Several months ago I reviewed The Nightmare War, a “campaign gem” from Old Kingdom Games. Although I thought it needed more development, it had a great potential. Now the same company has released Bronze Gods, and I must say that I picked it for the cover. It showed that it was not one setting like the ones I mentioned, but something different. So I gave it a chance, and here is my review.
Setting
Bronze Gods takes place in a confined world, with only four main islands and an island chain. They are inhabited by five demi-human tribes which seem to have an iron age technology. Since the islands are covered by jungles, the setting has an Indo-American flavour... although I'm not talking about anything like Maztica, of course.
The five tribes are really special, since they don't look like the typical fantasy races.
The Eida are the most enigmatic and mysterious, and come from the isolated island of Mola. They have a ghostly appearance, and no body hair or visible ears. They're quite violent and worship birds, which they believe are inhabited by the souls of their ancestors.
The Har Men are the most similar to humans, although they are more sturdy. They're the most open and friendly, but their culture is centred on alcohol.
The Iridians resemble reptiles, with scales, large eyes and webbed hands. Surprisingly, they like to enjoy the pleasures of life, and are particularly hedonistic.
The Konok are a warrior culture, always aggressive, and are obsessed by status and order. They have plates on the top of their head and down the spine, and are amphibious.
Finally, the Vaske are temperamental and artistic, and follow a strict code of honour. They have horns, elongate jaws, canine teeth and a long, fur lined tail.
The five islands have also their own characteristics, from the most isolated to the most fertile and populated. They're all full of ruins and mysterious places, but there are very few towns with more than one thousand people.
Obviously the setting has a hidden background, which explains the islands' origin and the strange relics and gods. Let's just say that these secrets include advanced technology...
System
Bronze Gods is designed for the d20 system, and the only major changes are made because of the background. The players can choose among five races (which I have already described), five classes, here called paths, and several new skills and feats.
The paths have the standard twenty levels, but they are not “pure” classes (like the warrior which only knows how to fight). They all have exceptional and supernatural abilities linked to their background.
The Circle Speakers are the charismatic leaders, and use words of power to invoke supernatural effects and shape the environment around them. These words allow the creation of normal items (a weapon, a shield) or large effects like teleportation and fire.
The Light Painters are the artisans and builders, and can inscribe runes of power on objects and people. The runes fall within three foci: land, life and object.
Path Tracers try to unlock the secrets of temples and ruins, and sometimes act as shamans. They have mainly abilities from rogues (traps, evasion), but also from rangers.
Weavers of Water are warriors specialized in naval warfare. They are good fighters, but also have special powers like frozen touch, storm calling or summoning water elementals.
Wild Adepts are individuals specialized at surviving in the harshest environments. They are a mixture of hunter, warrior, scout and healer, and gain powers based foci: desert, forest, grassland, mountain, river, subterranean, swamp and tundra (they get one focus every four levels).
The rules section ends with the equipment chapter, which include coral razors, tortoiseshell armour and sacred items.
Style
Old Kingdom Games is a small company, but Bronze Gods is a really impressive PDF. The pictures are excellent, the illustrations describing the tribes are perfect and the maps are very nice and have a lot of useful information.
Conclusion
If this were the first Old Kingdom Games I had reviewed, I would say it's an excellent book but too short, and that we need more information to fully develop this fascinating world.
But I think I finally got what these “campaign gems” are about: delivering a self-contained setting with a hidden background and the chance to explore new possibilities.
I believe that Bronze Gods, unlike The Nightmare War, could be developed into a fully-fleshed campaign setting, and I hope the authors will make this effort in the future. I want to know more about the five islands! But even in its current simple form, it's a great book: the world is fascinating, the tribes and paths are really great and well-thought, game masters will be able to create countless adventures using or not the setting secrets... and above all, it's something original!
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