REVIEW: Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest

If there's a recent old school game that I feel hasn't gotten the attention it deserves, it's Mutant Future from Goblinoid Games. I personally think that's a shame, because, while it is a very good retro-clone for playing Gamma World, it's actually much more expansive than that. The combination of its compatibility with Labyrinth Lord and its lack of a specific setting makes Mutant Future a good foundation on which to build a variety of gonzo science fantasy campaigns. Ironically, those two qualities may also partly explain why the game hasn't received the love I think it ought to have received, which is why I've thought for a while now that what Mutant Future needed was a solid campaign supplement to show off its possibilities.

Apparently, Charles Rice had similar thoughts and decided to do something about it by producing Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest, the first installment in a gonzo post-apocalyptic setting that takes its esthetic cues from Westerns, but whose content shows a mix of influences, including UFOlogy. I'll admit that I was quite prepared to dislike Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest. Being a big fan of Westerns, I tend to be more than a little snobby about the way the genre is so often misused and caricatured, especially in crossovers with other genres. And while a post-apocalyptic setting is a very good fit for Western themes and esthetics, I was nevertheless apprehensive. I've seen too many poorly executed Western-influenced creations not to assume the worst.

For the most part, my apprehension was baseless. Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest is a well done little setting, described in a 24-page PDF and selling for $1.99. One of its best qualities is that it takes itself seriously without being self-serious. That is, this isn't a silly setting, with mutant horses acting as lawmen or anything like that, but it's also not a setting that's so straitlaced that a funky mutant animal or plant character is an impossibility. Silliness is a big danger in post-apocalyptic settings, especially those that adopt a 50s B-movie approach to mutation as Mutant Future (and Gamma World) does. On the other hand, a big part of the fun of games like Mutant Future are the wildly improbable mutants. There's thus a fine line between inadvertently straying into parody and bleeding all the fun out a post-apocalyptic RPG setting -- a line that I think Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest walks pretty well.

This supplement details an area of indeterminate size situated in the southwest of the former United States. I say "indeterminate" because its single map doesn't include a scale, though any familiar with the region should quickly recognize its major locales: Rhino (Reno), Salt Lick (Salt Lake City), Tusk (Tucson), Vega (Las Vegas), etc. The lack of a scale isn't a deal-breaker by any means, especially when one can easily consult a real world map to determine how far Reno is from Salt Lake City, but it is an annoyance. Fortunately, there's a lot of clever and inspiring ideas in Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest to make up for this oversight, chief among them being the implication that extraterrestrials from Groom Lake/Area 51 are present in the post-apocalyptic world, now freed from the oversight of the defunct US government and engaged in mysterious activities throughout the Southwest.

Of course, the aliens present only one possible source of conflict in the setting. In addition to the struggles between various settlements, there's the rising power of New Aztekia, led by the Lord of the Sun, not to mention several power groups independent of any settlement. There's Hell's Heart, a coalition of criminal gangs; the Nightgliders, who seek the power of man-made flight; the 88th, a collection of human and android soldiers seeking to rebuild America; the Marshals, itinerant self-appointed keepers of law and order; and Uforia, which seeks contact with the aforementioned aliens. Throughout Rice peppers the supplement with adventure hooks and off-handed references to people, places, and events intended to serve as inspiration to the referee in making the Southwest his own setting.

Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest is written in clear, occasionally evocative language, though not without typos and editorial errors. It includes both black and white and color art throughout. I could have done without the colored backgrounds on each page, since they sometimes made the text harder to read. Much like Blackmarsh, Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest is more of a sketch of a setting than something more complete. Whether one views that as is a virtue or a flaw depends on what one expects out of a setting supplement. I myself was largely happy with its level of detail, though I will admit that I was disappointed that some aspects of the implied setting -- New Aztekia, for example -- get very little detail. Likewise, this product is almost entirely stat-less, which no doubt broadens its utility to players of other post-apocalyptic games, but it does somewhat call into question its being touted as a Mutant Future supplement.

In the end, I like Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest; there's the germ of a fun setting in here. I just wanted more, even if, at $1.99, it's actually quite a bargain. Perhaps Charles Rice will return to the Nuclear Sunset setting and produce additional products that offer some of the details I wished had been included in this one.

