When The Sky Falls

[Messageboard Golem]

An Extinction-Level Event...
The sky burns with shooting stars. When some of them hit the ground, the very earth trembles -- and horrifying new creatures and magic arise.

Shake up Your Campaign!
This event book serves as a guide for DMs and players whose world is struck, and struck hard, by a meteor. Following the model of the popular event book Requiem for a God, D&D Epic Level Handbook designer Bruce Cordell brings you When the Sky Falls.

This book presents a variety of new prestige classes for characters close to ground zero, a variant magic system powered by residual meteor fragments, and many new feats and spells. When the Sky Falls also describes frightening new monsters -- creatures twisted by their proximity to the Afterfall.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

This is not a playtest review.

When the Sky Falls

This is the second event book from Malhavoc Press. It is available as a PDF for $7, and contains 60 pages of material (the others are the front and back cover, add for Arcana Unearthed, Open Gaming License, and table of contents). It is divided into eight chapters and an introduction.

Introduction
This answers the question of, "Why crash a meteorite into you campaign world?" along with what an event book is and how to use it. I mean, why would you have a huge chunk of flaming rock come down from the sky and obliterate part of your carefully crafted world? Why do you have a master lich with an artifact that can turn every living thing into an undead creature? Why do you have hoards of orcs that plague your cities? Why do you have ancient pools of magic that can corrupt the landscape for miles around? Because they create opportunities for adventure! Most of us just never thought about raining down death from the skies before. This is an innovative idea to base a campaign around that most PCs are not going to be able to metagame their way out of. Sure, most are pretty good about keeping player and character knowledge separate, but once they learn about the lich and the artifact, they pretty much know how this is going to play out. Slay lich, destroy lich's phylactery, destroy artifact, everyone's happy. But when the skies fall, no one knows what's going to happen, either in or out of character. This is the time for surprises for everybody.

Chapter One: The Impact Site
This chapter tells you what actually happens when a meteor falls. Further more, it gives you not just the mundane chunk of rock, but two more options, the thaumaturgic (magic-laced), and the engram ark, which contains the memories of a destroyed world.

It describes the impact itself in exhaustive detail, down to the exact hit point damage of creatures depending on their distance. It also describes about acid rain, wildfires, lava bombs, the possibility of the awakening of magma elementals, and the cooling of the weather (and the impact on the ecosystem and crops). How much meteoritic iron (and what it can be made into) is described. For a more fantastic meteor (like the thaumaturgic or engram ark), it includes the EMP (ethereal-material pulse, think mordenkainen's disjunction on a massive scale) and the changestorm (strange magical effects co-currently with acid rain). In addition it describes theomaturgic iron, or starmilk, which can be used as a focus for several feats and prestige classes in this book. Using it can result in a large range of fantastic effects (gaining new spells, blasting plasma, a new energy type, or directly use its magic in a variety of other effects).

The engram ark contains within it the memories of a world shattered by a malevolent force. If the characters can get inside, they can obtain of these engrams to grant themselves new powers. There are feats, spells, and a prestige class that make further use of the engrams. There's a great deal of material on the engram ark concept, and of all the three, the engram ark offers the most interested and well-fleshed out premise for adventures.

The chapter ends with a list of options of other things the meteor could be (five of which are elaborated on in the last chapter).

Chapter Two: Integrating the Event
This chapter helps DMs figure out the many ways in which this even can be used and what impact (no pun intended) it may have. Foreshadowing (prophesies, visions), accidents, or even discovering the crater many years later are discussed. Things like landscape and climate changes are mentioned. Two new organizations are presented, the Sky Callers and the League of Astronomers. The Sky Callers revere the meteorite for its destructive potential and wish to call down others on their enemies. The League of Astronomers is interested in studying meteorites. Both groups are well-fleshed out with goals, tactics, and several NPCs. Both groups could offer great possibilities of adventure hooks, either from the evil Sky Callers, or the relatively good League of Astromancers.

Another change in the world is mentioned, which is changes to the nature of magic. A magical meteor could disrupt, empower, or drain any of the schools of magic, and several options are presented for each possibility. If the meteor strike occurs a great distance from the PCs, things like this fundamental change in the nature of magic could spur them to investigate the cause.

Chapter Three: Prestige Classes
Four prestige classes are presented:

The Astrogineer - who is able to use a great variety of the powers of the meteor, such as unfettering the energy from starmilk, to flinging meteors (small ones) around, to being able to wish upon the stars.

Engram Adept - who is able to have more than one engram upon his body, and use them in fascinating ways, from throwing them, to sustaining their own lives, and even making them more powerful.

Lord of Silence - who is able to command silence and darkness from everything around him, recalling the airless, dark, silent void in which the meteor traveled. He can literally move in a demiplane of silence, through walls and obstacles, and create voids around his enemies, and can even make himself part of the Soundless demiplane.

Ruin Priest - who desires only destruction. Typically members of the Sky Callers, one of the ruin priests powers is to be able to Cleave with spells. They can also sacrifice victims to cast extra spells, and can even (given enough time and victims) call an actual meteorite down to destroy their foes.

These all are quite unique in theme, and would be great villains or allies for the PCs. The Ruin Priests would make a truly memorable villain, as their ability to basically bring about an apocalypse from the sky is pretty much unique in the D&D fantasy world. The Lord of Silence would make for an enigmatic and nigh-unstoppable Kind of Thieves. The Engram Adept could be either friend or foe, as could the Astrogineer. While the Engram Adept might be initially mistaken for some kind of tattoo-focused caster, the truth behind their strange markings could be a plot hook in and of itself.

Chapter Four: Feats
All the feats in this chapter has a unique astrological theme. The "star" feats allow you to use plasma energy in a variety of ways, from slowing one's fall to literally turning yourself into meteoric stone. The "astromacy" feats can allow to do anything from converting spells into plasma bursts to storing extra spells in your astromancy focus.

