Official ICE Forums
Systems & Settings => Shadow World => Topic started by: B Hanson on May 11, 2015, 05:31:33 PM
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I thought I would post up a number of our SW support materials we've developed over the last few decades. Attached is a quick reference for healing. Basically the premise is that "off-time" the PC's should be able to pay for healing (in time, money or work) without complicated spell costs, healing times etc. Counter intuitively, general healing may be better or cheaper in more remote places while "advanced" medical procedures are needed in urban areas.
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Here is our Professional comparison chart for RM, RMU using the SW ecosystem (which isn't often profession identity friendly)
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Attached--a research chart for PC's
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I posted this over in the RM forum..but basically gives PCs (not just priests) the ability to invoke or ask for "benefience". it helps to get players committed to that aspect of roleplaying plus "prayer" skill becomes a useful "dp sink".
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I approved them all after a quick look if there are any problems please let a Moderator know.
MDC
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Some lore tables.
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Summary of metals and alloys with breakage #, tech lvl and forge type.
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Compiled list of all SW and RM herbs in XL. Haven't updated it with the last few books Terry has published.
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Quick reference chart for various crystals.
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Approved, ;D
I did not look at them but B Hanson got approval from a person higher up then me so if there are any problems please report them to a Mod.
MDC
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Cantrips we use is our SW campaign
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Cantrips we use is our SW campaign
I just posted in another thread about how I liked the HARP cantrips and that they would work well in SW. :)
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The players seem to like them, but the trick is to make them useful, but not too useful! I have a few players that really push the limits on their utility.
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Approved.
MDC
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I left this off the "Invoke" chart posted/attached above. A summary of the Lords of Orhan and Charon modifiers and results when using the chart.
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sw Master Enounter Tables (non canon)
A few notes:
1. I didn't complete organizations for most of the continents.
2. I kept the biomes relatively simple and don't include temperature zones.
3. There are a few of our own creatures that we use in our campaign--easy to replace with your own.
4. Does not include a lot of generic creatures found in C&T.
5. In case it needs be notes, the 1st tab is the "Master" encounter table and the remaining tabs are all of the subcategories. There are a couple of extra (professions and subgroups) for added specificity.
enjoy!
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I have a homemade RM character generator Excel spreadsheet with RM2+Shadow world races, professions, spell lists and other stuff.
Is this useful for anyone I gladly attach it.
If this is approved I will edit this post to make an easy explanation of how to use it!
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I have sent a PM to someone who has the final say of this type of stuff. Once it has been looked at someone will either approve the file or remove it.
Thanks for you understanding.
MDC
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Note:
I also just tried to open it in Open Office and it failed to load.
MDC
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I have it in a Google spreadsheet if that helps, then you may download it in ods as well.
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I was able to look at it that way and in general I would say that it looks to be very complete with lots of RM2 material and could be very helpful to RM2 gamer's. But for this to be distributed IMHO you would have to get a license from ICE as it has a lot of info from the RM2 books and Companions.
But I have passed it up the chain of command and they will give me or you a final decision.
Thanks
MDC
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Base list for "Void Knights". Basically demon hunter/paladins we have in our SW campaign.
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I liked the Void Knight spell list but if it were to be published I think some more description on some of the spells would help. The main one that comes to mind is the daemon tracking spell.
But I love the concept of the list and its focus.
Thanks a lot
MDC
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New Unlife manisfestation (non-canon). Soulless or UnMen.
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Awaiting approval.
MDC
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Is the PC+NPC generator approved?
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I don't have a problem with it in theory (I didn't personally look at it).
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Ancient Civilization Archaeology Summary. (NON CANON)
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SW Language Summary
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Currency Summary
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Note:
I had to remove the last 3 files as they contained info that was published in various SW books and are covered by copy rights. Only unique fan material can be posted and not re-edited cannon material.
Thanks
MDC
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New Organization we use in our SW campaign: Hierax Guard. (uses the Void Knight spell list posted earlier in this forum).
Non-Canon, original material.. ;)
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Background Info: Xiosians (aka Xio Warriors).
non-canon. new material.
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Earthwardens and origins of DL's
Over the years we've filled in a lot of background for our SW campaign. Who were the Xiosians? Where did the Dragonlords come from? How did Kulthea get repopulated after the 1st Era? Whats the deal with Elves--where did they come from? For us that backstory was important and tied a lot of elements together so we started our own "Redbook"-- an expanded Master Atlas that's now over 300 pages without creatures. I've been pulling random files, charts, tables from it and posted on the thread. Terry may get to some of this material and we'll most likely ret-con our book, but for now we like the solutions we've come up with! Enjoy.
I encourage anyone that has original material to add to this thread!
This is just our take on it! non-canon and new material!!
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B Hanson,
Thanks for the posts and new mayerial (or your take) it may take me a little while to read through all of them but as soon as I do I will approve them. ;D
Thanks again.
MDC
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Thanks. Here is another:
Notes on using Technology and Languages in SW.
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so where are the actual files?
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I have not had time to read them yet for posting I am going to be tied up until about 3 pm pacific time and should have time to read them after that.
I hope this does not cause too much of a problem as it is do to my crazy schedule these last couple of days. ;D
MDC
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Elves and History under review by me.
MDC
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History/origins/notes re: SW Elves
non-canon new material
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Simplified Alchemy Skill/rules/items we use in our SW campaign.
new, non-canon.
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Now that the holiday's are done I can start putting up more files!
SW Notable Trade Goods. While most societies have a number of goods, goodstuff and raw materials they trade, this is a list of rare or expensive items or particular noteworthy "brands" that can make seemingly normal loot much more valuable!
Of course some of this will require logistics or resources to recover, haul and bring to market.
I encourage anyone to add to the file with items or craftsmen from their own campaign--I left it as an excel sheet.
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History/origins/notes re: SW Elves
non-canon new material
Interesting!
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You know, these are the sort of things I'd like to see polished, approved, collated and published in small PDF supplements.
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Most of these uploaded files are 1st drafts without the corresponding rules language that we have in our "Master Atlas" version. It's over 300 pages so I still have a ton of material to post up. If there is ever an opportunity to get it published than I have more current versions that are also cleaned up quite a bit--just like the Essence & Channeling spell lists I posted in the RM forum.
I should have a "Civilization Summary Chart" up today or tomorrow and then I'll start posting up our background option chart (RM & RMU) for most of the cultures found in CANON.
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SW Notable Trade Goods. While most societies have a number of goods, goodstuff and raw materials they trade, this is a list of rare or expensive items or particular noteworthy "brands" that can make seemingly normal loot much more valuable!
Really fun stuff in here. I'm not using SW but tons of good inspiration.
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I've mentioned in the past that I'd like to see a regular, paid, publication of minor SW stuff. Say, a dozen pages every couple of months. Short articles like these would be ideal.
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I've mentioned in the past that I'd like to see a regular, paid, publication of minor SW stuff. Say, a dozen pages every couple of months. Short articles like these would be ideal.
Something along these lines, as a rough example (it's really small, because none of the content is mine).
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I think it's a great idea but logistics/systems/resources would be up to Nicholas and content approval by Terry--that's above my pay grade but I can commit to at least 1 submission/mos. Right now I still have 16 files to clean up a bit and post and another 4 in the works. Plus adventure material.
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SW Ancient Civilization Summary
Due to format/layout I left it as a XCEL rather than PDF.
NON-CANON
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Base Channeling list for "Cult of Hrassk" in Quellborne. Or any Spider God for that matter. This one, any another dozen SW specific lists weren't included in the Essence/Channeling spell lists I put up on the RM forum.
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Shadow World Cultural Backgrounds using RMU skill set. For RM users this would replace "Adolescent" skill pick but some adjustment may be necessary.
This is #1 for cultures in "Iron Wind" and "Cloudlords of Tanara".
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SW Professions Spreadsheet. Attached is our complete SW "professions" we have developed over the last 10-15 years. Many of the NPC's in SW don't quite bit the RM and Base List ruleset (Loremasters, Navigators). These are also apprenticeship training packages: players pick a cultural background then a profession training package which includes a predefined skill set, items, money etc so character generation goes quickly and also provides a basic background.
There are almost 70 "professions" but in reality there are much more. Mages include any pure essence users(Fire Mage, Water Mage, Illusionist etc) We use these in conjunction with our Spell Law version that I posted on RM forum. They aren't organized by realms (arms, essence, channeling, mentalism, hybrid, semi) since we allow players to learn from multiple magic realms. This justifies Loremasters and Navigators which are different professions but have a second set of base lists and also eliminates hybrid realms which never made much sense for us.
So how is this useful? It's a fairly comprehensive list that provides allows for any character depicted in SW material without the more esoteric professions that didn't fit the SW setting.
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SW Player Background Table
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Btw: and in response to PM's , our SW spell lists were posted on the RM forums. So far the essence and channel realms are up with mentalism, invested, inscribed, and performance magic pending. Im going to put up our version of SW character law with NO PROFESSION rules and optional meta-skills, unlimited skill dev, opt. Skillrank bonuses, and opt. Magic skills. Developed for SW and RM but mod'd for early version (B1-2) RMU. We use the size rules-great tool for design.
And...if you have any non-canon SW specific files to upload please feel free to add, or modify some of the uploaded files! (Ie pg1 encounter tables)
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I posted this over at the RM forum but it's specific to Shadow World.
Material Strength Chart which assigns 1 numeric value to a variety of materials to be used for Breakage checks, RR's and Imbedding spells/runes etc.
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I think I just discovered this thread: what a wealth of great files! Thanks very much for posting.
I particularly like the idea of using the item's strength for RRs. But instead of an RR modifier, why not just say that the items' strength is the roll the spellcaster needs to break the item with spells like shatter?
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I think I just discovered this thread: what a wealth of great files! Thanks very much for posting.
I particularly like the idea of using the item's strength for RRs. But instead of an RR modifier, why not just say that the items' strength is the roll the spellcaster needs to break the item with spells like shatter?
I think that would definitely work--we'll give it a try our next session. The goal here was to distill a number of mechanisms into a single number and use this Strength # in a variety of ways:
1. Breakage. It works with the existing RMU breakage rules BUT if the breakage role fails and the opposing object has a higher strength than the weapon makes a breakage roll. For instance a iron sword vs steel plate. Sword attack generates a breakage check -20. The plate makes it's breakage check so then the sword has to make a break check due to the higher strength of the plate armor.
2. Object v Object. You can use Str # for opposing rolls between objects. ie: steel axe vs iron lock or laen sword vs. steel bound door. It's faster than assigning hp's to objects.
