Necropunk Campaign Setting (PFRPG) PDF


Product Discussion


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Part II of my review:

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.

(P.s.: You may wish to take a look at this review on my site if you're interested in this setting - just sayin'.)

Posted first on Endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to GMS magazine, Nerdtrek, posted on Lou Agresta's RPGaggression and here and on OBS. Cheers!


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So far I am liking the setting. I am trying to learn the new social rules. But what I don't like is the background and lettering. It is very hard to read on my desktop kicked back in my chair. I am not talking about font size. It actually hurts my eyes to read.


We can look at doing a print friendly B&W version with a pure white background.

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