When it comes to history in my games, I prefer authentic vibes over specific accuracy. I don’t want my games to screech to a halt over what type of sword the villainous pirate captain is using and whether it existed in the period. I can get those arguments from the internet any time, any place. I prefer worlds like Warhammer and 7th Sea where the game can be enhanced by real world concepts but aren’t afraid of anachronisms to help get concepts across. Black Powder and Brimstone from Free League Publishing drops players in a world of muskets, witchfinders and demons being torn apart by two religious factions at war. The company sent along a review copy for this article. Does the game hit the target or is it a misfire? Let’s play to find out.
In the country of Vaterland, there are two versions of the same church that are at each other’s throats. The Orthodox is the original recipe and it is currently fighting the Puritans. Of course, demons love long, nasty wars, so they are also starting to creep in to influence the outcome. Players are assumed to be part of one of the many mercenary companies fighting the battles in this long, drawn out war. The feel combines a mixture of action, horror and swashbuckling. Designer Benjamin Tobitt cites The Witcher and Elden Ring as inspirations but I kept on thinking about the 2010s BBC Musketeers series while reading this with occasional supernatural flashes for flavor.
Tobitt’s art contributes heavily to the dark swashbuckling feel of Black Powder and Brimstone, The extensive artwork evokes Mike Mignola at his most Hellboy with a dash of Darkest Dungeon. Art and text combine to offer great detail on the setting, the monsters and the characters players can choose to be. I hope that if this game is successful he considers doing a graphic novel because I would absolutely pick it up. It’s one of the most striking MORG BORG spin-offs since the original. But rather than using punk collages and grimed up Photoshop, it glows with the warmth of heretics on fire.
Black Powder and Brimstone uses the MORG BORG rules as a baseline though it does make a few interesting changes. The classes mimic the class/subclass structure of Fifth Edition with advancement feats drawn from a central pool rather than random subclass rolls. Characters also get a toughness save at 0 hit points to avoid dying. There’s also a solid section on position versus impact that seems inspired by Blades In The Dark. Perhaps the biggest difference is the setting which isn’t completely hopeless yet. Rather than the brutal horror of its nihilistic older sibling, things feel more akin to the splattering action found in the Evil Dead movies. The war is still ongoing and there’s a small chance for a plucky band of allegedly amoral mercenaries who might put a stop to it if they discover and reveal some of the secrets of the setting. The game also feels like, with a few changes to real world terminology, it could function as a campaign guide to what’s going on back on the continent during Pirate Borg.
Bottom Line: Black Powder and Brimstone is a solid choice for witch hunting, demon blasting horror tinted action without being weighed down by the lore of history or of longer lived game settings.
