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I like sword & sorcery stories, but I can’t say I’m a hardcore fan. I’ve read a few Conan comics and the complete Elric series (the original books), but that’s it. RPGwise, I can only recall ever playing in a sword & sorcery game once. So I can’t say that’s one of my favorite genres in gaming either. However, I heard so much praise for Barbarians of Lemuria (BoL), by Simon Washburne (SimonW, here at RPG.net), that I decided to take it out for a spin. Although I have seen the free version, I focus on the Legendary Edition here. The following review is based on a couple of gaming sessions (with two different groups) that I ran using BoL.
APPEARANCE
The Legendary Edition of BoL is a 14.2 MB PDF with 110 pages. Text is displayed in the usual two-column format. The art has an interesting style that fits well with the game’s theme, especially in the career section, although the piece on page 63 seems odd for a sword & sorcery book, since it displays a medieval fantasy scene, complete with an European-style castle. There is only one detail about the art that might warrant a warning, although I feel a bit silly about pointing it out: a few pieces display frontal female nudity (like the one in page 54). It’s nothing too graphic, but I thought I’d give a heads up.
CHARACTERS & CAREERS
After an introduction describing the setting – Lin Carter’s Thongor world (which I had never heard before seeing BoL) with serial numbers filed off – the book jumps straight into character generation. BoL has four attributes: Strength, Agility, Mind and Appeal. They are pretty self-explanatory and you get four points to distribute among them, though you can’t put more than three points in any of them. Human average and maximum is zero and five, respectively, but anything above three is legendary. You do get the option of lowering on of the attributes to -1 so as to have an extra point to spend, but it was unclear to me if by doing that you disregard the “no more than 3” in an attribute rule.
Then you get to combat abilities. Given that importance of fighting skill in the genre, it’s no surprise that martial traits became attributes of their own. Again, there are four of them -- Brawl, Melee, Ranged and Defence – and you get four points to distribute. Here you can also lower one of the abilities to -1 to get an extra point, but again there’s the 3-point limit. This section describes Lifeblood as well, the game’s hit points, which are equal to 10 plus the Strength attribute.
BoL doesn’t use a regular skill set because most heroes in the genre have a wide range of proficiencies. Instead, it has careers: professions that grant a character knowledge in areas relating to them. There are 26 careers and the player should choose four and distribute four points among these. Once again, starting rank can’t be higher than three, and here you can’t downgrade a career to -1 to get an extra point. Level zero means innate talent or a short stint in that profession.
There’s no mention of what to do if the player wants his character to attempt something that is not covered by any of his careers. The GM could state that it’s impossible, but that seems too harsh. However, just letting the player use the appropriate attribute by itself eliminates the relevance of having a zero-level career. A good compromise would be to allow the attribute roll, but inflict a penalty.
The book suggests that, after choosing the four careers, the player creates a story to explain his choices. This is interesting, but doing it in reverse – creating the story and then choosing careers – seems especially inviting to new players, both to RPG in general or just the genre.
Character generation ends with choosing a birthplace for your character. Each place lists several Boons and Flaws, what other systems call advantages and disadvantages. You can choose one Boon for free. If you want your character to have another one, you must also pick a Flaw or spend two Hero points (the same as drama/fate points, you start with five). For two extra Hero points, you can select a third Boon.
There’s no explanation on how to create new Boons and Flaws, but the mechanic for most of them is pretty straightforward and you can use it to model new ones. Basically, you roll one extra d6 (basic resolution uses 2d6) and pick the best (in case of Boons) and the worst (for Flaws) two dice. I especially like Drunkard, because it has a simple system to represent alcoholism (and addiction in general) in game, something other systems usually have trouble with.
One thing that I found lacking in character generation was an explanation of how to create higher- and lower-powered characters. Not that that is too difficult to tweak – just give fewer or more points to the players, reduce the amount of careers etc., -- but I’d have liked to see some discussion about it and the effects it might have on the system.
Playtest: The “story first” character generation approach worked well for one of my groups, which had two newbies. After thinking about their stories, they had a much easier time distributing their points. Here are their characters:
Kokrabiak, the Swift: Str 1, Agl 2, Min 0, App 1; Bra 1, Mel 1, Ran 1, Def 1; Worker 0, Serving Wench 1, Pirate 2, Mercenary 1; Boons: Attractive, Persuasive (renamed and tweaked from Carouser); Flaw: Drunkard Imma, the Rotund: Str 2, Agl 1, Min 1, App 0; Bra 1, Mel 2, Ran 0, Def 1; Pirate 1, Gladiator 2, Torturer 1, Slave 0; Boon: Hard to Kill
My players argued that since most characters would have careers like Mercenary and Gladiator, there was the risk of not being able to differentiate between them mechanically. Also, the decoupling of combat ability and skill can result in oddball characters like an Alchemist1/Scribe 3 who has Str 3/Agl 1 and Brawl 1/Melee 3, for example.
