Campaign Setting: The World of Cain Anuun (from The Last God) - Review

The World of Cain Anuun is a fantasy world with elements of horror, and I wrote about it a little bit before. It's actually from a comic book from DC's "Black Label" imprint (for mature readers) and DC recently published a 5E compatible RPG sourcebook for the world, complete with maps, nation descriptions, and stats for new monsters, player character races, subclasses, and magic items.

Today is Wednesday and that means it's New Comic Book Day, although given the uncertain times we're living in now with the pandemic, that's taken on a new, different meaning. For several weeks back in March and April, most comic publishers stopped publishing their books, and the main (almost sole) distributor, Diamond, announced that it would not be shipping books anyway. Things have slowly started to pick back up, but the two main publishers, Marvel and DC, are not publishing consistently (Marvel was doing every other week for a while) and DC has begun to distribute its new books on Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays, and has canceled their long arrangement with Diamond in favor of new, less proven distributors. This week, for example, neither Marvel nor DC published any new comics. Given that combined they account for about 70% of comic sales market share, this is a huge blow to comic shop retailers that are trying to stay afloat. I'll be visiting my local shop today to show my support, buy some independent comics, and take advantage of "Buy 3, Get 1 Free" sale they are having on in-stock Marvel & DC titles as a way to try to drive in more customers on a slow week.

Today's review is for a comic I picked up last week, The Last God: Tales from the Book of Ages, but while it's in comic book format, it's really an RPG supplement (it even includes an OGL statement at the back), so it's a perfect entry for someone who is interested in expanding their campaign setting collections or looking to borrow ideas for an existing campaign, with a much lower price point then most published setting books. It also might get you excited about reading the comics series The Last God. The short premise is that, a generation ago, the heroes of the age traveled "beyond the boundaries of creation" and killed all the gods, then ended up establishing themselves as the rulers of their own nations. However, their descendants are now faced with a quandary, as the legions of the so-called Last God are once again on the march, destroying everything in their path. The so-called heroes of the past may not actually be what they claimed to be, leaving a new group of unlikely champions to finally accomplish what their ancestors failed (or refused) to do, and kill the Last God. The story is clearly based on a D&D or other fantasy RPG campaign, and even the maps included in the monthly comic book are drawn by D&D cartographer Jared Blando.

(Note that I frequently review non-RPG products from the standpoint of using them as inspirations for role-playing games, as I find that sometimes it's a good idea to be inspired by sources that are different from yet another RPG sourcebook. At the end of this review, I'll provide links to all of the independent publisher comics I've reviewed here on the blog over the years, with the hope that maybe you'll seek them out, especially today, to help out your local comics shop).

WHAT IT IS
The Last God: Tales from the Book of Ages, is a 40 page, full-color comic book format that provides some background of the world of Cain Anuun, covering history of the Age of Gods, then getting into descriptions of the various lands and cultures of the world. This information takes up about 1/3 of the book. The remaining pages are devoted to providing 5th Edition mechanics for new monsters, the magic system of the world, three new player character races, a few new subclasses, and new magic items.

Readers of the comic who don't even play role-playing games will find the first part of this comic invaluable in understanding the background of the world and the Age of Gods, which provides information on the original gods and goddesses such as Mol Anwe, goddess of light and music; Mol Uvanya, goddess of that which grows; Mol Kalakto, god of the forge and of the thing made; Mol Rangma, god of the hunt and of conquest; the mysterious and little known Mol Choresh, god of knowledge and of riddles; and the forgotten god of the void, Mol Uhltep.

This whole section provides the history of how the gods interacted with each other and created most of the world as it is now known, and it sets up the central conflict while still leaving enough things left unexplained for readers to wonder about, or for game masters to add their own ideas.  This is a richly detailed background that provides plenty of ideas to spark the imagination and to use as a starting point for crafting your own campaign world's mythology.

The second chapter, "Of the Land" describes the different nations of the world, starting with the Western Reach and the Hinterlands, Land of the Un-Men, Sholtua, and Vogren's Teeth. Each area is only given a short paragraph or two, just enough to provides ideas and a rough sketch of the area, but not enough to overwhelm readers and gamers with obsessive and unnecessary detail (a failure of many campaign setting descriptions).

This section goes on to describe other places in the world, such as the Greylands, the Riverlands, the Southern Continent, Tyrgolad (along with a city map and a short sidebar describing its currency), the Dragonsmoor, the Council of Stones, the Pinnacle (including a great side-view map), the Karkarok Mountains, The Fells, Dragonspyre, the Godforge, and the Black Stair. Readers of the comic will love the additional details they learn about these areas, but there is enough information provided that non-readers can make use of these areas in their RPG campaigns.

