Dark Legacies Player's Guide

by Yuval Kordov

The Dark Legacies Player's Guide is a dark fantasy d20 System sourcebook that provides all the rules necessary for gritty low-magic gaming, as well as enough setting material to get started on a Dark Legacies campaign, o New and variant races, from humans to half-demon hybrids
o Unique classes tailored to low-magic gaming, including the arcanist, lurker, and priest
o New skills, feats, and adventuring guidelines detailing alternatives to combat
o A complete arms and equipment section, including mechanical weaponry, piecemeal armor, and expanded weapon and armor upgrades
o A dark new spellcasting system that adds casting difficulty and moral ramifications to magic use
o 60 new demonic spells (behold the Armageddon Device!)
o Grit & supplemental rules covering lethal combat and the consequences of using magic, including a complete spell failure system, corrupting taint, and demonic possession
o Brand new "Voice" mechanic used by priests to summon supernatural powers
o A full color map of post-Reversion Earth

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2004

About the author

Yuval Kordov is a chronically creative nerd, tech professional, husband, and father of two. Over the course of his random life, he has been a radio show DJ, produced experimental electronic music, created the world of Dark Legacies™, and designed custom mechs with LEGO® bricks.

Reviews

[Jon James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This demon-filled, grimdark, low-magic fantasy campaign setting is a fresh departure from what is common RPG fare. Characters are extremely mortal, and even attempting to cast a spell invokes a chance of permanent damage or death as well as corruption that eats away at their sanity. The spells themselves are commensurately disturbing and powerful, from exploding corpses to an apocalyptic explosion that incinerates everything within a mile (which also requires the casters to sacrifice one of their own children to cast). An interesting consequence of this deviation from high fantasy is that all characters are allowed to attempt to cast spells, rather than only a select few classes, though there is a class that specializes in spellcasting (which notably, is not immune from the risks and consequences of casting).

Playable races range from reskins of typical fantasy elves, dwarves, and gnomes to half-demon hybrids and prideful aliens. Similarly, player classes include minor tweaks of standard martial classes like Rogues, Barbarians, and Fighters as well as classes made from scratch to fit the setting such as the Arcanist and Priest.

Physically, the books are free of typos and laid out professionally, and include some of the best art I have ever seen in an indie RPG book. The art uses the black and white pages to their full effect, with gritty and stylized paintings reminiscent of Warhammer 40k.

If you enjoy the complexity of the 3.5/D20 system but want something more mature and more deadly for the characters, Dark Legacies is the setting for you.