Presentation: 6 out of 10
Creativity: 7 out of 10
Utility: 6 out of 10

Buy This If: You're looking for a sketch of a setting to use as the basis for your own post-apocalyptic roleplaying game campaign.
Don't Buy This If: You have no interest either in post-apocalyptic settings or using someone else's setting for your own campaign.

REVIEW: Old School Magic

Old School Magic is the latest PDF by Charles Rice, a 29-page supplement for OSRIC introducing nine new magic-using classes and new spells for use by them. Unsurprisingly, it's a very meaty product, with nearly every one of its two-column pages devoted to the presentation of mechanical material. About 5 pages pertain to more "philosophical" subjects, including rebuttals/defenses of Rice's approach to design against criticisms I've made in past reviews (at least I think they're directed toward me, but then, as we all know, I think everything's about me, right?). I'll address those sections later in this review. First, I'd like to look at the new classes and spells Old School Magic introduces.

• Alchemist: This would appear to be the very same class I reviewed in an earlier product and my feelings about the class remain much the same.
• Artificer: An interesting but very weak class, devoted to the crafting of magic items. Members of this class have no ability to cast spells but instead imbue items they construct with such magic. This struck me as more appropriate as an NPC class.
• Conjurer: A magic-user specializing in summoning creatures to battle on his behalf, the conjurer consequently has a very limited selection of spells. As members of this class advance, their summoned creatures become more powerful and numerous, but summoning is their sole magical ability. I found this class rather weak as well, especially given that its XP requirements are the same as standard magic-users.
• Elementalist: Another specialist magic-user with a limited selection of spells, the elementalist is at least potent within his sphere. I very much like the idea of this class, even if I'm not sure about its implementation here.
• Hermit: Again, another great idea -- a solitary divine spellcaster whose austere lifestyle grants him remarkable proficiency with divination and healing -- that I don't think gels quite right. In any event, this is another class that strikes me as more appropriate for NPCs than adventurers.
• Holy Man: This is an alternative class to the cleric in low magic campaigns, focusing on fighting undead and medicinal knowledge.
  
• Naturalist: Another alternative class, this time for the druid, the naturalist is a kind of cunning man with knowledge of the wild places of the world.
• Sage: This is a nice expansion of sages as presented in Supplement II and the Dungeon Masters Guide, with lots of useful abilities, but, again, I have a hard time seeing him as an adventurer.
• Seer: Another specialist magic-user with a limited spell list, this time focusing on detection and divination. The seer's only unique ability is its resistance to illusion, which give members of the class a greater chance of seeing things as they truly are.

As you can see, all of Old School Magic's classes fall into two categories: intriguing non-adventuring classes (some of which don't quite match up with AD&D/OSRIC's implied setting) and highly specialized -- but underpowered -- adventuring classes. The non-adventuring classes are, by and large, very well done; they're flavorful and channel recognizable fantasy archetypes, but I have a hard time imagining a player choosing to create any of them as a character, as they're more "stay at home" types. The adventuring classes are all more or less "specialist wizards," to use 2e parlance. However, they all pay for their expertise in a narrow field by having extremely limited spell selections, which I fear will make them a lot less attractive than the standard magic-user as PC options.

Old School Magic also introduces 31 new spells, most of them intended to fill out the spell lists of the aforementioned specialist wizards. Most of the spells are clever and provide some much needed versatility to the conjurer, elementalist, and seer classes. Unfortunately, there simply aren't enough new spells to put these classes on par with even the illusionist, the lone pre-2e example of a specialist magic-user. Where the illusionist typically has between 8 and 12 spells per level, the specialists of Old School Magic generally have about half that (or less, especially at high levels). Certainly they all get some minor class abilities, like the seer's resistance to illusion, but I'm not sure they make up for the loss of versatility in terms of spell selection, at least not enough that I'd choose to play one over a standard magic-user.

