Necropunk Campaign Setting
This
campaign setting is a whopping 196 pages long, 1 page front cover, 1 page
editorial, 1 page of links to the galleries of the contributing artists, 1 page
ToC, 2 pages of SRD, leaving us with 190 pages of content, so let's take a
look!
Full
disclosure: I have read the Beta of this book and provided feedback on it and
some minor editing help - I was not compensated in any way and don't consider
my verdict in any way compromised.
That being
said, let's jump into Necropunk: The first chapter introduces us to the basic
tenets of Necropunk: The
"Necro" in Necropunk made me anticipate a grim, gory setting - which
it essentially isn't - at least not necessarily.
Mankind has
left earth and evolved, developing species-wide psychic powers, spurned by a
genetic trigger left in our DNA by some progenitor (god? aliens? something
sinister? -for what ends?) to activate upon achieving a certain distance from
our solar system - the means of conducting these powers being uncommon and
smart - human bones.
Taking a
rather realistic approach to how societies handle things, the results of this
discovery were catastrophic to say the least - a bone-rush began and since
bones not only contained power, but also were a means of attaining wealth,
forever changing how society works. Via these bones and the psychic augments at
the beck and call of humanity, a renaissance of melee weapons and extreme
powers that hearken to fantasy without copying genre conventions was the
result.
The races
of Necropunk have developed from humanity and no elves, dwarves etc. will show
up - why? Since races, especially in roleplaying games, lend themselves to
overly simplistic stereotyping, they would rather hamper what the setting sets
out to do - in spite of appearances, the setting's goal is not a dystopian
nightmare of body horror (though you could easily make it one), but rather a
setting of political intrigue, social combat and horror - the subtle type of
horror that speaks to our psychological discomfort - uncanny valley-style horror.
Psychological horror and tackling philosophical questions relevant to life and
death and what constitutes a human are core themes of the Necropunk setting.
The respective human races are quite different from one another and should
still offer something diversity-wise -also thanks to rather extensive and
interesting pieces of information on the respective cultures that developed. -
but more on those later.
As you
could probably glean from the description so far, body horror is a central
theme of the setting - though not the gory, alien-type body horror, but rather
the one you're familiar with from moving mannequins, androids etc. - again,
uncanny valley and subtlety are the defining themes here, not all out conflict.
In a setting defined by such uncommon basic premises, why is anyone still
standing and why hasn't everything devolved into a bloody orgy of violence that
consumed all mankind? Well - MAD. Mutually assured destruction. Social
interaction, diplomacy etc. - these are not simple names here, but a basis for
the very foundation of the logic of the setting alongside the "necro"
component - essentially, what steam is for steampunk, what (magic and mundane)
electricity is for Storm Bunny Studios' stormpunk setting Rhûne, that is
necromancy (or rather necrotheurgy)for Necropunk.
Which is
VITAL, but different in a way you probably wouldn't have expected, but which
becomes evident in the section on classes: No magic. None. Not even the
standard cop-out of scifi settings, where magic is rationalized with the
sentiment of being super-science indistinguishable from technology. Instead,
the setting flat-out bans casting
classes - though basic advice if you DO want to introduce them is provided.
But before
I get to the classes, let's take a look at the races - i.e. the human
ethnicities. Let's start with the Ewgee (a bastardization of U.G. - united
governments) , the people coming from the Coreworlds of the human expansion.
Ewgee are essentially the default humans - +2 to one attribute, + 1 bonus feat,
+1 skill rank. Exiles grew up on the Exile Shards, where the influence of the
Ewgee grows thin and the loyalties become divided - exiles get +2 to Con and
Wis as well as a bonus feat, but suffer from a
tech level -1 (more on tech levels later). From deep space explorers
called Welshen (after their chief theorist) now, a strict militaristic, nomadic
empire has spawned - a tradition of conservative values like family, honor etc.
and rigid clan structures, including a unique martial tradition called Qu'em.
Their attribute bonuses are governed by clan membership and Welshen also get
access to proficiency with Welshen weapons. The clans offer the following
suites of attributes: +2 Int and Cha, -2 to Str;+2 Str and Wis, -2 Cha; +2 Dex
and Int, -2 Wis; +2 Dex and Wis, -2 Cha; These clans also come with additional
benefits and rather extensive write ups. And I know what you think - how do the
Welshen stand against a massive confederacy of planets? Warriors one and all,
the Ewgee have a more "normal" demographic and thus, their
numbers don't count as much.
