Sword World 2.5 Supplement Review: Barbarous Rage
Another day, another unrequested review of a Sword World 2.5 product. Today we’ll take a look at Barbarous Rage, which lets the bad boys of Raxia take the stage as PCs and attempts to add some nuance on how Humanoids and Barbarous interact in the game world.
I: Origins
I’m not a monster, I’m just … ahead of the curve
First, a quick refresher on how the Barbarous came to be. A zillion years ago, three super-magic intelligent weapons called the Swords of Genesis created the world of Raxia and filled it with many diverse lifeforms. A Human found one of the swords and became the god now known as Lyphos, the Divine Ancestor. Lyphos distributed some of the sword’s god-power to his friends and together they created a peaceful world for all Humanoids.
However, some folks chafed against this harmonious yet somewhat boring world. One of these splitters found another Sword of Genesis and named himself Dalkhrem. He raised up some gods of his own and declared war on the old regime.
Dalkhrem also poured some of his power into a bunch of Humanoid malcontents who were following him. Now, some of the First Sword gods had already done this for their own followers, turning them into Elves and Dwarves, but Dalkhrem did it in a particularly vile manner which scarred the souls of his followers. This altered them in unpredictable ways. His new followers had a brutal “might makes right” policy, aping Dalkhrem’s own philosophy, and were very, very eager to go out and subjugate as much of the world as they could get their filthy mitts on. This new scourge upon the world was, of course, Republicans the Barbarous. They’ve been a thorn in the side of Humanoidkind ever since.
After the inconclusive end of the War of the Gods, Humanoids and Barbarous found themselves in the same perilous boat. Some of the less hospitable gods had left behind demi-angelic creatures called Astrayed who roamed the countryside destroying any organized communities they found. This ended when an Elf rigorously catalogued the magic of Raxia, taught it to Humanoids and Barbarous both, and used it to hunt the Astrayed into extinction. For the next 6,000 years, both Humanoids and Barbarous built civilizations, created empires, warred a lot, and were generally butts to each other and to their own people, which was the style at the time.
An invasion of Daemons put an end to that. Once again, Barbarous and Humanoids came together to face their mutual foe, though the price for containing the Daemon portal was the end of all their empires. Both civilizations collapsed into another dark age.
But then Humanoids invented Swords of Protection. These magical devices cause great pain in creatures with Soulscars, including — you guessed it — the leaders of the Barbarous. The manufacture of Swords of Protection quickly proliferated worldwide. The Barbarous leadership fled underground along with their retainers. Now unopposed on the surface, Humanoid society built great shining cities and all sorts of nifty Magitech devices to make life easier.
For the Barbarous, this was their low point (literally and figuratively). Their leaders, the so-called “Upper Barbarous,” were ironically forced to live deep underground, and the weaker ones who could withstand the Swords of Protection were no match against the newly empowered surface dwellers. But the Barbarous leadership had the advantage of long lives, plus the ability to act away from the prying eyes of humanity. For the next 1,700 years, while Humanoids grew complacent in their superiority, the Barbarous plotted their revenge in the deep dark beneath the world.
Finally the time came to strike. It began with devastating earthquakes in every major Humanoid city as the Barbarous collapsed extensive caverns they had dug underneath, followed by a unified invasion of the surface. Hordes of Barbarous boiled out of the ground and killed and destroyed with impunity. This lightning attack, which history records as the Diabolic Triumph, nearly wiped out the surface races in a single stroke.
Finally the Humanoids managed to mount a desperate defense, and the attack slowed. But it wasn’t until a small group of Humanoid adventurers, armed with a magic sword which may have been one of the Swords of Genesis, defeated the Barbarous King in single combat that the offensive finally came to an end.
Nowadays, the world is still crawling with Barbarous, who are doing what they can to stymie the Humanoid reconstruction and rebuild their own empires. But they’re still relatively scattered, and since many of their strongest members died in the Triumph, good iron-fisted leaders are hard to find. There’s plenty of opportunity for young strong Barbarous warriors to rise up and fill this power vacuum. But who?
::looks directly at the PCs::
Who?
II: Unleashing the Barbarous Within
Off to the races
The entire first section of Barbarous Rage outlines a bunch of playable Barbarous PC races. The section begins with a gigantic caveat: Barbarous races are not balanced. They’re not balanced against Humanoid races. They’re not even balanced against each other. One person can play a character who can turn into a literal dragon, while another can play a funny little dog dude who cooks good. Barbarous adventures are obviously intended to be either novelty one-shots, exercises in role-playing, or both, where the power disparity won’t affect the game long or hard enough to make the players go, “Why aren’t we all Basilisks then?”
