Pyramid Review
Slaves of Fate (for d20)
Published by Chaosium, Inc.
Written by Jason Durall
Illustrated by Chris Appel, Rob Hinds and Drashi Khendup
88 pgs; $15.95
Chaosium, Inc. was among the first companies to take advantage of the Open Gaming License to produce a d20 system version of one of their own already existing games. This was Dragon Lords of Melniboné, a d20 version of their Elric! RPG -- itself more recently rereleased in a fifth edition and renamed Stormbringer once again, which still employed their "Basic Role-Play" system for its mechanics. The result was a game set within Michael Moorcock's The Young Kingdoms that had a slightly more heroic swords and sorcery feel.
Also promised at the time of Dragon Lords of Melniboné's release was an introductory scenario for the d20 rules, called Slaves of Fate. During the long delay between the announcement and its publication, this adventure has ballooned from thirty-two pages to first sixty-four and finally eighty-eight pages. This scenario is designed for a party of approximately 4 to 8 characters of 1st to 3rd levels, and is intended to initiate new players to the Million Spheres.
Slaves of Fate comes with an attractive cover by Chris Appel and is clearly and simply laid out inside. The quality of the internal artwork is not of a standard seen in other Chaosium books, although Drashi Khendup's illustrations have a certain dynamic quality, capturing the dynamism of the scenes they depict rather well. Likewise, his maps are nicely . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: March 1, 2002
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