Early in Old School Magic, after discussing "levels of magic" and "laws of magic" (which I'll get to in a moment), Rice takes a couple of paragraphs to answer criticisms made in the past (by me primarily, unless I'm mistaken) about his approach to game design. Rice places himself in the "variety is the spice of life camp," stating that he liked the "wild and woolly" days when publications featured "new classes of every shape and description, some balanced, most not in one way or another, either overpowered or purposely gimped and cordoned off as 'NPC only' classes." That's fair enough and I appreciate his addressing this upfront.

Now, obviously, given my past reviews, his position differs from my own. I am not now nor have I ever been a fan of having a class for everything. That's an approach that, while having a long old school pedigree, I don't care to see revived. But then I'm generally of the opinion that AD&D probably had too many classes, so what do I know? This is an example of a philosophical difference, I suppose. I remember all those classes from the pages of Dragon back in the day and I was generally baffled by most of them. What was the point in having an armorsmith class or a scribe class? They seemed so unnecessary to me. Clearly, not everyone felt the same way, which is why they kept getting created and published, so there's an audience for them, even if I'm not a member of it.

Fortunately, the new classes all contain good ideas and, even though I won't be using any of them in my campaign, I might well re-purpose bits and pieces of them in other fashions. In addition, Rice's discussions of "levels of magic" -- low, medium, and high -- and the "laws of magic" both contain interesting concepts, particularly the latter. He makes suggestions for other approaches to magic that replace or supplement the tradition spell slot system. Again, there are lots of good ideas to be had here, such as mana channeling and astrological magic, that more than justify the $3.50 price tag of Old School Magic, particularly if, like its author, you prefer a smorgasbord of new classes, abilities, and game mechanics in your campaigns. Even if you don't, you still might find some inspiration here for unusual NPC spellcasters; I know I did.

Presentation: 6 out of 10
Creativity: 8 out of 10
Utility: 6 out of 10

Get This If: You love having lots of different classes in your game or are just looking for a few ideas about spellcasters to pilfer for your own game.
Don't Get This If: You're not a fan of having lots of different flavors of magic-user.

REVIEW: Old-School Psionics

Old-School Psionics by Charles Rice is an optional supplement for OSRIC that presents a psionics system for use with that game. Unlike OSRIC itself, which hews as closely to its AD&D inspirations as possible within the restrictions of the Open Game License and copyright law, Old-School Psionics is a fresh take on its subject matter, a "what if" product in the words of its author. Consequently, the system it presents, while having some elements in common with its 1e predecessor, is largely an original creation. That's frankly a wise decision, as AD&D's psionics, like those in OD&D's Eldritch Wizardry, are an unholy mess that no one I've ever met could use without significant house ruling.

Unlike AD&D psionics, which was intended primarily as an adjunct to the existing class system, Rice instead presents psionics as the domain of a new character class called the mentalist. There are provisions for "wild talents," which is to say, psionic members of other classes but they're supposed to be exceedingly rare and their aptitude with psychic abilities is decidedly lesser. Again, this is a good decision and reminds me of the psionicist class created by Arthur Collins and appearing in issue 78 of Dragon, one of my favorite articles from the magazine back in the day and one I used extensively as the basis for a psionics-based AD&D campaign.

Where Collins's class was tied into the existing AD&D psionics system (albeit with modifications), Rice's mentalist is its own creature, being somewhat like an illusionist who wields psychic abilities instead of spells. These abilities are divided into four disciplines, with the mentalist acquiring greater access to them as he advances in levels. Psychic abilities are cast not from slots but through the expenditure of psionic strength points, the mentalist's pool of which increases with level. The class also gains a few other level-dependent abilities, such as crafting psychic items and traveling to the astral and other planes. As with the previously-reviewed alchemist class, I would quibble with any level-based ability being placed at 20th level, which makes it even less likely to be obtained than mighty spells such as wish, but that may be a matter of taste.

Each of the psionic disciplines has seven levels of abilities, with 3 or 4 such abilities per level. The result is a very tight collection of powers rather than the usual cornucopia I associate with AD&D spells. In this respect, the abilities more closely resemble AD&D psionic powers and their fewer number helps lend a different flavor to them compared to standard magic. They likewise seem to be well matched against magic, being somewhat more potent individually but balanced by the fact that they can be used more rarely, given the number of psionic strength points needed to do so.

