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I don't know if writing role playing games is an art (1), but today I will give the title of flawed masterpiece to Promised Sands. A game that has been much criticized but still captivates the readers. A proof? This is its sixth review at RPG.NET
Since other people have described perfectly the book, setting and game system, I will focus only on the best elements and the worst flaws of Promised Sands. Or, to put it simple, the things I like and the things I don't like.
Things I like
The premise: T’nah is a desert world where some strange cultures live, although some humans are recently emerging from the sea depths. Primitive societies and mystic powers are mixed with the remnants of high technology, and at the end one question arises: is T’nah a post-apocalyptical Earth or not?
The races: The game includes ten races and five halfbreeds. They're not, as other reviewers have indicated and some illustrations strongly suggest, mere versions of elves, dwarfs and orcs. They have different and intriguing physical features, and some of them are quite different, like the short and vegetarian Troog and the Numids, which have very strange heads.
The cultures: In Promised Sands race and culture are separate things, and the environment where the character has been raised is more important than his genetic heritage.
There are twenty-four cultures in T'nah, all of them described in one of the last chapters of the book. These descriptions are really fantastic, since they don't mainly address what these societies do (like mining) but which are their beliefs and traditions. We can read about their attitudes toward family, religion, death, gender and slavery, and about their taboos and restrictions. Really, really well done.
The attributes system: Promised Sands uses nine attributes, none of them especially original, but I found very clever the method to generate them. You roll three dice, one for your race, one for your culture and one for your apprenticeship. For example, a Troog who has been raised between the peaceful Yethites and trained as a shaman will have a charisma of d6+d10+d8. She will be able to increase it, but never beyond 6+10+8 = 24.
The careers: The game uses a career system, a more elaborate version of the one in Warhammer FRP. The difference is that you can have secondary and tertiary focuses, that is, hobbies and other occupations beyond your main job.
Careers are divided in eleven categories: artisan, criminal, entertainer, kril (warrior), maroc (sorcerer who practices Ido), merchant, rusahn (user of Qai, a mystic art), servicer, vangel (cleric, shaman...), vhzine (politician, diplomat...) and worker. Characters will start with basic careers, but there are two other levels: journeyman and adept, with many requisites.
As you can see, many careers are not especially heroic, and so the game inherits the “reluctant adventurer” so typical from WFRP.
Ido and Qai: The two “magic” systems are really well designed and different enough. The first one is focused on inanimate elements and is based on the Ars Magica verb + noun system. Qai is more mystical, and has the characteristic that critical successes can also be harmful.
But both schools are also really unique because the implications of using them. Ido practicioners have to find and bond to themselves the called Maroc stones, and Qai is usually taught in sects.
The bestiary: The flora and fauna of T'nah is really original, and the authors have put a great effort on avoiding any suspicion that those creatures are recycled from D&D. The origin of the species is intriguing and diverse, so I'm sure that many players will ask themselves “what is this?” and “where does come from?” and not only “how can I kill it?”.
The detailed background: The fifth and sixth chapters of the book are really memorable (they also include the bestiary and the cultures description), since they're able to describe perfectly the world of T'nah, with its inhabitants, legends, gods, cities and even meals. Some of the ideas are pure genius.
Things I don't like
Too many names: How many names can a normal RPG reader remember? We have fifteen races and twenty-four cultures. Maybe it's too much, but that's unavoidable. Then we'll have some important places and creatures. Again, many people can recite all Forgotten Realms' gods. But we have strange names everywhere: in the careers, in the equipment section, in the introduction...
And a basic rule is not followed: always describing a word before using it. The introductory chapter can be really arid for newcomers.
The Loshad and the Myrlihk: These are the two “furry” species. Were they really necessary? They have no connections with the other races, and I think that they're only here to please more players. But they break the background's huge cohesion.
Too many abilities: There are hundreds. Really, I haven't counted them. There are only nineteen that start with the letter A. So it's impossible that the game master asks for an ability roll, because: a) she won't remember which one is the appropriate; and b) is very unlikely that a player will have it. The book suggests another system: the players indicate which skill they want to use. But again, they're too many and there's not even an index with their relations.
A confusing character creation: You start choosing your race, then your culture, then your apprenticeship... and here everything gets confusing. The remaining elements are really interesting by themselves, but I haven't found in the book a logic system to unite them. And there's no example, so it's really easy to get lost.
Not enough information about the metaplot: Promised Sands takes an ambiguous attitude about if T'nah is or is not a post-apocalyptical Earth. What we have in the book is really memorable, but after reading it we feel that we need some answers.
The author, Benjamin Rogers, wrote at RPG.NET that T'nah was, in fact, Earth, and that they planned to expand this idea in future supplements, that were written but never published. This was a huge mistake: we are not on the eighties (2), so core books should be as much self-contained as possible.
Conclusions
Promised Sands is one of the most fascinating role playing games that I have ever read (3). I like T'nah, the world and its inhabitants, and I must say that only one person with a huge talent can create a background so detailed and original.
But because of the huge flaws I know that I'll never play it, and that many people can be really discouraged to give it a chance.
So which is my conclusion? Promised Sands was published in 2003, but if you find it maybe getting it is a good idea, especially if it's a sale. Then read and enjoy it, and if you have time play it with its system, or with d20, or with Warhammer FRP...
And pray that one day we'll have a polished Second Edition, because it could be one of the best role playing games ever.
Notes
(1) Maybe it's an art or maybe it's not (and what about computer games?), but I think it's time to have a canon à la Harold Bloom, that tells us which are the books worth preserving and worth reading, even if you'll never play them. Let me give you some names: Over the Edge, The Masks of Nyarlathotep, Planescape, Vampire the Masquerade (the first edition), Ars Magica (the fifth), The Power behind the Throne, Rêve de Dragon...
(2) Many games that we remember as masterpieces had rather lame core books, but they managed to create their memorable worlds through their many supplements. Rune Quest and Traveller are two good examples. And what it would be Warhammer FRP without the first chapters of The Enemy Within campaing? Unfortunately the RPG market is different today, and almost no basic games are able to produce even a single supplement.
(3) I strongly believe that there are some RGP books (the ones that would be in the canon suggested above, for example) that are worth having even if you'll never play them. Yes, I know they're not proper literature and they can be expensive, but they also can spark your imagination and teach you about narrative... more that many “proper” novels, by the way.
