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DarkUrthe legends was a game I thought long since dead and in my humble opinion there is a reason this.

DarkUrthe is a game that, for lack of a better phrase, is "a work in progress"... why it was relased in the format it was is beyond me.

The concept and world seem to be interesting but the format they are presented in is less than stellar. Character creation is cunfusing to say the least. It is okay until you get to "classes" and then it is just plain hard to keep up. There seem to be a number of classes based on specific templates for specific races (okay, fine) and then there are actual "generic" classes and then guild associated classes. There are some definate power advantages to the specific racial classes over everything else but beyond that I have a hard time differentiating, in any meaningful way, the rest of the classes. They are just way too bland. The most one gets is the bare-bones of any specific cult or guild, and the generic classes are so genereic I can never see why someone would even consider playing one. The class system is just too confusing to be of much fun... and I think character creation should be as enjoyable as the game itself.

The rules are average. Nothing spectacular or groundbreaking, excpect the spell design system. It is a marvel that does what I think WW's Mage should have done. It is a bit cumbersome to use by a character on the fly, but still is definately slavageable. The actual use of the spell cating system is, again, confusing. Some rules seem to be superfilious while others that would have been helpful, are ommitted. Couple this with some really abysmal expalantions on how to create alchemy and potions and (even with the cool spell creation rules) this section is lackluster.

One of the things that really hurt my opinion is that the game touts that it is a marvel of flexibility. In the magic category I will grant that, but it does nothing but give a few hints and suggestions (hard to find intersperesed in the text) for combat. This was a major disappointment.

The skill system also is sub-par. The three combat systems seem to overlap in excess to the point where none of them seem terribly useful (a useless combat skill? Yup, they magaed it in this game somehow). Skills need to be clairified and expanded upon badly. By the end of the skill chapter I had a nice mechanical pencil in my hand as I was crossing off useless skills, making notes of ones that should be added, and clairifying others. This same mechanical pencil got a workout as I read this book.

The history is given on the very last page of the book. What were they thinking? History of a gaming world is just as important, if not more so, than the rules of the game... and DarkUrthe treats it as an afterthought.

There is a decent section on the gods of the realm... though this section smacks of a "quantity vs. quality" mentality... and that goes for the section detailing the world (again, after character creation and near the end of the book like the histroy... why!?!).

DarkUrthe legends shines in potentials. There seem to be a few gems of good ideas in the game but they are hard to fine and are poorly presented. Maybe for a GM with a lot of time on his hands this would be a good game, because it needs A LOT of work to make into a viable place to run a campaign. The foundations are there though.

There is a definate feeling of an unfinished work to this game.

I would not buy this game unless you find it cheap and are in for a challenge to make this game playable.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

DarkUrthe Legends
Author: Matthew Yarrow Category: game Company/Publisher: Black Dragon Press Cost: out of print Page count: n/a Capsule Review by Chris Gunning on 10/14/98. Genre tags: Fantasy Gothic	DarkUrthe legends was a game I thought long since dead and in my humble opinion there is a reason this. DarkUrthe is a game that, for lack of a better phrase, is "a work in progress"... why it was relased in the format it was is beyond me. The concept and world seem to be interesting but the format they are presented in is less than stellar. Character creation is cunfusing to say the least. It is okay until you get to "classes" and then it is just plain hard to keep up. There seem to be a number of classes based on specific templates for specific races (okay, fine) and then there are actual "generic" classes and then guild associated classes. There are some definate power advantages to the specific racial classes over everything else but beyond that I have a hard time differentiating, in any meaningful way, the rest of the classes. They are just way too bland. The most one gets is the bare-bones of any specific cult or guild, and the generic classes are so genereic I can never see why someone would even consider playing one. The class system is just too confusing to be of much fun... and I think character creation should be as enjoyable as the game itself. The rules are average. Nothing spectacular or groundbreaking, excpect the spell design system. It is a marvel that does what I think WW's Mage should have done. It is a bit cumbersome to use by a character on the fly, but still is definately slavageable. The actual use of the spell cating system is, again, confusing. Some rules seem to be superfilious while others that would have been helpful, are ommitted. Couple this with some really abysmal expalantions on how to create alchemy and potions and (even with the cool spell creation rules) this section is lackluster. One of the things that really hurt my opinion is that the game touts that it is a marvel of flexibility. In the magic category I will grant that, but it does nothing but give a few hints and suggestions (hard to find intersperesed in the text) for combat. This was a major disappointment. The skill system also is sub-par. The three combat systems seem to overlap in excess to the point where none of them seem terribly useful (a useless combat skill? Yup, they magaed it in this game somehow). Skills need to be clairified and expanded upon badly. By the end of the skill chapter I had a nice mechanical pencil in my hand as I was crossing off useless skills, making notes of ones that should be added, and clairifying others. This same mechanical pencil got a workout as I read this book. The history is given on the very last page of the book. What were they thinking? History of a gaming world is just as important, if not more so, than the rules of the game... and DarkUrthe treats it as an afterthought. There is a decent section on the gods of the realm... though this section smacks of a "quantity vs. quality" mentality... and that goes for the section detailing the world (again, after character creation and near the end of the book like the histroy... why!?!). DarkUrthe legends shines in potentials. There seem to be a few gems of good ideas in the game but they are hard to fine and are poorly presented. Maybe for a GM with a lot of time on his hands this would be a good game, because it needs A LOT of work to make into a viable place to run a campaign. The foundations are there though. There is a definate feeling of an unfinished work to this game. I would not buy this game unless you find it cheap and are in for a challenge to make this game playable. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse)

DarkUrthe Legends