Old-School Psionics also includes a number of psionic monsters, many of them old favorites, such as the aboleth, brain mole, and intellect devourer, as well as "new" ones that reinvent D&D favorites that WotC did not include in the D20 SRD. These are all nicely presented and tie into the new psionics system so that they can be used to their full potential. Rounding out the 22-page PDF is an overview of the Nexus Campaign, an extraplanar setting based around the city of Nexus where one can find portals to infinite worlds and whose governance is in the tentacles of the mysterious Unseen Masters, an ancient psionic race.

Retailing for $3.00, Old-School Psionics is well worth picking up, if only for inspiration in constructing one's own psionics system for AD&D, OSRIC, or another retro-clone. The system Rice presents is easy to use and flavorful, feeling sufficiently different from "ordinary" magic that including it in one's campaign would bring something genuinely new to it. That said, I was disappointed that Old-School Psionics does not include a psionic combat system, which was the part of AD&D's psionics rules that were perhaps the most unintelligible -- and the ones I most wanted to find some way to use. As someone who attempted to make sense of it myself, I am deeply sympathetic to Rice's decision to avoid it, but I nevertheless had hoped that a product calling itself Old-School Psionics would have included it. Secondly, unless I somehow missed it (which is possible), there is no discussion of how psionic strength points are regained after being used by a mentalist.

In the end, though, these are quibbles. Old-School Psionics is a solid product and one I'm glad to own. It's a good example of the kind of mechanical material I'd like to see more of: presenting simple but still flavorful rules for subjects that aren't covered in existing retro-clones and simulacra. Here's hoping we'll see a future expansion that tackles psionic combat.

Presentation: 7 out of 10
Creativity: 8 out of 10
Utility: 6 out of 10

Get This If: You're looking for a straightforward way to add psionic abilities to your D&D game.
Don't Get This If: You somehow understand the original AD&D psionics rules or don't think mental powers belong in a fantasy game.

REVIEW: Supplement #1: The Alchemist

Supplement #1: The Alchemist is a short (5-page, one of which is the cover and another the Open Game License) PDF product by Charles Rice. It introduces a new character class for use with OSRIC, although it could quite profitably be used with almost any old school/retro-clone version of D&D. The PDF is clearly written and cleanly laid out. The cover artwork by Joe Calkins is nice enough, better I think than that included in previous Vigilance Press releases, but it doesn't really suggest an alchemist to me.

The alchemist class is not described as either a player of non-player character class, leaving that up to the referee to decide for his own campaign. That's for the best in my opinion. In the old days, the term "NPC class" was code for a new (probably overpowered) PC class. There was an unspoken assumption that only TSR could create new PC classes and so there was this kabuki dance in the pages of Dragon when it came to clever new sub-classes, which everyone involved knew would be used for PCs, even if no one would admit this outright.

The alchemist is one such clever new class, one that both represents a genuine literary archetype and employs a different mechanical model than any of the existing classes. Unlike, say, the magic-user, the alchemist has no inherent magical abilities, relying instead on various formulae he can make (often at significant cost), such as acids, poisons, and medicines, in addition to the ability to create potions. The effectiveness and extent of these formulae increases with level: low-level alchemists are both limited in their abilities and prone to unpredictability and error, while high-level members of the class are much more powerful. At 20th level, alchemists has mastered the ability of transmutation and, depending on the referee, may attempt a potentially wide variety of changes between materials and states. I'll quibble that this ability is earned at too high a level for an AD&D-style character class, even as I appreciate its openness to individual interpretation by the referee. Regardless, the rules for alchemy are simple without being simplistic and offer a lot of options without being overwhelming.

Interestingly, the alchemist uses the thief combat and saving throw tables, in addition to the thief's Hit Dice and armor selection (weapons are more limited). This called to mind Gary Gygax's proposed mountebank class, albeit without the implications of deceit and quackery. Still, it wouldn't be hard to play an alchemist in that vein, which may explain why I was so taken with it. It's definitely a "non-magical magical class," if you get my meaning, and, as such it might not suit every type of campaign. In a more low-magic, pulp-inspired setting, I can imagine an alchemist being a very useful addition to an adventuring party. Even in a more "traditional" group, the class would have its uses, with acids providing an alternative to lockpicking and medicines to clerical healing, for example, although neither replaces the more potent abilities of those other classes.