3. Spell tertiary item breakage. This sounds similar to what you are suggesting. Caster casts fireball on a target and GM wants to make a quick breakage check. Depending on how you are using RR's there is a threshold success number plus the players breakage roll (1 roll for all items). Then based on that result you have a threshold number that can be compared to all items. Any with a lower Str are affected and those above are not.
4. We use our own version of Spell Law (Essence and Channeling spells are posted on the RM forums) with simplified rules for imbedding spells and casting runes/sigils on objects. The Str is also a measure of magic capacity and as a check on the success of imbedding spells. ie higher lvl Str have a higher chance of receiving a imbedding and can hold higher/more spells.
We are still fooling around with some of the values and sometimes we need to apply multiple numbers to a material (not very strong but very easy to imbed) but overall it works well. Baseline was from Mohs scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness
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4. We use our own version of Spell Law (Essence and Channeling spells are posted on the RM forums) with simplified rules for imbedding spells and casting runes/sigils on objects. The Str is also a measure of magic capacity and as a check on the success of imbedding spells. ie higher lvl Str have a higher chance of receiving a imbedding and can hold higher/more spells.
We are still fooling around with some of the values and sometimes we need to apply multiple numbers to a material (not very strong but very easy to imbed) but overall it works well. Baseline was from Mohs scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness
I would be interested in seeing your simplified embedding system. The new RMU system is a little complicated for my players' tastes right now.
Overall, I think I am going to use your system for breakage now.
Thanks for all the files!
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Weapon Attack Modifier Chart for RM & SW weapons.
Rather than using set modifiers for different situations (drawing, close quarters, protect, multi attack etc) we wanted customized penalties based on the weapons style, reach and speed. We feel this better reflects the advantages & disadvantages of individual weapons, allows for easier multiple attacks and 360d combat for unarmed and small weapons and adds another layer to weapon choice besides damage ranges.
The top section are penalties based on broad weapon sizes. We started with that and then developed individual modifiers for each weapon for added granularity.
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Revised Material Strengths.
Oops--posted up an older version and someone noted that some of the script wasn't showing due to cell heights.
New & revised attached.
Most of the files in this forum are older or unedited--so apologies if some are partially incomplete or unpolished. I'll be including newer versions when I post up the full "S.W.A.R.M." rules.
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FYI - Happy to send anyone word or excel files for any of these uploads--just PM me. Im finalizing our No Profession optional rules which include most of these SW uploads in a more comprehensive package.
And, as ive noted, feel free to upload any SW specific rules/files ets to this thread!
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Shadow World Racial Chart for RMU.
A few changes that we use:
1. Only 1 RR v. Essaence (we don't break up by realm)
2. Fatigue is bonus to endurance/fatigue checks
3. Adjustment to experience for some races (due to immortality)
4. Cultural notes- per RMU starting cultures with some of our own
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I'll be putting up SW blogs on Peter's blogsite: www.rolemasterblog.com
check out my first one:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/maximizing-essaence-flows-sw-campaign/
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I'll be putting up SW blogs on Peter's blogsite: www.rolemasterblog.com
check out my first one:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/maximizing-essaence-flows-sw-campaign/
I do love the Essence flows!
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Some excellent ideas - I'll definitely be using some in my campaign. :)
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Shadow World Racial Chart for RMU.
A few changes that we use:
1. Only 1 RR v. Essaence (we don't break up by realm)
2. Fatigue is bonus to endurance/fatigue checks
3. Adjustment to experience for some races (due to immortality)
4. Cultural notes- per RMU starting cultures with some of our own
Got a few questions so wanted to clarify. These stats weren't developed with the new RMU race development system. These are conversions from RM to RMU bonuses using Terry's chart in the Master Atlas.
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Shadow World Spell Lists
I had them over in the RM forums but we put up our version of Spell Law for Shadow World (Essence and Channeling for now). This is an early version with changes using RMU. We'll be putting up a more refined version with notes to all the spell lists plus Mentalism when I have time in the near future. At the end of the thread is a compiled file with all the spell lists. We filled in the blanks, added 21-29 levels in some of them, dumped the useless spells and added quite a bit of new. We kept the spell list names but EVERY list has been reorganized and modified.
Channeling Lists here: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.0
Essence Lists here: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16681.0
and I posted another blog on Rolemasterblog.com!
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So, my "art guy" is running behind on layouts for some SW material and im paying commissions for layout and floor plan work. Anyone here interested? Im paying $20+/final floorplan. Est of 10-20 pcs for first project. Email direct to bhportland@yahoo.com
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We are now posting alternate SW RM rules (SWARM) to rolemasterpblog.com. Already posted is "enhanced riposte" and "skill atrophy" rules. Upcoming: "missile parry" rules plus "initiative & reach " rules. For use in SW and any version of RM.
Www.rolemasterblog.com
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Did you ever do the Mentalism realm for your extra spell lists? I really loved what you did with the Essence and Channeling ones. Please do post Mentalism if you do it!
Great stuff.
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I was finishing off Priest-King and contributing to Rolemasterblog and got a bit sidetracked. Plus it's summer in Maine so it's hard to be indoors. It's on my "to do" list!
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I was finishing off Priest-King and contributing to Rolemasterblog and got a bit sidetracked. Plus it's summer in Maine so it's hard to be indoors. It's on my "to do" list!
Thanks, I just wasn't sure if you still intended to do the Mentalism ones. Your other ones are great; really excellent work!
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they are already done; we use them in our SW campaign. I need to go through and make revisions and updates--our printed game copy is filled with small notes from player feedback and gameplay.
on a similar note...Terry mentioned he has Pete's original handwritten Spell Law. That would be cool to see!
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Thought I would put up our Orhan Pantheon spell lists which I didn't include in the Project BASil uploads on the RM forum threads. In our SW campaign a Cleric/Priest gets the "Holy Servant" spell lists (http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203339#msg203339) (http://(http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203339#msg203339)) plus the corresponding list for their specific god.
I have to fix a few, so I'll put them up when I get time. Today's file upload is KUOR. Next ones will be Valris and Cay.
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Thought I would put up our Orhan Pantheon spell lists which I didn't include in the Project BASil uploads on the RM forum threads. In our SW campaign a Cleric/Priest gets the "Holy Servant" spell lists (http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203339#msg203339) (http://(http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203339#msg203339)) plus the corresponding list for their specific god.
I have to fix a few, so I'll put them up when I get time. Today's file upload is KUOR. Next ones will be Valris and Cay.
Getting an error message when I click the link?
Great fun stuff reading so far :)
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Getting an error message when I click the link?
Great fun stuff reading so far :)
I'm getting the error too.
Looking forward to seeing this.
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The link is missing a colon and has a couple of brackets. Try http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203339#msg203339
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The link is missing a colon and has a couple of brackets. Try http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203339#msg203339
Thank you! That did the trick! :)
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The spell list file upload is still waiting for approval.
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The spell list file upload is still waiting for approval.
It wasn't about the spell list link ;)
The whole link to the thread did not work ;)
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Thanks for all this stuff Brian. Maybe one day it can all be compiled into a book.
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Channeling Base for Valris attached.
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Channeling Base list for Clerics of Cay.
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Those are great for Clerics. Have you considered making some of the Cay ones at least instantaneous? That would fit I think with a more martial Cleric.
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I could see some of these easily being instantaneous--GM's discretion. I'm putting up these spells as "agnostic" as possible without our own SL rules so they can be used with any version of RM without too much tinkering.
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Clerics of Shaal Base list
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Shaal looks good, but the level 2 and 3 spells are the same (Water Vision).
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oops. supposed to be "Waterwalking". I'm moving to fast so appreciate the catch!
Revised Shaal with 3rd lvl fixed and Reann.
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Clerics of Eissa base list
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Clerics of Phaon Base list
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I love the flavor, but I wonder if Sun Bolt might be a little too strong, at least at level 4. I know it is small size, but IIRC in RMU right now, that is only a 1 severity critical reduction. A Magician gets a medium sized one at level 6. In some ways getting an only slightly less powerful one at level 4 could be seen as OP. Just a thought.
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Agreed, but intentional. Phaon is the sun god. Thats why....
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/players-want-clerics/ (http://www.rolemasterblog.com/players-want-clerics/)
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Those are some great ideas in that blog; I hope you consider publishing some of this!
I guess the Cleric's ability to deliver those elemental bolts is to some extent limited by his higher cost for bolt spells (in comparison to say a Magician) and his lack of a professional bonus in them too, as well as the fact that if the Cleric wants to be a healer, he also has to develop several other lists just for that.
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In our SW campaign the Clerics of Phaon are pretty badass but also insufferable a-holes. They tend to run headlong into battle, especially against the Unlife, and expect everyone else to do so. Much to the dismay of my players...
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Clerics of Teris Base List
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Clerics of Oriana Base List
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Reminds me of the Red Priestesses from Game of Thrones!
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Yes! Ive never had one as a PC but add their martial art skills and throwing weapon and they are like Charlies Angels!
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Clerics of Jaysek Base List
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Clerics of Kieron Base List
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Looks good. By '+10 protection' on Motley Cloak II, I assume you mean DB?
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checking my notes....yes, +10db
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One of my favorites. Clerics of Iorak Base spell list. You do not want to bring your magic items near one of these guys!
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Last Orhan Base list: Iloura in the next few days. Then I'll post up religion/sect/chapter info we use for the various Orhanian Dieties (beyond what Terry has written in Power of Light & Darkness). While the UOC is prevalent in Rhakhaan it's subtly corrupted (sorry no spoilers). Throughout the rest of the hemisphere the Orhanian churches are a mixed bag with unusual shared Parishes and Churches.
When truly united to a singular purpose, a Conclave of Orhanian Priests, (Cay, Eissa, Jaysek and Iorak especially) can be a formidable force without the need of any Militants, Holy Warriors, Paladins or Orders. In fact, the Unlife relies on the Orhanian factions and disputes to provide them pathways to further power. Only in the Wars of Dominion did the Pantheon and their followers truly unite and defeat the forces of Unlife and the outcasts on Charon.
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I guess the Kytaari would use Phaon's List instead of Oriana's List?
Thanks,
--Desty
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I guess the Kytaari would use Phaon's List instead of Oriana's List?
Thanks,
--Desty
Yes, I think thats a good solution. For us we just changed the Ky'taari's god to Phaon to create consistency in the "Aspected" base lists I've putting up. That was simpler then assigning sun powers to Oriana. For simplicity you could say the Ky'taari are worshiping a feminized version of Phaon.
