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The Good: The author does a good job of providing a believable setting along with the mechanics for super heroes empowered by gods. A lot of work is put into making certain players still have many options while building characters that fit the correct feel for their empowering entity. It’s nice to be able to play monsters and reincarnated heroes in addition to people empowered by the gods. The new and altered powers are very flavorful and fun.
The Bad: Only three pantheons are available. Some of the gods offer much less effective power options than others. Sometimes it’s unclear whether the author is going for more of a realistic or a four color feel, often due to the artwork and the descriptions.
The Physical Thing
This 135 page softcover showcases above average production values for its $25 price tag. The editing is good, with few if any flaws, but the formatting is exceptional leading to an appealing and easy to read book. The artwork, however, leaves something to be desired. Some pictures depict classic mythological figures and symbols while others showcase classic superheroes. That sounds good conceptually but the way characters are built (and the nature of the setting) in Legends Walk makes it a little more difficult to have tights wearing supers. Most characters only have a few powers in a narrow area and the setting seems to have fewer costumed hero types. Still, the art does make the book attractive and it communicates a mythological superhero mood. That’s no small feat.The Ideas
Exceptional people have been imbued with the power of gods, or transdimensional beings depending on your perspective, in order to accomplish some objective of the god. Rather than handing out missions, gods (and monsters and heroes) tend to imbue people with longer term goals in mind. While those who act in accordance with the god’s interests (which typically means acting in accordance with their classic mythological interests) gain Favor, individuals still have plenty of free will and all the problems that come along with it.In addition to the modifications to Truth & Justice, Legends Walk includes an interesting setting which does a good job of both considering the issues a world suddenly filled with super beings would face while also providing lots of ideas and potential plot hooks.
Under the Cover
Overview 9 pages.While this is a general introduction to the concepts mentioned above, Legends Walk also seeks to give you as many choices as it can. A variety of different setting ideas, from godlings in the dark ages to Sources (the god-entities that imbue people) as living gods who might stop by to say “Hi,” this game does a fantastic job of providing short but interesting suggestions for different ways to run a Legends Walk game.
Rules 75 pages.
First off, be aware that Legends Walk supplements the Truth & Justice core rules and you’ll need them to play.
The big change in rules here is in power selection. Instead of giving all the options of Truth & Justice, this product narrows things down in order to reinforce theme and give some coherency to the how and why of super powers. To that end players begin character creation by selecting a Source that has imbued their character. It could be a God (like Thor), a Hero (like Odysseus), or a Monster (like Medusa). This choice is important because it sets up both the character’s patron and how their powers are purchased.
If the Source is a god the character begins with Aegis +0, a Quality that allows the character to feed off of things connected to the god (so heal rapidly while in water for a Poseidon oriented character, for example) and to suffer when taken far outside their environment (perhaps a person imbued by an air god has great difficulty underground). If the Source is a Hero then the character gains an extra Motivation or an extra Quality Rank. Finally, if the Source is a Monster then the character must start with an Average Vulernability. Vulnerabilities, beyond giving some disadvantages, often dictate where damage is applied first – a new concept introduced here called Targeted Damage.
Example: I want to make a hero empowered by Fenrir, a Monster from Norse Mythology. Fenrir is most definitely not a good guy, all things considered, but I reason that Fenrir really wants to keep the meta population in check. To that end Fenrir imbues Matthew Wolf, a C.I.A. operative, with power. Fenrir knows Matthew has a good heart, but his commitment to justice will mean that many other empowered beings will be taken out. Looking at the entry for Fenrir I choose Mark of the Wolf as my Vulnerability. Matthew looks like a classic werewolf, and this often causes him problems.
While differences exist, the Truth & Justice base is still here. Non-super Qualities, for instance, are not changed.
Example: Matthew has a host of skills that make him an excellent agent. I assign him Investigator +4, Unarmed Combat +2, Friends In High Places +2, and Intimidating Presence +2.
There are big differences come in super power selection. First of all, Legends Walk makes a variety of changes to existing powers and introduces some new ones. All of the new and tweaked powers have a strongly mythological basis. Breach the Wall of Death, for example, allows a character to journey into the underworld and spy on the living – or even bring back a lost soul. Immortal provides resistance to poison and disease while extending lifespan – but it wont let the character live forever. 15 pages of new and modified powers is quite an addition.
