Aquelarre RPG

Almost 25 years since it was first released in Spain, Aquelarre finally receives an English translation. This gorgeous 570-page, full-color, book is a complete roleplaying game. The brilliant artwork by Jaime Garcia Mendoza throughout the book captures Aquelarre’s dark, medieval world of demons and angels.

Aquelarre offers everything you expect to find in a fantasy RPG: character creation, game system and magic system. It also includes detailed information about the medieval Iberian setting, the cosmology of angels and demons, and a bestiary.

Player characters in Aquelarre begin life in one of five kingdoms that dominated the Iberian Peninsula during the Middle Ages. Characters may be of various cultures (Arabian, Basque, Castilian, etc.) and social position (from nobility to slave). Personal characteristics play their part, too, such as the Rationality/Irrationality rating, which determines how attuned a character is with the Irrational world, how capable with magic, and how susceptible to it. Rituals of faith depend upon a high Rationality instead. The game system is primarily based upon percentile rolls against either characteristic ratings or skills. As might be expected from a game that has thrived for several decades now, rules for combat, weapons, and healing are all nicely detailed, with options to suit a variety of playing styles.