Against the Darkmaster Core Rules is a role playing game supplement published by Open Ended Games. This is the core rulebook.
The supplement is available as 574-page PDF for $24.99 from DriveThruRPG but was purchased at a reduced price during a sale. Two pages are the front and rear covers, two the front matter, four the Table of Contents, two the Index of Tables, three related to Kickstarter backers, four the Index and two the rear matter. The PDF comes in two version, one being an HD version that has a substantially larger file size.
The first piece of content is a piece of fiction set in the Darkmaster world.
The Introduction starts by explaining experienced players of RPG will find familiar elements in Against the Darkmaster, or VsD (anyone who played MERP or Rolemaster will recognise certain elements from the cover alone). The Setting isn’t tied to a single fantasy world, but draws inspiration from epic fantasy sagas (no surprise; The Lord of the Rings is one of them). Against the Darkmaster is a world of good versus evil, with Evil being the Darkmaster and the world is ancient and ravaged by many conflicts. Magic is rare and dangerous and the gods watch from afar. Sources of Inspiration lists literature, cinema, heavy metal and other RPGs (again no surprise, Middle-earth Role Playing is one).
Book One: A Fellowship Gathers starts with Chapter 1 – The Basics. This covers the people in the game, the players and the Game Master, how the tale develops, how to roll d100, d10 and d5, the four main types of dice roll, skill, save, action and spell casting, unmodified rolls and open-ended rolls.
Chapter 2 – Creating a Character starts with a seven-point checklist for doing this. It then explains the six stats, Brawn, Swiftness, Fortitude, Wits, Wisdom and Bearing. Though the names may be different, these should be familiar to many players. Stats can be generated through random rolls or a point buy system.
Chapter 3 – Kins has the different Kins available for players. There are thirteen different kins and these may not be available in every setting. This starts with a table of Kin modifiers for stats and derived stats, as well as suggested cultures, wealth level and background options. The Kins are then covered, each described on a page with a brief description, modifiers, special traits, suggested cultures, starting wealth level and background options. The Kin are Man, High Man, Dwarf, Halfling, Half Elf, Silver Elf, Dusk Elf, Star Elf, Wildfolk, Orc, Half Orc, Stone Troll and Firbolg.
Chapter 4 – Cultures starts by explaining that different cultures have different cultural skill ranks, items, starting wealth and passions, as well as possibly having spells. This is followed by a table showing cultural skill ranks. The different cultures are then described with details on them and the different starting features. There are thirteen cultures; Arctic, City, Deep, Desert, Fey, Hill, Noble, Pastoral, Plains, Seafaring, Weald, Woad and Marauding. Marauding is a special one and is provided primarily to create NPCs, rather than PCs, as the Marauding Culture tends to support the Darkmaster.
Chapter 5: Vocations explains that these are a mix of aptitude and training. These Vocations give fixed bonuses to specific Skills and a table shows these. The Vocations are Warrior, Rogue, Wizard, Animist, Champion and Dabbler.
Chapter 6 – Skills explains how proficiency with a Skill translates into a Skill Bonus that is added to a Roll. Skills are divided into different categories; Adventuring, Roguery, Lore, Spells and Body. Specialty Skills are optional and are unusually and highly specified proficiencies intended to give Rogues and Warriors an edge at higher levels.
Chapter 7 – Backgrounds starts by explaining that Backgrounds are what characters did, or had, before becoming an adventurer. A character’s Kin gives them Background Points. These can then be spent on Backgrounds, though some Backgrounds have requirements, such as writing a Passion. There are 40 Backgrounds, which are then described. Each has a Minor and Major Tier. All but one of the Minor Tiers cost 1 BP – that one costs 2 – and provide a slight advantage. Major Tiers, which mostly cost 3 BP, but there are a 2 and a 4 – provide a greater advantage.
Chapter 8 – Finishing Touches explains how to calculate the Derived Attributes, what equipment they start with and naming a character.
Chapter 9 – Passion and Drive starts with Passions. There are three types; Nature, or how a character behaves in most situations due to innate matters, Allegiance, or who they are loyal to or have sworn to destroy, and Motivation, a goal, belief or strong conviction. There are details on choosing and changing Passions. Drive is how motivated a character is to do something, and this increase or decrease, and can be spent to improve rolls and effects. As characters spend Drive, they progress along the Heroic Path, with Milestones being achieved. Milestones can be used to earn Revelations. Should a character die, half of their Heroic Path marks can be passed onto the next character they create.
