Shadow World Master Atlas Fourth Edition

The Shadow World Master Atlas (SWMA) is the fourth edition of this long running campaign setting.  As in the past Shadow World is geared towards Rolemaster, but it could be easily applied for any RPG rules set.  Also as in previous editions it is an ambitious setting it is well thought out and very much geared towards a detailed and sophisticated campaign.  Where other ambitious campaign settings struggle to match pedestrian scholarship to ambition, SWMA succeeds.  Perhaps even over achieves, it is a very meaty setting that could turn off or frustrate a GM also.

(As a note I decided to take a look at each chapter and document my comments that way.  I think it would be very tough to organize a cohesive review by amalgamating all my comments.)

Format, Art and Design

SWMA is a standard perfect bound book. The cover art of is a well done, though not very exciting, landscape.  Certainly some of the secondary art on the cover mimics WOTC design schemes that make the book look like an old tome.  Included in the book is a full color geographic map of the western hemisphere of Kulthea that is pleasing to the eye.  On the back of that is a black and white map of the Bay of Izar region.

The book is well laid out, though I did find a couple of minor mistakes.  The interior pages are a standard two column format with a fair amount of art and tables breaking up the text.  The interior art is a little sparse, but what is slightly lacking in volume is made up for with good to great art pieces.  The formatting is nice, there is a good explanation page for each chapter that does a good job of setting the tone and marking chapters.

Part I: Introduction

This chapter covers the basics of tying in SWMA to the Rolemaster RPG.  This is handy for those not familiar with Rolemaster.  For most who would likely play in Shadow World, Rolemaster is likely something they are familiar with.

Part II: History

Within these pages Kulthea’s (Shadow World) history is covered and its reckoning of time is discussed.  The turbulent world of Kulthea once started like many other worlds, primitive.  Then they inhabitants of Kulthea got to the stars and eventually has a star spanning empire.  Then the empire fell.  Kulthea was left in ruins, evil and good still fighting for dominance.  At this time an event happened that introduced Eassence and deities.  The world recovered, but old evils still lurks after good and chaos challenges order.  The history runs the full gambit of genres, but winds up with a very detailed fantasy setting with room to grow.

The history is laid out in a timeline split into several eras, it is detailed and gives a good feel for the different sort of world the Julthea is.  The bad news is it covers several hundred thousand years of history.  Must of the earliest history will never be known to players and past that a lot of the history will just not be relevant in a campaign.  While there is too much information, which is tied nicely together, there are many plot ideas that could be used as the basis for a campaign. 

Part III:  Peoples

Because of Kulthea’s interstellar, technological, magical and chaotic backgrounds there are many peoples who live in the world.  Many are analogous to other generic types of creatures (humans, goblins, orcs, trolls, etc.), but have their own Kulthean names and twists.  Most may not ever be applicable to a campaign, but considering the races of an entire hemisphere are detailed the depth is staggeringly good. A GM will likely need to set guidelines on which races are available to the PC’s.   Rolemaster statistics are offered for each race covered in this chapter, along with ample pictures. 

Part IV: Character Creation

A simple guide to making a Rolemaster character.  There is only a few pages in this section, which feels like they were lifted from Rolemaster.  As short and generic as this chapter is, it should have just been left out of SWMA.

Part V: The Lands

The expansive hemisphere SWMA covers, is given an overview in this chapter.  Given the name Master Atlas, no single region or continent is given much detail beyond countries, cities or other sundry places of note.   One nice addition to this chapter is each area described has a map associated with it.  Should role playing in Shadow World be what you are looking for other regional oriented books will hopefully be released.  Information from previous editions should also be compatible, especially if Emer and Jaimain are what interest you.

Part VI:  The Bay of Izar

This is an area of Shadow World that has been well covered with the old Shadow World book, Curse of Kabis.  In the scope of this book, it is slightly more detailed than the rest of the lands, but not quite enough to warrant running a campaign set in this area.  Fifteen pages is certainly not a chunky  portion of the book.

