GianniVacca
Mongoose
Magistus said:
Maybe I wasn't clear. Is the combat system in Hawkmoon different from the one in RuneQuest, which I (and countless other gamers) find broken?
Anybody got Hawkmoon yet?
- Thread starter tarkhan bey
- Start date
Maybe I wasn't clear. Is the combat system in Hawkmoon different from the one in RuneQuest, which I (and countless other gamers) find broken?
Loz
Mongoose
Wolverine said:
In Hawkmoon its the old, RQ core rules combat matrix. In Elric, its the opposed system, so the two are different.
Hawkmoon had gone to press well before the Players Update came out. There was obviously the opportunity to include the combat and skill revisions in Elric, and we took it.
I've just reviewed Slaine and Mrs soltakss is out, so I've got time to do Hawkmoon as well.
The cover was a bit warped, but nothing particularly bad, but the inner page has come loose from the binding, so I'm not sure how long it will last being used a lot. The cover art is very dynamic and colourful, although I have never seen Hawkmoon as an albino. Internal art is also good but fairly sparse. The pages are every dark, with a dark grey background, which is contrasted with the last few pages that are on a white background. It would have been better on a paler background, but, to tell the truth, this doesn't detract from the look and feel.
Chapter by chapter, as always ...
Introduction has an atmospheric section that captures the feel of the Hawkmoon books and a short section with campaign ideas and plot hooks.
Character Generation has backgrounds of barbarian, Peasant, Townsman, Noble, Science Enclave and Mariner with a lot of regional backgrounds available. It allows characters to be Beginning, Seasoned, Veteran, Master or Heroic. Non-human characters can have positive or negative Traits that are similar to Chaotic Features in Glorantha/Classic RQ.
Gazeteer covers the history of Tragic Europe, different lands including Belgic States, Catalonia, Esapaniyia, France, Germania, Greece, Hollandia, Muscovia, Italia, Switzer, Osterland, Scandia, Courts of the East, Courts of the Near East and The Dark Empire of Granbretan. These are short descriptions, but are very concise and impart a lot of information.
Skills contains rules for skill tests, including a table for difficulty ratings, new rules for very high skills, basic and advanced skills and weapon skills. These are pretty good and form the basis of the rules.
Equipment covers the various currencies in use in Europe, Wealth and Status, Weapons, Armour, Exceptional Items and Weapons, General Items, Food and Lodging, Animals, Transportation and Slaves, Ships and Siege Weapons. These are very detailed with tables galore.
Combat has the usual Mongoose RQ rules, covering Strike Ranks, Combat Actions, Close Combat Attacks, Reactions, Free Attacks, Ranged Weapons, Damage, Knockback, Unarmed Combat, Mounted Combat and Vehicle Combat. This is well organised and easy to follow and read. It's better than the combat rules in the RQ rulebook.
Adventuring covers rules for Fate, Movement, Fatigue, Healing, Encumbrance, Falling, Suffocation, Fire, Heat and Freezing, Poison, Disease, Inanimate Objects, Reputation & Renown, Improving Adventurers and Legendary Abilities. Whew! All good, solid stuff. There are some interesting new Legendary Abilities, although with a few exceptions these don't have much of a Hawkmoon flavour.
Science & Sorcery covers the magic of Hawkmoon, that of scientific sorcery. It has sections on Acquiring Sorcery, Using Sorcery, Sorcery Spells, Artefact Spells and the Runestaff and Its Regalia. This has a lot of good things, the spells are solid, the rules straightforward and the artefacts are powerful.
Denizens of Tragic Europe actually has NPC statistics, with stats for many of the important people of Tragic Europe. Here are Hawkmoon, Count Brass, Yisselda of Brass, Bowgentle, Oladahn of the Bulgar Mountains, Huillam D'Averc, The Warrior in Jet and Gold, Orland Frank, Flana of Kanbery, Pahl Bewchard of Nawleen, Malagig of Hamadan, Baron Meliadus, Baron Kalan, Lorfd Agonovos and various NPC templates. All good and this gives a flavour of what your PCs should be like. There are also creatures here, with specific critters for Tragic Erope, so don't except lion s and tigers here, use the Monsters Book or RQ rulebook for those. These are very much nasties from the books and would be worthy adversaries in any game.
The Deeds of Hawkmoon is a synposis of the Hawkmoon books, covering The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God's Amulet, The Sword of the Dawn, The Runestaff, Count Brass, The Champion of Garathorm and the Quest for Tanelorn.
Finally, there is a map of Tragic Europe, which takes all the fun away from working out where things are by the warped names, and a character sheet that is usable but, as with all character sheets in supplements, not very good.
There are little gems all the way through this. Extracts from the books abound, as do little comments. In the section on Wormwoods, for instance, it says "The eldest Wormwood is said to be in Muskovia, where they call it by its native name of Kernobul." which makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, in the same way that reading the books used to.
So, what did I think of it in general? It's pretty good. The rules are complete and well organised. The background is brief but covers a lot. The magic is good and the NPCs are well written. Can I fault it? The background could be better, but that's about it.
