Rebellion & Repulsion

It is 1775. It is an Age of Reason. It is an Age of Rebellion. It is an Age of War. New philosophies of logic, mathematics, and science appearing in the writings of Descartes, Hobbes, and Newton are being read and embraced and are supplanting centuries old beliefs rooted in myth and superstition. In the Thirteen Colonies, the first shots have been fired and the Patriot militias defeating the British Army at the Battles of Lexington and Concord, igniting tensions between Colonies and the Crown in London and setting them aflame. Great Britain and her Thirteen Colonies in North America are now at war. It is also an Age of a Secret War. For as many embrace the new ways of thinking, some still reject it, for they know the truths about the world, whether that is learned from a master or a mistress or because they have confronted it in all of its terrifying reality. Monsters are real. Magic is real. There are some men and women who would use their knowledge of magic and monsters for ill, there are monsters native to the New World and some came with the colonists from the Old, and perhaps there is a deeper, darker threat that only the most ambitious and most foolish would treat with. Whatever your politics—Loyalist, Nonassociator, or Patriot—these threats may be the biggest danger to the future of the Thirteen Colonies whether they remain in the grasp of the Crown or break free of its regime and achieve independence. This is the setting for Colonial Gothic.

Originally published in 2007, Colonial Gothic returns to its original roots after Flames of Freedom with a streamlined and revised version of the original rules. Published by Rogue Games, Inc. can be a roleplaying game of ‘High-Action’ a la the film The Patriot or the comic book, The Rebels; ‘Occult & Mystery’ inspired by H.P. Lovecraft or Edgar Allan Poe; or of confrontations with the ‘Supernatural’ like the films, Sleepy Hollow, Brotherhood of the Wolf, and Pirates of the Caribbean, with the latter being the default, but still cinematic. The core rulebook covers character creation, rules, magic, and some of the dangers that the Player Characters might face.

A Player Character is defined by seven Abilities—Brawn, Nimble, Vigor, Reason, Resolve, Vitality, and Sanity. Of these, all but the last two vary in value between ‘+0’ and ‘+4’, although they can be as high as ‘+10’. Vitality and Sanity are derived factors, Vitality representing a Player Character’s ability to suffer damage and Sanity his mental well-being. He also has a Background, Side, Profession, Action Points and Hooks, and skills. The Background options include Frontier Colonist, Rural Colonist, Urban Colonist, Freedman, Freed Slave, Former Indentured Servant, Immigrant, Native, and Tribe-Adopted. His Side can be Loyalist, Nonassociator, or Patriot. Neither Background nor Side impart any bonuses or skills, instead providing roleplaying details only. His Profession further explains his background, grants a Vitality Bonus, gives some starting skills, and three items of equipment. They include a wide range of Professions such as Alchemist, Barber, Clergy, Clerk, Farmer, Gambler, Lawyer, Libertine, Militia, Publican, Robber, Student of the Occult, Witch Hunter, and more. Hooks are categorised as either Educational, Emotional, Magical, Metaphysical, Physical, Situational, or Supernatural, and are statements such as ‘I will pay my taxes to the American government to forge my freedom rather than pay them to a king I will never see’ or ‘My faith is all I have in the face of a greater evil’. These are tagged in play in order to spend Action Points.

To create a character, a player assigns six points across Brawn, Nimble, Vigor, Reason, and Resolve. He then selects a Background, Side, Profession, Hooks, and skills. All of the Backgrounds, Sides, and Professions are all really nicely detailed and for the Native and Tribe-Adopted Backgrounds, Colonial Gothic provides very decently done descriptions of the peoples of the Indigenous nations.

Name: Simon Teahan
Background: Former Indentured Servant
Side: Patriot
Profession: Student of the Occult
Brawn 0 Nimble 1 Vigor 1 Reason 2 Resolve 2
Vitality 12
Sanity 50

Skills
Astrology (Reason) 0, Herbalist (Reason) 0, Lore (Reason) 1, Magic (Resolve) (Clarity’s Embrace) +0, Magic (Resolve) (Veiled Aegis) 1, Study (Astronomy) 1

Hooks
‘The bastard British deserve every kicking they get’
‘I owe my master for the knowledge I know, but I will become greater than him to defeat his evil’

Equipment
The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trimegistus, The Hieroglyphic Monad

