Rhune: Dawn of Twilight Campaign Guide (PFRPG) PDF

Now available!

Yay! Thanks Liz!

Congrats on the release, Jaye!

Excellent, glad to see this up!

-Ben.

Thanks Adam and Ben!

and it's on the blog!

I know! w00t!

I was a Kickstarter backer for this; we're actually starting a Rhune campaign next Saturday, and I hope to have a review up shortly thereafter. So excited that this is finally complete!

Give it some love on a review if you like it. :) Those things help, believe me.

-Ben.

I was a Kickstarter backer for this; we're actually starting a Rhune campaign next Saturday, and I hope to have a review up shortly thereafter. So excited that this is finally complete!

Ssalarn! That's soooo awesome to hear. Please feel free to share any of your campaign notes or updates!

I was a backer. It is a great product.

Just finished reading. This is one of the best and most original campaign settings I ever read.

Love to hear what you liked! (why not write a review? :) )

-Ben.

Getting ready to write a review here; we've been using Rhune as our primary campaign setting with a big healthy dose of Drop Dead Studio's Skybourne mixed in for robust airship mechanics and some other goodies. The two books blend together really well.

Unrelated to anything, I absolutely love the Storm Bunny graphic. I want it on a t-shirt. So does my wife. Please produce Storm Bunny t-shirts. :D

Grrr.... My review was just eaten! And I should really know better than to click submit before copying my review into a separate document.

Well, I'll try and rewrite it a bit later, but in the meantime, I have 2 questions-

Is Blood Song a special separate performance, or is it a rider that the blood skald can apply to any other bardic performance? It's a little vague exactly how it works, but it seems to be the latter since it says "Whenever a blood skald starts a bardic performance, she may elect to [use blood song]".

Is it intended that Blood Skalds are basically unlimited rechargeable batteries? Since the blood skald can use their Blood Pool to recharge rounds of Bardic Performance and spell slots, their allies can intentionally choose to fail their saves against the effect, allowing the Blood Skald to juice up his pool. If Blood Song works as it seems to, a rider on another performance, that means that once the Blood Skald hits 9th level, he can ride it on inspire greatness, where the temp hp will absorb most if not all the damage from the effect, juice his pool, then end the performance, which means that from 9th level on he's unlikely to ever run out of spells, performance rounds, or blood pool points. He'll always probably be down a pool point, performance round, or spell, but he'll generally always have enough resource available to keep his pool with enough points in it that he can use whatever ability, spell, etc. he wants to freely without worrying about running out.

First, Ssalarn - thanks for the kind words. We worked hard on this and the overall reception it's getting makes us collectively smile. It looks like our hard work is paying off.

So again, thanks.

The blood song is a specific performance and is not intended to stack with another performance. Sorry if that was somewhat vague. (But hey, that's what errata and an FAQ is for).

Cheers,
Jaye

Grrr.... My review was just eaten! And I should really know better than to click submit before copying my review into a separate document.

Well, I'll try and rewrite it a bit later, but in the meantime, I have 2 questions-

Is Blood Song a special separate performance, or is it a rider that the blood skald can apply to any other bardic performance? It's a little vague exactly how it works, but it seems to be the latter since it says "Whenever a blood skald starts a bardic performance, she may elect to [use blood song]".

Is it intended that Blood Skalds are basically unlimited rechargeable batteries? Since the blood skald can use their Blood Pool to recharge rounds of Bardic Performance and spell slots, their allies can intentionally choose to fail their saves against the effect, allowing the Blood Skald to juice up his pool. If Blood Song works as it seems to, a rider on another performance, that means that once the Blood Skald hits 9th level, he can ride it on inspire greatness, where the temp hp will absorb most if not all the damage from the effect, juice his pool, then end the performance, which means that from 9th level on he's unlikely to ever run out of spells, performance rounds, or blood pool points. He'll always probably be down a pool point, performance round, or spell, but he'll generally always have enough resource available to keep his pool with enough points in it that he can use whatever ability, spell, etc. he wants to freely without worrying about running out.

Nightflier - thank you. We worked really hard on it (and I can't wait to show everyone else what we have in store).

Just finished reading. This is one of the best and most original campaign settings I ever read.

Wooohooo!

I was a backer. It is a great product.

Thanks for the response Jaye! Let me know if you'd like my notes after I post my review- there were a number of typos or other little glitches I noticed that ranged from the hilarious (I think it's the Uruz rune that says the player "starts play a light warhorse"), to the confusing (there's a barbarian Hall that grants damage reduction without explaining how it interacts with the normal DR all barbarians get).

