A
dark a stormy knight...
So you want to be a Templar, huh? Learn to
handle a sword, take on the horrors of the
Wasted West? You young punks! All you see
are the white tabards and the gleaming swords.
You don't have any idea what it takes to a
Templar.
It ain't slaying monsters
that's hard - any waster with a scattergun
and a conjone or two can give that a whirl.
It isn't the sacrifice, or the weeks spent
disguised as lepers or muties. No, helping
folks isn't what's tough. It's turning your
back when you have to.
See, we Templars are the
ultimate weapon in the war between what's
left of, good in this world, an dthe evil
of the Reckoners. We're tough, but there aren't
many of us. We gotta choose our battles carefully,
and walk away from the undeserving.
We also need every
weapon we can get our hands on. Fortunately,
we've got an arsenal - right betwen the pages
of this book. Join the ranks of the Apocalypse
Knights with a bunch of new rewards, the blessings
of the Martyrs, and even a few powerful relics.
Plus a complete adventure that pitches you
straight into the heart of the battle between
the Templars and there own dark side: the
corrupted anti-Templars!
It's a shattered world, waster - a world desperate
for saviors. Still think you got what it takes
to don the white tabard?
- From The Last Crusaders Sourcebook
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This
sourcebook covers the miss-understood heroes
known as Templars. A group of post-apocalypse
paladins, who only help people who are deserving.
This is another good sourcebook from the people
at Pinnacle, with a good mix of humor, background
and new rules/powers. It is written in the
usual Pinnacle style with an opening chapter
written by a H.O.E character in this case
Jo (the narrator from The Wasted West sourcebook).
Then a chapter on new rules for creating Templars
plus other lower members of Templar Order.
We then get a chapter on powers, a chapter
on The Martyrs (The spirits of warriors who
have fallen in the fight against the Reckoners),
and finally some chapters for the Marshals
eyes only.
In the first chapter Jo
tells us how Simon Mercer, leader of the Templars,
gained his powers and created the order. But
first of all we get a brief history lesson
on the real Knights Templar, an order who
protected pilgrims on their way to the holy
lands in the twelfth century. We are then
told how Simon wandered the Wasted West after
judgment day. Until he witnessed the death
of Jenny Hise, a Law Dog (Protector's of Weak)
who tried to protect a town from raiders,
but was then betrayed by the townsfolk who
left her to die. After this Simon returned
to this hometown of Boise, but on the way
suffered many trials and visions sent by the
Martyrs, who then granted him the powers all
Templars now use. We then learn how Simon
taught the first of his new order and the
events these new Templars took part in. Plus
we get a review of the Templars relations
with certain groups in the Wasted West. Then
we learn about the Dark Side of the Templars...
the Anti Templars. A group of Templars who
have stopped following the path of the True
Templars, and who use different methods. The
two groups have a blood oath to kill each
other whenever they meet, so as you can imagine
things are never very friendly between them.
Finally we are told the stories of several
Martyrs and how each grants its powers to
the Templar. Some of these Martyrs are very
funny, for example:
Wyatt Earp, the saint of
Composure.
Eliot Ness, the saint of Morality. (Who spent
much of his life fighting Mob Families, many
of whom were the evil servants of the Reckoners.
John Wayne, the saint of Grit (who gives us
one of the best quotes, from the squire archetype
"Sorry, I know sarcasm isn't 'becoming,'
but I'm starting to feel faint. Huh? No, I
don't think the Duke's gonna bless me for
sitting here bleeding. 'Not if I keep whining.'
That's funny. Really funny. Thanks."
That finishes the opening chapter, so next
we go onto the new rules. Here we are given
the options for creating Templars, Squires
(Templars in training), Anti-Templars and
Companions (Recognized heroes who work with
the Templars but don't want to be Templars.)
We then have some expanded rules for sword
fighting, such as wonderful moves like sword
throw, reverse thrust (stabbing some behind
who without turning) and feint. Don't worry
if you don’t know what they all are
because you get some funky pictures to keep
things simple.
Next we have the important
part. The powers of the Templar, which are
called Rewards. These rewards are nowhere
near as powerful as the ones used by Sykers
or Doomsayers, but both of these groups need
to pay strain to use powers, which means they
can only do so much a day. The Templar's Rewards
can be used all day for no cost; this fact
makes them very much harder when aTemplar
has picked up several rewards. The nature
of the rewards is enhancement of ability,
over alteration of the environment (so no
Nuke's or Brainbombs', just increased strength,
accuracy and fortitude.) Some of the best
rewards are:
Armor of the Saints- Gives
the Templar a natural armor, which at it's
best, is almost as good as Kevlar.
Deflection- Deflect magic aimed at Templar.
(Good if you get in a fight with the group's
Doomsayer.)
Guardian Angel- Pure good luck helping to
keep your Templar safe.
We then slip into the No Mans Land and Marshals
section, both of which are off limits so I
won't discuss them. But in here we have the
game effects for Martyrs, anti-Templars and
some Relics. Plus all the dirt behind the
clean cover story. I must point out to any
Marshals who plan to run the Adventure from
the back of the book, firstly: make sure the
party really have a chance (something which
is very hard to do if you check it's powers.)
and secondly: make sure you put in lots of
extra encounters to keep it interesting. Other
than this the adventure is very good. The
book is well worth buying, even if I am biased
by the fact that Templars are my favorite
Arcane Background.
Reviewed By Martin Dye |