Trashes & Treasures: Older 3rd Party Sourcebooks, a Walking Tour

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When the Sky Falls, Malhavoc Press

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Summary
I know every DM has the inclination to pull a ‘rocks fall, everyone dies’ on his campaign from time to time. I don’t know if it inspired this book. Either way, this book basically gives you a framework for building a campaign around a meteor impact on your campaign world. This is one of Malhavoc Press’s ‘Event Books’, i.e. they had three of these meant to help DMs out with planning and worldbuilding for three events that crop up a fair bit in fantasy fiction of the time but which are usually beyond the grasp of most DMs to do fully: a meteor impact; the death of a deity; and the coming of a war. The book provides DM advice on staging one of these cataclysmic events, involving the PCs, and making changes necessary to the campaign as consequences of the event. The book also contains new NPCs, prestige classes, rules, spells, magic items and monsters involved with the event.

Date of Publication and Page Count
2003, 66 pages, and from the copyright information seems to be a late 3.0, early 3.5 book. That said, it doesn’t suffer much from the 3.5 update by nature of its content. The author is Bruce R. Cordell, as in, the Bruce Cordell who wrote The Sunless Citadel that many of you either ran or played, as well as the Psionics Handbook and the Heart of Nightfang Spire. Malhavoc Press is essentially Monte Cook’s publishing business, though his books also bear the sigil of Sword & Sorcery, which was basically White Wolf Publishing. The distinctions are more or less meaningless at this point. As at date of review this book doesn't seem to be casually available for purchase as a PDF on large RPG market websites. You may have to go looking for this one elsewhere in the virtual world or the real world.

Notable Features
Engram Arks: The three main types of meteor impact the book considers (whilst leaving open lots of other possibilities) are: impact of bog standard space rock; thaumaturgical meteorite, i.e. impact of bog standard magic space rock; and impact of an Engram Ark. Now, I’m a big sucker for ark-style stories, whether it be Battlestar Galactica, Passengers, Superman, or the Autobots’ Ark from Transformers, so in me they got someone who was primed for this, but the Engram Ark is not an alien invasion … as such. The Engram Ark instead contains engrams – memories – patterns of mental energy coded to represent the memories, abilities, and qualities of individuals. The Ark’s homeworld was threatened with a catastrophe and due to space limitations these were the only representations of themselves refugees could hope to survive it. When the ark’s homeworld was destroyed, the Arks were hurled away at random into the void, and when one impacts on a world, the Ark’s precious cargo survives in a structure that is perhaps as magical as technological, a Rune Sea. This Rune Sea is, and I quote, “a morass of glowing engrams, each as intricate and unique as a snowflake. These millions of “runes” (as characters are liable to think of them) merge, separate, leap, flow, and boil within their basin, each no larger than half a hand-span, but in sum making up a sea. Instead of the sound of dripping, lapping water, the Rune Sea gives off a low, basso chant, as if many voices were murmuring and echoing some alien, foreboding refrain.” I love this whole concept. Absolutely love it. Engrams themselves are also useable game effects, which the book sets out in mechanics.
Memekeeper: Stop giggling, internet memes weren’t a thing back in 2003 when the book was written. The Memekeeper is the guardian of the Rune Sea, a 5 foot spherical construct made of floating crystal and metal shards suspended in orbit around a central sphere. A shattered version of its original self, the Memekeeper can’t reconstitute the minds of the engrams but can communicate with visitors that enter the chamber containing the Rune Sea. Another great concept.
EMP (effect): No, not electromagnetic pulse – Ethereal-Material Pulse, as in what happens on the impact of a Thaumaturgical Meteorite. The EMP ripples through the Material and Ethereal Planes for a (standard) 30 miles, and hits all creatures and objects in range that isn’t protected by 10 feet of earth and stone or 1 foot of iron or metallic alloy. It hits as if it imposed a targeted Dispel Magic with a Dispel check of 1d20+20!
Falling Star Rush (new feat): For Knockback Bull Rush builds in particular, this is awesome. You’ll lose a feat on Star Emblem and this one, but the prerequisite otherwise is just Improved Bull Rush. And maybe you only get to use it 0.5xCharacter Level per day, but. But. Get a +4 on the opposed check for the Bull Rush. Nice. If you succeed on the Bull Rush, you push him back double the normal Bull Rush distance. Nicer. And you deal him 1 point of plasma damage, for each. Foot. You. Push. Him. Back. Every square contains 5 feet. It’s not hard to get enemies flying 20 feet through the air without this new benefit, and you literally do him damage as he’s flying through the air, before you start taking into account the hilarity of things like Dungeoncrasher or Shock Trooper which add more damage and utility to enemies billiard-balling around the battlefield.
Engram Cloak (Clr 8, Sor/Wiz 7) (new spell): There’s a small host of spells related to or triggering off engrams in the book, but this one at least isn’t bad. 1 minute/level, give yourself flat out DR 15/everything and lolnope any spell that targets you (bar Dispel Magic.). It takes Spellcraft checks (DC 25 against melee or ranged attacks, DC 30+spell level in the case of a spell, which allows you to ignore the spell as if you had spell resistance).
Tap Engram (Sor/Wiz 2) (new spell): Round/level. Casting time is (sigh) “one action”. Next spell you cast has a +4 engram bonus to its save DC.
Summoning Auxiliary (Clr 0, Drd 0, Sor/Wiz 0) (new spell): Free action spell that gives you permission to summon some of the meteor-born monsters in the book.
Starmilk (new material): Weapons made from Starmilk inflict targeted Dispel Magic effects (1-2 per day) in addition to normal damage. Armor made from it hugely discounts Arcane Spell Failure chance: -15% for light armor, -30% for heavy armor.
Plasma (new energy type): You’ll see this come up a lot in the book, both because there’s a fair number of creatures, spells, and feats that allow you to fling around many d6s of this stuff. This form of energy damage is a combination of [fire] and [electricity]. Plasma counts as both when deciding whether a creature has resistance to it, i.e. fire resistance alone doesn’t affect plasma, and neither does electricity damage on its own. Where a creature benefits from one type and is harmed by the other, both effects happen (which could result in a zero sum hit.)
Lord of Silence (Prestige Class): This is a rogue-themed prestige class, where the rogue has learned the Discipline of the Void (fluff requirement only). Only +3d6 sneak attack across 10 levels, but it’s a full-BAB class and has a few not-bad abilities: first, the ability to auto-generate Silence effects out to about 10 feet which are shapeable and dismissable as a free action, class levels/per day. Second, if the Lord of Silence attacks within one of these zones (or indeed any zone of complete quiet, including spell-based Silence) he gets a +2 to his attack roll and his class level to damage, class levels/day. Third, when he hits with a Sneak Attack, he can send the target mute. Fourth, an effect that basically is a move-action teleport, up to a maximum of [move speed] x 30 feet in one move, class levels/day until the tenth level, when you can use it freely. Upper level abilities amount to 15d6 damage against one target (no save), a self-centred Darkness effect, and finally a +4 to all saving throws. It probably doesn’t warrant taking all 10 levels, but full BAB for a rogue isn’t awful and it might be a little more exciting than vanilla Rogue 6-8 if you can find Improved Uncanny Dodge somewhere else and like most rational people you don’t care about Trap Sense. (Also note you don’t have to enter by rogue. It just requires “Sneak Attack +1d6”, an Assassination weapon or some other form of non-class feature might be enough for that.)
Stone of Durkon’s Demise: Nah, I just mentioned it because it’s highly unlikely to relate to the Order of the Stick :D
Checklists! No player benefits here, but really, really good GM assists. Every section has a checklist of stuff you need to think about or at least should think about when you’re introducing something like a meteorite strike into your setting. These are something you simply don’t see in standard WOTC products and the first real, overt attempt to try and help a GM write an adventure featuring the concept, not just sell you a setting.

