three columns.  The type is ten points small, and the art is awesome, even though it's black and white art.

Misses 

The (new) hard copy's cover has a lot of red tones.  Which takes away from the original.  The maps are printed in 81/2" by 11" inches, and it can be a little confusing at first when you see these maps.  Otherwise, if you like Mystara content, I would start with this Gazetteer.

The Future

Again the future is uncertain.  Although I will tell you that I'm buying the trademarks and copyrights to ten (10) D&D worlds.  One of these worlds is Mystara.  So I can say with confidence that the first project we are working on is the Grand Duchy of Karameikos.  

Oriental Adventures (3e) Review

 Welcome to the third edition of Oriental Adventures (OA).  OA 3e contains all the stuff necessary to play a campaign centered on the Orient (again, Japanese culture is ascendant in OA 3e, but there is a reason for this).  Oriental Adventures introduces a new campaign setting for use with Oriental play, Rokugan.  Now the reason why OA was produced is because Wizards of the Coast sold the Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) card game to Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG).  However, when they put up L5R for sale, I wanted to buy it.  However, I lacked the resources to buy it -- even the resources to consistently support it.  However, AEG was a good steward of L5R for upward to 2017, when they sold L5R to Fantasy Flight Games. 

Despite that, I desired the rights to L5R, and I'm waiting for my time to buy them.  Since I have the resources right now to purchase the rights to L5R.  Plus, Fantasy Flight Games is not doing a good job supporting L5R, despite the beauty of their books.

OA brings Rokugan (L5R's fantasy land) into the d20 System.  At first, I thought that the d20 System would not be a good fit for Rokugan, however when AEG put out Rokugan later, they did a good job making the setting of Rokugan fit the d20 System.  The book was published over twenty years ago.  The writer is James Wyatt.  The book came out in 2001.

Overview

OA is a book trying to play the kid who wants to be a friend to everyone.  OA includes the setting of the Legend of the Five Rings into it's framework, but at the same time it's trying to be an update of the Original OA (reviewed here earlier).  The book tries to be all things L5R and all things Kara-Tur (in the Forgotten Realms).  Still, it's a beautiful book -- printed in full color -- the art in the book brings Rokugan, and other realms in the Orient, to life.

The book starts with an introduction, and James Wyatt did a good job of writing it.  Adventures in the Orient (although L5R takes it's primary inspiration from the Sengoku era of Japan, there is some Chinese and Indian influence).  The idea is to have adventure in an exotic land.  And Rokugan is certainly exotic.

The next chapter goes over character creation, and the players should ask their DM about the setting and rules to play in.  Then races are introduced, including humans and Nezumi (which are found in Rokugan).  Spirit folk, Koboruku (asian dwarves), Vanaras (based on Hamuman from the Ramayana) and Hengeyokai.  The last fit in a campaign that is not Rokugan.

 

Then classes are introduced.  There are few classes from the Dungeons and Dragons Player's Handbook that are introduced as a way to fit the Asiatic concepts of Rokugan and Kara-Tur.  But the book introduces two new classes: Samurai and Shugenja.  The Samurai class in the original OA is suprisingly very adaptable and flexible.  Player characters would be able to customize their Samurai character in a number of ways.  The shugenja class is the same way, although presented as a variant of the sorcerer class.  Another new class introduced is the Shaman class, which is a variant of the cleric class in the PHB.  Finally, the Sohei and Wu Jen are introduced, which are classes updated from the original Oriental Adventures.  If one is running a Rokugan campaign, then only the samurai and shugenja are the new classes to include in that setting.  After that, there are a few banned classes that don't fit in the world of Oriental Adventures.  But the NPC classes are discussed.  One, the Aristocrat, is included in Rokugan as a courtier.  However, Rokugan introduces the courtier class, which will be discussed in the next review.

After the character classes are introduced, then the prestige classes are talked about.  Of note is the Ninja Spy prestige class.  While not worked as a full class, the idea behind the Ninja spy prestige class is that a group of player ninja start out as another class, and then takes the ninja spy prestige class  when they are ready for it.  This graduates them into full ninja.

