Another old review.

This review is for Vigil Watch: Warrens of the Ratmen, from Sword & Sorcery Studio. The book concerns the Mourning Marshes in the Scarred Lands D20 setting. The slitheren (ratmen) are the main antagonists of the area, and the main focus of the book. There will be spoilers in the review, so be warned.

One thing that should be noted right off is that the slitheren are basically Warhammer Skaven imported to D&D. I think this is a good thing, as I have posted my own conversion to 2nd edition on a couple websites. I think the skaven are cool, so be aware of that (as far as any reviewer biases go).

The book is a perfect-bound softcover, numbering 112 pages (4 of which are ads for other Scarred Lands books, one for the OGL). The type is easy to read, and the borders have a cracked shaded appearance which makes some of the white space not so obvious. There is a good amount of text, with a decent number of illustrations. Artwork tends to be good, though some of the maps are a bit amateurish (this may be on purpose, to present a hand-drawn look). Overall, the book is about average in terms of wasted space.

The book is presented as if it is a report to the King of Vesh, the country neighboring the Mourning Marshes. I think this is pretty cool, though some people may not like it. Chapter 1 is about the various types of slitheren, and details their rank system among the different broods before going into each type of ratmen.

First and foremost are the Diseased, as they are the most common type of slitheren in the Mourning Marshes. They tend to be very resistant to catching diseases, and invent new ones so that they might spread plagues to other races. They are given a lot of detail, including class structure (laborers, soldiers, and priests), as well as basic warren construction. The details of their religion, as well as the stats for their Priest-King are given.

The remaining slitheren are given shorter (1 or 2 page) write-ups. The Black Pelts are mages who are trying to unite all the slitheren and take over the continent. The Brown Gorgers are barbaric slitheren who eat anything and everything they can catch (including prisoners). The Daywalkers wander the deserts of the continent in the daytime in order to venerate their Titan. The Foamers ride on floating wrecks, and are basically pirates. The Forge Crawlers invent new poisons, as well as making golems to fight their enemies. The Red Witches are mages who specialize in necromancy. The Stalkers are slitheren who master the woods, and have many rangers within their ranks. Storm Chasers worship the Storm Titan Lethene, and can generate electricity and shoot bolts of it at their enemies. The Stricken are horribly mutated ratmen who attack their enemies in a berserk fury. The Unseeing are really neutral ratmen who cause people to lose interest in fighting them so that they can either escape or kill at their leisure. They are enemies of all the other slitheren. One of the stranger broods are the White Wraiths, who have invisible skin and appear to be walking skeletons. A secret organization called the Bone Walkers is also detailed, and it consists of necromancers from many of the different broods.

Each of the broods adds a new dimension to the race in general. Many of them are based directly on Skaven clans (i.e. the Diseased are equivalent to Clan Pestilens, the Forge Crawlers are basically Clan Skryre). A number of them are completely new, and can be quite dangerous (the Storm Chasers in particular). While much of the material is borrowed, S&S did take the time to invent a few new things. The Foamers are particularly interesting to me, as I like the idea of a large rotting ship full of ratmen magically catching up to some poor merchant ship in order to loot it.

Chapter 2 is the Mourning Marshes. Here the area itself is detailed. The slitheren, as well as other common swamp creatures are talked about. The skeins, basically mutant spider-women (half woman-half spider) have a lair and they are quite happy to kill anyone who comes near it. The picture of a skein confronting a small party of slitheren is pretty cool. Various other creatures are looked at as well, including the swamp gobblers and a local Swamp Hag. A number of these creatures are from the Creature Collection, so you will probably need to have it in order to use them.

Chapter 3 is Current Events. It basically details what the slitheren are doing and what they are planning to do in the near future. A chronology of the slitheren race is given, from their creation to the present day. The activities of the major broods are looked at, as well as what the Bone Walkers are doing. Twilight Wardens are introduced, being slitheren from different broods who come together and are trained to use the swamp and guard it from intruders. Slitheren tactics are also discussed, including that they are much more likely to launch small raids than fight in a large battle. They attack intelligently, not swarming forward like many would expect (with the exception of the Stricken). Overall, it's a pretty interesting look at their military.

Chapter 4 contains two adventures featuring the slitheren and the Marsh. The first adventure, Diseased Nest of Chempot Mossheld, is basically just a setting which requires the PC's to sneak up on a warren and observe it. Of course, magical scrying and defenses abound. If the PC's are unlucky enough to set the alarm, they will probably have to run for it. With good use of magic, and higher levels, they might be able to infiltrate the lair and eliminate the ratmen. The adventure very easily scales itself, with low level adventurers just making it through the swamp will be tough. High-level PC's can actually take on the lair and destroy it. It is nothing spectacular, but it should work ok.