One of my players wanted to start the game with a magic axe. There were no rules for that at character creation, but the section describing Alchemists, later on the book, has rules for magic items (I talk about it below). So I allowed him to spend his Boon on the weapon, instead of on himself. The axe granted one extra die to rolls relating to combat.
SYSTEM & COMBAT
In BoL, you usually try to beat a target number of 9 by rolling 2d6 plus the appropriate attribute and combat ability, if in a fight, or career, if not (the Boon/Flaw mechanic affects these rolls). The GM can apply modifiers pushing the target number up or down. The text doesn’t talk about opposed rolls per se, but in combat you use the opponent’s relevant Defence as a negative modifier. This mechanic can be extended to other cases, like if a character is trying to grab something from a NPC. Instead of having both roll, let just the PC do it, using the NPC’s Agility as a penalty.
A natural roll of 2 is always a failure. If after adding attribute and ability, you still don’t reach a 9, then it is a Calamitous Failure. A quick analysis will reveal that, at least at first, most rolls of 2 will be Calamitous Failure for the PCs. Preventing that is one of the main functions of Hero points – by spending one of these you convert a fumble into a regular failure.
On the other hand, a natural roll of 12 is always a success. If the target number was below 12 – for example, trying to hit someone with a Defence of 2 would require a roll of 11 or more --, then rolling boxcars results in a Mighty Success. By spending a Hero point, you can turn a regular success into a Mighty one, and a Mighty one into a Legendary one. The latter is only possible if you roll a natural 12, you can’t upgrade a regular success into a Legendary one by spending two Hero points. These critical successes result in higher than normal damage to opponents.
In fights, as described, you add attribute to combat ability. Careers don’t usually come into play, although their descriptions list special occasions when adding their level might be appropriate. For example, a Gladiator could use their rank in the profession as a to-hit bonus when performing a signature move.
Combat is geared towards a heroic feel. There are a few options, like actively dodging, but no tactical system support. Despite the greater-than-life approach, fights are gritty businesses. With starting characters having between 9-13 Lifeblood and melee weapons doing from d6-2 to d6+3 plus Strength, a good damage roll can put a PC out of commission in one strike. Luckily, spending a Hero point and an action allows the character to recover d6 Lifeblood. Armour helps too, but it can reduce your mystical power and your Agility. It absorbs from d3-1 to d6+1 damage. If you’re not into rolling armour capacity, the book also provides set values.
Speaking of armour and weapons, BoL has a very liberating rule for gear: give the players whatever they want.
Playtest:Combat wasn’t especially complex for my playtesters, even the newbies. The only thing that was a problem was the fact that all the rules for Lifeblood are not in the combat chapter – they are all the way back in character generation. I’m not talking about how much Lifeblood the character has, that makes sense being there. It is rules like how many points you recover, the effects of going into negative Lifeblood and such. It is really counterintuitive to look for them there.
MAGIC
To work magic in BoL, the character has to choose at least one of the three magic-wielding careers: Alchemist, Magician and Priest. Choosing them gives the PC access to a pool of Arcane Power, the fuel of magic. Remember, however, that this is not your traditional fantasy, with fireball-wielding wizards and clerics bringing down the wrath of their gods down on their enemies. Magic in sword & sorcery is a corrupting influence, represented in BoL by requiring that for each rank above the first taken in the Magician career (above the second for Alchemists), the player chooses a Flaw as well.
Alchemists create and change things, but they need time and money for that, so will perform their mojo during downtime. Alchemical preparations (which include potions and devices) have rarity levels that limit how many an Alchemist can make according to his level. Each downtime period used in creating an item counts as a stage and must be rolled for. I tried really hard, but couldn’t find a rule for calculating how many stages a preparation requires. The rarity level lists what can be created, or added to a weapon or amour.
Priests and druids (evil priests) don’t actually cast spells. By worshipping their gods, they gain a number of Fate points up to their level in the Priest/Druid career. These points can grant a one-off Boon/Flaw for a short task or activity. Yeah, I know, a bit lame, especially if you are in a tavern trying to look tougher than the Stygian sorce… err, Sorcerer King. Clearly, being a cleric is not a path to power here. What you want is the Magician career.
Magicians are the more adventuring-friendly of the magical careers. But that doesn’t mean they are D&D-like magic users. A BoL Magician can cast something like a Meteor Swarm, but that will probably not happen during the adventure or, if it does, it will be the first and last spell in the session, since castings of such power take time and a lot of arcane energy.
Spells are divided into four classes: Cantrips and First, Second and Third Magnitude. The text describes what each level can accomplish in generic terms. The higher the magnitude of the casting, the more powerful the effect it can accomplish, but also the more Arcane Power it requires and the more difficult the roll is.