Chapter 10 – Character Advancement starts with levels and progression and how experience points are gained. These are awarded at the end of game sessions for Achievements accomplished and there are examples of Achievements. Finally, there is a recap of the character creation process.
Book Two: Trails of Adventure starts with Chapter 11 – Resolving Actions, which covers rolling skill rolls and saves, as well as what things can increase, or decrease, the chances of success. An open-ended roll is made for skill rolls, with the modifiers, bonuses and penalties added, to determine if it succeeds. Save rolls are resolved in a similar way; attack rolls are covered in Combat and magic and spell casting rolls in Magic.
Chapter 12 – Magic explains the magic system. Characters learn Spell Lores, and learning each is classed as a different skill. Spell Lores are divided in Common, open to all Vocations, Vocational, tied to a specific Vocation, and Kin, tied to their Kin. Spells require Magic Points in order to cast them, and how these increase and are regained is covered, as is casting spells and the possibilities and consequences of spell success and failure; spells do not automatically work. There can be problems from casting and characters may also sometimes attempt to cast beyond their usual level.
Chapter 13 – Movement and Travelling starts with encumbrance, which is not a detailed system requiring extensive bookkeeping but one with different levels; the more encumbered a person, the more it affects what they can do. Travel has details on preparation for dangerous travel, travel time, which is affected by encumbrance, various hazards that can be encountered, chases and evasion, foraging, camping and safe havens, the latter being, well, safe places to rest up, train, heal, learn and other things.
Chapter 14 – Equipment and Wealth starts by explaining the abstract concept of Wealth Level, which covers wealth and, to some extent, social status, and what it means. Starting Wealth Level is determined and there are rules on how prices are affected by such as quality. With wealth being abstract, prices are as well, being called Fare. Wealth Level may also be increased through treasure; treasures have different Treasure Values and, if the TV is equal to or greater than the WL, this can increase WL. Equipment, including armour and weapons, follows, with tables for prices, descriptions and availability and more detailed descriptions for weapons and armour.
Chapter 15 – Combat is a comparatively complex chapter because combat it Against the Darkmaster is dangerous. A single lucky blow can seriously injure or kill a character, no matter how skilled they are or how unskilled the opponent is. It begins by looking at the tactical round, stated to be about 10 seconds, but there’s no need to measure it precisely. There are various actions that can be done during the round, including movement, and terrain can affect this.
How to roll an attack is covered, and these rolls are open-ended, then modified. The final result is then cross-referenced with the Attack Table for the weapon, in the Game Tables appendix, and different attacks inflict different types of damage, with different potential outcomes. Should a critical strike be rolled, the appropriate table from the appendix is consulted again. Parrying, ranged attacks and weapon fumbles are next, followed by various conditions that can affect combat ability, from being prone to frightened to dying. There are some optional rules for things such as aiming, improvised weapons, using two weapons and mounted fighting.
Chapter 16 – Health and Healing starts with an explanation as to what hit points are – an abstract value – and the condition of a character at different levels of loss. A sidebar explains that the healing rules can be unforgiving, and the GM can use this to change character behaviour; few safe places to heal (no naps healing a stab wound here!) and rest will make them much more cautious. Injuries and how they can lead to incapacitation are followed by rules on treating them, and on death and dismemberment; various criticals can lead to instant death and only powerful healing and magic can restore lost limbs or bring characters back from the dead. Poison and Disease has samples of both of them, rules on curing them and rules for creating more. The soul can also be damaged and is hard to heal. Finally, there is a section on healing herbs; likely the most common form of healing characters will have access to.
Book Three: Tales of Legend starts with Chapter 17 – Preparing the Game, which begins with some general tips on being a GM, before moving onto tips for coming up with the idea for the game, creating characters, running a campaign, NPCs and opponents.
Chapter 18 – The Darkmaster starts with some tables for creating a Darkmaster and their coveted artefact, servants and dark place along with guidelines for creating other factors, various example powers, dark magic and defeating the Darkmaster. This is followed by three different Darkmasters with the different areas created. Dark Sorcery and Necromancy, two Darkmaster-associated spell lores, follow.
Chapter 19 – Running the Game starts with dice rolls and how to handle them and establish difficulty for skill rolls, as well as matters that can affect difficulty. There’s a table of the different levels of difficulty, with examples as to what actions might be at each level. What happens when a roll is failed, including in combat, is covered. There’s a section on covering character death; this game, like those it is inspired by, is potentially a lot more dangerous than some of the more forgiving modern games. Adding new characters in game is therefore a definite possibility.
