Echoes Of Heaven + The Throne Of God

[ghost-angel]

The Uspide:

 

Echoes Of Heaven is a mix between high-Fantasy elements and realistic-fantasy elements. It mixes these with a healthy dose of a fictitious Heaven and Hell. The designer created it with four major game systems in mind: D20, HERO, HARP, and Rolemaster. This means the bulk of the book is presented completely without system information. The book also comes bundled with an adventure, which I'll cover briefly at the end. This book details the bulk of the campaign setting and the world it takes place in.

 

As a note: I have the Hero Version only of this product, so won't be commenting on the mechanics of other systems.

 

Chapter One - The Mortal Realm. The Echoes Of Heaven is based on the premise that there are three major realms. Heaven, Hell, and the Mortal World. This chapter details the history of the cosmology, which centers around the war in Heaven and the subsequent split into the above three mentioned places, and a handful of other small realms. This chapter is simply a very short set-up for the cosmology of the world.

 

Chapter Two - Races Of The Mortal Realm. There are five major races in Echoes, the stands Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Halfings, and Humans found in just about every High Fantasy setting made. Since so much of the campaign focuses on the idea of Heaven Vs Hell and the idea of a fall from grace it's no surprise that the element of Sin is involved. Each race is associated with one of Five Deadly Sins, and each race has the ability for an individual (or the entire Dwarven Race) to have a Divine Spark. As far as Fantasy Races go Echoes plays into the common perceptions (and stereotypes) of these classic Races, only the idea of the Deadly Sins makes them stand out a little from other similar settings.

 

Chapter Three - History Of The Mortal Realm. Chapter one covers what happened before and up to the formation of the Heaven/Hell/Mortal Realm dynamic. This chapter covers what happened after that formation. Each Race reawakened in the world at different times. This chapter covers all the major history for close to two thousand years as near as I can figure. There is no handy time-line page to put things into a quick perspective. Which is unfortunate. Like any section covering history it goes over major events, wars, historical figures and the formation of empires. An important part of any world you're trying to game in. It isn't nearly as boring as most history chapters are, but it is mostly a recounting of facts for use in a game - meaning it reads like a history.

 

Chapter Four - Gazetteer Of Belkanath. More important than a world's history is the world itself. And this chapter details the primary section of the world where the campaign takes place. Like most source books it does not try and catalogue an entire planet all in one shot, there simply isn't room. It takes a major continent, or The Major Continent, and covers all the nations and greater features on it. The format for each nation detailed is: Full Name, Ruler(s), Government type, Capital, Major Towns (with populations), Resources/Trade, Populations, and an Overview which provides a quick history and important elements of the present time. This is the longest chapter, and with good reason, Echoes is full of small kingdoms, warring nations and a lot of stuff in general. A good solid world is presented here, you can start either with all of it, or in a small corner and slowly explore outwards and discover the world in small pieces.

 

Chapter Five - Power Groups. No world would be complete without a list of the movers and shakers. The most important groups in this campaign world all revolve around The Church, a nearly ubiquitous presence and religion in the world. But like any massive organization interacting with many cultures and races it has its factions. There are other organizations detailed, but most of the chapter is given over to those related to the world's major religion.

 

Chapter Six - Religion. There is, essentially, one religion in Echoes. Since it is known that all races came from the same Heaven, and that there is one Hell that visibly infects the land, it's not a matter of which God is right. Instead, it's a matter of which path back to Heaven is right. While The Church appears monolithic, it has it's splinters and major sects. This chapter covers the major practices and then the major differences of Faith. The five races were saved by five prophets, and each race contends these five were lead by the prophet of their race - which is where the world's major Religious tension comes from. Aside from the very visible Heaven/Hell War. Also detailed are the Archdemon's which lure people from Heaven to worship Hell. This is actually more interesting than most High Fantasy world's religions. It is certainly a nice change of pace from the norm.

 

Chapter Seven - Life In Belkanath. The last thing to cover are the major customs, and general make-up of the nations of the world. It's essentially a standard European Mock-up complete with Lords, Vassals, Fiefs, Fealty and the like. It provides information on living in the typical places of a Village, City and Castle and other major customs followed through most of the world.

 

Chapter Eight - Miscellaneous. A big grab bag of information regarding all kinds of things that doesn't fit elsewhere. Magic items, major plot elements (like the magical Emperor's Roads, a network of magic gates no one knows how to use anymore) and the like. It also covers the Ulcers, which are the physical manifestations of Hell in the Mortal Realm. Ulcers are the main game elements that pits the PCs against the Demons and throws them into the thick of the war between Heaven and Hell.

 

Appendix One - Ludremon. This section takes one of the nations from Chapter 4 and expands it greatly. Adding in details to the leaders, army, towns, economy and other details. This provides the basis to start a campaign with a solid amount of detail behind it. Entire splat books are written around the amount of material provided in this section of the book.

 

Appendix Two - Rules And Systems. This chapter finally gets into the System level information of the setting. Since I own just the Hero version of the book it only contains pertinent Hero System information. Appropriate skills, magic builds, appropriate martial arts, and the like. It also goes into setting economics on a large scale, providing a basic list with suggested base values for just about anything an adventuring group would want to buy, or any service they could need.

