The newest Oathbound release, Wrack and Ruin is a location sourcebook for the city of Penance that details the outlying regions and it’s undercity.
For those unfamiliar with this unique setting, the basic premise is that this city if thousands of years old, a madly stacked and sprawling metropolis that is quite literally built upon previous of habitation. Rather than tear down a building, construction proceeds atop it. The end result is an eroding mass of subterranean tunnels and ruins that is barely explored by man.
Wrack and Ruin is a solidly put together, but not particularly attractive book Beyond the striking front cover, the rather sparse interior illustrations are purely average fair and they tend to be rather dark. The guiding principle behind artwork is does it help illustrate the concepts discussed within the text? In this case, the art actually does very little to complement to writing…..it’s a good thing therefore that the authors delivered a tour de force.
It uses the heavier paper stock that Bastion Press turned to when they decided to switch over from full-color products, a very durable material that holds up well to heavy use. The margins are average size by the text font is small, meaning you get a whole lotta content for your buck, much more than many books of a similar size. Most gamers can appreciate that, I’m sure.
The book begins with various player resources: new PC races, prestige classes, prestige races, and so forth. You know the drill by now.
New races include the aggressive and snake-like Nkoll, a sub-race of drow known as wyrgith, and the most intriguing of all, the Scar. These last look like lepers, but are actually the host for a symbiotic parasites that live within the skin. Now that’s cool!
Among the prestige classes are the Career Rafter, a scout with an uncanny ability to navigating Penance’s ruins, and the Spellwarden, wizards who are adept at channeling magic into protective wards. The latter in particular is intriguing. Finally, there are prestige races, extraordinary individuals pushed by the energy of the world to reach their full evolutionary potential. Presented here are five possible “paths” that characters may follow by expending experience points, all based upon subterranean creatures: arachnid, chameleon, cockroach, exile, and mole. The visualization these concepts present really helps make a memorable PC; who could forget a character with compound eyes of a spider or a cockroach’s hardened carapace?
The Lost City, the parts that have been largely abandoned, comprise 20-pages. These are lawless places where anarchy rules and the fight for survival dominates everyday life. In other words, perfect places to adventure in. Several prominent individuals and locales are detailed, as well as two very intriguing guilds developed using the distinctive Bastion Press format as seen in Guildcraft. The Band of the Red Sun is a massive thieves guild that operates on a franchise basis, while the Rage Maidens are militant warrior-women dedicated to freeing women from oppressive situations.
Penance’s Undercity is more detailed, at 30-pages in length. These subterranean levels are home to an almost Morlock-type society, as well as evil cults and all matter of foul creatures. The various mazes and crumbled structures essentially form the dungeons of the Oathbound setting. Here we find dozens of dozens of locales (including the den of the cannibals, home to hundreds of bloodthirsty orcs, and remnants of a technologically advanced civilization that polluted itself to extinction) and characters, as well as adventure hooks in the form of rumors.
I couldn’t help but be impressed that a 32-page adventure was squeezed into the book. I happen to believe firmly that sourcebooks can’t help but be elevated by having an adventure included that illustrates the concepts described. And the adventure here does exactly that, taking the characters into the depths of Penance and introducing many characters and locales described earlier.
Some will argue that the adventure is heavy on the rail-roading. As a gamer, I’m more than willing to give up a bit of control in the name of telling an engaging story. Black on Black is designed for characters of 8th to 12th levels, and while it stands on its own, it’s recommended that the group have played the earlier Oathbound scenarios Dark Welcomes and Ascension Day before venturing into this tale. To do otherwise would undermine the integrity of the campaign-spanning story that Bastion Press is carefully crafting.
The adventure is essentially a quest to locate a lost magic artifact, pretty standard fare, but it features plenty of opportunities to role-play and engage in exciting battles, while the story itself has enough to it to stand up on its own merits.
Completing the book are six new spells, a similar number of mundane items, four new magic items, and a small but noteworthy bestiary. GMs will love the slag, a living pile of rubble that can take humanoid shape.
Wrack and Ruin is an absolute must-have for Oathbound GMs, a brilliantly written book that brings its subject matter to life. But as engrossing as the writing and concepts may be, the uniqueness of the setting and the overarching meta-plot inherent in the 32-page adventure suggests it may be difficult to translate into other, more traditional fantasy settings.
All the more reason to begin an Oathbound campaign.
Review Summary