A Bit of History
Clockwork and Chivalry 2nd Edition from Cubicle 7 Entertainment
A caveat, I am a line developer for Cubicle 7 Entertainment, and thus this review may seem biased. It is not, and I should add I am still a freelancer, and thus not beholden to any one publisher for my bread and butter. That said, Clockwork and Chivalry is one of the best historical games I have seen this year, and the only one from this column that has gone on to become a regular weekly campaign for my regular gaming group. Cakebread and Walton, the authors, deserve high honors for their game and should be proud to live up to their title of purveyors of fine imaginings.
Clockwork and Chivalry is set in 1645 during an English Civil War that followed the historical script up until the battle of Naseby. During the battle, the Parliamentarians deployed their new weapons, clockwork machinery that takes the form of tanks, motorcycles, and rolling clockwork scythes. The Royalists are filled battle alchemy, calling down lightning and summoning elementals. The result was a slaughter and a stalemate, though King Charles I was captured and executed far more swiftly then in the historical script. The battle, and the amount of death and magic unleashed during it, tainted the surrounding lands and turned it into a magical wasteland populated by thousands of ghosts. The game is set after this battle, as both sides recoil in horror at what they have wrought and an uneasy cease-fire prevails. England is divided into Royalist and Parliamentarian territories, with the Debatable lands in between (and a WWI style trench warfare developing along part of the border). Prince Rupert leads the Royalist cause, and Charles II waits on the Continent for his chance to safely cross over. Oliver Cromwell rules the Parliamentarian cause, much as in the historical script, but with a firmer hand on the tiller earlier than in the real history.
Characters can be from either side, and the default assumption is that with the cease-fire, the party may contain a mix of factions. This is where Clockwork and Chivalry really blossoms, as there are twenty-four factions, not to mention the large number of options under the twenty-fifth faction, self-interested. These factions run the gamut from religious (Laudian, Catholic, Puritan, Anabaptist, Adamite, and others), to the political (Royalist, Parliamentarian, Levelers,), to the social group (clans, guilds, gangs) to the history-plus (Invisible College, Tinkers, Horseman's Word). Each character has a statistic of Righteousness Points (RP), a measure of the firmness of their conviction in their faction's beliefs. These RPs can go up or down during play based on the actions of the PC, their faction's successes and failures, and the outcomes of intraparty debate. Yes, you can change another character's faction by slowly out debating him in favor of your own. The descriptions of Factions, as well as the other 'splats': Social Class and Professions, is where the meat of the historical information in Clockwork and Chivalry is contained. There is a chapter on the background of the war, the state of the British Isles in 1645, and an extensive section on Scotland and Scottish culture, but the story is mostly told in PC orientated sections. This is an interesting approach, and one I favor, as in my experience many players only read the parts of a book concerning their own character, especially is there is a limited number of copies at the table.
The history-plus of Clockwork and Chivalry includes Alchemy, Clockwork, and Witchcraft. Alchemy deals with the manipulation of elemental forces, the summoning of elementals, and the binding of magic into potions. It is very flavorful, and gives alchemist PCs a broad range of abilities, as well as plenty of things to research during play. Clockwork is more focused; it is simply the creation of machinery powered by clockwork windings. However, as simple as this seems, the sky is the limit on what clockwork can do, and the sample machines include weapons, tanks, motorcycles, tools, and toys, as well as rules on designing and building your own items, something clockwork engineer PCs can do during play. In our campaign, a clockwork engineer was busy making a powered armor suit, that is until his untimely demise. There are two kinds of witches in Clockwork and Chivalry, normal and Satanic, and the clearest distinguishing factor is rather they cause harm or not. Witchcraft is slower, but in some ways more powerful, than Alchemy, however it seems to be less reliable.
A small bestiary in included, giving creatures both mundane and magical, from horses to dragons. It should be noted that whereas magical creatures exist, they are treated as extremely rare and only found in the collections of natural philosophers or out of the way parts of the world.