Another prestige class of note is the Yakuza, which is good for rogues, apparently.  The yakuza prestige class in Rokugan makes a perfect fit for the Kolat and other organized crime families in Rokugan. There are other prestige classes.  Some of them fit the monk class.

By Aaron Lovett

 

After that, character options: skills and feats -- are discussed.  The skill section includes on how the skills fit the Rokugan campaign setting.  Of course, new skills are introduced in the Rokugan book.  Then a number of feats are introduced.  Most of these feats are ancestor feats, where the characters in a Rokugan campaign takes an ancestor feat for their human bonus feat.  However, Rokugan has a different feat option.  And there are a few feats in OA that are regular feats.

After that there is a chapter on alignment, honor, and equipment.  In an oriental campaign, honor is better to use than alignment.  However, Alignment is discussed anyhow.  In some oriental campaigns, alignment might still be used.  In Rokugan, honor takes precedence over alignment.  Though this still discussed.  Then a number of equipment is also discussed.  After that, combat is covered in another chapter.

After that, magic is discussed.  This is an important chapter, since it goes through the Shugenja spells that are available to certain Rokugani Shugenja schools.  The new spells also update the spells from OA 1e, allowing wu jen and other spellcasters of Oriental campaigns have their magic.  The only schools missing are the schools for the Isawa family of the Phoenix clan.  This was, sort of, rectified in the Rokugan book.  After that comes a chapter on magic items.

Then comes a chapter on monsters.  While the chapter on monsters discusses which monsters from the Monster Manual fit in Rokugan, many more monsters -- such as seven varieties of oriental dragons -- are introduced.  Some of the monsters are introduced fit in Rokugan, but many do not.  After the book on monsters comes a chapter on campaign design.  Which is a good chapter, to say the least.  This next chapter provides options with which the GM/DM can design a campaign.

After this chapter comes an overview of the land of Rokugan.  Plus the setting begins the Four Winds saga (the emperor is killed, and without a designated heir, his four children try to take the throne). Also, the land of Rokugan is described in some detail, with some prestige classes compatible to each great clan.  After that, was a chapter on the Shadowlands.  Taint rules are introduced here, along with the Maho-Tsukai prestige class and a monster template.

 

Hits and Misses

Again, Oriental Adventures tries to be something of a child that wants to be your friend.  While the focus is still on Rokugan as a setting, other options fit other settings. This is a strength, although a weakness at the same time.  Some people still think that the d20 system wasn't a good fit for Rokugan, I beg to differ.  OA does a good job, and Rokugan does a better job, of fitting the setting of Legend of the Five Rings to the d20 system.

Conclusion

I do believe this book is a good book to get if you are planning a game in Legend of the Five Rings, and find the EDGE Studio's version of Rokugan to be unlikable. While the EDGE Studio does a good job (and I was reading the book for purposes of review), I think both AEG and Wizards of the Coast did a finer job of fitting the world of L5R to the d20 system.

More Magic and Mayhem Review

 Ah, More Magic and Mayhem.  I received this book back in 2007 as part of the Necromancer Games' gift exchange.  I wanted the book so I can use it.  And thanks to Advanced d20 Magic, I can.  More Magic and Mayhem is a magic sourcebook for the World of Warcraft Roleplaying Game (which is now not considered to be canon). Since the book was written for D&D 3.5, it can be easily used for that game.  Since the license for the WoW RPG expired, the book is also rare and it can cost more than fifty dollars to buy from Amazon. But what makes this book so good is the goodies that are inside it.  Such as the magic items, and not to mention, the magic spells.

The book starts off with some new classes and prestige classes.  New classes include the Inscriber, the Witch Doctor, and the Runemaster.  Both the inscriber and the runemaster deal with runes and glyphs of Azeroth.  While the witch doctor deals with mojo magic.  New Prestige Classes include the Argent Dawn Templar, the Enchanter, the Ley Walker, and the Steam Warrior.  The argent dawn templar is simply a class created to fight the undead of the plague lands.  The enchanter is capable of enchanting objects (although this class is competing with the Artificer in Eberron), and the ley walker follows the ley lines of Azeroth.  The steam warrior uses technology and mechs to fight.

