The Inside Scoop on Gaming

As I have said elsewhere (at great length,) I am not a fan of TSR or the AD&D game system. A few years back, I was handed a stack of material to review for the now-defunct _Conjure_ magazine (in heaven's name, let it stay defunct!) The magazine folded before most of my reviews could be published, but in that stack were a few items from TSR's then-new campaign world, Birthright. I warned the magazine's publisher that my reviews were more than likely to be quite negative--he was well aware of my disdain for TSR. Nevertheless, I took the stuff, and, unaware of the dog's death that _Conjure_ would die, I dutifully proceeded to evaluate it.

Much of that stuff met my expectations for TSR products (this was before the WotC buyout, bear in mind.) The Birthright items, a couple of the domain sourcebooks, did not. In fact, I thought highly enough of them to eventually procure the main Birthright boxed set (since, after all, I couldn't properly evaluate the support products without knowing anything about the nature of the setting.)

WotC/TSR has now officially killed Birthright, since so little of their audience liked it or wanted to see new products. And that's too bad, because Birthright is, in my opinion, AD&D strongest campaign setting to date.

The campaign itself is set up around the idea of the "Divine Right of Kings." In Cerilia, some individuals are "Blooded," possessed of innate powers granted by ancestors who were present at a cataclysmic Battle of the Gods centuries ago. The Old Gods didn't survive the battle, but their essences were instilled into their followers and persist today, inherited by their descendants.

It is these Blooded individuals, called scions, who rule the various nations of Cerilia (and there are a lot of them,) called "Domains." Blooded persons also control various religious orders, guilds, and sources of magical power. If you aren't Blooded, the best you can hope for is to be a trusted underling to one of these powerful characters.

This idea may have been taken too literally--there are real, substantial game benefits to being Blooded, even aside from the fact that it makes a character potentially qualified to rule a domain. However, the actual mechanics for this are very interesting and provide for a great deal of variation between Blooded characters. There are nearly 30 different Bloodline powers. How many of them a character has access to is dependent on his Bloodline strength, which is measured in points.

In addition, each Bloodline is derived from one of the seven Old Gods who perished at the Battle of Mount Deismaar. Each of these derivations limits a Blooded character's access to certain powers. Also covered is the manner in which a Bloodline is inherited by one's children. It's also possible to "steal" a scion's Bloodline strength, if one scion kills another in a specific manner. This is similar to the idea developed in _Highlander_, but it's less of an all-or-nothing thing--the victor can usually gain only a point or two unless certain very rare magical weapons are used to commit the deed.

The Domains which are ruled by Regent characters are also covered by an extensive set of rules. These cover the management of the Domain, and include a rather simple tactical battle system for resolving conflicts. Players of ASL will not be satisfied by this battle system, but the level of detail provided is more appropriate for inclusion in a roleplaying game anyway.

Many different aspects of rulership are represented here, not just troop movements. The Domain's finances, trade status, spy network, and management of important personalities are all covered by the standard Domain Actions which can be taken by the regent. Rulers can foment unrest in enemy provinces, research new magics (if the regent is a Priest or Wizard,) appoint Lieutenants, or develop their provinces by building roads, bridges, fortifications, aqueducts, or making other civic improvements.

In addition to the Domains themselves, PCs can also control Holdings, which are smaller, but nonetheless important, components of the domain. These are broken into several types: Guilds, Law Holdings, Temples, and Sources (places of magical power.) This lends itself to an interesting campaign setup in which one player is the ruler of the domain, while another is the Archpriest of the realm, another heads a network of important guilds, and another is the Court Wizard, overseeing the magical defenses and resources of the realm.

All of this is fully supported by the rules, and several different approaches to Birthright campaign play are discussed, albeit briefly, including the obvious (but most difficult for the GM) option of granting each PC his or her own domain.

The Birthright boxed set contains three booklets: a 96-page Rulebook detailing the modifications made to the AD&D system when playing the Birthright campaign; the 32-page Atlas of Cerilia, covering the history and peoples of the main continent of the Birthright world and defining the nature of Cerilian reality; and the 96-page Ruins of Empire book, detailing the lands of Anuire, the principal area developed in most of the rest of the Birthright product line.

As well, there are three poster-size maps, one of all of Cerilia and the other of Aniure, the third being a Battle Mat whereon tactical military actions are played out, and 12 cardstock sheets summarizing various information. In addition, you get a 4-panel GM screen, several large sheets of War Cards representing Cerilian military units and intended to be cut out and used on the Battle Mat. Also included is a fold-up "War Chest," intended to store the War Cards. Typically, the cards don't fit properly into the chest, though they'll be right at home in a standard index card file box.

