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Shadow World is probably one of the more obscure #ttrpg settings out there. I never really got into #Rolemaster , but this setting had a fascinating vibe, with its science fiction elements, deep history, energy streams, many small continents and island chains, and isolated cultures.
You could probably run some very interesting campaigns set in this world. Has anyone here done anything with it?
The irrlichts (will-o'-wisps) were often seen in the Alt-Seidenberg area, and frequently led the carters astray. There was also a larger irrlicht, which was called "The Great Shining One". It frequently approached from the direction of the Röhrborn near Alt-Seidenberg, and made a curve around the village until it reached the Küppen Forest. While the common irrlichts swayed up and down and were significantly smaller, the Great Shining One moved in a steady course.
— Schlesische Sagen 1 - Spuk- und Gespenstersagen di Richard Kühnau
A boss monster will-o'-wisp!
Or worse, a manifestation of Cthugha...
Some deities sanctify their clerics and similarly devoted followers. This gives the follower the holy or unholy trait. The holy trait (page 456) indicates a powerful devotion to altruism, helping others, and battling against unholy forces like fiends and undead. The unholy trait (page 462), in turn, shows devotion to victimizing others, inflicting harm, and battling celestial powers. Deities that list “must choose” mandate gaining the trait and those that list “can choose” give the devotee the option to choose the trait or not. You can have the holy trait, unholy trait, or neither, but can never have both the holy and unholy traits.
— Pathfinder Player Core di Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Mark Seifter, e 1 altro
As the #Pathfinder 2E #ttrpg no longer uses alignments, the "holy" and "unholy" traits are the closest substitute (since blasting demons with "holy power" is just too much fun).
But I wonder about the social and religious context for religions where the clerics can choose to have these traits. Is a cleric of Sarenrae who doesn't become sanctified as "holy" seen as insufficient committed to the cause? And what about priests of Abadar? They can choose to be "holy", "unholy", or neither. Does this correspond to different factions in the temple hierarchy, and if so how do they view each other?
I'm not criticizing here - I am genuinely curious how this works out from an in-setting perspective. #worldbuilding
Erik: You descend into a 30-foot-wide mining tunnel, with wooden beams reinforcing the walls and ceilings. You don’t see any traps, but a reptilian face with large eyes peeks out from behind a mine cart. At a closer look, it’s a kobold in a leather miner jacket.
Valeros (Luis): I’ll follow Merisiel down the ladder.
Kyra (Jessica): Me too.
Erik: As the sound of your footsteps on the iron ladder echoes through the mine, the kobold jumps out in panic! She takes a few steps further into the mine, then stops, as if she’s more frightened of whatever is deeper in than of you.
Kyra (Jessica): Oh no! Poor kobold!
Merisiel (Shay): Can someone calm her down? I’m terrible with people!
Valeros (Luis): I have a +3 Diplomacy. I’ll call out to her.
Erik: What do you say?
Valeros (Luis): “Hello friend! Don’t be scared, we’re here to help!” I rolled a 15 on my Diplomacy check.
Erik: Okay! The kobold seems startled, but then runs to you for safety. “Oh! Thank Torag you’re here!”
— Pathfinder Player Core di Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Mark Seifter, e 1 altro
I realize hardly any veteran #ttrpg player reads "Examples of Play" anymore, but I am impressed here. The authors nicely set a tone of: "People who look different are people, too!" - even people who would have been designated cannon fodder in earlier editions of #DnD and #Pathfinder .
Well done, Paizo. Well done. The "evil races" whom it was okay to kill on sight was always highly problematic, and I am glad that this game is moving away from it.
Now that I am slowly getting back into #ttrpg #worldbuilding , I should probably read the latest edition of the game the world will be designed around.
From the author of 1491 -- the best-selling study of the pre-Columbian Americas -- a …
This is the book where I learned that there were exiled Japanese samurai guarding silver shipments in 17th century New Spain (modern-day #Mexico ).
And ever since, I've wondered why there isn't an #anime or #manga series featuring this. At the very least, it would make for a heck of a #ttrpg campaign!
Rise Up Against the Gods Themselves!
Welcome to an epic struggle of heroic mortals pitting …
Another #ttrpg in the category: "Backed the Kickstarter, no idea when I will actually get around to reading it."
Still, I love #CallOfCthulhu , and I am always up for more interesting historical setting. Plus, the "default region" is ancient Germania, so I might actually use some of my German #folklore research for this...
Whilst the chaos of the Turmoil subsides, an invigorated Empire seeks to leave civil strife …
"On the 25th of Sigmarzeit, Salzenmund celebrates Silberfest. The whole city comes out to watch colourful litters borne through the streets, each carrying a child dressed to represent a particular guild. The final litter is the ‘Silver King’, patronised by the Nordland Silversmiths’ Guild. At the end of the parade the ‘Silver King’ meets the prince of Salzenmund as an equal. The litters are carried to the waterfront, where the children take to boats and sail onto the Ormsdeep carrying lanterns to light their way. Finally, the Silver King reaches the centre of the lake and jumps into the water. In modern times someone fishes him out."
— Salzenmund - City of Salt and Silver di Simon Wileman, Dave Allen, Samuel Poots, e 1 altro
You are the child of a God, born to the magic of yesterday and the …
Scion is a fun #ttrpg with a great setting hampered by very badly explained rules.
I do hope we get a revised edition using the #Storypath Ultra rules a few years down the road...
