Pirates of the East Isles Volume I explores the East Isles of Glorantha and builds from RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. A land with its personal gods and its mythology, the East Isles are residence to mystics, martial arts, and pirates. This complement is tightly targeted and densely filled with background and guidelines to carry the setting to life.

This setting complement is split into six chapters. Character creation, martial arts, and cults will all help gamers in creating and detailing characters native to the setting. GMs have chapter on working the sport, monsters, and a location and pattern adventures. Combined, these six chapters present a tightly targeted marketing campaign targeted on the East Isles and PCs that hail from there. The PCs can have native gods and cults to comply with, martial arts and magic distinctive to their homeland, and particular challenges to beat and objectives to attain centered on the continued machinations of varied factions within the islands.

This laser targeted small scale is my favourite form of complement. A GM can decide this up and get going rapidly with out having to study your complete setting of Glorantha. PCs can have homelands, household historical past, rune affinities, cultural talent bonuses, occupations, cults, and household heirlooms tied on to the islands. PCs can even play geese (and pelicans and gulls) known as keets, however geese which are sailors tied to the Truth rune. Yes, I instantly considered Donald Duck however I like geese and I’m glad they’re a part of the islands. Ducks simply have perspective, mojo, and moxie. And now, martial arts.

For instance, I might play a pelican keets from The Haragalan Commonwealth, financed by a big community of voluntary and led by merchant-prince Trader Jadilulo. My keets respects the island god Lumavoxoran and is an provoke of Teleremo, the Sailing God. His Shiphandling talent will get him into the cult and he’ll study to grasp the winds. My pelican would no doubt prepare on the dojo devoted to Darja Danad’s Bending Discipline. With sufficient observe, a bender can dodge missiles and melee strikes and leap, swim, and climb with mystic energy.

On the GM’s facet, the primary three of ten deliberate adventures are included. There are additionally guidelines for pirate ships and working a crew. Random sea encounters are included with tables such because the Weather Table, the Pirates Table, the Merchant Ship Table, the Sea Monsters Table, the Demon Fleet Table, and extra. From these outcomes alone, a GM can spin off a dozen or extra adventures. PCs might see a imaginative and prescient within the sky of a demon getting shot out of the sky and find yourself using a large tidal wave 1d4 hexes away. They might encounter a castaway or shipwreck survivor. Or run into Seat Trolls or the Dweller within the Deep, an enormous walktapus. Servants of the antigods sail the seas and should come into battle with the PCs.

The GM has entry to quite a lot of new monsters. Antigods and their followers will oppose the PCs. The Dweller within the Deep is Cthulhu in all however title. There are predatory animals and the useful mermaid like Ludoch. The Sorn are keets who joined the antigods and are ugly creatures resembling a smallish pterodactyl.

Pregezora, popularly often known as Pirate Island, is essentially the most mysterious island of the East Isles. That is as a result of its goddess, Zaractoli, retains it hidden from all however her initiates. It can’t be discovered by non-cultists. Pregezora is a rocky, inhospitable land. In such a harsh surroundings, Zaractoli calls for that her followers’ resort to piracy to outlive. This location is properly detailed and full of NPCs with agendas which will align with these of the PCs and can doubtless find yourself in opposition as properly. Pirate Town, a settlement, is detailed together with maps.

The Puzzle Map is an journey to kick off an East Isles marketing campaign and internet the PCs a ship. I felt that the NPCs had a bit an excessive amount of display screen time as written and I’d reduce their affect. However, the main points and supplied stats are extraordinarily helpful for a time-strapped GM. There is a cracker joke a few keet named Pah Li that I’d not embrace. I would tweak the title of Pah Li to Li Pah. There are additionally useful maps and NPC portraits, each a pleasant contact.

Low within the Water permits the PCs to strive a little bit of piracy towards a service provider ship. This journey is PC pushed, which I actually like. Advice is given for quite a lot of conditions that the PCs may get into. The included ship map is properly accomplished.

Tsankth! is one other PC pushed journey. Pirates present up at a village the place the PCs are staying. What do the PCs do subsequent?

Pirates of the East Isles Volume I gives a concise, properly detailed setting with loads of PC and GM assist. Piracy and martial arts match into Glorantha whereas remaining a singular spin on the setting. The East Isles setting is properly detailed with a number of maps, the foundations are properly detailed for PCs and monsters, and the GM has each random encounter and journey assist. A GM searching for a deeply rooted marketing campaign for RuneQuest might discover months of gaming with this complement alone, and two extra are deliberate. A terrific complement to kick off a brand new marketing campaign with.