Relic Files: From Beyond the Stars I by Andrew Marlowe is a role playing game supplement published by Rogue Genius Games for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result. The supplement describes a single item, a technological relic.
This is a four page PDF which is available from RPGNow for $1.00 but which was purchased at the greatly reduced price of $0.02. One page of the PDF is the Open Game License and credits.
The first page of the supplement has an overview of the intention of the series and a mention of using technological items in a fantasy game. This PDF describes quicksilver mail, a type of armour that initially resembles an orb of mercury which can spread to cover a person.
Around half a page is a piece of prose describes a character activating a set of quicksilver mail. The rest of the page gives the item’s description and properties.
The final page gives abilities from 1st to 20th level.
Relic Files: From Beyond the Stars I in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and at this length they are not needed. Navigation is therefore fine. The text maintains a two column format, except for the introduction on the first page, and no errors were noted. There is a single stock black and white illustration of some type of magic user. An image of the item would have been preferred, but inactive the quicksilver mail would just look like a shiny ball and an illustration of it activated may have required custom art beyond the budget of a small supplement.
Using technology in a fantasy setting is not a new concept; the introduction mentions S3 Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, an Advanced Dungeons & Dragons adventure in which characters explore a wrecked spaceship. More recently, Paizo published the Iron Gods Adventure Path for the Pathfinder game. This PDF has one single technological item that could, somehow, have ended up in a fantasy setting.
The supplement makes use of rules from The Genius Guide to Relics of the Godlings or The Genius Guide to Relics of the Godlings II; these supplements do not seem to be totally essential to use this one, but having one of them would be useful. Certain details are not fully explained in this supplement, although they can be inferred. Essentially, relics cannot be made by mortals, so no rules are provided for doing so. They also increase in power as a character does, so they can be used for a character’s entire career, unlike most items which they outgrow. As a character increases in level, the relic gains a new ability or an enhancement of an old one.
Quicksilver armour starts off at a very basic level, simply functioning as masterwork scale mail. As its power increases, it gains abilities of various types; magical protection (or the equivalent of), bonuses, wound staunching, balancing and being able to form a shield, all of which increase in power. So it starts off as a fairly humble, but useful, item at 1st level and becomes a truly epic-level item at 20th. Players are going to be unlikely to want to get rid of the armour as quickly as they would simply magical armour, knowing that it is going to gain in power.
Relic Files: From Beyond the Stars I provides an interesting, and unique, piece of armour that could become a character’s treasured possession and it can be found by clicking here.
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