Then there are some new feats to choose from.  There is a new feat category called Totem Feats, and are related to the Totem spells that shamans can use.  There are also alchemy feats, which are used for the alchemy portion of this book.  However, the Alchemist class from the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game can make use of these feats, if they wish.  Since More Magic and Mayhem are about magic and technology, most of the new feats are geared towards spellcasters.

In the next chapter Alchemy is addressed.  Each alchemical item has a DC associated with it's crafting.  The alchemy items addressed are from the WoW MMORPG -- and includes most items from the World of Warcraft game.  There are none items addressed from the Burning Crusade or other expansions.  Still the chapter can be useful for Pathfinder Alchemists, if the GM wants to expand on alchemy for his Pathfinder game.

After the section on Alchemy, enchantments are addressed. Again, enchantments from the World of Warcraft MMO are addressed, and no enchantments are addressed from the expansions.  Can they be used for a regular D&D game or Pathfinder 1e game?  Yes, they certainly can be.  The enchanter prestige class becomes important for enchantments, though.  Of course, the various crafting feats can be used instead.  The class isn't broken, although you'd have to break items to get the various items for enchantments.

The next section talks about runes. Since all the runes listed are for Azeroth locations, I don't use the inscriber or runemaster for my games -- as converting runes for my game world (Eberron) would be quite a hassle.  IF you are playing the WoW RPG, then the runes become important. Runes are a part of World of Warcraft.  That is why they added Inscription from the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

After this chapter, spells are discussed.  All of the spells are magical abilities from the WoW MMO, so they become useful.  Some spells are not, such as sense demons. However, the spells are important enough to be mentioned -- and I converted a few to the Advanced d20 Magic Dynamic Spellcasting system.  Allowing me to use them, which isn't funny.  This chapter, to me, is pure gold.  I'm using the spells from this chapter in my Eberron game.

The fourth chapter of this book deals with magic items. The chapter talks about how magic items work in the game and lists many magic items that are apart of World of Warcraft.  While these items can expand your regular d20 or Pathfinder game, you may find that these items are apart of World of Warcraft lore, and many of them work in World of Warcraft.  Some of these items could be curious items in your game, of course.  Your GM has the right to approve of any item you wish to create from this chapter.

The last chapter deals with technology. Since most worlds are medieval, or Renaissance, the technology chapter is the least useful.  While technology was introduced in previous Warcraft games, almost all technology worked with the Phlogiston.  That property of the Warcraft world is discussed in Magic and Mayhem.  Still, there is an engineering skill in World of Warcraft that deals with technology.

This book is a good buy, from the usefulness of the spells alone.  Combined with the savvy of the system in Advanced d20 Magic, you will have a lot to add to your game. I recommend it if you are a fan of World of Warcraft.  If not, it's still useful.  Remember, its your game and you have to be judicious in what you will allow in your game.

Advanced d20 Magic Review

 

Advanced d20 Magic cover

 

Advanced d20 Magic is the best magic system for Dungeons and Dragons, hands down.  A no level approach to magic, it's a system that does require math to work out.  All you are doing is add and subtract for this game system -- simple mathematics, really.  No Calculus is needed for this system.  This system is devised by David and Michelle Lyons for the Slayers d20 game by Guardians of Order (now owned by White Wolf, which is owned by Paradox Interactive).  Now, in this version, David and Michelle Lyons brings the magic system of the Slayers fully to regular D&D.

How the System Works

The system, called Dynamic Spellcasting, works by treating every spell at default like a spell you can cast at a single action as a stilled and silent spell.  As long as you are prepared to resist the drain (this part works like Shadowrun's magic system).  You cast a spell, and then you make a fortitude save to resist drain.  In BESM d20 games, this means you suffer drain of your energy points.  In regular d20, if you aren't using the optional Spell Points system from Unearthed Arcana, you suffer non-lethal damage for casting a spell.  How much damage depends on how powerful the spell is.