The second adventure, Coven of the Celestial Urn, has a lower level party of PC's search for a Red Witches coven. Again, the swamp is an important feature. Low-level adventurers just need to locate the lair, so that it can be eliminated. Mid-level characters can actually infiltrate the lair and eliminate its leader. Basically, this adventure is also average in quality. While it can definitely be entertaining, it's nothing a decent DM couldn't come up with on his own.

Chapter 5 is Roleplaying Ratmen. Basic instructions are given on using ratmen PC's. Each brood has various skill and stat modifiers, and all of them will start at 2nd level or higher. The races look fairly balanced, though they might be a bit powerful.

Next is the Prestige Classes. The first one is the Grenadier. Basically, this is a slitheren who specializes in hurling firesand orbs. Some of its abilities are a bit powerful (such as the phase grenade ability that lets the thrower ignore any intervening terrain or obstacles). Next is the Tail Fighter, who gets multidexterity and can use his tail as an effective weapon. Possibly a bit weak at low levels, it becomes very effective later on. Next is the Twilight Warden, who is basically an over-powered ranger who specializes in swamp terrain. His abilities are very tough (including a number of wilderness related spells), and possibly a bit over-powered. The main thing that makes these prestige classes balanced is that they are hard to qualify for, but someone with a high level in one of them will be very tough.

Chapter 6 deals with Slitheren Magic and Equipment. New poisons, diseases, and weapons are detailed. A number of new poisons and diseases are described in detail, including their effects. All of them are good, with the worst poison (Punicieus Mortis), being sold to human assassins. The Firesand Orb is pretty cool. Basically it's a crystal that you can hurl at enemies that will explode when it hits, coating them with the sand which will cause burning damage for a couple rounds. Pretty nice stuff. Some regular equipment is also presented. The Slitheren Bog Wine is interesting, being made from fungus and a number of other nasty ingredients. Slitheren nests often hold competitions to see who has the best wine. A couple new spells that allow the caster to break his opponents bones are given. A new item is also detailed, called the slave bore, which is a corkscrew which is bored into the forehead of a prisoner. If he survives, he will obey the person who stuck the bore into his head without question, and will even need to be instructed to eat or sleep. It's a pretty neat item, and very in character for the ratmen.

Chapter 7 is a Monsters Appendix, which is basically a small monster manual detailing the new ratmen broods and a few other swamp creatures. Some very nice tables for golem and poison creations are given for the Forge Crawlers. The Rat Golem is also very interesting, being a swarm of rats that become a walking humanoid-shaped golem.

Overall, I really like this product. While it is derivative of the Warhammer Skaven, there are plenty of new ideas presented. Also, just having 3rd edition stats for skaven is a good thing in my opinion. The writing style is entertaining, and easy to read. Most of the creatures are well thought-out, and the addition of the ratmen as a new PC race is also well done. There is a lot of white space, and the final 5 pages of the book are ads, which is a bit annoying. The adventures are very standard fare, but will serve if the DM has little time for preparation. I wish they had done something a bit more exciting, instead of two ratmen lairs. Heck, fighting Foamers on the high seas is just one idea I came up with while sitting here. The broods themselves are well detailed, and provide many ideas for their use. You can easily run a campaign against the slitheren and never face the same thing twice. Having some Forge Crawlers "test" one of their golems on the PC's is one idea presented, after which a plague sweeping a city (caused by the Diseased) could happen. The slitheren are very versatile, and this book is mainly a monster manual on how to use them. The book itself is only $13.95, so it is a very good value for such a low price.

I completely missed this book's existence until tonight when it came up in one of my frequent Skaven googlings, with google then leading me to this review (admittedly the same review on rpgnet first). And it's a pretty comprehensive review that actually managed to sell me on it. Hope its one of those d20 books that are common and cheap...

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Had a glance at it. Looks like standard sub-standard White wolf work again.

Some neet ideas bit its mostly derivative with very little original in it once you look under the hood and see what numbers they filed off.

Wow, thread necro plus old article.

Hi, I'm William Timmins.

(That takes me back)

Hi! Nice to see more rpg authors here. I liked that book a lot and used it quite a bit, just so you know.

one of my favorites, as well

Glad to hear!

Although my RPG career was only a few years long, about 10 years ago.