Orcs are the scourge of civilization, the raiders who come in the night, slaughtering innocents for treasure and the simple joy of the kill. Their brutality extends even to their own kind, with tribes battling for supremacy and only the strongest individuals surviving to adulthood. Yet despite their fearsome image, orcs maintain a society of their own, having carved out the legendary Hold of Belkzen. Within this chaotic region, warlords vie for supremacy, adventurers plunder ruins long lost to orc barbarism, and those bold orcs who imagine a better life struggle for change.
Whether your players are treasure hunters stealing the riches of the past, soldiers seeking to end the orc threat once and for all, or orcs seeking to escape or rule their brethren, this book has everything you need to run a campaign in the war-torn Hold of Belkzen, including:
Detailed gazetteers of Belkzen’s settlements, from the surprisingly cosmopolitan capital of Urgir to the turbulent Blood Plains and the rare non-orc settlements such as Freedom Town and the hanging monastery of Sech Nevali.
Information on the terrifying orc gods, such as Dretha the Dark Mother and the Blood God, Nulgreth.
Overviews of the most prominent orc tribes, from the Empty Hand and the Broken Spine to the Ice Tooth and the Skull Eater.
Information on orc warfare, including their beast-powered war machines.
Tons of new adventure sites ripe for exploration, including the draconic Sleeper and the Flood Road, plus a detailed regional map ready to lead your player characters to riches—or a bloody death.
Nine new monsters, random encounter tables, and more!
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Belkzen, Hold of the Orc Hordes is intended for use with the Pathfinder campaign setting, but can be easily adapted to any fantasy world.
Written by Tyler Beck, Jason Garrett, Alex Greenshields, and David Schwartz
ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-710-9
Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:
I read Belkzen, Hold of the Orc Hordes just in case my players in Curse of the Crimson Throne happened to visit the area. They didn’t really (magic is a wonderful thing), but that’s okay—it’s a good book anyway! As a product in Paizo’s Campaign Setting line, the book is 64 pages long, has high-quality glossy paper, and is in full colour. As the title indicates, it covers Belkzen, rugged region east of Varisia inhabited primarily by various orc tribes. If you have an interest in orcs or are just looking for a dangerous place to set an adventure, this could be the book for you.
I’m not a huge fan of the cover—-it’s cool, but also confusing and I had to look at it multiple times before realising the orc is mounted on an armored rhinocerous-type creature. This art is reproduced on the inside back-cover sans text. The inside front cover is a beautiful map of Belkzen. It’s done in a “realistic” in-game style apart from the place-name captions. The inside of the book is divided into three sections of unequal length. The interior artwork is strong, and the book is laid out well.
The “Belkzen Gazetteer” (24 pages) starts with a history of the region and a useful timeline. The writers have done their homework, as it encapsulates material from previous campaign books, adventures, etc. Each of the various areas of Belkzen are then covered in a 3-4 page spread, and it quickly becomes clear that Belkzen is a region, not a nation-state, as warring orc tribes hold their territories fiercely. The section includes coverage of the Blood Plains (with some great Shoanti flavour), the Conquered Lands (from Giantslayer?; the hanging Peacock fortress of Sech Nevali is really cool!), Smokespur (lots of mysterious places and megafauna—-now I want to do an all-orc campaign to explore it), Urgir (the “capital” of Belkzen), and Whisperfall (a borderland haunted by dragons; Freedom Town is interesting). Perhaps most useful to GMs preparing for their PCs to visit Belkzen is a sidebar on what it takes to do so safely (a tribal token or joining an established caravan).
“Adventuring in Belkzen” (28 pages) begins with coverage of orc deities—each gets about a half-page of coverage. Although they’re all Chaotic Evil, I found them really interesting to read about, and I imagine this is probably the only place to find so much information on them (the general books on gods in the Inner Sea tend to short-change the racial pantheons). Next up, the numerous orc tribes in Belkzen receive a brief overview of a couple of paragraphs each. Some real attention has been paid to established canon here, with references to Eando Kline, the oft-forgotten NPC Guide, and more. Readers interested in how orcs do war will enjoy the pages on orc siege engines (compatible with the rules from Ultimate Combat). Probably the bulk of the section is taken up with an overview of adventure sites (about half a page or so for each). There are some really interesting places here—-the Battle of Lost Hope (a bridge miraculously guarded by a Paladin of Iomedae), The Sleeper (the capital of the Runelord of Gluttony!), and the Flood Road (with important information on the Flood Truce, an annual event that brings the warring orc tribes together).
Last up is the Bestiary (10 pages). It has random encounter tables for each area, provides four new animal companions for the pet lovers, and introduces some new monsters (a couple of which, the “burning child” and the “floodslain” template, are pretty neat).
Overall, this is an excellent product, and I can’t think of anything substantive to complain about. If the topic piques your interest, it’s definitely worth the purchase.
I used this book for two different campaigns and I think it deserves it a better rating.
Map & gazetteer:
Spoiler:
The book starts off with a map that's stained in blood which is a nice effect. A lot of places are marked there - it would be quite challenging to prepare all of them, so maybe use only a fraction of the map for your campaign. Neighbouring countries and places are missing, which is unfortunate.
