The Grand Duchy by Eric Cagle is a role playing game supplement published by Schwalb Entertainment for use with Shadow of the Demon Lord. This supplement is part of the Lands in Shadow series that details parts of the official primary setting of Urth.
This is a ten page PDF that is available from RPGNow for $2.19 but was purchased at the reduced price of $1.51 during a sale. The first page has a title illustration and the Credits taking up most of it; the rest of the supplement is content.
It starts, as is typical for the series, with a brief overview of the Grand Duchy of the West.
Ripe for the Taking gives a history of the land after the Empire conquered it, how the land is rich in resources and for many years it was prosperous and strong, until a dying curse from the last of three hags who used to control the region finally took effect. Now the duchy is in decline; the lords are only concerned for themselves and even the wealthiest serfs live in what would be considered to be abject poverty elsewhere.
The Grand Duchy briefly covers the four main duchies and the capital city and Grand Duke’s castle.
Westers covers the region’s inhabitants, who are considered backward, ignorant and xenophobic by the rest of the Empire, with more than a little justification, thanks to the hag’s curse. This also covers nobles, serfs, soldiers and knights, sheriffs artisans.
Government and Politics explains how the duchy is run, or perhaps not run. Corruption is endemic. The current Grand Duke is ineffectual and terrorised by his wife and aunt; the twin heirs to the throne are totally unsuited to the job. One of the dukes, whose lands border on Tear, is one of the few competent nobles in the duchy, and is seeking an alliance with the Kingdom of God against Tear.
Fealty and Servitude covers the duchy’s economy, law, defence, warcraft and religion. The religious beliefs of the duchy’s inhabitants are odd, a combination of the Cult of the New God and older religions. Consequently, the inquisition is busy.
Adventures in the Grand Duchy has a number of adventure hooks.
Finally, Wester Characters has a new background table for such and lists the ancestries and professions that are available.
The Grand Duchy in Review
The PDF lacks bookmarks and, even though it is short, they would have been appreciated. Navigation is poor. The text maintains a two column full colour format and no errors were noticed. There are a handful of colour custom illustrations. Presentation is very good.
This is briefer than many in the Lands in Shadow series and doesn’t go into the same amount of depth. There is a map of the Grand Duchy, but very little time is spent describing the lands and almost none the geography. This makes it one of the least useful supplements in the series. It does go into more depth on the region than the core rulebook did, but it feels that it could have gone a lot further. Admittedly, that’s pretty much always the case, but in this particular supplement the treatment feels quite shallow. Fortunately, Wester player characters are not as disadvantaged as might be expected from the typical inhabitant of the region. The Grand Duchy is an okay entry in the series, but it feels like it should have been better, and it can be found by clicking here.
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