Review & Commentary On The Stormbringer Rpg's Guide to Old Hrolmar by Richard Watts

 This rich city was a great meeting place for all the imaginative people of the Young Kingdoms. To it came explorers, adventurers, mercenaries, craftsmen, merchants, painters and poets for, under the rule of the famous Duke Avan Astran, this Vilmirian city state was undergoing a transformation in its character. THE VANISHING TOWER, II, II Michael Moorcock 

OLD HROLMAR IS A BASTION of culture within grim Vilmir, and stands as one of the greatest cities the Young Kingdoms will ever see. Yet it is a city under siege. While the machinations of Law and Chaos threaten its stability from within, far greater dangers are massed outside its walls. Neither King Naclon of Vilmir, nor the powerful Cardinal Garrick of the Church of Law, look favourably upon Old Hrolmar, and its bravely independent ruler, Duke Avan Astran. 

Stormbringer! Guide To Old Hrolmar Bastion of Change in the Young Kingdoms is an updated monograph that covers the fifth  edition of The  Stormbringer rpg!. 

OLD HROLMAR clocks in at a solid one hundred and ten pages of monograph. We get a bit of everything here from Richard Watts in OLD HROLMAR from region  history, setting material, a boat load of NPC's, organizations, guild material, adventure hooks and more. 

OLD HROLMAR is an  urban cityscape for the Stormbringer rpg. And this urban cityscape is a perfect land of adventure for Stormbringer PC's. It presents a bastion of civilization amid the world of theYoung Kingdoms. And it's been updated with brand new maps and cover. And the OLD HROLMAR supplement has everything a crew of Strombringer rpg PC's are going to need to dive headlong into the city at the height of it's power and wealth. 

The Sword & Sorcery horrors of Law & Chaos are at the center of the city of OLD HROLMAR. And as a campaign of adventure for Stormbringer we have a bastion of civilization and culture. 
OLD HROLMAR is miles away from the usual rabble & rile of the Young Kingdoms. As a point of adventure and civilization this kingdom is invaluable. Did I mention that OLD HROLMAR is rotten to it's core?! There's in roads that the beggar's guild has made and the Order of the Pale Orchid Chaos cult that has exploded into influence. And a host of smugglers and cult throat NPC's!? 

Also the church of Law is on the wane as well. So things in OLD HROLMAR are not as they seem on the surface but they seldom are! 

OLD HROLMAR is a very detailed monograph and supplement with everything a Strombringer! Rpg fourth edition DM needs to bring this Young Kingdom cityscape to life in spades. We get a very and highly detailed gazeteer of the city and it's districts, neighborhoods, personalities, etc. And there's a boat load of information that covers everything that one needs to drop your PC's into the mix of OLD HROLMAR. 

OLD HROLMAR is oriented towards working with Stormbringer fifth edition and that's fine. Since Stormbringer fifth edition is almost but not quite the  Ruinquest rpg OLD HROLMAR should also work well as a resource for that BRP game as well. 

OLD HROLMAR works on several levels as a campaign setting. One as a 'safe' harbor within the Young Kingdoms for adventurers until events of the Stormbringer mythos bring that to an end. And OLD HROLMAR also acts an adventure point as well when the corruptions of Law & Chaos come to call in the old city. And the other point is Duke Avan himself as patron for a group of adventurers until his death. 
"FOR A BRIEF SPAN of years Old Hrolmar is one of the greatest cities in the Young Kingdoms, and a beacon of tolerance and creativity in grim Vilmir.", this statement isn't a lie the city was for a brief golden age a beacon of hope and home in the Young Kingdoms.
Is  OLD HROLMAR worth the download?! In a word, oh yes! For a number of reasons. 
OLD HROLMAR could in point of fact be used with a couple of BRP products as a campaign base. One would be the Avalon Hill Runequest gaming system. OLD HROLMAR fits right into the background of it's Historical Europe rpg model. There will have to be adjustments & handwaving on the DM's part. The second is possibly the Call of Cthulhu rpg where the Young Kingdoms become a part of the Dreamlands and the cycle of birth and death of Young Kingdoms happens. And the third option is Stormbringer itself as the system. 
The fourth option is going to make the purists cringe and that's to bring OLD HROLMAR over to an OSR game. And this could be done with Castles & Crusades where the NPC's are easily going to be within 3rd to 6th level and beyond easily for that system. 

