Dark Jezter
First Post
A few days ago, I got my hands on the Dungeons & Dragons Warcraft RPG by Sword & Sorcery Studios. I've been a long-time fan of the Warcraft computer games and the setting, so I'll post my impressions on how this book lives up to the franchise.
The book begins with a short three-page story that sets the stage for the game, followed by an introduction section that describes what the Warcraft RPG is.
Chapter One is called the World at War and starts off with a long and detailed history of the world which begins with the birth of magic in the world and covers everything important up to and including the events in the computer games. This section will be very informative if you're new to the Warcraft Universe, and even if you are familiar with the game, you might find out something you didn't know before.
Chapter Two: Heroes contains descriptions and statistics for all of the new races, core classes, and prestige classes. The races in this book are Humans, Ironforge Dwarves, High Elves, Night Elves, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Goblins, Orcs, and Tauren. Humans have all the same abilites as they do in the PHB, as well as a few new ones (bonus against fear saves, a +1 attack bonus against orcs, and a few others). Ironforge dwarves are also similiar to PHB dwarves, except they have the ability to change their skin to stone for a short period each day, resulting in an AC bonus. High Elves are considerably different from their PHB counterparts, and are optimized for arcane spellcasting. On the downside, High Elves suffer from a magical addiction that doubles the time it takes them to prepare spells. Night Elves, the distant cousins of the high elves, can't be compared to any D&D race I've ever seen before. Goblins are like a mix between halflings and gnomes, with a favored class of Tinker (which will be described below). Half-elves and half-orcs are also different from their PHB counterparts. Orcs are a lot different than the Monster Manual orcs, with the ability to enter a rage once per day regardless of class. Finally, there are tauren, the melee monsters of the setting. Tauren are large creatures instead of medium, and recieve bonuses to strength and constitution. Overall, the races seem to be quite well done, except for the life of me I can't figure out why minor races such as goblins, half-orcs, and half-elves were included in the book, but trolls weren't. Warcraft without trolls is almost like Forgotten Realms without underdark races, or Dark Sun without Muls.
Many core classes from the PHB are not appropriate for the Warcraft setting, so they've been removed or converted to prestige classes. The bard, monk, and cleric have been removed entirely, while Druids, Paladins, and Rangers have been handled as prestige classes. There are three new core classes to fill in the gaps. The first is the Healer, which is basically a cleric without domains or the ability to turn undead, and recieves bonus feats every five levels. The healer is a rather bland class, and most players will want to multiclass into a Priest, Shaman, or Druid to add more exiting spells and class abilites. The second new core class is the scout, which can be previewed at Blizzard's Warcraft RPG site here. The Scout could best be described as a "wilderogue", combining many rogue and ranger abilites. The last (and most interesting) core class is the Tinker, a guy who specializes in inventing and operating technology. The tinker class is designed to utilize the rules included in the book for building technological devices, and can scavenge for parts to build everything from firearms to siege engines.
Now we get into the prestige classes. Many of the Warcraft prestige classes are segregated by race and affiliation (Horde or Alliance), and I predict that most Warcraft characters will want to take levels in a prestige class, simply because they add a lot of flavor to the setting. The prestige classes include the Beastmaster (a guy with powerful animal companions), the Druid of the Wild (a druid who can travel to a plane called the Emerald Dream), the Elven Ranger (an archer class available only to elves), the Gladiator (a very dangerous melee combatant), the Horde Assassin (a slightly-modified version of the Assassin from the DMG), the Hunter (a wilderness stalker who likes to get up close and personal with his prey), the Infiltrator (an espionage type), the Mounted Warrior (focuses on mounted combat, duh), the Paladin Warrior (a dedicated slayer of undead and demons), the Priest (a good cleric with some neat divine abilites), the Shaman (a master of the elements), and the Warlock (an evil demon-summoning mage). With the exception of a few prestige classes that could be considered overpowered (Elven Ranger and Gladiator), these classes are all very nicely done, and could easily be converted to any D&D campaign setting.
After the classes, we get to skill and feats. Old skills have gotten some new functions, and some new skills altogether have been added such as Knowledge (Military Tactics) and Use Technological Device. There are lots of new combat feats that mimic skills from the games, such as War Stomp, Bash, and Pulverize. As always, these could also be converted to other setting if you want to.