All Barbarous races have two mitigating agents: Weak Points and Soulscars. Before combat begins, every Barb PC has to make a roll to see if the enemy can take advantage of their particular weak point (like magic or fire or bludgeoning or whatever). If they can conceal their weakness, they can fight normally; otherwise, they may have to take special measures not to get shellacked by certain monster abilities.
Soulscars come into play if the PCs enter the influence of a Sword of Protection. Kinda hard to fight when you’re writhing in agony on the ground. Also, creatures with Soulscars have to worry about being resurrected upon death; each resurrection increases Soulscars, and if you get 5, you become an Undead NPC, which ends your quest for glory right quick.
After a brief section about Barbarous background histories, which are mostly random tables full of role-playing hooks, we get into the races proper.
Diablos: Half-Barbarous half-Daemons, exclusive to the Alframe continent. They have purple skin and crags and horns and are pretty weird-looking even by Barbarous standards. Distributed through their bodies are small black stones called “Diablo Cores” which give them their special abilities. Their origin is unclear but may go back to experiments by Humanoid sorcerers during the Ancient Magic Civilization.
Diablos have armored skin, darkvision, and can levitate at will, but their most significant ability is Daemonshift, turning them into four-meter-tall, even craggier and hornier (heh) versions of themselves. Daemonshifted Diablos have two Sections, each with their own sets of hit points and abilities. Pretty badass (or bad news, depending on which side you’re on). Diablos are weak to Energy damage and have four Soulscars.
Drakes: The Big Kahunas. The greatest leaders and generals in the history of Barbarouskind have been Drakes. In their regular form, Drakes are mostly human in appearance, if you discount the swept-back horns on their heads and the wings on their backs. One particular oddity is that they are born (or actually hatched) holding a magic sword, which is generally considered a part of them. If this sword is lost or broken, the shock will usually kill the Drake.
Drakes have darkvision and can fly, and of course come already equipped with a magic sword. Their greatest ability is Dragonification. Yes, Drakes can turn into dragons at will by merging their bodies with their magic swords. Their new bodies have three sections (one Body and two Wings), can make multiple wing and claw attacks each turn, and, to top that all off, have an Energy breath weapon called “Breath of Light,” because heck, why not. Drakes are weak to magic damage and have four Soulscars. Not much of a tradeoff really.
Basilisks: Last of the Upper Barbarous, along with Drakes and Diablos. Normally they look almost exactly like Humans, though their eyes are very, uh, distinctive. Long soulful gazes over romantic dinners are not recommended. Basilisks can and do wear hoods, blindfolds, masks, etc. which completely block their eyes without any visual penalties.
Basilisks have poisonous blood; if anyone damages them in melee, the splashback will damage the attacker. But of course their most versatile ability is their Evil Eye of Petrification, which can slowly turn enemies to stone. Their Evil Eye also counts as a magic implement, allowing them to cast spells without having to wave a wand around. Basilisks can eventually upgrade their Evil Eyes with other powers, like beam attacks, healing rays, body swapping, and other esoteric things. And if that’s not enough, they can change into a giant eight-legged lizard form that can take up to three actions per round. Sheesh. Basilisks are weak to Water/Ice damage and have four Soulscars.
Dark Trolls: Now we get into the more rank-and-file Barbarous. Dark Trolls are big ol’ burly guys with pitch-black skin and muscles on their muscles. Though they excel at being the warrior caste, they’re also surprisingly thoughtful and tend to be pretty good Priests. A lot of Dark Trolls end up becoming paladins of Dalkhrem.
Dark Trolls have darkvision and an exceptional physique which gives them extra defense. They’re also weakened by sunlight, but their natural warrior abilities usually make up for it. After 6th level, a Dark Troll also gains a limited HP regeneration ability. They’re weak to magic damage and have four Soulscars.
Arbors: Where Humanoids have a race of plant-based people called Meria, Barbarous have Arbors. Arbors have green hair and white skin with eye-shaped patterns all over, similar to birch bark.
The story goes that during the War of the Gods, Dwarves cut down and burned whole forests while forging weapons for the war effort. The remaining trees, filled with resentment, gained human form through the power of the Second Sword. Arbors still hold strong hatred against Humanoid races, particularly Dwarves, and will go out of their way to stomp their dumb little bearded heads into the mud.
