I was looking forward to purchasing The Echoes of Heaven Campaign Setting (EoHCS) for Rolemaster (RM) as the author had posted several previews on the official Iron Crown Forums. This approach to writing the product drew me in almost as much as the topic itself. As the author would post topics for discussion, provide sneak peeks, ask for feed back on ideas and provide play by play commentary on some of the good and bad things that happened during the test games. In essence he used the fan base as a member of his staff and it generated lots of posts as well as hype for the product.
One of the first things you will notice when reading the Echoes of Heaven Campaign setting is the artwork and page layout. Ok you will not notice the page layout but that is what is important. The text is in an easy to read, spacing is great it just makes the product a pleasure to read. The artwork on the other hand does reach out and grab you. All most all of the art work is beautifully drawn with little intricate details that bring the subject to life. In the past some of the best and most memorable artwork I have seen comes from the role playing games Warhammer and Warhammer 40K. Some of the works in Echoes of Heaven Campaign Setting have this depth of design, knowledge of topic ability to catch and hold the eye of the reader.
The RM version of The Echoes of Heaven Campaign setting includes a 213 page PDF sourcebook and a free 52 page PDF adventure called the Throne of God (ToG). The campaign book covers a lot of ground, from the formation of the mortal realm, heaven and hell to explaining the present day squabbles of countries, nobility and groups.
. If you have not figured it out by the name the product, the setting is very dependant on religion and religious themes. If you do not like playing in a game that heavily focuses on religion you can still use this setting as it has a dearth of wonderful background material for almost any game world. The GM just needs to do some editing of the material to tweak the EoHCS information to his likening and begin playing.
A general description of the setting chapters are listed below with some comments. For GM?s in the EoHCS various chapters are important game notes for planning an ongoing campaign. The campaign ideas are listed as Adventure Threads and others as World Threads. Adventure Threads are ideas for GMs to explore during their own campaigns. Where as World Thread concepts are going to be revealed in later products and if altered the GM might have to do some fast thinking if running some of the future EoHCS adventures.
Chapter 1 The Mortal Realm: This section cover some of the major pieces in the EoHCS such as The Sundering of Heaven, Ulcers, the nature of good and evil and the church.
Chapter 2 Races of the Mortal Realm: Gives descriptions on why and how the standard fantasy races are different in EoHCS from RM?s game system.
Chapter 3 History of the Mortal Realm: Covers the history of the Sundering of Heaven to the present day. Reading the history brought to my mind many past historical events. I loved how the author rewove many of these events to form the EoHCS mythology. This is a very important chapter for the GM and the players to get the mood and themes of EoHCS. In the future I would like to see a shortened version for players to read so they could get the feel of the setting before the game or campaign begins. Though this is not required if the GM uses the Teaser from ToG
Chapter 4 Gazetteer of Belkanath: This is the section that GM?s will be using the most as it contains descriptions of countries, their rulers, forms of government, trade items and trade needs, major towns, population, enemies, a country map with major cities located and a section on the history of the country. In this section occasionally the capital of the government is listed as seasonal. I would have liked to see a notation next to the towns they most likely went to during the major months if the year. So for example in the list of major towns it would say Marksville (1,000) [Winter]. This would say to me that during the winter months the government would most likely be in Marksville.
Chapter 5 Power Groups: The major group forces are listed with their various agendas, spheres of influence, group structure and leadership. The powers group chapter provides many good ideas from long running campaign adversaries to simple one shot adventure ideas.
Chapter 6 Religion: Religion as I have noted about is a major driving force in the EoHCS setting and this section describes, daily religious life, each races ?Church?, the Atavistic religion and the religions of Daemons and the Great Fiends.
Chapter 7 Life in Belkanath: Life in Belkanath describes the daily life of people under the Feudal system of government. This is a well written section about feudal life that can add style and flavor to any fantasy RPG game.
Chapter 8: Miscellaneous: This chapters topics are varied as the author ties up all the lose ends that are generated by the first 7 chapters.
Appendix 1 Ludremon: Appendix 1 is filled with information for the GM about one of the countries in Belkanath and provides descriptions of towns, rulers, important people, power groups, trade and much more. Where as Chapter 4 the Gazetteer of Belkanath provides an over view of the various countries in Belkanath, Appendix 1 brings the country of Ludremon fully to life. It is a wonderful section to aid a GM in designing his game. One thing I found confusing when reading this section was that groups were listed in this fashion Royal Guard 137(32). After some thinking I figured out that this meant that there are 137 Royal guards and the maximum level is 32nd.
Appendix 2 Rules and Systems: This appendix talks about how to use EoHCS with Rolemaster Fantasy Role-playing as well as Rolemaster Standard System. It defines which races and professions are appropriate as well as a small section on how magic is different in EoHCS vs. the standard game system.
The free Throne of God (ToG) adventure might be worth $6-$9 on its own. I know in the past I have paid for many an adventure and later said ?What did I just do? Was I on crack? Boy next time I think about buying an adventure I will just give the money to some homeless guy on the street.? After reading the ToG adventure I said this would be a fun adventure to play in. I could almost picture people at a RPG convention sitting around the table thoroughly engrossed in the adventure. I am not going to say any more about ToG as prospective players as well GM?s might be reading this except sit back and enjoy the ride.
I spent about 10-15 hours reading this setting cover to cover and I can say Echoes of Heaven and The Throne of God are well worth your time and money. It is well written, has interesting ideas, weaves a believable story line and history, can be used with any game system with very little adaptation. The Echoes of Heaven Campaign book is pure information that can be used by in any campaign, in fact I am thinking of dropping the church information into my spacemaster game. The products major fault comes from its main strength the product can be used with any system. The campaign book is almost all setting information and has very few new Rolemaster rulings or adapted Rolemaster rules. I would have liked to see a new spell list, the Layman profession adapted to the bard instead of the category bonus switch of the swashbuckler profession and more RM specific information on the artifacts listed. I guess you could say just more RM stuff.
MDC