Mechanically, Colonial Gothic involves the rolling of two twelve-sided dice. The typical Target Number is twelve and to this a player add the Ranks for his character’s Skill and its associated Ability. Modifiers apply to the dice rather than the Target Number. Rolls above the Target Number can generate Degrees of Success, whilst rolls below the Target Number can generate Degrees of Failure. It is up to the Game Master to decide what that might be narratively. Combat uses the same mechanic. Initiative is a simple test using Nimble and actions include Attack, Casting Spell, Hiding, Loading a Weapon, Searching, Withdrawing, and so on. Rolling the exact Target Number in combat inflicts only the base damage for the weapon, whilst Degrees of Success will add to the base damage. When a Player Character suffers damage, he suffers a ‘-1’ penalty to all actions for the first ten points suffered, and then ‘-1’ for each five points after that. Damage is deducted from Vitality. Fear is resolved as a Resolve test and if failed, the Player Character loses Sanity and suffers a ‘-2’ penalty until he can rest. Losing Sanity can result in the Player Character also suffering from a phobia, which when it is in effect, imposes a greater penalty. Both Vitality and Sanity recover at a rate of one point per day, and a Phobia can be overcome, but should a Player Character’s Sanity be reduced to zero, the Phobia becomes permanent and his Sanity is permanently reduced by one.

Colonial Gothic is a set in a world in which magic is real and practiced by mages, sorcerers, witches, and shamans. Two forms of practice are detailed, Alchemy and Magic, both exclusive to the other, so that if a practitioner studies one, he cannot study the other. Mechanically, an Alchemist gains ranks in the Alchemical Arts, whilst a Mage gains ranks in different spells. The Arts include the Alchemicall Revanaunt by which the alchemist can create a zombie; the Arte of Blackpowder, the creation of various types of gunpowder; the Arte of Elixirs such as the Philosopher’s Tincture which sharpens wits; and the Vitae of Rekyndlyng for restoring a person to life. Alchemy requires investment in equipment and reagents, and it takes time to complete as well as gather any ingredients needed, whilst failed tests tend to concoct tinctures and elixirs that have negative rather than positive effects. The casting of spells is quicker, but still takes several rounds depending upon the spell. Spells also have a cost in Sanity to cast. Of the two, more detail is accorded to alchemy including its history and aims, making it easier for the Game Master to make it an aspect of play.

Besides a good list of equipment that includes weapons and alchemical apparatus, the Game Master is supported with advice on running Colonial Gothic. It primarily focuses on how to use the history of the period and how to use horror in play. Its default is a ‘secret’ history, but does not discount using alternative history either. It advises that the Game Master be respectful of the history whilst using it as a source of ideas. That said, it does not suggest where to look for that history and it highlights one absence from Colonial Gothic—and that is the lack of a bibliography, which would have served as a pointer for the Game Master wanting to do some research herself. This is not an issue that affects the roleplaying game’s advice on horror, which covers various types including folk, Mythos, and supernatural, as well as how to use it in play. This is all combined with a good section on creating adventures and an even better one on creating interesting and memorable villains.

Rounding out Colonial Gothic is ‘Lurking in the Shadows’, an extensive list of threats that the Player Characters might face. As well as breaking down their various possible abilities and traits, they are categorised as either Infernal, Natural, Otherworldly, and Undead. Infernal creatures such as the Boo-Hag and the Headless—as per Sleepy Hollow—have Taint, representing their evil presence in the world, but which can only keep them in this world for a short time. Oddly, the Byakhee, the Jersey Devil, and the Werewolf are included in the Natural section. The chapter includes several entries of Indigenous origins including the stone giants known as A-sense-ki-wake of Abenaki lore and the Mestabeok of the Atikamekw legend found in central Quebec. This is a decent selection of monsters which includes the familiar and the unfamiliar.

Physically, Colonial Gothic is decently presented with a good mix of artwork. It is an easy read although it needs a slight edit in places and it does feel slightly odd to have the roleplaying game’s mechanics explained before Player Character creation.

Colonial Gothic includes excellent sections that are full of historical detail, such as the examination of alchemy and the descriptions of the peoples of the indigenous nations, yet in terms of the history of the period it is set in, it is lacking. Much of that is saved for the Colonial Gothic Guidebook and the Colonial Gothic: Atlas, but some background details could have been included as well as a bibliography for the benefit of the Game Master or player for whom the roleplaying game does not share their history. Whilst the system is straightforward enough, it lacks examples of play, combat, and character creation. There is also no scenario to help the Game Master get started or show her what a Colonial Gothic adventure looks like.

