Clockwork & Chivalry: Divers & Sundry
Divers & Sundry is a supplement for the English Civil War alternate history, fantasy clockwork setting Clockwork & Chivalry (powered by RuneQuest II) published by Cakebread & Walton and written by Peter Cakebread, Colin Chapmen, and Ken Walton.
By Aaron T. Huss
Divers & Sundry is the first sourcebook for Clockwork & Chivalry. It compiles material from Mongoose Publishing’s Signs & Portents, source material from the Kingdom & Commonwealth campaign, and new material that expands upon the core mechanics. Divers & Sundry is really a mish-mash of new material for players and Game Masters allowing them to take their game in interesting directions (such as Scotland). In addition, it has three stand-alone adventures that can be inserted into any ongoing campaign or used as-is. To go with those adventures, pre-generated characters are provided to allow for anyone to get the Clockwork & Chivalry experience even if they’re completely new to the setting. The result is a book that covers the gambit of material from completely new players (or those at a convention) to those who are already deeply involved in an ongoing campaign.
CHARACTERS
Characters is a three-part section to start Divers & Sundry: Professions, Factions, and Witchcraft. Professions presents players and GMs with 7 new professions including those attached to Witchcraft and those associated with being from Scotland. Each one includes a description and applicable mechanics. Factions presents 7 new factions including those attached to Witchcraft and Scotland. Each one includes a description and associated NPC. Witchcraft is extracted from Thou Shalt Not Suffer from the Kingdom & Commonwealth campaign series. This is a really nice addition so that players and GMs can incorporate these mechanics even if they do not want to run the Kingdom & Commonwealth campaign. These mechanics include everything needed to become a witch or warlock and a large list of new spells.
ARMS AND ARMIES
Arms and Armies expands upon two key things in the Clockwork & Chivalry setting: 17th Century weapons and the English Civil War. Arms is just that, a large list of arms during the 17th century including close combat, ranged, and armor. There are lots of associated illustrations and each entry contains all applicable in-game mechanics. Armies is a very interesting content entry but makes perfect sense when you consider the setting is wrapped around the English Civil War. Armies contains a large group of pre-generated soldier stats, for common, specialist, and foreign soldiers, for quick and easy incorporation into any adventure or campaign containing a large battle scene (more specifically those revolving around the Civil War). In addition, all these pre-generated soldiers are translated into professions for use as possible player characters. Wrapping up this section is a look at Sieges including the equipment used, tactics, conditions, a bit of history, and the incorporation of clockwork and alchemy.
SCOTLAND
This section is rather self-explanatory. It expands the setting from England north into Scotland. A detailed introduction gives a historical look at culture, alliances, royalty, clans, landscape, and their participation in the English Civil War. A list of important people is included along with some adventure seeds and random encounter tables. Most of this is straight source material.
RANDOM TABLES
Random Tables is a HUGE collection of tables for a large variety of uses including geography, weather, adventure seeds, Inn names, NPCs, manor houses, and more! There’s little to explain here other than knowing these are tools for GMs to use for quick incorporation during an adventure or campaign or while trying to write an upcoming group of encounters without spending too much time during design.
ADVENTURES
Adventures contains three stand-alone adventure modules with pre-generated characters. A common theme throughout Clockwork & Chivalry encounters is that of the how people are reacting to each other with the Civil War going on around them. Factions are being pinned against each other and loyalties are being tested. These three adventures do a great job of playing up that theme and demonstrating the atmosphere being generated within the Clockwork & Chivalry setting. After the last adventure, an Appendix is included with even more pre-generated characters.
OVERALL
Divers & Sundry enhances the Clockwork & Chivalry setting in many ways. Players are given new options for factions, professions, weapons, and witchcraft while Game Masters are given lots of tables for quick look-up, new adventures, mechanics for quick army assemblage, and an expansion of the setting into Scotland. It is an all-around useful and valuable book with material for everyone. If you play Clockwork & Chivalry, this is definitely a book that I recommend.
RATINGS
Publication Quality: 8 out of 10
Divers & Sundry utilizes a very clean layout and presentation, but what really stands out is the illustrations. This book is filled with fantastic illustrations depicting the era and more importantly, depicting the many weapons that are listed. When creating detailed weapon listings, applicable illustrations are a great way to demonstrate what is being described. Adding to this are the beautiful illustrations depicting images of 17th Century Scotland. There are parts of the layout that get a little clunky, primarily within the tables section, but nothing that impedes the ease of readability or overshadow the illustrations.
Mechanics: 10 out of 10
Not only does Divers & Sundry contain an absolute landslide of new material supporting the game’s mechanics, but all this material fits the atmosphere being created within the Clockwork & Chivalry setting. Representing this 17th century feel with mechanics is not always the easiest feat. All of the new material either supports those mechanics, builds upon them, enhances them, or adds new ones. All of this is easily wrapped around the English Civil War and you almost feel as though you’re there.
Value Add: 10 out of 10
Possibly the best value of Divers & Sundry is the variety of content being provided. It does not simply focus on one or the other, but rather presents all players and Game Masters with new options and adventuring possibilities. Polishing off this value is the large amount of pre-generated characters provided, incorporating new outlets for game-play: one-shots and convention play.
Overall: 9 out of 10
Divers & Sundry is an excellent book for all players of Clockwork & Chivalry. From beginning to end, there is lots of new material to use in all sorts of situations or for those who wish to take their adventures elsewhere (like Scotland). It perfectly expands upon and adds to not only the mechanics of the setting but also the “look and feel”. The one basic theme that has always been a constant throughout the Clockwork & Chivalry line is creating an atmosphere that resembles 17th Century England during the English Civil War, Divers & Sundry continues that atmosphere in every piece of content provided.
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