Arbors can focus the flames of their hatred into actual flames bursting from their weapons or shields. They’re weak to fire, as you’d expect, and have two Soulscars.
Baba Yagas: (Before I start: No, they don’t have houses on chicken legs. I know, I was disappointed too.) Baba Yagas are an entirely female race who normally look like young women with long hair. As Barbarous go, they’re not particularly sociable with their peers. They tend to either live alone in deep woods or quietly within Humanoid society, where they spend their time learning and researching magic and not giving much of a flip about anything else.
Don’t get on their bad side, though. A Baba Yaga’s special ability is Witch Transformation, whereby they take on two extra Soulscars and turn into a horrible crone who can increase the effect of spells by consuming extra MP. Though their human form is often gentle and thoughtful, transformed Baba Yagas are heartless and cruel and mean and nasty and brutish and short. A lot of them prefer not to ever have to make that transformation, but they won’t hesitate to if they or their loved ones are in danger. You go, tiger mama. They’re weak to physical damage and have two Soulscars (4 in witch form).
Centaurs: Yep, horse people are Barbarous too. Much like Baba Yagas, Centaurs don’t truck much with their more brutal kin, preferring instead to run free on the plains and not bother anyone who isn’t bothering them. They have a reputation for being fair, square, straightforward warriors, and are very good at group combat.
Centaurs have a built-in Hoof melee weapon and are capable of learning certain Rider Stunts for themselves. They can run very fast and carry other characters on their backs without slowing down. They’re weak to Earth damage and have three Soulscars.
Scissorscorpions: Okay, imagine a Centaur, but instead of the horse part, you have a giant scorpion, with claws, tail, and all. That’s a Scissorscorpion. These are advanced relatives of another monster called Androscorpions, who are unusual among Barbarous for adopting Magitech weapons like guns. While Androscorpions have an insectile hive mind, Scissorscorpions are more independent, though usually still rather emotionless and alien.
They have darkvision, but their big thing is just their big, weird-ass body. Scissorscorpions have multiple sections with their own HP, a built-in Claw weapon, and another built-in Poisonous Tail weapon. They can mess you up, man. They can’t transform, so they’re always like that. Lovely. They’re weak to physical damage and have four Soulscars.
Dawns: Hide in Shadows incarnate. Dawns are about the size and shape of a Human but covered in dark fur. Dawns are very good at infiltration and assassination, abilities which the Upper Barbarous appreciate. They’re also highly religious, and tend to proselytize gods of the Second Sword on the down low even while infiltrating Humanoid settlements. Stumbling across a ramshackle temple to Dalkhrem may be a giveaway that your town has a Dawn infestation.
Dawns can see in darkness and have retractable Claw weapons. They also get significant bonuses for hiding, disguising, and following. Their weak point is Accuracy (that is, if they miss their Weakness roll, the enemy gets a bonus to hit them) and they have two Soulscars.
Kobolds: Yay! Finally something cute! Kobolds exist at the very bottom layer of Barbarous society. Even weak monsters like Hoodlings and Goblins bully them. They survive mostly by being timid and submissive, but also good at chores and therefore handy to keep around. Kobolds are especially well known for being excellent cooks. They pick up skills well, and often learn Trade Common so they can interpret for Humanoids. Because they’re so picked on, they appreciate anyone who treats them with even a shred of dignity, and will happily abandon Barbarous society for Humanoid settlements if promised a better life (which isn’t difficult to provide). Many inns and Adventurer Guilds employ well-regarded Kobold chefs.
Kobolds have a natural level limit; they can only advance to 5th level in any class, and no further. They also have the unique ability to divert any attack or skill being used on them to another character, once per combat. They’re weak to magic damage and have only one Soulscar.
III: Lifestyles of the Rich and Barbarous
Parts is parts
In Sword World 2.5, large monsters have multiple Sections. Each Section has its own HP, MP, attack, defense, and special actions they can perform. Several of the new Barbarous PC races can transform into multi-Section monstrosities, or in the Scissorscorpions’ case, are multi-Section monstrosities. How, then, do players deal with how all that works? What are their other Sections’ HP and MP? Can they attack with every Section every turn? What do they base each Section’s Accuracy and Defense on? What is the deal with airline food?