Clockwork and Chivalry includes two adventures, "An Elementary Mistake" and "The Naked and the Dead". The first, "An Elementary Mistake" makes an excellent start for a campaign and leads into the Kingdom and Commonwealth adventure series, or can be played on its own. "The Naked and the Dead" is entirely stand alone, and can be dropped into any campaign while the party is traveling across England.
I heartily recommend this work, it is well-written, thoughtful, and fun to play. I will not mention much about the system as Clockwork and Chivalry is powered by the Renaissance Deluxe system, which is covered below. The only serious criticism that I can levy is that I would have liked to see more about the rest of Europe and North America, and how the developments of Naseby have impacted them. Hopefully, there will be some adventures or sourcebooks that reach farther beyond the British Isles.
Cthulhu by Gaslight from Chaosium
Another caveat, I have written for Chaosium in the past, and will write for them again in the future. I love the Cthulhu Mythos, and especially the Call of Cthulhu (CoC) game. In fact, one of my favorite systems is the BRP, which powers Call of Cthulhu. This combined with my love of history, made this sourcebook for Call of Cthulhu a must have, and I am very happy Charlie Krank gave me a copy. Cthulhu by Gaslight is the CoC sourcebook for the 1890s London, an era that the game has long neglected in favor of the more popular 1920's and Modern (which depending on the sourcebook or adventure you buy might be anywhere from the 1990s to today). Fans of the 1890s have had to wait years for an updated and expanded sourcebooks, and the current edition of Cthulhu by Gaslight should please them.
As would be expected, this sourcebook is heavy on the history, even going so far as to include fictional figures from Victorian literature. The lifestyle of the times, as well as the technology, are thoroughly covered, and a gazetteer of London should be helpful for planning those carriage chases (and there are optional carriage chase rules). In addition to London, there is an around the British Isles section featuring local folklore that could be linked to the Mythos. The section on Strange Britain was interesting, but I would have liked to see more Mythos in it, and less Severn Valley (there is a whole sourcebook/ campaign set there, we don’t need more). In fact, the mythos in Britain section was an anemic six pages, a whole chapter would have been more to my liking.
Naturally, there is a great deal of character creation information, though some key tables (damage bonus for example) are missing, requiring that the user have the CoC corebook with them. This is a bit of a disappointment, as Cthulhu by Gaslight offers a host of new occupations, as well as alternate rules for character creation. Six pages are dedicated to random character traits, which is an increasingly popular alternate rule in BRP circles, and one I am not fond of. These pages could have been better used, as randomly rolling to see if your character is an alcoholic is not much fun, and adds little to the game.
Two adventures round out the book, "Night of the Jackal" set in London, and "The Burnt Man" which can be placed in the countryside wherever needed. Both are fine examples of Mythos investigation, and can be played as a stand alone, or linked together with little effort. Neither is a one session play, but can be easily knocked out in two or three sessions.
I like Cthulhu by Gaslight, do not get me wrong, but there are a few glaring issues, other than the ones I have already mentioned. Although the fictional characters were interesting, I feel it detracts from the Mythos to add in Count Dracula, Fu Manchu, and Martians. This is space that could have been better used, which I guess is my biggest complaint about Cthulhu by Gaslight. There is great material here, but there can be more great material instead of unnecessary sections that eat up page count and provide very little in return. Another critique, there are several layout issues where a section's first paragraph begins before the section heading, creating some confusion, especially when the section heading appears in the middle of the paragraph. I give Cthulhu by Gaslight a cautious recommendation, if you can accept the errors and distractions it is a fine sourcebook, and one I plan to make great use of. If you are of a more demanding nature, you might be disappointed.
