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Accursed $20.00
Average Rating:4.5 / 5
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by Ronnie W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/10/2021 13:28:39

One of my favorite Savage Worlds settings, and holds up well with Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (the Accursed Adventure Edition Update helps)!

Universal Classic Monsters meets Castlevania, this setting simply oozes with ambience. From the layout to the art, it wholly embraces its theme and draws you in. From the start, you find yourself immersed in the world of Morden, a post-war land ruled by evil witches where hope lies with the renegade monsters they created. And, the choice to include the short story "Hunted" was a stroke of genius! It gives you a taste of the tales that can be told and leaves you wanting more!

Well-designed, well-written; I can't say enough about how much I love Accursed!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by Lee L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/23/2018 21:29:16

Wonderful Fun and a great concept. Would love to get a group to play this setting! [not run, I want to play some times too]



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by Kyle P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/18/2017 17:21:26

The story provided is fantastic as is the overall concept, however I find a few aspects lacking.

1-The currency system is roll based which falls short for this setting.

2-The fact that werewolves and vampires are just as susceptible to ordinary weapons as an ordinary human is a bit of a let down.

However these minor short comings can be overcome with house rules SHOULD YOU FEEL THE NEED as I did. These are only my personal complaints and theyre minor.

Overall a decent book, especially as an idea generator.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by David w. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/05/2015 09:12:47

Great purchase if below 13 dollars. I was glad when the price went down from stupidity to reasonable. The product is very well done and should see a larger fan base with the reduced price. If you market off of production cost your playing it safe but more likely to get kicked in the balls on any PDFs over 15 base and there's was 20. Do the math it's a no brainer. "Bottom line only purchase when on sale or if money is not an issue."



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by Jose V. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/20/2015 14:47:58

I love the storyline, the world, the Witchbreeds, and especially the Witches. I dig the limited magical mechanics highly, since I'm generally not an epic-fantasy type GM.

However, I'm a little bummed that I spent $50.00 on the Premium hardcover to find a typo on the first page; but other than needing a more careful copy editor (occasionally clumsy grammar/ mistakes throughout), this book is solid. It hurts to see careless errors in a game of this quality, but hopefully the Revised version adds some of the DLC adventures into the main book (150 pages feels thin... there's so much more that could have been included) and fixes the mistakes.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by Luke G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 06/12/2014 06:44:32

This setting is pretty much what "Van Helsing" and "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters" wanted to be.

I do not have much experience with playing in the Savage Worlds system, so that was not what attracted me to this product. Just the atmosphere and setting concept drew me toward an interest in it. Now, having read through the setting information, I can say it was worth the expenditure on that strength alone.

Anybody who has an interest in the old Universal Horror monster classics, or their Hammer Film dopplegangers will recognize the inspiration for a lot of this book, but the developers went quite a bit deeper than I expected and hooked into some rather interesting myths and legends, with a touch of some classic fantasy as well. The book describes eight of the thirteen witches that came over as part of the Grand Coven and each one is given a very unique style. This ranges from the Djinn, who seems to work her most powerful magic by perverting the wishes others ask of her, all the way to the Crone, a weather controlling witch who seems to have been the driving force behind the invasion.

The setting is dark, but not hopeless. There is every indication that your characters might be able to help turn the tide against the witches and their loyal servants. Oddly, for a setting like this, the morality is fairly clear cut. It is very clear that the witches are evil, and the vaguely Abrahamic "Enochian Faith" is rather pleasantly more tolerant and reasonable than I would expect of a religious establishment in other, similarly grim settings. In Accursed, the "good" generally behaves in a manner that can legitimately be termed good rather than simply being judgmental proselytizers. They aren't perfect, of course, but that just makes them more interesting. Likewise, there's very little grey about the witches. They are inhuman and evil, with motivations that cannot be easily understood.

