13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A definitive guide to the Last War, January 27, 2008
This review is from: The Forge of War (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying, Eberron Setting) (Hardcover)
I recently got into Eberron, and have snapped up quite a few of its (generally very high-quality) sourcebooks. I'm the type that takes Amazon reviews into consideration, though, so "The Forge of War" wasn't one of my purchases, because of its very low rating.
Recently, though, someone in my gaming group picked it up so that they could add a little more flavor to their war veteran character. "A quick glance" quickly turned into borrowing it for the next week, because I found this book really interesting.
The Forge of War is divided into only four chapters, but what they do, they do very well.
Chapter 1 is called "The Course of the War". It reads almost like a history book on the Last War, detailing important events. Jarot's death and Karrnath's plague are obvious examples, but specific battles, such as what really happened at Shadukar, are also here.
There is no "crunch" here, no statistics of any kind, but knowing what level fighter General Horacht was really is besides the point. (There are some nicely done maps illustrating the changing borders, though.) This is about the "course of the war" quite literally, about the battles that were fought and the motivations behind them, the ups and downs that shaped the conflict, and kept it going for a hundred years.
If this kind of information is at all interesting to you, then you'll really enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 2 is called "A Guide to the Last War". If Chapter 1 details the stage on which the war played out, then Chapter 2 is about its various players. There are over thirty entries here, and there is plenty of crunch sprinkled amongst them. For example, the "Armies of Cyre" section goes into Cyre's overall military structure, general tactics, a specific elite company, and both a hero and a traitor that emerged from it.
In contrast, the House Jorasco part is more about "fluff" and less about specifics, explaining the House's involvement in the War, from the whispers of its beginning, to their place in the very middle of it, to their current standing, now that it has ended. The entries have very different information in them, but both convey what they're meant to- the role their specific faction filled in the Last War, large or small, good or bad.
Overall, it can all be useful knowledge, but some entries are definitely more interesting and/or detailed then others.
Chapter 3 is called "Heroes of the Last War". In my opinion, this chapter would have made more sense laid out in two shorter ones, one for background information and one for tools (spells, gear, etc.). I understand why they did it this way, since more then any other chapter, this is for the PCs to read, but it's still a little jarring to go from, "Here are some of the physical or mental scars a soldier might have" to "New spells, cool!"
I love the first half. Chapters 1 and 2 are a wealth of information, but a wonderful stage and fascinating supporting characters are still just backgrounds for a campaign in which the PCs star.
It seems like an obvious question to ask, "How did the Last War shape YOU?", but there's a really detailed answer to be found here. This (first half) is 100% fluff. It's about giving your character an Eberron-specific (which is to say, a Last War-influenced) feel, whether that's a Deserter, an Officer, or a Refugee. These backgrounds have different personalities, motivations, behaviors, and even languages, and they are outlined here. It's also about the "Scars of War", such as flashbacks, mood swings, or missing limbs.
Whether it's a PC or even an important NPC, there are a wealth of interesting ideas on how to roleplay a character affected by war, whether that's in Eberron, Forgotten Realms, or your own homebrew world.
The second half of the chapter is all crunch. It details new spells (for artificers, assassins, bards, clerics, druids, duskblades, hexblades, paladins, rangers, and last but not least, sorcerers/wizards), new armor and shield properties, new clothing, new warforged components, and a goodly amount of powerful new artifacts.
An interesting new concept is of "Heraldic Crests", shield-only effects gained when the shield portrays, and the shield-user is dedicated to, a specific Lord, Order, religion, etc. I also liked "Standards" (flags), which benefit allies within 30 ft of the standard-bearer, as it really seems like a magic item that would've developed in response to field battles.
Finally, there are also several pages on something called "Teamwork Benefits". They're not feats, but through a combination of roleplay ("The team has to train together to gain these") and crunchy bits (requirements for all team members plus the team leader to have skills ranks or feats), they're a way to put a concept like "teamwork" or training into D&D terms, and it works pretty well.
Lastly, Chapter 4 is called "The Last War Campaign". It ties all the information in the book together nicely, applying everything from the last three chapters; the war, the soldiers, and the player characters, into a game and a campaign.
There is information here on the different directions a DM can take in using the material, such as a game set during the Last War, a "flashback" style game, or even a time travel game, in which the PCs have the opportunity to change history.
Besides detailed advice on how to run these types of games, there are also specific "Campaign Arcs", which are basically mini-campaign summaries, such as you'd find at the start of an adventure, but without the actual adventure afterwards. They're nice for illustrating the concepts brought up in the book, and there are some decent ideas that could even fit into an existing campaign, for a little Last War flavor.
I wrote this review because after looking at the book, I had to buy it for myself, and I didn't really feel that the reviews currently here give a good idea of what it's about. This is definitely a roleplay/background/ideas book more then a stats/rules/crunch book, so if you're looking for the latter, you could very well be disappointed. As for me, I give it 5/5 stars, and feel that it does everything it sets out to do nearly perfectly.
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