Chapter Five: Spells
Several of the spells allow one to do things with engrams, to using them to heal yourself, stealing them, gaining knowledge from them, or other things. Other spells relate to the Dark Plea, a malevolent force that may have been behind the reason the engram arks were created (to flea a planet destroyed by the Dark Plea). Several are more potent versions of nightmare or other spells relating to fear, sleep, and death. There are also a host of spells relating to summoning magma (molten) elementals, as well as calling various strengths of meteors to smite one's foes.

While the engram spells are unportable if one is not using engrams, the meteor spells are useful for any cleric, druid, or mage interested in mass destruction. The ones relating to fear, death, and sleep are useful for any cleric or mage interested in said things. A god of dreams or nightmares would be particularly interested in these spells, though they were included for those that worship the Dark Plea.

Chapter Six: Afterfall Magic Items
These include weapon special qualities and weapons relating to meteors. Several are more effective if one is wearing an engram. There are two staves, one relating to several of the astromancy spells, and the other to the fear/death/sleep spells of the previous chapter. There's also a handful of wondrous magic items, including the very weird nightstrider mask, which allows one to animate objects by placing the mask on them.

There are also two artifacts, one of which is the Staff of the Dark Plea, which has the nasty habit of being able to transform its victims into monsters.

Chapter Seven: Monsters
There are five monsters here. One is the ark guardian, a dragon-like creature composed of plasma that guards engram arks. The cruor is a half-nightmare leech-like abomination that can infect others to turn them into more of itself. The hungry dreamer is born when a pregnant woman delves too deeply into the nightmare world. It desires above all things to pierce the eyes of living creatures so that it can eat their minds. The memekeeper is the damaged, paranoid, sentient construct that is the inner guardian of an engram ark. Finally the star ooze is a hardy creature that only exists to feed and propagate itself. Given enough time and food, they could easily decimate an entire country or even a planet.

Chapter Eight: I Found It In The Crater
This chapter has five different scenarios for what else the PCs might find after a meteor strike. They could find anything from an angel cast out of heaven, a strange machine, or an evil artifact. What is particularly cool is that not only are each of the scenarios well-described and also offer ways to integrate other material from this book, but each includes a fully statted-out creature or item to make full use of the idea.

The Art
The interior art is by Kieran Yanner - who has done several previous books for Malhavoc Press. The art is quite excellent, clean, and appropriate for the page it is on and subject it is portraying. I particularly like Lord of Silence picture (both cool and whimsical, he's holding up his finger in a "shh" gesture). Alan Pollack did the cover - which is of some enormous (as evidenced by the sword-wielding warrior for scale) almost Cthulhu-esque creature that seems to be made of cooling lava with purple energy glowing through the cracks of its black body, with a ravaged, burning, cratered landscape in the background. The pictures is quite evocative, and rather scary. You definitely don't want to be there!

Overall
The book is very well put together. It is detailed, interesting, and gives you every possible tool and idea for raining down fiery rocks on your campaign world. If you every desire to make the skies fall, pick up this book!

 

[GameWyrd]

When the Sky Falls is an event book. An event book, by its very nature, is a one horse trick. An event book is only ever going to interest GMs who are tempted to use the event in their campaign world. When the Sky Falls is about the effects of a meteorite impact on a fantasy setting. When the Sky Falls is a stand alone book; whereas some other Malhavoc offerings have looked back to previous books in the series and use prestige classes and feats from them, the mechanics in this PDF are entirely self contained. The book does relate to other Malhavoc books though. The first event book from Malhavoc dealt with the death of a god and it just so happens that the stony remains of a dead god, hurtling through space and slamming into your campaign world makes for a particularly good twist for a fantasy meteorite. The Mindscapes series from Malhavoc contains references to a dreadful godlike evil known as the Dark Plea and it just so happens that the Dark Plea’s actions are responsible for bits of worlds flying through space. This always works for me. I enjoy having the option of linking supplements together and world building from clues. I don’t think I’m entirely convinced by the Dark Flea, sorry, the Dark Plea yet but we’ve only had teasers. Thanks to When the Sky Falls, I’m less hesitant about the concept than I was before.

When the Sky Falls does well by considering three main possibilities; it’s a bit of mundane ore crashing through the atmosphere, it’s a chunk of magically enhanced rock or the object is a specially constructed ark that’s coming to the end of its journey through space. Space. I wanted help from When the Sky Falls about space and I don’t get it. There’s no mention of Planar meteors. The chunks of rock and ore that smash into the ground have travelled between planets and around stars. The Engram Arks where built and then launched into space by aliens. If your material plane is without space, if it’s not large enough to support galaxies and solar systems then you’re facing one mighty GM fudge in order to explain where the meteorite has come from. The other concern I had about meteorite strikes isn’t touched on either; Druids. Are strikes natural? D&D’s already bias towards woodland Druids but what about space/cosmic Druids? No idea.

The PDF begins with a look at the impact site. I thought restricting the subject matter to meteorites of only 30 feet across was being wimpy. I wanted to have meteorites that would enable me to re-write the whole social order of the game. I was wrong. A meteorite 30 feet across is easily large enough to accomplish that. The kill zone will take out a city. By kill zone I mean: dead. No damage amounts, no saving throws, just death. As you move further away from ground zero you do have damage rules for being caught in the impact blast. 800 hit points for being within the first ½ mile range... and yes, a reflex save halves the damage, if you’re between the first ½ mile and 1 mile radius then you’re taking 500 hit points damage. Its easy to pause and poke fun at the D&D flavoured mechanics there. I can’t come up with any possible reflex dodge that has the character take less damage from the shockwave, super heated hurricane force winds and flying debris than another character would for being half a mile away. It’s not all bad. At least there are hard and fast rules for the science of the impact, you can work out how much of the demonic army will be slain when the strike takes out the capital city behind them.

The rules scale up to consider the effects of a sea landing. Really large meteorites that splash down can cause tsunamis and they’re just as spectacular in their destructive power.

