The Religion: The Player Side of Things

Below I'll be taking a few points that happen early in the book and discussing how it might be useful from the player's point of view. This will include some spoilers so if you're looking to avoid such details, read no further.


"Bors," he said, "you're my oldest and most steadfast companion. But we three contracted to become rich men together and such we are becoming and so we have done. Whether we rise or fall, it's battle of a different sort we're engaged in now. Remember the motto you coined for us, Usque ad finem. Until the End. Until the very end."

When the party is first being generated, there may be some concerns or issues with the variety of materials that are allowed in the campaign and the inherent opposing natures of some of the classes. If the players can agree to work with each other, then regardless of their core believes and alignments, outside of actual restrictions in game, such as older editions where paladin's couldn't associated with known evil individuals, then the game should be able to proceed with few difficulties.

The real meat of the above quote is that despite their different backgrounds, Bors, Tannhauser, and Sabato, are associates, allies, and more; to the end. Players need to realize, at the start of the campaign, that acting in character is one thing, but causing so much distruption with other players that it effects the game itself? That behavior, in my opinion, needs to be booted out.

I'm not saying all of the characters have to love each other. After all, Bors and Sabato are not 'friendly despite their alliance to one another. Verbal sparring and one upping another against their foes should be the pick of the day.

In terms of character motivation, sometimes when making a character, the motivation comes through deeds. Most fantasy role playing games are set in a time when if one has the will and ambition, the world is literally theirs for the taking. In such a world, just getting by, or even doing well in your own business, might not be the standard or enough.

"They will harrow Hell on that island- and you and I are not among them to test our mettle." He clenched a barrel-shaped fist in anguish. "It's a violation of the natural order."

Here, Bors, a man whose blunt actions and thirst for violence are crouched behind the Church and the desire to test himself, sound like it comes straight out of Dragonball Z or some other anime show where the very act of testing your strength against a worthy opponent is the point of conflict in the first place.

This isn't that strange though. Think of wandering ronin who would demand to test their blades against other wanderining samurai. Think of the fame or notority to be gained by testing your own skills against anothers. Think of putting those skills to use for the greater good of a larger body then yourself such as a church, a guild, or in the case of Bors, his comrades.

By having motivations that the Game Master can understand at the ready, the players help the Game Master not only get an idea of what makes the characters tick, but how to add those opportunities to the game itself.

The Religion has many a fine character moment and players looking for ideas to inspire them could do far worse then reading through it.

The Religion by Tim Willocks

Another novel recommended to me by fellow online players and readers of historical fiction, The Religion is a powerful novel that has a lot of elements going for it that would not only make a fantastic movie, but provide a ton of fodder for a role playing game.

Looking at the very begining for instance, in which young Mattias life is changed forever but has some historical basis.

"Thus, in the year of 1540, Mattias the blacksmith's son became a devshirme: a Christian boy gathered in the Gathering and drafted  for the Slaves of the Gate."

The young man in turn becomes a janissary, one of the elite soldiers. In and of themselves these might be minor things, but the weaving of the historical with the fiction with fine action sequences brings the book to life in its own way and provides a lot of depth that many settings are lacking.

On the other hand, the book doesn't focus extensively on this period of the main character's life. While those introduced here will play roles again, it doesn't go through each  and every year that he endured his initial training. When next we see him, he's a grown man with his own allies and enemies.

In its own way, this is espoused by many. Let the character develop through game play. In some instances I've seen, it's more like the novel here in that there are things hinted at in his background that eventually come to light in the book, but they are not needed at the start of the book and indeed, a new character may have a germ of an idea for his background, but unless it's going to directly effect how the campaign runs, don't be afraid to hold back some of the rare gems of events that happened prior to play and see if the GM can work them into the campaign.

Tim Willock's book is one with a lot of elements going for it and I'll be hitting it with a few more footnotes for at least a few more entries.

Solomon Kane: The Castle of The Devil

I tend to read a lot of comics. Well, not as much as I used to, but nontheless, I still managed to dip my toe into the illustrated word. Part of this is simply that I'm a visual person. I like seeing things illustrated.

For Solomon Kane, I've been aware of the character for decades. I've read many a tale of the pilgrim but didn't recall this one by Dark Horse Comics. I picked it up a while ago and have enjoyed it's tale.

So after seeing a blog on it by Phil Reed, whose done some great d20 work back in the day, I decided I too would blog on it. After all, it's been a few days since my last blog post, I'm still reading The Religion, still reading The Monks of War, and have a few other bits and pieces.

First, the writer gets Solomon Kane. He truly comes across as a man not only out of time, but one who takes his various duties with all of the seriousness of an avenging angel.

"I am Solomon Kane-- a wanderer on the face of the Earth with no destination."

"It has fallen upon me, now and again in my sojourns through the world, to ease various evil men of their lives."

And when others inquire of Kane?

"No, not Kane. he is what he seems to be- an honest man."

"He offered you the book? He must knot have know you at all, Solomon Kane. Not at all."


The things that works for Kane in this story, is that he gets to bounce around a little. In terms of 'adventure' if you will we have some of the following:

An oppressive forest. Setting is important in a story at all times. It can help convey the tone and the atmosphere more than the monsters and weapons when given the right description.

