Playbook: A Sundered World (PBtA)
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As the cathedral drifts before the angel gate the priests begin chanting prayers¸ beseeching it to open a path so that they may once again begin the Golden Pilgrimage.
A ship loaded with firewater and other contraband from the City of Brass drifts silently through the Deep Astral¸ hoping to evade border islands...and whatever lurks in the darkness.
As a kytheran raiding fleet swiftly approaches¸ the soldiers of a dwarven multi-fort load elemental cores into an array of fire lances.
Thoughtform trembling with nervousness in front of so many enlightened Astral weavers¸ a t'pual battlemind begins its graduating shape-kata exam.
A mining vessel launches a series of towing chains into a stabilized earth mote. They begin to reel it in¸ hoping it won't fluctuate before they can extract usable ore to process later.
The consuming darkness crawls towards the cold¸ pale spires of the elven city Astrazalian. Most of the inhabitants retreat behind closed doors: only the White Owls¸ nobility and the ignorant dare tread outside before it passes.
A Sundered World is a fantastic¸ kind of gonzo campaign setting for Dungeon World. It takes place in the shattered remnants of the worlds¸ which were ravaged during a cosmic war between the gods and primordials (which wiped them all out in the process). It includes:
- Ten races¸ each with their own race moves¸ to better allow you to determine how much your race affects you (and serve as a foundation in case you want to flesh out an entire racial class). There's also guidelines and suggestions for using them in "default" Dungeon World games.
- Six new classes.
- New weapons¸ armor¸ dungeon gear (including poisons)¸ services¸ transport options¸ hireling skills¸ buildings¸ and magic items.
- Materials to further customize your weapons and armor: bind a wind spirit to your spear so that it flies further¸ shape a shield out of black ice¸ or don sturdy-yet-weightless armor shaped from raw astral essence.
- Ships¸ both magical and mundane¸ to help you get around the Remnants¸ Maelstrom¸ and the darker regions beyond. There's ship-specific moves¸ plenty of example ships to choose from¸ and a section to help you build an entirely custom ship of your own design.
- World moves for drifting through the astral¸ willing objects into existence using astral essence¸ lingering on as a ghost when you die¸ and more.
- Eleven new monster settings¸ detailing glorious-yet-terrifying angels¸ sinister devils¸ cold¸ emotionless machines from the pre-Sundering era¸ spirits that managed to survive the Sundering¸ and strange beasts that were changed during the Sundering¸ or managed to adapt.
- Six varied example campaign and adventure fronts to get you started.
Buying the pdf gets you both the black and white and color versions. Each class gets their own character sheet¸ and there's even a blank¸ generic character sheet¸ which might be useful for characters pile on the race moves and/or end up going into one of the many compendium classes available.
The setting has undergone extensive playtesting: you can read up on session reports here.
Delos Adamski¸ of the blog Ramblings of Jacob and Delos¸ has put up the first part of a kind of broad strokes review of the book.
Also¸ Drunkens & Dragons made a video review !