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Promised Sands: Chapter by Chapter review

Started by RPGPundit, May 25, 2007, 05:22:28 PM

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RPGPundit



Promised Sands RPG: A Chapter-by-Chapter Review

So here we are, getting back into the swing of reviewing. Before I went on my North American Tour, I had done a quick review of the game Promised Sands , by bbrack productions, print edition. As promised way back then, today I will give it another look and give a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the game system.

If you are too lazy to click the link and read the previous review, well, really, fuck you. But if you still are after my insult, the short version of the review would be: "I liked it", and while the game is not without its flaws, there's a lot of attacks that this game got (mostly on RPG.net) that were really undeserved. Chalk it up to people hating a game for having a bit too much enthusiasm in the old-school sense, or if you want to be really generous, say that it was a question of having the wrong audience; whoever was pushing it on RPG.net should really have found a place like theRPGsite to promote it instead.  Its up there with games I reviewed like Starcluster or Iron Gauntlets for enthusiastic small-press RPG products. You know, REAL "indie" games for normal people.

Ok, so let's get to it:

Chapter 1: T'nah at a Glance.  "T'nah" would be the world of the setting, which, as I understand it is Earth itself,  (tens of?) thousands of years into the future, long after a great apocalyptic event.  The game setting is, as such, "post-apocalyptic fantasy".  Its in the old school style of the Wilderlands: technology is lost and forgotten except for a few "magic" relics and some deeply hidden regions, magic exists (but who knows if its really magic or superscience?), even the really great world-spanning post-apocalyptic empires have already come and gone. What is left are city states and the empty shells of those previous world-empires.  This is the sort of shit that really turns my crank.
This first chapter is actually a huge hodgepodge that gives some setting details about T'nah, but mixes this with a glossary of game-mechanic terms, and material about the thematics of the game.  This highlites one quality of the game, not good or bad, but one that people will either appreciate or strongly dislike: the setting and the system are very tightly wed to one another.  This is certainly not a generic game. On the plus side, this chapter gives you a quick idea of the lush richness of the setting right off the bat, on the other, it makes it clear that in order to play this game you will really have to study the setting, and on top of that some of the material references stuff that isn't explained until subsequent chapters.  That in particular could have been better structured.

Chapter 2: Character Generation. This chapter is exactly what it sounds like, the guide to character creation.  So how does one create a character in Promised Sands?
First, you choose your race. A considerable number of races are given, each with their own curious names like "Syl", "Troog", or "Bh'ir"; but even though they do have some slight differences in style and behaviour (and certainly appearance), when it comes down to it all the standard Fantasy races are present here, in some slight disguise. You've got the dwarflike race, you've got the Elflike race (and even the "dark elf" race), and some half-breed races. But you also have the Troog, which are kind of like some sort of gazelle-like people, the Numid who are a humanoid race adapted to desert survival (and look like something out of star trek), gratuitous horse-people and cat-people race for the furries out there, and perhaps most interesting of all, a "future human" race, the evolved results of human beings on this world (and no, they aren't psychic dudes with big heads or something, they're actually taller and tougher than humans because of the rigours of surviving in this post-apocalyptic setting.  And yes, you can also play a regular human, though these regular humans are all descendents of people who had fled to huge underwater domes after the great disaster, and only started re-appearing on the surface relatively recently.
Second, you choose a cultural heritage, from one of the many societies in the setting. This cultural background is important, because it not only determines your background, but it also is combined with your race and profession to determine your attributes.  Each of the 9 attributes in the game are determined by rolling three dice; one die type you get from your race, one from your background, and one from your profession. So you might roll a D6 for your race, a D8 for your background, and a D10 for your career. Or a D8 for your race, a D10 for your background, and another D8 for your career.
After this you pick a number of qualities, assets and detriments. These are pretty standard advantages and disadvantages that affect your stats.
Then you pick your apprenticeship, your first career.  As described above, this determines your third attribute die for each of the 9 attributes. It also determines starting skills, some detriments or advantages, and gear.  In many ways, the structure of the careers in this game remind me of the Warhammer RPG. Its notable, however, that characters usually start the game with three different "foci": a first career which is your main appreticeship, a second career that represents your characters other skill set (another career he picked up along the way) and a third foci that represents his "hobbies".  Depending on what your main career is, you will have certain restrictions of which careers you can choose your second or third foci from.  You can also choose to take two or three foci in a single career, creating a character who is more hyper-specialized, very good at what he does but not very well-rounded.
There's a huge variety of careers to choose from, everything from magic-users, to workers, to artisans, to preachers, to warriors, to everything else. There follow a few sample characters for use as "archetypes", which include (as examples) a "tunnel fighter-blacksmith", a magical sensitive, a peddler, a "bushwalker", a footpad, a scavenger, a scout, an outcast, an apprentice wizard ("maroc"), a noble, a thief, a politician, a servant, a pit fighter, a Qyen monk (sort of like Jedis), an entertainer, a "weaver" (a rogue maroc who doesn't belong to any maroc "school"), a priest, a fisherman, a ratcatcher, an archer, a midwife, and a soldier.