I like the alchemist and would certainly allow a player to take it up if he wished to do so, but then alchemy and alchemical-inspired "magic" plays an important role in my Dwimmermount campaign. In the end, I suspect one's reaction to this product will depend greatly on what one thinks about alchemy and how it ought to be presented in a fantasy setting. The Alchemist definitely takes a generally more "mundane" approach, with alchemy being similar to a more fantastical form of chemistry -- a "science," even if it's sometimes less than exact. Again, that may not be to everyone's taste, thus limiting the utility of this product if you don't share a similar perspective. If you do, it's well worth its $1.00 price tag.

Presentation: 6 out of 10
Creativity: 8 out of 10
Utility: 7 out of 10

Get This If: You'd like expanded -- but not complex -- treatment of alchemy and want a class designed to take advantage of it.
Don't Get This If: You're happy with the existing approach to alchemy and don't see the need for an alchemist class.

REVIEW: Gazetteer of the Canterbury Isles

The Gazetteer of the Canterbury Isles is the first expansion of the World of Arkara setting, which I reviewed last month. Like its predecessor, it is written by Charles Rice for OSRIC, but is readily convertible to any old school fantasy RPG. The Gazetteer is a 16-page PDF, which sells for the eminently reasonable price of $2. The product uses a simple, two-column layout with a high text density. I found it easy to read and noted no significant typos and editorial issues. Artwork is sparse, consisting of a couple of pieces of black and white line art and two maps, one of which is of the Canterbury Isles themselves (seen on the cover image) and another of the City of Bondaea. Both maps are certainly usable as rough guidelines in play but lack a scale, a problem carried over from the original release.

The Canterbury Isles are located in a frontier area to the northwest of the main continent. While this removes them somewhat from the conflicts on the mainland, that doesn't mean they're idyllic. Originally the home of elves and dwarves, the coming of humans has changed the complexion of the land. Once, there was an accord between all the races, but, two centuries later, it has all but evaporated and humans and elves look set to war upon one another, with the dwarves retreating into the earth to avoid being embroiled in such madness. Though perhaps a little clichéd, the political situation in the Canterbury Isles is nevertheless one ripe with adventuring possibilities, at least if one's tastes tend toward political and/or military adventures. Those looking for more "traditional" adventuring possibilities can certainly find them, of course, but the focus of the product is unambiguously on the tensions between elves and humans.

The gazetteer itself briefly details a few areas on the islands, generally giving each two or three paragraphs of information to each, with a couple receiving lengthier treatments. This is, I think, a good level of detail, especially considering the smaller focus of this product compared to its predecessor. Much more detail is lavished on the city of Bondaea, the largest human settlement. Sixty-one locations are at least named within the city and most of them receive at least a short description, although, again, some receive much more (and others much less). The map does number several buildings without keying them so as to allow referees to add their own sites within the city. I think this is an excellent idea, although many of these undetailed buildings are clustered together rather than evenly spread out the city.

The product provides four pages of NPC descriptions, some of them very lengthy, along game stats for the characters in question. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, good NPCs are worth a great deal to a referee when designing and running adventures and many of the NPCs here are quite well done, intelligently portrayed and suggestive of how they could be used in a game. On the other hand, many of the NPCs are quite important movers and shakers of the Canterbury Isles. That's to be expected, given the emphasis placed on political machinations in this region of the world of Arkara, but I do think the product would have been better served if at least some of its detailed NPCs had been lower level, serving as examples of how to use the political situation "on the ground" to spark interesting adventures. As it stands, the Canterbury Isles strike me as a place where characters might go after they've already been adventuring a while and are looking for a place to establish their strongholds and begin playing politics -- not a bad thing by any means but one that will hold appeal for every referee.