One would think that the establishment of a clear good versus a clear evil would make this more like a fantasy than a dark fantasy. If the authors had chosen to set the story in the days of the Grand Coven Invasion, this might have been the case. At that time in the setting, most of the Accursed were still under the sway of the witches that created them and the heroes would have been the standard stalwart knight or the grim wilderness wanderer with a clear eye and good musket. What makes this setting dark fantasy, and what makes it so interesting is that there is a clear good and evil...and good lost the war.

The players have in front of them a lot of choices and there's always going to be the temptation of a compromise of their values. Perhaps working with one of the Gorgon's agents is a worthwhile endeavor...if it will insure that the Dark Queen's latest plot fails. Will the characters embrace their curse and become more and more inhuman themselves? Or will they turn aside from their witchmark and seek a return to their time as human. When you're defending a land from the invasion of a great, outer evil, then the "good" choice often tends to be easy. But now that the land is already conquered, being effective and being moral seem to march side by side less and less. It's hard to keep up the fight, at least not without sacrificing something else.

So while the morality isn't the muddled grey you'd expect from dark fantasy, the character choices between expediency and principals makes the situations that much more interesting.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by Mark G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/25/2014 12:27:50

Great world. Like a cross between Ravenloft and the old Hammer horror movies, yet still feeling fresh and original. Really enjoyed the book.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by Joseph H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/14/2014 18:56:41

In the interest of full disclosure; I was a supporter of the Accursed Kickstarter but I am in no way affiliated with Melior Via nor have I received any compensation for this review.

The Accursed setting is one of those rare products where everything comes together in just the right way to create something new and exciting.

The creative team behind Accursed clearly cares about the setting and has taken the time to really give it a life all its own; much like one of the Crone’s lumbering creations!

In Accursed, players take on the role of a Witchmarked, a once-human monster whose sins include helping a group of archetypal Witches, however unwillingly, to defeat the Armies of Light. The Witchmarked (or Accursed) come in several varieties; one type for each Witch. The various types are mostly culled from classic monster movies and the Accursed design team has done a wonderful job at making each fit perfectly within the setting while still maintaining that classic feel.

Accursed has been compared to a combination of Van Helsing, Castlevania, and Ravenloft, with its own sense of flavor added to the mix. While I find this comparisons to be both accurate and informative, I believe it lacks one crucial piece of information. One of the most interesting elements of the Accursed setting is the current state of Morden (the collection of nations which make up the setting) and the heroes who rail against that state, despite being hated and persecuted from all sides. These two elements give Accursed its own life and feel; one which I believe to be both unique and haunting.

As I noted above, Morden’s Armies of Light no longer fight against the Witch’s Grand Coven, for that struggle is long over. Unlike most fairy tales, in Morden, the forces of Light lost the war and the Witches now rule the lands as all-powerful dictators. As fate would have it, the only remaining resistance to the Witches’ rule are the Witchmarked, cast off remnants of the Witches invasion force.

Which brings us to my favorite element of Accursed; the heroes! The only warriors left who possess the power to fight the Witches, even in secret, are the former human inhabitants of Morden who were cursed and pressed into service against their neighbors. Many of the Witchmarked were released at the conclusion of the Bane War (the war between the Grand Coven and Morden’s Army of Light) and left to their own devices. After finding they had no place left to call home, many of the Witchmarked took up the struggle against their former masters. They do this despite being feared and hated by the very humans they seek to protect. They do this despite having little hope of success. Mostly, they do this to save their lost souls, repent their unforgivable sins and because they are the only ones who can!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by JR T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/14/2014 21:33:57

I'm a Gamer of Habit so I tend not to get interested in new settings. After opening the Accursed RPG all that changed because I realized it has the potential to be a cultural phenomenon that returns the 'Non-Sandbox RPG' genre to the masses with this Dark Fantasy Action revolution. This is done through a masterful job of balancing the classic monsters we know with a new and innovative over-world theme. This is done by casting the heroes as monsters that have to either fight their new instincts or embrace them as they fight for revenge against this plague upon their lands. No matter which choice the players make, the rules still work flawless with a sense of reason and logic that has been lost in older rule systems that I won't mention by name. All of the options are intriguing, but the Vargr are my favorite! That is why you should be playing this Savage Worlds setting. Also the art and details are epic, there's no better word for how much work and love apparently went into this masterpiece. That is why, even if you are not currently in a gaming group I highly recommend buying this book just for the pleasure of reading it.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by Jay S. A. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 01/07/2014 23:16:35

Accursed has an interesting spin on the traditional dark fantasy formula by making heroes of the monsters. Players take on the role of the Witchmarked, twisted monstrosities and victims of the Witches that serve as the primary bad guys of the setting.

