Lev Lafayette’s recent retro-reviews have made me remember those
ol’ good Rolemaster days, when we spent hours just reading tables and trying to get PP rings (ok, we were at high school and we hadn’t discovered
Vampire or
Ars Magica yet…).
I think Rolemaster is now quite outdated and I would never play it again (although I’m sure that it has its fans), but what about Shadow World, the official campaign setting? Has it endured the test of time? Is it worth revisiting it again?
Shadow World appeared in 1989 and was designed by Terry Amthor. It had an extensive support during the first years, but all ICE troubles put it in hiatus. Fortunately the line has been resurrected again by his author, and many old books are accessible in PDF format.
Today I will review the fourth edition Master Atlas, released in 2003. It’s the core book for the setting, and has minor updates from the previous versions. I must admit that I haven’t played it (I used the second edition in my campaigns), but I bought and recently I have reread it.
Shadow World: Master Atlas Fourth Edition
The Shadow World campaign takes place in a world called Kulthea, a very huge planet with a long history. Although it’s a fantasy setting, it has some science fiction elements, like the fact that the First Era had an enormous galactic empire.
The book includes statistics for both Rolemaster Second Edition and Rolemaster Fantasy Role Playing, but I won’t be talking about the rules (with one important exception). The manual is divided in fifteen chapters and two appendices.
Chapter I. Introduction (6 pages). The world’s presentation, with a list of future supplements (now available). It includes the necessary abbreviations list and the system codes.
Chapter II. History & Civilization notes (33 pages). After the typical discussion about time and calendars, the book includes a massive history timeline spawning more than 200,000 years. It begins with the arrival of a group of inter-dimensional travellers (later worshiped as gods) and the creation of the Althan galactic empire, and it continues with fallen kingdoms, enormous wars, forgotten civilizations, recurring enemies and dangerous conspiracies. Years 6050 to 6054 (the present) are specially well described.
I don’t find the “civilization notes” anywhere, but the timeline is quite impressive.
Chapter III. Peoples of Kulthea (30 pages). This is the races section, and includes almost all intelligent cultures living in the planet. Unfortunately, since there are many of them the descriptions are really brief.
Races are divided in four groups: mortals, the majority of them, including giants and trolls; immortals, that is, elven and titans; alien races not native of Kulthea; and the extinct ones. Nine pages are devoted to the typical character creation tables.
Chapter IV. Character creation (4 pages). Some guidelines about how to create characters in both RM2 and RMFRP.
Chapter V. The Lands. An Atlas of Kulthea (31 pages). The main geography section, it starts with some general guidelines about technology levels, political structures and subsistence patterns. Then the main fourteen continents of the western hemisphere are described (including the better-known Emer and Jaiman), and there are some notes about the Polar Regions and the strange eastern hemisphere.
Again, there’s one big problem: this world is so huge that the continent’s notes are too general to be useful when creating a campaign. Fortunately the Shadow World line has many books describing specific areas, so this chapter is just a general reference.
Chapter VI. The Bay of Izar (16 pages). The default campaign setting is an area surrounding a large bay. Unfortunately, its description is not done from a social or cultural point of view, and it looks really old-fashioned: geography features, settlements (36 in only six pages), fortifications, and sites and mysteries. This means: dungeons, places to explore and places to buy equipment. A pity, since Shadow World can really offer more than this.
Chapter VII. Essænce and Spells (14 pages). We must stop here, because this is a very interesting chapter, only hindered but the annoying difference between Essænce (the primal magical power) and Essence (one of the three magical realms, with Channeling and Mentalism).
After some considerations about foci and flow storms (a central concept in the setting), the author tells us that although he assumes that we will use Rolemaster’s Spell Law, many features in this book should be improved in order to add more flavour to our campaing.
It’s really surprising that one rpg book criticises another one from the same line, and even emphasizes its weak and arbitrary points:
“[Power Points are] a somewhat artificial game mechanic (…). While necessary to game balance, it bears an unfortunate resemblance to firing rounds out of a gun. In RM2, it also lacks the potential for any sort of heroic effort”
“Under the original rules, the Monk is under Essence simply because monks don’t wear armour, and neither can Essence users. Convenient, but hardly in the spirit of the actual nature of their power. Bards, similarly, were made Mentalists because singing in a helmet is impractical, and Mentalists don’t wear helmets”
After these brave considerations, the author tries to solve these problems offering some patches, and addressing some key topics: how spells are manifested and which is the nature of Channeling.
Chapter VIII. Chultean Gods and Immortal Spirits (15 pages). A description of the Lords of Orhan and its counterparts, the Dark Gods. It includes also details about the immortal spirits of both groups.
Chapter IX. Good & Evil, Order & Chaos (3 pages). Shadow World is an epic setting, so this section states that there is a Pure Evil (in capital letters), and not only individual evil actions. This dark energy is called the Unlife, and wishes to destroy everything. The dragonlords and the Dark Gods are the other main evil forces in Kulthea.
Chapter X. Groups of Note (17 pages). Time for the two organizations that best define the Shadow World campaign: the Loremasters, a mysterious group of information-gatherers (that sometimes also act as history crafters); and the Navigators, the guilds able to transport travellers though Essænce flows. Some other notable organizations and individuals are also briefly described.
Chapter XI. Creatures (9 pages). A really disappointing bestiary, since we’ll need other Rolemaster books to get the stats for the most common creatures.
Chapter XII. The Undead (3 pages). No, not the Unlife. The Undead. Really, it’s not the same. Just some notes about mummies, wights and similar criatures, but we are again refered to Creatures and Monsters.
Chapter XIII. Artificial Beings (10 pages). Remember when I said that Shadow World had science fiction features? This original chapter mixes strange beings created millennia ago with the more typical elementals and golems.
Chapter XIV. Demons of the Essence (7 pages). These are the evil creatures usually summoned by wicked magicians, and are not associated with the Unlife. They can be Elemental, Thematic (doombringers, soulslayers, procreators, ordainers) or Singular.
Chapter XV. Demons of the Void (4 pages). More demons? These ones come from other dimensions, and have the typical Lovecraftian touch.
Chapter XVI. Appendices (14 pages). There are just two of them, one talking about weather and climate and the second about plants and medicinal herbs.
Conclusions
Compared to the classical AD&D settings, Shadow World is quite different. When you read it you don’t have the urge to start creating characters and playing immediately. Instead, you think that you will need some time to prepare a long-running campaign… but that it will be also memorable.
Shadow World is also more difficult to describe than, for example, Dark Sun, Ravenloft or Planescape. There is no core concept, but the setting is also very cohesive, the sciencie fiction touches fit really well, and Loremasters and Navigators are really interesting.
The fact that Shadow World is less exciting than the old TSR worlds but more rational (allow me this word) is positive, because Rolemaster is not AD&D.
Unfortunately the Fouth Edition Master Atlas has some problems, especially with the races, geography and bestiary chapters. But if you can get it and some area supplements (many of them available in PDF format), I’m sure you can start a really good campaign.
Review Summary