Torg Eternity – Living Land Sourcebook by Ross Watson is a role playing game supplement published by Ulisses Spiele for use with Torg Eternity.
The supplement is available as a PDF from DriveThruRPG for $19.99 and is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. The PDF has 146 pages with two being the front and rear covers, one the front matter, one the Contents and one the Index.
Welcome to the Living Land starts with a piece of in-universe fiction, followed by a brief update on how North America has been invaded, and both coasts have been conquered by the High Lord’s personal reality and lizardlike humanoids called edeinos roam the lands.
One Year Later… starts with some basics on the Living Land, which has the lowest Technological Axiom of the invading realities and the highest spiritual one, and the land’s goddess is very real. The cosm is devoid of magic. It also looks at the current state of the war and Core Earth’s response, with an overview of the current situation in Canada, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico and the United States. The US is also undergoing a major religious debate, given the spiritual nature of the Living Land and there’s a look at what happens to humans who transform to fit the reality. Finally, a timeline for the first year of the war is given.
Storm Knights looks at the new options Storm Knights have for the Living Land. This is new Perks, including some specific to the edeinos, the lizard-like humanoids native to the cosm. There are also some Beta Clearance Perks that can only be taken when the Storm Knight reaches that level.
Miracles looks at these, as the Living Land is the cosm with the highest Spirit Axiom. This means that additional miracles are available for anyone with faith adds and who meets the prerequisite, even without the Miracles Perk, and bless and curse are available to everyone. Three new miracles are available for jakatts. The most common creeds and the miracles available to them are given. The new miracles that are available are then described.
Gear explains that modern commerce is not truly understood by most inhabitants, due to the cosm’s low Social Axiom; bartering is therefore common. Some items, those of Tech Axiom 6 or lower, can be found by foraging. Sacred items can be found, due to the spiritual power that fills the Living Land. General gear, armour and shields, melee and missile weapons, beasts and vehicles and poisons are all covered. Most of this is low-tech, as high-tech doesn’t last, and given that the Magic Axiom is as low as it can go, there aren’t any magical items to get.
The Game Master Section starts by looking at Living Land Possibility energy and the colour and symbol that represents Possibilities specific to the cosm.
Warzones looks at the lands invaded by Baruk Kaah. This is primarily the United States, divided into East Coast, Gulf Coast, Midwest, the North and the West Coast. Some of the invaded zones are in the Caribbean and Central America, as well as a small area of Canada, though this covers Vancouver. Each of these regions are covered, with details on places and groups of importance and different parts of the regions, and common threats that can be encountered in them. There is also the Wonders Below, which are cave systems, some of them from Aysle’s Land Between but others are products of the Living Lands Law of Wonders.
Reality looks at the axioms of the Living Land. Spirit is the land’s highest axiom, making it a place where miracles of great power can be performed, and the essence of the goddess of life, Lanala, fills the land. The Technological axiom puts the land in about the Stone Age, the Social axiom is low and the most significant social unit is the tribe and the Magic axiom means that magic doesn’t exist in the Living Land.
World Laws are the laws of reality which dictate how the axioms are realised. The major laws start with the Law of Savagery which emphasises the primitive nature of creatures and has a major effect on combat. It also makes clothing become very susceptible to damage and destruction, hair growth is accelerated and physical attraction is heightened. The Law of Life means that lifeforms grow in abundance and variety, and to greater sizes; dead things decay very quickly. The Law of Wonders means that ruins from fallen cosms litter the Living Land and buildings and structures that would otherwise be impossible can be built. The minor World Laws are the Law of Decay, which causes things to decay rapidly, the Law of Scars makes wounds heal quickly but leave permanent scars and the Law of Variety means that creatures are extremely diverse.
The Living Land has a tropical climate, and seismic activity is common. As well as abundant animal life, there is also abundant plant life. Travel is difficult and some details are given on travel times, for natives and non-natives. Vehicles do not do well; not only are ground vehicles nearly useless but the low Tech axiom means all vehicles risk Contradiction. Finally, there are some travel hazards for above ground travel and others for below ground.
Baruk Kaah and the Invaders starts with details on the High Lord and his origin and goals, how he can personally intervene with setbacks to his plans and how his being Saar makes him the high priest of the religion of the edeinos. Baruk Kaah’s stats are also given. His relationships with the other High Lords are looked at, with Dr. Mobius and the Nile Empire being the cosm he has the best relations with. The High Lord’s policies on religion, clan politics and Storm Knights are looked at.