By Anthony Cournoyer.

A spell like fireball (Casting DC 31) will have you resisting 1d10 damage, for instance.  While a spell like wish (Casting DC 101) would have you resisting 16d10 damage.  As a result, you'll have more success casting spells with a lower Casting DC than a higher one.  Each spell has a Casting DC.  Which is the Difficulty Class of your fortitude drain.  But don't worry, you have the tools to reduce the punishment.

Forms and Focusing Agents

The system presents a number of forms to increase your chances of casting a spell. These include Invocations, Incantations, and Rituals.  An Invocation is one where your mage casts spell by invoking it's name -- loudly.  Everyone will know what kind of spell your casting when you invoke the spell while gathering it's energies.  That gives you a +5 bonus to your roll.  Another thing you can do is make an incantation.  This means you ritually chant while gathering the spell's energies.  This offers another +5 bonus to your roll. They stack, guys.  Additionally, you can cast it as a ritual, which offers a bonus depending on how long you do the ritual. That also stacks.

Additionally, you can add a focus to the roll.  This can be either basic (like a Divine Focus -- ie. your holy symbol) or an expendable focus (like bat guano for fireball).  These can offer +2 or +1 (or both) to your roll. Finally, you can make an investment of body (sacrificing hit points) and/or an investment of mind (sacrificing a number of experience points to cast your spell).

Metamagic Feats and Dynamic Spellcasting

 Two metamagic feats are included in the Casting DC of each spell -- Still Spell and Silent Spell (see the D&D 3.5 Player's Handbook or Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook).  You can cast any spell as one standard action as a still spell and silent spell.  The invocation and incantation forms just makes this easier. Adding any other metamagic feat (or a combination of metamagic feats) to your spell increases it's Casting DC.  Thus it makes the spell harder to cast. But worth it if you can pull it off.  

There are other rules to consider.  There are rules for cooperative casting, multiple spells, what happens if two different spells are cast -- and if they cancel out. There are rules for spell resistance, and controlling the magic if you fail your fortitude saving throw. Learning a new spell takes a number of slots.  A spell like goodberry would take one slot to learn, while wish would take four slots to learn. 

By Shaman's Stock Art (Anthony Cournoyer)

Even learning new spells are easy with this system.  All you need a copy of the spell and/or a teacher.  You learn the spell with a basic Knowledge: Arcana check or a Spellcraft Check with a DC that is -10 the Casting DC.  Thus, learning fireball only takes a DC of 21 to pass.  Easy enough, so far.  Inventing a spell with this system also is easier. You just need to work with your DM/GM and he sets the learning DC, and you have to pass the check to learn the spell.

Magical Characters

This chapter shows how you can use the system with existing rules.  For instance, it balances out the Dynamic Sorcerer class.  And then there is the magic attribute, and that is handled by this system.  Plus, each magic using character class in regular d20 is converted to this system.  For instance Sorcerers have 80 slots to learn spells, but get magical drain resistance.  Wizards can learn any spell they please, and divine spellcasters take one round to cast their spells.

Magic Items

There is a system for handling magic items. Again, you have to roll against DCs to make magic items, but you can add the spell needed and make the required investments of mind to make the magic item.  Easy peasy.

Converting Spells

Finally, there is a chapter on converting spells from other d20 System products (or Pathfinder 1e products!).  It's simple, check the spells base Casting DC, check what priority the spell has -- remember if a Wizard or Sorcerer gets the list, it's first in priority. Second, check see if it requires a focus of some sort, or a ritual form.  Then check if it requires an investment of mind or body.  Then check it's level to see how many slots it can take.  And wholla -- you converted the spell!

As an example, a spell taken from More Magic and Mayhem, the spell corruption!  Corruption is a first level warlock spell that normally takes 1 standard action to cast. This makes the Casting DC 20, since it is a Warlock spell -- it's treated as a sorcerer/wizard spell. Since it is a first level spell, it takes one slot to learn.  Easy enough!

