Except a fantasy setting is doing a really particular factor, I choose the setting to be intelligent with its real-world analogies. What I imply by that’s, in the event you’re going to have a fantasy nation that appears like 1300 CE France, I don’t need it to be the identical measurement as 1300s France. I don’t need all the cities of 1300s France with totally different names, and I don’t just like the nation to be the identical age as 1300s France, with the identical occasions taking place within the nation’s historical past, with the right nouns modified round.
A Track of Ice and Fireplace has, as certainly one of its inspirations, the Battle of the Roses. You’ll be able to see the place that inspiration impacts the narrative, from politics to expertise degree. However you don’t have excellent analogies for numerous nations or historic figures. Historic flashpoints don’t line up. The span of time within the setting doesn’t match the actual world in any respect. One in every of my least favourite elements of AD&D 2e was the “actual world, however make it Forgotten Realms” pattern that we obtained with Central America, Mongolia, and Egypt.
Alternatively, when somebody doesn’t make all the things right into a direct analogy when the setting contains allusions to real-world historical past, particularly when occasions get blended and matched, I respect how these analogies are used. Can I let you know precisely how far is just too far relating to historic analogs? Probably not, though it helps when components get remixed and logically tied to different non-analogous issues within the setting. With all that stated, we’re going to be Glory to the Excessive One, a sourcebook concerning the Church of the Excessive One for Shadow of the Bizarre Wizard.
Disclaimer
I obtained my copy of Glory to the Excessive One by supporting the crowdfunding marketing campaign for Shadow of the Bizarre Wizard. Though I’ve not had the chance to make use of any of the sport materials on this product, I’m conversant in the same however not an identical system of Shadow of the Demon Lord from a number of campaigns as a participant and GM.
Glory to the Excessive One: A Rulebook for Shadow of the Bizarre Wizard
Writing, Design, and Artwork Route: Robert J. Schwalb
Modifying: Sue Weinlein
Proofreading: Jay Spight
Cowl Design, Graphic Design, and Structure: Kara Hamilton
Cowl Illustration: Çagdas Demiralp
Inside Illustrations: Çagdas Demiralp, Louie Maryon, Adam Narozanski, Julio Rocha
The Holy Textual content
This overview relies on the PDF of Glory of the Excessive One, which is 39 pages lengthy. This features a back and front cowl, a title web page, a desk of contents, and a two-page index. The remainder of the web page rely is dedicated to the historical past, hierarchy, orders, and heresies of the Chuch of the Excessive One, in addition to stat blocks, magic gadgets, and spells.
I discussed this once I reviewed different Shadow of the Bizarre Wizard merchandise, however I like this line’s commerce gown. I just like the borders, the off-white background, and the purple headers. It hits the proper steadiness between inventive {and professional} with out being too cluttered. There are about 15 artwork items, with half-page art work for every chapter. Schwalb Leisure is superb at discovering gifted artists who can produce thematic photographs for sourcebooks, and that is no exception.
Chapter and Verse
It doesn’t take too lengthy to choose up on the concept the monotheistic church portrayed on this sourcebook takes a whole lot of cues from the medieval Catholic Church. Regardless of this analogy, there are a number of locations the place the church is tied to occasions taking place elsewhere within the setting, and the historical past deviates, then runs parallel, in numerous locations.
The Church of the Excessive One is a church that diverged from one other monotheistic faith on the continent of Atemos. Atemos isn’t introduced as one of many main areas of the setting, no less than right now. It serves as a spot “over there,” the place the founding father of the Church of the Excessive One, Jonsuel, was exiled after he dedicated patricide and tried a coup to take over his house nation. Jounsuel returned a brand new, peaceable man, preaching his personal divergent model of the faith he encountered.
A Pontiff usually governs the church, however the present state of the church, after the assassination of the sitting Pontiff, finds it break up between a number of Pontiffs at a time when the Outdated Nation is coming aside. The assumed setting of the Shadow of the Bizarre Wizard is the Borderlands, the area of the setting as soon as dominated by the Bizarre Wizard earlier than his disappearance, as people transfer into the area to flee the chaos of the Outdated Nation and encounter the unusual, magical, supernatural creatures that dwell within the Wizard’s previous area.
