Bloodshadows

Bloodshadows is an original high dark fantasy / pulp adventure gamebook by West End Games that was published in 1994. It was the first setting book for WEG's MasterBook game, which used rules elements used earlier in their TORG and Shatterzone games. It was reprinted in 2011 by Precis Intermedia,[1] which is looking to rework and reform the core rules.[2] A reworked third edition of the gamebook was published by Precis Intermedia in 2016.

Background

The game is set in the world of Marl that is a blend of Dark fantasy, Urban fantasy, and pulp fiction. This high magic world of Vancian fantasy is side by side with the horror of H.P. Lovecraft, the pulp adventure of Robert E. Howard and Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the roman noir of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. It has an early 20th century Industrial Age base in which the technology is blended with magic.

The world of Marl is controlled by three factions: Order, Chaos, and the Oathbreakers.[3] Order and Chaos are like their equivalents in Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series. Order represents stability and obedience while Chaos is randomness and freedom. Neither side should get complete control, because it would mean the end of reality into total stasis or formless entropy. The conflict between them, which is played out between their followers across countless worlds in infinite realities, is called the GodWar.[4] Marl last fought in the GodWar 900 years ago during their Iron Age. The conflict sucked in armies of inter-dimensional and other-worldly beings, killed billions, and devastated the planet. The Oathbreakers are pawns of Order or Chaos who renounced their former allegiances. Some follow a god of Order or Chaos who has broken ranks, while others reject the gods and wish to use their patrons' gifts against them. Nobody knows the Oathbreakers' true goals and intentions, but their actions are dragging Marl back into the GodWar.

The character races are Humans and Unnaturals. Ordinary Humans are the baseline race in the game and don't take supernatural Compensations (disadvantages) unless they want to. Unnaturals are the non-human races (spirits, undead, demons, and shape-shifters) that have abilities and powers but balance them off with Compensations. Humans dislike and fear the Unnaturals, who are treated like second-class citizens. Some Unnaturals can pass as Human, can manipulate or control Humans into doing their bidding, or have useful powers that balance out their inhuman status.

Humans hide behind the walls of City-States that are separated by the dangerous Wilderness. The main campaign takes place in Selastos, a Wilderness boom town surrounded by a desert and connected to the City-State of Galitia by portals. The desert alone would be a difficult obstacle, but it is full of monsters and weird mystical anomalies, so they rely on the portals with Galitia for trade. Selastos runs the mines and recovers GodWar-era artifacts in exchange for food and water from Galitia. The god cults and wizards' guilds are feuding with each other to maintain their power, while the Oathbreakers seem to be stirring up trouble. Galitia doesn't care as long as Selastos keeps being profitable.

Rules

The game was the first gameworld for the MasterBook system and was the only original property in the lineup. It used two ten-sided dice (d10) and a MasterBook deck of 108 cards (100 regular cards, 4 Picture cards, 2 blank cards, and 2 blank Picture cards). There were unique Picture cards for the Bloodshadows MasterBook deck ("Chaos" and "Order") that gave gameworld-unique results.

The World of Bloodshadows (1994) [ISBN 0874313791] (Box Set)

This box set contained the softcover MasterBook rules, the softcover Bloodshadows core book, a MasterBook card deck (split in two parts), and two ten-sided dice.

Sourcebooks
  • Galitia Citybook (1994) – Details the City-State of Galitia, the largest city on Marl.
  • Mean Streets (1994) – Game Master's Companion Rules. Comes with 2 two-panel game-master screens and a campaign pack with NPCs, typical adventure locations with maps, and a gazetteer about the City-State of Albredura.
  • The Unnaturals (1994) – Details the non-Human Unnatural races and contains rules for creating new Unnaturals.
  • Fires of Marl (1995) – A mix of background essays, short fiction, and adventures dealing with the myths and legends of Marl.
  • Padaar Citybook (1995) – Details the City-State of Padaar.
  • Shadows of Selastos' (1995) – Campaign that collects the adventures Flight of Fear, The Lady is a Vamp, All That Glistens, and Trail of Riches set in the City-State of Selastos. Also includes twelve new Human and Unnatural templates.
  • Sorcerer's Crib Sheet (1995) – Details and expands the Magic Rules for Bloodshadows and adds new spells. Also contains three new character templates.
  • Wilderness (1995) – Details the unexplored Wilderness outside the City-States.

Novels
  • Hell's Feast (1994) by Greg Farshtey
  • Blood of Tarrian (1994) by Shane Lacy Hensley
  • The Fifth Horseman (1994) by Ed Stark
  • Demon's Dream (1996) by Greg Farshtey

D6 Bloodshadows Worldbook [ISBN 1932867066] (Softcover)

This was a conversion of the source material to using WEG's more popular D6 system. It was only published for a short time before the company went under.

Bloodshadows: Fantasy-Noir Roleplaying

This was a rewriting and reworking of the original gamebook to fit Precis Intermedia's second version of the MasterBook rules system.[5]

Modules
  • Whisper of Destruction (2017) – Continues the plot of the game fiction and gaming examples in the core book.

References
  1. Bloodshadows for MasterBook (Classic Reprint). Precis Intermedia
  2. MasterBook EZ. Precis Intermedia
  3. The World of Bloodshadows, Chapter 2, pgs. 16–19.
  4. The World of Bloodshadows, Chapter 2, pg. 15.
  5. Bloodshadows: Fantasy-Noir Roleplaying (Hardcover book) ISBN 9781938270826. Precis Intermedia
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