Barbarous Rage introduces the Heritor Class to answer most of these questions. While this Minor Class can technically be taken by anyone, it’s only useful if you have more than one Section. But hey, it’s your XP, knock yourself out, champ.
Without Heritor, a multi-Section PC’s parts have a cap on HP, MP, and defense, which never increase as they level up. Their Accuracy and Extra Damage scores are also based on this class; without it, extra Sections act as though they are unskilled (straight rolls without any adds). This applies even if they normally have another class they can act with. So while a transforming PC without Heritor can still be deadly with sword or spell, their other appendages are just sorta flopping around. And we all know how embarrassing that can be, am I right fellas?
(Sob.)
If that’s not enough, the Heritor Class also provides improvements called Infusions for your various bits and bobs. Every level of Heritor gives one new Infusion. Some Infusions are generic, and tend to involve increased speed or defense, or just quality of life improvements like allowing the PC to carry items over from one form to another.
Each race also has a set of specialty Infusions available only to them. Basilisks get lots of new eye abilities, including the funky beam attacks I mentioned earlier; Diablos get unique Daemonic attacks and the ability to curse people by lowering their own HP; Drakes can upgrade their breath weapons and swords; and Scissorscorpions get better tail venom and some neat claw attacks and movement skills.
While Heritors get an awful lot of utility from a Minor Class, this class is all but required for the multi-Section types. It’s an acceptable XP tax to not be the world’s lamest Drake.
The next chapter details new items specially made for Barbarous. A couple of standouts are the Denudation armor upgrade, which allows a transforming PC to burst out of their human form’s armor without destroying it, and Soulscar Processing, which gives a bonus to weapons and armor depending on how many Soulscars the wielder has. This equipment section is short but has a few interesting ideas that show that life as a Barbarous isn’t just “Humanoids with fangs.”
IV: A Place of Our Own
I’m a Barbarous Girl, in a Barbarous World
The last section of the book opens with several meaty essays about each new PC race, their origins, and their current place in Barbarous society. It’s just a big lore dump. Nice if you like that sort of thing, and it helps give some perspective on why things are the way they are, but if you’re not a lorehound it’s skimmable if not skippable.
The next chapter sets up a campaign area on Ilsan Island, half of the Ghauntte Region in the far northeast of the Alframe continent. Before the Diabolic Triumph, this small region was a charming throwback to a simpler time where Magitech never fully took hold. During the Triumph, the Barbarous successfully took over Ilsan, one of the two main islands of the region, which today exists in a tense state of detente with the other (Humanoid-controlled) island of Krasandar.
On Ilsan, strength rules, period. If you don’t like how your life is going, hit things until it changes. Most of the “domains” on Ilsan are ruled by Drakes, followed by Basilisks and Diablos, with a few of the significant remaining domains ruled by Nosferatu. (Swerve! Weren’t expecting that, were you? Vampires in Sword World are Barbarous and not Undead, though some of them can create Undead minions. So far there aren’t any official rules for playing full-on Nosferatu. Probably a good thing.)
Society is feudal, almost comically so. The absolute king of Ilsan Island is a 600+-year-old Drake named Extus Vandarus, better known as “The Dragon of Wicked Pleasure.” He’s … pretty much what you’d expect. Under him, the regional leaders bear titles like “Viscount” and “Baron” and all that froofy regal stuff. Below the Upper Barbarous are the warrior class, made up mostly of Trolls, Minotaurs, and Ogres, followed by the Youma: Bolgs, Goblins, Hoodlings, and our old pals the Kobolds. There’s also a “side caste” of aquatic Barbarous like Lizardmen and Merfolk, who live in the ocean around the island and swear loyalty to its king, but don’t really have much interest in the land-dwellers’ politics.
After the Diabolic Triumph, large numbers of Humanoids were captured and enslaved by the new ruling group. Humanoid slaves are relatively well valued, since Humanoids are more capable than most Youma for anything other than heavy lifting. (It’s still slavery, though, make no mistake.) Occasionally a Humanoid who does a great deed can earn the title of “Honorary Barbarous” and gain their freedom. This can occur via gladiatorial combat, Shallow Abyss exploration, or some other valiant (and probably violent) demonstration of their prowess.
The book continues by exploring the general lifestyle on Ilsan Island, both from the perspective of the Barbarous living there, and as an adventurer: what the communities are like, what adventuring is like, how to get campaigns rolling, etc. The generic blueprint of a Barbarous adventure is being told where to go by someone stronger than you; alternately bullying weaker people and kissing stronger peoples’ asses along the way; punching the opposition until it stops moving; then going home and getting a new pig or something.
