The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The Last Crusaders was a book that almost every Hell on Earth player was waiting for. Covering the Templars, the Wasted West's mystically-empowered champions of good, the book's main draw was that it was written entirely by Deadlands creator Shane Hensley. Upon reading the book and playing the adventure within I have to admit disappointment with this book.

The first fifty-one pages are for players to read, covering the formation, beliefs, and opinions held by the Templars, along with descriptions of Martyrs, a group of guardian angels who watch over the Templars. There are several disappointments to be found in this section. First, HOE players hoping for a better explanation of how Simon bestows the ability to call upon the Saints for power will be disappointed. We're told by one of the first Templars that "it was grueling, 20-hour a day training" to become able to tap the power of the Saints, yet in the description of a woman being accepted into the ranks of the Templars we are told that the ability to lay hands on people and heal them comes instantly once one becomes a Templar. Do new Templars instinctively know how to use the power granted to them? Do they have a vision similar to the one Simon had when he was first empowered by the Saints? We're also introduced to Granny Butterworth, an obvious rip-off of the old woman who led the forces of good in Steven King's The Stand. Finally, there are several pictures of established characters that bear little, if any, resemblance to previous depictions of them. Artistic license aside, the art director/editor of Deadlands should keep tighter reign on the artists.

Next up is some guidelines on creating a Templar, new Edges and Hindrances, pregenerated characters, and expanded rules for fighting with a sword. That last item seems to be nothing more than asking for trouble. The combat system for Deadlands can be slow, and allowing a player to use the maneuvers for swords introduced in Last Crusaders could bog things down, as a player debates over which move to use in each individual attack. Even worse, it opens the door for players to create their own special moves for every single type of fightin' skill, allowing the game to slow even further as each player debates over what special move to use. No, thank you.

Chapter Three covers the Templars' relics and special powers, and I must say all of them seem well thought out and none of them are unbalancing in play. Chapter Four covers the game effects of the blessings of Martyrs. A Templar must meet a special requirement to become blessed by a Martyr, and thereafter the Templar may call upon the Martyr's power by spending Fate Chips. Each Martyr also makes a demand on the Templar it blesses, and if the demand is not met the Templar loses the blessing. Again the blessings are well-thought out and do not unbalance play.

Chapter Five covers the Anti-Templars. These opposite numbers to the Templars could actually be very enjoyable to play; half their number are made up of those who feel the Templars are too judgmental when deciding who they help, and the rest are just looking for some supernatural power to aid in their misdeeds. However, the Anti-Templars have several major weaknesses, which makes it almost impossible for one to survive in a posse. First of all, most people think of them as pure evil on a stick, giving them a hefty penalty to all Persuasion rolls they make. Second of all Anti-Templars cannot be blessed by Martyrs, instead tapping into the power of the Four Horsemen. Drawing on the Horsemen's power can corrupt an Anti-Templar, which I can understand, but several of the abilities the Horsemen can grant pale before the blessings of the Martyrs. It seems odd to me that the power of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse can be dwarfed by a single human soul. Finally, previous HOE products have drilled into players' minds how good Templars are, making most unwilling to even think of playing an Anti-Templar.

Following Chapter Five is a short section for the Marshal, followed by the adventure "The Destroyer," in which players have a chance to destroy the founder of the Anti-Templars. Most of the time Pinnacle doesn't give stats for the movers and shakers of the Deadlands universe, so we don't kill off characters they plan to use in later supplements. But Anti-Templar founder Modeen has served his purpose, and to satisfy player desire to take out a big villain they've given players Modeen to slay. There are some big flaws in this adventure, among them:

1. The adventure starts with the PCs in Boise, having to leave the town and travel to confront the Destroyer, who is about 130 miles away. The Destroyer has several hostages, and if your posse is on foot all of them will be dead before your heroes arrive on the scene.

2. Along the way to confront the Destroyer the posse must encounter an abomination they can't permanently put down. It can end up your PCs have to go past the monster several times during the course of the adventure, and from running this scenario I can tell you the abomination can do major damage to a posse.