This goes the setting/rules gap I discussed in my blog post: http://www.rolemasterblog.com/rule-sets-settings-gap-rolemaster-shadow-world/ (http://www.rolemasterblog.com/rule-sets-settings-gap-rolemaster-shadow-world/) . In this specific case it's a double whammy--the result of ret-conning Fenlon's Iron Wind with later Shadow World material and bridging the gap between specific Shadow World setting issues and the RAW of RM.
Of course that's just my interpretation and not CANON in anyway. Terry is the ultimate arbiter of all that is SW!
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BTW: This is not my thread. SW is the creative product of TKA, and i encourage anyone with a good file, article or product to upload to this thread!
I'll keep putting up files here and other ideas on RolemasterBlog.com, but.... Based on the ages and experience of forum paticipants, it would be great to see other contributors!
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Base list for Iloura. for more info on Priests of Iloura (Brotherhood of the Tree: see Powers of Light & Darkness): http://www.rpgnow.com/product/90963/Shadow-World-Powers-of-Light-and-Darkness (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/90963/Shadow-World-Powers-of-Light-and-Darkness)
Priests may also have specialties in Flora or Fauna (or both!)
Fauna: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203314#msg203314 (http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203314#msg203314)
Flora: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203316#msg203316 (http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203316#msg203316)
Subsects of Iloura include Rangers, Animists and Druids.
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Thank you for all these lists! Did you ever post the Mentalism ones anywhere?
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I started over on the Rolemaster thread but got sidetracked! Last count I still have around 70-80 lists to upload.
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Any chance we might get a sneak peek at a Cleric of Orgiana base list? I want one because of reasons. (:
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Nice! Thanks for the lists!
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Any chance we might get a sneak peek at a Cleric of Orgiana base list? I want one because of reasons. (:
I will post up Orgiana when I get back from vaca!
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Back from vacation! Im going to try to get all the Charon lists up the next 7 days and then I have 4-5 new essence lists (gravity law!) on the BASiL thread in the rolemaster forums, then plow through Mentalism.
I'm holding off on religions in the event it could be used for a SW pdf series. I have 25+ pages on religious orgs w/o any cool illustrations but those include training packages for RM and our own SWARM rules--not RMU YET.
I also have about 10 pages on adventuring in the Interregnum ala high fantasy. More heroes, elves, demons etc. lvl 15+ Hyboreum style.
I'm expecting a few smaller pass throughs on "Priest-King" to finalize....
Anyway thats my work goals that Ill try and stick too unless real life and work intervene!
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Base List for followers of Orgiana (Charon Pantheon).
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Base List for followers of Orgiana (Charon Pantheon).
Hey, thanks! Now if I can only convince my GM to let me use it...
Anyway, I'd like to ask a few questions about it, if I could.
Which RM edition was it written for? Would you change anything for using it with RMU?
3) Dark Whip - Uses regular Whip attack table, but with all Cold criticals, right? And regular OB with Whips?
5) Dark Aspect - When do things within 10' make the RR vs fear? Every round for the duration? The first time during the duration that they're within 10'? Or only in the instant that the spell is cast?
8) ColdDark Aura I - One critical for each round they stay within 5', I suppose? Do they get an RR against this spell?
12) Dark True - I assume you mean "as Darkness I", rather than "as Light I"
16) DarkFear - does "everyone" include the caster?
17) Mass Dark Aura - Does this simply mean I can grant the aura to myself and my allies?
18) Coldfire - Shouldn't it be equivalent to a Cold Ball attack, rather than Bolt?
20) Man Slayer - In RMU, which degree of Slaying (I-IV) would it be?
30) Dark Bolt True - does it include a bolt in the same round that I finish casting the spell?
Thanks,
/Xei.
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Which RM edition was it written for? Would you change anything for using it with RMU?
We use our own version CL & SL and RMU AL beta version 2. Most of the spell lists (here and BASiL) are updated to incorporate the new size rules, breakage and exhaustion. They are good to go for RMU.
3) Dark Whip - Uses regular Whip attack table, but with all Cold criticals, right? And regular OB with Whips?
The player would need to develop skill in whip. yes, cold crits instead of slash etc.
5) Dark Aspect - When do things within 10' make the RR vs fear? Every round for the duration? The first time during the duration that they're within 10'? Or only in the instant that the spell is cast?
Once when coming into contact/sight of caster.
8) ColdDark Aura I - One critical for each round they stay within 5', I suppose? Do they get an RR against this spell?
We don't allow a RR. It's like Firewall--proximity means you take the damage.
12) Dark True - I assume you mean "as Darkness I", rather than "as Light I"
Yes--these are early versions of our current lists so there are probably a ton of spelling errors and other mistakes.
16) DarkFear - does "everyone" include the caster?
No.
17) Mass Dark Aura - Does this simply mean I can grant the aura to myself and my allies?
Correct. Caster chooses the recipients. In this case it would be the followers of Orgiana (Sisters of Darkness)
18) Coldfire - Shouldn't it be equivalent to a Cold Ball attack, rather than Bolt?
Good question! I've never had to use that spell, but it mirrors Orgiana's "flame fan" special power. I just think that cold is a better effect for her than fire.
20) Man Slayer - In RMU, which degree of Slaying (I-IV) would it be?
Another good question. That was an RMU change I missed. I would go with III in the middle but I would review that if these ever go to publication.
30) Dark Bolt True - does it include a bolt in the same round that I finish casting the spell?
Yes, you can shoot a bolt at casting.
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One last thought...GM's may want to limit Orgiana followers to lvl 10-20 spells while/if they have Orgiana banished to the "Black Hel". We ignore that since it came from Demons of the Burning Night and it's non canon.
We did limit Nynaku followers to lvl 10 from that base list since he's imprisoned in a laen orb, but now that the orb has cracked (Northern Eye) they get up to 20th lvl.
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Thanks for the reply! That answers most of the questions, at least the more obvious ones.
8) ColdDark Aura I - Interesting. I wanted to compare it most to the RMU Paladin's "Holy Aura" series of spells. Those have a 10' radius, and an RR each turn for each creature in range, but scale the crit severity all the way up to E at level 40. Also, they only affect creatures "of Darkness". Which of course makes it not be friendly fire, which is nice.
Part of the reason I make this comparison is, of course, that I'm playing a Priestess of her, but am using the Paladin chassis rather than the Cleric. We changed the "holy" spells to be "unholy" instead, so my (Un)Holy Aura would affect creatures "of Light" instead.
18) Figured I'd ask since Cone attacks should be Balls according to RMU SL. Perhaps mostly because they don't seem like the thing you'd use Directed Spells for. Then again, the best example of a Cone attack I can find there is 100'x20' radius at the edge, rather than this spell's 100'x20'x1' "flat" cone.
EDIT:
30) Dark Bolt True - are the subsequent bolts instantaneous actions or do they use AP?
More editing: as for the fire/cold thing - well, fire might be more appropriate because of how she (her avatar?) appears. Then again, fire doesn't mesh well with (non-magical) darkness. And "cold-hearted bitch" might be an appropriate descriptor. Honestly, I'd probably like to see both, especially since I, having a D&D background before trying this system, want to compare her to Forgotten Realms' Loviatar.
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EDIT:
30) Dark Bolt True - are the subsequent bolts instantaneous actions or do they use AP?
We use 2AP
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One last thought...GM's may want to limit Orgiana followers to lvl 10-20 spells while/if they have Orgiana banished to the "Black Hel". We ignore that since it came from Demons of the Burning Night and it's non canon.
We did limit Nynaku followers to lvl 10 from that base list since he's imprisoned in a laen orb, but now that the orb has cracked (Northern Eye) they get up to 20th lvl.
I only put Orgiana in the Charon gods because of Demons, so yes, definitely restrict her followers. She is not active at present.
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Cleric Base List: Daughters of Inis.
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I never thought anyone could make me interested in playing a Cleric of a seduction goddess, but those spells really make me interested. Enchant Garb II is a very powerful spell, as are several others. I also love the flavor on Dance of Distraction.
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I never thought anyone could make me interested in playing a Cleric of a seduction goddess, but those spells really make me interested. Enchant Garb II is a very powerful spell, as are several others. I also love the flavor on Dance of Distraction.
Indeed, a 3rd level spell making your clothes AT3 is pretty powerful. In fact, many of these spells are really powerful.
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Yes! I would say that the Garb spells could be switched to +5/+10 to db if a GM felt they were too much. On the other side there is a design philosophy behind these Orhan/Charon and the Essence/Channeling/Mentalism I posted up on the other thread. I've actually got pages of notes on each spell list that I drafted before starting Spell Law re-write so I can go back and see what I was thinking and why I made the decisions that I did.
From a broad perspective:
1. We use different spell acquisition rules so spell users have at most 1/2 of the spell lists than traditional RM. Spell users have fewer, more specialized lists rather than the broad range of most open, closed and all base that results in RM.
2. Diety specific base lists are meant to be the defining spell abilities of a priest--and represent the flavor/aspect of the their God. A High Cleric of the God of Fire should stand at least toe to toe, if not surpass, a Magician w/ Fire Law.
3. Many of these Dieties aren't appealing to play a cleric as a PC, so I designed it with some incentives or interesting spells that could add elements to game play or work as a differentiator for the PC. See my blog post: http://www.rolemasterblog.com/players-want-clerics/ (http://www.rolemasterblog.com/players-want-clerics/)
4. These Diety Base lists aren't for just any follower of the god, but only to the most devout. ie priests/clerics.
Specifically to Inis:
1. The motivation on the Enchanted Garb is that you have Priestesses in the service of Inis that are basically operating in diaphanous robes or scantily clad in the service of their Goddess. Mostly in urban or social settings. A primary benefit that Inis would want to extend is protecting her priestesses, especially against male foes.
2. The immediate benefit of Enchanted Garb is offset by some of the other spells like "Kiss" spells. These don't just require touch but an actual kiss to the target which will necessitate some roleplaying or creates some limitations on their use.
3. While Garb provides protection and Battle Dance allows the Priestess to engage multiple foes with less penalties there are no combat bonus spells or similar buffs. The Priestess isn't meant to be combat effective in a traditional battle but HIGHLY effective in a social setting against men with their guards done, unarmored and unsuspecting. Put a Priestess of Inis in a mixed melee against monsters/creatures or armored foes and a AT3 isn't going to be a game changer.
Just a few thoughts! Terry--I'll always defer to your feedback and experience. Hurin, if these spells made you interested in playing a Priestess of Inis than I feel I succeeded at least partially!
Lastly I would encourage anyone to tweak these as they see fit. I've put up well over a 100 new/rewritten lists and my group has certainly not tested even 25% of them
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Base List for Clerics of Kesh'ta'kai.
