This review will cover one of the key books within the game range: the Darkun Class Sourcebook. I will be reviewing all the Class modules (2) we have then the scenario modules (2).

link to Corebook Review

link to Thargos Atlas Review

Cover:

<[img]http://www.cursedempire.com/Images/darkunface.jpg[/img]>

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The cover has a brutal looking Darkun character face on it (see other class book reviews) illustrated by Rob Larson. This really is a stunning cover and is extremely powerful art.

Physical Description:

The book itself is perfect bound coming in at 132 pages with the usual customary greyscale pages and quality paper we find in the whole range.

Art: all the art is of a very high standard that we are now used to with the range. The full page darkuns a superb and all illustrated by Rob larson who did the cover. The weapons are by Amandine Labarre.

Introduction:

Contrary to the initial thought thas this is purely a book on darkuns, the module actually provides a lot of additional material for the game itself, beyond the single class aspect.

Contents:

The module takes these lethal characters a lot further in the game than was provided for in the corebook. Essentially darkuns are deadly death squads that work in the service of the south (the evil guys). They are like a cross between special forces and religious fanatics. This makes them pretty mean characters to be up against or to play as you can also play these characters.

As a player you have 11 factions to choose from, each of which is affiliated with one of the Elemental Cults (Air, Earth, Water and Fire). There is a really useful graphical representation of their interactions (Ally/Distrust/Hatred). We often find that if you wish to form a very solid darkun party, you choose ally factions whereas if you want a really "stab you in the back" atmosphere, we get opposing factions. What is fun is that you may have a high priest assign a mission for the mixed-bag darkun group, which means that they have to work together to stand a chance of getting anywhere.

Darkuns are brutal killing machines who excell in the arts of torture, poison concoction, assassination, subterfuge etc. They instill fear in the Empire (good guys) and are used for propaganda in the war that rages on Thargos.

In the supplement you have:

• Darkun Origins/Darkun Rites: really useful background information on the origins of the darkun. Gives the GM and players a real insight as to why they are the way they are.

•Darkun Subfactions and their interaction (including a complete interaction chart as described above): these are the 11 factions and the chart that describes their relationships towards one another. • Darkun Tattoos and Symbols: body-art is a big part of the darkun character. You can tell the origins and history of a darkun by looking at their tattoos and body-art. We had great fun during one of our games when a player fumbled their knowledge of bodyart so badly (hidden GM roll: fumble) that they mistook the toughest of the Darkun NPC's for the weakest of the pack...I will let you imagine what insued.

• Darkun Units & Hierarchy: a list of military units that darkuns form and the hierarchy darkuns operate to.

In Addition to all the darkun material there are new rules in the book:

• New Player Character Races: Rlisha (Dusk Elves) and Centaurs: now both of these races have added a lot to our campaign and they are both further developed considerably in the Dark Clouds of War and Knight Class books respectively.

• New Classes: Companions, Servants and Darkun Subclasses: Companions are superb characters. The best way to describe them is "marginalised magic academy drop outs!", they really are a great class of character that develop the more 2-dimensional good vs evil plot, as many of them are neutral in the conflict. A concept up until now weak in the setting. The new Darkun subclasses are pretty cool with such characters as the Poison Master for example.

• New Combat Rules: Hand-2-Hand Combination Attacks & New Darkun Weapons: these really give the darkuns an edge but at a price. This really is something we love about the game system. If characters get bonuses or an edge, they can choose to use it but their are also penalties for the use of certain skills. For example combination attacks allow a darkun to make multiple attacks but then their forfeit their parry/dodge roll. Our favourite is the darkun grenade that has a 15% chance of self-igniting causing huge amounts of damage to the user especially if they are carrying more grenades...

• Additional Poison Rules, New Darkun Magic: Spells and Magic Objects: the new spells are more than welcome and can be used by Warrior Priests too.

• Cults: Code, Orders and Developing new Factions/Subfactions: there are rules for creating one's own faction. I would have liked more examples here, but the guidelines are flexible enough to create as many new factions as required. Our gaming group have created 2 new factions.

• Mental Health: Indoctrination effects on sanity/nightmare effects on Spellcasters have also been included in the book as well as 6 New Creatures such as the Temple Blade (temple guardian warriors),Darkun Berserker, Temple Pillar Elemental (really powerful greater elementals) etc.

• Master of Tales Section: this is a useful section that helps GM's roleplay Darkuns to maximum effect and really make them the mean guys of the setting.

• Some game aids like the Fire Temple of Morg are great to kick start a Campaign. The map is gorgeous and was useful for us to get an idea of how a temple is laid out and identify the inhabitants of a large temple.

Scenarios: as with every Cursed Empire book we possess, there are scenarios here as well. This in our opinion is one of the strongest points of the game range. 2 Complete Scenarios Form the basis of a campaign for both Empire and South. These scenarios are really useful for giving players an idea of darkuns both from a player and a NPC perspective.

Conclusion:

This supplement is a must have for any Cursed Empire gaming group. I would also recommend it to other players who want to introduce brutal characters into their campaign. We know of some players who have even converted these characters into their d20 game as they liked them so much.

For our home game we have an imperial party, however we also all have darkun characters ready just in case we fancy a blast or a change of scene.

The most unique thing about the darkun is that their renown goes to their temple so death in itself is not the end of them as you can create a new character and sift off some of the renown of the defunct one. this really pushes us to kill off our characters in a blaze of glory in order to maximise our Points of Renown (PR) and has given us some of our most momentous gaming experiences ever. This is very rare to have a character you do not care about loosing, where roleplaying not power gaming is the most important thing. Beefing-up the character is not the aim with these guys, just the glory of their faction and the south...

James Holden