The gazetteer is good enough to give an impression on Belkzen. Flood Truce is an interesting concept that adds more depth to orcs. History is summarized within 2 1/2 pages - for me the rise from Underdark and the reign of the Whispering Tyrant were the most interesting parts.
Five areas get a four-page write-up: Blood Plains, Conquered Lands, Smokespur, Urgir and Whisperfall. While some of the content is typical for orcs, human settlements, undead menaces and even a hanging monastry are mentioned. Urgir as an orc metropolis should make a great place to visit for adventurers.
Adventuring:
Spoiler:
Eight gods are described on half a page each - pretty helpful if you want to add more depth and flavor to enemy divine spellcasters. The orc tribe list has some surprises like female chieftains, worship to Sarenrae and wyvern tamers. Conflicts between tribes get some room here, which could contribute to the story.
Orc war machines, siege engines and mounts show a few creative ideas which might add to flavor when battling orcs. The 14 pages of adventure sites are a wealth of starting points for adventures, but you will have to make up most maps and stat blocks for yourself. Only the map of a small human settlement is detailed enough to be used directly, imo.
Bestiary:
Spoiler:
There are 8 creatures and a template, but I found only a few of them to be actually helpful - which is not so different from regular bestiary books, but still a limitation. Ankhrav is a more powerful ankheg - nice if you want to add a boss to an ankheg encounter. The Burning Child is an unique flavorful creature which probably works better as a story element than as a straightforward encounter. Dahzagan is pretty cool if you want to augment an orc horde with an orc-related outsider.
So, overall this book gives you a good introduction into the area, but limited material that can be used directly. Orcs naturally get a lot of attention here, still it's not "Orcs of Golarion, Campaign Setting edition" - which is a blessing, given the high quality of the nonorc material. The book walks a fine line between the classic orc horde and surprising new takes on the greenskins - and succeeds in doing so. There are some decent adventure hooks, which might be the most interesting part.
Belkzen, Hold of the Orc Hordes should have been an opportunity to add more depth to orcs in Pathfinder, and to be fair, it makes a couple tokens attempts to do so. However, on the whole, it misses out on the opportunity, instead focusing mostly on describing locations and adventure sites, many of which happen to have orcs in them. It does little to give the orcs any real character beyond violent killers or to differentiate one orc tribe from another. By the end of the book, orcs remain pretty much as faceless as they’ve always been, just fodder waiting for for the PCs to kill them.
THE GOOD:
All major locations are mentioned and get a description.
Half of the inside art is great.
4 solid settlement stat blocks.
8 orc gods get half a page each.
24 orc tribes get a short write-up inclusive their leaders and their level.
The 4 orc warmachines are all solid.
The adventure site section is absolutely awesome - this is were the book shines! All 15 sites are great!
Half of the monsters in the bestiary are good.
THE BAD:
The inside-cover map of Belkzen is not very beautiful.
The timeline spans 10.000 years and is only one page.
3 settlements don´t get a stat block.
The city maps are not detailed enough.
Only 4 of 8 orc gods get pictures.
Not enough orc war-machines and the art for the 2 large ones that are shown is not very awe-inspiring.
Half of the monsters in the bestiary are lame.
Hmm... This looks like something that would appeal to me. December release date... And with the Giant Hunter's Handbook releasing the same month.
An AP with giants and orcs. Definitely sounds very traditional, if they do foreshadow the next AP installment. Either way, definitely one I am looking forward to. Love me some orcs.
Yeah, while I dunno if Giant Hunters has anything to do with the next AP, this book definitely makes it look like the next AP is in Belkzen.Which is awesome, because we really haven't seen a whole lot of detail about orcs in Paizo products, considering how popular they are. It'll be neat to see them in more detail here, and hopefully in the next AP.
Lastwall vs the Orc Hordes. There will be blood for the blood gods and good for the good gods and swords for the sword gods and fire for the fire gods.
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
Lastwall vs the Orc Hordes. There will be blood for the blood gods and good for the good gods and swords for the sword gods and fire for the fire gods.
Yeah I think that's the basic gist. plus battle combat.
Lastwall vs the Orc Hordes. There will be blood for the blood gods and good for the good gods and swords for the sword gods and fire for the fire gods.
And death for the death gods. And hot orc lovin for the Mikaze god! >.>
I've never liked the "always CE, bloodthirsty and violent" orcs, so they've never appealed to me as a fantasy race due to author hang ups.
However, in just a few long posts in a few short months, Mikaze has really won me over with just how rad orcs can be if given the chance (and a good author).
Now he gets to do it officially, and I'm stupid excited to read it :DDDDD
I remember being first introduced to this area by Eando Kline's pathfinder journal. It will be nice to see more on orcs and interesting to see the hold of Belkin fleshed out
I look forward to this one, and it has me a bit excited about the next adventure path reveal. Of course, it's quite possible that this book is tied to Daughters of Fury and not an upcoming adventure path.
CG tribe of bloodthirsty orcs who are into same-sex inter-racial marriages officiated by priests of Desna?
The tribe would storm across the land (because Desna, travel) pillaging only from the evil orcs who refuse to be saved and continue worshiping those dark and evil gods of theirs. They would leave behind them a holy swath of righteous destruction and divine decimation, all in the forceful name of Chaos, Good and Desna!
