Faith & Flame - The Provencal Tribunal. A review

[gridlore]

Faith & Flame: The Provençal Tribunal by Erik Dahl

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I started this review on May 15th. That morning, I ended up in the emergency room for an aye issue that might have indicated that I had suffered a second stroke. That was ruled out but I was carted off to the ICU because of a COVID-19 scare. Wasted a weekend there. But now I can finally finish this review!

A good RPG setting book should do a few things well. It should provide a good overview of the physical setting, with maps and descriptions of towns and natural features. It should include plenty of useful bits of local color like cultural details and languages. Finally, it should inspire gamemasters with adventure seeds.

Faith & Flame excels at all three. Set in southern France in 1220 CE, the book gives Ars Magica troupes a treasure trove of opportunity and dangers. The time and place are dominated by the crusades against the heretical Cathars, a conflict that reaches into the covenants of the Order of Hermes. Several covenants have been destroyed in the crusade, and in other covenants, the conflict has led to internal divisions that could tear the Tribunal apart.

The reader gets everything they need to run a good game in the Tribunal here. Detailed examinations of the various areas of the Tribunal, including cities, wilderness areas, and important features. Vital persons, who are mostly drawn from history, are described in detail. The Covenants of the Tribunal and their important magi are detailed.

Every page of this book had a dozen ideas for campaigns, from political intrigue - both mundane and magical - and the dangers of the ongoing crusade, to magical quests to explore deep mysteries, including finding the lost Covenant established by Flambeau the Founder four hundred years ago.

One really nice touch is the author takes the time to tell what happens after 1220 to various people and cities. As many Ars Magica sagas can last for years, as the magi spend most of their time in their laboratories as the world passes by, know the shape of future events not only allows for planning but even more opportunities for the players to affect the fate of the region.

All in all, an excellent resource. This book has everything you need for an AM sage set in the south of France. I would recommend getting a book on the history of the Albigensian Crusade for more detail, but that's just how I do it.



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Comments

"Anno Domini"

[nodrog]

You mean, AD 1220.

Judaic and Moslem calendar years are still correctly parsed in normal usage.  Only the Christian West has received the Soviet treatment.  Odd, that…

Re: "Anno Domini"

[gridlore]

I tend to use CE. But that has nothing to do with the review.