3. The adventure can not progress past a certain point unless the posse can come up with some ghost rock. If the posse has no ghost rock the Marshal must improvise a scenario detailing the posse's hunt for some solidified souls of the damned.

4. The final battle has the posse fighting Modeen, three Anti-Templars, and twenty well-armed mooks. PCs who try a straight-on assault will be slaughtered. For PCs to survive they need to know the value of stealth and diversions while possessing a good deal of luck. The PC casualties nearly got into the double digits when I ran this adventure, with four characters with a year of weekly gaming sessions under their belt getting cut down like wheat by Modeen and his crew.

5. Modeen is without a doubt the most powerful foe that has appeared in Deadlands: HOE. Only one thing can kill him, a sword which does STR+1d6. Modeen has the Greater Reward of Armor of the Saints, which drops the sword's damage to STR+1d4-5. Modeen also wears armor that provides an armor value of 2 or 3, depending on a roll made by the Marshal after every attack. A posse member's only chance of hurting Modeen without using magic is to hit his unarmored head. It's a +6 to the TN for a called shot to the head, with another +3 to the TN due to Modeen's three levels in Guardian Angel, and since it's a fightin' attack Modeen gets to add his fightin' score of 8 to the TN as well. That come to a total of TN 22 to hit Modeen in his head! And that's not even counting any Defensive Bonus he gets from the ax he carries. The only reason my posse was able to bring Modeen down was through the use of paralyzing magic one of the posse possessed.

I have one last complaint about this book, though it may be a problem unique to my copy. Several pages of the book are on the verge of coming out, Last Crusaders being the third Deadlands book I have purchased with this problem; perhaps Pinnacle has changed the binding glue they use. Whatever the case I'd advise you to check Last Crusaders for loose pages before you buy it.

So do I recommend this book? Only if you have Templars in your posse, are interested in running Anti-Templars, or need an adventure in which you can kill off all your posse in. Otherwise save your money.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)