The product concludes with two new character classes, both of which seem to be NPC-oriented. The first is the guardsman, a fighter variant with the chance to see through illusions, detect poisons and traps, and hear noise. He can also become immune to backstab and interpose himself between an opponent and another character, taking the damage on himself. It's an interesting idea for a class, although I'm not certain it'll hold much appeal for player characters. There's also a cloistered cleric class, which is a more scholarly, less martial version of the cleric. I've always been fond of the idea of such a class, ever since I read Len Lakofka's version in Dragon many moons ago. Ironically, despite its medieval inspiration, I think the variant would probably be of interest to referees to make clerics more like swords-and-sorcery-style priests than the "fighter with magic" approach of D&D.

All in all, I'd say that the Gazetteer of the Canterbury Isles is marked improvement over the original World of Arkara in terms of its focus and presentation. It may be a little too focused for some referees, but that's not necessarily a flaw in the product itself. I continue to hope for better maps in future products, ones with scales if nothing else. And while I don't mind new game mechanics where appropriate, I still can't shake the feeling that new game rules are de rigeur in World of Arkara products, even when there's no compelling reason for them. I'll say again that I think there's a lot of potential in Arkara and I hope Rice continues to produce additional expansions for the setting. I fear that the piecemeal way it's being released doesn't play to its strengths, namely its bare bones approach, but that may change as additional regions receive their own gazetteers and we can better see how they fit together into a greater whole.

Presentation: 6 out of 10
Creativity: 7 out of 10
Utility: 6 out of 10

Buy This If: You're keen on political and military style adventures and campaigns.
Don't Buy This If: You're looking for something a place to set a low-level campaign.

REVIEW: World of Arkara

World of Arkara: Gazetteer of the Known World is a 25-page PDF written by Charles Rice, which outlines an original fantasy setting for use with OSRIC, along with setting-specific rules variants. Its brevity recalls Gary Gygax's original The World of Greyhawk folio, but its presentation is frustratingly different. The product is divided into three sections, of which the shortest is the actual gazetteer. The other two sections detail the gods of the setting and character options and each is lengthier than the four and a half pages devoted to the physical and socio-cultural aspects of the world.

World of Arkara's layout is simple and readable, which I find a virtue in a hobby whose products frequently have unnecessarily "busy" layouts. There are only a handful of illustrations -- four, to be precise -- and all are quite serviceable, if not particularly interesting. There is a single map of the setting included, which is unfortunately lacking a scale, making it hard to tell just how far apart its continents and islands are from one another. Similarly, nothing on the map is labeled except for various kingdoms and regions, not even the mountains, forests, and occasional river that are detailed. This makes the map next to useless except in giving a very vague sense of things: "The Battlegrounds are north of the Shadow Realm" and so on. The text itself is reasonably clear and I noticed no significant editorial issues that affected my ability to read the product.

The first section of the book runs seven pages and details the three pantheons of Arkara: the Pantheon of Light, the Pantheon of Darkness, and the Gray Pantheon, each associated with a particular ethical alignment grouping, namely good, evil, and neutrality respectively. Each deity write-up includes useful details, such as sacred animals, holy days, clerical vestments, and so on. In addition, clerics of each god have access to certain additional spells normally usable only by another spellcasting class, such as charm person in the case of clerics of Asteria, the goddess of love, beauty, and marriage. The Pantheon of Light is the largest of the three, but none of its deities are described beyond the little details I noted earlier. Meanwhile, the gods of the Pantheon of Darkness are fewer in number and each gets a paragraph or more discussing their religion and role in the world. The Gray Pantheon is the smallest of the three and is treated similarly to the Pantheon of Light in terms of detail.

The second section of the book runs four and a half pages and presents an overview of the realms and regions of Arkara. Each realm or region is given a description that runs for at least one paragraph, but most get several more. This presents the most basic information about each locale, along with some snippets of history, and who (if anyone) rules the area in question. This section is something of a mixed bag. Some areas struck me as too thinly detailed about which to gain any impression, while others inspired ideas in me. Most of them suffer, in my opinion, from having fairly banal names -- Chariot Highlands, Fire Island, Realm of the Sun King -- which made it hard to get a feel for Arkara. Creating good names is difficult and there's no consensus on what constitutes a good name, but I found myself wishing there was a bit more "punch" to Arkara's naming conventions, which came across to me as rather bland.

