Sean Punch, SJ Games GURPS line editor drops the title in his weekly GURPS Update here. All I got to say it is about time and looking forward to it when it is released.
GURPS: Social Engineering mmmmmm.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Stormbringer returns!
Over on RPGNow Mongoose has released several Classic Moorcock products including 1e Stormbringer and 4e Elric! in PDF. You can check it out here.
While I never used Stormbringer myself I always enjoyed reading the books. Like other Chaosium RPGs of the time it is based on Basic Roleplaying. Also from what I heard let's hope they release the Corum supplement as supposedly it makes for a kick ass general Swords & Sorcery RPG once stripped off it's setting specific elements.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Well it only took 25 years
My monday night campaign is set in the Viridistan, the city-state of the World Emperor. A big problem is that I can look on the map and find the entry in the text, I can't do the reverse. Look in the text and find the place on the map. You need both to do an effective city campaign.
I kinda of started it back in the 80's and now 25 years later I completed it. Should make things go much smoother monday nights.
I kinda of started it back in the 80's and now 25 years later I completed it. Should make things go much smoother monday nights.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Points of Light Ad
My newer readers may not know that I am the co-author of Points of Light I and Points of Light II: The Sunrise Sea. Dwayne of Gamer's Closet, myself, and with more than a little help from Tim of Gothridge Manor produced two supplements for any edition of the world's most popular roleplaying game.
The both consist of four mini-settings. Regions roughly 125 by 95 miles. They are presented as hex maps with a list of locales keyed by hex number. The idea that the regions are small enough to be dropped into just about any fantasy campaign. Also a light background is provided so that those who want to can tie them together into a larger campaign setting.
Points of Light
Wildland: The fall of the Bright Empire left warring factions in its wake. As savage barbarians and wicked humanoids roam the land, the last bastions of civilization cower behind their crumbling city walls. A dark age has come, and none may live to tell the tale.
Southland: On the frontiers of the Great Kingdom, the nations of men, elves and dwarves join together against the wicked elves of Nighportal Keep and the Orcs of the Bloody Fist. A realm is yours for the taking, if you can carve it from the wilderness.
Borderland: Two factions clash over war-torn fields, battling for dominance in a civil war that that has torn a once-mighty empire in two. When brother strives against brother, and blood runs in the streets, who will emerge to unify the broken land -- and at what cost, peace?
The Swamps of Acheron: In the Outer Planes, amid fetid swamplands and ice-choked mountains, the fell god Sarrath holds court. In a realm where gods stalk the earth, will you dare to take a stand, or will you succumb to evil's siren song and take up the Serpent Banner?
Points of Light II: The Sunrise Sea
The Golden Shores: A land in the midst of being colonized, where adventurers can encounter unknown cultures, old enemies, and battle a darkness that has haunted the land for millennia.
Amacui: A frontier land with only a single trading post representing the civilized world, but there are many ruins to explore and new civilizations to discover.
The Misty Isle: The greatest threat to exploration is not the natives or ‘things man is not meant to know,’ but enemies from the old world. Here in the Misty Isles, enemies from different realms and factions fight amid the jungles and islands.
Mazatl, the Realm of the Bat God: Rising from the vast Jungles of Zaracar is a massive shield volcano. Here the blood god, Azartac, lives in the city of Mazatl in the volcano’s caldera.
As for a Points of Light III, IV, etc? I can't really get into details but the good news is that the settings are still owned by me. So I will be able to continue the series under a different name in the future. But there is a bunch of other stuff in the queue first.
The both consist of four mini-settings. Regions roughly 125 by 95 miles. They are presented as hex maps with a list of locales keyed by hex number. The idea that the regions are small enough to be dropped into just about any fantasy campaign. Also a light background is provided so that those who want to can tie them together into a larger campaign setting.
Points of Light
Wildland: The fall of the Bright Empire left warring factions in its wake. As savage barbarians and wicked humanoids roam the land, the last bastions of civilization cower behind their crumbling city walls. A dark age has come, and none may live to tell the tale.
Southland: On the frontiers of the Great Kingdom, the nations of men, elves and dwarves join together against the wicked elves of Nighportal Keep and the Orcs of the Bloody Fist. A realm is yours for the taking, if you can carve it from the wilderness.
Borderland: Two factions clash over war-torn fields, battling for dominance in a civil war that that has torn a once-mighty empire in two. When brother strives against brother, and blood runs in the streets, who will emerge to unify the broken land -- and at what cost, peace?
The Swamps of Acheron: In the Outer Planes, amid fetid swamplands and ice-choked mountains, the fell god Sarrath holds court. In a realm where gods stalk the earth, will you dare to take a stand, or will you succumb to evil's siren song and take up the Serpent Banner?
Points of Light II: The Sunrise Sea
The Golden Shores: A land in the midst of being colonized, where adventurers can encounter unknown cultures, old enemies, and battle a darkness that has haunted the land for millennia.
Amacui: A frontier land with only a single trading post representing the civilized world, but there are many ruins to explore and new civilizations to discover.
The Misty Isle: The greatest threat to exploration is not the natives or ‘things man is not meant to know,’ but enemies from the old world. Here in the Misty Isles, enemies from different realms and factions fight amid the jungles and islands.
Mazatl, the Realm of the Bat God: Rising from the vast Jungles of Zaracar is a massive shield volcano. Here the blood god, Azartac, lives in the city of Mazatl in the volcano’s caldera.