War, as the theme for a game and as an obstacle to be overcome, is covered, along with heroic warfare, heroes in war and using skills in battle. Campaign Options considers going past level 10, legendary spells and generational play, as well as low magic campaigns ranging from the heroes are the exception to no spell casters at all. The Sage is an optional vocation.
Chapter 20 – Treasure starts by explaining this isn’t a game about running around trap-filled caves, killing monsters and stealing their stuff. Wealth is not the primary motivation. Drive is a common and important reward. Experience Points are rare and allow characters to be improved. Wealth simply increases a character’s Wealth Level. There are other options for rewards; favours, information and services are options.
Magic items are another reward and come in different types. Potions are simple items that are drunk. Bonus Items give a bonus to a skill or a stat. Magical Focuses grant Magic Points that can be used to cast spells. Activated Items permit the wielder to cast one or more Spells per day without using Magic Points or requiring a Spell Casting Roll. Constant Items have a continuous spell or magical effect. Runes of Power are single-use written items that can be used to cast the spell written on them once. Staves, Rods and Wands are similar to Activated Items, but the Spell can be cast until the power is exhausted; the different types allow more powerful spells. Slayer Weapons are designed to, well, slay, a specific type of creature.
Some items need to be attuned to the wielder for them to be used. There are also cursed items, with examples and how to break the curse, and a sidebar on how items can have new properties added to reflect the fact that in fantasy fiction characters will keep the same item throughout, but discover new abilities it has. There are several different enchanted materials that can be used to make items and Items of Power are the most potent artefacts in the game. Finally, the Treasury has examples of different items.
Book Four: Bestiary is, as the name suggests, the bestiary. This contains a list of fairly standard monsters for the sort of game, arranged alphabetically.
Book Five: Grimoire contains the Spell Lores. It starts with an overview of how the lores are laid out then the lores themselves follow alphabetically, with the exception of the two Darkmaster-associated lores of Dark Sorcery and Necromancy. Each lore goes up to 10th weave.
Adventure: Shadows of the Northern Woods is a sample adventure. It begins with an overview of the setting, including a history, cast of characters and layouts of the settlement, surrounding area and several sites of interest, before moving on to the adventure itself, which is in three parts, making a mini-campaign.
Appendix: Game Tables is an extensive part of the book. Rolemaster and MERP, two of this game’s spiritual predecessors, are known for their extensive tables with different types of damage for different types of weapons and spells, and these and critical tables are in this section, along with spell lores, travel tables and various other tables from different sections of the book.
The final four pages of content are taken up by a single page flowchart to determine whether a spell can be cast and the character sheet.
Against the Darkmaster Core Rules in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with major and minor sections linked, though not every subsection or sidebars. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth and is hyperlinked; the Index of Tables lists all these and is also hyperlinked. The Index is thorough and is also hyperlinked. Unfortunately, every hyperlink tried in the Index of Tables and the Index led to the front cover. Navigation is not as good as it should be. The text follows a two-column format and appeared to be mostly free of errors. There are a variety of black and white illustrations, all custom, up to full page in size. Presentation is good.
It should be guessed from the page count, and they are full size pages, that this is not a rules-lite game. There is an awful lot of crunch to it, as befits the spiritual descendent of what were considered complex games for the time (the introduction of computers means that the complexity can be reduced, with a bit of skill). This isn’t a grim game; it definitely has the potential for heroic fantasy, though it does tend to the lower end of the magical scale than such as D&D. But that doesn’t mean it’s a safe game to play, either. Those accustomed to the ability of D&D characters to cut through whole swathes of opponents with barely a flesh wound will have a nasty shock if they try to play this game like that. Even the most mighty can be felled with a single lucky blow. Which does mean that characters have a chance against even the most dangerous of creatures; Smaug was felled with a single arrow, after all, and that is one of the inspirations behind this game and its predecessors.
This is a complete, all in one rulebook, with an example adventure, but it’s not a quick or easy read. Going in, expect this to be a complicated game though, truthfully, modern games have probably equal complexity, just presented differently. There aren’t a huge number of optional rules, but there are quite a few, and going past 10th level will require work; for one thing, there are no spells past 10th level and such will need to be created. All told, this is a complex game that does hold true to the spirit of MERP and Rolemaster, but this means it won’t be for everyone. Against the Darkmaster Core Rules can be found by clicking here.
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