Godlike from Arc Dream Publishing
Superheroic action during the years of the Second World War, or more accurately, a slightly alternate WWII, Godlike is an excellent game, a great source for role-playing information on WWII, and provided one of the most upsetting afternoons around the old gaming table I have ever experienced. Godlike is subtitled "Superhero Roleplaying in a World on Fire 1936-1946". It most definitely is. Although the focus of the corebook is on the European Theatre from D-Day to VE Day, there is more than enough information to set your own games anywhere in the world and anywhere during the war. One of the best parts of this book is the history of WWII in Part Five: Background, which gives a thorough nearly day by day history of WWII, as well as clearly noted events that are either entirely or partly alternate history.
The basic premise of Godlike is that shortly before WWII talents began to manifest in humans. These talents are alterations of reality, super powers, which range from the ability to see through concrete, to flying, shooting blasts of energy, and near indestructibility. The full range of super powers are on display in the setting and in the rules, with varying levels of power. As the war progresses, more and more talents emerge, and become part of the war effort for all the major, and some of the minor, nations involved. The Americans, British, Germans, Japanese, and Soviets each have their own approach to the use of talents, as well as special sections of the military or government that deal with talents and talent issues, as well as how differing nations deal with civil law regarding talents.
As a historical game, Godlike does an excellent job of conveying the history and culture of the time it is set in. In addition to a detailed history of the war, there are chapters devoted to lifestyle in the US during the war years, and the weapons and equipment of the major powers in the war. The campaign, or how to run this game section, gives further information about the era, life on the front lines and back home, and the nature of the war story genre. In all of this, there are many well done touches, such as in 1941 before the US's direct involvement in the war, British talents toured America to promote the Lend-Lease act. Part of this tour involved a super-strong talent visiting an armory and getting to keep everything he can lift. Another interesting tidbit from the alternate history is that as they had the means to safely and securely teleport people, Churchill and Roosevelt met more frequently than they did in our real history.
Godlike is not a four color action approach to the war with super heroes. On the contrary, it is a very grim and gritty telling of super heroics in a time of total war. There is hope, but it is slim (at least in the beginning of the war) and the various resistance movements have their own talents to throw up against the Axis powers. Where the setting truly hits home is in the biographies of notable talents. Many, many die during the war, and the loss of people with extraordinary abilities is a bit stunning. Those that survive, some go on to live normal lives, others are scarred and broken by their experiences. Only a handful live to the present day, the rest die in car accidents, suicides, or suffer other mundane deaths. Sure, you may be an eighty-year-old veteran of WWII who can bend inch thick steel bars with one hand, but as a life long smoker you are not immune to cancer. That is the true brilliance of Godlike, despite the abilities of the talents, they are still normal people and subject to normal maladies, both physical and psychological.
This brings us to the unsettling session of Godlike we played. Let me first say it was fun, all at the table had a good time, but it was a different type of fun. We played the Night of the Pegasus scenario (as well as the free pregenerated PC download), one of many available for free download from Arc Dream Publishing. Eight player character talents assaulted the bridge, and by the time relief arrived, only one stood. Two others survived, though one had lost a leg and the other was brain damaged. The remaining five talents were all killed in action, save one whose death was not witnessed and whose body was never recovered, making him MIA. Of the paratroopers who accompanied the talents, the less said is better, but only a few walked away from the battle. The death toll was the unsettling part, as well as the sheer randomness and impartiality of death in a modern war. Shells fall, machineguns rake open fields, and bullets whine by. Part of the high death toll was no doubt due to a bit of cognitive confusion on the part of the players, most of whom were expecting something more Sgt. Rock than Saving Private Ryan. My players did learn quickly and started taking cover after the first two PCs were mown down. Their ambush in the town was beautifully done and showed a marked climb up the tactic learning curve.
We played our session using the standard rules, and Godlike includes a host of optional rules for making the game more or less lethal. You can play Godlike as a four color action game, and the rules options support this, as well as making the PCs more or less powerful. There is even a section on using the d20 system to run the game, as opposed to Godlike's own One Roll System.