The mix of science and fantasy in When the Sky Falls is right. We look briefly at side effects like acid rain and climate changes – science and look longer at ark guardians (plasma dragons!) and interesting materials (like starmilk) that can be collected from near the impact site and forged into armour and weapons. The magically enhanced meteorites, relics from space, bits of dead angels, etc, are responsible for the more exotic cast off materials. Rather nicely these extra bits of magical residue can be added to arcane spells as optional components. If the wizard’s talented enough then she can increase the potency of her spells.

The odd one out in the trilogy are the arks, the engram arks. These are the pods blasted into space by the native race of the planet Kure just before the Dark Plea destroyed them. They planned to send records of themselves – the engrams – off to find a new planet where they would be reconstructed by the memekeeper within the ark. The Dark Plea had the last laugh however and managed to corrupt every single fleeing ark. As a result there isn’t an undamaged or entirely stable memekeeper left. That’s the official story. I’m incredibly reluctant to start on the canon road until I know where it leads. Although the Dark Plea is simply flavour text in When the Sky Falls I think you could wind up with unwelcome complications if you use it. On the other hand, if you’ve already taken this bull by the horns then you’re immune. Engram arks are larger on the inside than the outside and contain a sea of glyphs, the engrams. Characters can swim in this city – something the memekeepers encourage them to do – and emerge with an engram edged onto their body. This engram will enhance their powers, magic, or skills. It’ll cost XP. Later on you’ll find a prestige class dedicated to getting the most out of these particular power ups. The engram arks are a high level encounter; ark guardians protect them and that could mean CR17 plasma dragons.

The PDF introduces two organisations. There’s the evil and chaotic Sky Callers who worship the sky’s destructive power and the League of Astronomers who take a far more arcane/ scientific and neutral approach to the meteorite phenomena. There are prestige classes that suit these two groups of people. Unfortunately these two groups are both easy hits and don’t particularly inspire.

There are four prestige classes in the download: the Astrogineer, the Engram Adept, Lord of Silence and Ruin Priest. It’s the Astrogineer that suits the League of Astronomers, the Ruin Priests who are the clerics of the Sky Chasers and (duh) the Engram Adept who strives to master the Kure engrams. The Lord of Silence is rather like an especially interesting rogue, one who’s mastered the way of the Void, that soundless expanse between planets.

There are feats too. Feats and prestige classes are par for the course in d20 supplements, even ones written to discus the impact of a meteorite. There are two sets of feats; two trees which characters can progress through by fulfilling the appropriate requirements. There’s a catch in the requirements, a quirk of reading perhaps but it seems that unless the character has an appropriate chunk of meteorite that he can’t develop the feat. Um. No. I don’t like that. I prefer to read that as unless the character has the appropriate chunk of meteorite that he can’t use the feat. Let’s not only avoid any suspicion that the loss of an item will result in the loss of a feat but also keep feats entirely clean of external influences. Sure, you can’t Great Cleave unless you have a suitable weapon for cleaving with but there’s no suggestion that training with someone else’s scimitar is insufficient to learn the feat and there’s certainly no connection between the feat and any individual sword.

Lots of the new spells focus on the engrams. There’s an entirely new type of magic in When the Sky Falls; Astromancy is introduced at the start of the book and along with it comes a compelling argument that the great power and otherworldly nature of meteorites are easily magical. In addition to a list of new spells there is a decent section that discusses how the meteorite impact could affect magic in the game world. When a thaumeteorite meteorite hits there’s a pulse that rockets through the ethereal plane (an EMP, no less) and interferes with magic but that’s just the half of it. GMs can seize on a large meteorite strike as a reason to change how magic works entirely. The nature of magic might be defined by the nature of the planet itself; perhaps all arcane magic flows through some huge relic in the crust of the planet or ebbs and flows in an ethereal web. When the meteorite strikes it can damage or destroy the regulating relic, the ethereal web or crust of the planet and this can permanently change the way magic works. When the Sky Falls presents a list of possible changes that the schools of magic could go through; some could increase in power, some could decrease in power and we’re cautioned not to annoy the players too much. I just couldn’t but help remember that some magic spells are going to shift levels between D&D 3 and 3.5. Hmmm.

There are meteorite items and monsters in chapters of their own. The meteorite items tend to be especially rare and powerful. The monsters range from fairly easy to deal with star oozes to the powerful ark guardians.

The last chapter in the download has some plot ideas. It’s here that the PDF starts to shake things up a bit and tosses in interesting curve balls such as nearly sentient machines which crashes into the planet rather than a mere meteorite or rapidly spreading space fungus.

When the Sky Falls benefits from Malhavoc’s PDF production. The document is easy to print off, the sidebars are designed to be effective and easy on the ink and you’re given tips on the best way to approach the printing. When the Sky Falls seems to be slightly lighter on the illustrations that previous Malhavoc ebooks but this is mainly because of the subject matter. You’d want to see an illustration for each beast in Mindscapes: Beasts of the Id but not expect to see an illustration for each reference of a meteorite strike’s aftermath.

When the Sky Falls proves there’s more scope to a meteorite strike than may first appear. I’ve called it a one horse trick and I think that’s fair enough but it’s worse stressing that it’s one thorough bred horse that does it trick especially well. The mix of crunch and game meal is right; the PDF isn’t taxing but gives you something to think about. It doesn’t answer all my questions and it leaves me with some concerns but it does answer many questions and ease some worries too.

* This When the Sky Falls review was first published at GameWyrd.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By Glenn Dean, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine Rack

Sizing up the Target
When the Sky Falls is a 64-page “event book” supplement written by Bruce Cordell, whose other credits include The Sunless Citadel, If Thoughts Could Kill, and the Epic Level Handbook. Published by Malhavoc Press, When the Sky Falls is currently available as a $9.00 PDF file, and planned for release in June 2003 as a softcover publication.

