Sons of Kargzant Reviews.

[Simon Bray]

[Moah]

You know, i had *never* heard of the Char-Un or Kargzant before the first ads for this book.

[Mark Galeotti]

You know, i had *never* heard of the Char-Un or Kargzant before the first ads for this book.

Really? Wow. They haven't been a major factor but they have been about since the very beginning: counters in the White Bear & Red Moon / Dragon Pass wargames IIRC, an important role in the 'Tarsh War' freeformish scenario, and they are mentioned in both Glorantha: Intro and ILH-1.

Anyway, all that means is that there is so much to learn when you get this fine book!

All the best

Mark

[Moah]

That makes two books from Unspoken Word that I gotta buy. *grumbles*

[Nick Brooke]

You know, i had *never* heard of the Char-Un or Kargzant before the first ads for this book.

Really? Wow. They haven't been a major factor but they have been about since the very beginning...

The Char-Un also rate significant mentions in the Zero Wane and First Wane of the History of the Lunar Empire, which was published in Wyrms Footnotes back in the late seventies...

Kargzant, by comparison, is a mere stripling. :-)

Cheers, Nick

[MrWrong]

Sons of Kargzant

Published by The Unspoken Word

The Char-Un, or Sons Of Kargzant, are a nomadic horse tribe who live in a land created from the action of the Skyburn, a rain heavenly fire known brought down by their founding Great Chief, upon an Elven forest. It is a land that even without the ghosts of the slain Elves is intentionally harsh and testing, where only the strong survive.

In my opinion this is the best Gloranthan book in years. On one hand it is dripping with detail to keep even the most ardent Gloranthaphile happy, while being clearly written and self contained so that a newcomer can pick up and play.

The presentation throughout is clear and nice. The colour cover is evocative, and the back cover is a full cover map of the Char-Un?s bleak homeland Erigia. The interior artwork although rendered in black and white varies from superb to good and complements the words precisely. Through the art you really get to see the characters and situations in the text come alive. Although like the text there is a strong Mongol influence, it has enough of its own character to give you the feeling that you are looking through a window to another world. Overall I like the progression that this and other recent Gloranthan releases follow, that imagination is now being used to create art that is not merely real world analogies adorned with Gloranthan runes.

The 64-page book is split into three sections.

'The Char-Un' gives thirty pages of background material. After a quick introduction, which neatly sums up their history and outlook on life, ten articles give information on the Char-Un's outlook on Nation, War, Funeral rites, and Language as well as the 'What my Father told me' section which old fans of Glorantha will doubtless be familiar with. Personal highlights are the Erigia Gazetteer which breathes life into the harsh homelands of these nomads, and the Tribal politics section which detail the Great Chief (the Ur-Pan), a once great warrior gone to seed due to Lunar debauchery, and his scheming sons. This section sets up enough internal power struggles to play out against the backdrop of the stark and dramatic locations that the gazetteer provides.

'Char-Un Heroes' gives seventeen pages of character generation information. Often Gloranthan source books overwhelm their readers with in character background, with out stepping back and answering the player's question, 'how do I play this?' SoK doesn't make this mistake. It starts off with a section appropriately called 'Your First Char-Hero', an out of character guide to the possibilities of this character culture, before launching into all you need to generate one of these fierce characters. The Char-Un are spirit worshippers, and a thirteen page section details their three spirit traditions. The Path of Fire, traditionally followed by the warlike males, the Path of Earth, the female tradition that is no less formidable, and the Path of Dawn and Dusk, followed by the Enaree the InBetweeners. Not only does this section give background and flavour, but also it comprehensively gives all the magic and myth that you need for the setting.

'Adventure with the Char-Un!' rounds off the book. Playability is a theme that runs through the book, and this section of Adventure resources, a short adventure, a clan, how to run travelling Char-un and a Bestiary, ties it all together. My favourite section is the 'Char-Un Aboard' which explains how they behave, or not, as travelling soldiers of the Lunar Empire, of which they are part tenuously. This extends the value of the book. Although very strongly temped to run a short story arc in their bleak homeland, I can easily have my players encounter them in my current Lunar Empire campaign. They can also be the bane of the lives of overconfident Sartarite warriors, since they make an appearance in Dragon Pass as part of the Lunar Army.

Two overall factors about this book make me strongly recommend this book to players of HeroQuest, especially new players who are still struggling to get into Glorantha.

The material is fun. Upon reading the book I got an immediate buzz that this would be a fun setting to play in. Like the Char-Un themselves the book is written in a style that is practical and straightforward. Also extra value is gained since the Char-un travel widely, so could be used in other settings.

Apart from references to the core HeroQuest book, and Anaxial?s Rooster (the Monster book) SoK is self-contained. Glorantha is notorious for spreading material across multiple supplements and assuming the Narrator has read and taken in all the pieces that makes up the whole. SoK avoids this, making it ideal for starting Narrator.

This SoK gives me everything I want from a game book. It's a fun and easy read. It details characters, situations and locations that keep on playing across my imagination. Most importantly it gives me the overwhelming desire to actually get out and game with the material within the covers.

Congratulations to all those involved in creating this wonderful book

[Invain]

I just want to chime in with more praise for the Char-Un book. It is full of nice colorful details, and the enthusiasm of the production team is evident throughout. Best of all, the book is coherently focused on information actually useful for play. The Char-Un book is obviously intended to be used, not just to sit on a collector's shelf.

I can't wait to see what the Unspoken Word comes up with next!

~Kevin McD

[Mark Galeotti]

Thanks for the kind words so far -- we certainly had lots of fun writing and also playtesting the book.

Any more opinions?

Also, anything people would particularly like to see in the 'Secrets of the Char-Un' follow-up? We can't promise to provide what you ask for, but it will help -- as is, we have a number of things definitely written and ready, others not finished but certainly earmarked for the 'book' and others which could go in.

And given that as a PDF, it is much less space-constrained, if anyone wants to submit anything for consideration to go into it, they are very welcome. One thing I would say is that we already have some splendid pre-gen sample characters from Brand, so that is probably one thing we *don't* need, but anything else will be considerred with interest.

All the best

Mark

[keithn]

Sons of Kargzant is bloody brilliant. Bloody and brilliant. I like the art, the layout, the content both in terms of what is there and the selection of material. I particularly liked the undead angle, something that I had not considered before.

In terms of using it for my game, which includes Kargzant worshipping Pure Horse People in Second Age Prax , I suspect I will plunder some, if not all of the traditions and ,slightly modified, some of the background. Unfortunately, for me, the Char Un seem to view history as very much starting with Panishi.

I am struggling to find anything that I don't like. I must complain about the absence of Grotaron references, since Erigia IS next to the Grey Mountains but presume the secrets of the Grotaron will be in a future Unspoken Word supplement. Perhaps the Char Un prefer not to think about large long range missile launchers who speak Aldryami and practice embroidery. I am not keen on translations so did not appreciate the Char Un words, however I know that others have different preferences.

Thanks for a great supplement.

Keith