The church itself isn’t introduced as essentially the most, nicely, redeeming group. Whereas it positions itself because the ethical customary for people on the earth, as you may anticipate, it’s a inflexible group that has oppressed numerous populations in its historical past. The whole lot supernatural that doesn’t match within the narrative of the Church of the Excessive One is of the Adversary, which incorporates different religions and supernatural beings. Dwarves and halflings can be a part of the church, which is human-dominated, however anybody not thought-about mortal and anybody deemed “corrupted” is an enemy of the religion. Which means Dhampir, Cambions, Daevas, and Revenants are thought-about corrupted mortals, and creatures like elves or clockworks are unnatural abominations.
The sourcebook particulars the next orders inside the church:
- Defenders of Temples and Relics
- Hammers of the Excessive One
- Holy Order of Paladins
- Keepers of the Sacred Coin
- Order of the Open E book
- The Poor Fellows
- Shields of the Excessive One
- Society of the Sacred Coronary heart
- Torches of the Excessive One
These run the gamut from scholarly monks to skilled, militant knights. The Holy Order of Paladins is disgraced as a result of certainly one of its members assassinated the earlier Pontiff and is working to revive its fame. I additionally respect that the Keepers of the Sacred Coin take the fact of Church wealth and assets and make it only a bit extra of an acknowledged a part of the Church.
Everytime you clarify a fantasy faith for a roleplaying sport, I can be a fan of detailing particular orders inside that faith. However in the event you really need me to concentrate, you’ll additionally focus on what heretical features of the religion appear like. This sourcebook contains a number of heresies which were spawned from the Church of the Excessive One, together with these traditions:
- Incarnates
- Originalists
- Purifiers
- Questioners
- Rabidashans
- Scions of the One True God
What does a heresy appear like for this faith? The Incarnates imagine that the Excessive One will quickly grow to be embodied as a human on the earth, and they’re making an attempt to make the world prepared for that arrival. The Originalists incorporate extra conventional Atemosian components of monotheism. The Purifiers are an order making an attempt to weed out corruption within the church that upset a couple of too many individuals inside the church and have been branded enemies of the religion. The Questioners are, nicely, mainly, they’re Gnostics. The Scions of the One True God are zealous about destroying different faiths, however in addition they pushed again on church authority and gave them a foul fame, so their zealotry shouldn’t be antithetical to the official hierarchy. Oh, and the Rabidishans suppose that the Excessive One has already been incarnated and murdered, and so they carry his decapitated head with them, and it tells them issues.
The Adversary is within the Particulars
Along with the historical past and construction of the church, this product additionally gives extra texture to varied features of the faith. This features a desk of well-known saints of the church and the purview of that saint. We get some particulars on monasteries and shrines, together with a random shrine desk. There’s additionally a bit about how widespread indicators and portents of the divine ought to happen within the sport and what they appear like.
There’s additionally a dialogue of the holy guide of the religion, The Codex of the Illumination. We additionally get the eight virtues of the religion, that are left considerably ambiguous, partly as a result of the church is claimed to have interpreted them in another way over time, and so they could also be enforced in another way in several areas. That implies that identical to in actual life, the identical advantage that may encourage somebody to serve others could be interpreted by others as permission to oppress the marginalized. The broad, open method that is phrased doesn’t name out any particular real-world marginalization related to any of those virtues or their transgression. “Interact in No Unnatural Acts” is a hell of a loaded gun, nonetheless.
Manifestations in Rule Kind
Every of the orders of the religion has one or two stat blocks that symbolize characters from that custom. Given the intolerance of a few of these branches, this is smart, because it’s not too troublesome to make use of them as antagonists. There’s additionally a stat block for a Seraph Guardian, an angel that spreads the phrase of the Excessive One. In whole, that’s eight stat blocks.
There are seven new magical trinkets and three relics of the religion. These vary from weaponized spiritual implements just like the Holy Aspergillum and the Holy Censor of the Eight-Pointed Star to religiously important physique elements just like the Blood of Jonsuel to the magically empowered Croziers held by Pontiffs in workplace. I’ve seen vital magic gadgets tied to a place of authority earlier than and have puzzled how I’d work it into the sport, however the Crozier entry launched the concept there have been numerous these created, which means it’s pretty straightforward to have the PCs discover one of many misplaced croziers of workplace, and with the present schism, discovering one other employees of workplace could be crucial, with out making an attempt to elucidate how the present Pontiff(s) misplaced theirs.
The guide introduces a brand new wrinkle to the magic system within the sport within the type of Magical Rites. Rites are magical processes that take a various period of time and require the individual performing the ceremony to expend a few of their castings of a spell. These rites can create results that vary from 24 hours to a 12 months and a Day. These enable characters to bestow boon cube that can be utilized afterward, consecrate a location, or defend a useless physique from changing into undead. One additionally will allow you to transform these spell castings you sacrificed to magical therapeutic.