The third section of the book is devoted to characters and includes one new character class, the Crusader, and options for "tweaking" existing classes. The Crusader is a bit like a weaker paladin without alignment restrictions. The class lacks spells but can heal, turn undead, and gains bonus damage against Crusaders of opposing orders. While I see nothing wrong with the class, it seemed somewhat superfluous to me, at least without more setting-based context. Class variants include the Anti-Paladin (Paladin), Bounty Hunter (Ranger), Hunter (Ranger), and Poacher (Ranger). Each of these drops or alters existing abilities so as to offer a slightly different take on the original archetype. There's also a section on "Character Class Flavor" that provides some setting-based context for the standard classes. This was welcomed, although, again, it's a mixed bag, with some classes, like the magic-user, getting many paragraphs of detail, and others, like assassins or druids, receiving very little. Concluding the section is a social class and advancement system and a discussion of crime and punishment. An appendix provides some details for players wishing to use OSRIC Unearthed in Arkara.

In the end, I'm left with very mixed feelings about World of Arkara. There's definitely potential here, but that potential hasn't yet been fulfilled. For a product calling itself a gazetteer, there was too little information on the world itself. I know that Rice plans to do a series of follow-up products that focus on each of the realms/regions -- one is already available and will be reviewed here soon -- but I nevertheless think the initial product should provide more information than it does on this score. As it is, there's not enough to grab me and make me want to use this setting, particularly given the weakness of the map, which is simply too undetailed to be usable.

Similarly, I think there are too many new rules and rules tweaks presented here. While I do like the clerical spell options, which reminds me of The World of Greyhawk, the additional character class and variant classes are unnecessary and took up space better spent on fleshing out the setting. It's here, I think, where Rice's background as a D20 writer shows most clearly. The D20 market was very "crunch-heavy" and its fans demanded new rules and rules variants. That's not (generally) the old school approach, where new rules and rules variants are introduced sparingly and as needed rather than according to some a priori plan.

World of Arkara sells at $3.00, which is a fair price for what you get. For an additional dollar, you can purchase a bundle that includes this product, a regional description of the Canterbury Isles, and an adventure. That's a very good deal, even considering my qualms about the initial release. For my part, I'll reiterate that I think the Arkara setting has potential and it will be interesting to see if Rice can fulfill it. I nevertheless do think this product could have been stronger than it is and hope there will be a revised and expanded edition in the future.

Presentation: 6 out of 10
Creativity: 6 out of 10
Utility: 5 out of 10

Buy This If: You're looking for a sketch of a setting you can loot for ideas.
Don't Buy This If: You're looking for a latter day World of Greyhawk-style folio product.

REVIEW: OSRIC Unearthed

OSRIC Unearthed is a 42-page PDF written by Charles Rice and retailing for $7.00. Obviously, it's intended for use with OSRIC, but some of its contents could be fairly easily adapted to other old school fantasy RPGs -- some but not all. I say that because a goodly portion of OSRIC Unearthed is devoted to "martial arts" (a broad term encompassing a variety of combat styles and maneuvers, not just Asian-derived unarmed combat) and uses OSRIC's weapon proficiency rules as their basis. Games like Labyrinth Lord and Swords & Wizardry both lack such rules, making it harder to introduce these martial arts into those games without also importing weapon proficiencies or something akin to them. It's not an insurmountable difficulty by any means, but I felt I should mention that, unlike many old school products, OSRIC Unearthed is fairly strongly mechanically connected to its native rules set.

The product is cleanly laid out and easy to read. I encountered no obvious editorial or layout issues, although I was a bit baffled by the extensive table of contents, when an index would probably have been more immediately useful. The layout itself is reminscent of OSRIC's own without being a direct copy of it. OSRIC Unearthed is illustrated through the use of black and white clip art that varies in quality and appropriateness, with the best pieces reminding me of artwork from the early Silver Age of D&D, which only seems fitting given how much inspiration this product draws from TSR products of that era, such as Unearthed Arcana and Oriental Adventures. The end result is sober and workmanlike rather than inspired.

