'The Silver Cult' (Tales of Gor RPG)
Postmortem Studios (33pp)
It’s only been a few weeks since Tales of Gor appeared in pdf and then print form, and already we have the second
adventure module, which pleases me no end as I do like to see a
steady stream of supplements for a new game system.
Now, whereas the previous module, The
Tower of Art, could probably be classed as ‘Gor light’ since it
took a rather PG rated approach to the more notorious aspects of Mr
Norman’s saga, this time around the authors deliver a far more
‘purist’ adventure that ticks pretty much every Gor box you’d
expect. If Tower of Art strayed into Robert E Howard territory a bit
(and that’s no bad thing – REH is one of my favourite writers)
then The Silver Cult is instead an adventure with the feel of the
first dozen or so Gor novels.
Straight away we’re delving into
‘Outlaw of Gor’ territory as the central plot involves a
resurrected Silver Mask conspiracy 50 years on from the fall of the
Matriarchal regime in the silver rich city of Tharna.
Tharna was an
anomaly on Gor at the time – a city ruled by women, overturning the
usual state of affairs on this savage planet; at least until Tar
Cabot turned up and introduced a regime change of his own.
The game module presupposes that some
of the silver masked women escaped the fall of their city and have
since dreamed of the blessed day when they might take their revenge
against men in general and right the wrongs done to their sex. It’s
a great plot concept that surprisingly John Norman has never picked
up on, which makes it perfect material for an adventure module since
it has the feel of a Gor book that should have been written some time
in the early 1980s.
The adventure kicks off in fine form
with the male characters taking part in a game of 'girl catch' (while
the female members of the party no doubt look on in resigned dismay)
which for those not familiar with it, sees the men blindfolded and
trying to catch hold of a hooded kajira who has jingling bells tied
to her body. So straight away it’s clear that this is going to be a
Gor module that doesn’t shy away from the slavery aspects of the
Gor books. From here on in the player characters are drawn into the
service of a man who claims to need their help in raiding a deceitful
caravan master who has wronged him, and that in time then leads the
characters into the clutches of the Silver Mask conspiracy.
There are a number of things that stand
out in this adventure. Firstly, its an exercise in writing an
adventure as a plot. Another (lesser) publisher might pad this out
with 50 pages of floor plans of random locations, which frankly I
don’t have any need for. As a GM and as a player, I want an
adventure that is essentially a good story, that concentrates on
role-playing and character interaction, as opposed to exploring a
series of rooms in detail (which Pathfinder and D&D tends to veer
towards). From the evidence of the two modules published so far, it
seems that author James Desborough shares my preference for plot
driven adventures, rather than architectural guides. What you get in
33 pages here is probably worth double that from some other game
system.
Secondly, the adventure doesn’t serve
to railroad the player down a single path. There are many ways to
tackle each chunk of this adventure, and it is perfectly possible to
play it from the perspective of trying to bring down the conspiracy,
or supporting the conspiracy (though the latter option will require
additional work on the part of the GM and quite possibly a longer
playing time). The module makes the effort to explore the various
different routes that players may choose to go down, which is all to
the good.
Thirdly, the adventure really does feel
like classic Gor. There are slaves to be taken, random encounters
that hark back to the great era of the novels (the Free Woman
huntress on a riding Tharlarion with a crossbow, from Beasts of Gor
is replicated as an encounter in passing) and a strong sense that
you’re adventuring in Norman’s world and not some coy understated
watered down version. That said, all the gender, slavery, bondage
elements are presented so that they can sit happily in the background
or be brought rather more to the fore, depending on the wishes of the
players and the GM. Not all face to face tabletop groups will feel
comfortable with role-playing the friskier elements of the books in
painstaking detail (that includes me – I prefer a more abstract
approach in tabletop games, though tend to be more adventurous with
the anonymity of online gaming) so the options here work well. Female
slavery is a central part of the Gor concept, and it plays a vibrant
role in this adventure, but never at the point of making it so
blatant and overbearing that a face to face game would prove
difficult to run.
I suppose in context the slavery/gender
stuff here occupies the same narrative position as it does in some of
the early books like Nomads, Assassin, and Raiders.
And it’s the small bits of detail
that really makes the module work and evokes the feeling of Gor
rather than some generic swords and sorcery (minus the sorcery)
setting. I loved it, and the best thing I can say about it is I
immediately wanted to play in it. What really stands out as well is
the immense amount of scope here for female characters to make a real
difference to the way the plot unfolds, as obviously they would have
the option of siding with the Silver Mask women (either for real or
as a ruse), while the male characters probably end up prisoners in
the silver mines for a while. It would even be possible to play this
scenario as a party of (eventually betrayed by the Silver Masks when
they outlive their usefulness) Panther Girls (as is acknowledged in
the introductory notes).
So full marks for an engaging adventure
story, and for being that rare thing – a module that can work well
with many different groups of characters.
Like Tower of Art before, the module
also include some additional rules for the game, and in this case the
rules are exceptionally elegant, offering as they do a system for
torture and the breaking/taming of slaves. The system is geared
towards being used on NPCs, though player characters can voluntarily
be subject to the same rules if they wish. Torture isn’t something
I’d be involved with personally as a Gorean character, but for
information gathering purposes, some characters would turn to it, and
here we have a system which is all about the breaking down of
willpower. I’ll gloss over the torture side, because the bit that
really stands out for me is the same use of the willpower rolls for
breaking slaves into submission. I touched earlier on how
role-playing the slavery elements of Gor in a tabletop game might
bring up some awkward moments, even if the slaves in question are
NPCs.
So, what the rules do then is apply
some game mechanics to what might otherwise lead to some potentially
cringe worthy moments of role-play exchanges, offering the group the
chances instead to steer such things into the territory driven by
game mechanics in a more abstract fashion, if they feel uncomfortable
with role-playing such scenes in detail. There’s also a comfortable
middle ground where each stage in the game mechanics can prompt a
short 'in character' exchange to support the dice rolls. An approach
I’d probably adopt.
Essentially then the person breaking a
slave‘s will does so over time, selecting from a list of classic
Gorean tropes – each one of which in the books gradually breaks the
slave’s will to resist As each one is used, an opposed willpower
contest takes place, with failures on the part of the slave leading
to a gradual erosion of her resistance points. A slave might break
early on with some bad dice rolls, or she may hold on to her pride
for many days or weeks until bit by bit it is taken away from her. I
really like the system. It’s an essentially simple idea, but the
permutations (being free form) are varied and it allows the role-play
to be a bit more abstract for groups who feel a bit shy about such
things.
Personally speaking I’d find such
role-play a lot easier if I was essentially responding to the effects
of the will power tests detailed here. Almost along the lines of – 'hey, it’s
not my fault – Castus of Ar stripped me and bound my wrists and
ankles after he captured me, and I lost another 4 resistance points, so I’m not feeling
quite so defiant now...' And so on.
Each group can find its own balance to
this kind of role-play, but what’s certain is the inclusion of
these rules makes the whole thing a lot easier.
The module rounds off with some
additional rewards for players who make the effort to keep their
characters in the spirit of Gor, offering dice roll bonuses and so
forth. Again, I’m very much in support of this kind of thing, both
as a GM and as a player.
All told, this is probably my favourite
of the two adventures to date, and it bodes well for forthcoming
material. I think the Gor licence has found a very safe pair of hands
in the form of Mr Desborough and Postmortem Studios.
PDF copy from RPGNow (£2.32)
Perfect bound print copy from Lulu
(£6.99)
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