Francesca Viganò
Before starting the review of the Celtic-inspired campaign Against the Faerie Queene, I would like to thank the author Deren Ozturk who sent us a copy to write this for you. Two years have passed since we reviewed Legends of Avallen, the role-playing game for which it was designed.
If you want to buy it at the end of this review, you can find it for just over 53 pounds (around 55 euros) on the Modiphius website. On the distributor’s website, you will find the free quickstart and an adventure in three parts, for free. Caer on the Borderlands is the prologue to this campaign and is very useful for getting an idea of the game.
Since this is a campaign, the core manual is required to play Against the Faerie Queene.
A Campaign for Multiple Game Systems
As we said, Against the Faerie Queene is designed as a campaign for the role-playing game Legends of Avallen. However, the manual also presents the rules to adapt it to game systems based on the d20 such as D&D5e.
This volume of approximately 400 pages opens with a substantial and interesting guide for those unfamiliar with the original setting. A very useful chapter for immersing yourself in the legendary islands of Avallen, a kingdom inspired by the mists of Celtic myth intertwined with the upheaval caused by the Roman conquest.
To allow lovers of the most famous role-playing game in the world to enjoy the experience of this enthralling setting, the first two chapters are dedicated to the players and the narrator; they serve to introduce them to the context, also presenting the setting and (a detail that I also appreciated in the basic manual) a guide to Welsh pronunciation.
The Player’s Guide
For those who already have the basic manual, this may seem like a less than functional chapter; it is worth underlining the author’s ability to summarize all the essentials in a few pages and, potentially, make you want to recover the basic manual of the game.
The five clans are introduced in concise sections, starting geographically from the south of Avallen to the north of the island. For each region and people, the geography, habits and, joy for enthusiasts, even the poems are indicated. For each clan, the manual also indicates its relationship with the Raxians, invaders from the continent and bearers of machines, culture and destruction.
Five New Paths for the Characters of Avallen
Against the Faerie Queene introduces five new paths (related to professions) for characters built with the Legends of Avallen core rulebook. Just like the Legendary Paths included in the core rulebook, they have three core abilities, which must be learned instead of the normal abilities at levels 6, 9, and 12.
Players will then be able to choose between:
- Automaficer, an artisan of such profound skill can craft a grand artefact endowed with a life of its own
- Enwyr, one who studies the knowledge and use of True Names, for many cultures, everything has a secret name that reveals its real nature.
- Faceless, they can carefully alter their human appearance to be as they wish.
- Paragon, represent the pinnacle of Vallic virtues.
- Philosopher, who dedicates his life to understanding the world and its mechanics.
Adapting Archetypes with the D20 System
To allow you to play Against the Faerie Queene with the D20 System, the manual adapts the ten main legendary paths of Legends of Avallen and the five new paths present in this text into subclasses suitable for D&D5e and other games based on the 20-sided die.
In the dedicated chapter, it is possible to find all the rules and indications to transport this wonderful and vibrant campaign (and the mysticism of Avallen) into the most well-known game system in the world. The authors make a necessary premise linked to the playable bloodlines in Avallen. The premise of the setting is that the characters are human. Although elves, dwarves and fantastic creatures can be found in the Otherworld, these beings are rarely seen in the world of adventurers.
Since many d20-based systems have countless options for non-human characters, three approaches are available for gaming groups. The first is to take the setting as it is, and then play human characters; the second indicates to include non-human characters while accepting the consequence of often being viewed with suspicion and distrust; the last one is to redesign the context and adapt the entire campaign to a new world.
The adaptation work for the game mechanics is punctual; it transfers the mood of the original game allowing it to reach a wider audience.
Against the Faerie Queene: the Campaign
Entering a little further into the actual campaign of Against the Faerie Queene, we discover that it is made of five adventures. The entire story accompanies the characters from the third to the eighth level and each adventure is essentially divided into three parts.
Each adventure has its style and reveals important details related to the purposes of the fairy queen; excluding the first and last adventures (designed to be the beginning and the conclusion), the other three can be played in the order chosen by the players.
At the basis of the plot are the aims of domination of the Faerie Queene, once human and now an influential member of the fairy court. Her goal is to free her beloved Gwrlais (trapped in a fortress built by the god of death herself Ever Stanger), kill the gods and rule Avallen with her lineage.
The Five Adventures
Let’s see, as always without too many spoilers, what awaits players in the volume.
The Hunt is the first storyline in which the characters hunt a demonic boar through the great forest of Glyn Coth, and must save a Vallic royal wedding.
The Heist sees the characters engaged in a theft. They will have to try to steal a mythical artifact in the heart of Vallonium.
In The Horror, the heroes must survive harrowing terrors in the remote seaside town of Arainn.
The Games involves the characters’ participation in the Cabar games, in an attempt to obtain the legendary sword Caledfwlch.
The Cairn, the final episode of the campaign, throws the characters into the kingdom of Ever Stranger attempting to stop the aims of the Faerie Queene.
Against the Faerie Queene Aesthetic Review
Against the Faerie Queene, as we have seen in this review, has strong Celtic influences. These tones are also found aesthetically throughout the volume, starting with the choice of font that characterizes the chapters and paragraphs of the text. While on the one hand, we may risk losing a bit of readability, the visual impact is undoubtedly beautiful and never excessive.
The graphic references at the bottom of the page transport the reader into the mood and make the whole product particularly pleasant to browse. All the illustrations never overwhelm the text. They integrate pleasantly by helping the right narrative inspiration the narrator and the players breathe the humid and mystical air of Avallen more easily.
This use of coloured boxes, in pastel colours, helps to identify the salient parts of the rules. Each colour indicates a specific element, such as setting notes, opponent statistics, narrative cues and notes for the Game Master.
Conclusions of Against the Faerie Queene Review
I can only recommend Against the Faerie Queene to anyone who already has Legends of Avallen in their library. It is a wonderful dive into the mystical and fairy world of British mythology. The ideas are so many that they guarantee not only the replayability of the plot, but also the possibility of expanding it and integrating it with your sessions.
If the basic manual was already a must-have for fans of the context, now, with the possibility of adapting the mechanics to d20-based systems, Against the Faerie Queene becomes the plot that cannot be missing from your gaming experiences!