This is an older list that I haven't worked on in a few years. Since then I've redone our rules for written magic: sigils, glyphs, signs, symbols, circles, runes, wards etc.
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Base list for Priests of Andaras.
We had some fun with this--both "Fixation" and "Obsession" are great with good roleplayers.
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Someone pointed out something and it looks like the Andaras list has some Scalu spells in it. Thats what I get posting these up in a hurry and using older versions, though Im not sure what happened.
Anyway, I'll put up a corrected Andaras list plus Z'taar.
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Any idea when you will be posting the Z'taar list? We craves to sees it.
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Any idea when you will be posting the Z'taar list? We craves to sees it.
For a long time we used a simplified version of the "Unholy Warrior" lists for our Clerics of Z'taar
http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203401#msg203401 (http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.msg203401#msg203401)
I kept going back and forth between the clerics being warriors themselves or as more support for warriors (as would be the typical role of a cleric). So should the spells be combat buffs for the cleric or combat buffs for other fighters? Eventually we fleshed out the "Battle-Priests of Z'taar" and the list ended up being a combination of the two. (I didn't think Z'taar would appreciate his clerics acting only in a support role!)
I had hoped to have the remainder of the Charon base lists up this past week but I had to go out and do that "earn a living" thing that pops up now and then. Z'taar should be up soon.
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Have you considered making the clerics of Z'taar semi spell users? To enable them to act independently as frontline fighters and as "buffers" - or something like what you did with the Cay list.
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Have you considered making the clerics of Z'taar semi spell users? To enable them to act independently as frontline fighters and as "buffers" - or something like what you did with the Cay list.
I think a GM could easily do that--make the "Battle-Priests" using the Paladin skill costs and replacing or adding the Z'taar Base list.
I have a "Kulthean Religion Addendum" almost done and will submit to Terry/Nicholas as a published product or for the SW PDF series discussed in this forum. It includes the "Battle-Priests" and their organization.
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I have a "Kulthean Religion Addendum" almost done and will submit to Terry/Nicholas as a published product or for the SW PDF series discussed in this forum. It includes the "Battle-Priests" and their organization.
So there's progress on the PDF. That's good to hear. Wonder if we might get one this year.
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I have a "Kulthean Religion Addendum" almost done and will submit to Terry/Nicholas as a published product or for the SW PDF series discussed in this forum. It includes the "Battle-Priests" and their organization.
So there's progress on the PDF. That's good to hear. Wonder if we might get one this year.
Progress insomuch as my submission. Obviously content needs Terry's approval and Nicholas' decision on publishing channel. I like the pdf idea but it may or may not fit into company strategy/resources--above my paygrade!
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I'm going to count that as progress anyway! :)
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Base List for the Battle-Priests of Z'taar!!
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Fun stuff! Especially for NPC bad guys.
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Base List for Clerics of Scalu.
This was a tricky one that we've modified in our current version (fewer range iterations to free up some slots) and allows for some additional abilities/control over the target during Dream Commune. Tricky as a PC spell list but great for NPC's to " dream haunt" a player.
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Base Lists for Priests of Moralis.
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Base List for Priests of Klysus
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Last one! Base List for Priests of Nynaku (the Forsaken). Until he was able to escape his followers could only access up to 10th lvl spells. Now that he's free however...
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Fun stuff, though I think giving the caster AT 8 for 1 min/lvl as a level 2 spell is a bit overpowered. Did you mean RMU AT 8 or RM2 AT 8?
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Fun stuff, though I think giving the caster AT 8 for 1 min/lvl as a level 2 spell is a bit overpowered. Did you mean RMU AT 8 or RM2 AT 8?
No, RMU AT8. My thoughts on this:
1. Nynaku clerics only had access to spells up to 10th lvl so when I did this list 3-5 years ago I focused mostly on the lower level spells (for good or bad).
2. per "Powers of Light & Dark", Nynaku is "one of the most POTENT and destructive of the Dark Gods". (emphasis mine) Therefore I wanted to give his clerics some "juice".
3. Stone Skin is a inherent power of Nynaku but gives him AT20 (AT 10 RMU). I always defer to the Diety's basic powers that Terry wrote as both inspiration and direction for these lists. Without parsing various types of soft and hard stone and creating a number of spells with escalating AT values, I thought "stone is stone" but didn't want to go the full AT10.
4. Defense philosophy. I'm not in the "up-level/AT" camp of RM theory. RM combat is dangerous and deadly and the original Spell Law had surprisingly few defense and buff spells for players. While herbs allowed for healing I never thought enough attention was given to mitigating damage beyond blade/missile turns and parrying strategies. If you have looked through BASiL spell lists you'll see that I tripled defensive lists--both in general bonuses, specific AT's, critical reductions etc. Like the Inis Base List I just don't see, and haven't experienced, balance issues with providing better defensive characteristics in spells or otherwise. Keep in mind that we use the size/damage rules in RMU beta2 so an AT8 might seem potent, but not so much against a Very Large creature attack that hits with a critical result.
Anyway, it's very easy to switch any of these spells back to RM or make adjustments to power levels! I appreciate any and all feedback, criticism or utilization of these and BASiL lists. These Orhan lists came much later than the BASiL V.2's I have been putting up, and there is some discrepancy in power/level between these and some of those. Ultimately, I'll put together the finalized lists but I doubt they will every match RM or RMU exactly since I've embraced some of Beta 2 rules and adopted my own material strength/lvl/imbed system that works into these spells.
On that note...if anyone is looking to collaborate on new projects I'm open to discussions. As I previously said, I could really use some help with design, layout, floorplan skills to move things along a bit quicker.... Right now my goals are, in no particular order
1. Submit SW Religion Addendum to Terry and Nicholas for review, approval and ????. If they don't think it meets their requirements I'm happy to post up here in the SW files. It's been great for my campaign and gives Cleric/Channelers more structure for building their character design. Plus it adds a bit to SW world building (NON-CANON of course!!!)
2. Response mode for Priest-King of Shade (temp title).
3. Finish up Empire of the the Black Dragon and submit.
4. Put up Mentalism spells for Project BASiL. (followed by Investiture, Notational, Rendered, Incidental and Intrinsic). Still about 70-80 spells lists left, plus some "one-offs" that are in my conceptual folder and completed versions of Terrys misc lists for Steel Rain and others in "Powers" addendum and individual spell lists for Priest Arnak I dabbled with that I can finish up.
5. City of Nontataku in SW Agyra. Now an Alliance controlled city but also controls the Imarji Sea Tunnel and access to the Kuriis-Kinn lands.
6. The Grand Campaign. So...I've outlined some further chapters of the GC based on our my campaign notes and future projections.
7. Keep up 1-2 blog postings per week on www.RolemasterBlog.com with a effort to focus on SW for SEO and marketing benefits to the setting.
8. Going forward I'm going to post charts and data files here and leave design/philosophy/ideas for RolemasterBlog posts.
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Wow, sounds like you are busy. I look forward to all of that!
Personally, I do still think that giving AT 8 for a second level spell would be overpowered for my games, especially when you compare the other spells of this sort on other lists. I guess though that this stone skin would still impose full maneuver and casting penalties? If so, that would be ok.
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Thats a balance solution but also keep in mind that "stone attack" spells would act "as slaying" against the caster when using this. Thats a serious exploit.
But thats also a great suggestion that makes sense--this spell would incur AT 8 encumbrance penalties upon caster due to the dense skin. I like the balance factor and the cinematic angle. Thanks Hurin--now Im going to review all spells like this and see if they should be changed. Great thought but lots of work....v.7 is now started!
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Glad you found the comment useful. Keep up the good work-- I look forward to springing some of these empowered Cleric spells on my players!
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On that note...if anyone is looking to collaborate on new projects I'm open to discussions. As I previously said, I could really use some help with design, layout, floorplan skills to move things along a bit quicker.
I'd help, but I don't think I have any of the skills you need.
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Just an FYI, we'll be posting up a Q&A interview with the one and only Terry K. Amthor on the RolemasterBlog.com this coming week! Thanks again Terry!
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Interview is up!
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/interview-terry-k-amthor-author-shadow-world-c-e-founder/
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SW Religion Addendum. Intro & Kuor.
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Order of the Light (Valris). I did this one quite a while ago before "Powers"--it's basically the same with the Priests in the role of teachers and scholars.
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Messengers of Teris. (not great for PC's I don't think).
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Disciples of Cay
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This is great flavor for my upcoming Kulthea campaign.
One thing I'm not sure you're aware of, but in each writeup you have 'Vocation Training Package: Deleted'.
Thanks for all the flavor!
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This is great flavor for my upcoming Kulthea campaign.
One thing I'm not sure you're aware of, but in each writeup you have 'Vocation Training Package: Deleted'.
Thanks for all the flavor!
Yes, we use our own training packages for adolescent and apprenticeship so character creation is quick. This includes our BASiL spell lists so I left it out to avoid any confusion.
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The Stormbringers of Shaal
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Who was it that did the Wyrd Bow spell list for rangers, and can we get it posted if available?
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Who was it that did the Wyrd Bow spell list for rangers, and can we get it posted if available?
http://www.guildcompanion.com/scrolls/2000/jun/wyrdbow.html (http://www.guildcompanion.com/scrolls/2000/jun/wyrdbow.html)
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Who was it that did the Wyrd Bow spell list for rangers, and can we get it posted if available?
http://www.guildcompanion.com/scrolls/2000/jun/wyrdbow.html (http://www.guildcompanion.com/scrolls/2000/jun/wyrdbow.html)
That's a great list! I'd never seen it before, but I think it gives the Ranger the little oomph the class really needed in the combat spells department. The fact that it is based on the Druidstaff list (one of my personal favorites) is just the icing on the cake. Thanks for that!
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Daughters of Inis.
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Battle-Priests of Z'taar
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Order of the Sun (Lightbringers of Phaon)
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Path of Dreams (Reann)
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The Festival (of Kieron). Fun to roleplay a NPC Kieron cleric!
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The Festival (of Kieron). Fun to roleplay a NPC Kieron cleric!
Think "The Safety Dance" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM4okRvCg2g (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM4okRvCg2g)
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The Festival (of Kieron). Fun to roleplay a NPC Kieron cleric!
Think "The Safety Dance" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM4okRvCg2g (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM4okRvCg2g)
Terry--what a blast from the past! I recall that song playing continuously on the radio when I was reading my copy of Character Law (blue cover) back in the early 80's. I was calling the Festival the "Motley Festival" for a while--that video certainly encapsulates that!
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The Festival (of Kieron). Fun to roleplay a NPC Kieron cleric!