Thanks for the response Jaye! Let me know if you'd like my notes after I post my review- there were a number of typos or other little glitches I noticed that ranged from the hilarious (I think it's the Uruz rune that says the player "starts play a light warhorse"), to the confusing (there's a barbarian Hall that grants damage reduction without explaining how it interacts with the normal DR all barbarians get).

SSalarn,

Absolutely. This is our first major release and we knew there would be small glitches that got passed us (that's true of every company), but anything we can fix and update adds to the overall quality of the book. So, sure. You can reach me at: jaye@Stormbunnystudios.com.

Part II of my review:

While fate does play a roll, a significant one as both a roleplaying catalyst and from a crunch perspective, the existence of the spider-themed shapechangers aryandai and the goddess Velluna-Akka adds a very distinct spin on the concept. More important still would be the tremendous influence of wyrd upon actual gameplay. Each character begins play with 1d3 wyrd points and some feats and special tricks (weavings) can later be learned and used to further manipulate fate. Wyrd points act basically as hero points on speed, with significantly enhanced options on how and when they can be used - including defying death, rolling a d20 twice and helping allies. This is relevant because wyrd is actually an extremely important balancing mechanism: If you're familiar with my coverage of Rhûne supplements, you may recall me bashing the automata race as overpowered for most settings. You will also recall me complaining about models (subtypes of the race) being made for specific purposes. Within the context of Rhûne, this surprisingly works. For one, the purpose of the respective builds opens interesting venues for the exploration of concepts of free will: I am built that way, do I have to be that way? Secondly, and more importantly, automata are balanced by the mistrust they encounter, their place in the social hierarchy and the fact that they do not get access to wyrd. At all.

This should be taken as just one aspect that makes the min-maxier components of the races featured herein work for me; the races are so deeply entrenched within the narrative context of the world and its dichotomous ideologies and areas of tension that, by being pretty ingenious entwined in everything, result in the playing of such a race in Rhûne actually working without breaking the game. I need to reiterate this: Rhûne is not vanilla-Pathfinder. This is also represented in the copious amounts of crunch that supplement this tome, which range from traits to feats and more. Some of these are powerful, some of them are aligned with factions...and all are in service of the greater picture. Damage increases to bows make sense when guns and the like are wide-spread.

The massive campaign setting also contains several hybrid classes: The blood skald (bard + magus), the clockwork adept (cleric + wizard), the gjallarhorn (summoner + bard), the gun-priest (previously released as a stand-alone), the juggernaut of blind fury, a barbarian/antipaladin crossover, and the antipala/alchemist plague bringer. These have in common that they generally are high concept and feel distinct; they are more than just a smashing together of mechanics, though, universally, they also have in common that they could have used some further differentiation as far as I'm concerned. And yes, the anti-pala guys represent servants of the thrall lords, so if you don't want to go into the morality question too deep, well, then this ought to provide enough of a good vs. evil angle.

Now, the world of Midgard, the prime material plane of Rhûne, is depicted in absolutely exquisite detail , with names for the phases of the moon by month, holidays galore, languages all receiving their due (and rules for regional dialects if you're like me and have the kneejerk reflex to roll your eyes at common...). If you#re looking for information on trade, you'll find it here; if you and your group consider that aspect tedious, you can ignore it: One of the central plusses of the setting is that it knows which rules to use for balancing and world-building and which to render optional. Beyond a massive chronology of the world (as the clock's counting down) to the respective city states and realms, which feature their own crests, statblocks and more, the whole section is amazing and oozes flavor from every sentence: From fertility festivals to adventure hooks and story seeds, this chapter can't leave even the most burnt-out of GMs uninspired. Speaking of story seeds: Throughout the book, there is a metric ton of those, allowing GMs and players alike to take up the threads left so tantalizingly dangling. Oh, and yes, Rhûne does not feature a heliocentric cosmology - instead, it is basically a massive cylinder, the trunk of the world tree; a blending of the immediacy of Ragnarok, superstition and the knowledge of planar peculiarities thus makes the world partially unexplored (after all, you don't want to fall off the world's edge, right?) - still, this allows an enterprising GM to add her own continents and geography to the setting, while still maintaining Rhûne's very precise focus. Planar travel is rare and special and as such, the respective planes depicted also differ from the standard, putting, as we've come to expect by now, a unique spin on Norse mythology. Here, additional, planar races like the ice æleves of Niflæheim or the Hárálfr, infused with the power of old gods, allow for further diversification if a given group is not content with the base races.