The history of Cerilia and the Anuirean Empire is tight and makes for good reading. This sort of thing can be very dry, but Birthright keeps things moving, even while giving the reader a good deal of information to digest. Unlike many campaign settings, the contemporary situation in Cerilia extends logically from its history. The designers started with a method of play, and developed the history of their setting around it. This usually ends up feeling contrived, but Birthright makes it work.

Perhaps the core of the entire setting is the Domains themselves. There are a large number of these in all of Cerilia, separated into five human cultural groups (each well-realized,) and mixed in with a sprinkling of nonhuman realms. The Ruins of Empire booklet covers every Domain in Anuire, in some detail. Given are the provinces and holdings of each Domain, all the necessary stats needed to run them, and a fair amount of descriptive material. A regent is provided for each domain. The Players can either develop and play one of these personalities, or can play a character of his or her own design, newly arisen to the throne.

Many of the more archaic names used in Birthright are Celtic in flavor--specifically Welsh. If you're not familiar with that language, you'll have a rough time with some of the Elven names in particular, even with the pronunciations given on the cards--it's very easy to fall into the habit of pronouncing the words based on English phonetics. (For those who are interested, there is a set of audio pronunciation guides posted in the TSR website.)

Despite the rather fanciful (and literal) interpretation of the Bloodlines and how they work, Cerilia is TSR's most coherent, logical and believable setting. Better yet, it'd be very easy to dispense with the idea of PC regents and run a standard AD&D campaign there. Playing with PCs are either regents or other important personalities, though, Birthright does something no other AD&D product has even attempted--it makes politics and intrigue the center of the game. Personally, I find this quite refreshing, especially given that AD&D tends to attract hack-n-slashers and puzzle gamers. Perhaps that's why it didn't do very well.

