Temple Quarter: A City Quarter Sourcebook
From: The Game Mechanics
Reviewed by: Ron McClung
Temple Quarter: A City Quarter Sourcebook is a new d20 Fantasy Sourcebook from The Game Mechanics.
Sometime ago, I had the privilege to review JD Wiker and Chris West’s Thieves Quarter in paper form, which ended up being an award winning book. I then had the privilege of congratulating JD Wiker himself at Stellarcon 29 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Recently, he was kind enough to supply me with a pre-release PDF of his next book, Temple Quarter.
From page # 3:
“Temples are centers of spiritual guidance and learning, certainly, but that only touches the surface of the purpose that religions serve in society—or the purposes that society serves in religion.”
Content: This being a sourcebook, the majority of the book, and thus the majority of this review, is content. One of the basic premises of this book is to push the role of the temple and religion in a fantasy game beyond the traditional source of healing and an occasional potion. Temple Quarter is part of the City Quarter series, generically set in a city called Liberty. Like its predecessor, anything and everything in this sourcebook can be inserted into most any fantasy city. Liberty is divided up into several quarters: the Divine Quarter, the Old Quarter (Thieves’ Quarter), the Arcane Quarter, the Mercenary Quarter, the Noble Quarter and the Palace Quarter. It also has the Outlands and the Undercity. Most, if not all, are pretty self-explanatory.
Of course, this particular book focuses on the Divine Quarter. It is described as a heavy trafficked area, with believers of all faiths going in and out on a daily basis. The introduction describes this busy city in general terms, touches on the finances and commerce of the area, and has an interesting section on Conversion (see below for more on that). Also included is a section on rituals and ceremonies and their spell-like effects (see later). The introduction closes with a few paragraphs on church law and civil law, explaining the differences as well as addressing the subject of weapons and armor in Liberty from a cleric perspective.
Chapter One covers a variety of locations within the Divine Quarter. In brilliant detail, 18 individual temples, shrines and other locations are described, some in more depth than others. From the Grand Cathedral of Lod and the High Priest Vamdrin Adamantheart to the brutish members of the old Temple of Sem; from the mystical and arcane Temple of Vig to the mysterious shadowy Temple of Mol, eighteen total locations are explained with details on history, who worships and who serves the particular religion. Most have a short list of spell-like rituals traditionally performed in these temples, and some are further detailed out with notes on locations within the location like vaults, special sanctuaries, and other chambers. Alignments range from lawful good to neutral and some are more popular than others. Each have their own niche and appeal, as well as mystery and intrigue. Most also have notable clergy NPCs fully stat’ed out. Accentuating each location is the great cartography of Christopher West, mapping out each location. Brilliantly drawn out and colored, these maps simply give this PDF so much more prestige.
One of the more notable location is the Street of Shrines. The religions not popular or important enough to rate actual temples occupy space on the Street of Shrines, Liberty’s central gathering place for the lesser faiths and those who preach them (pg 69). From the oldest dying religions to the most radical cults that popped up last week, these streets are rife with fanatics, swindlers and passionate followers of the more obscure religions of Liberty. The streets tend to be noisy as followers compete for the attention and souls of passersby.
Chapter Two is a short one with the descriptions and stats of other notable individuals within the Divine Quarter, including the mysterious sage, Theologian Corrianne, who has a strange interest in religious artifacts, and the Heretic Priest Byllix who is a controversial figure within the Cathedral of Lod because of his secret crusade against it and its cover-ups.
From page # 84
“An old joke in the city goes that every Liberty child’s first words are ‘Are you with me or against me?’”
Chapter Three is also short with two pages of notes about church-related plots and storylines. Dominant in these pages are notes on the Church and State as well as the story behind the Vurkis Heresy. The Vurkis Heresy is an interesting plot about the covered-up legend of gods prior to Lod and his divine children. This is linked to another location within the Temple Quarter called the Shrine of the Sacred Mother and the secrets held by the presumed-dead heretic priest, Byllix.
The Appendix contains encounter tables in which any variety of things can happen on the streets of the Temple Quarter, and any of them could lead to amazing adventures. Encounters tables are always handy.
System: Conversion is a process where a character changes religions. Included is a whole system for converting a character’s religion in d20 game terms. The conversion process concludes in the character inviting the potential convert to attend and participate in a religious ceremony. Once the potential convert has agreed to participate in a ceremony, all he has to do is attend. This is the final step for the convert: to participate. He must worship the new god above all others and possibly change his alignment. Ceremonies grant spell-like effects to participants. The benefits of a given religion’s ceremony is often an incentive for others to convert. Most temples have a short list of common rituals. Also there is a variety of non-player character stats throughout the book. All are standard format and within the text of the rest of the book. There is a Prestige Class called The Champion of Lod (p24) which is the strong arm of the Temple of Lod.
Layout: By far, the most notable things about this PDF are the layout and the art. I have already noted the fantastic cartography, but it is worth mentioning again. It is true that some of the maps are not as big as one would want to play on, but with a little knowledge in computers, one can copy the image somewhere else and blow it up to something useful. It is a well laid out book, and very attractive overall. The non-cartographic interior art is also well done.
In conclusion, the Game Mechanics do it again with a brilliantly laid out book with incredible depth and inspiring art. This is a great companion to the Thieves Quarter, and I hope they are able to get it into print form.
For more details on The Game Mechanics and their new d20 Fantasy Sourcebook “Temple Quarter: A City Quarter Sourcebook” check them out at their website http://www.thegamemechanics.com and at all of your local game stores.
Temple Quarter: A City Quarter Sourcebook
From:The Game Mechanics
Type of Game:d20 Fantasy Sourcebook
Written by:JD Wiker (City of Liberty conceived by JD Wiker and Christopher West)
Contributing Authors/Editors:Brian Cortijo, Stan!, Vincent Szopa
Layout by:Marc Schmalz
Cover Art by:Clarence Harrison, Marc Schmalz & Christopher West
Additional Design: Gary Astleford & Rich Redman
Additional Art by:Toren “MacBin” Atkinson, Pete Schlough, & David House
Number of Pages:97
Game Components Included:One PDF File
Game Components Not Included:Core d20 Rulebooks
Retail Price:$ 12.00 (US)
Website:www.thegamemechanics.com
Reviewed by: Ron McClung