And then,
there's the Prime Bloodline - think religious fanaticism crossed with a penchant
for eugenics under the command of an emperor called Godson. Yeah. Creepy. There
are various ideologies within the bloodline described as well and rules-wise,
members of the Prime Bloodline get +2 Wis and Con, -2 Int, +2 to will saves, +2
to Knowledge (Psionics) and +2 to saves versus poison. Oh, and their strange
combination of matriarchal structures paired with a requirement for breeding of
the chosen makes the prime bloodline's society structure indeed unique and
intimidating - for members of both sexes, subverting traditional gender roles
and dichotomies - dichotomies only work on a very superficial level here and
collapse in on themselves as soon as you dig deeper. In a hobby, where black
and white are so clearly defined as in PFRPG, this is worth something - at
least for me. As a subrace, you may also play so-called firstborn, which get +2
to an ability score of their choosing, +2 PPI (more on that later), +2 to saves
versus poison and on Knowledge (Psionics)-checks. Now the latter sound powerful
- but you should be aware that the Prime Bloodline is in total opposition to
the world-spanning Necromancer's Guild that is a powerful entity indeed and its
members abhor Nerotech, thus serving as a balance of their slightly superior
racial traits.
After this
section, we are introduced to languages - and they actually go above and beyond
what I've seen for languages, coming with alphabets, extensive notes of the
respective languages (and yes, we get a number-based language as well) and
beyond even that, the languages come with information on dialects that can be
used/are spoken to obscure meanings and which increase the difficulty of
communication - I really would have enjoyed this approach to be used in
standard Pathfinder - as anyone who has e.g. ventured to rural Germany or
respective areas can attest, dialects can be hardcore and make for an
identity-constructing element. Alignments are less important in Necropunk -
factions are more important, but before I get into handling such options, let's
get back to the PPI - the Psychic Potential Index. Average humans have a PPI of
3-5 and the value per se is determined by your starting class. Gear is made ideally
from human bone, since that gear conducts human thought the best - other gear
(or some particular pieces of equipment) come with a PRI - Psychic Resistance
Index. A piece of necrotech usually requires one PPI to equip and qu'em styles,
psychic powers etc. tap into the same resource. Thought-transmissive weapons
and armor can be charged with said psychic energy as well: This excess charging
has a cost of 1PPI+the item's PRI - after being charged, the power remains as
long as contact is not interrupted. And the rules are elegant: For each point
of energy you invest in weapons, you deal an additional point of damage. For
each point invested into an armor, you can get a DR of 1/- or + 1 AC. The cap
of the max amount of energy to be invested for an item's bonus being determined
by the character. Simple and elegant - and there's quite some potential here. Yeah,
I know, I'll put the 2 bucks in the bad pun jar.
And yes,
obviously this changes the dynamics of combat - but not nearly as much as the
central incision into standard Pathfinder combat - so-called combat phases. In
a setting where acting at the speed of thought is possible, the combat can also
be something completely different - but what are phases? Essentially, they net
you extra actions. Depending on equipment/power, you can act in different
phases: Wearers of e.g. golem armors can act in Phase 3, which means they
receive one standard action in Phase, 1 standard action in Phase 2 and the
regular full turn in Phase 1 that we know from standard combat. And believe me,
that can DRASTICALLY alter the way how battles pan out - having experimented
with similar systems in my own campaigns, I can attest to the efficiency of
such action economy-benefitting powers. The system is concisely explained, as
is the system of tech levels, which are not only dependent on your starting
race and class, but which can also be raised via numerous ways.
That's not
the only innovation in Necropunk, though: We are introduced to one crucial
change - Bluff, Diplomacy, Sense Motive and Intimidate are no more in
Necropunk. Instead, the campaign setting introduces a mechanic for social
combat - and it's simple and elegant: Essentially, it takes the basic mechanics
of how combat works and provides social analogues: The equivalent of HP would
be confidence - a character gets wis mod times HD confidence - which regenerate
faster than HP, with each round seeing the regeneration of wis-mod confidence,
at least one. Attacks in social combat work via the social bonus (equal to the
BAB) + cha-mod+ position modifiers - said formula is called SMB. Position
modifiers are the result of your standing and may add a penalty or bonus of up
to +8 to your check. In order to hit the opponent, the attack has to surpass
the SMD of the target - which is 10 + social bonus + cha-mod+int-mod+position
modifier. A total of 12 concisely presented
social maneuvers are included - and can be used to make bartering,
teaching etc. actually exciting and not something to be glanced over. If this
section managed one thing, then it was to make me stoked about seeing
implementations and further expansions of what is promising indeed - not only
for Necropunk. Midgard, for example, with its Status-rules imho screams to have
this one implemented/modified as well.