Chapter 3: Trinary System Game Mechanics.  Here you finally get the basics of how the actual system mechanics work.  The system is the "trinary" system, which works on rolling a percentile dice to determine success or failure, and a third d10 (hence "trinary") to determine the degree of success. In combat, for example, the percentile die determines whether or not you hit, and the "effect die" determines your damage.  Its possible to give yourself a penalty to the percentile roll in order to give yourself a bonus to your effect die.
Combat is a fairly crunchy affair, coming in somewhere approaching the "GURPS with all the fixings" level of complexity. You roll initiative first, then get a number of actions determined by your "Reflexes" attribute divided by 5 (usually between 1-5 actions per round). Fighting, defending yourself, moving, casting spells, pretty much any action takes up at least one action. Drawing a weapon, reloading a missle weapon, or talking are all free actions. Ignoring all the particular mechanics for actions etc, the basic combat mechanic involves rolling your combat skill, opposed by your opponents appropriate defensive skill (unless he chooses to just take the hit), then determining damage (which is based on the effect die and the damage of the weapon).  There is shock and lethal damage, and the whole system makes combat pretty deadly. In practice, once you had the hang of the game mechanics, I can imagine combat would tend to resolve itself pretty quickly and fatally.
The chapter goes on to give descriptions of the lengthy list of skills.  It seems to me that the game is pretty skill-heavy, dividing activities into a large variety of skills to do slightly different things, so again you have to dig that kind of stuff to appreciate it.
Next you get the basics of the magic system, which I found to be quite interesting.  The "Maroc" magic is based on combining component words to create a magical "sentence" (hence "weaving"). This magic can build up to some pretty massive-level heavy-mana effects, but to do so requires either channeling energy over a lot of actions or channeling a lot of energy all at once. If you want to make very powerful magic, you have to be capable of holding that energy in until you create the spell, and failing to do so can be harmful to your health.
The other system of magic, Qai, is the one used by the "jedi" in the game.  This magic tends to be the softer, more "psychic" sort of power, lots of detecting stuff, plus healing, but at the higher end more advanced users of this magic can be pretty powerful with it too. Also, its less risky than "Maroc" magic, though it also has its "tainted form" (basically, the "Dark Side").

Chapter 4: On The Care And Training of Your T'nahran.  This chapter covers a wide range of mechanics, from healing to gaining fame and experience points. It also details a long list of "career advancements" that essentially amount to prestige classes (or advanced careers a la WFRP).  There are "entry" requirements for each of these advanced careers, in exchange for which you gain certain benefits.

Chapter 5: On Being a Bard.  No, the "Bard" is not a particular character class requiring its own chapter, the "bard" is the rather cheesy term for the GM in the game. This chapter has all kinds of GM advice, from the banal and  mundane, to the more useful material detailing legends of the setting, and a number of sample NPC types, not statted out but detailed in terms of their stories and personalities. This chapter also has a 26-page "monster manual", detailing some of the various flora and fauna of the setting.

Chapter 6: The World of T'nah. This chapter contains the lengthy and sometimes contradictory histories and mythologies of the various cultures and societies of T'nah. The chapter gives a lengthy analysis of the different societies: the human cultures that lived in underwater domes and are now coming back to the surface world, either because their domes have been destroyed by time and the loss of knowledge in how to maintain them, or to conquer the surface world once more, or because of curiosity; the Dwarf-like race who had a vast empire that conquered all in their path except the followers of an ultra-pacifistic religion that changed them forever, the huge Numid empire that once governed the whole world but fell apart due to corruption and decadence, the Trade Guild that still maintains its power in the ruins of said empire, and more. You also get 30 packed pages of a gazeteer of the world, complete with beautiful illustrations of all of the major cities and settlements and some sites of interest. This chapter makes a very good job of making the setting of T'nah come alive. Finally you get a brief section on some of the details of T'nahrian life, everything from pit-fighting to coffee-drinking to traditions about water consumption in this mostly-desert setting.

Chapter 7: Equipment.  This final chapter gives you a lengthy equipment list, everything from weapons (ranging from simple axes to relic-level laser guns), travelling gear, etc.