So, since this is a great system -- it's compatible with all editions of D&D and Pathfinder -- why can't you get it from DriveThruRPG?  Well, I don't know what happened, but the only way to get Advanced d20 Magic is second hand.  You have to download it off the internet for free in order to enjoy it. Believe me it's worth it.  It will take your game to the next level, yes.

Why Shadowrun is better than D&D

 

Shadowrun is much better than D&D by all accounts.  Although Dungeons and Dragons from Wizards of the Coast is marketed as the best Roleplaying game, you have to remember that D&D, and Pathfinder, and most level based games have a knack of pidgeon-holing your character into a particular role.  If you choose to be a paladin, then you are stuck playing a paladin (because that's your character class).  Although 5th edition has been trying to tool with alignments, it still doesn't bring you the freedom that Shadowrun has.  Shadowrun is clearly superior to Dungeons and Dragons in a number of ways.

Character Creation

 

Take for instance, the differences in character creation.  Dungeons and Dragons has you rolling for attributes, or buying them with points.  Or you may start out with a particular array.  Shadowrun, and particularly 4th edition, has you buying your attributes with 200 build points.  Now, of course Pathfinder and Rolemaster has you buying attributes too.   Just that both of these games handle the next step differently.  By your race and role.

Both Shadowrun and Dungeons and Dragons have you choose your race.  In Dungeons and Dragons and other games like it (Pathfinder, for instance) you choose your race: whether elf, human, dwarf, halfling, gnome, half-elf, or half-orc.  In Dungeons and Dragons, your race confers you certain benefits.  Like for instance a human may get an extra feat, and an extra skill point.  And an elf may get other benefits.

In Shadowrun you pay for the privilege of playing a different race other than human.  This represents how rare each metatype other than human is.  Like it costs 20 build points to play an orc, and 30 build points to play an elf.  And each metatype, other than human, has certain advantages in Shadowrun (see SR4A, page 81).

In the next step you choose your role.  In Dungeons and Dragons role is defined by your class, in Shadowrun, you define your role through the taking of qualities (something like Advantages and Disadvantages in Steve Jackson Games' GURPS).  Dungeons and Dragons still has you picking a class.  In fact, many players would pick a class based on the party's needs and not their wants. 

Take for instance you wanted to play a paladin.  In D&D you'd pick a class called paladin, and this determines some basic factors about your class.  In both D&D and Pathfinder, this would be your base attack bonus, your saves, and your class abilities. In Shadowrun you make your own role.  You aren't pigeon-holed into a particular class and role (say, like tank or healer).  You make your role your own. You want to play a mage?  Then you spend 15 build points to take the magician quality and gain the powers of a magician.

You want to play a paladin in Shadowrun?  Then you take the code of conduct quality and choose Chivalry as your code of conduct. In Shadowrun you define your role.

Both games have skills.  In D&D, skills define what you know and feats define what you can do.  In fact, in third edition D&D, the fighter got all the feats and the rogue got all the skills.  In Shadowrun, there are active skills -- which are defined as what you can do; knowledge skills, which define what you know; and language skills, which define how well you communicate in your chosen languages (Shadowrun's world is a global village). 

These are chosen through build points (you get a lot of build points).  In D&D there isn't a lot of skills, but there are a lot of feats. In Shadowrun there are more skills -- however room is given for the Game Master (Dungeon Master in D&D) to define other skills if the need arises.

After you build your characters, you go on adventure in D&D, and in Shadowrun you go on shadowruns.  In D&D you are expected to be good, in Shadowrun, you're a criminal. Both games offer an escape, and both games handle these differently.  As a result, both have their flaws.

Game Concepts

The flaws in both games are in the mechanics (or game physics as I like to call them).  D&D has you rolling primarily the d20.  That's why the system as a whole was called the d20 system during the 2000s. 

