Combining Barsoom with Lothlórien

After reading all of the posts on the Palladium boards and the Savage Worlds RIFTS boards I can world build a little.  The game is set in the New West setting for RIFTS, and my wife wants to play a nude elf cowgirl.  The game system we are using is Savage Worlds, the setting is RIFTS from Palladium.

by Mezzotint on Shutterstock.

I'm figuring a dude ranch in Southern Utah (like the one above is in Zion National Park).  She wants to be based in Moab, Utah, however, but we'll talk about it.  The changes everyone is suggesting is either cosmetic or mechanical, however.  The trick is creating a culture that combines Barsoom with Lothlórien.  Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote Barsoom to be an exotic Mars.  The Martians wore harnesses and very little clothing (their harnesses are their only clothing).  Something my wife approves of.  Remember, she's a nudist and wants her character to be nude in game.

Lothlórien is an elven forest found in the Lord of the Rings. The magical nature of the kingdom is protected by Galadriel's ring. I'll figure more out of the setting once I talked to my wonderful, nude wife. I'll be world building this for her.  And North America is a big place in RIFTS.  The most powerful nation, the Coalition States, only takes up a small part of the Heartland of America.  The rest is considered to be wilderness by the Coalition States.  There's room for an elven kingdom in Utah.  Even if they are nudists.

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.

Werewolf: the Apocalypse

 

Okay, old school monster gaming at it's best. This is Werewolf: the Apocalypse revised editon, one of White Wolf's better games (the other is Exalted).  It's Thirty years old, and still it's about playing a monster.  A werewolf.  I like the game, so I managed to get a hard copy.  It's currently in storage, so I'm reviewing the pdf I got from Drivethru.  It's set in the modern day.

The game starts out with an introductory story about a werewolf that has gone through his first change. Then he begins his journey as a werewolf.  The story explains a few things, then we get into the game.  One of the designers is Mark Rein·Hagen, so you know you're in for a treat.  Also, there is a disclaimer about the game.  It basically states that Werewolf is a game, and not a work of spirituality (the game doesn't talk about True Reality anyway).  So it's just a game, a violent one at that, not something that defines the occult.  So on to the review.💎

  The book is divided into nine chapters. Each chapter describes how the Storyteller game works and how to create a character, and the twelve tribes of the Garou nation.  A werewolf in Werewolf is not somebody that can just change into a wolf, but a spiritual being that straddles the bridge between humanity and the animal world.  There are five forms a werewolf can take: Homid (human), Glabro (neanderthal), Crinos (a large blend of human and part wolf), Hispo (a dire wolf form), and Lupus (true wolf).  Each one has it's strengths and weaknesses.

Your character is a werewolf, not a human. The center of the game is the storyteller, a person who acts like the game master in other games (or Dungeon Master from Dungeons and Dragons). He judges the game and tells the story.  And like any story, it has a beginning and an end.  Although the linking of stories is called a Chronicle in Werewolf.

As a character, you choose your breed (homid, metis, or lupus), which means you either have a human parent or a wolf parent, or werewolf parent.  It's a sin for werewolves to mate with each other, because that would produce a metis.  Which has mutations to define it.

You then choose your Auspice. There are five auspices, each made according to the five phases of the moon (it's what you've been born under). The first is Ragabash, the trickster. They are the jesters of the world of the werewolf.  The second is Theurge, which are mystics.  The third is Philodox, the judge.  The fourth is Galliard, the bard.  And the last is Ahroun, the Warrior.

Each has a role in the game.  The auspice of the werewolf is basically his profession in the Garou nation.  How his profession is defined, that is defined under what phase of the moon he or she was born under.   Next comes the tribe.

In the original Werewolf: the Apocalypse roleplaying game, the number of tribes are thirteen.  While the thirteenth -- the Black Spiral Dancers -- are considered to be NPCs and Villains only.  The tribe defines you.  Some tribes are opposite of each other.  Like the Glass Walkers' opposite are the Red Talons (Glass Walkers are usually bred from humans, while the Red Talons are an all lupis tribe).  The tribe functions as your race in Werewolf: the Apocalypse.  The tribe helps defines who you are in the game.  Each tribe has it's own gifts (from Gaia, that comes from the spirituality in the game), and weaknesses (certain tribes cannot take certain skills -- the Red Talons -- being an all lupis tribe, can't take the skill drive at the beginning.)

After that, the spiritual side of the werewolf is descussed, as well as the world of Werewolf is also discussed.

HITS AND MISSES

The game is one of my favorites.  However, the Storyteller system is pretty ridged.  You get five dots to fill in each skill, and you seek Renown, a measure of how heroic you are.  The game is violent, more violent than other White Wolf games.  Although you can play a very involved game in Werewolf politics, you are battling the Wyrm and it's creatures -- so violence is a part of the game.   So if you aren't looking for violent over the top action, Werewolf: the Apocalypse may not be your game.