![]() PCs can confront bribery, price gouging, or tax evasion, as well as containing a Lich and lifting a curse from a princess. ![]() Besides the big bad evil guys, there are plenty of smaller villains and threats detailed, and they range from traditional fantasy fare to urban intrigue. The town's map is detailed on one page, and nearly every building is accounted for with NPCs that matter to adventurers (either through their services rendered, or for their secret agendas). All in all, Hammerfast feels like it's giving a lot of background flavour of the setting, despite the small page count. And the details on mining and trade between small villages is more detailed than what you'd see in other 4ed products. It mentions how the region suffers from wildfires in the summer, and the mountain passes are snowed in during the winter. Four major holidays, and how they are celebrated, are given. Each of these controlling interests have their own area zoned for them, with a Trade Ward set in the entrance to town for travellers and traders who are just passing through. The town's form of governance feels surprisingly nuanced: a council that mediates between the academy, the heads of industry, and the unions. Hammerfast succeeds in giving plenty of world details that would be applicable to a low-level band of adventurers, as well as reasons why their actions could be pivotal to the settlement.įor a 32 page product, there is a great degree of world-building. Too many products try to be a travel guide for a fictional world, giving equal weight to world details that matter to and enable adventurers, and those that do not. ![]() My first question I ask about a setting supplement is "How much is this product is geared towards being an aide to a RPG campaign?", and the answer is "Entirely". ![]() Hammerfast would fit in well in Eberron, perhaps in the Mror Holds. There are no easy 'right' answers in this settlement, which I find makes for more interesting roleplaying. There are villains of conviction, and villains of convenience, and those who uphold the peace are sometimes driven by gold and power. This supplement would not please people who want their fantasy to be black and white, but I personally enjoy its moral ambiguity. Imagine the tension of orcs and dwarves living side-by-side, and then imagine the tension of passing the ghost of the orc who killed your father on the street. Nowadays, the orc and dwarf ghosts who were able to live peacefully co-exist with their living counterparts. The dead killed in the orcish invasion have risen, but are constrained by their deities to live in peace, or be permanently destroyed. A century later, two bitter enemies live together in enforced co-existence, which has made Hammerfast a safe place for trade and academics.Īnother defining aspect of Hammerfast is that the ghosts of the dead walk the streets, and must abide (and are protected) by the law. Many Lawful Good Paladins of Moradin died for their deity, but in the aftermath of the battle, the Dwarf Deity made a treaty with the Orc Deity to make Hammerfast a neutral ground for both churches, to honour the bravery on both sides (and to not spark a larger war due to each Deity's pride). A few warriors stayed behind, and made the orcs of Gruumsh pay dearly for their victory. Dwarves respect their ancestors and their gold, but had to abandon this site in the face of an invading orc army, because there were no civilians or strategic value to it. Hammerfast was a necropolis, where the wealthy Dwarves were buried with their riches. In fact, much of the narrative tension presented about this settlement is how the Dwarven view of life is challenged. So I was pleasantly surprised when Hammerfast was released with a Dwarven community that is both recognizably Dwarven, yet not resplendent with ale, beard, and mining references. They are either walking stereotypes, or nearly unrecognizable from the original. When it comes to "Race-centric settings" in RPG supplements, authors tend to go in two extremes.
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