Shadowrun uses the d6.  In fact, it uses dice pools, which are multiple d6s.  If you roll a 5 or a 6, it's called a success. If you rolled more 1s than you have 5s or 6s, you glitch.  And if you roll just a number of 1s and no 5s or 6s, you critically glitch.  Which is a spectacular failure in Shadowrun.  While in D&D you roll the d20 to resolve most rolls, in Shadowrun you roll d6s.  While the chances are just about the same, you find that you have a better chance of success in Shadowrun than in D&D or Pathfinder.

Conclusion

Both games have their flaws.  Both games have their strengths, and both games provide some fun.  While in D&D you primarily play a hero (depends on which world you play in, remember?),  in Shadowrun you play a criminal out to break the law and are considered a deniable asset to your patron.  In D&D you become the Man.  In Shadowrun you stick it to the Man.  Although Shadowrun is better than D&D, you play different roles in both, and in both you can be successful in having fun.

Central Casting: Heroes of Legend Review

by Paul Jaquays

 Ah, the Tour de Force of random tables and charts for your fantasy roleplaying game.  Central Casting: Heroes of Legend was written to help you as a gamer figure out the background of your character.  From unusual births (such as, being born exactly at Noon or Midnight), to childhood events and events in your adolescence.  To events in young adulthood, this book has it all. Although it's dated (like how it treats homosexuality, we now know that there is nothing wrong with a homosexual). This book is still useful in creating a 3D character.  Although some roleplayers tend to think up their characters whole cloth for fantasy roleplay, others could use a little bit of help.  As such this book is out of print and buying a copy from Amazon is way expensive: it costs almost a thousand dollars on Amazon.  So it's best to download it from the Internet (as if anyone is willing to spend that amount of cash for this book.)

What's in it?

Paul goes over how characters in most roleplaying games are one dimensional.  Actually, characters are often one dimensional.  Even characters I created do not have the depth to them.  I just go with a character with a small background and then proceed to play them.  The tables and charts in this book proceed to change all that.

The book takes you through some considerations for your character. The book talks about survival skills (something that equals the skill survival in Pathfinder first edition and Dungeons and Dragons 3rd edition). Literacy, motivations, and generating NPCs using the tables in this book.  The tables begin with your character's race.  Of course you could choose your race, or randomly generate the race. Races in the book include humans, elves, dwarves, half-elves, halflings, beastmen, reptilemen (Dragonborn or lizardfolk), orcs, and half-orcs.  Although your fantasy campaign might have their own races.  

By DomCritelli from Shutterstock.

The book continues with a random table choosing culture (and this goes from neolithic and stone age cultures to decadent cultures). Then you can randomly choose your social status and whether or not your character is legitimate (bastards are possible).  Reasons for being illegitimate (like your character's mother might be a harlot), then your character's family, your character's siblings, then birth order.  The tables are relentless -- birth order, your character's time of birth, place of birth, even exotic birth locations.  Then you see whether or not your character had an unusual birth.  After that, your character's parents and important NPCs can be randomly generated.

After that, you can randomly generate what happened during your character's childhood and adolescence.  First, you figure out how many events happened during your childhood and then you roll.  This table, unlike other tables in other products (Ultimate Campaign, for instance); does not pull any punches.  It is very detailed and controversial.  One of the events that happens in childhood or adolescence (since you are using this table twice) is that the character could have been sexually molested.  There's even one where the character enters a political marriage with another (arranged marriages can happen).

Besides that, certain events require you to go into other tables. And there is a lot of them. But, the book maintains that in childhood and adolesence a personality develops -- so you may get certain traits based off of your character's history that you roll up.

From Shutterstock.

After that there are many tables with which you can generate your character's history and personality.  A lot of them.  From randomly generating personality traits, to love, to others, to non-humans, to time in the military, to being enslaved, to unusual skills, this book has it all.  Even something that is GM only.

