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Providence: Ecology Companion

Not to be confused with the first Providence book, the Ecology Companion is another one of the small format (6” by 9” approximately) books. The book size does not diminish the sheer volume of information it provides weighing in at 249 pages.

Rules

The Ecology Companion is a sourcebook for Providence, which means in general the rules are limited to statistics of creatures, items, and plants. There isn’t much in the way of things going wrong with that kind of book.

It does however provide three new powers, and how they work: Alter Skin, the ability to mimic the nature of something you touch such as a rock, or tree to gain their natural protections. Elongation, the traditional super-heroic ability of extending ones limbs and Split Form the ability to create copies of oneself (minus magic and other powers). The powers are presented mainly because there are creatures in the Ecology Companion that has those powers, but they can also be used by players for their PC. In addition to the powers, it provides rules for potions and poisons, and an optional rule for graded effects of such consumables.

The Ecology Companion also covers swarms, a difficult task for a lot of RPG’s and I’m not surprised it took them till now to cover the topic (especially since many of the creatures covered in the Companions are insects, arachnids, and the like.

The Companion details 3 troupials: Bright Oriole (which needed some explication since it seemed they were merely a new magical path and not a whole troupial unto themselves.), it also gives stats for Panther and Tiger Troupials first found in book on Horizon Striders. Adding to the three troupials is 33 creatures—some wird created/powered like the Aquamorph beings who seem to be living water to creatures such as the strange multi limbed Effigea, and the diminutive and illusion casting Dream-Mites. As well as some insects, and arachnids like the Thunder Beetle, or the Scorpion Dragonfly not to mention the 14 or so plants of interest provided. This builds on the original Ecology book, and expands the flavor of Providence.

This book isn’t just a collection of monsters to drop into a game, but rather a book of what things exist in the world of Providence, what they do, what they look like, and sometimes whether they are useful. There are even 13 recipes for some of the insects and arachnids. I find them interesting but a bit trite (If they’d given us some suggestions of what to cook that could look like and taste like what they imagine these creatures do—so that on game night we could have “authentic” Trandoori Raft Spider then it would have been more useful in creating an evocative game experience.)

Format

As noted it’s a 6x9” format book with 249 pages, the pages are yellowish-off white colored paper with a faux-parchment graphic that narrows the borders. Noticeably however is gone the big words found on every page sidebar off previous books which tell you the books name over and over again. This is indeed a good thing. The book is square glue bound, with sturdy paper and cover. My only real complaint is that not all their books are the same size.

The art is about standard for Providence nothing mind blowingly wonderful—just good standard pictures of the creatures, plants, what have you.

Much of the book is taken up by the fiction—which introduces us through journal entries to the creatures, and gives some view on how they operate from a “inside” the setting viewpoint. This is very important to me as a gamer because just knowing a creatures name, and attribute scores is useless in trying to make use of a published setting. Knowing how they look and act, and ore importantly behave is very worthwhile in a game that wishes to present a world that is alien to us.

Overall, the more of Providence I read the more this game interests me on so many levels. It’s about superheroes in a fantasy world, but not just that simple, it can have so many varied themes from discovery and exploration to fighting the good fight against overwhelming odds, this doesn’t make it unique by itself but the sheer expanse of the world, its detail, and heart all combine to create a place of great interest.

The Ecology Companion
The Ecology Companion Capsule Review by Tim Kirk on 25/09/01 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) Another good addition too the Providence game line, it's only real drawback is it's cost. Product: The Ecology Companion Author: Jeff Mackintosh, Danny Budge, Lucian Soulban Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Hubris Games Line: Providence Cost: 25.00 Page count: 249 Year published: 2000 ISBN: 0968536980 SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Tim Kirk on 25/09/01 Genre tags: Fantasy Superhero	Providence: Ecology Companion Not to be confused with the first Providence book, the Ecology Companion is another one of the small format (6” by 9” approximately) books. The book size does not diminish the sheer volume of information it provides weighing in at 249 pages. Rules The Ecology Companion is a sourcebook for Providence, which means in general the rules are limited to statistics of creatures, items, and plants. There isn’t much in the way of things going wrong with that kind of book. It does however provide three new powers, and how they work: Alter Skin, the ability to mimic the nature of something you touch such as a rock, or tree to gain their natural protections. Elongation, the traditional super-heroic ability of extending ones limbs and Split Form the ability to create copies of oneself (minus magic and other powers). The powers are presented mainly because there are creatures in the Ecology Companion that has those powers, but they can also be used by players for their PC. In addition to the powers, it provides rules for potions and poisons, and an optional rule for graded effects of such consumables. The Ecology Companion also covers swarms, a difficult task for a lot of RPG’s and I’m not surprised it took them till now to cover the topic (especially since many of the creatures covered in the Companions are insects, arachnids, and the like. The Companion details 3 troupials: Bright Oriole (which needed some explication since it seemed they were merely a new magical path and not a whole troupial unto themselves.), it also gives stats for Panther and Tiger Troupials first found in book on Horizon Striders. Adding to the three troupials is 33 creatures—some wird created/powered like the Aquamorph beings who seem to be living water to creatures such as the strange multi limbed Effigea, and the diminutive and illusion casting Dream-Mites. As well as some insects, and arachnids like the Thunder Beetle, or the Scorpion Dragonfly not to mention the 14 or so plants of interest provided. This builds on the original Ecology book, and expands the flavor of Providence. This book isn’t just a collection of monsters to drop into a game, but rather a book of what things exist in the world of Providence, what they do, what they look like, and sometimes whether they are useful. There are even 13 recipes for some of the insects and arachnids. I find them interesting but a bit trite (If they’d given us some suggestions of what to cook that could look like and taste like what they imagine these creatures do—so that on game night we could have “authentic” Trandoori Raft Spider then it would have been more useful in creating an evocative game experience.) Format As noted it’s a 6x9” format book with 249 pages, the pages are yellowish-off white colored paper with a faux-parchment graphic that narrows the borders. Noticeably however is gone the big words found on every page sidebar off previous books which tell you the books name over and over again. This is indeed a good thing. The book is square glue bound, with sturdy paper and cover. My only real complaint is that not all their books are the same size. The art is about standard for Providence nothing mind blowingly wonderful—just good standard pictures of the creatures, plants, what have you. Much of the book is taken up by the fiction—which introduces us through journal entries to the creatures, and gives some view on how they operate from a “inside” the setting viewpoint. This is very important to me as a gamer because just knowing a creatures name, and attribute scores is useless in trying to make use of a published setting. Knowing how they look and act, and ore importantly behave is very worthwhile in a game that wishes to present a world that is alien to us. Overall, the more of Providence I read the more this game interests me on so many levels. It’s about superheroes in a fantasy world, but not just that simple, it can have so many varied themes from discovery and exploration to fighting the good fight against overwhelming odds, this doesn’t make it unique by itself but the sheer expanse of the world, its detail, and heart all combine to create a place of great interest.