Sources Say - Ghost Archipelago: Gods of Fire

Name: Ghost Archipelago – Gods of Fire

Produced By: Osprey Games
System: Ghost Archipelago
Genre(s): Fantasy, Pirates, Tribal elements, Greek myth

Welcome back to another Sources Say and another one about a Ghost Archipelago supplement. This time, I’m reviewing Gods of Fire, the second expansion for the game and with a focus on Tribals. In the core book, tribals are one of the many enemies a Heritor and their crew might face in the Archipelago, and it’s neat to see them explored.

The first chapter is a forward from the creator, talking about what the book contains, which is pretty standard for these books. As we’re going to review these chapters, that’s all I’m going to say about this part.

 The second chapter is all about those Tribals. This chapter delves into the tribes and how isolated they can be. There’s also some new rules for them, allowing players to make their own tribes, with a series of beneficial traits and negative traits. Tribes can only have two benefits, but as many negatives as a player wants. Once these are settled, there’s rules for using Tribals as enemies run by a GM, with a host of new Tribal members to use, as well as rules for building “crews” of them. With that done, there’s some sample tribes you can use, if you so choose. I really like these additions, as I’ve started using goblins as my Tribals, because I have a fair amount of them. I tried using them as Dricheans but that was a little too confusing for my friend Jay, but I really do think they’ll work better for Tribals. And since one of the traits Tribes can get is Pygmie, it’s perfect for them. Better yet, it’s a negative trait, which means I can give them two beneficial ones in exchange for it.

Moving on to the third chapter, the one with the new Specialist Crewmen. The first one is a “Bowman” which a bit of a joke as it’s about bows, not bows. I mean, a ship’s bow, not a bow for shooting. But, at the same time, it’s also about bows you shoot with. In a later chapter, they introduce a swivelbow you can put on small boats and this crewman is an expert at using them. That was far too many words for that weak of a pun. The next crewman is something of a bow (as in the one with arrows) sniper, getting a special ability to aim before shooting. Following this, we have a “swordmater” but they’re really a duelist. Perfect for crews that a light on crew but also if you have a model with a rapier. Now, we have the first new Tribal crewmen, the Totem Warrior. They can make a Will roll to gain a bonus of their choice for the rest of the game. The next Tribal crewman we have is the Tribal Darter, who uses a blowgun. While an interesting idea, I don’t know how useful they would be, given the poor damage modifier and range on a blowgun, even if it is poisoned, especially as one of the most expensive crewmen so far. After that, we have the Tribal Guide, who gives you the chance to move them and another model after deployment but before rolling initiative. The last crewman we get is the Vanguard, and one of the more interesting crew options. They’re 75gc, wear heavy armor and carry a shield, and use a hand weapon and throwing spear (I’ll talk about that when we get to the chapter). They could be a good alternative for Freebooters and Men-At-Arms, being priced between them, but with heavy armor, but their stats are divided between ranged and melee. It’s a tough call to make, as the spear isn’t as useful as a bow, much less a crossbow, but that 75gc cost is very tempting. I might try them out as see how they do.

 The fourth chapter is the new weapons, all two of them. I don’t know why this is a separate chapter, as this could have easily been added to the end of the last one. The two weapons are both ranged and you can’t take them as normal equipment. Again, why is this its own chapter? The blowgun, as I mentioned, is poisoned but has a -4 damage modifier and a shorter range than a bow. With that low of a chance of being able to poison a model besides a standard crewmen, I don’t think the model that carries it (see above) is really worth it. The other weapon we get is the Throwing Spear, which is a slightly better Throwing Knife, but is one time use. If it wasn’t unavailable for my Heritor, I would totally use it in place of Throwing Knives, or even bows, even if it’s one time use. I suppose I’ll have to start making that exception…

Moving on to the fifth chapter, we have new rules for small boats. Not going to lie, this is half the reason why I picked up this book. These rules include rules for capsizing your boats. I like how it’s realistic but I don’t feel the need to use it. Then again, if I get in some more games with small boats, maybe I’ll want to use them. Speaking of things I want to use, this chapter also gives us the option of canoes. They’re not as big as small boats, but that kind of works, given how you’re probably not going to fill up your boats anyway. I think the idea of the canoes is great and wish they had been in the original book. The final thing is the Swivelbow weapon. It’s 200 gc PER BOAT and are overpowered crossbows. I don’t know if I’d ever use them, as they also impose a penalty to hit, even if they do a lot of damage. Then again, there is the Kraken to think about… Of course, they work better if you have Bowmen, but that’s another 50gc per guy, and those are Specialist Crewmen.

The sixth chapter is the first of a few campaigns in the book. This first campaign is three scenarios, but they’re different than you’d expect. Before you start the campaign, you have to figure out who is going to control a force of Tribals. That’s because one player will be playing the Tribals for two of the three scenarios, while the other player gets beaten to hell and back. What happens is that the player who plays the Tribals gets to make a pretty beefy force, while the other player plays their normal crew, but doesn’t get to heal between scenarios. Then, in the third scenario, the other player’s regular crew pops up, fresh and ready. So, yeah. All in all, it sounds like a neat little campaign, especially since it ends with a flooding temple and a bunch of aquatic monsters that get unleashed. I think it might work better if you did it co-op, with two crews fighting the Tribals, and then taking on a fresh Heritor crew in the end. However, I could see it being run as is, if one player has a much higher level than the other, with the higher level one being the one suffers through the first two scenarios.

Moving on the seventh chapter, we have another campaign, but it’s only two scenarios this time around. Instead of fighting against Tribals, you get to have some join your force, and you’re fighting cathaka this time around. Those are buzzard-men, just so you know. The first scenario is going up a rocky road to the gate leading to the city they’re taken over, with the second one being a fight on the tops of the buildings of the city. It’s a short one, and sounds really dangerous in the second one, but also seems like it might be fun.

 The eight chapter is another campaign, but this time it’s four scenarios long, and two of them should be played twice. This one involves a volcanic island and a not quite Crystal Pool. The scenarios have players trading off between playing their regular crews and playing the Tribal forces, and one of them lets the Tribal player take a cyclops! Of the three campaigns in this book, I think this one is the best. I wish they hadn’t made the other scenarios in the book so set and just made it easier to play them as normal scenarios, and then had this campaign as the only one. Anyway.

Chapter nine is the mandatory treasure chapter, with all the cool new toys you MIGHT get to play with, assuming you roll well. There’s some really good stuff in this one, with a regenerating ring, a golden skull that gives you a chance to take over the undead, and some weapons that give you a boost to your swimming rolls. The items they have in here aren’t really specific to the book or seem to be unbalanced. For the most part, they’re nice little bonuses to have, if your Warden has the right spells, and some things that can help in the right situation.

The final and tenth chapter is the bestiary. We finally get giant rats in the Archipelago, took long enough. There’s a little bit for every monster type, including some new dinosaurs, as well as some new intelligent races, like the cyclops and buzzard men I mentioned earlier. If you were paying attention, you might have noticed that I mention a kraken. Yeah. That’s here too and it is wild. I’m actually surprised that there wasn’t a scenario that involved it. Anyway. The kraken has several limbs that act independently, and can even move on land to represent their reach, and then you get the head that pops up. This thing should be the only creature you face in a scenario, it’s that intense. In fact, I might even make up a scenario myself. Who wants calamari?

If you’ve been playing Ghost Archipelago already, this book would be good to add to your collection, as it really expands how Tribals work, gives you some neat treasure, and has some interesting monsters to fight. It’s worth it.