First Blood
Great disasters and earth-shattering events are the hallmarks of epic fantasy and science fiction. When the Sky Falls is designed to help you introduce a cataclysmic event into your campaign: a meteorite strike on a massive scale. This is the second in Malhavoc Press’ series of event books, which focus on introducing major events that can have a long-term impact on the campaign. The event books provide the Games Master with all of the details necessary to stage the event, the repercussions of the event on the continuing campaign, and the changes in societies and organizations that result – along with appropriate game mechanics.

When the Sky Falls, then, is the definitive “How-to” book for staging a major meteorite strike in the campaign. It begins by considering where and how the impact should occur: a major population center, a remote area, a single large strike, or many small ones, along with the implications of each decision. The game impacts of the strike itself are provided in great detail – whether you want a small local event, or something campaign-shattering on the order of the Dragonlance Cataclysm or Lucifer’s Hammer, you’ll have the data to figure out the size of the impact crater and the immediate effects of the blast, along with long-term scientific and magical effects of the disaster.

Three types of meteorite strikes are considered: mundane meteorites, Thaumaturgic meteorites, and Engram Arks. Mundane meteorites are your typical iron-based asteroids, but the impact of one in a magical world can raise molten elementals, provide meteoric iron to be formed into fantastic weapons, or serve as a source of tektite glass for use in powering spells. Thaumaturgic meteorites are charged with magical energy, generating a gigantic ethereal-material pulse upon impact that disrupts magical effects in a wide area. This sort of meteorite can be the means to introduce an entirely new specialty of magic into the campaign – astromancy – along with new materials like starmilk, which can be enchanted and forged into lightweight armor that reduces arcane spell failure.

Astromancy introduces Plasma as a new energy type, which blends the effects of fire and electricity. Engram Arks are probably the most intriguing form of meteorites in When the Sky Falls. Engram Arks are the remnants of an ancient, destroyed civilization, transporting the disembodied psyches of a disappeared race to a new world. The engrams provide a means of introducing a different form of magical effect into the campaign, one that carries with it dark and foreboding overtones for the campaign.

The second chapter of When a Start Falls provides detailed guidance on how to integrate the event into the campaign, everything from foreshadowing the pending impact to the events and changes that occur after the fall. There is a discussion of probable changes to the climate and landscape, as well as a series of options for shifting the very fabric of magic. This last option can provide some dramatic changes to the magical power balance in the campaign, emphasizing or de-emphasizing entire schools of magic to provide a very different flavor and feel. New organizations may form as a result of the event; two are detailed in depth, the Sky Callers, who worship meteoric destruction, and the League of Astromancers, who seek to study and gain power from astromancy and meteoric phenomena. These organizations come complete with statted NPC leaders, plot hooks tied to the Skyfall event, and even two new clerical domains – the Psychic and Nightmare domains.

New organizations mean new means of gaining power: four new prestige classes are provided that may rise from this event. The Astrogineer is a master of the study of astromancy, who gains access to the use of plasma energy and the Skyfire ability – powerful abilities, but balanced by the loss of some base spellcasting power. Engram Adepts use of the powers of engrams to enhance their fighting abilities – analogous to magic-bearing, exchangeable tattoos, if you will. This presumes, of course, that the GM has chosen to introduce the Engram Ark meteor and related monsters and other implications. Lord of Silence are disciples of vacuum, gaining skills that make them the ultimate in stealth, including a Silent Running ability similar in some ways to the Shadowdancer’s shadow jump ability, but with a slightly different flavor. Finally, Ruin Priests are chaotic spellcasters of meteoric destruction who worship the Vengeful Sky, and power their spells through living sacrifice – great villains for your campaign.

When the Sky Falls introduces twelve new feats and 38 new spells linked to astromancy, engrams, and meteoric magic. The feats fall into two chains, based on either Astromancy, or possession of the Star Emblem feat, which uses a starmilk emblem as a focus for power. The feats put plasma energy to work in various ways, including the Skyfire feat, which allows the conversion of spell slots into cones of plasma dealing 2d6 damage per spell level. The spells provide a wide range of both plasma- and engram-based effects. Some of the ones I found more intriguing included Deathmare, which kills targets in their sleep; Dream Resurrection, which animates a dream avatar to quest to resurrect the fallen caster; a variety of Meteorite spells, including True Meterorite, a 9th-level spell that consumes a major artifact to call down a meteor strike to deal 400 hp of damage in the first 50-foot radius; and Nightseed, a spell that brings to life creatures so vile and disgusting it makes my skin crawl just to write about them.

There are a number of meteor-related magical items and monsters presented, both beneficial and baneful. The magic items include weapons, staves, wondrous items, and even artifacts, and put to use both meteoric iron and starmilk. Monsters include creatures related to the Engram Arks like the Ark Guardian, a form of huge plasma dragon in humanoid form, and Memekeeper – the guardian of the engrams contained within the Engram Ark. There are also the horrifically vile Cruors, formed from the Nightseed spell, as well as Hungry Dreamers (a devolved humanoid) and the Star Ooze.

When the Sky Falls concludes with five adventure scenarios based around an asteroid impact. You asteroid could deliver a fallen celestial, for example, a lost war machine from ancient space battles, or a bizarre plague. Personally, I think the Fungus Fall scenario, combined with some Cruor monsters, is a combination guaranteed to give your players prolonged nightmares and a case of the skin-crawling heebie-jeebies!

Sidebars in the book contain useful checklists for planning and building the event, and incorporating the new organizations into the campaign. Psionics aren’t neglected – given Bruce Cordell’s previous work with psionics, it’s not surprising that he’s covered them as well, and provided links to Mindscapes. Expect to see future expansions of When the Sky Falls at Malhavoc’s web site, www.montecook.com.