I would play Godlike again, with or without the variant rules, and the book is well written and a good read. In fact, I would love to look at some of the supplements for the game, and even the more modern Wild Talents game that uses the same setting. I would also love to use Godlike for other conflicts, and a Bronze Age or Medieval hack would be fun and easy. In short, Godlike gets a high recommendation, despite the lethality of the main system, mostly because it is a fine example of history plus style role-playing.
Iron Kingdoms from Privateer Press
This one is a little different from the games normally reviewed in this column. Iron Kingdoms is not a historical role-playing game, it’s a fantasy game that is heavily inspired, though not always in the most obvious of ways, by historical events. It is also a widely anticipated release, and one that I have been looking forward to for some time. Ages ago I had to miss the last day of GenCon, but still had money left that was destined for the exhibit hall. A friend of mine was going that day, and I gave him a wad of cash and a list. Somehow, he misinterpreted the request for a book called Privateers (a d20 OGL pirate and sailing sourcebook) and instead bought the Warmachine wargame corebook from Privateer Press. As this wargame had just come out, I was not even thinking about it, but that's what I ended up with (and I still have not managed to pick up a copy of Privateers). Regular readers might know that I am got out of wargames a few years ago, but back when I first acquired Warmachine I still had a hundred dollar a month lead habit. I was entranced by the setting, and put together several warbands before getting out of wargames for good. There was, in those heady days of the d20 Boom, a D20 role-playing version of the wargame, but it never fulfilled its promise or saw a full product line. This was a shame, for I really wanted to role-play in the setting. Flash forward to 2012, and low and behold, a new edition of the role-playing game is released. This one has its own system and takes advantage of over a decade of growth in the setting. Iron Kingdoms is a full fleshed out, stand alone role-playing game set in a world that is experiencing both a technological and a magical revolution, which combine to create an arcane-mechankial industrial revolution.
Iron Kingdoms begins with a fifty page treatise on the history of Western Immoren, the region the game focuses on. Often, these long histories in fantasy role-playing games are a bit dry, but this one is so well written it held my attention throughout. The histories begin with alternate creation myths of the world and the peoples that inhabit it, as well as notations where these myths cross or complement each other. This moves on to the first glimmerings of civilization, which follows a pattern repeated in the real world by nearly every influential culture. Again, following the pattern of real world history, the wandering tribes coalesce and form cities, which war amongst themselves, and begin to converge through conquest and diplomacy into large nations. Then, the barbarians come over the horizon and knock everything down. However, the barbarians are eventually driven off, and new governments form out of the chaos, this time as nation-states. These states naturally go to war against each other, and this is the situation at the time of the campaign's start date. This history yields more than just fifty pages of text, it is full of convenient hooks for adventures involving the past. There are mysteries, some explained in the text but unsolved by those in the world, others left for the GM to fill in for herself. This is simply a well done and brilliant created history for a fantasy setting, and one that should serve as a fine model for how to do this difficult task.
More than a well-written fantasy history, Iron Kingdomsdraws parallels to real world history in several places. Khador, one of the Iron Kingdoms, as decidedly inspired by Russia, at least Russia as seen by outsiders. There is a definite Cold War Soviet Union about Khador, from the color red to the style of uniforms and civilian dress. This is in marked contrast with Khador's main rival, Cygnar, which has an Anglo-American feel about it, and has the color blue as its main heraldic motif (as well as birds of prey). That these two nations are locked in a struggle that is at times hot and cold, and often involves fighting through or alongside proxies and allies, brings the Cold War feel to the front.
There are bits of this throughout Iron Kingdoms. The arcane-industrial revolution has displaced workers, created environmental problems, and set up conflicts between social classes, as well as generations. Steam power, and arcane enhanced steam engines, have become the norm for the most well developed areas, but are still rare in outlying provinces, leading to a disparity between town and country. Societies are becoming increasingly more urban, and the middle class is on the rise, which threatens the old aristocratic traditions. Even religion faces a struggle between competing faiths that share a common heritage, but differ greatly in application as well as a few key theological elements. All of this is described in a further fifty pages that look at the modern life in the Iron Kingdoms, making the book over one hundred pages of background information, quite impressive for a book of three hundred and fifty-eight pages.