Think "The Safety Dance" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM4okRvCg2g (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM4okRvCg2g)
Terry--what a blast from the past! I recall that song playing continuously on the radio when I was reading my copy of Character Law (blue cover) back in the early 80's. I was calling the Festival the "Motley Festival" for a while--that video certainly encapsulates that!
LOL, can't you see the slightly kooky Bard and his sidekick arriving in various towns around Rhakhaan, inspiring people to enjoy the festivities of 'Kieron Day.'
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Builder-Priests of Iorak.
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Great article. If youve seen Rogue One, Vaders castle really evoked Shadow World, ME, Iron Wind to me. The reference to the ancient, lower cave level...
http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-intriguing-backstory-of-darth-vaders-castle-in-rogu-1790631631
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Great article. If youve seen Rogue One, Vaders castle really evoked Shadow World, ME, Iron Wind to me. The reference to the ancient, lower cave level...
http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-intriguing-backstory-of-darth-vaders-castle-in-rogu-1790631631
I commented elsewhere that it was the architectural equivalent of a giant flashing neon sign reading "DARK LORD LIVES HERE." It looks like Vader used the same designer as Sauron.
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Great article. If youve seen Rogue One, Vaders castle really evoked Shadow World, ME, Iron Wind to me. The reference to the ancient, lower cave level...
http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-intriguing-backstory-of-darth-vaders-castle-in-rogu-1790631631
I commented elsewhere that it was the architectural equivalent of a giant flashing neon sign reading "DARK LORD LIVES HERE." It looks like Vader used the same designer as Sauron.
At first glance it made me think or Orthanc in Isengard. But it would also be right at home in the Shadow World, as perhaps a Priest Arnak tower, or the home of one of the Ahrenreth.
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new blog post on "Technology in Shadow World".
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/advanced-technology-shadow-world/
Interested in who incorporates tech/sci-fi in their SW campaigns and what they use.
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Cleaning up some files and came across some older files that Matt gave me from his old SW campaign from and around 1997. Very cool stuff that didn't make it into the Players Guide or other material.
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Here are a few more files from Matt's (Vroomfogle) old hard drive: Vroomfogles magic items (33 pages) and rules for compass use (not sure who did this work)
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Non-canon narrative version of SW Timeline/history. It includes some of our own material on Elven origins, Dragonlords, Earthwardens etc that are in uploaded files on this thread.
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Very much liked the magic treasures! Fun stuff.
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Cantrips we use is our SW campaign
How do these work? Do they cost Dp? Is there a casting roll?
Sent from my E6533 using Tapatalk
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Cantrips we use is our SW campaign
How do these work? Do they cost Dp? Is there a casting roll?
Sent from my E6533 using Tapatalk
I was using 1/4 PP but now we don't bother tracking it unless the player is continual casting, abusing it or has no PP's left. They make a roll but only for natural "01" failure and I modify failure roll by -50.
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Cantrips we use is our SW campaign
How do these work? Do they cost Dp? Is there a casting roll?
Sent from my E6533 using Tapatalk
I was using 1/4 PP but now we don't bother tracking it unless the player is continual casting, abusing it or has no PP's left. They make a roll but only for natural "01" failure and I modify failure roll by -50.
Cool! How are they learned? What's the DP cost?
Sent from my E6533 using Tapatalk
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2 DP, but we use a "No Profession" system where all skills cost 5* and most cantrips are part of starting vocation packages in character development. I don't think any of the players have taken cantrips after that.
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Oh, interesting, I would really like to see how that system works!
I considered playing an all 'No Prof' game, with Cultural and Professional Packaged from EA to predispose characters towards certain builds. Ended up dropping it for a MERP like system instead.
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Interested in any other thoughts on this:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-wish-list-definitive-master-atlas/
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Interested in any other thoughts on this:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-wish-list-definitive-master-atlas/
I agree I'd like to see the languages cleared up a bit.
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Interested in any other thoughts on this:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-wish-list-definitive-master-atlas/
I agree I'd like to see the languages cleared up a bit.
Here is the little bit I put together on languages. I was going to use this as the base for a more detailed language tree, but at the least wanted to establish the core root languages. The assumption is that Elvish languages are going to be more cohesive over spans of time due to the "immortality issue".
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That's some useful background. The recently published player guide also had some stuff on them too, but IIRC it lacked a language tree that would help me to visualize the descent of the languages.
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SW Armor chart: special materials and/or cultural armor types. This uses RMU armor types and our simplified encumbrance rules:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/rm-combat-hack-simplified-armor-encumbrance/
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Nice, lots of great ideas in there. I am inspired to go through my own setting's bestiary and figure out what to do with those poor creatures!
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Archaeology section from our Master Atlas. I took out most of the tech and artifacts and will collate in another doc. Mostly a simple summary and framework for various civilization tech.
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Did you set prices for antiquities? I see "(Insert Antiquities Value table}" which makes me hopeful. :) My players just acquired and sold some elaborate bronze age frescoes and ornamented metal doors, and setting a price for such things is somewhat arbitrary.
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yes, there is an "Antiquities Chart"! It's in the Master Atlas chart spreadsheet. I'll look at it tomorrow and post up.
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Fun stuff! I found it useful even as a quick history of civilization on Kulthea.
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This is fairly old material (10+ years) but not really divergent from canon. I need to update the Jinteni tech from Emer III, the upcoming Wurilis is expected to have details on Taranian tech and Haalkitaine may have updates on Worim stuff below the sewer levels. It's just meant as a "wire frame" for creative development. I posted up an earlier Civilization Summary in this thread that also broke down various ages of each civilization which could broadly correspond to varying tech levels, styles and achievement.
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This needs some work, but puts rough prices on mint condition antiquities from the major ancient civilizations by object category. Formatting is bad but its PDF so you can zoom.
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I'll have to redo anyway for my setting, but it's useful to see how you've approached it. (Also, the budgets are higher than I want. The example castle in Castles and Ruins is 75,000 gp, which is less than the value you have for one small piece of Ka'ta'viir glasswork. I don't want to give my PCs that kind of instant wealth.)
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I did it almost 10 years ago, so it probably needs some adjustment. But this is for the rarest of rare items in perfect condition. The value for glass and pottery are a bit higher since the likelihood of them surviving 100,000 years is pretty remote. This chart goes with another one (Salvage chart) where you would need a 201+ roll to generate one of these items and then check for condition. Even slight damage drops the value 50%.
But these are items that really cause more problems for the group than access to instant wealth. Who do they sell to? How do they reach that market? How do they transport it? How much would someone really pay them? In the end these work better as adventure McGuffins. I had my group tasked by one of the merchant families in Sel-Kai with finding Aldaron's desk chair used in his castle on Votania. They found it...and ended up getting in a battle that destroyed it! After that they had a chance to recover a large fragile glass "sunburst" art piece--and they balked.
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That's valid, but I feel like I can tell that kind of story with the amount of money it takes to buy a ship, not necessarily a castle or a small nation....
This is a function of setting of course. I don't have the kind of nobles who have so many castles they don't know what to do with them, and would gladly trade one for a nice antique to put on the mantlepiece. Other settings might. My normal unit of "expensive but affordable to the wealthy" is a warhorse.
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In one of the Undermountain supplements there's a gemstone that's so valuable it's basically unsellable (intentionally). That doesn't mean people won't want to steal it. So absurdly valuable items can cause their own problems.
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Exactly! Basically this is a chart of "Priceless" objects that I attempt to value. A fools errand. But more importantly, it was an attempt to categorize some basic objects that are just more interesting than "3,240 gold pieces, 2,345 gp of jewelry and 533 gps in gems".
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See my post at Rolemasterblog: http://www.rolemasterblog.com/drinking-rpg-blogging/
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Exactly! Basically this is a chart of "Priceless" objects that I attempt to value. A fools errand. But more importantly, it was an attempt to categorize some basic objects that are just more interesting than "3,240 gold pieces, 2,345 gp of jewelry and 533 gps in gems".
Ah yes, the old incredibly boring treasure list. Plus lists like that don't help when players are told they find "3,240 gold pieces, 2,345 gp of jewelry, 533 gps in gems and a beautiful hammered silver hand mirror with inlaid gold runes on the handle." Something like that really suggests that the item described fully is important.
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While Peter is buying ponies in the Netherlands, I'm trying to post a "blog a day". Hurin and other's that post on Rolemasterblog.com feel free to jump in!
Urumi anyone?
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Looks as dangerous to the wielder as to the opponent!
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Looks as dangerous to the wielder as to the opponent!
Right? Isnt that crazy? So, what would you propose for weapon specific mods? In our house rules (SWARM) # of skill ranks reduces combat mods (instead of contra skills) AND reduces fumble. Im thinking this has to be a fumble of 30-40! A novice picking it up would be toast.
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Can you explain what you mean by 'reduces combat mods'?
I think a high fumble would be good enough to represent the dangers of the weapon, though it almost seems to need its own fumble table!
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RMU established Combat Expertise Skills (Reverse Strike, Restricted Quarters, Mounted Combat, Multiple Attacks) that are "contra skills": rather than create bonuses for action resolution, they offset/reduce/eliminate the penalties for those types of actions. I'm not a fan for a couple of reasons:
1. They create a different mechanism than other skills.
2. They add to skill bloat.
3. It's premised on set penalties for various combat maneuvers.
So what we've done instead:
1. Establish weapon specific penalties for various combat maneuvers based on the weapon's size, speed, suitability etc. Granted it's arbitrary and could use some fine tuning, but adds a layer of weapon differentiation beyond to hit/damage ability. I posted up the weapon mod chart in this thread (bottom of page 3 or 4 I believe).
2. Created a use for a skills' # of ranks. So while each skill has a total bonus for resolution, the # of skill ranks is used for proficiency issues. In the case of a weapon, the # of skill ranks is used to lower the combat maneuver penalties and the fumble as well. This is basically the RMU shield skill model: the skill bonus is used for shield attacks and the # of skill ranks adds to DB.
I blogged about this last year:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/rolemaster-skill-bonuses-skill-ranks/
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Interesting. I like the idea of ranks giving a general idea of proficiency, as we already do for languages. I think you could even add that to the existing RMU rules.
I do agree that skill bloat can be a problem. Currently, we have done away with the 'Footwork' skill by giving each character a free movement action (up to BMR) each turn, and charging 1 AP for each additional movement thereafter (each one being up to BMR).
Still, I have found that my players very much like the 'contra' skills. I remember one of my players explicitly saying something like, 'Oh, that's simple!' when I told him how Manuevering in Armor now worked. The same goes for multiple attacks (which was always a kind of finicky one for RM to solve).
