DC's first fantasy series under its new Black Label prestige imprint, The Last God, is a showcase for what the fledgling brand has to offer: visceral storytelling, spectacular visuals, and uncompromising horror. The series' hallmark, however, is the world-building. From the opening scene The Last God weaves together unreal magic and authentic culture, creating a setting where every element feels like the product of centuries of living history. And this April, DC Comics will release a one-shot titled The Last God: Tales from The Book of Ages, an official sourcebook dedicated to laying out the world of Cain Anuun, providing stats that you can bring to your own Dungeons & Dragons table.
Tales from the Book of Ages features the same creative team as the main series: creator/writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Dog Days of Summer, Warlords of Appalachia), illustrator Riccardo Federici (Aquaman, Cursed Comics Cavalcade), and cover artist Kai Carpenter (Books of Magic, Hellblazer). In addition to the mainstays, the book will include maps and illustrations from cartographer Jared Blando, who has produced maps of fantasy worlds for Wizards of the Coast and Forbidden Games, as well as roleplaying content from Dan Telfer, host and Dungeon Master for the Nerd Poker podcast.
The 40-page special, which DC's announcement refers to as a "sourcebook" to emphasize its focus on RPG content, is described as "5E compatible." This means that the new races, items, etc., aren't official content playtested by Dungeons & Dragons publishers Wizards of the Coast, but are designed to work within the rules of D&D Fifth Edition, the newest and most popular version of the game. The announcement lists "playable races, subclasses, magic items, monsters, and more," which suggests that it will offer a large amount of content geared toward both DMs and players alike. These options are best suited to be combined into a full campaign that takes place in The Last God's Cain Annun setting, but will likely be easily adapted to established D&D worlds such as 5E default The Forgotten Realms, your personal group's homebrew setting, or even the Wildemount region explored in Critical Role.
While details are forthcoming on the mechanical content provided by Tales from the Book of Ages, fans of the series can likely guess what the sourcebook has in store. While the book's major humanoid groups are easily mapped to D&D core races (elves, dwarves, and humans), the subclasses have more potential to add variety to a character. PCs will likely be offered entry to the Guild Eldritch band of necromancers, the elite Ferrymen and their Aelvan "spellsongs," and the human users of teymsong, which can calm and command beasts. While the bearlike, intelligent ursulon is bound to be defined with statistics as a potential enemy or friendly mount, the Flowering Dead monsters featured in The Last God create far more terrifying possibilities. The titular "Last God" would make a perfect epic-level threat.
Historically, comics that provide material for roleplaying games are rare outside of licensed tie-ins to existing RPG properties like Pathfinder. The popularity of tabletop roleplaying has surged in recent years, which makes the "one-shot sourcebook" format a refreshing new way to deliver additional content. For anyone who has wanted to inhabit the worlds of their favorite comic book series and create new stories there, the possibility of more books like this is tantalizing. Fans can call ahead to their local comic book shop to pre-order their own copy, and check out the full solicitation details below:
- THE LAST GOD: TALES FROM THE BOOK OF AGES SOURCEBOOK #1
- written by PHILLIP KENNEDY JOHNSON and DAN TELFER
- art by RICCARDO FEDERICI, KAI CARPENTER, JARED BLANDO and others
- card stock cover by KAI CARPENTER
- To look upon the Book of Ages is to know the world of Cain Anuun’s past, present, and perhaps even its future. Long believed to be the first text ever recorded, the Book of Ages contains the most complete history of Cain Anuun’s peoples and their gods.
- Welcome to the official sourcebook to the world of The Last God, detailing the rich history of its peoples, locations, schools of magic, a bestiary of the creatures found throughout Cain Anuun, and much more.
- In this amazing one-shot, writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson joins forces with Dan Telfer (dungeon master of the Nerd Poker podcast) to bring you 5E compatible content for playable races, subclasses, magic items, monsters, and more that you can use in your favorite tabletop role-playing game, accompanied by epic illustrations by Riccardo Federici and Kai Carpenter, as well as new maps and illustrations from master cartographer Jared Blando.
- In this “Book of Ages, you’ll find everything to provide readers with a deeper understanding of the world of Cain Anuun, while also giving tabletop gamers everything they need to build campaigns and adventures within The Last God.
DC Black Label's The Last God: Tales from The Book of Ages is set to release on April 29th, 2020.
Source: DC Comics