Critical Hits
Not having previously experienced one of Malhavoc’s event books, I was actually expecting When the Sky Falls to be an adventure when I picked it up, perhaps along the lines of the old 1st edition “When a Star Falls” module. I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised. I think this is the sort of product that fills an important niche in the gaming world, falling between full-blown campaign settings and keyed adventures. The concept provides the GM with tremendous flexibility to adapt an event to his or her preferred campaign setting, incorporating potentially dramatic changes within the scope of the campaign, while not being tied to a set of pre-determined encounters and monsters of a certain Encounter Level.

While it requires some work on the part of the GM to execute, When the Sky Falls is a tightly integrated work – every piece fits nicely together. When you deploy a thamaturgic meteor, you get a set of organizations, feats, spells, and ideas that go hand-in-hand with an appropriate balance. The fact that there’s really three different options rolled up in one is a bonus, and each option – mundane, thamaturgic, or engram – provides some unique and interesting options depending upon how you want to structure your campaign.

Finally, while I don’t normally comment much on artwork and layout, I have to say that I’m really impressed with the clean lines, clear layout, and wonderful integration of this product. The PDF version that I reviewed printed cleanly without wasting ink, and is really just a pleasure to look at, even though it’s “only” black-and-white.

Critical Misses
There aren’t too many stones to throw at this product. I would caution GMs to consider carefully how the elements of When the Sky Falls are incorporated into the campaign. There are some great ideas and concepts for players to use for their characters to be found within, even though the product is aimed primarily at GMs. The various elements, in my opinion, balance best when used together. While you could simply allow players to use engram powers, for example, they would gain some tremendous benefits which are designed to be balanced by the difficulty of obtaining them – locating the engram ark, defeating its guardians, negotiating with the Memekeeper and surviving the Rune Sea within are all an integral part of the entire engram-based system. Likewise, astromancy-based feats like Skyfire, or the free availability of starmilk, could have some significant impacts on the balance of power in the campaign if not implemented carefully using the other balancing elements that When the Sky Falls presents.

One minor nit to pick – the Star Ooze seems pretty dangerous for its assigned Challenge Rating of 3: 3 hit dice, 15-foot reach (a typo, perhaps?), damage reduction, fast healing, a fly speed, and the ability to self generate a second ooze. Compared to the Grey Ooze at the same hit dice and fewer special abilities, I’d put the Star Ooze at a CR 5, myself.

Coup de Grace
When the Sky Falls provides the essential game mechanics in chapters 3 thorough 7 as Open Content. While there are some powerful abilities and mechanics presented, they balance well together as a whole, and provide a fascinating set of options for building an original and exciting campaign event. While GMs will get the majority of value out of this product, players may find some of the ideas useful as well, and given the quality of the overall product, it is a great buy for the money.

To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

When the Sky Falls is an event book the details the crash of a meteorite into your campaign world. Everything you need for this event is detailed here, from organizations to Prestige Classes. This PDF is broken down into eight chapters as follows.

Chapter One “The Impact Site” is all about the three types of meteorites ( Mundane, Thaumaturic which are charged with vast amounts of magic, and Engram Arks which are parts of destroyed worlds filled with memories) and what happens when each strikes the planet weather on land or in the sea. Also included here are five different types of Engrams, each with its own color and geared towards a certain type. The types are skill based, arcane based, divine based, psionicly based and special, each one has a description of what it does along with a few examples of that color. Engrams are the memories of a destroyed race and grant different bonuses to their specific type. This is also where you will find out what happens to the area of impact, weather changes, and other effects in the area. There are also details about what materials can be gathered from an impact site and what possible uses they have. Most of the materials can be used in the forging of weapons and armors- these materials grant different bonuses to the items forged with them.

Chapter “Two Integrating the Event” goes into detail with various ways to get the PCs involved in the event. Also included are two organizations for your use. Each organization (Sky Callers and Astronomers) has been fully detailed out for your use, including histories, NPCs and goals. One of the strangest ideas is the Arcanosphere. The Arcanosphere is the energy that magic comes from. Included is a detailed list of what changes can be made to the Arcanosphere and how it affects the different schools of magic weather in a positive or negative way. These changes range from a small shift in power levels which are temporary to changing the school permanently. Most of these changes have to deal with changing the power level with witch the spell is cast. For example a positive temporary change to the evocation school results in the ability of the caster to deal max damage on a spell up to three times per day. While a negative permanent change to the same school means that all evocation spells cast are considered one level lower. There are two new domains included here (Psychic and Nightmare); to go with these two domains are two new entities that can be used as gods. The new entities are the Dark Plea and Vengeful Sky. The Dark Plea is the destroyer or worlds and is the cause of Engram Arks, while the vengeful sky is a force of nature.

Chapter Three “Prestige Classes” details four new PRCs. These are the Astronomer, Engram Adept, Lord of Silence, and Ruin Priest. The Astronomer uses astromancy (the manipulation of the magical energy that results from a meteorite strike) to power his spells. The Engram Adept has the ability to use more engrams than any other person, some of their abilities include not needing to eat, sleep, etc. The Lords of Silence are my personal favorites- they use silence as a weapon. My favorite ability that they have is the Clasp of the Void. This ability surrounds an enemy in a void (no air or sound) and the next second collapses and releases that enemy into the normal atmosphere again doing a descent amount of damage in the process. While only being able to use this ability once a day it is still a cool ability. The final PRC is the Ruin Priest, he worships the Dark Plea and his ultimate goal is to bring down a meteorite on the world.

Chapter Four “Feats” lists twelve new feats broken down into two paths. The first path is Astromancy; the second is the path of the Star Emblem. Of the twelve new feats half of them belong to the Astromancy path with the rest belonging to the Star Emblem path. The Astromancy path leans towards spellcasters, meaning the prerequisites needed for the feats along this path require spellcaster levels, while the Star Emblem path leans towards the fighter types by requiring a higher base attack bonus.

Chapter Five “Spells” has thirty eight new spells for your use. The majority of spells (twenty or so) deal with engrams so if you plan on using them in your campaign then you will get the most use out of this chapter. While there should be more spells of a general variety this chapter does a good job. It starts out with a full sheet listing all of the spells broken down by spell level and class (Bard, Wizard, Etc.).