Overall, Colonial Gothic is a solid roleplaying game that is easy to pick up and play, the revised rules being slicker and quicker to grasp. The rules are backed up with some solid character options and historical details. However, unless the Game Master is knowledgeable about the period and ready to write her own scenarios, she will need to make further purchases and possibly conduct some research of her own.

Friday Fantasy: Nations & Cannons

The year is 1775. The long simmering resentments of the colonies in North America towards the British Crown have finally boiled over. The first military clashes between the British garrisons and new raised rebel militias have occurred and the Second Continental Congress is working towards the establishment of an American government and the establishment of both a Continental Army and a Continental Navy in defiance of the colonial governors and the British army that will be sent to quell the rebellion. The rally cry has gone out across all thirteen colonies for patriots to serve in any way they can and men and women of every stripe and background, all nations and origins, to help throw off the yoke of the British oppressor. Some will serve in the front line against the massed ranks of the Red Coats, some will help organise supplies, some will run messages, and some will serve, if not in secret, then in ways that are quick and quiet. They will perform missions that do not call for massed ranks, but engage instead in ‘petite guerre’, or small war. This is the situation in Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e.

Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e is published by Flagbearer Games following a successful Kickstarter campaign. As the title suggests, it is a historical campaign setting for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, but almost as radical as the Revolutionary War was in the eighteenth century, Nations & Cannons makes profound changes to some of the fundamentals of Dungeons & Dragons. It is a purely historical setting. The Player Characters are all Human and the foes they will face are all Human—bar the odd wolf or angry bear. The Player Characters have all taken up arms and all Classes have a martial bent. Only four Classes from Dungeons & Dragons are used—the Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger, and Rogue, and these are joined by the Firebrand as well as new subclasses for the included Classes. Magic and all magic-using Classes, whether arcane or divine, are deliberately left out. All monsters are left out. This is not a setting in which the Player Characters will face the supernatural as written. Instead of spells, the Ranger and the Firebrand can employ ‘Gambits’, ploys or tactics born of personal knowledge and skill, to gain an advantage in certain situations, whether on the battlefield or in the drawing room or in front of a restive crowd. The end result is a Dungeons & Dragons setting unlike any other and a Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying experience unlike any other.

The core book for Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e presents the means to create Player Characters, lists equipment and gives a new means to carry it, rules for ‘Gambits’ rather than magic, artillery rules, a roster of enemies and threats, Game Master advice, and a short, introductory adventure. There is also a short timeline and an appendix detailing the effects of ‘Inclement Weather’, including on the forearms of the period. Of course, the Player’s Handbook for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition is required to play. Given the lethality of firearms, it is suggested that Player Characters in Nations & Cannons begin play at Second Level.

A Player Character in Nations & Cannons has the same core stats as an adventurer in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and will also have a Class and Subclass, but instead of Race has an Origin and a Heritage. Heritage is the Player Character’s cultural upbringing and the source of his first language. Some thirty or so such Heritages are listed, representing a wide range of cultures, including African, European, and Indigenous. This is accompanied by a quick guide to the regions of the Thirteen Colonies—and beyond—which provides some geographical context to the Origins. Where a Heritage provides no mechanical benefit beyond a known language, a Player Character’s Origin gives him all of the mechanical benefits that Race would in other Dungeons & Dragons-style roleplaying games. There are six Origins—Officer, Pioneer, Renegade, Scholar, Scout, and Veteran—representing what the Player Character did before joining the patriotic cause.

In terms of Class, Nations & Cannons uses four from Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. These are Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger, and Rogue. Each represents a different approach to fighting the war against the British. The Barbarian is a big brave warrior, ready to take part in military assaults; the Fighter is a skilled soldier or mercenary; the Ranger is a sapper, sentry, skirmisher, or scout; and the Rogue, the ex-criminal, sailor, or hired gun. Each of the four Classes has its own Subclass. These are the Grenadier for the Barbarian, Turncoat for the Fighter, Trailblazer for the Ranger, and Marksman for the Ranger. Nations & Cannons suggests that players use these Subclasses only, but also suggests that other Subclasses from standard Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition can also be used. These are the Berserker and Totem Warrior for the Barbarian, Champion and Battlemaster for the Fighter, Hunter and Beastmaster for the Ranger, and the Thief and Assassin for the Rogue. However, some of these do possess more magical abilities, which are not in keeping with the tone of Nations & Cannons, so the player and Game Master will need to work out mundane explanations for how they work.