Baruk Kaah’s Darkness Device is next, along with his stelae and new defences for them created after some were uprooted. Following this is a brief history of the edeinos, including their extermination of another intelligent species of their homeworld, the ustanah, and the rise of Baruk Kaah.
The edeinos themselves are looked at, with how they adorn themselves, language and interest in adventure. The different clans and tribes known to exist follow, each described with their location, chieftain, champions, if they have any non-edeinos jakatts as well as adventure seeds.
Keta Kalles is the religion of the Living Land, and Lanala is the goddess who is followed. The attitude towards living and dead things is looked at, as this is important for the cosm, as well as stats for an avatar of Lanala. Optants are priests of life, gotaks are the priests of the dead and jakatts are the ordinary followers.
Thrakmoss is a renegade edeinos priest who discovered a temple to an almost dead god, Rec Stalek, one that grants power over the dead. Thrakmoss has founded his own religion now, and his stats are given.
The Delphi Council starts with what the agendas, objectives and priorities of the council are in the Living Land; reconnaissance, refugees, resistance fighters, striking back, and recruitment. It then covers major NPCs associated with the Delphi Council in the Living Land. Next is the resources that the council has. Transportation can be difficult, thanks to the low Tech Axiom, as can communication; even survival has to be done without modern resources. Information is a major area that the council focuses on. Supernatural items are rare. The different bases of operations, the existence of safehouses and potential interagency rivalries are next, followed by current operations and how these can be used with the characters.
Adventures in the Living Land starts by covering the themes and tropes that can be found, that of primitive adventure, high-tech problems needing low-tech solutions, the edeinos and how to make them a threat, the dangers of the land and how the High Lord frequently takes a personal interest in things.
Next it looks at lost worlds, which are fragments of other realities preserved through the Law of Wonders and which result in pulp powers and weird science working in their region. The lost worlds come and go and mapping their locations is impossible. There are details on how to use them, a three column d20 generator to roughly make some and several described in detail; a lost world is not an entire world and may just be a cave or a single construction.
Finally, there are some adventure ideas followed by an adventure generator. The generator consists of d20 tables of goals, opposition, setting and complications, with detailed descriptions of the results.
Threats is the bestiary, and starts by explaining that the Living Land is home to many creatures similar to those of Core Earth, only larger. First, the gospog of the Living Land are covered. Next are dinosaurs, which are creatures that strongly resemble the dinosaurs of Core Earth, though more reptilian. Undead dinosaurs are created by Thrakmoss. Edeinos are the natives of the living land, with some categories and some specific individuals detailed. Cryptids are creatures only known in Core Earth’s cryptozoology. Humans are different human threats and finally plants covers these, though most are not things to fight.
Eternity Shards and Lost Treasure starts with Eternity Shards and explains that these are items rich in Possibilities. They have special powers and this covers the ones found in the Living Land. Lost Treasures are special to the Living Land, and are items which can be found when a Lost Treasures card is used. A number are described, which range from weird science items, to vanished ships, to advanced technology thanks to the Lost Worlds and normal items that may not function normally. They can be useful, though may not last long.
Torg Eternity – Living Land Sourcebook in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with the major and minor sections linked, though not to the level of depth they could be. The Contents are to a similar level of depth. The Index isn’t as thorough as it could be. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be almost free of errors. There are a variety of colour illustrations, up to about a half page in size. Presentation is decent.
Like other cosm sourcebooks, this is not a game in and of itself, but an expansion of the rules and the campaign setting for one of the invading cosms. By covering a new area, governed by different rules, it adds new equipment and abilities that may or may not work outside the cosm. The Living Land has the lowest Magic axiom – all magic causes contradiction – the highest Spirit axiom, and is low on both Tech and Social, also the lowest of the invading cosms. This makes a rather different environment to any other cosm, though given the Lost Worlds, it’s possible for weird science to work in certain areas.
All the regions of the Possibility Wars are different from each other, but the Living Land may well be the most different, given its axioms are either the highest, for Spirit, or the lowest, for everything else, of all the cosms, including Core Earth. This may make it one of the strangest regions for players to get used to. Torg Eternity – Living Land Sourcebook can be found by clicking here.
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