Dark Albion: OSR DnD Setting Review
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- čas přidán 3. 02. 2017
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Dark Albion is a setting book for old-school roleplaying games like DnD or Fantastic Heroes and Witchery. It describes a alternate England where priests are magical and demon frogs have invaded France.
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"The material isn't better than what I could come up with on the fly".
I feel as if you missed the point on this one. The books is aiming to provide a mostly accurate medieval setting not something entirely new and fantastical.
Now that likely isn't going to be to a lot of peoples tastes, but it should be kept in mind.
I'm surprised at this review. I found the Dark-Albion Setting to be pretty amazing.
Ironically, the gripes he had with this book were actually some of the things I've been looking for in a setting. I recently bought this book and am really enjoying its contents. I'm hoping to run something of an inquisitor campaign with this.
Same here, actually, the flavour parts of the setting are what makes me want to run the setting.
The Church of the Unconcured Sun = Sol Invictus, the Name used in the late Roman or Byzantine Empire for God/Jesus. It's a good version of Christianity for a Fantasy RPG.
I just picked this up, along with Lion and Dragon. I very much enjoy pulling content and ideas from it. I wanted something more grim dark and magical to fit along with Pendragon, which this does well.
It you are looking for content, low fantasy, grim dark, and more historical...rather than high fantasy, I would recommend.
This would fit with those who like; Ironsworn, Pendragon, Wolves of God, and Aquelarre.
If you like high fantasy or more straight forward OSR, you may not like it.
The one jarring thing I did not like is the French Frogs, but it is a small section.
The French as frogs is from the hatred of the English towards the French and their nickname for the French. In Dark Albion monsters are real not because they are real but because the people of the time believed them real. In the same vein, they would dehumanize their eternal enemy, the French.
Darn, I'm not sure how useful I would find that book but I might have to pick it up just because I absolutely love 15th century England and the Wars of the Roses.
Should I buy this book?
WAR OF THE ROSES
Oh, SOLD!
Strange statement, unless you don’t play TTRPGs otherwise seems like a perfect fit for you!
Knowing a bit about early modern England I dont know how much this would add but I do appreciate the honest criticism.
I love the art and maps in this book '-'
Too bad this author is highly antagonistic against artists and thinks artists should work for free 😂
@@coil8906 If you knew anything about the production of this book you wouldn't spout nonsense like that. Damn, you're dumb.
Although a bit dry, I found the book a great resource for fantastically-historical European world-building. "Frogland" was kinda lazy and tasteless, but I got over it pretty quick. I just wished instead of humanoid frogs, we'd actually get a unified France with humans instead, even if it's more (understandably, for cost) distilled than the British Isles - lore wise.
Remind's me of the Lion and Dragon game some what.
Lion and Dragon is quite good.
This has the same author. How is it different?
@@sullyb23511 Lion and Dragon is the actual system that’s meant to be used with Dark Albion. DA is the setting, L&D is the system
@@Wesley_Youre_a_Rabbit Thanks! That makes sense! 😅
I don’t understand why no one seems to get the Frogland moniker. The common reference of France as Frogland from the period is why he made France Frogland.
Ordering this for Christmas along with Cults of Chaos
Looking forward to it.
The chaos frogs seem like a great idea I'm thinking why not add more mutant races for different regions?
Racial slurs purely tung in cheek I think some folks are taking themselves far to seriously.
Love Wharhammer Fantasy Roleplay & this has the vibe
Looking forward to both this & Cults of Chaos.
I love random tables. & the hex maps look great.
The French as frogs plays on the huge rivalry between the English and the French, and the dehumanizing of your enemies
I just ordered all his medieval themed books! They look amazing and I love all the real history, it’s not just some random lore. Also, I recommend anyone listen to rpgpundit’s advice on running campaigns, he’s super knowledgeable.
Reminds me of the Greyhawk campaign setting...a bit dry.
Player's Guide to Medieval England
France taken over by,..frogs. took me a second 😂. That alone makes the book worth at least as much as it costs.
A friend is setting up campaign using Dark Albion for his setting. He has removed the demonic frogs but the player-characters and NPCs are going to sometimes refer to France as Frogland because such bigotry was not uncommon in the period.
He is not going to run it in OD&D or some other OSR rules set but is going to run it in the Glory Road system, so he is going to have to do more tweaking than usual.
sites.google.com/site/grreference/
The common reference of France as Frogland from the period is why he made France Frogland.
@@destroso I know that.
@@willinnewhaven3285 yes, I guess I was somehow talking to your friend in my mind but it seems odd to me to remove that as it goes with the world being real as the English believed the world to be real or referenced it as real. Sorry.
You could run as a more pendragon game with info in here. I found a bit of a effort to read but the cults of chaos book is much more interesting and usable but a bit repetitive and could have been written in a way to avoid this. I want the hardcover now as it looks easier to read. Europe isnt meant to be visited more of a background or something to reference. I don't mind the Chaos Frogs. The cult of the sun dont mind as I find real religion in games can cause problems.
I think this is the first of your reviews that seems negative. Good to know you'll do reviews of things you don't necessarily like. I've had my eye on this for a while, and I might still get it, but I won't be moving it up my list based on your review (I ordered Whitehack after seeing your review of that).
The review looks fair to me. I wouldn't call it negative but he points out some real problems.