Bandits. Every game needs its fall guys. If you're playing something like Warhammer Fantasy, while you have a wide plethora of villains to use, good old human bandits still have a special place in this pantheon. After all, with all that's going on in the world, man still turns on man and in and of itself, that's part of the 'evil' if you will of a setting like Warhammer.

An omnimus castle with its own history and its an old one. This ties into the forest. The age and depth and scope of the castle make it more than just some petty lords dwelling place.

Religious overtones and supernatural entities. Kane is a man of God. He has dealt death to many a fiend in his travels. But his faith remains unshaken. Playing such characters can be enjoyable in that often they tend to be the rock of the party in terms of what they must do. However, if it's not a vanilla alignment based system, don't be surprised if sometimes they do something that a lawful good paladin wouldn't do.

Friends who have their own motives. Here we meet Silent John, a man who quickly takes to Kane. In some ways he's like the roguish henchmen, more concerned with the worldly loot than the main hero. His virtue isn't as pure, but in some ways, that makes him more interesting because you really don't know what he'll do at any one time. In many ways, a good model for using henchemen in an OSR game or even using the modern rules for 4th ed.

Enemies trying to use those friends for those own motives in turn. Actions have consequences. More importantly, your friends have their own minds and wills. Just because you're all travelling along the same path doesn't mean you'll all take the same way there. This can create conflict, and in a role playing game, conflict is good. Just try to keep it from spilling out into actual combat.

Guards that do as their lord commands. Much like the bandits, human guards are always a nice change of pace. After all, some of them are probably only doing their duty. Others may be trying to advance their position with their lord. Others may be waiting for the right moment to forward their own goals. When using guards, having a list of names or attributes to give them quick visuals and quirks to help them stand out in the players mind will go a long way.

An encounter with a ghost for clarification of ancient events. Getting information to the players without having to always rely on the roll of the dice in terms of intimidate or bluff or gather information checks is a nice thing. Having an event in the game that relays information can be a useful tool in the hands of the Game Master. This doesn't necessarily always have to be a ghost. Dreams are another method that can be used.

The minion of that supernatural horror that in its own way is more threatening, more visceral and teresterial in its menace. Sometimes when you see a villain and his own minions, the minions make things more interesting by having their own apperance, methods of attack, and personality. Orcs have various ranks, but some fear the fanatics among the goblins or the giants, who may not rule, but can just as surely crush you.

The interior art by Mario Guevara is colored in subtle tones that have a lot of color, but aren't too bright and done so in a fashion that fits the story by Dave Stewart. Many of the images, especially in the sketchbook, would make for great visual aids for a Warhammer fantasy game which has a Witch Hunter styling to it as well as the guns and castles and other elements of horror.

The Castle of the Devil does a nice job of telling a tell that's based on a mere fragment from Robert E. Howard and has a ton of inspiring material to it that game masters should be able to use for at least several encounters.

Brunner The Bounty Hunter by C. L. Werner

I know I'm bouncing all over the place with books. At the start of The Monks of War, deep in The Religion, and finished the first short story in Brunner, not to mention whatever RPG books I'm messing with as well as various digital comics through Marvel.

But I love me some bounty hunters. One of the first times I remember them in AD&D was a Non-Player Class in Dragon. They loved to pull that. Here's a class so awesome and overpowered, but so limited in scope, that it makes a great NPC but should never be used as a player class. My other reference to them is from The Complete Adventurer, a book from Bard Games, the people who did the Atlantis trilogy, by the guy who later went on to do Talislantia. I owned at least two different printings of the game, one with a green outline, and one with the solid green border as seen here at Troll And Toad.

Bounty Hunters, like Mercenaries, to me, make perfect sense as a default for an adventuring party. The initial goals are already there. The targets of said goals allow the GM to pull an enemy of the week deal and allow the players to go where ever they need to in order to find and capture their foes.

In terms of Brunner, the opening sequence has one part that makes sense in a setting where so much relies on having a skilled operative.

"I agree the Tileans would certainly discover an armed force sometime before they themselves were in peril. But a single man? One man could discdover their hiding place, infiltrate it and recover the child."

And there's one perfectly valid reason why sometimes a small group of adventurers may be better than sending in an army. And of course the other reason? Unlike a standing army you may need in a few weeks that you could suffer serious losses on should you attack the goblin caves, the mercenaries are 100% disposable! It's a double win.

Escape From The Eighth City: Immortal Iron Fist

Outside of a terrible chest cold and 'Snowmagedon' here in Chicago, I've been catching up on my reading. In between The Monks of War and a fiction book called the Religion (which will have many of its own postings), I've also taken some time to dip into the digital pool of Marvel Comics onilne offering again as I'm a subscriber to the yearly bit.

Iron Fist was one of my favorites as a kid who enjoyed all things martial arts growing up in the 70's and 80's although more by proxy in the early 80's as I was only born in '71. Still, it's some good stuff between Iron Fist, Shang Chi, White Tiger, Sons of the Tiger, and other bits that Marvel did in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu.