Other than changes in the form of the new and changed powers, players are required to choose their character’s abilities from the applicable Power Programme. Every Programme has a required power that all characters must take, but then the player is free to take whatever they like.
Example: I’ve already chosen a Weakness from Fenrir’s Power Programme and now it’s time to pick my character’s powers. Super-Strength is a required power, so I go ahead and pick it up at Average +0. Many Power Programmes have a cap on how high powers can be taken, but Fenris will allow me to be as mighty as I like. I pick up Super Presence at Average +0. I imagine Matthew as being scary as hell, and this fits nicely. Looking over the other options, a lot of them are neat but I really want to drive the theme of being a really powerful beast-person home. I buy Super Strength up to +4 and Super Presence up to +2.
My only complaint with the Power Programmes is how narrow some of them are. Aphrodite, for instance, offers such extremely unappealing powers as Immunity to Rage and Shapeshift (Dove). Other power sets, however, offer incredible diversity. In practice I suspect this will result in some players choosing to avoid a god they were otherwise interested in because of the lack of options.
A few other rules are modified here as well. Legends Walk makes concrete use of Size, simple rules for Collisions, and a more lethal damage system. This product seeks to emulate something closer to 90s comics level of lethality – normal people caught in the battle probably die while even heroes suffer nasty wounds. The Favour system is certainly the most interesting new addition. At the end of any scene where a character has particularly pleased their Source they gain a point of Favour. My example character probably gets one when he uses his wolf-like qualities to his advantage, and certainly whenever he kills a super powered character. Favour points can be turned in for Upshifts and other advantages, making it a highly desired commodity. Be aware that negative Fanour also exists – when your character acts against the Source’s interests the GM gets points to spend against you.
The three pantheons here – Greek, Norse, and Aztec/Mayan – provide a wealth of options. While you may be turned off to only have three pantheons to choose from the inclusion of heroes and monsters provides plenty of choices. Each pantheon gets a full page introduction, and individual entities get between a half page to two pages worth of material depending upon their significance to the pantheon and surrounding myths. While there is no system for creating other gods or pantheons, it looks to be pretty intuitive based on what has been presented here.
Legendary Earth Setting 37 pages.
The default setting is well done, incorporating many elements of comics into the real world. Metahumans first appear in the year 2000 and from then on the timeline changes from our own. Discussion of how this effects various part of the world is provided, and for once the United States isn’t the center of superhero activity. Many of the countries that sport higher meta populations are tied geographically to the worship of the gods of the past, though that’s certainly not always the case. Many old cultural practices, such as human sacrifice, have reemerged in some countries but with a modern day spin. In Mexico, for example, a person is allowed to live in luxury for a full year in return for surrendering themselves to sacrifice to certain blood thirsty gods.
Many organizations are presented, from new Churches to the Guild – a sort of meta-only organization that protects and polices its own. Logical outgrowths in science and other fields are explored, and perhaps one of the most interesting “realistic” result of metas is the existence of Maelstroms – super storms created from misuse of weather altering powers.
It’s not an incredibly detailed or original setting, but it is well done and good enough that I would be willing to play in it right out the gate. That’s saying something considering how generic a lot of included settings are – this one managed to break that mold and retain my interest.
My Take
Legends Walk offers a fun setting, tons of new powers, and a strong focus for superhero games. I think it succeeds at everything it sets out to do and I’m glad to own it. The book looks great, it’s easy to work with, and there’s something inspiring in here for everyone.Some readers will wonder how this game compares to its much higher budget rival, Scion. Oddly, it’s the small press game that has the more detailed setting for a change, though Scion vastly eclipses Legends Walk in beautiful artwork, glossy pages, and high end presentation. Scion seems to lose out on cost initially, but keep in mind you’ll have to pick up Truth & Justice as well so the costs are comparable. Ultimately this product is going to appeal more to folk who want a rules lighter game with more attention paid to a smaller number of pantheons. With Truth & Justice as your engine it will be very easy to build your own pantheons, powers, and other custom material using already established rules and principles – something Scion largely lacks. Finally, this product is going to provide characters that are initially a bit more potent than their Scion counterparts.
If you like super heroes, mythology, and all the cool ideas the intersection of those two concepts create then be sure to give Legends Walk: Truth & Justice Edition a try!