As for a Points of Light III, IV, etc? I can't really get into details but the good news is that the settings are still owned by me. So I will be able to continue the series under a different name in the future. But there is a bunch of other stuff in the queue first.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Solving the mystery of the dead orc
If you show me a dead orc all I can tell you that it is a orc and that it is dead. If you tell me that you found it in the middle of a cave then I can say it is adventurer's kill, if you said that it was found in a hill giant's kitchen then I would say it was a meal. What I am talking about is context. By looking at the context, the story of what happened can be told. The difference between an adventurer's kill and a meal.
The same with building strongholds. If all you go by are the rules, then folks are crunching numbers, with some adventures as they clear out the region hex by hex. Boring to some. However add culture and religion into the campaign then building strongholds becomes something more. The interactions between the different cultures, religions, and the players will generate conflict, conflict means adventures; epic adventures.
The addition of culture, and religion provides the context to make the building of the stronghold meaningful. If this is part of your campaign from the beginning then by the time that players are building their strongholds then they are invested in one or more of the factions that make up the various cultures and religions of your setting. They will have ready made reasons for building that stronghold, and to expand it.
And you don't need much either. You don't need to write the equivalent of the Similarrion and the Appendixes to the Return of the King. What important that you write down the right ideas, the ones that lead to conflict, the ones that lead to adventures. And add enough to make the proceeding stuff make sense so that the player can connect the dots on their own without you having to spoon feed them.
At low level, adding this stuff allows you to give treasures other than gold and magic items. The favor of the king can be just as useful as the +1 sword found in the dungeon. It makes your hireling and henchmens more interesting by giving details about their background.
If you not interested in culture and religion then building strongholds will be boring as hell. Better to come up with a different endgame like tripping out to the planes.
This post was prompt by this thread on Knight-n-Knaves.
The same with building strongholds. If all you go by are the rules, then folks are crunching numbers, with some adventures as they clear out the region hex by hex. Boring to some. However add culture and religion into the campaign then building strongholds becomes something more. The interactions between the different cultures, religions, and the players will generate conflict, conflict means adventures; epic adventures.
The addition of culture, and religion provides the context to make the building of the stronghold meaningful. If this is part of your campaign from the beginning then by the time that players are building their strongholds then they are invested in one or more of the factions that make up the various cultures and religions of your setting. They will have ready made reasons for building that stronghold, and to expand it.
And you don't need much either. You don't need to write the equivalent of the Similarrion and the Appendixes to the Return of the King. What important that you write down the right ideas, the ones that lead to conflict, the ones that lead to adventures. And add enough to make the proceeding stuff make sense so that the player can connect the dots on their own without you having to spoon feed them.
At low level, adding this stuff allows you to give treasures other than gold and magic items. The favor of the king can be just as useful as the +1 sword found in the dungeon. It makes your hireling and henchmens more interesting by giving details about their background.
If you not interested in culture and religion then building strongholds will be boring as hell. Better to come up with a different endgame like tripping out to the planes.
This post was prompt by this thread on Knight-n-Knaves.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Imagining the hell out of the Majestic Wilderlands
James at Grognardia has a great post on creativity and worldbuilding. In he relates a story about M.A.R. Barker the creator of Tekumal. Basically James got to talk to him and was relating the story of one the NPCs that James created for his campaign. The good professor surprises him by going "Oh I know this fellow" and supplies additional details that eerily fits well with James own ideas.
This is not unfamiliar to me in regards to the Majestic Wilderlands. The trick, for me, is to use fantastic realism. Aside from a few fantastic premises the foundations of the Majestic Wilderlands are the same as our history. Around 1990 or so the foundation of the Majestic Wilderlands came together pretty much in it's present form. From the premises I extrapolated everything else.
Of course it didn't came to me all at once. However what happened that from time to time I ran into an idea that that just seemed Majestic Wilderlandish. And so I incorporated it, adapting the idea to the specific circumstances of my setting. What make something Wilderlandish for me was whether it followed from the premises I laid out for the setting. The reast of the stuff mainly consisted reading a lot about history including trying to dig into how people thought and acted in various ages.
Also of equal importance was my players. The vast majority (including the current bunch) are good roleplayers and their actions and reactions helped to add many details to the setting. Even used some situations in various live-action events I ran (modified for the setting that the NERO Larp Chapter used). The results of that were interesting to say the least.
As remarkable as M.A.R Barker's genius is, it rests on a foundation that any of you can learn and adapt for your own setting. So while initially it may seem mysterious with a little time you can be spinning detailed tales of your own NPCs.
This is not unfamiliar to me in regards to the Majestic Wilderlands. The trick, for me, is to use fantastic realism. Aside from a few fantastic premises the foundations of the Majestic Wilderlands are the same as our history. Around 1990 or so the foundation of the Majestic Wilderlands came together pretty much in it's present form. From the premises I extrapolated everything else.
Of course it didn't came to me all at once. However what happened that from time to time I ran into an idea that that just seemed Majestic Wilderlandish. And so I incorporated it, adapting the idea to the specific circumstances of my setting. What make something Wilderlandish for me was whether it followed from the premises I laid out for the setting. The reast of the stuff mainly consisted reading a lot about history including trying to dig into how people thought and acted in various ages.
Also of equal importance was my players. The vast majority (including the current bunch) are good roleplayers and their actions and reactions helped to add many details to the setting. Even used some situations in various live-action events I ran (modified for the setting that the NERO Larp Chapter used). The results of that were interesting to say the least.
As remarkable as M.A.R Barker's genius is, it rests on a foundation that any of you can learn and adapt for your own setting. So while initially it may seem mysterious with a little time you can be spinning detailed tales of your own NPCs.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Mixing it up with Classes
This blog post on Gothridge Manor about taking abilities from other classes has turned into a nice little discussion and includes some tidbits by me on the Majestic Wilderlands campaign especially the magic system.
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