In my continuing excavation of lost treasures, perfectly preserved in digital publishing archives, I have hit a rich seam of 3rd party DnD 4e, including Kobold Press Midgard. The first that I dived into was Soldiers of Fortune, which is very good, and provides a huge amount of game-able material for all things war, mass battles and conflict.
What do we get?
- 82 pages with covers book back and white interiors. Well laid out, bookmarked PDF
- The author, Matt James, a retired soldier, due to wounds in combat (2005), writes: “Everyone has a
purpose in life, and I feel mine was to serve in the military so that another would not have to.” - Straight in to plot hooks on reasons to go to war, with the hooks scaled to 4e Tiers. No messing, you are headlong into content that provides backing for the campaigns that you might create.
- A short section on multi-systems – taking other wargames and blending them in with 4e to provide a varied and specialised use of systems to achieve the overall battle effect that you want
- Plot hooks to tie in the wars to come with the PCs and a short treatise on what a soldier of fortune actually is.
- Some text on warfare and Midgard.
- Run the full military campaign using overlapping 4e Skill Challenges. This is gold.
- “The Midgard Stratagems, penned by a famous and heroic knight named Yaran the Even-Handed . Little is known about Sir Yaran other than legend, and scholars can neither confirm nor deny his actual existence. All that is known is that he is both revered and cherished as a monumental figure in modern day military lore and doctrine.” Sun-Tzu Midgard style.
- Some fully statted legendary generals, to lift and drop straight into your game.
- A full Mercenary Theme – with powers right up to 30.
- Soldier of Fortune, Veteran of War, Spellscourge Mercenary, Sacrosanct Legionnaire Paragon Paths
- Spoils of War – giving a cache of items for your characters.
- Battle standards and rituals
- A Midgard 7th level adventure, “The Battle of Sanguine-Crag Pass”, provides a sequence of skirmish, skill challenge, and build up to the main event. I haven’;t looked in detail but it could be a useful structure that draws on the previous in the book.
- A huge final splurge of monsters, minions and templates. Again, not looked in detail and how they work with 4e core, but i reckon there is lots that is usable there.
I think the book will work if you are not 4e or Midgard centred. But as I am both, it will do very nicely. the 4 Open Design series of books have a lot going for them and I have more to tuck into. It might be an old buried niche, but it is treasure nevertheless.