Dreadful Features
Ruin Priest (Prestige Class): You’re a spellcaster who worships the evil powers that sent the campaign’s meteorite down on the world. And for 7/10 spell levels (and full BAB) you can get an extra spell to cast if you sacrifice an intelligent living being. No, you can’t use summoned creatures. No, it has to be INT 5 or above. Capstone ability is to have a seven-day-long ceremony with your buddies and invoke a meteor strike on somewhere you’ve been and haven’t liked. Whilst this probably seems appropriate for a fine Biblical ending to Las Vegas following that weekend you’d like to forget, good grief this is stupid. Oh, and if your spell brings a creature to 0 hitpoints, ‘the priest gets an immediate extra spell attack’ against a creature adjacent to the first, i.e. it’s Cleave for damaging spells. Nope.
Astromancy (new feat): Star magic and astrology never seems to work out well in D&D. Leaving aside that it’s a gateway feat to other pedestrian feats, it basically allows you (character level/4 times per day) to make a DC 11 flux check (unmodified d20 roll, it’s not a skill, so your odds will always be slightly less than fifty-fifty) to see if your effective caster level is +2 for the current round. Also grants access akin to a domain of unique meteorite spells from the book. However, these are for the most part just direct damage spells of increasing power, i.e. half-decent Mailman builds will outclass them.


Who it’s best for (Player/GM/both)
GMs. This is basically a different take on a setting book; it gives you all the bones and muscles of the idea but doesn’t set out how things must be. It is a really interesting mix of worldbuilding assistant and mechanical resources, quite literally a how-to book for bringing on a meteorite impact into the game. As such, it’s for Game Masters more than players.

Comments, thoughts, and rating out of 10.
On mechanics: These I found a bit hit and miss. Where it really shines is in the most inventive stuff, which is how it sets out the consequences of an actual meteorite impact (right down to hitpoint loss at a given distance from Ground Zero and even water impact scenarios), changes in how schools of magic operate as a result of a Thaumaturgical Meteorite impact, and how the Engrams work. The rest, however, feels like standard 3.0: hide everything behind feats and believe that multiple d6s of direct damage amounts to something significant in game mechanical terms. The prestige classes (with some possible exceptions) are pretty pedestrian at best; dead levels proliferate, 1 use/day or SomeFractionOfCharacterLevel/day is common on the abilities, and lost caster levels also show up a lot. If it wasn’t for the new concepts and ideas I’d have rated this a ¼, but instead I rate it a 1.5/4.

On concepts and fluff: And it’s here I give the book a lot of credit. It’s great at introducing inspiring concepts and also taking the GM though a lot of the big questions to be asked when doing the worldbuilding around the event. Sure, you could probably think of many of these questions yourself, but many you wouldn’t, and at the very least it will trigger off ideas or questions about how to build your world ahead of the campaign. For that, then, I rate this a 3/4.

On presentation: Layout was a lot easier on the eye than the standard WOTC book; lots of white space to break up the textblocks. Serif font, but again the line spacing and kerning makes it easier to handle. Art was black and white but didn’t make me want to claw my own eyes out. Indeed several of the pictures were pretty nice indeed. 1.5/2 here.

Total: 6/10.


Next time: Midnight, Fantasy Flight Games.