In terms of new Classes, Nations & Cannons offers only one. This is the Firebrand. Whether through stirring speeches given before a crowd or inspiring poetry distributed via pamphlets, the Firebrand can inflame the passions of the masses with his words. The role encompasses orator and authors, diplomats, preachers, and the like. It has the Subclasses of Chaplain and the Demagogue. The former is more of an eloquent speaker and emphasises soothing words and healing through its Gambits, whilst the latter tends towards more barbed turns of phrase. The Firebrand is Nations & Cannons’ equivalent of two Classes, depending upon the Subclass. Chaplain is akin to the Cleric, but relies on advice and gentle guidance to both heal and advise, whilst the Demagogue is akin to the Bard Class, but relies more on rhetoric than rhyme to taunt and jab at his opponents.

Lastly, a Player Character will have a Background. The eight given include Career Soldier, Convict, Folk Healer, Fur Trader, Homesteader, Immigrant, Parishioner, and Son of Liberty. There are also some new Feats, such as Bayonet Charger, Printer’s Apprentice, Rifle Expert, and Ruffian. Overall, the character options in Nations & Cannons represent a wide diversity of archetypes from the period that the players can create or play against. One nice touch is that throughout, Nations & Cannons points to historical figures who fit these archetypes. Thus, Allan McLane for the Officer Origin, Thomas Paine for the Firebrand Class, Sally St. Clair for the Convict Background, and so on.

In terms of equipment, Nations & Cannons gives starting packages for each Class and suggests rewards such as Leave Accrued and salary for successfully completing Missions. Amongst the various items of equipment and weapons, such as the Gunstock Club, Coat Pistol, and Liège Musket, Nations & Cannons provides a means for the Player Character to carry more weapons and equipment and gain other benefits. This is through the wearing of Wargear. For example, a Powdered Wig enables the wearer to cast the Code Duello gambit once per day, carry three more pistols with a Pistol Brace, and gain the Proficiency Bonus to the damage and healing properties of potions and poultices by wearing a Hunting Pouch. Some of these do require attunement, much like magic items in Dungeons & Dragons, but here it is more akin to getting used to using such items.

Firearms, as expected of the setting, are slow to load, deadly, and unreliable. Thus, it takes an action or an attack to reload a single round (and weapons that have more than one load are rare), typically inflict two or three dice worth of damage, and have a misfire chance. When rolled, the firearm—and also artillery—cannot be used until it is repaired. Artillery pieces are ‘crew-served’ weapons meaning it takes multiple people to crew such a weapon and co-ordinated action. It is not enough to simply have a gunner ‘Aim & Fire’, but other crewmembers will need to ‘Swab & Reload’ the weapon, and if necessary, ‘Reposition’ it. Bonuses to the roll for these actions are gained if more than one crewman does them, but even if fully crewed, an artillery piece cannot be reloaded and fired on the same round. The rules for artillery are kept short, but also cover a range of ordnance types and ballistic damage. As expected, artillery damage is nasty!

The most radical change that Nations & Cannons makes to Dungeons & Dragons is to dispense with magic. Except not quite. Nations & Cannons replaces them with ‘Gambits’, representing tricks, schemes, and stratagems, rather than just simple spells. That said, Nations & Cannons uses the architecture of Dungeons & Dragons, so mechanically, a ‘Gambit’ still looks like a spell. Each has a Level, a casting time, range, component requirement, and a duration. Those targeted can also make a Saving Throw against their effects. Two of the Classes in Nations & Cannons can use Gambits, the Firebrand and the Ranger, drawing from the spells in the Player’s Handbook as well as the new ones in Nations & Cannons. For example, the Code Duello, can be cast as a bonus action to challenge someone to single combat, but cast over a single hour, it becomes a public notice that the target has seven days in which to respond, whilst with Foxfire, the Player Character grabs a handful of fungi and throws it into the air to create an eerie glow of bioluminescence, outlining targets. Some have a heroic, action-film quality, such as Blowback, with which the Player Character shoots a grenade coming towards him to disable or deflect it, or Improvised Artillery, in which the Player Character turns a log into a one-shot cannon.