The Last Crusaders
Author: Shane Hensley Category: game Company/Publisher: Pinnacle Entertainment Group Line: Deadlands: Hell on Earth Cost: 20.00 Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-889546-47-X SKU: 6008 Playtest Review by Ralph Dula on 03/16/00. Genre tags: Horror Post-apocalypse	The Last Crusaders was a book that almost every Hell on Earth player was waiting for. Covering the Templars, the Wasted West's mystically-empowered champions of good, the book's main draw was that it was written entirely by Deadlands creator Shane Hensley. Upon reading the book and playing the adventure within I have to admit disappointment with this book. The first fifty-one pages are for players to read, covering the formation, beliefs, and opinions held by the Templars, along with descriptions of Martyrs, a group of guardian angels who watch over the Templars. There are several disappointments to be found in this section. First, HOE players hoping for a better explanation of how Simon bestows the ability to call upon the Saints for power will be disappointed. We're told by one of the first Templars that "it was grueling, 20-hour a day training" to become able to tap the power of the Saints, yet in the description of a woman being accepted into the ranks of the Templars we are told that the ability to lay hands on people and heal them comes instantly once one becomes a Templar. Do new Templars instinctively know how to use the power granted to them? Do they have a vision similar to the one Simon had when he was first empowered by the Saints? We're also introduced to Granny Butterworth, an obvious rip-off of the old woman who led the forces of good in Steven King's The Stand. Finally, there are several pictures of established characters that bear little, if any, resemblance to previous depictions of them. Artistic license aside, the art director/editor of Deadlands should keep tighter reign on the artists. Next up is some guidelines on creating a Templar, new Edges and Hindrances, pregenerated characters, and expanded rules for fighting with a sword. That last item seems to be nothing more than asking for trouble. The combat system for Deadlands can be slow, and allowing a player to use the maneuvers for swords introduced in Last Crusaders could bog things down, as a player debates over which move to use in each individual attack. Even worse, it opens the door for players to create their own special moves for every single type of fightin' skill, allowing the game to slow even further as each player debates over what special move to use. No, thank you. Chapter Three covers the Templars' relics and special powers, and I must say all of them seem well thought out and none of them are unbalancing in play. Chapter Four covers the game effects of the blessings of Martyrs. A Templar must meet a special requirement to become blessed by a Martyr, and thereafter the Templar may call upon the Martyr's power by spending Fate Chips. Each Martyr also makes a demand on the Templar it blesses, and if the demand is not met the Templar loses the blessing. Again the blessings are well-thought out and do not unbalance play. Chapter Five covers the Anti-Templars. These opposite numbers to the Templars could actually be very enjoyable to play; half their number are made up of those who feel the Templars are too judgmental when deciding who they help, and the rest are just looking for some supernatural power to aid in their misdeeds. However, the Anti-Templars have several major weaknesses, which makes it almost impossible for one to survive in a posse. First of all, most people think of them as pure evil on a stick, giving them a hefty penalty to all Persuasion rolls they make. Second of all Anti-Templars cannot be blessed by Martyrs, instead tapping into the power of the Four Horsemen. Drawing on the Horsemen's power can corrupt an Anti-Templar, which I can understand, but several of the abilities the Horsemen can grant pale before the blessings of the Martyrs. It seems odd to me that the power of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse can be dwarfed by a single human soul. Finally, previous HOE products have drilled into players' minds how good Templars are, making most unwilling to even think of playing an Anti-Templar. Following Chapter Five is a short section for the Marshal, followed by the adventure "The Destroyer," in which players have a chance to destroy the founder of the Anti-Templars. Most of the time Pinnacle doesn't give stats for the movers and shakers of the Deadlands universe, so we don't kill off characters they plan to use in later supplements. But Anti-Templar founder Modeen has served his purpose, and to satisfy player desire to take out a big villain they've given players Modeen to slay. There are some big flaws in this adventure, among them: 1. The adventure starts with the PCs in Boise, having to leave the town and travel to confront the Destroyer, who is about 130 miles away. The Destroyer has several hostages, and if your posse is on foot all of them will be dead before your heroes arrive on the scene. 2. Along the way to confront the Destroyer the posse must encounter an abomination they can't permanently put down. It can end up your PCs have to go past the monster several times during the course of the adventure, and from running this scenario I can tell you the abomination can do major damage to a posse. 3. The adventure can not progress past a certain point unless the posse can come up with some ghost rock. If the posse has no ghost rock the Marshal must improvise a scenario detailing the posse's hunt for some solidified souls of the damned. 4. The final battle has the posse fighting Modeen, three Anti-Templars, and twenty well-armed mooks. PCs who try a straight-on assault will be slaughtered. For PCs to survive they need to know the value of stealth and diversions while possessing a good deal of luck. The PC casualties nearly got into the double digits when I ran this adventure, with four characters with a year of weekly gaming sessions under their belt getting cut down like wheat by Modeen and his crew. 5. Modeen is without a doubt the most powerful foe that has appeared in Deadlands: HOE. Only one thing can kill him, a sword which does STR+1d6. Modeen has the Greater Reward of Armor of the Saints, which drops the sword's damage to STR+1d4-5. Modeen also wears armor that provides an armor value of 2 or 3, depending on a roll made by the Marshal after every attack. A posse member's only chance of hurting Modeen without using magic is to hit his unarmored head. It's a +6 to the TN for a called shot to the head, with another +3 to the TN due to Modeen's three levels in Guardian Angel, and since it's a fightin' attack Modeen gets to add his fightin' score of 8 to the TN as well. That come to a total of TN 22 to hit Modeen in his head! And that's not even counting any Defensive Bonus he gets from the ax he carries. The only reason my posse was able to bring Modeen down was through the use of paralyzing magic one of the posse possessed. I have one last complaint about this book, though it may be a problem unique to my copy. Several pages of the book are on the verge of coming out, Last Crusaders being the third Deadlands book I have purchased with this problem; perhaps Pinnacle has changed the binding glue they use. Whatever the case I'd advise you to check Last Crusaders for loose pages before you buy it. So do I recommend this book? Only if you have Templars in your posse, are interested in running Anti-Templars, or need an adventure in which you can kill off all your posse in. Otherwise save your money. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 1 (I Wasted My Money)