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So, what do you get in return for the poor layout? You get 474 pages of all white-meat game. Deathstalkers is teaming with all sorts of goodies, ideas and storylines. However, sometimes you need to hunt around the book to get the full idea of the world. But I’ll get into that shortly.
To begin with, DS offers more than 17 races for players to choose from. Some of these are mundane, run-of-the-mill fantasy races such as your dwarf, elf and gnome. Others are new and unique such as the sabyr (a race of half-dragons), half-dead and half-cat. Many of the races offer sub-categories of each races. I should mention that while the game has 17 races, if you include all the sub-categories it brings the total way up. For example, the half-cat race has the manxian, felineo and haimertoid; the lizard man has either a land or air and the minotaur has red, blue and beastial. All these races might bring to mind a question: Are they worth it? In my opinion the answer is definitely yes. While I must admit I was disappointed with the half-dead race and the fairy is nigh useable, many of these races are very unique – especially some of the old favorites. For example, the elves have some very unique properties and the gnome has a magic beard that allows him to house an animal familiar (obviously meant to be a magic class). Some of the new races are so fun to create my gaming group can’t get enough. For example, the sabyrs (there are seven different types, each with a unique breath weapon) have a lot of fun traits and powers. Furthermore, each race has what is called a “rage attack” which I personally am not fond of and I do not allow the use of in my game. These rage attacks are special-ability attacks. For example, the half-wolves have a rage attack called northwinds howl that allows them to summon a gust of icy wind; the goblins have a swamp gas attack. They almost remind me of a video game power in many respects. If you choose to use these in your game, players must “pay to use” them with aggression points (which are primarily used to determine fatigue level and morale level in the game).
One of my favorite aspects of character creation is that stats are based on your race. While there are 9 different stats (kn, mt, l, c, st, e, b, ag and spd) the actual score of these stats are determined by the race. For example, if you’re a half-giant you get to roll more dice to determine your strength score than, say, a gnome or elf. Stats are based on a 20-point system where the higher the score the better. Stat checks are rolled on a 20-sided die and you have to roll below the score to succeed. Simple and effective.
Next you get to choose a character career class. DS does not skimp here either. In all, there are 16 non-magic classes spanning from adventurer to witch hunter, 4 semi-magic classes spanning from elemental warrior to paladin (and dark paladin for you evil-doers out there), and 6 magic classes from priest to necromancer. The non-magic classes have all the staples: knight, thief, assassin, etc. but also a few surprises such as the shadow cavalier and vampire slayer. Uniquely, some of the classes are more like super-subcalsses. For example, (and this is my favorite for its sheer goofy-ness) to be a vampire slayer you need to join a vampire slayers guild where you have to pay union dues. In exchange they give you equipment such as liquid sunlight (not the dish soap, thank god) and wooden stakes. Shadow cavaliers are almost the same way, you join a guild and they train you. You get to learn ‘shadow caliber’ attacks and the like. Most classes, however, advance level by level and are based on experience point accumulation. The semi-magic classes are rather neat, and combine mundane clases such as a knight with some limited magic abilities of a class such as the priest to create a paladin. Basically it is a limited magic class. The magic classes are pretty standard: wizard, priest, druid, etc.. However, I enjoy the fact that they have a necromancer (summons skeletons and other dark beings) and a demon summoner. While the demon summoner has some pretty limited uses for the game, all the others are quite valid for game play.
Advancing level is done pretty standard as well: kill stuff and get experience points. But what is unique (and I like) is that experience can be used to do other things as well – such as increase stats, gain special powers, etc. Heck, there are even rules for using experience to bring your character back from the dead (although this will cost you all of your experience points and levels). It’s kind of neat but might not appeal to everybody.
Combat. Here’s where things can get a little hairy. The system is quite solid but very complex. In fact, the combat section eats up about 30 pages of the book. There are rules for everything from simply swinging your sword to backing your opponent into a wall. But don’t expect to read the rules through and understand how to play. It can get kind of confusing. Luckily the authors added some training tutorials (written as if you’re in the midst of battle training with a mean sergeant yelling at you – it’s quite amusing to read actually.). In short, here is how combat works:
*Each player has a number of actions per round (apr’s). You can use one per turn. *You can use this apr to either attack, defend or do something else. For example, if you attack you can’t defend; if you defend you can’t attack. So you need to use teamwork to beat your enemies and you have to use your turn wisely. *Combat rolls are done on a 20-sided. Highest roll wins *If you have combat bonuses (such as a bonus to hit like +3) you add this to your roll score. *Hit Points are subtracted when you take damage. When you are at -8 you die.
That’s the system in a small nutshell. While I must admit I’m still learning, the system seems to use a lot of strategy (as the authors claim) and is actually really fast. It’s probably the funnest system I have played in a while – although the steep learning curve may throw some people off and turn them away.
OK, setting. The book is titled: Deathstalkers the fantasy-HORROR role-playing game. With that said, there is definitely more fantasy than horror, but horror elements are strewn about the book (although not to the capacity I had hoped for). The book’s world guide section does not contain a lot of detail as I had hoped, and much to my annoyance, lots of the world’s history and setting is actually obtained from reading some of the gods (dozens of them, all fully described and most pretty nifty) and the races. In this entire HUGE book, here is the one place the authors skimped but should not have. I would love to have sacrificed half the races to add a dozen more pages about the world. What’s included is great, but there is just not enough – it’s almost a teaser leaving you drooling for more. Especially about the juggernauts who seem to control the world.
Finally, Monsters! All I can say about this section is cooooooool! There are about 60 of them in the book and they are all great! Most unique to this game. You’ll find all kinds of undeads, dragons and beasts – and 90% of them are illustrated! In my opinion this game has some of the best monsters I’ve ever read.
Unfortunately it is now time for me to tell you what’s WRONG with this game. First and foremost, the ugly layout and page borders. I really would prefer no borders on this book. This game also seems to suffer from some poor editing in areas (I guess that’s common among small game companies, and in books this large). As well, the authors spell magic as magick (the “k” on the end just annoys me). As well, (and this doesn’t annoy me so badly) the authors intentionally spelled wisdom as wiZdom (with a z). The character sheets, while usable, are not the prettiest things to behold. Also, the book is nearly 500 pages but has no index!!! Why god why!!! All I want to do is find out where the heck ______ is!! But, to the game’s credit, it does have an extensive TOC.
But, at the end of the day when all is said and done, I truly enjoy this game and my gaming group has a blast with it. Kind of old-school and kind of new-fangled, DS offers something for everybody (and surprisingly does 90% of it well). If you can get past the bad layout and the occasional annoying editing mistakes you’ll be treated to a wonderful world of fantasy with some horror elements thrown in for good measure.