OLD HROLMAR makes an excellent adventuring base and solid campaign setting. The fact that the old city can be turned in on itself and then used as a terrific adventure plot point is something that few folks even know about. 
This city has everything that a campaign needs to start or end in one location. The fact that it works on so many levels is enough to speak volumes about Richard Watts and co. writing and design. 

OSR Thoughts On Gods of Law in the Young Kingdoms written by Charles Green- with large contributions from Richard Watts For Chaosium’s Stormbringer and Elric! Rpg

 "This second volume of Cults of the Young Kingdoms shows an approach to life in the Multiverse very different from that found in the Cults of Chaos. Where the Church of Chaos is composed of several mostly independent cults, the Church of Law sees itself as a single, monolithic structure that exists to protect the Young Kingdoms and its people from the ravages of the Dukes of Disorder. This book explores this structure. The Player’s section details how the Cult of Law understands the cosmology of the Multiverse, how individual cultists behave, and how they approach their tasks of cleansing the world of the taint of Chaos. "



"We also see the Barrier of Law-a mystical wall of energy that prevents the Young Kingdoms from dissolving into pure Chaos. Magic is discussed as a by-product of this energy, and how both the cults of Law and Chaos use it. The Gamemaster’s section is a series of discussions about using the information in this book in your Stormbringer campaign. There are details about working with gods-appropriate themes, the cultists of Law as antagonists, and campaign seeds for further adventures. The Barrier of Law-a mystical wall of energy that prevents the Young Kingdoms from dissolving into pure Chaos is discussed here, along with magic, seen as a by-product of this energy, and how both the cults of Law and Chaos use it."

Gods of Law in the Young Kingdoms written by Charles Green- with large contributions from Richard Watts is a free monograph for Chaosium’s Stormbringer and Elric!  Rpg respectively. This monograph dives deeply into the background, make up, and monolithic nature of the Cult of Law in Moorcock's Elric series of novels. Gods of Law in the Young Kingdoms goes far deeper into the cheap & cheerful nature of Law then one would expect in a free supplement. 

Gods of Law In The Young Kingdoms is also a good resource for an OSR game as well because it has a solid exploitation of the existing information on the church & cults of Law in the Young Kingdoms. This isn't a monster book per say but instead is a solid addition to the Stormbringer rpg.  Gods of Law In The Young Kingdoms could be used for other planes of existence where the cults & church of Law has influence. 

The cultists of Law could well be some of the most fanatical and dangerous NPC's that adventurers of the Chaosium’s Stormbringer rpg. The fact is that cultists & followers of Law's religions have a nasty & very dangerous hatred of all things Chaos. The cracks in the barrier of Law has allowed the cancer of magick as Law looks at it to creep into the Young Kingdoms. The church of chaos of Pan Tang has been actively destroying the ancient safety valves that the Young Kingdom has in place. This is  one of the main reasons why the cults of Law & churches of Law are right in a way. But the fact is that the forces of chaos fueled by Pan Tang & the Young Kingdom's human chaos cults have become such a problem. 
Elric himself as a champion of Arioch is a walking disaster area wherever he goes in the Young Kingdoms & beyond. 

 Gods of Law in the Young Kingdoms takes this knowledge of the twilight of Law & adds to it a sense of the cult & church's desparate fight against Chaos. Looking at Gods of Law in the Young Kingdoms with a both a player's & DM's eyes is interesting because it puts the view point of the Law into focus. 
Is Gods of Law in the Young Kingdom worth the download? Yes in my humble opinion because of the fact that you've got the magicks of Law, the layout & background, and much more about the dieties, cults, the church, & more of Law! 

Download Gods of Law in the Young Kingdoms written by Charles Green- with large contributions from Richard Watts For Chaosium’s Stormbringer and Elric!  Rpg Here