There’s even a small section about playing as a Humanoid in Barbarous society, with examples of being an Honorary Barbarous or just someone who has come to be accepted by a band of Barbarous adventurers. It still requires a lot of careful balancing between PC motivations and expectations. It’s not necessarily recommended, but it’s possible if you have the stomach for it.
The book ends with a small two-part scenario for beginning Barbarous PCs, where they’re ordered to locate and kill a wild bird attacking the outskirts of a nearby village … and shenanigans unfold. (To be a million percent honest, there’s not a lot about this scenario that requires the PCs to be Barbarous except for the attitudes of the NPCs you meet. It’s a solid but unremarkable intro adventure like you’d find anywhere.)
V: Conclusions
O, Barbarous and bloody spectacle
Barbarous Rage directly addresses the eternal desire for players to live life on the Other Side. It gives plenty of insight into the Barbarous society and mindset, and it lets you play weird critters with nasty, big, pointy teeth. That part is exactly as it says on the tin, and I have no complaints.
Too bad about the rest of it.
Now it’s silly to expect a single supplement to evoke the sort of big, rich, colorful world that all the other Sword World 2.5 supplements have created. But the Barbarous world that this book describes feels exactly what you would expect from a monster campaign, and that’s kind of the problem. It’s by-the-numbers “dark’n’rough” stuff. The stratified society is boring. There’s nothing fun or surprising in how the different groups interact. There’s no there there.
The default campaign taking place on a single smallish island doesn’t help, and the semi-generic intro adventure is a letdown. Even merely being Barbarous comes off as shitty, with hard racism and classism, nobility pooping on the masses from a great height, slavery from top to bottom, social mobility only at the end of a sword, and wanton cruelty being the coin of the realm. I get enough of all that just living in Trump’s America, thank you very much.
There is some potential for taking the characters and plopping them into Humanoid society, but a) being a Barb any more threatening than a Kobold will have people openly being jerks to you, b) the book specifically cautions not to have the campaign be “Barbarous vs. Humanoids,” because then you’re just like stabbing innocent farmers and that gets old after a while, and c) most Barbarous PC races are either wildly overpowered or wildly underpowered. “Our party consists of a swordsman, a mage, a priest, and a fricking dragon” will have three out of four players sitting around waiting for the embers to cool down before they can loot the bodies.
So in the end: neat monster PCs, some interesting ideas about life among the Enemy, and a few half-baked bits that may need tweaking. All in all, there’s plenty of potential as long as the GM is willing to put in some elbow grease.
VI: Barbarous Saga
Wait, I thought we were done
I’d be remiss if I didn’t touch on the Barbarous Saga supplement, which came out a few months after Barbarous Rage. Only partially translated into English so far, Barbarous Saga adds three new Barbarous races.
Broken Drakes: Drakes who have either somehow survived losing their magic sword, or were born without one in the first place. Broken Drakes can’t fully transform into dragons, but they can consume the power of a Sword Crystal and turn sorta dragon-ish for up to a day. This gives them the ability to fly and a lesser version of the Breath of Light power. They have a weakness to magic damage and have three Soulscars.
Lamias: Snake-torsoed shapeshifters who need small amounts of Humanoid blood to survive. They can see in the dark, gain natural bite and tail attacks, and have the ability to drain blood from a Humanoid to heal themselves. They can also shapeshift into a weaker Humanoid form for up to 18 hours a day, which lets them live in Humanoid areas without much trouble. They’re weak to Earth damage and have two Soulscars.
Dhampirs: Half-human half-vampire daywalkers. Dhampirs live up to 300 years, but when they die their body becomes a stiff waxy material, and may rise one year later as a Nosferatu. The only thing that prevents this waxification-resurrection cycle is regularly ingesting the blood of other Nosferatu. Therefore, most Dhampirs become vampire hunters. They can see in the dark, bite Humanoids or Barbarous to heal themselves, and can coat their weapons in their own blood to increase their damage against soulscarred opponents. Dhampirs are also slightly weakened by sunlight. They’re weak to physical damage and have two Soulscars.
These guys are a little more on par with normal Humanoid PC races, and can more easily hide in plain sight. GMs interested in mixed Humanoid/Barbarous parties could do worse than look here first.