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Sacri Ordines Update adds three new Sacri Ordines, new gear, Edges, and the like for characters in service to the Holy Church. While the new Ordines are playable, the Ordo Praetorio is essentially a city police force for the Vatican City, and I don’t see much use for players in long term campaigns (unless they’re focused on policing the Vatican City of course). The Ordo Theutonicorum however offers groups a glimpse at a faction suitable for investigative campaigns against heretics; more information would have been nice, but the inclusion of this Ordo (and the Praetorians) was specifically hoped to stimulate playing groups into thinking outside the war (and also to showcase how the military structures of the setting are becoming less stable and more political). The eighth Ordo, the Ordo Bradamante, are essentially your front line battle nuns. Many generals see the creation of a “girls only” Ordo by the Pope as sexist and damaging to the ranks and supplies of the other Ordines, but everyone knows better than to speak up too much. While I don’t care much for the Bradamante as a faction, and am not really clear as to their function, they do serve to show how the wrong leader can really muck up their own military.
There are several nifty new Edges and Hindrances, many of which may find use outside of the Necropolis setting. There are also new rules for artillery, impaling foes, some new miracles, some rather weak rules for Martyrdom (i.e. if a PC dies, the replacement PC comes back with 75% of the dead PC’s experience, provided the Pope/GM feels the original truly did die a Martyr’s death and the group can suffer a character that’s weaker than the rest of the party) and new gear. You want vehicles? Check. Want new weapons? Check. How about some power armor? Check. One of the things I really enjoyed was that each of the new pieces of gear had a date associated with it, indicating when in the time line the technology became mass-produced for military use (and mentioning that Rephaim get the new tech from dead soldiers a year after its introduction). This is one of the many small touches NU uses to indicate that time is passing and things are happening in regards to the larger war effort.
Militia Dei is a fairly short chapter, providing more military flavor for the Ordos in a general sense. Notes on banner flags are given, making them an important part of a battle; this section might even be useful in more traditional fantasy games. General Ordo troop sizes, soldier functions, and a sample preceptory base are provided as well. Personally though, the section on Ordo slang was probably one of my favorite bits. The use of “burninator” (a word of unknown origins) along with the idea that cursing is frowned upon in the Church’s military struck me as pretty amusing.
Mother Church covers daily life in the Church controlled lands. Long story short, tech ranges from medieval (for the lower classes in the farmlands) to 22nd century advanced (for the upper classes in the cities). Those in the Church controlled lands who serve the Ordos directly tend to have it somewhat better than those that don’t. There’s actually some really interesting details given here, that help reinforce the idea that the Church may be fighting a war to save humanity, but they aren’t the open-minded democratic society we’re familiar with. Several Curia offices are also detailed, with some rumors and story hooks to help generate ideas. Is the Office of the Faithful trying to breed miracle-workers? Just what is the Office of Scientific Research up to? And why is there a separate Office of Antiquity Security? While many of these groups probably wouldn’t see much use in standard games, they should help provide some hooks for more investigative campaigns away from the front lines.
Corporate Update is short and simple, covering new gear (and when it’s released), rules for Corporate artillery support, and introducing Psionics. Psions are those people the Corporations have found who are able to work supernatural powers. The Church hates them, the Rephaim are just beginning to become aware of them, and discovered Psions who reject working for the Corps are lobotomized. As characters, Psions are limited in that they can’t improve their Psionic skill die after character creation; I think I like this as it encourages players to specialize in psionics from the start, but it doesn’t hugely penalize them if they don’t.
The Rephaim Update is pretty good. Basically it introduces a lot of new weird technology along with various Rephaim agendas (called Fanes), as well as several tools and tricks for more traditional (as well as modern) Rephaim. Dates for the gear’s appearance aren’t given, as GMs are encouraged to slowly introduce new things as needed. I won’t say much more for fear of spoilers, but there is a piece of Rephaim weird technology that’s intended to be a “game changer”, and the days of traditional “necromancy only” Rephaim are ending. Well, I’ll also mention one other thing: necromantic weird-tech power armor.
Another chapter I don’t want to spoil much, Dangerous Secrets Update, covers some new conspiracies and schemes for the Church, the Corps, the Rephaim, and your run of the mill heretics. Honestly, my two favorite parts had to do with the rise of heresies where people believe they don’t need the Church to reach God (the birth of a new Protestant Revolt?) and the records of a certain group of people who ripped monsters apart and grafted their remains to themselves. Other than those two, there wasn’t much that really grabbed my attention.
New Missions is a bit of a misnomer. Besides covering nine new types of missions for military campaigns, there’s also a broad overview of the ongoing war over the five years NU covers. There’s also a small section urging GMs to: not remove the Pope, do remember the Corporations, don’t introduce the Big Bads too soon, and do keep weird science (mostly) out of the humans’ hands. The reasons being is that these are considered defining traits of the setting, and also because it will “affect possible future releases” (which I’m guessing is marketing speak for “the authors want to kill the Pope and introduce the Big Bads”). If nothing else, I did like the idea of a section on tips for maintaining the setting’s flavor.