I wouldn't buy it based on RPG Pundit's politics. Have you ever listened to him talk?
@@rudesthazard5769 i fucking care. that's who. if you don't, then that's your choice. see how that works? it's not healthy to separate the capitalist from the product.
@@BTsMusicChannel Remember those screeching moral busybodies who used to insist that tabletop games were evil and Satanic back in the day?
People like you are the modern day version of them 🤣
@@BTsMusicChannel he punches bullies
If the gm is making everything up on the fly then it wouldn’t be historically accurate which is the whole point of this book😊
Thanks for another interesting video. Haven't used this book, won't use it, but I have purchased other books you reviewed and enjoy them a lot.
This review wasn't really fair. It seems like Ben missed the point of the book... EXACTLY why the book has so much information is the reason it's useful. If you get this book you want to play on a fairly medieval-authentic version of England, not on a "invented on the fly by the GM" game... and no, nothing the GM can come up with on the fly will be better than the craziness of what really happened in the Wars of the Roses. Also, Ben missed an important detail here... The part of the book with the setting history only briefly touches past history, but instead focus on what is going to happen in the FUTURE of the campaign. So, you have a list of years and events that give you enough ideas for a whole campaign.
I wish Ben reviewed Arrows of Indra or Lion & Dragon.
I mean, i think it was fair, but obviously the personal tastes of the reviewer will impact his opinion on it. There's no such thing as an unbiased review.
I’ve eaten hard tack that was less dry than this review
This book would interest me a lot more if it didn't include fantastical elements like faeries and France being ruled by frogs.
"Frogland"...? Sigh.
Gorgeous maps though, from the look of it.
I unfortunately purchased this book before seeing this review. I was mostly hoping it could be a reference material for historical England and western Europe without needing me to compile highlights and cliffnotes from a stack of history books.
Then I saw Frogland... Completely wasted opportunity in my opinion.
Justin Hamilton yeah. I was initially pretty intrigued with Dark Albion. But "Frogland" was especially cheap and unnecessary. Then there's the other stuff.. I'm grateful for Questing Beast's review. .. ah well.
@@JustinAnthonyHamilton are you selling your copy?
@Flamethrow Candle I got rid of it after reading it.
Another very good review. This one I'll treat as something of a warning. What killed it for me was infesting France with anthropomorphic frogs. Basing a whole section of your setting on an ethnic slur doesn't really do it for me.
The whole Frogland is such a poor joke and a gigantic missed opportunity of expanded intricacy when expanding the game setting into the mainland of Europe.
I'm not in France nor am I French (I'm Slavic), but I'm guessing somehow, referring to France/French as frogs was used an ethnic insult towards them at one point in time?
Still is.
Frog is not an ethnic slur given that the French and the English are the same fucking race. For your own sake, please, take your own whiteness less seriously.
@@underfire987 Holy hell, I made you so mad and all I had to do was say that the English and French are both white. Not every single person is trying to exterminate your race you dumbfuck, either get a grip on reality or stop posting on the internet.
I think this review was very fair and pretty on the mark - the book tends to be fairly bland and overwritten with relatively little that a good history book couldn't have done. The worthwhile bits could have been boiled down to a 96 page book with hexmaps and tables and rules for making medieval England fantastical, and that would've been a far better work at the table.
I thought the material on sorcery was pretty good (I like goetic demons) and that some of the dungeons teased being interesting but didn't get there. As you said with the encounter tables, there just wasn't a lot to whet the appetite for fantasy.
And the mix of historical detail and broad deliberate changes to history was jarring for a history buff. France is overrun by frogs, groan. But to get rid of Christianity but have basically the same medieval world under an old Roman church (Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun)? That's lunacy, medieval Europe was built on a very particular view of Christianity, down to its core.
There is much to compare and contrast between Mithraism and Christianity.
(All bias aside; myself, being a Christian)
Mithraism in medieval Europe would have welcomed a different religious epicenter rather than Judea and Galilee.
Maybe we would view Zoroastrians as our cousins in faith -- as opposed to Jews and Muslims.
The Cult of Mithras utilized the Cross, albeit, Sun-wheel version.
For brevity's sake I'll allow you to do your own research.
I can totally understand why Christianity doesn't fit in a campaign setting.
"I didn't want to make the Pope and his Bishops the hierarchy of Big Bad Evil Guys."
Conversely, "I didn't want to be sanctimonious with my flattery of a religion I practice or, at least, with which I am culturally in agreement."
It doesn't require a major suspension of disbelief to replace Jesus with Mithras for a low fantasy Europe.
That said, there should also be a place for the Anglo-Germanic pantheon that predated Christian missionaries to the British Isles.
After all, our days of the week still bear their titles,
And Yule/Christmas traditions,
And Pork and "resolutions" (oaths) on New Years...
There's a lot to compare and contrast with that too.
You get the point.
What about an Islamic Europe, with the British Isles divided by war and Scandinavia the last bastion of Christendom?
Wow... that Frogland thing seems super jarring to me.
What is the point of being pernickety about a historical setting then include such clunking elements?
Given how much pundit talks about gonzo gaming, I guess he decided to put in a bit of gonzo elements into this book to bring in a bit of lightheartedness.
You do a great job reviewing things but you missed the point of this book. You dismissed a great deal of the info within.
Doesn't sound like he did a good job then.
@@Dyrnwyn he did he was just dismissive of the material.