I'm giving Birthright good marks. It's the only one of TSR's various setting that feels to me that it could be a real place, somewhere just around the corner. It encourages roleplaying and thoughtful play as no other TSR product has ever done, and it's designed and developed with lots of fine detail, but with plenty of room for GMs to do their own development. At $30, you're getting a good load of stuff for your money, and as a campaign world, it's well-designed whether you want to use the official Birthright method of play or not.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Birthright Campaign Setting
Author: Slade Henson and Rich Baker Category: game Company/Publisher: TSR, Inc. Line: Birthright Cost: $30.00 Page count: 224 extras ISBN: 0-7869-0143-8 Playtest Review by Gary N. Mengle on 05/17/99. Genre tags: Fantasy	As I have said elsewhere (at great length,) I am not a fan of TSR or the AD&D game system. A few years back, I was handed a stack of material to review for the now-defunct _Conjure_ magazine (in heaven's name, let it stay defunct!) The magazine folded before most of my reviews could be published, but in that stack were a few items from TSR's then-new campaign world, Birthright. I warned the magazine's publisher that my reviews were more than likely to be quite negative--he was well aware of my disdain for TSR. Nevertheless, I took the stuff, and, unaware of the dog's death that _Conjure_ would die, I dutifully proceeded to evaluate it. Much of that stuff met my expectations for TSR products (this was before the WotC buyout, bear in mind.) The Birthright items, a couple of the domain sourcebooks, did not. In fact, I thought highly enough of them to eventually procure the main Birthright boxed set (since, after all, I couldn't properly evaluate the support products without knowing anything about the nature of the setting.) WotC/TSR has now officially killed Birthright, since so little of their audience liked it or wanted to see new products. And that's too bad, because Birthright is, in my opinion, AD&D strongest campaign setting to date. The campaign itself is set up around the idea of the "Divine Right of Kings." In Cerilia, some individuals are "Blooded," possessed of innate powers granted by ancestors who were present at a cataclysmic Battle of the Gods centuries ago. The Old Gods didn't survive the battle, but their essences were instilled into their followers and persist today, inherited by their descendants. It is these Blooded individuals, called scions, who rule the various nations of Cerilia (and there are a lot of them,) called "Domains." Blooded persons also control various religious orders, guilds, and sources of magical power. If you aren't Blooded, the best you can hope for is to be a trusted underling to one of these powerful characters. This idea may have been taken too literally--there are real, substantial game benefits to being Blooded, even aside from the fact that it makes a character potentially qualified to rule a domain. However, the actual mechanics for this are very interesting and provide for a great deal of variation between Blooded characters. There are nearly 30 different Bloodline powers. How many of them a character has access to is dependent on his Bloodline strength, which is measured in points. In addition, each Bloodline is derived from one of the seven Old Gods who perished at the Battle of Mount Deismaar. Each of these derivations limits a Blooded character's access to certain powers. Also covered is the manner in which a Bloodline is inherited by one's children. It's also possible to "steal" a scion's Bloodline strength, if one scion kills another in a specific manner. This is similar to the idea developed in _Highlander_, but it's less of an all-or-nothing thing--the victor can usually gain only a point or two unless certain very rare magical weapons are used to commit the deed. The Domains which are ruled by Regent characters are also covered by an extensive set of rules. These cover the management of the Domain, and include a rather simple tactical battle system for resolving conflicts. Players of ASL will not be satisfied by this battle system, but the level of detail provided is more appropriate for inclusion in a roleplaying game anyway. Many different aspects of rulership are represented here, not just troop movements. The Domain's finances, trade status, spy network, and management of important personalities are all covered by the standard Domain Actions which can be taken by the regent. Rulers can foment unrest in enemy provinces, research new magics (if the regent is a Priest or Wizard,) appoint Lieutenants, or develop their provinces by building roads, bridges, fortifications, aqueducts, or making other civic improvements. In addition to the Domains themselves, PCs can also control Holdings, which are smaller, but nonetheless important, components of the domain. These are broken into several types: Guilds, Law Holdings, Temples, and Sources (places of magical power.) This lends itself to an interesting campaign setup in which one player is the ruler of the domain, while another is the Archpriest of the realm, another heads a network of important guilds, and another is the Court Wizard, overseeing the magical defenses and resources of the realm. All of this is fully supported by the rules, and several different approaches to Birthright campaign play are discussed, albeit briefly, including the obvious (but most difficult for the GM) option of granting each PC his or her own domain. The Birthright boxed set contains three booklets: a 96-page Rulebook detailing the modifications made to the AD&D system when playing the Birthright campaign; the 32-page Atlas of Cerilia, covering the history and peoples of the main continent of the Birthright world and defining the nature of Cerilian reality; and the 96-page Ruins of Empire book, detailing the lands of Anuire, the principal area developed in most of the rest of the Birthright product line. As well, there are three poster-size maps, one of all of Cerilia and the other of Aniure, the third being a Battle Mat whereon tactical military actions are played out, and 12 cardstock sheets summarizing various information. In addition, you get a 4-panel GM screen, several large sheets of War Cards representing Cerilian military units and intended to be cut out and used on the Battle Mat. Also included is a fold-up "War Chest," intended to store the War Cards. Typically, the cards don't fit properly into the chest, though they'll be right at home in a standard index card file box. The history of Cerilia and the Anuirean Empire is tight and makes for good reading. This sort of thing can be very dry, but Birthright keeps things moving, even while giving the reader a good deal of information to digest. Unlike many campaign settings, the contemporary situation in Cerilia extends logically from its history. The designers started with a method of play, and developed the history of their setting around it. This usually ends up feeling contrived, but Birthright makes it work. Perhaps the core of the entire setting is the Domains themselves. There are a large number of these in all of Cerilia, separated into five human cultural groups (each well-realized,) and mixed in with a sprinkling of nonhuman realms. The Ruins of Empire booklet covers every Domain in Anuire, in some detail. Given are the provinces and holdings of each Domain, all the necessary stats needed to run them, and a fair amount of descriptive material. A regent is provided for each domain. The Players can either develop and play one of these personalities, or can play a character of his or her own design, newly arisen to the throne. Many of the more archaic names used in Birthright are Celtic in flavor--specifically Welsh. If you're not familiar with that language, you'll have a rough time with some of the Elven names in particular, even with the pronunciations given on the cards--it's very easy to fall into the habit of pronouncing the words based on English phonetics. (For those who are interested, there is a set of audio pronunciation guides posted in the TSR website.) Despite the rather fanciful (and literal) interpretation of the Bloodlines and how they work, Cerilia is TSR's most coherent, logical and believable setting. Better yet, it'd be very easy to dispense with the idea of PC regents and run a standard AD&D campaign there. Playing with PCs are either regents or other important personalities, though, Birthright does something no other AD&D product has even attempted--it makes politics and intrigue the center of the game. Personally, I find this quite refreshing, especially given that AD&D tends to attract hack-n-slashers and puzzle gamers. Perhaps that's why it didn't do very well. I'm giving Birthright good marks. It's the only one of TSR's various setting that feels to me that it could be a real place, somewhere just around the corner. It encourages roleplaying and thoughtful play as no other TSR product has ever done, and it's designed and developed with lots of fine detail, but with plenty of room for GMs to do their own development. At $30, you're getting a good load of stuff for your money, and as a campaign world, it's well-designed whether you want to use the official Birthright method of play or not. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Birthright Campaign Setting