Now, I could go through the respective write-ups here, but this review already is very long, so let's return to the stormpunk aspect. Which is, from a designer's perspective, more difficult than it first seems. After all, we all know electricity. We learn how it works in school. It is the very motor of our world...so how do you introduce it into a fantasy setting sans breaking immersion left and right, sans killing a gazillion of premises of prepackaged adventures? Simple. There is no alternating current, which means that its copious boons are basically limited to the vicinity of dragon towers, which generate an ambient field that powers the devices and allows for charging. This is genius on a meta-point, for it taps into our fantasies of Tesla's wirelessly transported energy, while at the same time eliminating the real discovery of alternating current, making the whole system at once plausible and thoroughly fantastic. As an aside, it also taps into the leitmotifs of the archaic versus the modern, of civilization versus barbarism (hence the Howard quote earlier in the review). The storm shepherd cleric archetype would be a badass Tesla-style cleric, a caste of guardians of these towers. From prosthetic limbs to abomination hybrids of technology and magic, the leitmotifs of progress vs. nature, of science vs. the ways of old, tie in perfectly with this conceptualization of a world...and points of light gameplay makes sense as well: Beyond the reach of comfortable electricity, the wild, the savage, still looms. Firearms that can be charged or deliver blast shots, special ammunitions, grenades, munitions carved from the dreaded jötunstone...the sense of plausible fantasy realism applied to every component of this book makes it feel perfectly unified, like this exceedingly intricate and beautiful clockwork.

Indeed, the glorious incantation mechanics first introduced way back by Zombie Sky Press also sees use here among numerous new spells, a metric ton of equipment, bloodlines, mysteries, the aforementioned weavings...and the rune-engine. This system is amazing and I've covered it before, so I won't bore you with repeating it. The system's consistency is to be truly applauded, for whenever I found a big logic bug, some sidebar, some explanation, shows up that makes *SENSE*. Ina book this familiar, yet alien, this attention to detail and mastery in world-building is a truly phenomenal feat to behold. Now, if you expected a cut-copy-paste of the Norse gods and their myths...you'll be surprised to hear that Rhûne has its very own pantheon, depicted in lavish prose completely with core aphorisms and all. It should be noted that these beings do employ the themes of the Norse mythology, but also, much like the setting, put a creative and enticing spin on the subject matter, one I can't really hope to properly convey here. Beyond these obviously divine allegiances, a whole chapter is devoted to the diverse and creative factions that shape and govern the politics of Rhûne, drawing further lines in sand and snow, both proverbially and figuratively, adding even more potential, even more narrative potential to the whole array.

The emphasis on thematic consistency is not lost even within the bestiary, which not only provides a wide array of unique creatures, all of which have AT LEAST one unique ability to set them apart, but also in the guidance a GM can expect regarding the roles of creatures in the setting. Oh, and yes, the critters ALL have absolutely gorgeous artworks.

Conclusion:

Rhûne adheres to a two-column full-color standard, Layout-wise, and is so beautiful it almost hurts. The book is littered with a metric ton of absolutely phenomenal, original pieces of artwork, rivaling the density of Kobold Press' huge books. This can stand side by side with Paizo and WotC-offerings regarding its sheer beauty. It is one of the aesthetically most pleasing 3pp-books I have ever read. The pdf comes with copious, nested bookmarks for easy navigation and the hardcover...oh DAMN. Get it, if you can. It's a beauty.

And here, my seemingly never-ending praise screeches to a grinding halt. There is the reason why I have deleted and rewrote this review so often. Editing and formatting. Oh boy. I'm sorry, but I can't call them "okay" anymore. There are formatting hiccups and inconsistencies. There are missing verbs, smack in the middle of paragraphs that carried me right into Rhûne, only to have me crash back to earth as I tried to find out what the hell was missing from that sentence. The very header of the jötunfolk misspells them as jotünfolk. There are whole sections which get bonus types right, only to have an ability lack it. There are, in short, a lot of glitches. Now, granted, they *usually* do not tarnish the mechanics too much, but they extend to all aspects. Close reading this book was an exercise in reviewer-frustration for me.

It is, quite frankly my opinion that, if this had been penned by anything short of its cadre of veteran authors (Jaye Sonia, Cltin Boomer, Will Cooper, Adam Daigle, Stephen Michael DiPesa, Joshua Kitchens, Ben McFarland, Mike Myler), this would have turned into a full-blown train wreck. The skill and experience of the authors thankfully means that, for the most part, this whirs smoothly like the gears of the Ragnarök clock. At the same time, the glitches hurt me more than in any other book of my reviewer career BECAUSE the book and world are that cool.