The Firebrand effectively knows all of the Gambits available for his current Level. What limits their use is the number of slots the Firebrand has to use per day, and the number of Resolve Points he has to use per day. Resolve can be spent cast Gambits that a Firebrand does not have access to, whether because that they have not been selected by his player or because the Gambits are of a higher Level than the Firebrand knows. There is one issue with the Gambits in that they can sometimes emulate actions that the Player Characters might want to take, but not necessarily know the Gambit for. For example, they might want to turn a log into a one-shot cannon or issue a duelling challenge. In such incidents, the Game Master will need to adjudicate the effects, but whatever they are, they should be less than the Gambit. What the Gambit actually ensures is that the desired effect works and has a defined effect.

Overall, Gambits are a fascinating way to get around the intrinsic aspect that Dungeons & Dragons has magic and certain Classes can cast spells. They are grounded in the period setting and they force a player to think differently. No longer does he say, “My Wizard casts Spare the Dying”, but instead would say, “My Chaplain will call upon the Lord’s name and with his guidance, he will Spare the Dying.” There is potential for far roleplaying in the use of Gambits than there is for the ‘fire and forget’ Vancian spell-casting of Dungeons & Dragons.

As befits the historical setting, the ‘Enemy Roster’ in Nations & Cannons focuses on men and women rather than beasts. There are a few of the latter, like the bull moose and the rattlesnake, but aside from the artillery units, the ordinary human threats are categorised into three types according to role and Hit Die. From the six-sided die to the ten-sided die, they are in turn, Partisans, Irregulars, and Soldiers, representing greater threats. Each of the Partisan, Irregular, and Soldier types is given a little background alongside the stats and even at just twenty or so entries, provides a good mix that the Game master can use as threats and NPCs.

Nations & Cannons includes a single beginning scenario, designed for five Player Characters of Second Level, which actually takes place early in the uprising in the autumn of 1775. In ‘Invasion of Canada’, the Player Characters accompany Ethan Allen of Vermont on a second attempt to scout the length of the Richelieu River and recruit locals to the American cause, prior to an invasion by the Continental Army. Unfortunately, the mission does not go well and the Player Characters are forced to retreat, but can take part in the assault of a British held fort. The scenario is set against the historical events of the period, but does not negate player agency. It is playable in a single session, but will more likely take a little more than that, especially if the optional scenes are used. The various NPCs are nicely detailed.

Physically, Nations & Cannons is a slim book, mostly done in sepia tones with depictions of the period. The result is attractive and for the most part written. Where it is a little odd is that it occasionally refers to soldiers and NPCs as ‘creatures’, implying at some point they would be crewing artillery pieces!

Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e has two big problems. The first is that it is written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, and no matter how hard the designers have worked to make Nations & Cannons a roleplaying game setting that fits its historical background whilst still retaining the underlying architecture of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, to some minds, it is still too much. There is no getting away from this, but in Flagbearer Games’ defence, the changes it has wrought make Nations & Cannons unlike any other roleplaying game setting written for use with Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition.

The second problem is the history. Nations & Cannons is a historical setting which enables the Game Master and her players to run and roleplay a game set in a politically and militarily turbulent period of history with definite heroes and villains. It is highly unlikely that any British roleplayer is going to object to roleplaying a character fighting the British oppressor in 1775 in order to establish a nation free of the British Empire. This is because the American War of Independence is but a blip in British history, and the loss of the Thirteen Colonies was quickly eclipsed by an even bigger British Empire. Whereas to an American roleplayer, the American War of Independence is integral to his country’s founding mythology. What this means is that to the American roleplayer, the setting of Nations & Cannons will have a familiarity that most non-Americans will not. At barely more than a hundred pages long, Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e does not pack a lot of history into its pages. Nor does it include a bibliography. Ultimately, this leaves a lot of research and reading to do for the Game Master not steeped in the conflict and period.

What is striking about Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e is that it feels and reads like a historical setting rather than just a Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition adaptation. The underlying architecture is still there, making Nations & Cannons mechanically familiar, but the changes in terms of the Origins, Heritages, Classes, and especially the new Firebrand Class and the Gambits, change the feel, the flavour, and the tone of the game. Nations & Cannons: A Revolutionary Campaign Setting for 5e is the most interesting and the most impressive adaptation of Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition to date, an intriguing invocation of the Revolutionary War that begs to be played and begs for more support.