I'd give it an A, Very Good, with Buyability 90%, so get out there and buy a copy.
The cover was a bit warped, but nothing particularly bad, but the inner page has come loose from the binding, so I'm not sure how long it will last being used a lot. The cover art is very dynamic and colourful, although I have never seen Hawkmoon as an albino. Internal art is also good but fairly sparse. The pages are every dark, with a dark grey background, which is contrasted with the last few pages that are on a white background. It would have been better on a paler background, but, to tell the truth, this doesn't detract from the look and feel.
Chapter by chapter, as always ...
Introduction has an atmospheric section that captures the feel of the Hawkmoon books and a short section with campaign ideas and plot hooks.
Character Generation has backgrounds of barbarian, Peasant, Townsman, Noble, Science Enclave and Mariner with a lot of regional backgrounds available. It allows characters to be Beginning, Seasoned, Veteran, Master or Heroic. Non-human characters can have positive or negative Traits that are similar to Chaotic Features in Glorantha/Classic RQ.
Gazeteer covers the history of Tragic Europe, different lands including Belgic States, Catalonia, Esapaniyia, France, Germania, Greece, Hollandia, Muscovia, Italia, Switzer, Osterland, Scandia, Courts of the East, Courts of the Near East and The Dark Empire of Granbretan. These are short descriptions, but are very concise and impart a lot of information.
Skills contains rules for skill tests, including a table for difficulty ratings, new rules for very high skills, basic and advanced skills and weapon skills. These are pretty good and form the basis of the rules.
Equipment covers the various currencies in use in Europe, Wealth and Status, Weapons, Armour, Exceptional Items and Weapons, General Items, Food and Lodging, Animals, Transportation and Slaves, Ships and Siege Weapons. These are very detailed with tables galore.
Combat has the usual Mongoose RQ rules, covering Strike Ranks, Combat Actions, Close Combat Attacks, Reactions, Free Attacks, Ranged Weapons, Damage, Knockback, Unarmed Combat, Mounted Combat and Vehicle Combat. This is well organised and easy to follow and read. It's better than the combat rules in the RQ rulebook.
Adventuring covers rules for Fate, Movement, Fatigue, Healing, Encumbrance, Falling, Suffocation, Fire, Heat and Freezing, Poison, Disease, Inanimate Objects, Reputation & Renown, Improving Adventurers and Legendary Abilities. Whew! All good, solid stuff. There are some interesting new Legendary Abilities, although with a few exceptions these don't have much of a Hawkmoon flavour.
Science & Sorcery covers the magic of Hawkmoon, that of scientific sorcery. It has sections on Acquiring Sorcery, Using Sorcery, Sorcery Spells, Artefact Spells and the Runestaff and Its Regalia. This has a lot of good things, the spells are solid, the rules straightforward and the artefacts are powerful.
Denizens of Tragic Europe actually has NPC statistics, with stats for many of the important people of Tragic Europe. Here are Hawkmoon, Count Brass, Yisselda of Brass, Bowgentle, Oladahn of the Bulgar Mountains, Huillam D'Averc, The Warrior in Jet and Gold, Orland Frank, Flana of Kanbery, Pahl Bewchard of Nawleen, Malagig of Hamadan, Baron Meliadus, Baron Kalan, Lorfd Agonovos and various NPC templates. All good and this gives a flavour of what your PCs should be like. There are also creatures here, with specific critters for Tragic Erope, so don't except lion s and tigers here, use the Monsters Book or RQ rulebook for those. These are very much nasties from the books and would be worthy adversaries in any game.
The Deeds of Hawkmoon is a synposis of the Hawkmoon books, covering The Jewel in the Skull, The Mad God's Amulet, The Sword of the Dawn, The Runestaff, Count Brass, The Champion of Garathorm and the Quest for Tanelorn.
Finally, there is a map of Tragic Europe, which takes all the fun away from working out where things are by the warped names, and a character sheet that is usable but, as with all character sheets in supplements, not very good.
There are little gems all the way through this. Extracts from the books abound, as do little comments. In the section on Wormwoods, for instance, it says "The eldest Wormwood is said to be in Muskovia, where they call it by its native name of Kernobul." which makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, in the same way that reading the books used to.
So, what did I think of it in general? It's pretty good. The rules are complete and well organised. The background is brief but covers a lot. The magic is good and the NPCs are well written. Can I fault it? The background could be better, but that's about it.
I'd give it an A, Very Good, with Buyability 90%, so get out there and buy a copy.
CthulhuFnord
Mongoose
I rather like the fate mechanics presented in Hawkmoon. Such rules could easily be ported over to a Wheel of Time setting or even Star Wars.
tarkhan bey
Mongoose
I really like those fate mechanics as well. I am using them in place of the Hero point system for Elric. I am also using the rules for equipment of varying quality from Hawkmoon in my Elric game.
They are very useful for generating non standard items and for giving to those players who like their rewards to be material.
They are very useful for generating non standard items and for giving to those players who like their rewards to be material.
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