The setting
also provides easy to use variants of underwater combat for zero-g combat and
ship combat and provides quite some advice on converting classes to and from
Necropunk.
The
Necropunk-setting hence also has a massive array of different new classes -
with the respective write ups featuring social modifiers integrated into the
respective classes. In order to keep this review from becoming longer than 10
pages, I'll just give you a general impression, all right? In a setting where
MAD and social interaction are themes, we need a specialist - enter the
diplomat, the social razor's edges and sledgehamemrs to rhetorically dismantle
your foes. This class, like the others,
is a beast in social combat (but not so much in physical combat) and comes with
several racial-specific archetypes - another peculiarity of Necropunk I welcome:
You for example can't play a bureaucrat of the Necromancer's Guild when coming
from the Prime Bloodline/Firstborn or a Welshen - leaning some sense of
cohesive identity to the respective organizations.
Engineers
on the other hand are masters of tech and may create extremely deadly,
modifiable and heavily customizable special weapons - these fellows are based
on alchemists and include archetypes to play the dreaded necromancers and
choose different corporations to sponsor their escapades. Magpies are perhaps
one of the weirdest classes out there and honestly, would probably fit just as
well into just about any other setting. Know the trope of the
traumatized/insane person who may perceive some peculiarity on our existence
and can glean information from it? Well, in Necropunk, when a weird person asks
you whether you'd like to swallow a weird fish-like being, you may wish to
think twice, for your life will be changed forever - those that do, become
magpies. Eccentric one and all, these beings may perceive what is known as
D'jek - essentially the flow of destiny itself. The class may cause its
practitioners to develop compulsive ticks, but it also allows them to create
unlikely accumulations of accidents that may prove fatal - a glorious variant loosely based on rogues
and yet a completely different class that should make this setting very
interesting for those not interested in the setting per se.
Medics are
the non-magical healer-class from the War Journal II-supplement reskinned for
Necropunk - and my criticism remains - it's a great class, but oh so linear. I
would have loved some additional choices. However, seeing that in Necropunk it
replaces all the other divine healers, I think it makes for a more compelling
option here - also thanks to the thematically flavored archetypes, which add
quite a few intriguing options to the medic's arsenal - and it should be noted
that these guys can stand their ground in melee. Psychics are also interesting
- they can not only high-jack so-called ghouls (i.e. the perished ones),
disable necrotech (via the so-called Legion Lock) or hack necrotech. 12 psychic
powers are provided - and make for a great starting point, but also for one
that has me clamoring for more - I hope to see more psychic powers in future
Necropunk supplements to further expand the class. Oh, have I mentioned the
Magdaline (one of the Welshen clans) Tu'Line, who focus on telekinetic attacks
and may attack foes at range? Yes - actually a telekinetic monk-like style that
works without being broken - for they lose the crucial ability to use psychic
hack, which allows them to get the benefits of legion locked tech. And yes,
while the latter is optional, it still is probably one of those must-take
psychic powers, so you'll hear no complaints on my end.
Next up are
the Qu'em - the Welshen martial artists, whose class is inspired by the monk -
but wholly different at the same time: Like the monk, they eschew martial
tools, armor, necrotech etc., get an AC-bonus and faster movement - but they
are much more than a monk: First of all, they get bonus PPI instead of ki,
using essentially the basic rules that apply to all classes in a more
streamlined fashion. Furthermore, they are FAST - and I'm not talking about
movement here - Qu'em act in phase two - even at first level. And that makes
them lethal with a capital "l". Also interesting design decision -
they do average damage, making them extremely reliable in melee - especially
since they also get their wis-bonus to atk and damage up to a maximum of their
level - again, neatly balanced. Have I mentioned that these guys can also opt
to take a magpie/qu'em-style archetype for an interesting evolution of
traditional drunken masters?
Where the
Qu'em represent the martial traditions of the Welshen, the Ewgee also get a
base-class of martially inclined soldiers - the sentinels: Members of the best
of the best elite units -and as such
they not only get access to special elite armors, they may also requisition
military gear 1/week (and exchange said gear), gaining access to superior
tools. Selling is not an option, though - unless you plan on being expelled as
well as hunted down for selling military gear. Since Welshen and sentinels
don't mix, advice on handling Qu'em and Sentinel in one group is provided as
well. Of course, renegade mercenaries might also be an option. Stalkers are
based on rogues - but are an altogether different beast: Stalkers are
stone-cold killers and may mark targets somewhat akin to SGG's Shadow
Assassin-class, making them very deadly versus their chosen targets. And
fitting well in with the MAD-concept of Necropunk - at 11th level access to
Death Attack (and later, talents to make this possible sans studying!). further
enhance this impression.