Chapter Four: Adventuring covers three major areas: affiliation, faiths, and equipment. The section on Affiliation describes in detail the differences between Alliance-based campaigns and Horde-based campaigns, and also campaigns that are independent of the two factions. The Faiths section talks about the five major religions of Azeroth, and even though it's all flavor text, it's interesting and appropriate to the setting. The Warcraft RPG does not have deities that grant powers to followers like most D&D settings do, and divine spellcasters instead gain spells from nature spirits or even the power of their own faith. The equipment section gives us stats for new weapons from the Dwarven Long Rifle to the Tauren Totem. My favorite new item in this is the "Goblin Army Knife", which isn't a weapon, but a multipurpose tool that can saw wood, polish armor, extend into a fishing rod, or even turn into a small tent.
Chapter Five: Magic begins by describing the differences between Arcane and Divine spellcasing. Arcane Magic in Warcraft is a much more sinister force than it is in other settings, and even the most well-intentioned wizard or sorcerer can become corrupted if they aren't careful. After that we move on to the new spells, many of which mimic spells that can be found in the Warcraft computer games. This chapter also provides a list of spells from the PHB that have been changed to fit the setting or even eliminated altogether.
Chapter Six: The World of Warcraft is a very long chapter that covers the different affiliations (Alliance, Horde, Independent), and the geography of the continent of Kalimdor. Cities, forests, caves, mountains, and many more locations are discussed in this section, and it provides enough locations to keep your characters busy for a long time. One annoying thing about his chapter, however, is that it didn't provide information on city size, GP limits, etc. There's also no map scale, so we have no idea whether it's 50 or 500 miles between Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff.
The final chapter: Campaigning, is for the DMs. It provides all the necessary suggestions for campaign types, plot hooks, tensions between various factions, and the like. You know, standard DM stuff.
I should also mention that the artwork in this book is, for the most part, excellent. Samwise Deider has been doing art for Warcraft since day one, and you can tell that he's achieved a great familiarity with the Warcraft universe. It's just a pity that the book is in black & white instead of color.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give this book an 8. If you're a Warcraft fan and a D&D fan, this book is practically a must-own. If you're not familiar with the Warcraft universe, this book still has some stuff you can incorperate into your campaign (if you're willing to part with $35 to buy it).
The Good: Interesting races, cool classes, informative text, and great artwork.
The Bad: Some prestige classes are too powerful for comfort, book is black & white only, no trolls.
The Ugly: The night elf chick riding the tiger on page 85. I enjoy cheesecake as much as the next guy, but this picture is just embarrasing.
The book begins with a short three-page story that sets the stage for the game, followed by an introduction section that describes what the Warcraft RPG is.
Chapter One is called the World at War and starts off with a long and detailed history of the world which begins with the birth of magic in the world and covers everything important up to and including the events in the computer games. This section will be very informative if you're new to the Warcraft Universe, and even if you are familiar with the game, you might find out something you didn't know before.
Chapter Two: Heroes contains descriptions and statistics for all of the new races, core classes, and prestige classes. The races in this book are Humans, Ironforge Dwarves, High Elves, Night Elves, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Goblins, Orcs, and Tauren. Humans have all the same abilites as they do in the PHB, as well as a few new ones (bonus against fear saves, a +1 attack bonus against orcs, and a few others). Ironforge dwarves are also similiar to PHB dwarves, except they have the ability to change their skin to stone for a short period each day, resulting in an AC bonus. High Elves are considerably different from their PHB counterparts, and are optimized for arcane spellcasting. On the downside, High Elves suffer from a magical addiction that doubles the time it takes them to prepare spells. Night Elves, the distant cousins of the high elves, can't be compared to any D&D race I've ever seen before. Goblins are like a mix between halflings and gnomes, with a favored class of Tinker (which will be described below). Half-elves and half-orcs are also different from their PHB counterparts. Orcs are a lot different than the Monster Manual orcs, with the ability to enter a rage once per day regardless of class. Finally, there are tauren, the melee monsters of the setting. Tauren are large creatures instead of medium, and recieve bonuses to strength and constitution. Overall, the races seem to be quite well done, except for the life of me I can't figure out why minor races such as goblins, half-orcs, and half-elves were included in the book, but trolls weren't. Warcraft without trolls is almost like Forgotten Realms without underdark races, or Dark Sun without Muls.