Chapter Six “Afterfall Magic Items” introduces two new weapon qualities (Starshine and Voidwrought), three specific weapons using said qualities, two new staves, four wondrous items and two new artifacts. The ability Starshine adds extra damage on critical hits while the Voidwrought ability adds bonuses to attack and damage. All of the items in this chapter have some sort of tie in with other sections. Some of the items described here can be a little unbalancing if given out to the PCs without some thought.

Chapter Seven “Monsters” describes six new creatures for your PCs to fight. The CRs range from CR 3 to CR 17. Each creature is fully detailed including a picture. All of the monsters mentioned is previous chapters are here. The problem I have with this chapter is once again half of the creatures are for use with the Engram Ark, Not a major problem but if you don’t use the Engram Ark it takes a little thought as to how and why these creatures are encountered.

Chapter Eight “I Found It In The Crater” expands five of the ideas presented in chapter one. Each one of the expanded ideas offers enough information for a GM to create a full adventure. I think this chapter is one of the most useful for a GM that wants to use When the Sky Falls but does not have all the preparation time to come up with everything.

Overall if you are looking for a book describing an event that will shake up your world and players this is for you. If not than you could still use some aspects of the book with a little thought, while the majority of the book describes and assumes you will use the event in the current timeline of you campaign world there is enough information here for using this event in the past or future. My main problem with this book is that there is too much information for the Engram Ark. While the Ark is the most interesting of the meteor types, if you do not use it than there is too much information that you can’t use without a little modifying. Otherwise this is a good book that will allow you to change parts of your world without having to start a new campaign. The ideas presented here are well done and make the impact of the meteor a major event or a small event as the GM see fit.

 

[MerricB]

I'd like to read the review, but I'm afraid I can't make my way through it: you need to use commas if you want it to make sense.

"While the Ark is the most interesting of the meteor types if you do not use it "

The Ark is the most interesting if not used? Weird... ok, I guess I won't use it then.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

You are correct that was a little confusing. I have since fixed that error. Was that the only one or did you happen to catch any others that I might have missed?

 

[Psion]

When the Sky Falls

When the Sky Falls is an "event book" for d20 System fantasy games. For those not familiar with event books, the basic idea is to provide mechanics, plot seeds, and game elements behind a major game-altering event as a resource for GMs who wish to integrate such a major event into their game without forcing the GM into a pre-written (and often confining) super-module to accomplish the same thing. In the case of this event book, the event is the fall of a meteor to the campaign world.

When the Sky Falls is published by Malhavoc Press and written by WotC staffer and frequent Malhavoc contributor Bruce Cordell.

A First Look

When the Sky Falls is a 66 page PDF (including covers and ad page) currently priced at the seemingly permanent "sale price" of $7.00.

The cover of the book is illustrated by Alan Pollack. The illustration depicts a purplish-black rocky creature in the midst of a fiery crater, with a soon-to-be-dead warrior raising his sword to it.

The interior is black and white. Kieran Yanner handles the interior illustrations. His art is rather stylish and evocative, and this book is no exception.

The interior format is dense, with the standard two column layout. As is the case with Malhavoc, sidebars are used in various places. As with the prior event book Requiem for a God, some of these sidebars are occupied by checklists for incorporating elements of the book with the game, a neat and useful feature.

A Deeper Look

When the Sky Falls takes what is essentially a modern SF yarn and tries to inject it into a fantasy setting. But make no mistake; this outcome of this book is not simply a tale featuring Tea Leoni as an embattled bard trying to fight the system while she contemplates the mortality of humanity. No, this book revs up the fantasy, and has more in common with War of the Worlds and It Came from Outer Space than modern meteor disaster survival yarns.

The book is organized into eight chapters. The first two introduce options and discuss choices when integrating the event into a game. The third through seventh chapters introduce new game elements. The last chapter provides a number of plot hooks and adventure ideas.

The first chapter, The Impact Site really provides options and advice for the biggest picture decisions when integrating a meteor impact into the game. The author provides variations in where the impact might occur, as well as physical effects of such an impact.

But here is where the author stirs in the fantasy elements. Sure, you could just throw in a meteor impact and it could have some telling influence in the world. But this is fantasy; a big bang is insufficient when you can do so much more with a meteor.

To this end, the book provides you with three options for objects that might impact on your game world. The first is a "mundane meteorite." This is pretty much the same thing as a real world meteorite: a sizable chunk of rock that, when it strikes, inflicts significant damage. This section provides mechanical details for resolving impact damage and (if it impacts on water) Tsumanis, as well as follow on effects like forest fires, cold weather, and acid rain.

This section isn't totally bereft of fantasy elements. In a fantasy world, an event like this can have a significant effect. For example, the torrent of heat and earth may unleash molten elementals, and the remnants of the meteorite may have special properties when used as components for items or spells.

The second type of meteorite discussed is the thaumaturgic meteorite or thaumeteorite. These are fragments of celestial objects charged with magical energy, such as the body of a deity or the heart of a dying planet. Whatever the origin, the thaumeteorite has a number of magical effects in addition to the properties of mundane meteorites. The most immediate effects are a "ethereal-material pulse" (or EMP; yes, I winced, too) which acts like a massive area dispel, and changestorms which affects each creature in the area much like a rod of wonder.

The thaumeteorite also has some follow on residual effects of note. First, another new material starmilk can also be used to create exceptional arms and armor (reducing spell failure and dispelling magic, respectively), and the region is charged by energy that can be exploited by taking the Astromancy feat. This allows access to new astromancy spells as well as providing the occasional boost in magical power by exploiting power associated with the heavens.

The third major type of meteorite presented here is the engram ark. Engram arks have most of the effects of mundane and thaumaturgic meteorites upon impact. To make matters worse, they are usually accompanied by a number of thaumaturgic and mundane meteorite impacts.