I'll finish off this review by quoting my earlier capsule review:
If you dig P-A fantasy (which I love), and you don't mind that its a little away from the typical medieval or conan stuff, and a closer to the product of an unholy union of 1001 Nights crossed with Warhammer (and really, who the fuck couldn't like that?), and if you're not scared of a rules-heavy system, you really ought to check this game out. At nearly 400 pages, its also definitely got everything you need to run a full-blown campaign, none of the "incomplete corebook" syndrome here.

RPGPundit
 
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jdrakeh

The hate-on over at RPGnet always had less to do with the game than the claims of never-before-seen ingenuity and ultra-defensive attitude of its biggest fan (Rogers) than anything else. There's a lesson here. Assholes don't make good PR people.
 

Vellorian

As a friend of Ben Rogers, I am authorized to offer anyone from The RPG Site a discount if they are interested in purchasing a copy of Promised Sands.

Send an email to Ben: evanmoore at AOL dot com

Tell him you read the review on The RPG Site and he'll send you a book for $10 plus actual shipping costs.  

The book is priced at $36.95 and he's been selling it on his site for $25 (//www.harshrealities.info/ben).  

For awhile he was running weekly games at the local game-shop on Friday nights.  I dropped out awhile back, not sure if he's still doing it.  But, if you want to get in on a game in the St. Louis, MO area, ask him about that, too.
Ian Vellore
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" -- Patrick Henry

RPGPundit

Quote from: VellorianAs a friend of Ben Rogers, I am authorized to offer anyone from The RPG Site a discount if they are interested in purchasing a copy of Promised Sands.

Send an email to Ben: evanmoore at AOL dot com

Tell him you read the review on The RPG Site and he'll send you a book for $10 plus actual shipping costs.  

The book is priced at $36.95 and he's been selling it on his site for $25 (//www.harshrealities.info/ben).  

For awhile he was running weekly games at the local game-shop on Friday nights.  I dropped out awhile back, not sure if he's still doing it.  But, if you want to get in on a game in the St. Louis, MO area, ask him about that, too.

Wow. Awesome. I'm going to go ahead and assume this offer extends to my blog, and I'll be making a plug for it there too.

RPGPundit
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you\'ve played \'medieval fantasy\' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

Sosthenes

How about international shipping? ;)
 

Vellorian

I just spoke with him about international shipping.  "Whatever the cost of the shipping, no more, no less." :)  The book weighs in at just over 2 pounds (nearly a kilo).

He also said that he'd give a "case discount".  There are 14 books to a case, 31 pounds to a case, he'll sell a single case for $120 plus shipping.

(This is, of course, "while supplies last"...)

Pundit, Ben said he's happy to extend the offer to your blog.  :)

EDIT: He accepts PayPal, personal checks, cash (though this is not recommended via the mail)--no credit cards (except through PayPal).  Funds must be drawn on a US bank and clear before shipping.
Ian Vellore
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" -- Patrick Henry

jdrakeh

Quote from: VellorianEDIT: He accepts PayPal, personal checks, cash (though this is not recommended via the mail)--no credit cards (except through PayPal).

See, this is a shame, because I'd buy a case for the local FLGS indie game night. . . but I don't do PayPal. :(
 

UmaSama

I'm wondering if I could get to 13 people so we could buy a whole case.:ponder:

Sosthenes

Just one more thing: Could I be at any time while perusing said book be tempted to murder my neighbors, i.e. are there any catgirl pictures in there? I'm very easy to provoke by cutesy furries. Handing me a copy of Ironclaw could lead to all life as we know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in our bodies exploding at the speed of light.
 

Zachary The First

I sent an email--I definitely want to pick this up.
RPG Blog 2

Currently Prepping: Castles & Crusades
Currently Reading/Brainstorming: Mythras
Currently Revisiting: Napoleonic/Age of Sail in Space

Vellorian

Ben just called me and asked me to post this...

On a whim, he checked his spam folder on AOL and found one request for the book in there.  (From an FPO address--maybe that's why it fell into spam?)  Anyway, if you asked for a copy and haven't heard from him, he requests that you email him again or try him at:

rogers.benjamin@gmail.com

He said he has responded to every email so far.  Check your mail.  If you didn't get a reply, AOL ate you email.

He also said he was offering the FPO address a "Pizza Hut special": $10 for the first book and $5 for every book thereafter, as long as you're willing to pay the extra for the shipping.  If you want something like that, just ask him.  I'll bet he'd go for it.  He's really happy that people are responding.  :)

He hasn't asked for anyone to pay the PayPal fees, but said that three people so far have voluntarily rounded up their prices or gave a little extra for the PayPal fees.  I think that's very cool of you guys and just wanted to say thank you, myself.  :D

I'll convey the question about the catgirl pics.  I'm pretty sure there are some in there.  Would you like him to use a black marker on those images so as not to provoke you?  ;)
Ian Vellore
"Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" -- Patrick Henry