Anyway, the Immortal Iron Fist went into a new storyline in #22, "Escape From The Eighth City." The mystical city of mystical cities had been mentioned before, but now we find out what it really is. Turns out it's a prison city. "It has been constructed to house the monsters, demons, and criminals that plagued K'un-Lun thousands of years ago."

Well, that's interesting but it's not really unique. Even Dungeons and Dragons has hit the prison scene a few times, once even with Eberron. But there's a nice bit of honesty here.

"Unfortunatley it has been... abused over the centuries. The former leaders used this feature (one way stop) to cleanse K'un-Lun of her enemies. Enemies being a very loose term."

This is pretty much a easy switch to a martial art based campaign, a super hero based campaign, a science fiction campaign, or a fantasy campaign. A hidden prision has been used for years to hold people illegally and someone specific, or something specific is needed from there. Even though no one else before you has ever escaped, we need you to go?

Oh, and by the way, arena fighting with various hordes of monsters is the standard form of entertainment. Don't forget to write!

The Monks of War by Desmond Seward

Amazon had this puppy on sale a while ago and I picked it up. I'm not deep into it yet but some of the writing already strikes me as 'RPG' style.

"Those who stayed in Palestine were adventurers, mainly French, with nothing to go back to, and the state they created reflected the feudalism of their own land." (pg. 24).

"When the first king of Jerusalem, Baldwin I, died in 118 the land was still in wretched disorder, infested with criminals; with some justice Latin Syria has been compared to a medieval Botany Bay. Many Franks had been sent on the crusade as penance for atrocious offenses such as rape and murder, and they reverted to their unpleasant habitis." (pg 29)

"Huges de Payens was no mere adventuerer but lord of the castle of Martigny in Burgundy...Hugues arrived in Syria in 115, and by 118 had become a self-appointed protector of pilgrims...This ragged eccentric persuaded seven knights, also from northern France, to help him, all taking a solemn oath before the patriarch to protect pilgrims and observe poverty, chasity and obedience.... (pg 30).

Right here I see a few scenarios playing out as it may apply to RPGs.

The first is that adventurers in and of themselves may not be the most loved individuals in any setting. They are bringers of chaos where they go. After all, they are wanderers. They are roaming the land gods above knowing exactly what it is they seek. Several adventures, like Death Frost Doom, have dire consequences if the party fails at what their doing. In many home campaigns, I've used an ancient unearthed evil bit a time or two myself where the party has to put the genie back into the bottle.

Next, there are potentially two types of campaigns at the root here. The one is a glorious age of evil and neutral characters running around the countryside taking what they will and abusing the lands as their wont.

The second is a group of characters who take it upon themselves to cure this plague ridden land of these foul vermin that infest it. So that the common folk may move about more freely.

Depending on the group and the efforts involved and how into one scenario over the other the Game Master is in, either one could be entertaining.

With the bandit angle, the real problem is going to be the long term legs of things. In level based games, merely performing hit and run tactics on groups of peasants, the occassional knight errant, and fighting for living space with the other inhabitants of whatever bad lands the players inhabit, won't cut it at the higher levels of the campaign.

But if the players want to take root and possess power, it shouldn't. I'm not hard core old school or anything, but in older editions, hiting namel evel and constructing your castle gave players the things that adventurers tend not to have; roots. Now they have to go out and hunt bandits. Now they have to scourge the countryside just to protect their own men and loyal factions.

It's something that no matter how awesome and powerful latter foes in an epic campaign may be, is a failure of 3rd and 4th edition on some level.  It's not that you can't do these things in either edition. It's not even that there aren't ways of providing rules for it. It's just so not the focus of the game. I don't know if that makes sense but I'm sure with a good GM and a good group, it's not going to be a problem, even for a long term game that makes it to higher levels.

Perhaps being on the frontier, these adventurers new castle attracts all the worst sort of attention starting with giants and moving it's way up the food chain to dragons and demons? Maybe they built their castle right on something like the Hellmouth from Buffy the Vampire Slayer? While 3rd and 4th ed scale to various degrees upward, the problem to me is that they don't scale 'downward' in terms of what the players can do and what they're expected to do.

Anyway, Monks of War is written in an easy to read manner and brings out all sorts of campaign suggestions right ouf of the box.

Swords From The East by Harold Lamb

One of the nice things about Bison Books publishing efforts with the works of Harold Lamb is that they've brought back a lot of material that hasn't seen print for years. This volume in particular, Swords From The East, has a nice focus that escapes most of the standards of 'European' style historical adventure stories.

One of the things I enjoy is some of the characters that get historical footnotes.  Take this one in particular from page 427.

The Rajputs were the most warlike of the races of India. They were chivalrous warriors, and experienced, if impeuous soldiers. Rana Sanga was old in years and wisdom, with fifty sword and lance scars on his body, blind in one eye, with am arm cut off and one leg crippled. Seven Rajas and a hundred chieftains, eighty thousand horse, and five hundred elephants were at his back. He was in all things a foeman to delight Babar.

Now that's a foeman with some character there. If you can make the enemies of the players as interest as those history is litered with, you're on the right path.