The engram arks are basically interplanetary refugee ships. Fleeing from a malignant power called the Dark Plea (a concept introduced briefly in Mindscapes: Beasts of the Id) which is destroying their planet, engram arks carry the last remnants of a far off world. Engram arks contain remnants of the minds of the refugees in the form of "engrams", rune-like entities that exist in a vast pool at the center of an ark. There, a sort of magical guardian watches over them, but having been damaged by the dark plea, is incapable of reintegrating the engrams into beings. It's also a little psychotic.

Engrams can grant PCs a measure of power. By diving into the pool (called the rune sea), an engram will bond to the character, which gives the character access to some of the memory and skills of the engram. Of course this is not a give-away. There are hazards and guardians associated with getting to the engram ark and in using the engrams.

Cordell does not exhaust the possibilities there, though. He closes the chapter with a list of other things a meteorite (most likely, a thaumeteorite) might be to give you ideas, such as a fallen angel, a marauding spaceborne beast, a piece of a celestial machine, etc. Some of these ideas are expanded upon later in the book.

While the first chapter covers the most immediate decisions and effects associated with the meteorite, the second chapter deals with more long-term effects and campaign possibilities. This includes three major categories of material: adventure ideas, physical and magical changes, and new organizations.

The physical changes could involve climate and landscape changes, and the chapter introduces (briefly) a variety of such changes that might be caused by a meteorite. This could make for some interesting variations for characters.

More in the fantasy realm, the widespread magical changes could come about due to a thaumeteorite or engram ark's introduction of magical energy into the world. This can create positive or negative effects to one of the various schools of magic, of a temporary or permanent nature. The temporary effects are more pronounced than the permanent effects. This effects are similar to effects that occur depending on a deity's domain when a deity dies discussed in the prior event book, Requiem for a God.

Also similar to Requiem for a God, When the Sky Falls introduces two mostly campaign neutral organizations that would arise because of or concerned with a meteorite impact: the Sky Callers and the League of Astronomers. The Sky Callers are a spin on the old "nihilistic cult"; they believe that the sky is a destructive entity and engage in rites to call down more destruction from the sky. The League of Astronomers is a generally more benign academic group interested in studying the stars and fallen objects.

Though there are more developed plot ideas in the last chapter, this chapter provides some ideas for campaigns and a few basic plot seeds.

The third chapter features four new prestige classes, all intricately tied to the material in the first two chapters. The classes are as follows:
-Astroengineer: Primarily drawn from the ranks of the League of Astronomers, astroengineers are spellcasters who specialize in the study of thaumameteorites and learn how to exploit their power. The get the astromancy feat (already mentioned) and learn other astromancy feats as they advance. Their final class abilities at 10th level include an ability to randomly "wish upon a star." Cheesy or a clever way to add substance to a common myth? You make the call.
-Engram adept: These are experts in the use of engrams. They have a greater synergy with engrams, allowing them to bear more, in addition to learning to use engrams for different applications.
-Lord of Silence: Perhaps the most "out there" of these classes, the Lord of Silence learns of the silence of the void of space that engram arks travel through, and learn to apply it. Most likely starting their career as rogues, they continue to gain rogue like abilities, in addition to magical abilities related to silence and darkness… because space is dark too, you see. Well, what can I say but I wasn't jazzed by the concept. The other three classes work in nicely to their concept; this one just sort of seems casually handwaved in. What, did Cordell feel the need to match the number of PrCs in Requiem?
-Ruin Priest: As astroengineers are primarily associated with the League of Astronomers, so are ruin priests primarily from the Sky Callers. Ruin priests are spellcasters, with a destructive array of abilities, of which the most interesting is perhaps the ruinous cleave ability (much like a cleave, but upon reducing the creature to zero hp, the character gets a free spell instead of attack). At 10th level, they can lead a ritual of the fall, though unless the ritual is allowed to persist for a long time, the effects are much less devastating than the real thing.

The feats chapter has two feat chains - the astromancy feat chain, and the star emblem feat chain. Both revolve around the use of focuses made of "starmilk" created during the fall of a thaumeteorite. Astromancy is for spellcasters, various feats allow the caster to focus or enhance spells with this energy. The star emblem feat chain is the same, but is focused on physical combat effects.

The one thing that bugs me (and this crops up later in the spells) is the invocation of "plasma" as an energy type. Plasma energy type works against the weakest of a target's defenses against electricity or fire. Now, that's a decent mechanic, but flavor-wise, invoking the term "plasma" seems too SF and I find it a bit jarring for use in a fantasy setting. Even one in which meteors fall instead of just being portents.

The spells chapter introduces spells in three general categories: Astromancy, dream spells, and engram related spells.

Astromancy spells require the astromancy feat to use, and have astronomy or meteor related themes or effects, like meteorite (an offensive spell that calls down a small meteor strike) or veil of meteors (which surrounds the caster and provides protection from physical attacks.)

The dream spells (whose presence here is mostly due to the nightmare domain, part of the domains of the Dark Plea) are a selection of spells with some frightening sleep and dream related effects. For example, dream resurrection makes a dream version of the caster that can attempt to return her to life if slain, while nightseed infects a target with a monstrous entity that awakes when they slumber.

The engram spells either affect or manipulate engrams or use an engram as a focus to create powerful effects.

The sixth chapter features items associated with the concepts discussed herein; mostly these are items imbued with spells or other features introduced in the book (like plasma damage).

The monsters herein are, again, mostly associated with engram arks or the dark plea. The mighty ark guardians are dragons (plasma-breathing, naturally) that break off of an engram ark as it falls and protect it, and hungry dreamers are devolved humanoids corrupted by the dark plea, with a mane of mind-feeding tendrils. There are six new monsters in all.

