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The
SWoSK is a “Plot Point” product, meaning that in addition to the
Savage Worlds roleplaying rules, there is a series of
successive adventures laid out in an overarching campaign that the
GM may run for her players. The scenarios and foes faced grow in
difficulty as the PCs gain experience and power. As the campaign
progresses and the PCs become more bad-ass, the ultimate goal of the
campaign will come within their reach. The Plot Point campaigns
leave lots of room for the GM’s own adventures, and the players may
have any number of personal goals, but sooner or later, they will
likely complete the overall plot set out in this product. It’s
similar to a bunch of old- school modules slung into one hefty
volume of work.
I’d never read Howard’s line of Kane books, so I was only vaguely
familiar with the eponymous game's hero. Solomon Kane is a “landless
wanderer” from southern England, near the end of the 16th
century. He’s also a zealot of an unspecified religion; he refers to
himself as a Puritan, but his fanaticism is more of an all-abiding
sense of justice than a mirror of any particular church’s doctrine.
He dresses in Puritan fashion, though, with somber colors, and a
bitchin’ pilgrim-style hat. Kane is pushed by his inner spirit to
simply do what’s right, to avenge wrongs done to the helpless or
innocent, and especially to root out supernatural evil and destroy
it in the name of humanity. While having the outer appearance of a
reverend, he has no qualms about resorting quickly to violence and
savage rage to mete out justice to evildoers. His philosophy
espouses a more traditional “eye for an eye” type of morality than
the well-known “turn the other cheek” outlook of his more orthodox
brethren. He’s a crack shot with a black powder wheellock pistol,
and an expert swordsman with his ever-present rapier.
Kane traveled the world in his stories, battling such mundane
enemies as slave traders and cannibals as well as more other-worldly
nemeses such as vampires, dragons, and zombies. He’d been to almost
every continent in his quests for justice, sometimes pursuing
opponents across oceans. Your PCs in the SWoSK will do the
same, in the sprit of Solomon. Your character can therefore be from
almost any logical 16th century walk of life or nation,
such as sailor, explorer, shaman, missionary, native, treasure
seeker, pirate, musketeer, or noble. The idea is that your character
has crossed paths with Solomon Kane at some point, and his influence
and example have set you on your course to combat evil and dispense
justice at the end of a sword. Huzzah, noble ass-kicker!
The book provides about everything I could think of to make your PC
at home in 1586 AD. Clothing, armors, weapons from around the world,
including firearms (blunderbuss, anyone?), equipment, vehicles, and
services common to that time period are described, as well as the
English monies (“Hey… a haypenny for your thoughts, Reynaldo.”) and
the names of some other currency from across the globe. (“Hey… a
koku for your thoughts, Kowura-san.”)
There’s a whole chapter devoted to giving you the flavor of the Old
World. Lists of historic personalities and the years they lived,
recounts of important events, peeks at social, religious, and
cultural norms of the times are laid out for you in such a way that
it doesn’t read like a dry history book, while still allowing you to
get a feel for the period.
Solomon Kane
does have its own reworked magic system, though, differing form the
one presented in the core rules, to better reflect the stories as
written by Howard. Some of the tweaks include spells removed from
the list, and some new spells specific to the setting added, as well
as enchantments lasting longer when cast, but without the option to
be maintained by expending extra power points. In fact, the spells
in Kane don’t even get their mojo from power points; they
accumulate casting modifiers to the task check roll instead, making
it easier to work magic if you prolong the casting ceremony. This
allows shamans, priests, and illusionists to cast spells more
frequently than in traditional Savage Worlds games, but the
actual casting of each spell takes longer.
The book wraps up with a list of useful beasties to toss at your
players. Included are the expected critters of the wilds, such as
tigers, hippos, and bears, but there’s a hearty dash of not-so-usual
to keep your Puritans on their toes: succubae, snake men, and
wendigos to name a few.
The
GOOD
I kinda dig the Old World
background of the game. Black powder muskets, duels with sabers,
crossing the sea on a sailing galleon… it’s all good stuff. And the
dash of supernatural is just right; a very low-key magic presence,
mostly in the form of shamanistic voodoo or shpoooooky undead
villains.
If you wanted to combine this campaign material with the Pirates
of the Spanish Main sourcebook, you’d have some awesome 17th
century adventuring goodness on your hands!
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The
NEUTRAL
I’m not really sure Solomon Kane adds
anything to this product.
Seriously, if this had just been released as an Old World setting
sourcebook, it would have had the exact same feel to it. Aside from
the background idea that the characters are inspired to follow in
the footsteps of Solomon, and that he may appear in an adventure
scenario or two alongside the PCs, there’s no solid reason to have
this book be based on the Robert E. Howard works. Remove Kane from
the text, and you haven’t lost anything, really.
Sure, the authors
recommend that you read the stories, and I’m certain they would help
get you into the right frame of mind to play in that time period and
setting, but personally, I’m good to go without bothering to read
the stories. |
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The EVIL
The Plot Point adventures begin to sound very much the same after a
while. PCs go to some continent, they travel for days, they meet a
group of people in a town/ village/ monastery, something nefarious
happens overnight, PCs trek another day or so to investigate the
adventure location, they fight wads of mooks, they enter small
dungeon complex and fight big bad guy. Repeat next session.
Sure, there are to be interspersed sessions of the GM’s own material
and adventures in between these plot point games, but still, I began
to feel like I was re-reading previous adventure descriptions after
a while. I guess the thing is, GMs should try to design adventures
very much not like the ones in the Plot Point
campaign, otherwise every single scenario the players undertake in
the world of Solomon Kane will seem just as cookie-cutter to them as
they do to me when I read the ones in the campaign outline.
And I don’t know that the final achievement of the plot point
campaign is all that satisfying. I know that in other Savage
Plot Point products, the culmination of the campaign can be pretty
damn epic indeed (see
50 Fathoms,
or Sundered
Skies as examples.) In this campaign, I found myself a bit
nonplussed when I got to the end of the material.
Oh, well. That doesn’t make the included campaign unworthy; it still
gives GMs a nice series of games to run, and each does have the
adventurous flair of a raucous episode to capture the players’
imagination. I just wish it had more of a big bang finish, y’know?
SAVAGE SUMMARY
Overall, I very much like the feel of this setting, and the book is
packed with everything necessary to set your campaign in this era
regardless of whether you want to involve Mr. Kane at all. A
swashbuckling troop of musketeers wouldn’t be out of place in this
game, nor an adventurous band of treasure hunters.
Yeah verily, shall I entreat thou to set forth and smite evil in the
name of justice, henceforth! So grabeth thy musket balls and sally
forthwith into the lands of the world, to defend the oppressed and
protect the innocent! I hear the Dark Continent is nice this time of
year… except for the pesky recent infestation of mummies.
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