A lot of people will probably be very interested in the Bestiary Update. We get a little over three pages covering Church and Corporate forces, followed by around fifteen pages of Rephaim monsters. The human entries are mostly obvious generic ones, covering Corporate Spies and various Church Knights for instance. No named NPCs or high ranking officials included here, but there are some entries for various Corporate Psions as well as the Church’s evil-sniffing “Corpsehounds”. But it’s the Rephaim who really get all the cool critters. There’s some attention given to making monsters that fill the role of military tools, like flying undead skulls that serve as anti-air weaponry or giant zombies that serve as mobile artillery platforms. My favorite entry though would have to be the various “dragons”. There’s also a few that felt fairly generic, such as the Bat Swarm (a swarm of bats), the Deathsinger (another way to say banshee), and the Black Wood (an evil tree that attacks people and is vulnerable to fire). It’s not that the generic entries are bad, they just feel like stuff I’ve seen before in my old AD&D Monster Manual.
The final chapter, Gamma Front, covers a campaign requiring the PCs to win the hearts and minds of a series of independent towns so that the Church can build new military bases nearby. The PCs will have to investigate the towns in order to determine the best way to sway them over to the Church’s side. It’s not a bad idea, and the overview of the towns could actually be useful in games outside of the Gamma Front campaign. My only real gripe with the campaign itself is that a new mechanic called Support Points is introduced as a way to measure how far along the PCs have come in swaying a town to their cause. That’s fine and all, but no real measure is given for how many Support Points specific acts are worth. If the PCs fight off a scouting party of Rephaim, is that worth one point or three? The book doesn’t say. The chapter does however include information on a new Corporation, the world’s largest mercenary company, and information on the Ordo Tenebrae and their work with the Dark. Gamma Front isn’t bad, it just feels a little unfinished in regards to the Support Points idea.
There is one little thing at the end of the chapter I should mention though. Throughout the book there are hints that the year 2356 is meant to be a big one for the setting. In the author’s Final Words, he says that while he’s done with the setting for now, he intends to come back to it someday and encourages players not to rush through the contents of this book. In the past I hated the tendency for various game developers to hint that something would be explored in a future book, only for the book to never materialize. But here I don’t mind so much. You see, it’s pretty easy to guess what the epic battle of 2356 might look like; NU provides all the dots and leaves it up to you to connect them if you want. It’s much better than the old “there’s this really cool place, but we won’t tell you what’s in it. That’s ours and we’re saving it” attitude I used to see.
Finishing up the book we have two Appendices. First is a story hook generator: GMs draw a playing card, and look up the resulting story hook from one of the 52 listed. The hooks cover Criminal, Heretical, Arcane (i.e. Faith and Psionics), and Rephaim stories. Some of the hooks are bland, some are great, and the random story hook idea itself is pretty good. The second Appendix covers the various Church buildings and roles. If you already know the difference between a chapel and a basilica, or a nuncio and a deacon, then this may not be helpful information. Personally though I thought it was a nice touch.
Who Should Get This Book: If you’re a fan of Necropolis at all, you should really look into this. Even if the storyline doesn’t interest you, there’s a ton of great ideas. Likewise, if you want more undead critters to mine for other Savage Worlds games or even other undead-heavy games, you might find some useful material here. I intend to mine a lot of the monsters, tech, and Psionics for a game of Deadlands: Hell on Earth for example.
Who Shouldn’t Get This Book: If you’re not a fan of Necropolis or the Savage Worlds system, this book isn’t going to change your mind. Likewise, those just wanting to mine it for ideas for other games may be disappointed that so much of the book is devoted to the Church and adventures revolving around it. Finally, while there is some good material for Necropolis players, it’s really more of a GM’s book.
Style: If we go with 3 as an average product, then NU never really breaks past or sinks below a low 3. There is little art, but it’s decent and relevant to the subject at hand. Layout is crisp and clean. Typos are somewhat common, but the writing is decent enough. I can’t say it’s bad by any stretch, but I can’t say it’s all that good either. It’s a simple presentation that just kind of “is”. The only real complaints I have is that so much of the information seems to be presented in a stream of consciousness fashion. For example, the information on the Ordo Tenebrae in Gamma Front would probably have made more sense back in the Rephaim Update Chapter. Likewise, the Free Legion mercenaries and PaxFarm introduced in Gamma Front might have been handier in the Corporation Update chapter. Another good example would be the way the Hellbeast entry is scattered across two pages when they could have just as easily fit on the same one. The organization isn’t a hindrance to play, but it might have been in a larger book.
Substance: Fans of Necropolis 2350 would probably see this as a 4 or 5. There’s a lot of goodies here, covering all kinds of aspects of the setting. Ultimately though, I’m going to give it a low 5. Between all the new gear, Edges, character options, foes, setting development, and so forth, the book is a treasure trove for Necropolis gamers. It’s a really good grab bag, with little I thought was bad, and fans of the setting should be happy. Those who aren’t interested in the Necropolis setting however, but like the Savage Worlds system, may still find quite a bit worth using in other games. For them I’d give the book a solid 3 if they want a bunch of sci-fi stuff, some new military rules and gear, and dark undead fantasy goodies.
Conclusion: NU is one of those books I kinda’ wish more companies would make. It’s a collection of stuff to help kick start imaginations, with little wasted space or bloated prose. It knows who its target audience is, and works to make them happy, and I’m really impressed with it. The only complaint I have is one of organization, but even then it’s manageable. Really, if you like Necropolis you should at least give this one a look.