The final chapter, I Found it in the Crater, is, in essence, a selection of plot seeds from chapter 1, with some additional details added to serve as the basis for adventure. Each takes from 1/2 to one page, and has possible events and history, as well as a creature or character featured in each. The adventures include variations on meteorite-borne threats that have not been discussed yet, such as a killer fungus that comes from a meteorite.

Conclusion

Overall, I like the event book format, in that it gives the DM a free hand without forcing him to do some of the more difficult mechanical and conceptual work himself.

I wasn't as taken by the ideas in When the Sky Falls as I was in Requiem for a God, but it certainly is a daring concept, and Cordell caries it off well.

Overall Grade: B+

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

When the Sky Falls, by Malhavoc Press and Bruce Cordell is an ‘event book’ providing information on how to incorporate a destructive meteorite into a campaign. A light streaks across the sky, the meteor slams into the earth and results in . . . well . . . the choice is up to the GM. The book presents several options to the GM, depending on the kind of campaign they want to use. In the words of the author, “When the Sky Falls is an event book providing advice and rules support for DMs wishing to incorporate a continent wide physical effect: the impact of a meteorite large enough to change things.” That sums it up nicely, actually. And it certainly delivers on its promise.

One thing that I have noticed in recent years is an attraction towards disaster films, whether the disaster be the forces of nature or something man-made. Volcano, Sum of All Fears, Armageddon, Twister and most recently, The Day After Tomorrow, all show the aftermath of a terrible disaster unleashed on humanity. Without being completely certain how much of When the Sky Falls was inspired from this genre, I can certainly say that anyone who enjoys those types of films will certainly enjoy this product.

The book begins by describing the three different kinds of meteors that the GM can could use, selecting whichever one best suits their tastes. Mundane, Thaumeteoric, and Engram Arks are all described, each representing a different type of result. Mundane, of course, means that a ‘normal’ meteor impacts, while Thaumeteoric suggestions something more unusual (such as a dead god, an imprisoned being, a piece of raw magic, etc. The Engram Ark is something different than the other two yet it combines features of them both. The Engram Ark is best described as, ‘other.’ The Engram Ark is the one that the GM could probably take the most liberties with but it was a little hard to conceptualize when compared with the other two.

One of the things that really impressed me is that Bruce Cordell clearly has a deep understanding of science (which is great because a college geology course I slept through was about my level of ‘expertise’), giving realistic and scientific explanations to the resulting damage and destruction, known as the Afterfall. This section details grand zero, the radius around it and the likely results of the devastation. By explaining the kinds of damage that has affected the area in question, GMs get a fairly good idea of what types of things are in store for characters or creatures caught in the area. Frankly, its not pretty, as you may be able to imagine. There a dust clouds, radiation, utter destruction and a plethora of unhealthy conditions that PCs would have to contend with if they venture closely.

Chapter 2: Integrating the Event, really is the most important substantive chapter of the book as it goes through the steps needed to make When the Sky Falls a memorable part of the GMs campaign. After many of the important sections there is a checklist in the gutter that outlines the major points of the sections, allowing the GM to keep track of which events will be used or which events they intend on bringing in. I really enjoyed the checklist and hope that this is an increasing trend that gamers see in event books, adventures and other source material.

As I read through this chapter I was reminded of the tragic story of Warhammer’s (Games Workshop) city of Mordheim. The city was destroyed by a meteor’s fall, the ensuing chaos and destruction that followed was something that may have inspired When the Sky Falls. In any event, since I was always attracted to the story of Mordheim this may have been one of the reasons why When the Sky Falls was so inspiring for me. Anyone who decides they may want to run something presented in When the Sky Falls should really research the Mordheim history as it could provide some interesting insight and inspiration.

Something I would have liked to seen explored more is reaction of the surrounding area. Not necessarily the physical reaction of the environment, as that was done very well in the introductory chapter. I am curious how the average person would have reacted. I would like to have seen some kind of discussion of a world gone mad as this is the closest thing to post apocalyptic fantasy I have seen. I realize it is something of a stretch but the frenzied excitement of the crazed mob from the last story in the film, Heavy Metal was along the lines of what I was thinking. The material that Cordell focuses on is great; cults that would spring up, astronomies that would have preached the oncoming doom, etc., but something that would have really captured the fear and paranoia would have been a really nice touch. Regardless, this is a product that will be able to help a GM create or destroy a campaign. By beginning the campaign with the backdrop of the meteorite or by ending a successful campaign with the final story revolving around it, there is a lot of room for great storytelling.

The prestige classes, feats, spells and the monsters presented in chapters 3-6, really do a lot to make the event book come alive. By adding these details to the book it brings the prior material together, showing that there are certainly some practical applications of the book. Surely, whereas the subject matter presented in When the Sky Falls is interesting, anyone could have come up with a similar idea. What really matters is being able to synthesize the great idea into great expressions of the idea; in this case the ‘crunchy’ bits that go with it. And When the Sky Falls does that beautifully.

The prestige classes, feats and spells all revolve around a common theme. They relate specifically and directly to the events that are present in the book. As I may have mentioned several times in previous reviews, I tend to stray away from products that load the reader down with endless prestige classes and endless feats without putting them in the proper context. When the Sky Falls beautifully crafts the prestige classes, feats and spells as logical extensions of a meteorite that has pounded the earth.

The chapter on the monsters, while certainly interesting, left a little bit of emptiness for me. When I got to the monster section, I had this idea that I would get to see some really interesting creatures that had been mutated by the meteorite and evolved into something different (sort of like how in science fiction stories and comic books ‘radioactivity’ gives people and things unusual powers). Whereas the monsters were certainly well thought out, I had hoped for just a little more, really.

When the Sky Falls is definitely a unique product. Obviously, unless you have need for a world-altering event, you won’t get much use out of this product. On the other hand, it is so well written and so well thought out that after purchasing it, the GM may decide that the campaign world needs something world-altering. Yes, it is that much of a great product with an excellent execution that it could convince you to integrate it into your campaign.

I give When the Sky Falls 4 out of 5 stars.