As far as the system, it's much like the one used in the wargame, altered to make it suitable to role-playing. This can be a dangerous thing, as I have seen games attempt this in the past and not be able to pull it off, but Iron Kingdomsdoes a good job of it. One issue that I have, though it is a minor one, is that there is an assumption that one will use miniatures with the game. Not everyone will like this, but I suspect that most fans of Iron Kingdomswill have a collection of miniatures from the wargame at hand. For those who do not, the game can be run using tokens or other miniatures with bases affixed, templates of which (as well as templates for burst markers and such) can be downloaded for free from Privateer Press. For my own use, I simply fudge things and convert into the standard 1-inch tokens used by Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder, as well as those maps. It is not ideal, but it works. When I asked some folks at Privateer Press about this, they mentioned that pdf token sheets in their scale are in development, and this may prove a better work around. Of course, I could just get back into miniatures…
Iron Kingdoms gets high marks, and is a fun game with solid historical inspiration, especially in the art which manages to combine Napoleonic with Victorian styles, and throw in a good dose of steampunk and fantasy. I long to play in the setting, preferably as an arcane pistoleer. I know I haven't even begun to mention the magical steampunk steam jacks (automatons built for labor and war), the mechanikal armor and weapons, or many of the wonderful and downright exciting features of the setting. Oh, and there is also a WWI trench war feel to some of the conflicts between Khador and Cygnar, not have I mentioned the way the elves and their gods fit into the whole thing, or the hints at threats from the east. I could go on and on, but there just isn't enough room. Check out Iron Kingdomsif you are into steampunk fantasy with a full metal mentality, solid historical allusion, and an excellent created history.
Kingdom and Commonwealth Omnibus #1
The usual caveats, I am a line developer for Cubicle 7 Entertainment, and thus you may view this review as biased, but I assure you it is not. Kingdom and Commonwealth Omnibus #1 is a collection of two long adventures for Clockwork and Chivalry, "The Alchemist's Wife" and "Thou Shalt Not Suffer", that flow together and form the first part of the Kingdom and Commonwealth Series. Each adventure is a long multi-session affair, though a more dedicated group could get through one in five to six sessions (mine plays three hours a week and seems more interested in the ongoing soap opera of intraparty conflict than moving forward in the adventure at a timely rate). Of greater note, these adventures serve as not just scenarios, but are also sourcebooks on part of Britain. For example, detailed information on the Tainted Lands is in "The Alchemist's Wife", including such lovelies as what happens if you drink the water, how characters become tainted, and nifty little critters such as exploding badgers and fire breathing wolves (the former were a big surprise, "Oh, look a badger", BOOM!). As such they serve a dual purpose, and are useful if you are planning to run a game that doesn’t follow the adventure as written, or even use it. In addition to the Tainted lands, both adventures are packed with interesting NPCs and locales to be explored, as well as hooks for side quests or to create your own adventures.
"The Alchemist's Wife" picks up where "An Elementary Mistake" from the corebook leaves off. The PCs are sent by their patron to cross the Debatable Lands and the Tainted Lands on a quest to locate or determine the fate of his wife who disappeared after the battle of Naseby. It is an adventure filled with action and intrigue, and suits a variety of character types. Our action hero Sir Archibald had as much to do as the more socially inclined Mary the peasant healer (in fact, after the end of the adventure, Archibald and Mary eloped to France and got married, thus ending our love square).