Conclusion

If you are looking to go beyond what Ultimate Campaign and other similar character generators offer for generating your character's background.  This book provides that.  Unfortunately, unless you are ready to pay a small fortune for this book, I suggest downloading it off the internet.  It may be illegal, but it's the only way you're going to get it.  The book is worth it to get off the Internet, or to pay for the near one thousand dollars for a copy.  It's an excellent resource for your fantasy campaign; even though it's jaded and dated.

Urban Arcana for d20 Modern

 

Urban Arcana from Wizards of the Coast

Before I delve into anything else (still have to do that Starfinder review), I thought I should review the Urban Arcana Campaign Setting.  I'll be doing a page using Salt Lake City as your setting for Urban Arcana, so I thought I should review this book now.  It's available as a PDF on Drivethru (link already provided) and you can purchase a hard copy that is in paperback.  At a premium of course.

The Urban Arcana campaign is for d20 Modern, and it mixes fantasy concepts from D&D into the modern day, creating quite the unusual campaign setting.  I mean most of the time, I want to run fantasy horror (Werewolf: the Apocalypse), but sometimes good modern fantasy means Urban Arcana.  Urban Arcana is published by Wizards of the Coast through Drivethru now.  It's a good buy if you are looking for modern fantasy.  Here, you can blend drow, dragons, undead, and other beings from D&D into your d20 Modern game.  (So many products to review, so little time).  And while you aren't playing werewolves in the modern day, you can play mages and clerics.  I mean, how cool is that?

From GuruOX on Shutterstock.

 

The Nature of Shadow

The book opens up with an introduction on the book's material. Oh, and you also introduced to the concept of Shadow.  Shadow is the way which creatures of fantasy cross over into our own world.  Shadow touches a world (say like Oerth or Faerun) and brings creatures from that world to our world.  Anyone could come: elves, dwarves, drow, yaun-ti, anyone and anything.  Including orcs.  They come here, appearing like regular folks, but some people -- like your PCs -- can pierce this veil and see them as they really are.

Beyond that there are new additions to your d20 modern campaign, covered in Characters.  You see new occupations like the apothecary (really a pharmacist), psychic and shadow scholar. There are new feats ripe for the picking. This chapter introduces metamagic feats (for your mage or acolyte characters).  Along with other feats you might find cool for your character.  After that, Shadowkind (races or species) are discussed.  These include elves, orcs, dwarves, drow, and other Shadowkind, including humans.

Fantasy Elf from Shutterstock.

After that, new advanced classes and prestige classes are introduced for the d20 Modern game. These include the arcane arranger: a face class that could be linked to the Occult.  Others include the Archaic Weaponmaster, Glamourist, Shadowjack (something like a decker), speed demon, technomage and wild lord.  Prestige classes are five levels long and include: the Archmage, Artificer, the Ecclesiarch, and the holy/unholy knight.

Chapter two includes equipment.  With items like new weapons, hazmat suits, kits, generators, holy water, and other items.  The chapter also includes a list of vehicles to use for your d20 Modern campaign.  Chapter three includes new spells for your Urban Arcana campaign (and other d20 Modern games).  These are neatly divided into Arcane spells, Divine spells, and Incantations. New ones include Arcane Graffiti, Clean, Clown Car, Crawling Carpet, and others. Chapter four includes new magic items, while chapter five includes tips on running an Urban Arcana game.

Urban Fantasy from Shutterstock.

Chapter six goes over organizations included in the setting. Organizations include Department-7, Draco Industries, the Church of Pelor, Heirs of Kyuss, and others.  Including a restaurant franchise called the Prancing Pony (which is like McDonald's and Arctic Circle). After that is chapter seven, which includes a number of creatures and a drowic rock band.  Chapter eight includes a number of locations on where to set your campaign -- including a suggestion to use your own home town.  Chapter nine finishes off the book on how to meld D&D with your Urban Arcana setting.

Conclusion

If you are wondering how to run an urban fantasy campaign, Urban Arcana can definitely give you tips on how to run one.  The art is very good, and there are few considerations to think about.  You can merge D&D with Urban Arcana but it's best to start simple -- like your home town.  If you are looking for another regular fantasy setting, you can skip this book.