Evil is an intrinsically fascinating topic. In Lucifer, Jeffrey Burton Russell continues his compelling study …
"...Anselm's first assumption is traditional. Evil is nothing. But he proceeds to analyze this concept rationally. By saying that evil is nothing, he does not mean that the word evil is meaningless, but rather that the concept evil (not good) is identical to the concept nothing (not anything). Such negative concepts have meaning only when referred to a good and a something, as "not John" has meaning only when it refers to John. The word nothing refers only to what it negates. In the same way, the word evil refers only to the good that it negates. Total and complete evil is the same as total and complete nonbeing, the void..."
It is fascinating how Christian theologians throughout the centuries struggled with the question: "How can Evil exist in a universe created by an allegedly benevolent and omnipotent God"? This book has plenty of historical perspectives on this question - and #ttrpg players who have cosmic forces of Good and Evil in their campaigns could probably learn quite a few useful things from it.
Altdorf is the capital city of the Empire and the birthplace of Sigmar Heldenhammer. It …
I love detailed #ttrpg city books, and at 220 pages in length, Altdorf: Crown of the Empire for #WFRP certainly qualifies. As the capital city of the Empire, Altdorf is full of factions, power groups, NPCs with secrets, and lots of tiny neighborhoods - each with their own character, yet all feel plausible and believable for the setting of the Old World (well, maybe with a few exceptions - the "Popular League Against Nobility and Taxation (PLANT)" revolutionary group reads too much like something from the 20th century rather than the "German Renaissance" atmosphere the setting generally goes for).
So, why didn't I give this book full marks? It isn't for the bad puns in the German-sounding names - as a German WFRP player, I've learned to tolerate these. No, my problem is that this book doesn't really do enough to make its individual parts interconnected.
The setting of Ptolus …
I love detailed #ttrpg city books, and at 220 pages in length, Altdorf: Crown of the Empire for #WFRP certainly qualifies. As the capital city of the Empire, Altdorf is full of factions, power groups, NPCs with secrets, and lots of tiny neighborhoods - each with their own character, yet all feel plausible and believable for the setting of the Old World (well, maybe with a few exceptions - the "Popular League Against Nobility and Taxation (PLANT)" revolutionary group reads too much like something from the 20th century rather than the "German Renaissance" atmosphere the setting generally goes for).
So, why didn't I give this book full marks? It isn't for the bad puns in the German-sounding names - as a German WFRP player, I've learned to tolerate these. No, my problem is that this book doesn't really do enough to make its individual parts interconnected.
The setting of Ptolus, as usual, shows how to do this right: Each time a character, a place, an organization or something else has a connection to something done elsewhere, there's a page reference to where you fan find more. As a result, you get the feeling that the city - despite its fantastic nature - is an interconnected, organic whole. In contrast, while Altdorf has a long list of fascinating, atmospheric neighborhoods, they all too often feel as if they exist on their own, with connections to the rest of the city only being hinted at.
Nethertheless, a GM interested in running adventures or even entire campaigns in Altdorf will find plenty of useful material in this book. But they should put in some added effort to make this city feel alive.
Fading Suns is probably my favorite "kitchen sink" #ttrpg setting. You can take pretty much any adventure, any story, from any genre - and make it fit the setting somehow. I can't think of any other setting that has this sheer breadth of possibilities.
Enter the Kingdom of Brancalonia, a land full of pitfalls and money-making opportunities. Create your …
I've became interested in the world of Brancalonia as a quirky, folklore-themed #ttrpg setting when it was first released. And now that I've actually started to learn #Italian , my attention has increased - my plan is to read the Italian-language originals of these books once I'm a bit firmer in the language.
Still, I'm not quite happy with the rules for this setting. I mean, I do understand why they picked the 5E version of #DnD , but limiting character growth to 5th level doesn't really make for a great fit. I'd rather use an entirely different rule system that's a better fit for lower-powered protagonists, such as #WFRP , instead of trying to turn the D&D rules into something they are not.
The #Pathfinder #ttrpg setting I am developing does have railroads, so reading up about the challenges (and politics) of building railroads in the 19th and early 20th centuries will be helpful. This book about the construction of the Baghdad Railroad should therefore be rather instructive...
Birthright was another one of those #dnd settings that fall under "great concept, bad rules". The idea of player characters starting out as the rulers of their own domain was and is awesome (although I've grown a bit leery about the whole "Divine Right of Kings" thing - but I can let that slide for a good story). However, the rules for managing domains and fighting armies were a mess, and would involve more spreadsheets than I want to bother with for recreational gaming.
If I were to run a #ttrpg campaign in this setting, I'd probably use @GregStolze@mastodon.social 's Reign (with bits of Wild Talents thrown in for the birthright powers) - rules for running domains (or "companies") are integrated into the ruleset from the start, and they are also much more scaleable - if you plan to conquer all of Anuire, this should be much less of a …
Birthright was another one of those #dnd settings that fall under "great concept, bad rules". The idea of player characters starting out as the rulers of their own domain was and is awesome (although I've grown a bit leery about the whole "Divine Right of Kings" thing - but I can let that slide for a good story). However, the rules for managing domains and fighting armies were a mess, and would involve more spreadsheets than I want to bother with for recreational gaming.
If I were to run a #ttrpg campaign in this setting, I'd probably use @GregStolze@mastodon.social 's Reign (with bits of Wild Talents thrown in for the birthright powers) - rules for running domains (or "companies") are integrated into the ruleset from the start, and they are also much more scaleable - if you plan to conquer all of Anuire, this should be much less of a headache.
Although I'd have to re-read the assorted magic rules of Reign to see if they have something similar in mood to what *Birthright offers (which is mostly D&D magic, but with some significant thematic differences from more "standard" campaign settings).
