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Warlock! Kingdom
Discover the Kingdom!
This supplement for Warlock, the old-school roleplaying game inspired by the early days of British tabletop gaming, explores the Kingdom.
Part 1: Gazetteer of the Evening Lands, the western part of the Kingdom.
Part 2: Focus on Grim Biskerstaf, a thriving port city on the mighty river Vessen.
Come to the Kingdom, intrigue and adventure awaits!
This supplement for Warlock, the old-school roleplaying game inspired by the early days of British tabletop gaming, explores the Kingdom.
Part 1: Gazetteer of the Evening Lands, the western part of the Kingdom.
Part 2: Focus on Grim Biskerstaf, a thriving port city on the mighty river Vessen.
Come to the Kingdom, intrigue and adventure awaits!
111 pages, Hardcover
Published August 3, 2020
3 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 10, 2023
3 – 3.5 stars
_Kingdom_ is a setting supplement for the Warlock! RPG that gives general details on the Fesselmark area of the game world, outlining general characteristics of the major points of interest. A somewhat stylized, though evocative, map gives a feel for the area and it is followed by short descriptive passages of places of interest, many of which include D6 random tables to generate events in the area. The whole book is chock full of random tables, one of its primary benefits in my opinion, that add flavour and are great for setting up adventure hooks for players. The general gazetteer is followed by a much more detailed description of the town of Grim Biskerstaf, a port city filled with crime, magic, and political intrigue. The world is obviously very closely modelled on “The Old World” from the Warhammer Fantasy RPG, with a distinctly Germanic late medieval/early renaissance feel.
In addition to the gazetteer aspects, Kingdom includes a new monster (Fishmen), and six new character careers. As noted above the plethora of random tables give plenty of adventure hooks for a GM, but there are even ten adventure seeds that revolve around the city itself. Despite being part of the Warlock! line, the majority of the book does not revolve around specific game rules or stats, and so could easily be mined for ideas and content for use in pretty much any fantasy RPG system. If you’re into hex crawling and need some general map locations, or specifically want to have some urban adventures with the potential for a lot of faction play, then this would be an excellent resource.
One thing to note, however, is that the same lack of editorial oversight is apparent in this book as I noted in my review of the primary Warlock! Manual. I really wish a bit more care was taken in the writing and editing of these books. They have a lot of great content, but do look very amateur when compared to more carefully edited material.
_Kingdom_ is a setting supplement for the Warlock! RPG that gives general details on the Fesselmark area of the game world, outlining general characteristics of the major points of interest. A somewhat stylized, though evocative, map gives a feel for the area and it is followed by short descriptive passages of places of interest, many of which include D6 random tables to generate events in the area. The whole book is chock full of random tables, one of its primary benefits in my opinion, that add flavour and are great for setting up adventure hooks for players. The general gazetteer is followed by a much more detailed description of the town of Grim Biskerstaf, a port city filled with crime, magic, and political intrigue. The world is obviously very closely modelled on “The Old World” from the Warhammer Fantasy RPG, with a distinctly Germanic late medieval/early renaissance feel.
In addition to the gazetteer aspects, Kingdom includes a new monster (Fishmen), and six new character careers. As noted above the plethora of random tables give plenty of adventure hooks for a GM, but there are even ten adventure seeds that revolve around the city itself. Despite being part of the Warlock! line, the majority of the book does not revolve around specific game rules or stats, and so could easily be mined for ideas and content for use in pretty much any fantasy RPG system. If you’re into hex crawling and need some general map locations, or specifically want to have some urban adventures with the potential for a lot of faction play, then this would be an excellent resource.
One thing to note, however, is that the same lack of editorial oversight is apparent in this book as I noted in my review of the primary Warlock! Manual. I really wish a bit more care was taken in the writing and editing of these books. They have a lot of great content, but do look very amateur when compared to more carefully edited material.
August 15, 2020
I followed up the copy of Warlock! with the book that gives a flavour of the world that is hinted at in the text. It's an almost systemless setting book, so could easily be used with other fantasy games. This is the Kingdom supplement.
When it finally arrives, this will be a 111 page hardcover supplement, but the comments here are based upon the PDF. The book is to all intents and purposes black & white, but the page trims have a little colour in and it is printed on the higher quality paper.
Like the core book, there's a detailed table of contents.