Chapter 3, "Of Beasts" is fun and includes drawings of 18 new monsters, including Barrowfiends, Drakes, Ebonsnares, the Flowering Dead (Drones, Creeping Death, and Wall of the Dead), Crownwraiths, Endwraiths, Gallows Imps, Gryndels, Gyrehawks, Harlots o' the Gale, Harpies (different than the standard D&D harpy), Hearteaters, Maertrolls, Rimefoots, Ursulons, and Water Dragons. I have to confess that I am not all that well-versed in 5th Edition mechanics, so I can't speak to whether the stats of these new monsters are correct or "balanced," and they do not include challenge ratings, if you're into that sort of thing. However, in reviewing them, I think many of the ideas could be used in a variety of different role-playing games, including more rules-light old-school type games. The ideas are creative and help with the world building. Nearly half of the monsters are undead, but they are different than the standard types seen in most D&D campaigns, and in particular, the flowering dead and their "powers of the plague" are quite creepy, and the idea of the last god speaking through certain special undead servants (the crownwraiths), while somewhat reminiscent of the Nazgul from Tolkien, is still a neat idea.

Chapter 4, "Of Magic" talks about how magic works in the world of Cain Anuun. The section explains that magic was once the life's blood of the gods. Now that the gods are dead, magic still remains in Cain Anuun within the flesh of the god's descendants, in the devices of their creation, and in devices made by others from the flesh of the dead gods. In this way, I was reminded of an old 3rd Edition book written by Monte Cook, Requiem for a God, which dealt with this very idea of a god having died and the repercussions on magic, including using the essence of the dead god to fuel spells and create new magic items.

In Cain Anuun, magic comes in the form of Fey Magic (the oldest in the world), Aelvan Magic (related mostly to magic of nature and fueled by the wind, rain, rivers, soil, the sun, and the moon), Djorruk Magic (mostly focused on power over stone, fire, and the dynamic forces below the earth), Dragon Magic (although there are no known living dragons at the time of the story, dragonhewn weapons and relics still exist), and Guild Magic (magic not passed down by gods, but created by humankind). There's also a section on "Of Music and Magic," noting that creatures that are not "godborn" (such as Fey, Aelva, Djorruks, and Dragons) can still control fey magic if they can figure out the melody and execute it in the proper way. From reading this section, it seems like a way to distinguish between the innate magic of bards and sorcerers versus how wizards need to study and memorize their spells (as described in the Guild Magic section).

This chapter also includes some new magic items, such as Bloodglass, the Claymore of the Eldritch, God's Requiem (an artifact axe, with a name that again references the Monte Cook supplement I mentioned earlier), Guildsman's Bracelet and Guildsman's Gauntlet.

Chapter 5 is for "Creating Adventurers" and it includes three new races: The Dwarrow (sort of chaotic, greedy dwarves with no aptitude for magic), the Djorruk (gentle, graceful, short beings), and the Aelva (the Cain Anuun version of elves). There are also some new subclasses for use in 5th Edition games, including one for the Guild Eldritch (which has 7 different "rings," each of which is pretty much a subclass in itself), a new Paladin Oath (Oath of the Guardian), and a new Ranger archetype, the Ferryman (with three subclasses, Ferrymen of the Long Shadow, who are more like rogue assassins; Speakers of the Dead, who focus more on magic; and Voices of the Stone Ferrymen, who are warrior priests).

The book ends with the OGL printed on the inside back cover.

COOL BITS
There's a ton of great inspirational material in these short 40 pages, along with some great illustrations and maps. While the game mechanics are mostly useful for players of 5th Edition games, the concepts can easily be translated to other game systems with little difficulty.

The world-building bits show how a DM can take some of the inherent mechanics from D&D throughout its history (such as the old pre-3E prohibition on dwarves using arcane magic, the different types of magic, who can access magic, and the role of gods in the campaign) and use those mechanical things to world-build and create in-game reasons for why things work the way they do, all built into the mythology of the world. People have been doing this kind of thing since the game was invented, but it always helps, especially for newer gamers, to have examples of how to explain these kinds of things.