Fulfilling requirements, like a special item, a permanent focus, rare ingredients etc., can lower the cost in energy. The first casting requirement is obligatory, but additional ones shave off points of Arcane Power from the cost down to a minimum. One thing that wasn’t clear is if you can switch requirements when casting the same spell again or if, once chosen, the requirements must always be the same.
There a few examples of spells for each level, but given that a GM has to interpret the descriptions in order to assign a magnitude to a new spell, I’d have liked a few more.
Playtest:Only one of my players chose a magic-using career. He went with Magician, since Priest seemed too low powered and Alchemist made no sense, given the playtest would be a couple of sessions long. In the end, he was a bit frustrated with it, because he wanted to reproduce the level of ability of a more standard fantasy wizard and spent most of his time minmaxing the character to increase his effectiveness as a magic-wielder.
I don’t think that’s a fault of the system, as I told him. The problem was that he was trying to create something that wasn’t really a part of the genre. Having said that, I can see how you could change that with minor tweaks, such as increasing initial Arcane Power or reducing the base energy cost of the spells, which is the major limiting factor for Magicians.
Despite these problems, he did manage to become significant to the group. For example, during one of the major combats of the session, when the PCs’ ship was attacked by a sea serpent, the Magician successfully used a First Magnitude spell to blind the creature and swing the tide of the battle in their favor.
NPCs & ADVANCEMENT
BoL has a fairly standard advancement system. At the end of an adventure, the PCs earn advancement points they can spend to increase attributes, combat abilities and careers, buy new Boons or remove Flaws. The interesting detail is that the characters only receive the points after they spend in-game all the loot they acquired during the adventure. This can happen in many ways: drinks and women/men at the tavern; buying stuff, even properties, like castles; using it to finance your magical experiments and so forth. The idea is that by doing that, the PCs spread word of their accomplishments, increasing their fame. It also helps motivate the characters to find new adventures.
There are three different types of NPCs in BoL. Rabble are what other games call mooks – the throngs of henchmen and run-of-the-mill adversaries the PCs will plow through in their search for glory. Standard NPCs are closer in power to the heroes, being able to give them a run for their money. Finally, Villains are heroic-level opposition, created in the same way as the PCs.
I missed there being a fourth type: the archvillain. I know it didn’t needed its own entry. The Villain one could talk about high-power opposition, but it doesn’t. Like in the character generation section, the book doesn’t address variations in power level. This is odd, given that one of the staples of the genre is the magical archvillain, like Thoth Amon and Thulsa Doom.
Even the Example NPCs section lacks a high-powered character. You’ll only find a slightly more competent individual described in the adventure (Krongar) and the Plains of Death (it’s the Cerulean Klant Hegga). I don’t understand why the signature archvillain in BoL, the Witch Queen Methyn Sarr, is not described in this section. She is mentioned throughout the text and used in examples, but you’ll finish the book without even knowing how high is her Magician career.
SETTING
Besides the setting history in the beginning of the book, there’s also a full chapter on the world, people, deities and wildlife of Lemuria. It describes the main regions of the continent and the races that people them (complete with Boons & Flaws). There’s also several animals and plants that can be used by and against your PCs. Lemurian animals are all reptiles, but it’s easy to tweak a few things or just change names so that the write-ups represent more conventional beasts, like lions and horses.
BoL includes adventure seeds and three full adventures, as well as write-ups for seven PC-level heroes. These are the signature characters in the book and cover the whole gamut of the genre, from barbarian warrior, to suave thief to good-looking witch, and so forth.
BEYOND BARBARIAN
As I read BoL, I caught myself thinking: this could do Star Wars really well. As I found out later, other people had thought the same, as you can see here and here. The system does seem to work well for settings where the heroes have a wide set of talents.
It certainly has not been confined to sword & sorcery. So far, the BoL system has been used in two other games: Dogs of W.A.R., an action game set in the Cold War, and Barbarians of the Aftermath, a post-apocalyptic world. The engine can be found in a BoL version of the Legends of Steel setting as well.
There’s also talk of an upcoming western game, supposedly called Guns of Laredo, and a yet unnamed supers one (not to be confused wit SUPERS!, also released by Beyond Belief Games).
CONCLUSION
I found BoL to be an easy and interesting game that fits well the genre it is designed for. It should be a breeze for new players to understand its system and I can see the game being used for long-term campaigns. However, the book could use some more explaining and examples of certain concepts, especially in the power level area. That’s why I knocked a half point from the Substance rating, leaving it at 3, instead of rounding it up to 4. But all things considered, a fun game.
STYLE: 4
Layout: 3
Art: 4
Coolness: 4
Readability: 4
SUBSTANCE: 3
Content: 3
Text: 3
Fun: 4
Workmanship: 4
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