"Thou Shalt Not Suffer" is a witch-hunt, of a sort. A great deal of information on Cornwall, an oft forgotten piece of territory, is featured, and provides the setting for the adventure. The PCs are sent into this cursed land to investigate several murders, and this leads them the trail of the major power of the area, the Witch Queen. I won’t give away too much here, but she is not the good witch who will cause no harm type, but the other, less friendly variety. It is a fine adventure filled with intrigue and action, and a lot of Cornwallish flavor. If you were running a Clockwork and Chivalry campaign, this adventure omnibus would be a great place to start, or continue if you have used "An Elementary Mistake". I am greatly looking forward to the next omnibus that collects two more adventures, and will be reviewed in the May Anniversary Column.
Renaissance Deluxe from Cubicle 7 Entertainment
In case you just skipped down to this part, I am a line developer for Cubicle 7 Entertainment, and the Renaissance Deluxe is by Cakebread and Walton. Unlike most historical role-playing games, Renaissance Deluxe is a generic historical system that is designed for a board range of eras from roughly 1500 to 1800. The rules are part of the greater BRP family, but their lineage passes through Runequest, Mongoose's Runequest and OpenQuest. However, this is not an OpenQuest sourcebook, but a stand alone game system that is faster and more streamlined, but at the same time focused on early modern eras as opposed to Medieval fantasy. I have found it to be clean, easy to master, and flexible.
Much of what I have said about Clockwork and Chivalry (C&C) with regards to Factions, Righteousness Points, and character 'splats' applies here as well, remember C&C is powered by Renaissance Deluxe. What I have saved for this review is one of the most interesting parts of the Renaissance Deluxe system, namely the connections and events table. This table features background hooks and character hooks that aid in rounding out the raw stats of a character. Nothing here gives any sort of bonus or penalty number wise, but instead provides tools for good role-playing. The system works thusly, each PC gets a number of rolls on the table equal to the total members of the party minus one. It is up to the player which ones to make use of, but every one that is used to build a connection with another PC gains both PCs bonus skill points for use in character creation. For example, in our C&C campaign, we ended up with a love square, two pairs of siblings, a lender and debtor situation, and a several veterans of the Battle of Naseby. Needless to say, the connections table in C&C is different than the one in Renaissance Deluxe as it is altered for the English Civil War. Likewise, the list of Professions and Factions in Renaissance Deluxe is more general than the ones in Clockwork and Chivalry as should be expected. It should be noted that clockwork machinery is not in Renaissance Deluxe.
Renaissance Deluxe also includes rules for Alchemy and Witchcraft, similar to the ones in Clockwork and Chivalry. Also, weapons and fashion run the gamut of the time frame, though individual items are covered in slight detail. A very short section deals with airships, naval combat, and such.
Although light on setting details or historical discussion, Renaissance Deluxe does provide a base line system that can be adapted by the GM to suit their own setting and era. I would love to run a Dumas inspired swashbuckling campaign with this system, and it could handle that as well as one based on the English Sea Dogs, Peninsular Campaign, American Frontiersmen, or nearly any other era in its target three hundred year span. However, it should be noted that this is a general, rather than a specific, system, but it would be easy for a GM to modify the factions and professions list to suit. Renaissance Deluxe is highly recommended for GMs who are willing to put in the work, and also as a less expensive means of having a second set of rules on hand for Clockwork and Chivalry games. Finally, I would be remiss to not point out two things. A useable but truncated version of the Renaissance Deluxe rules are available from Cakebread and Walton as a free download. Also, several setting sourcebooks are in the works, which should enrich this generic system.
Looking for some sword swinging, mead swilling, Viking fun? Check out my latest adventure in the Northlands Saga series, NS-4 Blood on the Snow from Frog God Games and available in both Pathfinder and Swords and Wizardry editions. If you are a publisher of historical or historical inspired or themed role-playing games, and you want your products reviewed for the May Anniversary Column, drop me a line and we'll set things up, but hurry as there are only three open slots for that column.
Next month I will hopefully be able to say more about my next big release Redacted, and there will be a column on historical mysteries. Until then, I hope this Holiday Season goes down as a special bit of your own history, and have a great New Year!