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Even simpler is getting rid of Maneuvering in Armor skill! I know thats a heretical thought in these parts but it reaaly streamlines things.
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/rm-combat-hack-simplified-armor-encumbrance/
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Right? Isnt that crazy? So, what would you propose for weapon specific mods? In our house rules (SWARM) # of skill ranks reduces combat mods (instead of contra skills) AND reduces fumble. Im thinking this has to be a fumble of 30-40! A novice picking it up would be toast.
A fumble of 30 would mean about a 90% chance of a fumble within 30 seconds of wielding it. Could you even learn a weapon with such a high fumble chance? A fumble of 10 (e.g. two-handed flail) is already a 28% chance of at least one fumble per minute.
You also said RMU established fixed penalties for several combat maneuvers (reverse strike, dual attack, protect etc) when it should be the particular weapon that decides that penalty.
The weapon, or at least general type of weapon, does decide that penalty for disarm and subdual. I do see an argument for applying that to multiple attacks as well (e.g. a light weapon may be easier to use in your off-hand) although the early criticisms of the multiple attacks rules were about too much complexity, and adding that variation creates more complexity, not less. I'm less sold on it mattering for reverse strike.
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Even simpler is getting rid of Maneuvering in Armor skill! I know thats a heretical thought in these parts but it reaaly streamlines things.
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/rm-combat-hack-simplified-armor-encumbrance/
I think the recent changes to RMU (to make only armor, not weapons inhibit spellcasting penalties, and to simplify the penalties to -3/lb of metal for Channeling and -4/lb for Essence) actually bring the encumbrance rules closer into line with your 'hack' there. At least, it does greatly simplify that aspect of encumbrance.
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Am I the only one just sitting here waiting for more of Hanson`s good stuff to be posted :)
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I've been a bit side-tracked--a few of us at Rolemasterblog.com are doing "50 Adventures in 50 Days" challenge and I've been getting those written.
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/rolemaster-blog-crowdsource-challenge-50-rm-adventures-50-weeks/
However, I am almost finished with the "Book of Pales" which has new information on the various Demonic Pales including environment, new creatures, artifacts, travel, spell lists etc. I'm trying to make it closer to a finished product than just basic word/excel docs that I've been doing.
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I'm working on a 50th lvl adventure series: "Legends of Shadow World". It's similar to a tournament module and relies on pre-generated characters; famous NPC's and personalities from Shadow World! Tentatively for characters 40-60th lvl.
I have a group of 5 PC's, I'll blog more about this tomorrow over at the Rolemasterblog.com, but thought I would poll the forums:
What famous PC (non-evil) would you like to see included or enjoy playing in a module?
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PC? I need an explanation!
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PC = player characters. So I'm looking for suggestions of Shadow World NPCs that would be used as pre-generated characters in high level adventure.
Does that make sense?
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Ill get back with some names :)
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T`vaar Dekdarion, Elor Once Dark, Voriig Kye!
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Ha! So T'vaar Dekdarion is already in the mix...Elor is interesting...Voriig is very interesting! Good choices.
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Misc SW Files I found in some random drives. Attribution?
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Randae and Vurkanan Tyes!
If it's a tournament, it would be fun to have Vurkanan's assistant in an opposing party.
Or you could make something like a competition of Navigators vs Loremasters, maybe a marathon using Teleport from one continent to another? Or one navigator from each guild, I imagine the Cypharia has the perfect breed for each challenge.
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Randae and Vurkanan Tyes!
If it's a tournament, it would be fun to have Vurkanan's assistant in an opposing party.
Or you could make something like a competition of Navigators vs Loremasters, maybe a marathon using Teleport from one continent to another? Or one navigator from each guild, I imagine the Cypharia has the perfect breed for each challenge.
So "tournament module" I meant like the original AD&d tourney series-not a death match style event. So a defined narrative path, pre-gen characters etc, basically like the Grand Campaign but playable in one sitting.
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Here is some more detailed thoughts.
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/legends-shadow-world-building-pc-group/
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A couple of notable trade goods and merchants in Jaiman. Addendum to the trade goods upload in this thread.
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Come on!!! IN all of the WORLD, am I the only one putting out third party material?
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In the past I used to be more active, I translated several things to Spanish and created some house rules and background. But lack of time and (almost) no feedback made me lazy.
Also I miss ready-to-run adventures that I can use, because this lack of time.
In the last 2 years I have been fleshing the Khur Fiefdoms in Thuul, using adventures from... let's say RoadDiscoverer, and adapting to how it feels to live in a backward province of Vashaan.
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In the past I used to be more active, I translated several things to Spanish and created some house rules and background. But lack of time and (almost) no feedback made me lazy.
Also I miss ready-to-run adventures that I can use, because this lack of time.
In the last 2 years I have been fleshing the Khur Fiefdoms in Thuul, using adventures from... let's say RoadDiscoverer, and adapting to how it feels to live in a backward province of Vashaan.
How far from RAW is your game? If there were ready to run adventures with NPCs created from core rules would they be a challenge for your players? What sort of level adventures are you looking for?
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In the past I used to be more active, I translated several things to Spanish and created some house rules and background. But lack of time and (almost) no feedback made me lazy.
Also I miss ready-to-run adventures that I can use, because this lack of time.
In the last 2 years I have been fleshing the Khur Fiefdoms in Thuul, using adventures from... let's say RoadDiscoverer, and adapting to how it feels to live in a backward province of Vashaan.
If you have anything--post here or over at the Rolemasterblog.com. We are all about house rules!
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My game is not really far from the TKA canon, as I'm a huge fan of his works.
The only difference IMKU is that the time span is different, for some reason I am never able to buy several eras of >5000 years that people can remember and talk about it, in my game the second era is "the past" and it could be a past of 1000 years ago.
Regarding adventures, I usually read adventures and use what I like, sometimes just maps and some NPC's. My problem is that after 12 years playing in Jaiman and Emer, the players needed something different, because they know a lot about these areas (Iron Wind, Lorgalis, Eidolon powers, the JA)
I do not use too many house rules, I'm stuck in RM2 with a few variations and we feel comfortable that way, we use fate points to avoid undramatic deaths and some fixes to spells.
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Neee-Wom
Every week I release a free plot outline. This week's one is called Alchemical Zombies (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/213217/Alchemical-Zombies-Theatre-Of-The-Mind-Encounters?src=ironcrown_forum (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/213217/Alchemical-Zombies-Theatre-Of-The-Mind-Encounters?src=ironcrown_forum)).
I make these system neutral and setting neutral to avoid any IP issues. You should be able to drop these into your game if you want a quick and easy game idea.
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Neee-Wom
Every week I release a free plot outline. This week's one is called Alchemical Zombies (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/213217/Alchemical-Zombies-Theatre-Of-The-Mind-Encounters?src=ironcrown_forum (http://www.rpgnow.com/product/213217/Alchemical-Zombies-Theatre-Of-The-Mind-Encounters?src=ironcrown_forum)).
I make these system neutral and setting neutral to avoid any IP issues. You should be able to drop these into your game if you want a quick and easy game idea.
Thanks, but I do not really need game ideas, what I miss from ICE are adventures completely structured that I can use in my game, otherwise I can use some ideas, NPC's or maps. For example, Gethaena does not fit in my game, but I have used a lot of things from that book or from some MERP books.
I'd like things similar to ready-to-run adventures from MERP that focus on Emer and Jaiman known areas. Something like Tales from the Green Gryphon Inn is perfect.
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I'm pondering having another group(s) play test my "Legends of Shadow World" adventure series we are working on over at the Rolemasterblog.com. This is a 5 chapter, tournament module, for 50th lvl characters.
for additional thoughts/info:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/legends-shadow-world-pt3-hits-fan/
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Thanks all for emailing me, I have 2 groups that are going to run Chapter 1, but looking for 1 or 2 more. Heading to Iceland monday but will have module packets for the groups at the end of the month. I'll have access to email, so if you want to run a 50th lvl Shadow World adventure let me know.
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What famous PC (non-evil) would you like to see included or enjoy playing in a module?
The Nameless One
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Where is the stats on "the nameless one" aka Tethior?
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Ok, quick update. I have my first two groups running the 1st chapter of the Legends adventures. I'm running my group next Tuesday (delay due to travel).
Peter at Rolemasterblog and I have finalized our "50 Adventures in 50 weeks" challenge! All are written and we are refining with artwork. These are generic (for IP limitations) but easily incorporated into a d100 system.
And...finally...BASiL Mentalism will start being posted up tomorrow or this week. (nice weather here in Maine...)
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Where is the stats on "the nameless one" aka Tethior?
I don't have my copy handy, but isn't he in Powers of Light and Darkness?
Thanks,
--Desty
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Started posting up our Shadow World mentalism spells over on the RM forums. I'll be putting them up on the Rolemasterblog as well.
http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=17405.msg218453#msg218453
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I posted up the intro for "Legends of Shadow World" over at Rolemasterblog.
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/legends-shadow-world-player-introduction/
I have two test groups working on Chapters 2 & 3 and I'm running Chapter 5 for my group this coming week. Once I tweak some items we'll be posting it up and working on some other high level adventures which are now pretty fun to write.
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Peter has put up Rolemaster Fanzine Issue #4 which focuses on Shadow World and includes my interview with Terry. You can find it here:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/217512/Rolemaster-Fanzine-Issue-0004
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I hadn't seen this before, but always cool to find SW fan art.
https://bad-dragon.deviantart.com/art/Ulya-163212869
Anyone know of anything else floating around out there?
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Scholars of Nomikos, citation needed! somewhere, (unless it was a dream...that happens) in the Shadow World timeline there is an event I'm trying to find. I think it was 2nd Era but could have been early 3rd. A mysterious figure appeared in the midst of a battle and I think htere was a huge explosion that "ended things". etc... It wasn't in Emer or Jaiman but beyond that I can't recall where I read it. I did some searches on my pdf's but didn't find it.
Help! Any ideas?
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Just a guess: Xa-Ar Page 14
5-21-6051: "Prince Kier Ianis appears amidst a tremendous—and pyrotechnic—surge in the Essaence..."
The text goes on and describes what you could summarize as "A mysterious figure appears in the midst of a battle and a there is a huge explosion that ends things, etc."
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I'll check, but I dont think that's it. Any other ideas? Thanks btw!
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Rolemasterblog.com
We are going to start publishing our 50 adventures in 50 weeks in the coming weeks. these are simple concepts, adventure hooks or full blown adventures. Agnostic d100 but can be used in SW or for Rolemaster.
