Godless by Robert J. Schwalb is a role playing game supplement published by Schwalb Entertainment for use with Shadow of the Demon Lord. This is a sourcebook for a post-apocalyptic setting using the system.
This is a 74 page supplement that is available from DriveThruRPG as a PDF for $12, softcover print on demand book for $24.99 or both PDF and softcover for $26.99. It is also available from sites such as Amazon in printed form. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Two pages are the front and rear covers, one the front matter, one the Table of Contents, two pages are the Index and one page is an ad.
The Introduction explains that, after the Cataclysm, the Shadow of the Demon Lord fell on the planet. The setting is assumed to be a post-apocalyptic Earth of the not too distant future, so there aren’t details on the setting as such – most are assumed to be familiar with Earth. The Shadow has warped everything that the Cataclysm – which isn’t specified; it can be anything the GM chooses, with suggestions being nuclear war, alien invasion, the dead walking or a meteorite strike – didn’t simply destroy, creating new creatures and granting new powers. Everyone is insane as society has collapsed and strange new religions have replaced the old – those religions looking forward to the foretold apocalypse found the faithful suffering along with everyone else.
Chapter 1: Freaks, Outcasts, Survivors and Sons of Bitches is on character creation. It starts with Stories, a d20 table to define a character’s past. Next is Ancestries – technically, these are all different strands of humanity. The ones provided are those from the fantasy game, only changed in some way, with the exception of Humans. Changelings are humans who have been transformed so that they appear to be made of wood, mud, lichen and stone. Dwarfs are descended from humans who fled underground to escape the Cataclysm. Goblins are descended from humans who embraced the chaos and became mutated. Orcs are descended from humans who fled the cities and did what they had to survive, with the strong preying on the weak. Each of these ancestries has a d20 background table. The final ancestry, Transcendent, is described in more detail. These replace clockworks, and are robots into which human minds have been downloaded, the minds those of the rich and the powerful who sought to digitally escape the Cataclysm. This has new ancestry details, not just a background table. It’s suggested that any other ancestries fall into the categories of mutants, aliens or those from other realities.
Professions are divided into generally new types, Fanatic, Wisdom, Killer, Savage, Scumbag and Wretched, which are essentially variations on those in the core book. Fanatics believe in a higher power, Wisdoms know a lot about a subject, Killers kill, Savages live outside civilisation, Scumbags live by dishonest means and Wretched are those scratching a living.
Starting Gear and Interesting Things have new appropriate tables of such for the setting.
Paths are the new Godless paths. There are four Novice paths, Magician, Priest, Rogue and Warrior, which match up with the original core Novice paths. There are also four Expert paths. Grease Monkeys are skilled with tools. Preachers are followers of the gods. Raiders take what they want. Road Warriors roam the highways. Finally, there are four Master paths. Bone Pickers are expert scavengers. Daredevils take incredible risks. Gunslinger (Variant) is a variant on the core path adjusted for the new firearms. Pyromaniacs set things on fire.
Magic has new spells for a variety of traditions, around areas such as technology and problems from a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Not surprisingly, technomancy has the greatest number of new spells.
Chapter 2: Gear starts with what can be used to buy items. Gold (plus silver and copper) is one, but there are also salvage, batteries, electrical parts, food, fuel, mechanical parts, medicine and water, all useful in the post-apocalyptic wasteland. Fuel is simplified; rather than different types all vehicles are assumed to use the same. Weapons has new properties for weapon, as they are more technologically advanced than those in the core book for one thing. Next are descriptions of weapons (more could probably be added; oddly, there is no assault rifle – submachine gun, bolt action rifle and machine gun, yes, but not the most common personal weapon used by militaries). Ammunition is stated as being specific to a weapon type, but no other details are given than shotgun shell won’t work in a pistol. There are some high-tech weapon attachments and special weapons, such as the flamethrower.
Explosives and clothing & armour introduce some new types of both, with more high-tech stuff than is normally seen. New Gear has a variety of new technological gear, but nothing terribly advanced, simply at the current level of technology. There are some brief rules on drugs. Finally in this chapter are a selection of new vehicles. These are road vehicles, some small aircraft and boats, a train – and a tank. There are also rules, extras, weapons and upgrades for the vehicles (although adding a ram plate to a tank seems a trifle pointless).
Chapter 3: New Rules states that Godless uses the rules from the core book, but some new ones are needed. There are some for creating new items from salvaged ones and some new special attacks related to modern weapons. Vehicles states that, although the Demon Lord’s Companion introduced vehicles, they are rather unsuited for dealing with engine-powered vehicles. There are consequently a host of new rules for operating vehicles, movement and combat between them. There are a couple of paragraphs on combat between creatures and vehicles, but most creatures will not be able to keep up with vehicles. The exception is flying creatures – because even a duck can fly at 60 mph. So creature/vehicle combat is with creatures that have the flier trait.
Chapter 4: Blood and Fire says that the setting is in many ways similar to reality, with much of geology remaining the same. Consequently, the setting itself isn’t described much. There’s still a Moon, too, even if it is in bits. The chapter instead contains tools for building the post-cataclysmic world and running adventures in it.
Cataclysms has a number of different ways of destroying the world, from pandemic to nuclear war to invasion. Destroy Your World has a map of post-apocalyptic North America and divides any continent into different area. Drowned Lands are those swallowed by the sea, Lost Lands are those directly affected by the Cataclysm and has radiation rules, Void Stains are those area affected by the Void and references The Hunger in the Void for more details, Wastes are wastelands and Tombs of the Desolation is suggested for appropriate rules and Green Lands has the still-viable areas. Each also has tables of interesting sights.
Hidden Kingdoms considers whether a GM wishes to include faeries and the hidden kingdoms, which includes the Underworld and Hell, together with rules and a new spell if there is no afterlife. Ruins has rules for ruined structure and roads. Settlements has some tables for randomly generating such. There are suggestions for different types of adventures and the sorts of rewards that can be gained, together with some appropriate relics.
Denizens of Fire and Blood is sort of a bestiary, but some entries are on using existing creatures. There are some new ones, such as the steel skeletons, metallic skeletons with glowing red eyes. Terminators, in other words. Some technology has formed into constructs and, of course, there are demons. There is also a new type of harvester. Monsters, Oozes and Other Weirdness has various peoples, including giant intelligent cockroaches as well as different character types.
Godless in Review
The PDF is decently bookmarked with the major subsections linked and the Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth. The Index is thorough and is also hyperlinked. Navigation is good. The text maintains a two column full colour format and appeared to be free of errors. There are also a number of custom colour illustrations, up to around half a page in size (one of the illustrations has an upside book on the spine of which can just be made out the letters “Shadow of the mon rd”). Presentation is excellent.
This supplement isn’t a setting for a near-now post-apocalyptic version of Shadow of the Demon Lord; it’s a toolkit for creating such. There are sets of rules appropriate to such a setting, although much of the core material is still useful. Some will need altering and other parts may need discarding completely – by and large much setting material specific to Urth is not that useful. It is also not a standalone supplement – at the very least the core rulebook will be needed. A GM will need to start devising their own setting; one suggestion is to start with their own area because they will be most familiar with it. Then this will need altering in a post-apocalyptic manner. Godless is an interesting expansion to the game to develop a new type of setting and it can be found by clicking here.
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