I also like the idea that the "heroes" of the world are really, when it comes down to it, frauds. This is set up very early in the first issue of the comic book series, but the world has been living under the idea that 30 years ago, the people who are now their leaders went on a quest to rid the world of the gods, and that they succeeded, but it becomes obvious that they have been lying, as the Last God is sending his legions forward to destroy everything and there's little chance of survival at this point. This was a pretty clever idea and one that goes against most heroic fantasy D&D tropes.

PROS AND CONS
There's a lot to like here, and given the short, concise descriptions, great art, and low price point, there's little bad to say about this. It's a great introduction to the world of the Last God that could hopefully inspire you to start reading the comic book series, and it also can show you how you can take inspiration from other forms of media aside from just another standard RPG sourcebook as a way to spruce up your RPG campaigns.

The monsters not having challenge ratings could be a small issue for 5th Edition gamers, and the stats are a of course a little "bloated" for players of old-school games, but that shouldn't stop dedicated players and DMs from doing some minor modifications to make things work.

THE LAST GOD: TALES FROM THE BOOK OF AGES

• Format: 40-page full-color comic book, with a glossy cover
• Where to Buy: Please if at all possible, buy this at a physical comic book store near you. You can use the Comic Shop Locator to find one. Many of them offer curbside pick-up. If you absolutely can't visit a local comics shop, you can order physical copies from a variety of comic shops online, such as Forbidden Planet in New York or South Side Comics in Pittsburgh. Lastly, you can buy digital copies from Comixology. 
• Price: $4.99 (print or digital)
• System: Designed for 5th Edition, but easily converted 
• Rated: The comics in this series are part of DC's Black Label and rated Ages 17+, but for this particular sourcebook, I didn't see anything that deserved that rating (the main comic on which this is based does have a lot of violence and other situations that are not appropriate for young readers)
• More Information: The official page on DC Comics is here, but there's really no information other than a list of the issues that have been published to date; click on each issue cover will give a short synopsis of that issue. There's no Wikipedia page yet, so your best bet is to just check out the issues to learn more for yourself. There are only five issues so far, plus the campaign sourcebook, so it wouldn't be that difficult to catch up.  

OTHER COMIC BOOK INSPIRATIONS & REVIEWS FROM MY BLOG

In looking at these, certain patterns in the types of comics I like to read emerged. This list includes only independent comics, so my inspirational reviews for DC and Marvel comics are not included below, but you can find them by looking through the DC or Marvel tags.

I grouped the comics below into rough categories based on genre, but many of them are cross-genre:

FANTASY

• High Fantasy with Court Intrigue & Shaman Magic: Isola
• A female captain of the guard protects, and looks for a cure for, her queen, who has been cursed by someone from her court and turned into a tiger (who can't speak)
• "Post-Magic" Apocalyptic Fantasy Wasteland: Coda
• The main character is a bard who is telling the story of how magic was destroyed in the world, and carries around the severed head of an elf, which holds some of the last magic in the world (and which also sarcastically complains to the bard constantly)
• American Westward Expansion Fantasy Horror: Manifest Destiny
• Lewis and Clark set out on a mission from Jefferson to explore, map, and "claim" the west for the fledgling United States government, but also, secretly, to remove or destroy the horrific, fantastical creatures that live there so as not to scare potential settlers
• Fantasy Adventurer's Guilds & Mercenaries (with humor): Rat Queens
• Four female mercenaries (a human cleric, an elf wizard, a dwarf warrior, and a halfling rogue) team up to become the top Adventurers for Hire but are constantly having to compete with, and prove themselves to, other groups such as the Four Daves, Brother Ponies (all with pony tails), Peaches, and the Obsidian Darkness (pasty-white dark elves). The Rat Queens typically win when it comes to carousing, drinking, and general hell-raising. 
• Samurai and Pirate Vampires: Bushido
• It has samurai and pirate vampires. What more do I need to say? 

SCIENCE FANTASY

• Mash-Up "Gonzo" Campaign with Time Travel, Zombies, Intelligent Apes, 70's Kung Fu, and Barbarians: Bronze Age Boogie
• I think the title says it all. There's also a Gogo boot-wearing Golem, an ape scientist in a wheelchair, and a 70's Blaxploitation female kick-ass character

SCIENCE FICTION

• Reality-Bending Space Travel: Black Science
• A so-called "Anarchic League of Scientists" create a device that punches through the barriers of reality, but they leave too soon and the machine is sabotaged. It's out of control and keeps bouncing to different realities. 

