Go to part 1
The final part of the book is about the setting: the White Curse. It
serves as an example campaign setting which also illustrates the
instructions given earlier in the book. The tone is grim and the world
feels somehow post-apocalyptic. Centuries ago, an evil Witch King
oppressed the population until he was defeated. Unfortunately, his
cursed blood contaminated the land and twisted everything. The landscape
changed and a cold came. This is called the White Curse. The Witch
King’s spirit remained in the afterlife and gained strength in the
Shadow Realm. As you can see, there is a feeling of desperation and
struggle which is enforced by further explanations about the situation.
The wilderness is very dangerous because of the everlasting winter. Old
cities have sunken, roads are abandoned. Civilizations centers around
small communities but they are full of intrigue and disaccord as the
curse makes people greedy.
The reptilian Dagonites have escaped their collapsed empire under the
sea. These poor refugees tax the sparse resources, too. Evil artifacts
of the Witch King have awakened. The players can be part of several
factions. There are the Watchers (the good ones) and the Witch Cult
(the bad ones). The Watchers want to lift the curse and hunt the shadow
agents while the Witch Cult serves the king and want to advance his
agenda. Part of the setting are the Twisted. Mechanically, they are an
example of a species template as they can be applied to every character.
The Twisted are beings who were corrupted by the curse. Non-humans
change more visibly than others. Being twisted is considered a stigma
but comes with a small benefit of a minor supernatural ability.
Additionally, there is a short paragraph about the city Ode. It’s
built into a mountain, full of terraces and governed by a corrupt
council.
A Whitecloak chapterhouse is also present. The Whitecloaks are
religious fanatics who believe that the curse is a test of perseverance.
They herd the Twisted into correction camps.
There are of course different deities the characters can choose to
follow, but they are not fleshed out in detail. Another paragraph is
dedicated to the Shadow Realm, a parallel shadow world of the living
which doesn’t follow the rules of time, space and dimension as much as
the real world. The author included some advice on how to run the
campaign: his design notes, some mechanical tips etc.. There are tables
with rumors in Ode, affiliation groups, random encounters in the Shadow
Realm and NPCs. Furthermore, there is a schematic layout of Ode. While
it looks very pretty, it’s a bit hard to decipher how things are
supposed to work out as it’s not a map in a traditional sense.
Altogether, you get a good overview over the setting: how the world is,
how people are and how things work. While the content is a tad barebones
it evokes enough feel and describes the tone well. Moreover, there are
two adventures included: The Chapterhouse Murders, a sandbox style
urban mystery campaign starter for beginner characters, and The Pale
Orc, a straightforward adventure for level 2-3. I’ve run a shortened
session of The Chapterhouse Murders with 2e and The Pale Orc with
1e. Both adventures are good introductions into the setting but as a
Referee you should carefully prepare them beforehand because the
information is very terse and can be hard to spot in the midst of
running the game. Some background information is packed into previous
chapters so sometimes you need to flip pages.
(Here you can find my modified notes and other
resources for
the campaign starter.) In comparison to the 1st edition of Whitehack,
the new book contains more facts, more tables, schematic maps and some
slight differences. For example, the 1st edition Dwarves were
technologically more advanced, now it’s the new species of the
Dagonites.
Summary
Christian Mehrstam’s writing style is very succinct so it’s easy to
overlook things. Make sure to reread stuff if you want to run a game in
the default White Curse setting. It is pretty grim and has enough
hooks and interesting bits to make a good starting point. One of my
players described it as “gray” and that’s what it is: it’s gritty,
dangerous and perhaps a bit dark. The looming winter and the curse
overshadow everything.
Still, it has some very compelling aspects: the Marionettes and
Dagonites, Rock Snails as means of transportation, the Twisted etc.
Lots of character concepts and play styles fit into the White Curse,
so players and Game Masters alike should find something to their liking
if they are on board with the premise of the world. Go to part
7