Slàine Cover

By: Ian Sturrock
Published by: Mongoose Publishing, $34.95
Review by: Jonathan Oliver

Much to my Dad’s amusement, when I was a young man of about 14 I decided to wear my Sláine T-shirt to church. The image of Sláine swinging a huge battle axe with the words “Kiss My Axe” emblazoned above the Celtic warrior apparently didn’t go down at all well with some of the congregation and words were spoken to the wayward son of the vicar. Ah, great days! Now we get to relive the excitement of the classic 2000AD comic strip in this game of Celtic heroes. As far as capturing the violence and humour of Pat Mill'’s comic creation goes, the Sláine RPG does a pretty good job. Throughout the text are woven panels from the original comic strip and full-page colour illustrations from the likes of the wonderful Simon Bisley and Clint Langley. As always, Mongoose publishing have produced a fine looking hardback system book.

Sláine is a D20 system RPG so you will need the Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook 3rd ed. to run and play the game. It's well worth it though, Sláine uses the D20 system as its core but it adapts certain elements to give the game a uniquely Celtic feel. The character classes are well thought out and centre around the warrior castes and the magic users of the Celtic world. There are also a whole bunch of prestige classes to give your character something of an edge. Sláine is a very combat orientated game and the rules for combat are ingenious. Not only is hand-to-hand covered but there are also rules for fighting with units of armies and chariot battles. This is a welcome addition for the D20 system as since its inception it really has been crying out for decent rules to cover mass combat. There is also an array of truly nasty weapons, some directly from the comic strip. I particularly like the concrete ball made with the brains of slain enemies.

The magic systems is based on points, so no worrying about memorising certain spells for each day. If you have enough points you can cast the spell. You gain points through various means, sacrifice being one of them. This is a nice touch, as the magic is very much linked to the body and the earth, reflecting Celtic mythology and giving a real edge to magic users. A good world guide is also provided, giving enough overview of Tir Nan Og to get the GM thinking. A large amount of monsters and enemies are also given and many fans will recognise certain creatures from the comic strip. The Sláine RPG has only been out for about a year but there is already a wealth of source books for the game, including a vast four-book campaign.

Ian Sturrock and his team have produced a genuinely welcome addition to the D20 system and its nice to see Celtic mythology and the comic book source material used so well and so inventively.