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| I wish I had a larger version of this, because it is epic. |
The book is absolutely gorgeous, with the cover depicting
Izrador’s (the Big Bad of the setting) Night Kings, four fallen heroes who are
now his most powerful and vile generals. As was common for FFG at the time, the
first 30 pages or so are full color setting material, before diving into the
rules. The full color section tells the story of Aryth, how Izrador was cast
out by the Gods and how the act of doing so trapped him on Aryth and cut the
Gods off from the planet, as well as how the people of Aryth repelled his
forces not once, but twice…only to be betrayed by their greatest heroes the
third time. Now the good and decent people of Aryth are fighting for their very
survival…the humans largely betrayed by their leaders, the dwarves cut off in
their caverns and the elves waging a final, desperate war as their forests
burn.
The tome is divided into three Books, the first being
Adventures in Midnight, essentially serving as rules the player’s need.
Midnight makes some key changes to the d20 rules, which are detailed here. For
one, every PC has a Heroic Path, a destiny that grants them abilities to fight
Izrador’s forces. Some of these include Beast (the hero is reverting to a
primal state, gaining bestial senses and the ability to rip his enemies apart
with his bare hands), Charismatic (the hero is a beacon of leadership, using
his words to sway allies…and sometimes enemies), Giantblooded (the blood of
giants run through the hero’s veins, making them larger than normal, and they
can learn to use this size to their advantage), Painless (while the hero can
still take damage, they shrug off nonlethal damage, and can even learn to
channel the pain of attacks suffered back at his enemies), Pureblood (a very
Aragorn-like Path, being master adventurer’s descended from kings) and
Tactician (generals with a knack for finding the most effective means of
victory).
The Class list gets altered, with Barbarians, Fighters and
Rogues existing largely unaltered, though Fighters do gain a Warrior’s Way at 4th
level, with options like Adapter (the Fighter gains more skill points to give
him more options), Improviser (anything that’s handy), Leader of Men (extra
Feats to help lead) and Survivor (providing bonus feats designed to keep the
Fighter alive). There is a single spellcasting class (Channeler), and the magic
system is not Vancian here, with Channelers instead channeling spell energy to
cast their spells. There are three “Traditions”, which serve to distinguish one
Channeler from another. The Monk-like Defender and Ranger-like Wildlander round
out the class options.
The racial selection is also a tad different here, with
three human options: Dorns (Highland warriors), Sarcosans (nomadic horsemen)
and Erenlanders (thhe more “common” humans). Dwarves are divided into Clan
Dwarves and Kurgan
Prestige Classes include some familiar classes like Druid
and Wizard, as well as more Midnight-specific options like Avenging Knives
(assassins operating against Izrador), Bane of Legates (those dedicated to
fighting his priests), Smugglers and Haunted Ones (conduits for the dead).
New Feats are provided, like Friendly Agent (which lets you spot potential allies, as well as hide your own allegiance from Izrador’s Agents), Drive It Deep (allowing you to boost the damage of small weapons), Orc-Slayer and Whispering Awareness (allowing you to hear the whispers of the woods).
Spellcasting is handled by channeling energy and casting the
spells needed, rather than preparing spells beforehand. Using magic (even magic
items) is dangerous…because the Legates have hunting companions called
Astiraxes which sniff out magic and lead the Legates to the users.
Of course, living under the bootheel of Izrador, weapons and
armor are also restricted, and being elven or dwarven is an automatic death
sentence.
Book Two: The World of Midnight dives heavily into the
setting itself, describing each region, its people and providing plot hooks. For
instance, in the Great
Forest
Book Three is essentially the GM’s section. It covers the Northern Marches , the rarely-explored area where the Orcs
make their home, under the rule of Izrador. Don’t want to give this info to the
players up front. Again, plot hooks abound, like the Followers of the White
Mother, who realize that they are nothing but cannon fodder, and are slowly
spreading their word to other Orcs. This section also lays out an overview of
the final plans of crushing the dwarves and the elves, who are cut off from one
another, with no human aid coming.
We also learn about the Black Mirrors, which drain magic
into Izrador, so long as blood sacrifices are provided to it. The four Night
Kings are also profiled, describing who they were, how they fell and who they
are now. A Legate NPC class is provided, with variations like Witch Takers,
Soldier Legates and the Sisterhood of Tender Mercies.
Power Nexuses, places around Aryth with great power than can
be tapped into, and Covenant Items (magic items that unlock new powers as their
owners become more experienced) are described here as well. Midnight eschews
the “arsenal of magic items” approach in favor of generally only doling out a
single item or two that scales with the character, to compliment their Heroic
Path.
Magic is heavily limited, with healing magic at a premium,
and resurrection impossible, due to the limits of magic and the nature of the
world (no dead can move on, with all deceased coming back as some form of
undead unless properly disposed of).
A bestiary is provided, featuring the Astirax (mentioned
earlier), a couple of dragons (Midnight definitely treats dragons as special,
named creatures and not just monster entries), as well as suggestions on the
kinds of creatures from the standard monster manuals that are likely to appear
on Aryth.
Given that this is the second edition of the book and some
supplements were available at the time of the release, Fantasy Flight Games
took it upon themselves to tackle essays on various adventure types, tying
these suggestions into the various supplements.
An introductory adventure is provided, as well as a series
of random encounter charts for each section of the world, and some sample enemy
NPC templates.
WHAT WORKS: The production values are amazing. The flavor
text is generally short but evocative, and the art almost universally
compliments the feel of the setting. A ton of information is provided (it is a
400 page book), giving ample material to run the setting out of the one book
(or so I assume…I do own the whole game line). A lot of effort has gone into
making the world oppressive. In many ways, Midnight is more horrific than
classic horror settings like Ravenloft. Also, there is no metaplot. The game
line never really advances the timeline, so the setting is truly yours to do
with as you will.
WHAT DOESN’T WORK: I would kill for a version of the book
that isn’t written for d20, though I do have a great Savage Worlds conversion
downloaded. I don’t necessarily need more supplements, but the line being
available via print on demand or something would be great. The setting is
written with the assumption that the heroes will always fail, though with no
true metaplot being present, that can be worked around.
CONCLUSION: Midnight, along with the Art Haus Ravenloft, is
the best thing to come out of the d20 era for me, regardless of how I feel about
the game system. I’m eager to give the Savage Worlds conversion a go, and I’ll
report back on how that goes here on the blog. I went out of my way to ensure
that I purchased the entire Midnight collection in print (I even own the first
edition and Against the Shadow, both of which were largely folded into Second
Edition), and I’m glad I did. And while I will run the setting harsh, the
outcome will ultimately be very much in the hands of the PCs, not myself or the
designers’.