Many core classes from the PHB are not appropriate for the Warcraft setting, so they've been removed or converted to prestige classes. The bard, monk, and cleric have been removed entirely, while Druids, Paladins, and Rangers have been handled as prestige classes. There are three new core classes to fill in the gaps. The first is the Healer, which is basically a cleric without domains or the ability to turn undead, and recieves bonus feats every five levels. The healer is a rather bland class, and most players will want to multiclass into a Priest, Shaman, or Druid to add more exiting spells and class abilites. The second new core class is the scout, which can be previewed at Blizzard's Warcraft RPG site here. The Scout could best be described as a "wilderogue", combining many rogue and ranger abilites. The last (and most interesting) core class is the Tinker, a guy who specializes in inventing and operating technology. The tinker class is designed to utilize the rules included in the book for building technological devices, and can scavenge for parts to build everything from firearms to siege engines.
Now we get into the prestige classes. Many of the Warcraft prestige classes are segregated by race and affiliation (Horde or Alliance), and I predict that most Warcraft characters will want to take levels in a prestige class, simply because they add a lot of flavor to the setting. The prestige classes include the Beastmaster (a guy with powerful animal companions), the Druid of the Wild (a druid who can travel to a plane called the Emerald Dream), the Elven Ranger (an archer class available only to elves), the Gladiator (a very dangerous melee combatant), the Horde Assassin (a slightly-modified version of the Assassin from the DMG), the Hunter (a wilderness stalker who likes to get up close and personal with his prey), the Infiltrator (an espionage type), the Mounted Warrior (focuses on mounted combat, duh), the Paladin Warrior (a dedicated slayer of undead and demons), the Priest (a good cleric with some neat divine abilites), the Shaman (a master of the elements), and the Warlock (an evil demon-summoning mage). With the exception of a few prestige classes that could be considered overpowered (Elven Ranger and Gladiator), these classes are all very nicely done, and could easily be converted to any D&D campaign setting.
After the classes, we get to skill and feats. Old skills have gotten some new functions, and some new skills altogether have been added such as Knowledge (Military Tactics) and Use Technological Device. There are lots of new combat feats that mimic skills from the games, such as War Stomp, Bash, and Pulverize. As always, these could also be converted to other setting if you want to.
Chapter Four: Adventuring covers three major areas: affiliation, faiths, and equipment. The section on Affiliation describes in detail the differences between Alliance-based campaigns and Horde-based campaigns, and also campaigns that are independent of the two factions. The Faiths section talks about the five major religions of Azeroth, and even though it's all flavor text, it's interesting and appropriate to the setting. The Warcraft RPG does not have deities that grant powers to followers like most D&D settings do, and divine spellcasters instead gain spells from nature spirits or even the power of their own faith. The equipment section gives us stats for new weapons from the Dwarven Long Rifle to the Tauren Totem. My favorite new item in this is the "Goblin Army Knife", which isn't a weapon, but a multipurpose tool that can saw wood, polish armor, extend into a fishing rod, or even turn into a small tent.
Chapter Five: Magic begins by describing the differences between Arcane and Divine spellcasing. Arcane Magic in Warcraft is a much more sinister force than it is in other settings, and even the most well-intentioned wizard or sorcerer can become corrupted if they aren't careful. After that we move on to the new spells, many of which mimic spells that can be found in the Warcraft computer games. This chapter also provides a list of spells from the PHB that have been changed to fit the setting or even eliminated altogether.
Chapter Six: The World of Warcraft is a very long chapter that covers the different affiliations (Alliance, Horde, Independent), and the geography of the continent of Kalimdor. Cities, forests, caves, mountains, and many more locations are discussed in this section, and it provides enough locations to keep your characters busy for a long time. One annoying thing about his chapter, however, is that it didn't provide information on city size, GP limits, etc. There's also no map scale, so we have no idea whether it's 50 or 500 miles between Orgrimmar and Thunder Bluff.
The final chapter: Campaigning, is for the DMs. It provides all the necessary suggestions for campaign types, plot hooks, tensions between various factions, and the like. You know, standard DM stuff.
I should also mention that the artwork in this book is, for the most part, excellent. Samwise Deider has been doing art for Warcraft since day one, and you can tell that he's achieved a great familiarity with the Warcraft universe. It's just a pity that the book is in black & white instead of color.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give this book an 8. If you're a Warcraft fan and a D&D fan, this book is practically a must-own. If you're not familiar with the Warcraft universe, this book still has some stuff you can incorperate into your campaign (if you're willing to part with $35 to buy it).
The Good: Interesting races, cool classes, informative text, and great artwork.
The Bad: Some prestige classes are too powerful for comfort, book is black & white only, no trolls.
The Ugly: The night elf chick riding the tiger on page 85. I enjoy cheesecake as much as the next guy, but this picture is just embarrasing.
Me, I'm tickled pink by Samwise Didier's illustrations of it -- he added some features of which I heartily approve. 