 

The setting is an interesting twist on the Angel vs Demon conflict seen so often in popular culture. The Church is presented equally as helpful, harmful, and neutral, providing a single faith with many perspectives. If you want a campaign where the epic battle between good and evil is both integral and part of a fabric of the setting this is a good choice.

 

The book also comes with a free adventure seed, 'The Throne Of God' which I've decided to dedicate a separate review to instead of only a few sentences here.

 

The Downside:

 

I rarely comment on the images in a gaming book, as I don't feel they are the purpose of a gaming book. But maps, on the other hand, are like gaming candy. And I have to say I do not like the Campaign Cartographer maps at all, they make me think I'm looking at an old 8-bit computer game from the 1980s. I would have preferred imperfect hand drawn maps to these little cartoon mockeries to cartography.

 

If your not into messing with Christian Mythology, Angels, and all that avoid this setting completely. It is completely fictional, but borrows heavily from modern Christian Mythology for it's basis.

 

The Otherside:

 

The campaign is designed with four systems in mind. With that it has done a more than superb job in stripping out Setting from System and presenting both separately. This is one of the few Setting Books that is truly about The Setting and not Playing A Game In System X. The author does an excellent job of going deep into the guts of the setting to give us a world and story to work with.

 

If Angels and Demons and Feudal Fantasy are something your interested in playing in a high-fantasy setting this is a great book to pick up. Especially since it can be had in a version that is likely for your system of choice for Fantasy.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Echoes Of Heaven + The Throne Of God

 

The Throne Of God adventure

The Upside:

 

The Throne Of God is a short adventure that comes with the Echoes Of Heaven book. It is designed with two things in mind, first and foremost it can be used as an introduction to the Game World, second it is the first adventure in a ten part series.

 

The adventure is broken into two parts. If you plan on running through the entire series then the Teaser, or first part, is moderately important. Part two is the adventure itself which is a good starter adventure for the game world.

 

The Teaser. This is part one, and it actually starts in Heaven and not with the PCs as they will be played through most of the campaign. It starts before Heaven splits and sets up the long story arc for all ten adventures in the setting.

 

The Adventure. This part can be lifted out whole and used both as a first adventure for an Echoes Campaign, or with a little more work in any campaign. Part One starts with the Characters meeting a priest in trouble on the road, being attacked by monsters. In thanks for saving him he takes the Characters back to his Church, where they quickly become involved in Church Politics - there is a monastery that hasn't been heard from, and the Church itself cannot set foot on the grounds due to a law with an Order Of Knights. So the PCs are asked to investigate, and they find it has been taken over by Demons. This becomes an important piece of the Campaign World - the idea of Ulcers. It is established in the main setting that when an Ulcer is found everything inside it must be killed, just in case. Complicating a simple attack is that a merchants little girl has been kidnapped by the Demon controlling the Ulcer. The PCs have to defeat the Demon and rescue the girl. It involves a standard issue MacGuffin (for later adventure goodness), innocent bystanders, and monsters to kill with a few puzzles tossed in for good measure. Upon success the PCs have earned the Churches favor, and possibly boon from them as well.

 

What makes the Adventure a little more thought out than most is that it's broken down into acts, and each acts comes with the reason it exists, allowing a GM to dramatically build up tension instead of making it feel like he's going from scene to scene. There are hints about what aspects should be played up, and what to ignore, in any given part.

 

It also comes with some solid advice on converting the adventure to your own campaign, be it Echoes Of Heaven or not.

 

The Downside:

 

There isn't much I can say against this adventure, it has stats for monsters, it takes the time to explain things in detail - especially good for novice GMs and Players, and is straight forward. If anything, it shows the only downside to most classic starter adventures - it can feel railroady at times. But not so much it detracts from the fun.

 

The Otherside:

 

It comes with advice to fit it into any Campaign, including ones not set in Echoes OF Heaven. It comes with stats in four systems (or specifically for the system you bought it for only). And it's interesting. For a "bonus adventure with the main book" it's an excellent piece of work and doesn't feel like it was just tossed in as so many "bonus adventures" can feel.

[Defendi]

Re: Echoes Of Heaven + The Throne Of God

 

Thank you. I'm pleased you liked it.

 

I don't see spoiler tags here so I'll avoid one tiny correction, although I should note the adventure is longer than a full-sized 32 page adventure. I just don't want people to get the wrong idea about the size.

 

I think the reason the adventure doesn't feel thrown in as, from a design perspective the ten-part series is why I started writing the entire product line. All the source books are to give you a world to tell the story in.

 

Not that I intend to stop at the end of product ten, of course.

 

Anyway, thanks again.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Echoes Of Heaven + The Throne Of God

 

Indeed, I suppose "short adventure" is the wrong word - since The Throne Of God is 54 pages long - some splat books are that long.

[Defendi]

Re: Echoes Of Heaven + The Throne Of God

 

[MorpheousXO]

Re: Echoes Of Heaven + The Throne Of God

 

sweet! thanks GA, been waiting for this :-)

[ghost-angel]

Re: Echoes Of Heaven + The Throne Of God

 

And if I can find the time, which is fleeting this month, I should have the rest of the books in the series out so far done by the end of summer? Who knows, I make no promises anymore.