After that I'll be putting up my "Legends of Shadow World" 5 chapter tourney module for 50th lvl characters--as a free download. In December I'll post up the file for "The Book of the Pales" for adventures in the Demonic Realms. Can your characters survive the realm of Entropy, Deluge or Inferno? We'll see....
btw: did you know that I have posted 221 downloadable files on the RM Forums? This includes Shadow World specific files along with my rewrite of Spell Law. check it out:
http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?action=profile;area=showposts;sa=attach;u=820
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So, I don't adopt most standard Undead creatures in our SW campaign--we avoid the standard tropes of Mummy, Vampire etc. But Happy Halloween! Like our Void Knights (an Interregnum organization founded by the Earthwardens to fight Demons), we also have groups that hunt the Undead. I posted their spell list here:
http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=17568.msg219720#msg219720
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I'm putting up the basic doc of the 1st Chapter of "Legends of Shadow World: The Seers of Strok". This is the first part of a 5 part adventure for 50th level adventures. I purposefully did not include the stat blocks for the pregen characters, NPC's or "monsters" due to IP issues, or just holding some stuff back. Mostly I'm doing this to create some activity and because I keep getting emails and messages that I'm full of $%#& on the work that I do! (they actually say it much nicer than that). I will say that I have sent Priest King of Shade to Peter and a few other people for their review so they can get a sense of the final product AND how close it is to publication. Here is Chapter 1--this should be for GMs ONLY:
My only concern is that it includes the subsequent chapters to help GM's plan ahead, but it's also a bit of a spoiler. Also, apologize for the "graphics"--I'm doing this myself but it works for my own group.
I'd like to create a "point system" for this to make it a true tournament module.
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the adventure file will also be available w/o a login membership over the Rolemasterbog shortly
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some notes on the Seers of Strok over at the Rolemasterblog:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/50th-level-adventures-deconstruction-design-chapter-1-legends-shadow-world/
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So, I don't adopt most standard Undead creatures in our SW campaign--we avoid the standard tropes of Mummy, Vampire etc. But Happy Halloween! Like our Void Knights (an Interregnum organization founded by the Earthwardens to fight Demons), we also have groups that hunt the Undead. I posted their spell list here:
http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=17568.msg219720#msg219720
I see the Undead Hunter list in that thread, but I'm having trouble finding the Void Knight one. Are they Channeling casters?
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They are basically Arcane/Essence using Paladins. (we use different rules for armor and spellcasting). I've got spell lists scattered everywhere: the Rolemaster Thread, this thread, over at RolemasterBlog.com. Maybe I'll put them all in one document with all the supporting docs...
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They are basically Arcane/Essence using Paladins. (we use different rules for armor and spellcasting). I've got spell lists scattered everywhere: the Rolemaster Thread, this thread, over at RolemasterBlog.com. Maybe I'll put them all in one document with all the supporting docs...
Ah, so would they be in the Essence section of your BASIL lists then? Lists like Demonic Protections?
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A summary from the Rolemasterblog.com
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/happy-halloween-brih-rolemasterblog/
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Updated “Legends of Shadow World” Chapter 1 coming sunday. The first upload had some typos, grammatical errors and some vague content. Hopefully most of this addresses the major issues. We’ve run 5 iterations and happy to hear more feedback. The nature of RM crits makes it hard to truly balance encounters.
1. Revised and expanded using playtest feedback
2. Combat notes added.
3. Pregen PCs, combatants stats added.
4. Revised spell list for Phaon.
5. New magic items!
6. (2) New BASiL lists: Weapon Runes & Armor Runes
Free download here and at rolemasterblog.com.
Chapter 2-5 are being polished up! Stay tuned. On a side note, Rolemasterblog will provide various levels of sponsorship to GMs that want to run this at a sanctioned gaming event. Contact me and we can discuss!
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Holiday friday and now work so I thought I would put up 2 utility lists we use:
1. Simple Imbedding. For enchanting "consumable" magic items like potions, candles, powders, charms etc.
2. Talisman. For creating a personal invested magic item that grows in power with the caster: Druid Staff, Mage Wand etc.
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Updated version of Legends of Shadow World Ch. 1.
You can also download it w/o an account at the Rolemasterblog here:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/download/updated-legends-shadow-world-chapter-1-seers-strok/
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New stuff!
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/sunday-funday-rolemaster-spell-lists-shadow-world-adventures-random-thoughts/
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Updated list for Priests/Paladins of Phaon to use in the Legends of Shadow World adventures.
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Attached are the pre-gens to run a Cleric only PC group.
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Thought I would put up my Base lists for the Priests Arnak. They can be used in conjunction with the "Iron Wind" lists Terry included in Powers of Light & Darkness but are designed to fit in with the specific order.
I only wrote these too 20th lvl and are accessible by both Priests in Messengers in my campaign.
Attached is the Base for the Priests Arnak order of "Lyak".
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Oops, someone emailed me about a few mistakes. these were older lists I dropped into PDF quickly. A few small errors, but the most obvious was 15th lvl Breath of Lyak. Should be a cone w/ 50' range:
Breath of Lyak Cone 10'w @ 50' -- 50'
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Base for Priest Arnak "Yarthraak"
Looks like 2 empty spells slots--I'll fill those in eventually.
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Base List for Priests Arnak - Gaath
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Base List for Priest Arnak - Athimurl
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The last two (Dansart and Thargondaak) are my 2 favorites!
Dansart attached. I always liked the Zorian waste, Grand Campaign material that Terry wrote. Had a Mad Max, post apocalyptic feel to it.
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Last but definitely not least - Thargondaak. I always imagined these guys as basically Evil Batman.
I'll be filling in the few blank spots and higher level spells at some point during a BASiL edit.
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I like how these lists clearly fit together, essentially built on the same template, but the customizations really give them a lot of personality.
For Thargondaak, the level 4 spell is a little unclear about gliding. I think, based on comparing the Gaath list, that it should say "Caster can fall up to 25' lvl and glide up to 5' per 1' of descent using their cloak."
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Shadow World Racial Chart for RMU.
A few changes that we use:
1. Only 1 RR v. Essaence (we don't break up by realm)
2. Fatigue is bonus to endurance/fatigue checks
3. Adjustment to experience for some races (due to immortality)
4. Cultural notes- per RMU starting cultures with some of our own
Wow, a whole bunch of great stuff in this entire thread. For someone who is digging out their old RM stuff and really thinking about jumping back in the pool with RMU test... its a lot to digest.
B Hanson, with your RMU Racial Chart - the base hits numbers are very low in comparison to the standard races in the RMU Beta. You have 8 or 10 - has this been adequate? Thanks for a bunch of great work. I took my old atlas stuff out and was going to number crunch... but you already had it done!
Good stuff and I really like the Rolemasterblog.com site! Excellent resources!
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Glad some of the files were useful! Re: hits, I wrote that quite a while ago and those were dtypes like RM2 I believe. A lot of my material is a hybrid of RM, house rules and pieces of beta RMU, so it may need some tinkering. I would refer to the latest RMU beta for the baselines hits of the racial archetypes.
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I like how these lists clearly fit together, essentially built on the same template, but the customizations really give them a lot of personality.
For Thargondaak, the level 4 spell is a little unclear about gliding. I think, based on comparing the Gaath list, that it should say "Caster can fall up to 25' lvl and glide up to 5' per 1' of descent using their cloak."
I built all of them based on 4 spells: 1st lvl Familiar, a breath attack, some type of animal call/fear attack and the 20th lvl change. The rest I really tried to capture the specific spirit of the Messenger type. I excluded some obvious spells that Terry had already included in magic item powers--for instance, Dansart already had boots of sand running so I left out that type of spell although it was a good fit. In my campaign, I like the Messengers to have spell ability to keep the players guessing and for the cinematic aspect of some of the spells.
Yes, the Thargondaak Glide needs some work. I wanted it differentiated from the Gaath ability (dragon style) and more a mechanical ability (Dark Knight) so I reduced the glide ratio. Like all the BASiL stuff, it needs a complete final passthrough and edit!
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Were RMSS stat bonuses ever developed for the Shadow World Races and might I find them in another, maybe more recent Master Atlas? I'm still using the 2nd edition Atlas from old RM2 days, so standard Race listing with standard bonuses.
And if not, BHanson, is there a method to how you set up your RMU bonuses? Does an old +5 = +1, but sometimes a +2. Is a +10 a +3 (makes sense if you just triple the bonus you get +9...) or is there a document that lays out what the bonus would be? Example: Elves have that old -20 SD, in RMU it is just a -4 (3x -4 is really only a -12).
With me just jumping back into the RM pool, just trying to make sense of the mechanics behind racial bonuses. I saw in the Vault that someone put together a great MERP RMU listing with listing out the Talents. Very complete. I would like to put something like it together for SW.
Some RMU Talents that I think need to be added for SW to match what Terry had in the 2nd Ed. Master Atlas:
Sort of Fast Healer: .75x Heal Rate (5 pts) [or Fast Healer I, and make current RMU Fast Healer - Fast Healer II]
Sort of Slow Healer: 1.5x Heal Rate (-5 pts)
Somewhat Vigorous: Endurance +5 (3 pts) [or Vigorous I, and make Vigorous in RMU Vigorous II]
A bit Feeble: Endurance -5 (-2 pts)
Anyone with any ideas?
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The Shadow World races are in RMFRP Races & Cultures.
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Picked it up. Good stuff and generally goes in the direction that I thought in translating the races that it gives. Any takes on Anzeti, Duranaki, Talath/Myri, Jaadari/Shay (common men), Kuluku, and Rhianni? Those races do not appear in the RMFRP document.
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The Shadow World races are in RMFRP Races & Cultures.
The Shadow World Master Atlas 4 has all the RM2 & RMSS/FRP stats for ALL races.
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I wrote up a short blog on the Messengers over at the Rolemasterblog.
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-review-messengers-iron-wind/
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You know what would be cool...if someone did some illustrations or renderings of the 6 different Messengers. hint, hint, Craig?
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Adding it to the list ;)
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Btw: We have over 120 blog posts on Shadow World at:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/category/shadowworld/
And an interview with Terry Amthor, ICE founder and SW author
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/interview-terry-k-amthor-author-shadow-world-c-e-founder/
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New blog post on early ICE advertising in Dragon Magazine
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/c-e-early-dragon-magazine-ads/
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Some more Shadow World fun over at the RMBlog:
Xiosians:
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-exploration-xiosian-xio-warriors/
Review of 1st ed. Parchment The Iron Wind.
http://www.rolemasterblog.com/iron-crown-loremaster-series-review-iron-wind/
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http://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-breaking-news-resurrecting-nomikos-library/
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If you have been curious about the old Loremaster module Shade of the Sinking Plain and never read it, I wrote a overview of it at the blog:
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=2888&action=edit
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If you are not following, I'm publishing d100 "adventure hooks" through Rolemasterblog.com. This one is one of my favorite:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/240610/Grosks-Tavern
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And this is one of the "best sellers" and versatile for any campaign:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/232817/The-Cabin-in-the-Woods
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And this is one of the "best sellers" and versatile for any campaign:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/232817/The-Cabin-in-the-Woods
It's a great module. I've used it in three consecutive sessions and it will be returning in later ones. Although the cabin caught fire and burned away, another group is going to build it up because it makes a great meeting place, dead drop, emergency shelter for wayward travelers. There's always a story going on in the cabin in the woods.
