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Bloodshadows: a D6 Adventure Worldbook

Section 1, Summary

Bloodshadows is the first worldbook by the newly revived West End Games. Until now the titles released by WEG have been rulebooks or sourcebooks of creatures and locations.

In the interest of full disclosure, I wanted to let everyone know I received this book as payment from WEG for demoing games at Cons and Writing some fane material for their web page. I am also listed in the Special Thanks section of the book, because I gave the designer a few ideas on the WEG forum.

Bloodshadows was originally a Worldbook for the Masterbook system, a generic rule set used by the old WEG in the mid to late 90’s. I owned the original Bloodshadows at one time, but it was destroyed in a flood a few years back, so this review will concentrate on this new version, with a few hazy flashbacks from what I remember of the old product.

Bloodshadows is set in the World of Marl, a place where magic, horror and film noir all live together in uneasy peace. If you have ever seen the HBO movie staring Fred Ward called Cast a Deadly Spell, then you have an idea what this world is like. If not, in brief, it is the world of 1930's and 40's crime and pulp novels, with magic. Almost everyone knows a spell or two, and cars, railroads and other technologies are all powered by magic.

Marl is not a shiny happy world, however. Living with humanity in this world are creatures called supernaturals. Vampires, shapeshifters and Demons all live in the cities of Marl alongside humanity, more or less in peace. This give a lot of space in the game for all different sorts of adventures, from crime drama to exploration of the areas between cities to horror style "I am a monster, woe is me" type games.

The book is a 128 page softcover, with full color cover and Black and white interior. The cover art does not do much for me, but I like several of the interior art pieces. Perhaps the oddest/coolest thing about this product is that it only cost $12.95 US, the lowest price I have seen for a 128 page gaming book in a long time. Personally, I think it is very cool of WEG to crank out books at such a low price. Is it worth the price? Read on and see!

Section 2: the Chapters

There is a short 1 page introduction, then Chapter 1 starts with a few paragraphs of fiction about a detective named Jack Deacon and the case ihe is working on. The fiction is well written noir stuff, and each chapter starts with more of Deacon's tale. Sidebars throughout all of the chapters give more info about slang and other fun things to make your games seem more like the period represented. Most of the flavor text is written like a Sam Spade story, and it is pretty well done.

Chapters 1 through 3 give background on The world of Marl, the Godwar, and the City of Galita. The Godwar was fought hundreds of years ago between factions representing Order and Chaos. There was no clear winner, and in modern day Marl, many cults and groups of religious fanatics are gearing up to start the war all over again. These chapters spend about 50 pages giving a good summary of Marl, Galita, and the Godwar. One thing oddly missing from the Godwar information is the names and specifics about any of the cults involved. Order and Chaos are mentioned, as are the names of a few Gods and Demons, but more detail could have been used here.

Chapter 4 describes many of the strange creatures of Marl, giving stat for many different races. There are none of the standard fantasy races here; instead we have Ogre-like Hugors, dogmen known as Barghests, a host of undead and demons, and a several types of shapeshifter.

I appreciate WEG making some different type of races available, but I am not sure how many of these oddball races will get used in most games. I can see some people playing vampires and maybe a succubus or incubus, but the other races will probably be mostly used as NPCs. the chapter ends with stats for a few of the dangerous creatures that live in the wilds between Marl's many cities.

Chapter 5 is only few pages long, and explains the changes to the D6 Adventure character creation process for the book, and explains a few new Special Abilities and Disadvantages.

Chapter 6 is one of the biggest in the book. It explains how Magic works in Marl, and does an excellent job. One of the biggest complaints I have heard from many different sources is that Magic system from the new D6 books is not well defined enough. This chapter patches all the holes I have heard complaints about. There are about 60 new spells, and guidelines are giving for how many spells a caster starts with. A system of Arcane Knowledges and Schools of Magic is present to further define Magic, and rules are presented to guide the GM on how many spells a PC should start with, and how they can learn more.

I was happy with the undefined system of Magic presented in the D6 Core books, but this system adds without needlessly cluttering it up. I like it and think it is a welcome addition.

Chapter 7 covers equipment, both magical and mundane, and presents a good overview of goods and services needed for this type of setting.

Chapter 8 is all about adventuring in the World of Bloodshadows. Ideas are given for different types of adventures and campaigns, and GM's advice on how to run horror games is dispensed. A good list of books to read, and few films and comics are mentioned to help the GM set the mood for this type of game.

The last few pages, like nearly every other WEG book, have character templates specific to the setting.

Summary

I like Bloodshadows, with a few caveats. First, the good. I love the idea of a pulp/noir setting with magic. The setting oozes atmosphere, and anyone who has ever seen a Humphrey Bogart movie can imitate the style and feel of the world. Marl has tons of opportunity for many different types of adventures and campaigns.

On the bad side, the setting can seem a bit on the Wahoo side... there are so many evil necromancers, demons, death cults and organ stealing shapeshifters in Marl that it seems like humans would never have survived, much less prospered. If I ever run anything using this book, a lot of the crazier elements will be trimmed out.

More information about Bloodshadows is available on West End Games Website, along with quite a few free downloads, including an introductory adventure. West End Games