Dark Albion, DOM Publishing, is 277 pages of fantastic setting material for any OSR rule system. It borrows from the historic War of the Roses for inspiration much in the same way that the legends of King Arthur borrow from medieval England for a setting. This appeals to me as a person with an academic background in medieval history and because the real middle ages seem a bit grim-dark what with plague and all. The fantastic side works for me because many of the historic folk of those times are on record as having believed that devils and fey creatures were openly active here on Earth, or at least they wrote about such contemporary supernatural "happenings" as if they were real. Demons caused disease, fey creatures soured milk and stole children and witches talked to black cats and the devil and in various accounts cast hexes and foretold the future.
Dark Albion starts with a map of historic England circa 1450 A.D. and emphasizes forests and stone circles and other ancient sites because these are potential points of mystery and adventure. The setting is only quasi-historic and open to being added to however the referee would like. The politics and personalities of the day, including Mad King Henry and Warwick the Kingmaker, are drawn from history and briefly described in situations ripe for intrigue and war. Religion is monotheistic, but fictional and the Church of the Sun dominates religious life and political power in a way very similar to the historic Catholic Church. In the Dark Albion setting people believe in magic and several forms of magic are described to which the author, RPGPundit, attributes historical precedence, such as astrology, the cabal and alchemy. Dark Albion assumes many characters will be of the fighting men type, but also supports clerics and magic users as PCs.
In an effort to seem medieval, Dark Albion emphasizes social class as a central theme organizing play. Dark Albion assumes a social structure with medieval norms and values which are vastly different from the modern ones which form the basis of our own society and most fantasy settings. PCs have a station in life and players are expected to role-play them accordingly. There is no First Amendment and talking back to one's social superiors is a quick trip to the stocks or even the gallows. Carrying a sword is a mark of nobility and peasants just don't do that unless they want to become outlaw. Dark Albion has a lot of potential as a setting, but requires cooperation from the players in terms of the strict social hierarchy inherent in a true medieval setting.
Dark Albion offers adventure that runs the gamut from tomb raider to spy and assassin. The book is rich with somewhat mundane detail as well as several places of mystery such as ruins, holy sites and burial grounds. The mundane I find particularly interesting because of the opportunity for intrigue and conflict. Knowing that young Richard of York was born three years ago at Fotheringhay Castle near Rutland Forest and with a crooked back makes me wonder about the circumstances of his birth. We are also told Rutland is under the control of an absentee lord who is off studying the "magical arts". I can work with this - add some rumors of fey in the wood, a mysterious murder and start the players off investigating.
Dark Albion is written to be used with most any system, but there are references to the OSR and a section in the back explaining how to use the Fantastic Heroes & Witchery RPG also from DOM Publishing. Fantastic Heroes & Witchery is an AD&D 2e clone written by Dominique Crouzet. RPGPundit has also written Lion & Dragon which he describes as a medieval authentic OSR RPG using some of his ideas from Dark Albion and I believe the two products compliment each other nicely. Dark Albion is robust enough to run as written and promises a gaming experience quite different from the swords & sorcery fare I generally run and I have added it to my list of games I hope to run someday.
No comments:
Post a Comment