Pyramid Review
Oathbound: Arena (for d20 System)
Published by Bastion Press
Written by Kevin W. Melka and Todd R. Laing
160-page b&w softcover; $27.95
Oathbound: Arena is a continent sourcebook for the Oathbound campaign setting. It includes information on its resident ruling divinity, the warlords who fight to exploit the desert continent's riches, area information, story hooks, a mass combat system, and an adventure to send PCs into Arena. It also includes a few new races, prestige classes, prestige races, gifts, mass combat feats, magic mecha constructs, artifacts, and a few monsters.
The Oathbound setting has seven deities bound to the world, each ruling a continent and drawing in outworlders to struggle on their created world. Arena is ruled by Barbello, the Mask of Fury, who thrives on warfare. She has seeded her desert continent with untold riches just waiting to be dug up and exploited. This draws in mortal leaders who wish to mine the riches. However there is no single mortal ruler of the land; it is a constantly shifting field of warlords who strive to control mines, oases, trade routes, fortifications, and populations of slaves. If a weakness appears in a neighbor, warlords are quick to send in their armies to take over the vulnerable resources of lesser leaders. Life is cheap and blood is often spilled to gather the riches that Barbello has buried in the land.
Power is based on armies, which are fielded by money gained from mining using slave labor. It is a fierce competition . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: December 26, 2003
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