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Penumbra: Crime & Punishment (OGL) Hardcover
Atlas Games
Law is one of the defining elements of civilization. But it's too often overlooked in a fantasy setting. In a world where high-level characters can single-handedly defeat armies, how can any powerful individual be captured or imprisoned?
Just as Dynasties & Demagogues deals with political intrigue, Crime & Punishment takes an in-depth look at campaigns that focus on the forces of the law. Using this sourcebook, players can now take the roles of bounty hunters tracking down mystical renegades, justicars seeking to restore order in a cesspool of corruption and crime, mage hunters, itinerant justices, the local sheriff's men, or even spies for the crown.
And consider that even an innocent adventurer may find himself hunted by the law if he doesn't know what to watch out for. If the characters are on the wrong side of the law, this book provides information on what they may be up against, including new magical methods of law enforcement and imprisonment.
Crime & Punishment includes:
- Extensive rules on conducting investigations, including new uses for old skills, new forensic spells, and specialized equipment. Plus new classes for agents of the law and those who work against them.
- A detailed look at different systems of justice, from common law to divine law, with an emphasis on how such systems can provide opportunities and challenges for adventurers.
- Information on running campaigns based on the law, showing players how to bring together a party of bounty hunters, a royal justice and his entourage, or a group of investigators solving crimes in a gritty metropolis.
- Floor plans and descriptions for a variety of prisons, ranging from an extraplanar cell, to a stone garden filled with petrified prisoners, to a full-fledged mystical fortress.
Author: Keith Baker
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Product Reviews
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review.
In contrast to other supplements concentrating on "side issues" of the game, this one finds the optimal blend of back ground and rule content.
It offers nice background information on various alternative law systems (from lawless to theocratic societies) and explains what the impacts on your campaign are, if offers rule content, but avoids to offer new rules for rule's sake: New uses of existing skills are explored, "forensic magic" explained.
Finally the second part of the book title is explained and some sample dungeons ranging from the mundane to the exotic are included.
The production value is high, the hard cover is perfectly bound, the interior art is black and white and "medieval looking" and fits nicely to the subject, the lay out is clear.
Heavily recommended (not just because it is a Keith Baker book) like the other two books of this series.
Product Discussion
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This is an incredible value at $10. The Penumbra Line of three hardbacks that covered three thoughtful meta-themes in gaming -- Crime and Investigation being the theme highlighted in this text. (The other two covered Chivalry in Love and War and Intrigue & Political Systems in Dynasties and Demagogues.)
One of the most important values not emphasized in the review above was how well they crafted new uses for existing skills. One of the frustrations with many supplemental texts is their desire to simply ADD to a system -- which, of course, this tome does -- but it also creatively finds ways to incorporate new uses for systems already in place. Creative skill uses of Heal are outlined for everything from Forensic Examination to Torture make you look back to the basic skill sets and ask yourself if maybe Use Rope had even more uses before than you thought!
From Prison types to Bounty Hunters to Theocratic law systems and forensic science (skill based and magical),Crime and Punishmentwas an overlooked gem and remains a thoughtful resource for Dungeon Masters and gamers who might like a dash of Lord Darcy in their D&D.
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I remember enjoying the alternate prison systems in this.
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