I am more torn than ever before in my life on a final verdict and after reading my rambling praise of this book, you'll only have the slightest inkling of an idea why. You see, if I were to rate this on the merit of its crunch alone, including the glitches etc., this would probably receive a 3 star-rating at best. In fact, that's what the cold, hard review-bot in me would gravitate to. He keeps shouting from the back of my mind that the hybrid classes don't live up their potential, that component xyz needs streamlining.

However, I am, like you, of flesh and blood. I can feel passion and get excited...and this book is NOT a crunch-book in the traditional sense. It is a campaign setting - a depiction of a world that is so internally consistent in its vision, so fantastic and, dare I say it, innovative, I can't help but absolutely adore it with every hot-blooded fiber of my being. Yes, Rhûne ticks off pretty much all of my no-go-boxes regarding races...but still somehow makes them work for me. This book oozes the passion of some of the industries finest minds and it shows in every chapter, as a cornucopia of creativity is present, nay, immediately evident on every single page. You can flip open the book at pretty much every single page that is not a 2-color chapter-intro-spread of art and find one thing, at least, that is cool and inspiring. Would I play those hybrid classes in another setting? No. Would I play them in Rhûne...yes, I actually might. Because they signify more than just the collective of their abilities. They *mean* something; their very existence puts them in the context of the world and its beautiful tapestry of agendas and strife, of heroism and dastardly deeds.

Rhûne reads, most of the time, like the best of world-building novels; Rhûne manages to make me like content I'd otherwise...well, wouldn't - all by virtue of its phenomenal vision and the extraordinary precision and care that obviously went into this book. I love this book. I really, really do. Rhûne is one of my favorite settings OF ALL TIME. There, I said it. Where exactly in my hierarchy it'll end depends on the future support released for it...but yes. This is a true campaign setting in the best of ways. That being said, even if you de-emphasize the importance of crunch and choose to focus on the task of the campaign setting to make a world shine, the matter of fact remains that editing and formatting of this book simply does not do it justice.

If this did not have all of its hiccups (or at least, significantly less), you'd be looking at perhaps my number 1 for the Top Ten of 2016 here. I love this book that much. However, with the copious glitches that haunt this book, I have to put that in perspective. As far as I'm concerned, this is a masterpiece; an amazing feat by authors and publisher; but it is a masterpiece with flaws. If you go into this book for the crunch alone, or to scavenge material, chances are, you'll leave disappointed. Unlike e.g. Thunderscape (which works perfectly for that purpose), Rhûne is a work of art that does not reveal its beauty by looking at parts. The only way to appreciate this truly is to look at the big picture, at the totality of material, which is, for once, infinitely greater than the sum of its parts.

I could make a case against this book. I could tear it a new derrière and I can see that, for some out there, this will do absolutely nothing. At the same time, if you're like me, you can work with the book; replace some components with bits from your own library; curse at the hiccups, yes, but every time, unavoidably, you'll take the book back up and continue reading.

Because Rhûne is a wonderful world.

Because it dares to be different.

Because it dares to make sense.

And because it is greater than any words I could use to describe it. Review-bot Endy hates this. As a person, I love it. As a crunch-book alone, you may want to steer clear...but if you really are interested in a unique, creative campaign setting that truly feels different, if you want to support a truly fantastic and innovative book, if you want to send a sign that we want choice and more than the umpteenth variation of classic fantasy, that we deserve unique themes and consistency...then this is for you and will set your mind ablaze as it has mine.

The flaws weigh heavily on this one...and frankly, even with the above mindset, I should rate this 4 stars...but I don't want to. I can't. The dilemma is that the book does not deserve to be rated as only good. But technically, it also doesn't deserve being praised this much. I can't rate this in a way that will satisfy me and everyone out there. It's just not possible. In the end, there is only one rating that, after much deliberation, I can really live with. This rating would be 4.5 stars (Rated as a campaign setting, taken the flaws into account, representing that it is not perfect), but rounded up (since "good" does not begin to express how much I like this), with my seal of approval added for good measure. And since my top ten of any given year is a deeply personal opinion-thing, it'll feature as a candidate as well...though it has lost the chance of scoring highly on that list.

Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here, on OBS, etc.

Endzeitgeist out.

I read through this and I have to say that I like it. I do have questions though. What would the price be for a dragon tower?