The first 35 pages after that deal with the Kingdom itself and take the form of a gazetteer. It starts with a description of the Kingdom, and then drops you bang into a d20 random table of noisy and flavoursome street events to distract you with. There's then a description of the Royal Family (and how the King is now hardly ever seen, and the Queen and the King's chief advisor are now running the country day to day), before a discussion of the Traitor who was beaten in battle, but disappeared. The map of the peninsular that the Kingdom is in takes a two page spread, and is hits the nostalgia buttons well. Key locations from the map are described, with a selection of random tables and evocative artwork. This builds on the fact that the Kingdom is built on the ruins of several predecessors, the last one Elven. There's just enough information here to give you a flavour for each place and wet the imagination.
The next 40 pages are dedicated to Grim Biskerstaf, the town shown on the cover above. The map is reproduced with a two page spread with key locations. It's a port city, on the mighty Vessen River, latterly suffering from a new disease, the Blight. At this point, the blight mainly afflicts the poor, and those living higher up the hill are unaffected. Locations are described in a similar format to the gazetteer, often with random tables for ideas or small rules snippets (never drink Fire Brew, unless you're a student). Some of these tables give plot hooks; for example, the Cathedral has job postings on a tree outside.
A number of key organisations are described, starting with the Little Council. This is headed by Lord Keberond, the ranking noble of the City and nominally in charge. However, the Council thwarts him at every step and at the same time members bicker and struggle for influence. The College of Doors (a magical school), the Red King's Man (upstart religion), the Guard, and then noted citizens are all described. There are lots of throw-away lines for the imagination to feast on. Naturally, there is something nasty going on in town, but the players may never end up near it.
New careers are added for Dockers, Fish Warden's, Mudlarks, Nigh Watchmen, Publicans and Servants. There's a table of hirelings (no stats, just background), and then the book rounds out with ten adventure seeds on a random d20 table. They take the form of a description and then a set of questions.
All in all, a flavoursome book which presents just enough to get your imagination going. If you're looking for an example adventure, this isn't it, but there's plenty of meat here for a GM to start a campaign from. You could chose to use other settings (for example Glynn Seal's 'The Midderlands') if they float your boat more. However, this one has lots of merit.
Recommended, but not essential.
When it finally arrives, this will be a 111 page hardcover supplement, but the comments here are based upon the PDF. The book is to all intents and purposes black & white, but the page trims have a little colour in and it is printed on the higher quality paper.
Like the core book, there's a detailed table of contents.
The first 35 pages after that deal with the Kingdom itself and take the form of a gazetteer. It starts with a description of the Kingdom, and then drops you bang into a d20 random table of noisy and flavoursome street events to distract you with. There's then a description of the Royal Family (and how the King is now hardly ever seen, and the Queen and the King's chief advisor are now running the country day to day), before a discussion of the Traitor who was beaten in battle, but disappeared. The map of the peninsular that the Kingdom is in takes a two page spread, and is hits the nostalgia buttons well. Key locations from the map are described, with a selection of random tables and evocative artwork. This builds on the fact that the Kingdom is built on the ruins of several predecessors, the last one Elven. There's just enough information here to give you a flavour for each place and wet the imagination.
The next 40 pages are dedicated to Grim Biskerstaf, the town shown on the cover above. The map is reproduced with a two page spread with key locations. It's a port city, on the mighty Vessen River, latterly suffering from a new disease, the Blight. At this point, the blight mainly afflicts the poor, and those living higher up the hill are unaffected. Locations are described in a similar format to the gazetteer, often with random tables for ideas or small rules snippets (never drink Fire Brew, unless you're a student). Some of these tables give plot hooks; for example, the Cathedral has job postings on a tree outside.
A number of key organisations are described, starting with the Little Council. This is headed by Lord Keberond, the ranking noble of the City and nominally in charge. However, the Council thwarts him at every step and at the same time members bicker and struggle for influence. The College of Doors (a magical school), the Red King's Man (upstart religion), the Guard, and then noted citizens are all described. There are lots of throw-away lines for the imagination to feast on. Naturally, there is something nasty going on in town, but the players may never end up near it.
New careers are added for Dockers, Fish Warden's, Mudlarks, Nigh Watchmen, Publicans and Servants. There's a table of hirelings (no stats, just background), and then the book rounds out with ten adventure seeds on a random d20 table. They take the form of a description and then a set of questions.
All in all, a flavoursome book which presents just enough to get your imagination going. If you're looking for an example adventure, this isn't it, but there's plenty of meat here for a GM to start a campaign from. You could chose to use other settings (for example Glynn Seal's 'The Midderlands') if they float your boat more. However, this one has lots of merit.
Recommended, but not essential.
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