From: Green Ronin Publishing
Reviewed by: Ron McClung
Titansgrave: Ashes of Valkana is a new RPG Setting Book from Green Ronin Publishing. This review comes at a point where I have run nearly or more than half of the campaign. I have also watched all of the videos online that Wil Wheaton did. I have to admit that I am a little biased as I have enjoyed the campaign immensely. I’ll do my best to not let that show too much.
From the Forward by Wil Wheaton: “Titansgrave was created in early 2015, but was born in the early 1980s when I fell in love with a cartoon called Thundarr
The Barbarian. ”
Of course, like man, I got turned on to Titansgrave (and subsequently Fantasy AGE) by Wil Wheaton’s video series. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the videos, and how Wil ran his game. Of course, the players were awesome too, atypical of the players I am used to. They all really got into the setting and their characters and I realized I could only dream of having a game experience like that.
At the same time, I was a huge fan of both Thundarr as well as Heavy Metal (magazine and movies) when I was younger. I found it all inspiring. That was my immediate attraction to the Titansgrave setting. However, I wanted a setting I could be flexible with as well as a system that played to my strengths. I had not played Fantasy AGE before, but from what I saw in the videos, it seemed like it was what I was looking for.
The book contains two distinct aspects to it – the basic world book and the campaign. Some may be disappointed that the world book is somewhat limited in content. It starts out by covering the history of world – Valkana – with as much detail as a few pages can cover. It’s not too detailed but some may feel they would need more. For me it is just enough. The world of Valkana started out as a world of elves, saurians, dwarves and orcs. Through a cataclysm and devastating war, it ends up with a wide variety of races as well as creatures, some familiar and some not.
Included in this section is a detailed map of the continent and surrounding landmasses the campaign is to take place in. This is perhaps my biggest complaint of the book. It may be in part because of my old 40+ year old eyes, but the map is very difficult to read. Even the pull out poster version is harder to read. The PDF is no better. I need a hi-res version somewhere that is easier to read and I can extract sections that I want to customize.
The campaign takes place in the Tasmetra Basin, which is dominated by 3 major city states. These are Naestora, Karros, and Vorakis. The author did a real good job making each city unique and full of adventure potential. Again, for me, the detail is just enough but not too much. For others, it may not be enough. I find it easier to customize to my own needs than to adhere to so much detail and restrictions. So much more is possible.
From the Forward by Wil Wheaton: “What if we did a science fantasy world …. We can take inspiration from the Heavy Metal movie, The Land of the Lost, Akira, and Thundarr the Barbarian.”
The background section of the book ends with additions to the Fantasy AGE rule system including a few Focuses, slight changes to classes, as well as equipment like blaster weapons. Those that like the tech aspect of sci-fi and sci-fantasy will probably be disappointed in this section, because the equipment list is short. It gives you the basics and not much more than that. I can only hope that one day perhaps a technical manual would come out. Until then, I basically make them up based on tech I have seen in other games. They add the Saurians as a new race as well.
This is the beauty of the system, I think. It is simply enough that you can just about convert most anything. It works more or less on the scale of d20 (on a bell curve rather than the d20 curve). Once you get comfortable with the system, it does not take much to convert things to it. I will get more into the system when I review Fantasy AGE.
The campaign side of the book is at least two-thirds of it, with a total of 8 chapters of adventures. The story starts out fairly simple but explodes into an epic story deeply connected to the core setting of the game. The players start out working for a Beer Baron and then involve themselves with a plot that could change Valkana forever. In between, the players face challenges that turn out to be pretty tough.
I also found the campaign pretty customizable. I have inserted side adventures along the way for my players, linking them to the overall campaign. At the same time, the players are advancing a little faster than the campaign is designed for. So I have to ramp up the bad guys at times but that turned out to be easy. I think my biggest complaint is that lack of monsters available to me in the basic core rules. The Bestiary for Fantasy AGe gave me a few but I really would like to have a few Titansgrave specific creature I can use for random encounters. I have done pretty well though, converting creatures from D&D, using some online resources and making stuff up on my own.
The campaign flows pretty well, with a little randomness and coincidence thrown in. I find myself tweaking it little by little but it is basically a hero’s destiny story. I am not overly thrilled with the way it ends (at least in the video) but it does make for great story and leave it open to the sequel. The one thing many may be concerned about is just how much do the do in the video series versus what is in the published campaign. In each chapter, there is at least one (and maybe more) encounter that they do not do on camera. Most of them are not significant though and don’t really change the story, so I still would not recommend the players watch the videos before they play.
The art is fantastic and inspiring. I use it all the time during the game to give the players the visuals they need. It is reasonably well written although I noticed a few editing issues (calling the Stunt Die the Dragon Die on occasion).
In conclusion, I highly recommend this setting for anyone looking for something that is not run of the mill sci-fi or fantasy. This is a perfect merging of the two and play well in the system that it is intended. I sincerely thought about converting it to another system until I played Fantasy AGE and it works really well. I really look forward to the sequel to this.
For more details on Green Ronin Publishing and their new RPG Setting Book “Titans Grave: Ashes of Valkana” check them out at their website http://greenronin.com/, and at all of your local game stores.
Codex Rating: 18
Product Summary
Titans Grave: Ashes of Valkana
From: Green Ronin Publishing
Type of Game: RPG Setting Book
Writing and Design: Keith Baker, Leonard Balsera, Logan Bonner, Matt Forbeck, Will Hindmarch, Jackson Lanzing, Nicole Lindroos, Chris Pramas, Robert J. Schwalb, Mike Selinker, Clark Valentine, Wil Wheaton, Ryan Wheaton, and Ray Winninger
Development: Chris Pramas
Editing: Jon Leitheusser
Art Direction: Adam Lawson Graphic Design: Hal Mangold
Cover Art: Jan Wessbecher Cartography: Andy Law
Interior Art: Rayden Chen, Raquel Cornejo, Phil Dragash, Tony Foti, Nick Gan, Alejandro Moreno González, Hendry Iwanaga, KJ Kallio, Rock-He Kim, Roman Kupriyanov, Evan Lee, Titus Lunter, Michar Pedro, Hugh Pindur, Stéphane Richards, Ned Rogers, Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe, Laura Sava, Scribble Pad Studios (James Paick, Joy Lee, Shawn Kim), Andrey Vasilchenko, Jan Wessbecher, Park Jong Won
Publisher: Chris Pramas
Green Ronin Staff: Joe Carriker, Steve Kenson, Jon Leitheusser, Nicole Lindroos, Hal Mangold, Jack Norris, Chris Pramas, Donna Prior, Evan Sass, Marc Schmalz, Owen K.C. Stephens, Barry Wilson
Number of Pages: 96
Game Components Included: Core Setting book
Game Components Not Included: Core Fantasy Age book
Retail Price: $ (US)
Website: http://greenronin.com/
Reviewed by: Ron McClung