To just hit the finer points of the history, a group of powerful Witches attacked the world of Morden with armies of monstrosities, and won at great cost. Humanity had lost to the bad guys. The Witchmarked are the few monsters that have struggled to retain their humanity, and are using their powers to fight back against the rule of the Witches, to protect humans that fear and hate them for what they are.

The Witchmarked come in several forms, including the vampiric Dampir, artificial Golems, patchwork Mongrels, ancient Mummies, deceptive Ophidians, wrathful Revenants, ethereal Shades and animalistic Vargr. Each of these present a host of different abilities that make them well suited to the strategies of the Witches responsible for their creation.

Overall, the Witchbreeds are imaginative and interesting, and I can see how a group of these would come off as a formidable team as opposed to a parody of the Universal Studios monsters. Each Witchbreed has a starting package of abilities and weaknesses, and a further list of Edges that they can choose from.

As with most Savage Worlds games, Accursed shouldn’t be mistaken as a horror game. Sure there are monsters and such, but the way that the Witchbreeds are laid out and the role of the player characters are described, the game will swing towards Dark Fantasy Action than anything else. Kind of like what would happen if Alucard from Castlevania decided to go all Solomon Kane on a fantasy world.

Overall, Accursed presents an exciting and interesting setting with all the hallmarks of Gothic fantasy with enough Pulp sensibilities to make it action-oriented and fun. There’s room for swashbuckling monsters righting wrongs, and I certainly can’t complain about that. The artwork is stunning, and the writing is solid. Definitely looking forward to further releases for this line.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by Thomas B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 12/30/2013 02:23:17

WHAT WORKS: The art is gorgeous. The "Heroes as Monsters" bit hasn't been overdone in Savage Worlds, and Accursed sets the standard pretty high in that regard. The level of detail in each Witchbreed is very cool and very evocative, and the Witchmark rules, providing reasons to both embrace and reject power, are great as well.

WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Some of the Accursed seemed to get the shorter end of the stick than the others, with Mummies having fewer cool bits to play around with. This is essentially a three book purchase, rather than the two book purchase that most Savage Settings are. Savage Tales to go along with the Plot Point Campaign would have been welcome. The editing in my PDF was still pretty rough, but it was updated after I downloaded it and I just caught that as I was finishing this review.

CONCLUSION: I was provided a preview copy of the Playtest rules and almost immediately made a pledge on the Kickstarter. I like Accursed enough that I put my money where my mouth is, I'll be getting a print copy and I may even spring for both poker decks. People who believe that Savage Worlds should always be as minimalist as possible aren't going to like the extra bits of crunch added to Accursed, but I personally think it's one of the coolest settings I've seen, and it will hit my table after the print version arrives, if not before. Melior Via made the game I've always wanted to play.

For my full review, please visit http://mostunreadblogever.blogspot.com/2013/12/tommys-take-on-accursed.html



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Accursed
Publisher: Star Anvil Studios
by Jonathan M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/29/2013 10:03:21

This is an excellent game, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a more Gothic, action-oriented games in the vein of Castelvania, Solomon Cain, or the Rippers settings. The hook of playing "monster" characters is great, the details about the witches is great, but the added elements of acceptance and defiance are truly amazing, and definitely lend to a longer campaign. The artwork in this book will blow you away, as will the amount of detail spent on the game setting itself. I believe this is the best pick of 2013, and look forward to seeing it grow.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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