The first part of OSRIC Unearthed (pages 2-22) consists of eight new character classes. They're a mixed bag in my opinion, with some being quite excellent and others fairly banal. They are:

• Barbarian: This class is a nice marriage of the ideas behind the AD&D barbarian (fear/hatred of magic, commanding a horde, etc.) with those of more recent vintage (berserker rage), without all the infelicities of either one. It's not perfect by any means, but it's better than either of its inspirations.
• Bard: This is an interesting take on the class, being much more closely focused on using music to achieve quasi-magical effects than was its AD&D counterpart, yet without explicit spellcasting. It also has the benefit of being a complete class unto itself rather than a proto-prestige class.
• Brawler: An intriguing class, this one is a Western-style "martial artist," an expert in unarmed combat. My main beef with it is that it pretty much demands the use of the new martial arts rules (about which I'll talk shortly).
• Knight: A less egregious version of the AD&D cavalier, it's nevertheless not a class that I see a great need for. That said, for referees who do, it's a well-done option.
• Ninja: The first of several new Oriental character classes, the ninja is a thief/assassin with a dash of illusionist thrown in. This is a class I was prepared to dislike on principle, but its presentation won me over.
• Noble: Like the bard, the noble has the ability to inspire others as its primary class abilities. I'm not at all convinced anyone would want to play such a class nor do I see much need for it.
• Samurai: This class comes across as just a variant of the knight, which I suppose it is.
  
• Thief-Acrobat: I never much cared for this class in AD&D (another proto-prestige class) and this version, which is a fairly straight translation of it, didn't change my mind about it.
• Yamabushi: This is a modified version of the traditional monk placed within its Oriental context.
  

There's a short list of new weapons, almost of them Asian in origin. Then there's the new martial arts rules, which take up most of the remainder of the book (pages 23-35). These rules allow characters to use their weapon proficiency slots to purchase "styles," each of which has several combat "maneuvers" under it. No more than a single maneuver can be used per attack and each one grants some combat boon, sometimes in exchange for a drawback. Most of these maneuvers grant very small bonuses, either to hit or to damage under specific circumstances and some have special effects, such as lowering an opponent's armor class for a time, for example. The styles themselves are very broad, covering everything from Asian unarmed combat to specific weapon styles. The author definitely understands the dangers of bonus inflation and deftly avoids that in these rules, which feel very old school in their mechanics, if not their conception. Many basically amount to lightly mechanized "flavor" abilities, which some referees may or may not see as worth their while.

The remainder of the book consists of a handful of new magic items and suggestions for how to run OSRIC campaigns with either an Arthurian or Oriental flavor -- no surprise given that its author D20 campaign rules for both from RPGObjects.

Mechanically, OSRIC Unearthed is superb. I have absolutely no qualms with its new rules, all of which feel continuous with the approach of OSRIC itself. In this respect, I'd call it "Unearthed Arcana done right," but then I generally feel that the Gygaxian original felt like a break with what had come before it rather than a logical extension. Content-wise, OSRIC Unearthed is a bit less sound, not because its ideas are bad ones -- they are not -- but because so many are focused on Oriental-style D&D that they may not be of use to referees who run straight-up Western campaigns. Of course, some of its contents, like the ninja, as I noted, are good enough that they almost demand "re-tooling" outside an Asian setting. I respect that the author made the martial arts rules useful even in non-Asian settings, but it's also clear that they work best in that campaign context.

Consequently, OSRIC Unearthed has a high quotient of "outré" material that won't be useful to everyone. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think it will limit this product's appeal, which is a pity given how well done it is. I'd love to see more OSRIC material from Charles Rice in the future; here's hoping his next product might be more "traditional" in its content so that it will attract the attention it deserves.

Presentation: 7 out of 10
Creativity: 9 out of 10
Utility: 6 out of 10

Buy This If: You're interested in adding new classes and martial arts to your games and aren't put off by a lot of Asian-themed content
Don't Buy This If: You have no interest in Asian-themed fantasy and/or see no need for secondary and tertiary character classes, like the barbarian or the knight.