POST-APOCALYPTIC & NEAR FUTURE

• Family as Government in the Near Future: Lazarus
• Powerful families divided up the world among themselves after governments collapsed in an economic crisis, and now run the world in a feudal system, with families as the top 0.000001% or less, with Serfs as their vassals and skilled tradespeople, and "Waste" being the remaining 99.9999%. Each family also has a champion, known as a Lazarus, who fights for them to settle disputes in trial-by-combat.  
• Post-Apocalyptic World Building: The First Kingdom Volume I: The Birth of Tundran
• A dense book that covers the destruction of the civilized world and then spends multiples pages covering the aftermath and the different types of societies that arose in the wake of the apocalypse before getting to the main story and its characters. It's a great example of the various stages of "civilization" that might arise in a post-apocalyptic world. 
• Near-Future Xenophobic United States: Undiscovered Country
• The United States is shrouded in mystery after walling itself off 30 years ago and cutting off all communication with the outside world. A team of specialists from outside sneak across the border in an attempt to find the cure for a global pandemic, but quickly find that the United States is no longer what people remember. 

HORROR

• Modern Horror: Wytches
• Moody and atmospheric, with witches, cursed families, sacrifices, scary forests, and more. 

PULP ADVENTURE

• Pulp Era Supers & Adventurers: King's Watch
• Jungle adventures, wild and fantastic nightmare creatures, supernatural phenomena, magic, science-fiction, futuristic technology, galaxy-hopping dictators, aliens, cults...
• Pulp-Era Vigilantes: Black Beetle
•  A character created by artist Francesco Francavilla, with pulp adventures, crime stories, and art deco aesthetics
• Another Pulp-Era Vigilantes Book: Masks
• This title mixes together a bunch of old pulp-era heroes such as Green Hornet and Kato, the Shadow, the Spider and Ram Singh, Zorro, Miss Fury, and Black Bat and teams them together in 1930's New York against a criminal empire. 

WORLD WAR TWO

• World War Two Weird Nazi Science: Half-Past Danger
• It's got a mysterious island, pulp-era weird science, a team of Allied soldiers fighting Nazis, a ninja, a femme fatale... oh, yeah, and Dinosaurs. 
• Fighting Nazi Super Soldiers: Uber
• In the waning days of World War II, Nazi scientists are finally able to perfect their version of a super soldier serum, and create three super-powered terrors who are ordered to destroy as much land and villages as they can, to make Germany a wasteland before the Allies can win the war. Little by little, they are able to push the Allies back, causing the Allies to send spies to learn the secrets of the super soldier serum for themselves. 
• The True Story of the Golem & World War II Adventures: Breath of Bones
• Pretty much what it says - this is an historical fantasy fiction tale that tells of where the idea of "golems" comes from, and then tells and beautiful and heart-wrenching story about a Jewish village being attacks by Nazis in World War II
• World War II Supers: Captain Midnight
• A perfect way to model a 1940's era World War II superhero game, with ideas for gadgets, characters, locales,and adventure seeds

VICTORIAN-ERA

• Victorian-Era Pulp Science & Literary Characters: League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
• Please, if your only knowledge of this is from the movie, forget about that and read the comic by Alan Moore, the same guy who created the Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell, among others

MODERN FANTASY

• 1970's Cthulhu Noir: Abbott
• A black, female reporter in 1970's Detroit follows up on a story involving a mysterious murder. I love this story for so many reasons, but one is that it doesn't shy away from difficult questions on both race relations and gender issues that still impact us today.  
• Twisted Young Adult Fairy Tale: Mae
• Sort of a reverse "Alice in Wonderland" - the story focuses on what happens in the real world after one of the main characters is transported to a twisted, weird fairy-tale world
• Hard-Boiled Detective Supernatural Thriller: Ten Grand
• Joe Fitzgerald is a former hit-man who was killed while doing "one last job" before retiring, and he now works for the powers above to perform jobs for them. In return, if he dies while performing a righteous act, he is allowed to spend one night in Heaven with the spirit of his dead wife, before being resurrected to continue working. 

HISTORICAL

• The True Tale of the 47 Ronin & Japanese History: 47 Ronin
• The real story of these historical Japanese warriors is better than any fictionalized film

CRIME

• 1950's Crime Noir and the Red Scare: The Fade Out (also here)
• A gorgeously illustrated murder mystery story about a screenwriter who witnesses the murder of blonde bombshell star and struggles through alcoholism and writer's block to find the murderer - perfect for games set in this time period
  
  
  

Hanging: Home office (laptop)
Drinking: tap water
Listening: "Sweater Weather" by the Neighbourhood, from the album "I Love You."