Greetings readers… today’s blog features a review of an epic
fantasy setting for Savage Worlds called Shaintar: Legends Arise.
Beware the hat. |
I should start out this review by explaining that I’m biased
when it comes to Shaintar. First, the author is Sean Patrick Fannon – a personal
friend and colleague that I have interviewed here on the Warden before.
I’ve had the pleasure of playing Shaintar with Sean twice
before (three times if Sean counts a Shards of the Stone session way back in
the early 2000’s), and it has always struck me as a very interesting and fun
setting for an RPG.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I’ve been a fan of Sean’s writing since back in the 90’s
with his work on Champions 4th Edition, specifically the books The
Mutant File, Allies, and High-Tech Enemies. And one of these days I need to get
around to reviewing those very books here…
So now, gentle reader, you’re aware that I am perhaps not
the most objective reviewer of Sean’s work in the RPG field. Having said that,
let’s move on to look at the actual product.
The Review
Shaintar promises us “epic fantasy” as a genre, and that is
a tall claim—many settings have tried before, with perhaps the Forgotten Realms
coming closest (and many would argue that the Realms are more “High Fantasy”
than “Epic”).
The cover for the version of Shaintar that this review is based on. |
The book begins with an omnibus of the setting, describing
Shaintar’s rich history – developed by Sean over decades of actual RPG
campaigns he’s run using Shaintar – and discussing its people. The magic of
Shaintar and the sources of power are quite interesting. Rather than Law/Chaos
and Good/Evil that are present in many other fantasy settings, Shaintar uses a
different axis. Light and Darkness, balanced by Life and Flame. Traditionally,
Light and Life are “good,” whilst Darkness and Flame are “evil.” Light is
channeled by priests and paladins, whilst Darkness powers necromantic rituals
of death and decay. Life is used by druids with the power of the natural world,
while Flame is the source of destructive magics and is used to summon demons
from the Abyss.
This is just the briefest overview of the setting’s
interesting laws, and there’s much more to it than what I’ve presented here.
Suffice it to say it is quite interesting to read how things work in Sean’s
world – it is set up quite well to meet its goal of epic fantasy.
Chapter two introduces the reader to the heroes of Shaintar –
the different races and professions that make up the world and are appropriate
for player characters. The chapter starts out with a description of “Greyson’s
Gray Rangers,” an organization perfectly suited for beginning adventurers. The
rangers provide a cause, direction, and support that really help a GM with an
adventuring paradigm. It’s nice to see this support built-in. Additionally,
other professions are discussed that include fantasy staples (from Soldiers to
Druids to Priests to Rogues) and some more unusual choices (such as Ex-slaves,
wanderers, and emissaries). The races of Shaintar are quite imaginative and
provide a prospective player with tons of great choices, from the Brinchie
(Cat-men) to the Dregordians (lizard-people) and many more.
I often judge an RPG based on how many characters the book
inspires me to make. Shaintar: Legends Arise gives me ideas for at least a
dozen different characters that I’d love to play in this world.
It is worth noting that Shaintar: Legends Arise uses some
interesting adjustments to the Savage Worlds system. Player characters simply
begin with appropriate gear rather than spending a bunch of time spending money
at the store, for example, and the damage dice explode like all the other dice
in Savage Worlds. These rules adjustments are intended to keep the energy high
during a game and I think they succeed quite well at this goal.
Next come some brief overviews of skills and languages,
followed by a discussion of appropriate Hindrances for Shaintar. This is followed by new Hindrances and Edges,
including some very interesting special Edges that player characters can earn
by interacting with specific characters, items, and storylines in the setting.
These Edges are like badges of honor your character can carry with him as a
reward for his great deeds.
Next comes a section about gear, containing some of the
unique weapons, armor, and other items found in Shaintar. It really helps bring
to life that your character is from a completely different race or culture when
you can back that up with a specifically-designed weapon that fits your race’s
particular fighting style! In addition, this section includes a discussion on
Shaintar spells and powers for those characters who channel magic.
The section on setting rules is one of my favorite parts of
the book. Sean details several bits of advice for the GM and guidance for how
the game mechanics of Savage Worlds best fit into Shaintar. The thrust of this
section is a means to help a GM make a session of Shaintar feel memorable and
cinematic, providing the player characters with ways to use their unique abilities
(and the Savage Worlds boost mechanic, “bennies”) to enhance the fun of the
game for everyone.
The book ends with a glimpse at the expanded world of
Shaintar, giving the reader some hints as to possible expansions of the
setting. A lot of these windows into the larger world are intriguing, and many
of them are going to become a reality thanks to Sean's Kickstarter forLegends Unleashed.
The awesome new cover for Shaintar! |
I should take a moment here to mention there’s a Kickstarter
for a much more developed look at Shaintar called Shaintar: Legends Unleashed,
produced by Sean’s own Evil Beagle games. The Kickstarter is doing quite well,
and at the time of this writing is wrapping up with only a few days left. If
this review has left you anxious to learn more about Shaintar, I encourage you
to go to the kickstarter page and help support it!
In Conclusion
Shaintar is a setting that does what it says on the tin: it
brings the heart of epic fantasy to life and breathes something exciting into a
fantasy RPG that I haven’t seen in a long time… probably since the grey boxed
set of Forgotten Realms for 2nd edition Dungeons & Dragons. The
setting of Shaintar is extremely rich with detail and opportunities for
excitement. Adventure seems to drip off every page.
Another reviewer said (I am paraphrasing here) that “Shaintar
is what I wished my first D&D campaigns were like,” and I would echo that
remark.
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteWow.
Just... thank you.
~SPF
Agreed. I am putting together a one-shot that I *hope* will turn into a campaign. I might be going overboard in preparing, but I'm having fun detailing the NPCs and plot elements that might not ever show up, so I'm not holding back. I haven't been this excited about a fantasy setting in quite a while. Well done, Sean.
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