By Nash J. DeVita, Staff Reviewer

Available from FRP Games

BESM: Uresia Grave of Heaven (d20)
Retail $19.95 Sale $15.95

Initiative Round
Uresia: Grave of Heaven is a campaign setting for BESM d20. This 80 page trade paper back is from Guardians of Order and was written by S. John Ross with additional d20 writing from Ian Sturrock. The anime-style illustrations contained within are from Christina Crontiris, Niko Geyer, and Ed Northcott. The cover features five (5) fantasy, amine characters - a satyr, a large barbarian, a young man in armor, a blue slime, and a purple haired woman. This illustration is also from Niko Geyer. Uresia: Grave of Heaven d20 retails for $19.95.

This title was also released for the Tri-Stat system. I do not know how similar this title is to that one being as that I do not have the tri- stat version. I cannot make any comparison between the two thanks to that fact.

This setting takes inspiration from a number of areas, amine such as Record of Lodoss War and Slayers, 'standard' fantasy role playing, and video games, such as Dragon Quest (Dragon Warrior here in the North America). This is not just a combination of those things, though. This takes elements from them and manages to make it all its own!

The world as we knew it began almost 1400 years ago. This is when Skyfall occurred, when the gods fought in such a harsh war that nearly all of them died and the heavens fell to the earth. This destroyed almost all of the land and the creatures. There were two areas of land left, the outer islands and the inner islands. Man was drawn to the inner islands while trolls, or the uncivilized creatures, were fine with staying on the outer islands.

Since that time, man (the various 'civilized' races) has repopulated and a number of great kingdoms have risen and fallen. Each of the kingdoms resides on one or more larger islands within the inner islands. Currently, there are fifteen (15) unique kingdoms within the inner islands. These range from Celar where the major belief is in war and strength and Koval who was bent on expansion and now is attempting to keep itself together and regain its old reputation to Dreed where the greatest accomplishment is found in great cooking (and is ruled by a boy king from another world) and Elu which really isn't a kingdom but a collection of small islands and major trading ports. On average, each of these kingdoms is given a one page write up. I point out "on average" since some take more than one page while others take merely a single column or less.

Even though there is a limited landmass for adventure, these kingdoms are so diverse that there is no end to possible adventure if this setting is in the hands of a skilled (or even (semi-skilled) GM.

These kingdoms are populated by all sorts of men (I use the term loosely). These range as much as the kingdoms do. Humans are the majority of the populous. Common fantasy races such as elves, dwarves, and centaurs exist here. As do more exotic ones like beast men (anthropomorphic animal / man mixtures), ghosts, mushroom trolls (who aren't really 'trolls'), Snowmen and slimes reside here, too!

In addition to the list of usable classes from the BESM d20 core book, Uresia presents ten new, setting specific, classes. Most of these classes are pretty narrow, such as the Dreed Sporting Chef. Some are pretty versatile, though, like the Questing Scholar. I see most characters in this setting taking classes from the core book and only a handful of characters taking these classes since they are so narrow. They are far from useless, though, and do add a ton of flavor to the setting.

The fourth chapter, Wonders of Uresia is a little shorter than I would have liked. This contains write up on a few magical items and mecha as well as a couple of locations and beasts / monsters. I would have liked to see more examples in each of these categories.

The final two chapters are detailed settings for Uresia. The first is Rogan's Heath. "The quiet hamlet of Rogan's Heath rests in the cool highlands of County Eagan, in the Rindenland." (page 62) This small town is described by some of the major buildings, each of which is well detailed. The second is Shadow River. "Shadow River is a beautiful city, even in the poorer quarters." (page 67) This is divided into and described by its many districts.

Critical Hits
Niko Geyer (all of the artists, actually!) are excellent. The work is a perfect fit for this title and genre. If you would like to see more of Niko Geyer's work, be sure to visit nikogeyer.com, Niko's web site.

This is an original setting with a familiar flair. This being the case, there are plenty of stories possible and already in mind (in my case, at least) and plenty more just on the horizon of thought and inspiration.

Uresia is well written. I was compelled to keep reading throughout the entire thing. Thanks to this, while reading, I was able to picture countless adventures that I hope to run or (preferably) play in.

Critical Misses
I would have liked to see more pages in this title, especially when considering the cover price of $20. To tell the truth, I don't know what else could have been included or expanded upon (aside from a couple of small items - see below) since this is a pretty complete book, but only 80 pages for $20 is kind of harsh.

Chapter four is a bit too short. More examples of items, locations, etc. could have been easily included.

Coup de Grace
This is a great pre- written setting for BESM d20, especially considering that it is the first that has been published. Even if the exact setting is not used, there is a plethora of awesome information between the covers!

Review Scores

Overall Total: 112 (89%)
Final Grade: A-