In this review, I will talk to you about Compendium dedicated to Streben – the Old School Grim Fantasy RPG, an advanced expansion for players and masters.
First of all, I want to thank Dungeoneer Games & Simulations for sending us a physical copy of the new expansion in order to review it. We have already had the chance to review the core book of Streben – the Old Sc; I advise you to recover the article, especially if you don’t know what it is.
In case you are interested in the product, I suggest that it is available on La Terra dei Giochi’s store in the physical version at the price of € 8 (including PDF) and in the digital version at the price of € 4. Obviously, being an expansion, to be used it is necessary to have the core rulebook, which you can buy here.
Review of the Contents of Compendium
The Compendium allows masters and players who are already familiar with basic mechanics to enrich their game sessions with advanced rules and add elements created especially for your table. The manual is divided into four chapters; in each of them, you can find tips and advice for using or creating new complex and incoming options to improve the game experience.
The first paragraph deals with the Advanced Rules, that maintain the simplicity and intuitiveness which distinguish Streben. The two optional rules suggested purely concern the combat and they are:
- Target: a character has a growing malus to shots to try to deny armour points to the enemy.
- Total Defence: during your combat turn you can decide to renounce your actions to have the possibility to defend yourself twice.
The second section talks about Advanced Talents for characters; we can find a long list, some of them present slight and situational advantages, while others have very powerful bonuses compensated by negative aspects. An example is Born Archer, which allows the character to have a fixed bonus when he utilises ranged weapons. I appreciate the care that has been put into the balance of the new game options; for this purpose, there is precious advice for creating customized talents for your sessions, without the risk of creating mechanic problems.
Advanced Potions and Spells
The third chapter is about Potions. It introduces 6, with the relative price of ingredients (if you have the Alchemy talent) and with the standard purchase price already completed. The potions have various and imaginative uses; they can grant bonuses, heal poisoning or diseases, simulate spells’ effects and more. A rare and powerful potion will obviously have a higher price of ingredients and purchase, but it will have also a greater impact in critical situations. A classic example of a potion is the Antidote, which heals instantly from poisoning.
The last paragraph is about the Advanced Spells. In fact the Compendium offers 21 spells for each school of magic, for a total of 63 new spells. The list is really remarkable and increases the variety offered to sorcerers.
Even here you can find important advice to create homebrew material. To create your spells, it is important to distinguish the schools of magic:
- The Instinctive Magic have an immediate effect, generally, you can use them during combat, they aren’t very powerful and they cost few magic points. An example is Water Dart, a high-pressure water jet that starts from the character and hits an enemy dealing damage and repelling him.
- The Ritual Magic requires a longer launch time and they can’t be used in combat, but they are more powerful. With Reflect Pain, for example, you can inflict on the attacker the same damage that suffers those who benefit from this magic.
- The Magic of Enchantment are difficult to identify and recognize; their effect is instantaneous and they try to creep on the adversary’s brain. An example of Spells of Enchantment is Allucination: the sorcerer attempts to enchant an enemy generating a vision.
Conclusions of the Review of Compendium
As you can see from the pictures included in this review, the Compendium is composed of a folding card of 8 pages in format A5, with readable text; once open it seems like a GM’s screen in miniature. The quality, even in the details, is always high; Dungeoneer Games & Simulations’ products (and in particular the editorial line of Streben) are confirmed an excellent expression of the Italian genus OSR. I really appreciate the folding format, it is perfect to be guarded in the core rulebook.
The illustrations are very few and this is not inherently bad in accord to the small size and the content focus; otherwise, they are realized with care and with a great visual impact, as all works of OBR – Old Raging Barbarian, Fabio Porfidia and Scritto a Mano.
To conclude this review, I advise all the lovers of the RPG Streben to evaluate the purchase of the Compendium expansion; with a limited expense, it will allow you to live more and more exciting sessions and rich of new customised content!
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