The next
class we are introduced would be the Wild Card - the class that more
appropriately can be considered fortune-seekers, jack-of-all-trades that are
all about variety, gaining multiple abilities to enhance their skills, gain
feats and e.g. an eidetic memory. Another class that might be considered
appropriate for settings beyond Necropunk as well. It should also be noted that
each class comes with some roleplaying advice on character-inherent conflicts
and tough questions - if you're a psychic or a wunderkind, are you perhaps a
supremacist? What if other people fear you for what you are? What if your
professional code clashes with your own ethics?
Of course,
we also get a massive array of feats - to enhance your tech level or enter
overwatch-mode. And honestly - in the context of Necropunk, I think the
overwatch some of you may know from the PFRPG-Strider class works MUCH better
than in regular PFRPG, fitting well with the theme of stand offs, social combat
mixing with physical combat etc. - why negotiate? Well, when both your ally and
the enemy is in overwatch, talking it over seems so much more enticing
-especially since combat in Necropunk, with its phases and advanced weaponry
can turn lethal damn fast. (Plus, the requirement for automatic weapons makes
in game much more sense to me than the same with bows...). Of course various
feats enhancing PPI-based abilities, social combat and equipment are also
provided. We also get multiple new style-feat mini-trees, with Jak Pan
deserving special mentioning - available to members of the Prime Bloodline, the
combat medics will love this one, as it merges surgical prowess with martial
arts, allowing you to impose negative conditions on hit foes with successful
heal-checks. Also rather interesting -
the Sentinel's Synchro-style, which blends teamwork feats and styles, making
for a good representation of twin/synchronized fighting. Two thumbs up for that
one! We also get a style for using ranged weapons in melee and one based on
fencing - all in all, rather cool selection of unique options.
We also get
15 new traits to customize your character within the setting before we dive
into equipment. Of course, in Necropunk GP-values would make no sense, and
hence we're introduced to the resource-system -as well as a section-by-section
breakdown of the value f human bones: Hands, e.g., would be worth 5% of the 3K
a full skeleton's worth. Special materials (and their PRI) are covered - but
much like e.g. Cyberpunk-settings, shopping is rather rewarding: Beyond
materials, properties applied to weapons also make for massive differences -
magnetic rail gun-properties, bone material (allowing for usage in higher phase
orders), slag weapons, those that require a spin-up - rather cool array of
options. Also interesting is the fact that specific weapons can fire different
types of ammunition - from chaos rounds to slag strikes, weapons of course can
also be upgraded to fire for example the
deadly tombstone-rounds. Of course, grenades and a large selection of
armor-types are also at your perusal - as is a rather cool idea: Applying
bonuses to social maneuvers etc. depending on the outfits you wear. Yes.
Clothes actually MATTER.
Another
interesting component of Necropunk's society is the existence of ghouls - part
tech, part chemical concoctions, all shambling corpse-based serving class, they
are the remains of the dead, reanimated to get persons posthumously out of
debt. Modifying ghouls is covered as well via a rather list of modifications.
Speaking of modifications:
Body
modifications - they are awesome - from advanced circulatory system to the
option to emit deadly sonic-damage dealing screams or graft extra arms to your
body - if one wants, one can get full-blown FREAK and really push the limits of
whether one can still be considered human - a great toolbox of Frankensteinish
modifications indeed. Drugs with different stages of addictions and a massive array of craft-DCs for modifications are also
provided in here.
And then we
are introduced to the setting per se - via organizations, ships, how religions
have developed (not shying away from how Christianity, Judaism etc. have
developed without being condescending to any of these religions) and the new
ones that have risen since we left the solar system to regions of the galaxy.
Advice for DMs and players, an example location and space travel and a massive
glossary of specific terms and a timeline of the setting.
Conclusion:
Editing and
formatting aren't superb - there are some minor glitches here and there - but
the emphasis is on "minor" - when compared to anything I've read by
LRGG, this is not one but two steps in the right direction, providing a massive
book that can be considered well, if not perfectly edited. Layout adheres to a
unique, relatively printer-friendly full color standard with
appropriately-themed, easy to read fonts and grey/black themes as well as
several pieces of at times page-spanning full color artworks that have in
common that they range from mind-boggling to good and are actually original pieces.
The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience adn comes with greyscale
and color char-sheets, though both lack a SMD and CMD.
