Kingdom of God by Robert J. Schwalb is a role playing game supplement published by Schwalb Entertainment for use with Shadow of the Demon Lord. The supplement is from the Lands in Shadow range that cover areas of the official Urth setting.
This is a 25 page supplement that is available as a PDF from RPGNow for $4.99, as a print on demand softcover for $11.99 or as both PDF and softcover for $11.99. The softcover is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. Almost all of the supplement is content; about a quarter of the first page is the Credits.
The first paragraph gives a brief introduction to the Kingdom of God, part of the now-crumbling Empire.
From the Sacred Annals gives a history of the kingdom, from its start as the Duchy of Tarra, part of the kingdom of Edene, to the occupation by the Witch-King when he conquered Edene and most of the rest of the continent to the creation of the Kingdom of Tarra after the Empire of Caecras defeated the Witch-King and Tarra’s creation as a stronghold of faith. When Astrid, the Prophet of the New God, came to Tarra, the king, Roland, became her most ardent supporter. Following Astrid’s death, Roland built up the faith.
The Cult of the New God gained in power and strength as the years passed, reducing the power of the nobles and the monarchy and gradually taking control of all roles in the kingdom. The Matriarch of the Cult’s desire for power led to the murder of the emperor and the current state of turmoil. The Cult itself is now perhaps too powerful, and too interested in power for its own sake.
A Holy Land covers the geography of the Kingdom, with the various geographic features, cities and some sites of note, together with a map. There is a sidebar with a relic of Astrid in this section and three tables for randomly generating holy sites; there are many, many sites considered holy in the kingdom, which attract pilgrims – and their money. One of the areas is home to a splinter faction of the cult, which is covered in Uncertain Faith. The seven different orders of the Cult of the New God are mentioned in the section covering their primary base in the capital city.
Tarrans are the people of the land, who are primarily human. Other races are not appreciated – there is a lone stronghold of dwarves mentioned earlier. This section has how the Cult took control of the military, reduced the nobility to shadows and the current problem with refugees.
A Nation Divided covers some of the realm’s major NPCs; the queen, who wishes to restore the power of the monarchy, and who may end up losing her life as a result, the Matriarch of the Cult and the cardinals of the seven different orders.
Sections on Divine Customs, Selling Religion, Suffer No Evil and Army of God further cover the Cult’s grip on the land and the effect that the kingdom’s primary business of religion has on it.
Adventures in the Holy Kingdom has a number of adventure hooks.
Common Characters has stats for NPCs who might be encountered. There is an example of a member of each of the seven orders, plus two more, one for an elite guard belonging to one of the orders and the other for witch hunters used by the Inquisition.
Holy Characters covers the ancestries and languages suitable for characters from the Kingdom of God. These are primarily human, and there’s a reference to Only Human. A new d20 background table can be used to replace the existing one.
Joining a Sacred Order explains how characters can join one of the seven orders of the Cult of the New God, and what they gain from such.
Finally, there are New Paths, three Expert and two Master, all generally related to religion and the Cult of the New God.
Kingdom of God in Review
The supplement has no bookmarks and they would have been greatly appreciated. There is also no table of contents. Navigation is very poor. The text maintains a two column full colour format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a number of colour images, all of which appear to be custom. Presentation is very good.
This fleshes out the description of the Kingdom of God from the brief overview in the core rulebook. It also adds new details to the history of the Empire and the continent, giving a different perspective on events in the Borderlands of Tear and the Grand Duchy of the West as well. The Cult of the New God might have started with the best of intentions but it is not what it once was. Elements of the Cult’s current behaviour are similar to those of the real world, in particular the Inquisition. The Inquisition is so devoted to stamping out demon worshippers, witches and others of the like that a mere accusation of being such is effectively a death sentence. There is a lot of potential turmoil in the Kingdom, meaning lots of potential adventure hooks, but it’s a rather dangerous place to openly speak your mind, if such speech criticises the Cult.
Although the area is covered in more detail than it was, there is still plenty of further depth that can be gone into. The two major cities are only given an overview at best and there are many other locations that are simply mentioned rather than detailed. So, the supplement does add an extra layer of detail to the continent and setting, but it could still go deeper. Kingdom of God is a nice addition to the setting, providing new options and detail, and it can be found by clicking here.
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