Part VII: Essaence and Spells

The heart of any fantasy system or setting is the magic.  For the most part this is clarifications and modifications to Role Master and fairly edition neutral, so regardless of what edition you use it should work out.  There are a number of natural phenomena ascribed to magic and they will have some affect on your spell casters, which has always been a great part of the Shadow World setting.  Everything you need for spell casting is covered here and it might make for an interesting add-on to other settings.

Part VIII: Kulthean Gods and Immortal Spirits

This section could have been much more detailed.  Given there is a sourcebook dedicated entirely to the gods and godlike only the basics of the deities.  There are a number of very interesting ideas, especially in regards to local gods and the larger world spanning pantheons (Lords of Orhan, for example).  As well other divine beings and spirits are given page counts as well.  There is certainly enough material here for a campaign, though I imagine the sourcebook for this material would be very helpful to a campaign in Kulthea.

Chapter IX: Good & Evil, Order & Chaos

A very short chapter covering the said subjects.  One thing I have always liked about Shadow World is the use of the unlife, which is a nifty gimmick to explain undead and laden a world with all sorts of campaign hooks.

Chapter X: Groups of Note

A general overview of the influential groups on Kulthea: Dragonlords, Loremasters, Navigators, etc.  Some personalities of these groups are also detailed and character stats are available in a couple iterations of Rolemaster.  I suppose I would have rather had more information about the groups and less of the people in them.  There are all sorts of great ideas in this chapter, but much of it is overwhelmed by NPC statistics.

Chapter XI:  Creatures

A very basic overview of monsters and more mundane creatures.  Clearly any of the Rolemaster monster supplements would be needed for a campaign of any length.

Chapter XII: Undead

A very basic overview of undead, smacks very much of being lifted out of other Rolemaster material.

Chapter XIII:  Artificial Beings

This covers creatures that go far beyond your mundane constructs.  Included are elementals in this chapter.  There is not a huge variety fo beings covered, but their detail is deep and laden with encounter and campaign ideas.

Chapter XIV:  Demons of Essence

Another chapter dedicated to the basic overview of demons in the Kulthean setting.  Like the above chapters it has more of a feel of reprinted material than anything new for Rolemaster or Shadow World.  However they are a key type of creature for the setting, so some overview in needed.

Chapter XV:  Demons of the Void

This has been a long standing demonic type in Rolemaster’s numerous editions.  There is nothing new here for the experienced Rolemaster player, but they are still interesting enough.

Chapter XVI:  Appendices

A sort of catch all chapter with information about weather, herbs and poisons.  Again nothing terribly new here, but very helpful for the setting.

The Good

SWMA is a fine supplement; the thought and organization that frame the setting are staggering and a high mark in detailed campaign settings.  It is certainly an interesting alternative to the slightly more generic or stereotypical campaign settings on the market today.  A good over all picture of the world is given with a startling amount of detail given it covers a huge expanse of the planet Kulthea.  There is so much to see and do that a GM has endless options and might very well have to curtail what they want to do something more manageable in size.

The Bad

There is precious little that is new with this new master atlas, which has not been covered in the previous three editions.  For long time Shadow World fans it might feel more like an excuse to continue to support the game and have some of the material in one handy book (rather than two books in the previous editions).  As well there is a lot of material here that has little relevance to the game as it would be played in a campaign…like a impressive but ultimately useless timeline that covers hundreds of thousands of years. 

Other Comments

I think for Iron Crown to step into current gaming trends some efforts to tie in this long running setting into D20 might have attracted new fans rather than simply cater to the dwindling Rolemaster market.  Luckily most of the information and material is fairly easy to convert, a d100 base to a d20 base is not difficult arithmetic.  But I still think this could be a grand setting for many gamers than just the same old crowd Iron Crown is catering too.

Overall

Shadow World Master Atlas is a great book, especially if this is your first foray into Kulthea.  The setting is very different and more exciting than any other fantasy setting I can think of.  So if you are looking for something different and don’t mind a lot of detail and a little work this might be a good pickup at your gaming store.