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| Warlock! Kingdom - a world to explore. |
I followed up the copy of Warlock! with the book that gives a flavour of the world that is hinted at in the text. It's an almost systemless setting book, so could easily be used with other fantasy games. This is the Kingdom supplement.
When it finally arrives, this will be a 111 page hardcover supplement, but the comments here are based upon the PDF. The book is to all intents and purposes black & white, but the page trims have a little colour in and it is printed on the higher quality paper.
Like the core book, there's a detailed table of contents.
The first 35 pages after that deal with the Kingdom itself and take the form of a gazetteer. It starts with a description of the Kingdom, and then drops you bang into a d20 random table of noisy and flavoursome street events to distract you with. There's then a description of the Royal Family (and how the King is now hardly ever seen, and the Queen and the King's chief advisor are now running the country day to day), before a discussion of the Traitor who was beaten in battle, but disappeared. The map of the peninsular that the Kingdom is in takes a two page spread, and is hits the nostalgia buttons well. Key locations from the map are described, with a selection of random tables and evocative artwork. This builds on the fact that the Kingdom is built on the ruins of several predecessors, the last one Elven. There's just enough information here to give you a flavour for each place and wet the imagination.
The next 40 pages are dedicated to Grim Biskerstaf, the town shown on the cover above. The map is reproduced with a two page spread with key locations. It's a port city, on the mighty Vessen River, latterly suffering from a new disease, the Blight. At this point, the blight mainly afflicts the poor, and those living higher up the hill are unaffected. Locations are described in a similar format to the gazetteer, often with random tables for ideas or small rules snippets (never drink Fire Brew, unless you're a student). Some of these tables give plot hooks; for example, the Cathedral has job postings on a tree outside.
A number of key organisations are described, starting with the Little Council. This is headed by Lord Keberond, the ranking noble of the City and nominally in charge. However, the Council thwarts him at every step and at the same time members bicker and struggle for influence. The College of Doors (a magical school), the Red King's Man (upstart religion), the Guard, and then noted citizens are all described. There are lots of throw-away lines for the imagination to feast on. Naturally, there is something nasty going on in town, but the players may never end up near it.
New careers are added for Dockers, Fish Warden's, Mudlarks, Night Watchmen, Publicans and Servants. There's a table of hirelings (no stats, just background), and then the book rounds out with ten adventure seeds on a random d20 table. They take the form of a description and then a set of questions.
All in all, a flavoursome book which presents just enough to get your imagination going. If you're looking for an example adventure, this isn't it, but there's plenty of meat here for a GM to start a campaign from. You could chose to use other settings (for example The Midderlands) if they float your boat more. However, this one has lots of merit.
Recommended, but not essential.
9 August 2020
Edit: My other Warlock reviews are here:
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