There are 14 new spells, that are tied to the religion of the Excessive One relatively than one of many customary magical traditions. Should you decide certainly one of these spells because the spell you be taught once you degree up, you lose entry to it in the event you ever go away the religion of the Excessive One, however don’t fear. You’ll be able to retrain that spell with one other spell after getting the choice to take action.
I don’t suppose this can be a unhealthy factor, however since that is the primary complement we’ve obtained that gives further particulars to one of many setting’s religions, it does imply that characters that comply with the Excessive One may have extra mechanical choices than different characters. That’s much less of an issue if the gamers are solely within the Church of the Excessive One for religiously affiliated characters, and it is probably not an issue for a bunch with characters of a number of faiths in the identical occasion if the gamers know that this sourcebook is getting used up entrance. If Shadow of the Demon Lord is any indication, we are going to see further dietary supplements that present choices just like these of the Outdated Religion.
Faith on the Desk
Whereas the textual content clarifies the place the faith has some main points, many of the product presents the religion as a impartial observer may. There isn’t a lot direct dialogue of what features of the religion are problematic.
There are sidebars concerning the diploma of spiritual battle you might have considered trying in your sport and the diploma to which the PCs can interpret the religion within the Borderlands with out the identical structured hierarchy that existed within the Outdated Nation. The guide acknowledges that spiritual intolerance could be troublesome to introduce into the sport.
It additionally mentions that gamers within the Borderlands who’re church members could search to implement the religion much less oppressively than the standard church or combat for reforms. In case you have gamers who need to have a personality who’s a member of the Church of the Excessive One, you could need to spotlight that dialogue to ensure that everybody understands that it could be a extremely unhealthy concept to comply with this faith, which could be as oppressive and regressive as the standard features of the religion.
Elevate Your Voices
To tie this again to what I discussed initially, I respect how Glory to the Excessive One makes use of inspiration from real-world historical past. Some components jogged my memory of a a lot much less complimentary model of Siddhartha Gautama with Jonsuel’s origin. There are allusions to the break up between the Japanese and Western Church, numerous antipopes, and a number of the historic components of the Knights Templar. The heresies have features of Gnosticism, Henrisians, and Fraticelli. However what’s nice is that there are items of these items aligned in a special configuration than they seem in the actual world and tied to features of the setting, concurrently making the faith recognizable and distinctive to the setting. Any complement that gives particulars on how the faiths are practices, with details about orders and heresies, can be a web constructive for me, particularly when it makes use of real-world components cleverly and entertainingly.
Penance
This isn’t a damaging for me, however something utilizing this a lot inspiration from real-world faith could rub some individuals improper. It’s not fairly as overt in its therapy of its main monotheistic faith as Shadow of the Demon Lord. Nonetheless, it additionally clearly shines a light-weight on some points with Christianity over the centuries. I respect the sidebars we obtained, however it’s two paragraphs of data. I’d have favored extra about navigating probably problematic spiritual themes, not simply within the callbacks to real-world religions but in addition by introducing spiritual battle and the pitfalls of gamers taking part in into a number of the worst features of the religion.
Beneficial—If the product suits your broad space of gaming pursuits, you might be prone to be pleased with this buy.
I really like taking part in clerics. Exploring themes of faith in fantasy gaming could be very rewarding. Something that gives further particulars on fantasy religions in a significant method, with substantial roleplaying hooks, is one thing I’m going to advocate. I believe narratives that don’t deal with the gods as something however a supply of energy are lacking a whole lot of potential depth. I additionally suppose narratives that drive too exhausting to scale back the significance or influence of faith could be reductive and self-congratulatory with out exploring why individuals have religion and what that appears like
Whereas this product doesn’t go fairly as exhausting as Shadow of the Demon Lord in terms of stunning spiritual truths and betrayals of assumptions about actuality, it additionally doesn’t advocate for faith. Religions being appropriate isn’t the purpose. The purpose is to supply gamers and GMs with instruments to discover what place faith has for people and the way it may be a instrument for oppression, a method of reinforcing snug supremacist buildings, but in addition the way it can elevate and encourage some human beings, the way it can communicate to them. This type of product remains to be a wonderful template for what a fantasy faith can appear like in a sport setting, even in the event you aren’t utilizing Shadow of the Bizarre Wizard or its setting.
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