Let me for
a second state in what I believe in: I believe in the fact that gamers are
looking to expand their horizons - even the most conservative of our kind have
taken up this hobby not only because it's fun, but because it consciously or
subconsciously expands our horizon. How many 5th graders know the difference
between thaumaturgy and necromancy, know some terms from the knightly courts of
old and have a conception of what a jarl is? I know I did. Gaming has not only
broadened my vocabulary at an early age and prompted me to master foreign
languages and invest myself into different cultures, it has guided my approach
to a wide array of challenges I have faced throughout my life, maybe even
provided a type of moral compass on what I consider right and what wrong. The
one way to get me riled up is to demand simplification not for the sake of
understanding, but for the sake of laziness - if I see terms that intrigue me,
concepts I find thought-provoking, I try to look them up. And gaming is a great
way to get a tiny inkling of knowledge about topics that may incite you to want
to know more about them. Whether its cultures, literature, history, languages,
myths - there's a lot of lore to be discovered via gaming.
Once in a
while, recent editions have made me a bit disillusioned - while Paizo has
avoided the obvious books mostly ("Hey, let's make an oriental, a
psionics-book, a class-book for class z etc."), still, once in a while, I
like to have my brain teased, to get some new impulses: If you want to know
what I'm talking about, think back in the days, when Planescape first brought
the WEIRD, when Ravenloft started blurring the line between players and
characters to evoke true fear. Gaming can touch us on a basic level and actually
refine our character and there are many books that play it safe by catering to
a target demographic and I won't judge them for that - as long as they're good,
that is. But still, you once in a while want something DIFFERENT. Something
that hasn't been done before. A sense of Jamais-vu.
There you
have it. Ambitious beyond anything they've done so far, the crew of authors and
designers from Little Red Goblin Games have created a setting that dares to be
different: You won't find the standard plasma and laser guns here, no alien zoo
of weird player-races that will ultimately just make gaming ridiculous. There's
no weirdly sexless b/w-mythology à la Star Wars (which NEVER made sense to me,
not even as a child -and before all the SW-fans come out of the woodworks -
more power to you, the franchise is just not made for me) in here - this setting
is HUMAN. Decidedly, dauntingly so - from the basic premise over the absence of
direct alien interventions to the bone-foundation of the tech to the price of
bones, this setting explores a dystopian future that actually is not that
dystopian when you think about it: All in all, no massive evil empire looms, no
extraterrestrial mechanic squids seek to annihilate everything - Necropunk is
about human conflicts and ultimately, what it means to be human - it's a
narrative of conflicting ideologies that are all partially right or partially
wrong, a narrative of diverse traditions and mindsets and of complex questions.
And of buying cool augmentations to turn yourself into a deadly engine of
destruction with multiple devastating mag-rifles, of fusing your spine with a
suit grown from a dead corpse into a bone-golem-like monstrosity and modifying
your weapons via x add-ons and custom modifications to wade through legions of
foes. Of saving the galaxy by deciphering a deadly conspiracy according to the
stain of your spilled coffee and the urgings of the fish-like parasite you
imbibed on a whim that can perceive the flow of fate, destiny or whatever you'd
wish to call it. Necropunk is weird, yes, but not necessarily dark - nor light.
It feels human - just like our own world can be defined in no absolute terms,
so are there no straight answers for questions of transhumanism, morality and
ethnicity. All these questions are tackled, supplemented by solid rules that
almost exclusively whet one's palate for future expansions.
This is not
a rip-off of an established genre - neither of Shadowrun-like Cyberpunk, nor of
Warhammer 40K's grim vision of the future - this is something jaded guys like
yours truly only see rarely: Something DIFFERENT. Something original. And for
that alone, it deserves to be applauded - much more so for decisions like the
social combat or the item-modifications or the fact that the PPI-mechanics
serve as a unifying mechanic that offsets the perceived differences between
classes and ethnicities, with the latter serving as a subconscious reminder
that most of us, even in the future of Necropunk, still bleed red.
Is this
book perfect? No, it does have its editing and formatting glitches here and
there. But does it deserve your attention, deserve your bucks? The answer to
that question, I'll answer with a resounding "yes". In an age where
we already have covered so much ground in RPGs, dealing with serious topics in
a thoroughly original context without forcing an ideology or easy answer down
your throat means that this can be considered a great first step into a setting
I am sure to follow - I want to know where this setting goes, what new tools,
places and modules will be released in the days to come. Necropunk has come
completely out of left field and if LRGG can keep this quality and perhaps even
further improve it, then we're looking at one damn fine cult-setting in the
making. My final verdict will clock in at 5 stars + seal of approval.
Endzeitgeist
out.
Posts
