Search
Review Editing
Review of Deathstalkers
 Goto [ Index ] |
After reading the other two (so far) reviews of the Deathstalkers rpg on rpg.net, i decided to write one that is more complete and detailed than the previous ones. Deathstalkers is a dark fantasy/ horror rpg from Cutters Guild (www.cuttersguild.com), a small, oft unheard of company. It also has two expansion packs that i will also talk about.
The main rulebook is just over 600 pages (not a typo!) and comes in a nice, sturdy binder. The pages are quite durable. If you dont plan on using it as a football, then you shouldnt have a problem with torn pages, ect. Expansion pack one is just short of 90 pages, and expansion 2 has 48 pages. The expansions fit nicely in the main rulebook binder, so you only have to carry around one book, instead of three.
Throughout the books are little poems, riddles, ect. you can read through. Most of them are pretty good, and a welcome addition, adding a little flavor and fun to the rulebooks.
CHARACTER CREATION:
Character creation is very fun, because of the many choices of race and class you have to pick from. Anyone will be able to find something to play as that they will enjoy.
To make a character, you need to know what race you will be. each race has different dice that they roll for attributes, which are knowledge, mental tolerance, leadership, courage, strength, endurance, beauty, agility, speed, and hit points (not really a stat, but you get the idea).
They have a staggering list of races you can choose from. The main rulebook has 18 (over that, if you count the fact that some races have more than one "type"). Plus the expansions add a total of 10 more to choose from.
Each race also has a special attack that it can do. This is both good and bad. Although it adds depth and something new to the races, I cant help but think that it would be more suitable for a video game. Some of the racial powers i like is the dark elfs ability to dissapear and reapear behind his opponent, and the demons power to summon a pillar of flame from under his opponent. Some of the ones i dont like are the half-wolfs ability to summon a cold, damaging wind with their howl, and the gobllyns power to make a gas seep up from the ground. They just seem a little silly to me. Some arent that helpful at all, such as the half-deads ability to create an aura of cold. It is quite a larg aura, so would damage friends as well as foes.
So after that, you then choose a class. Again, they have a load of classes, expanded upon in the expansions. A quick count of all classes (expansions and main book) gets you just over 30. Some examples of classes are assasins, dark knights, dark paladins (plus good knights/ paladins), graverobbers, summoners, wizards, necromancers, priests, and archers. Most non-magick classes dont have special powers, just special skills available to only them (and certain other classes).
This game uses alignments. Im not a fan of them, but I have seen worse ways of using them. You can be good, neutral, or evil. Each of these choices has three sub-choices in them that you have to select, such as good: lawful, or good: saintly, or evil: diabolic (i think you get the picture).
You choose skills. There are a LOAD of skills in this game. The book says more than 200. Sounds good to me.
You then get/ calculate other small stuff, such as how much you can lift and carry, the damage of your punch, your birth sign, languages, and so on.
RULES:
The game has things such as insanity and courage checks (it is partly a horror game, afterall). It also includes rules on curing insanity, such as going to an asylum, ect. A funny image i have in my mind is a half-wolf (or just about any of the fantasy races) sitting on a couch talking to a guy about their "problems".
What would a fantasy game be without combat? It wouldnt be Deathstalkers, thats for sure! Anyway, the combat rules are VERY extensive, so im only going to cover the basics. Each combatant has a certain number of action points. You find initiative, then the highest init. goes first. You can only use one action point per melee (or round, or whatever), and there are as many melees as the person with the most action points. So if i have ten ap. and you have 3, there will be ten melees. If you have higher initiative than slowpokejoe, you are in a agressive posture against him. now, if you are in the agressive, you can choose to attack, or, if someone has already attacked you, you can defend their attack, but you wont be able to attack or defend again until everyone has used their ap. As a defender, you can defend, or take the hit and attack back, or defend. Again, once an ap is spent, you cant do anything else until the next melee. This is just a VERY basic overview of the combat system, and i certainly dont do it justice. Go to the cutters guild website and download the brutality rules (for free!). That will paint you a much better picture of it all. By the way, one more thing about combat, in case your wondering. attacks are made on a twenty sided die. if you dont have a weapon expertise in the weapon you are using, you have to roll a 9 or better to hit. If you have expertise, your chances increase, depending on the amount of your expertise.
Skill rolls are made with percentile. Nothing groundbreaking here, but it works. The only thing i dont like about skills is the fact that if you dont have a certain skill, such as hiding, then the only way that the book gives you to resolve it is through roleplay. I think it would be better if they hade some system there, not just "trust in the gm".
I believe they have over 300 spells, plus new summoning powers in expansion one. They have things such as demon magick, fairy magick, priest spells, and so on. They also have VERY powerful spells of legend that you can get at the highest levels. (oh, yeah, this is an exp./ level progression system. You can leave a class for another, though, through class exits, ala warhammer fantasy roleplay). magic users dont progress as others do. they have to spend their exp. to buy spells. once they have so many spells, they can go to the next level. Any character can also spend exp. to get certain perks, such as another races special attack, making a spell become a natural ability, so on, so forth. I think that is a very cool idea, if you willing to fork over the exp.
Priests are one of my favorite classes in Deathstalkers. There are a huge assortment of gods to choose from to worship. each god has a power or two that it grants to followers and priests. Priests have spells and prayers that they can use. Some prayers include cursing people, summoning angels (even evil gods have angels. demons are a VERY different thing in this game), and turning night into day/ into night.
Also part of the magick system is runic magic. It is a very powerful yet lost art. Rune weapons, as you can imagine, are quite awsome. They have entire rune alphabet, so i commend them for that.
WORLD:
It is a dark game, so of course the world is very dark. The land has been overrun by demons, and Juggernauts (very powerful, mysterious bad-guys), roam the land, destroying everything in their path. Most of the countries and cities are in ruins. The only standing country is called Arkastapha, and it isnt very safe there, either.
The world is pretty detailed, with a timeline and calender, and descriptions of the major places, as one would expect.
There are quite a lot of monsters in the world, too. The main book gives many monster, plus detailed descriptions of everyones favorite horror baddies, lycanthropes and vampires. The expansions give more creatures. There are certainly enough baddies between the three books to keep every adventurer occupied for a long while.
Also, there is a huge amount of equipment and weapons, plus poisons and diseases.
CLOSING/ OTHER STUFF I DIDNT PUT IN THERE:
Good: detailed combat, a whole lot of everything (skills, spells, races, classes). interesting world.
Bad: some races and many race powers are a little hokey. There is a lot to digest, so getting the book and playing the same day would be a god-like feat. The game obviously borrows here and there from some other games, but i see it as taking the best of good games and putting into one.
The people at cutters guild are very nice and have always responded to all of the emails i have sent them. They have quite a few free downloads on their website.
I cant give you an exact price. The website says (or did as of a couple weeks ago), that the main book is around 50 bucks. But i emailed the company to ask about the game, and they told me that they were giving the main book and expansion one away for fourty something (i think. its been awhile). Nedless to say, i got all three books for about the advertised price of the core rulebook. So you will just have to email the company to find out exactly how much everything is.
You can also get the books on disk. Its much cheaper, but i like having the binder.
Well, i think thats it. If you have any thoughts at all that you might want this game, go to the website and look around, and email the company. They are always willing to help.