I have Grosk's Tavern too, but the players haven't made it that far yet.
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We are in the end stretch of the Rolemasterblog 50 adventures in 50weeks! A few of mine remaining were pulled from my SW campaign (but genericized due to IP constarints). This week we published Curse of the Ancient Tomb. This is part of my expanded Grand Campaign that required the PCs recover a powerful artifact...
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/248764/Curse-of-the-Ancient-Tomb
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We are in the end stretch of the Rolemasterblog 50 adventures in 50weeks! A few of mine remaining were pulled from my SW campaign (but genericized due to IP constarints). This week we published Curse of the Ancient Tomb. This is part of my expanded Grand Campaign that required the PCs recover a powerful artifact...
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/248764/Curse-of-the-Ancient-Tomb
You mean the PCs actually wanted that sword? That's not an item I'd ever want!
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We are in the end stretch of the Rolemasterblog 50 adventures in 50weeks! A few of mine remaining were pulled from my SW campaign (but genericized due to IP constarints). This week we published Curse of the Ancient Tomb. This is part of my expanded Grand Campaign that required the PCs recover a powerful artifact...
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/248764/Curse-of-the-Ancient-Tomb
You mean the PCs actually wanted that sword? That's not an item I'd ever want!
Ha! I removed some SW specific things that the sword did. Basically tied to the need to get to the Ahrenryak in the far south...where "you know who" is kept. Also, the baddie is not an undead but Ka'ta'viir...
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Not sure that meeting a Ka'ta'viir in the tomb rather than an undead is much of an improvement!
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Quick update for those that aren't following over at the Rolemasterblog.com. I have 95% of the timelines consolidated into excel for the Nomikos Library. I was hoping to incorporate new timeline material from either Emer, Haalk or Jaiman--whichever Terry puts out first. Not sure I want wait and I can always update later as new timeline entries are introduced.
For my own use, I've added several columns for organizational purposes and to tie in with Rolemaster Lore skills. These could be utilized for better search results or filters later. I'm still playing around with it and open to any suggestions. Right now I have 3: Continent/Region; Knowledge Rank (1-20 mostly with a few higher numbers in there); Organization for compartmentalized knowledge (loremaster, navigator etc).
Any other thoughts or suggestions?
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We are winding down our 50 adventures in 50 weeks, just a few more left! This week is one of my favorite NPC's: Bokar. If he seems vaguely familiar he was my version of Bashar the Merchant found in Emer I pg 113. I used him extensively in my campaign and he's featured in my extended Grand Campaign as well. He has all sorts of tricks up his sleeve and a bit Jinteni tech as well.
Adrian did a great job with the wagon floor plan and illustration! You can find it here:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/249855/Bokar-and-His-Wondrous-Wagon
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I'm back from vacation! Since it looks like Priest-King is in permanent limbo, I've decided to post up an early, ROUGH version on the RolemasterBlog for free.
You can find it here: https://www.rolemasterblog.com/the-priest-king-of-shade/
Please read the post and if you want to help contribute let me know. I still need some help with Empire of the Black Dragon.
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Download: Priest-King of Shade. Keep in mind that this is a very rough copy w/o page layout, illustrations or good floorplans.
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Looks like a lot of great information. Thanks for sharing!
Nightblade ->--
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After finding some files on SW languages and the translation matrix I found a few more:
Notes on SW currency
SW Currency Exchange Rate Chart (unfinished)
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If it hasn’t been said, great work in adding to Shadow World!
Just jumping around scanning it, I definitely see your attention to detail in using similar fonts and layout styles that old RM/SW products did.
Well done.
As you say, this is still rough but if continually updating, I am a bit of a wordsmith(anal editor) and a quick peruse saw pg. 43 ensuring=ensuing, and pg. 60 dias=dais.
I’ll look deeper if you’d like, just hate to see hard work get through to final with these simple edits trapped and replicated in hard copy.
Keep up the great ideas and love for RM and SW!
Download: Priest-King of Shade. Keep in mind that this is a very rough copy w/o page layout, illustrations or good floorplans.
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If it hasn’t been said, great work in adding to Shadow World!
Just jumping around scanning it, I definitely see your attention to detail in using similar fonts and layout styles that old RM/SW products did.
Well done.
As you say, this is still rough but if continually updating, I am a bit of a wordsmith(anal editor) and a quick peruse saw pg. 43 ensuring=ensuing, and pg. 60 dias=dais.
I’ll look deeper if you’d like, just hate to see hard work get through to final with these simple edits trapped and replicated in hard copy.
Keep up the great ideas and love for RM and SW!
Download: Priest-King of Shade. Keep in mind that this is a very rough copy w/o page layout, illustrations or good floorplans.
Thanks for the feedback. Nicholas is editing it right now and I’ve kept my hands off of it per order a couple years ago. In the interim I’ve added another 25 pages that might be incorporated... or not. Those could be published expos factos if it is officially published.
I have 2 other large modules that are on hold in the queue as well.
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So Rolemasterblog just posted up one of the last of the 50 Adventures in 50 Weeks over at RPGNow.com. My last few are all taken from my long running Shadow World campaign (25 years+) but have been neutered to avoid any contect IP issues. Each of these are a bit longer than our one page adventure hooks. The first was:
Curse of the Ancient Tomb http://www.rpgnow.com/product/248764/Curse-of-the-Ancient-Tomb
This was originally designed as a tomb for a Ka'Ta'Viir and modified to more generic standards. This past weekend we posted up the "Lost Pyramid". This was also a SW based adventure, but works well as a generic adventure or place encounter. You can find it here:
The Lost Pyramid: https://www.rpgnow.com/product/264850/The-Lost-Pyramid
Thanks for Rolemasterblog, Azukail Games and various contributors we've gone copper in less than a year and hopefully raised awareness for Rolemaster and Shadow World!!
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In addition to the 50 in 50 adventures. In the fanzine I am publishing an adventure for all versions of RM. I am only using creatures that appear in all versions right up to RMu. I am trying to upload the second one now but the publisher back office side of DTRPG is still very broken even if the site is still up.
These adventures are being discussed on the blog long before they get statted up and published. So far we have had a Goblin horde on set in the frozen north, this months is the caravan guard. We have also adventures outlined for a prison break scenario, ghouls attacking a remote village, a mini dungeon crawl around an abandoned temple and a demon infested remote watch tower.
Publishing each adventure monthly means that by June there will be six starting adventures for characters level 1st to 5th available. The intention is to put out a starter adventure every month.
If you want to contribute ideas then they are always welcome. If you want to grab some of the ideas and tweak/stat them for your own groups then they are all there for free.
As I spew out the ideas if you want to make suggestions as to where in SW they would best be set, that is always welcome as I don't know diddly squat about SW.
Today's blog post will be about an adventure path for RMu and its over arching plot. That should be up in an hour or two.
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Nice job, all.
Every time Reddit has a RPG post asking for settings, best this-or-that, etc. I immediately post about RM!
People probably think I’m nuts for what a shill I am...
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Creeeeeaaaaak....it's time to lubricate this rusty thread! I think I've taken almost a year break from substantial posting...how are things in Rolemaster world? I keep getting 505 errors when loading Forum pages. Whats that about?
So, while I appreciate I have a very small audience for my material I was hoping for some input on what I should finish up and post next. I have most of the work done, so it's a matter of focusing on one thing, finishing it and moving on to the next. Some choices:
1. Chapters 2-5 of Legends of Shadow World.
2. Mentalism spells for BASiL.
3. Fully expanded material on Orhan religions and priesthood.
4. Book of Pales. (expanded material for the various demon realms with environmental rules and expanded bestiary)
5. New adventures for Priest king of Shade.
6. d100 adventures at the Rolemasterblog. (Lair of Ozymandius & Tower of the Elephant)
7. S.W.A.R.M. (Shadow World Alternative Role Master)
8. A huge SW edition of the Rolemasterblog Fanzine. (like issue #4 which is a top seller)
9. Empire of the Black Dragon. All about Ulya!!!
10. The travelogue of Caylis Deveran. (a written account of travels throughout Kulthea)
11. Shadow World Compendium. A revised master atlas which includes all of my material.
12. Spell lists for various organizations in Shadow World. (Steel Rain, Orders, etc).
I appreciate everyone's past emails and questions about my work. If you have any opinions let me know--even if it's harsh! Writers don't get better without feedback good or bad. Thanks.
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Personally I always enjoy spell lists (so items 2 or 12) but don't let me hold you back on anything else!
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Ok thanks. Given that you are now the standard bearer for RMU any thoughts on my Rolemasterblog.com post today?
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In a way, asking for 11 should include most of the others, right? But it would be too unspecific and may take all the time combined for you to post it.
So I will bite and ask for 9. I would love to read about your take on the Black one.
3. and 4. would be my second choice.
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I would also add...if anybody has any art skill, layout or floorplan ability and want to add to Priest-King or any of my other endeavors, let me know. We can collaborate or if you are artist for hire I have the ability to compensate you for professional work.
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In a way, asking for 11 should include most of the others, right? But it would be too unspecific and may take all the time combined for you to post it.
So I will bite and ask for 9. I would love to read about your take on the Black one.
3. and 4. would be my second choice.
So it depends on how we want to organize SW material. Our SWMA includes a broad overview that adds a lot of cultural material and a broad concept of commerce--which is the underpinnings of the work given the background of high tech and the ubiquity of Navigators, guilds and banks. (reference Neal Stephensons Baroque Cycle).
So #9. that was originally part of Priest-King. Have you downloaded that yet? I would appreciate your comments. Basically Empire of the Black Dragon is all done-that was approved by Coleman Charlton in 1989! I'm not happy with the quality of the layouts but hoped that Priest King would push for more resources. Care to collaborate?
#3. I collated all my current material in the forums, and it's extensive, but I would love to fill in training packages and background options. However, I've realized "rules" divide our community, so I'm more motivated to build narrative and content that is flexible to appeal to any version Rolemaster. I think Terry decided that a long time ago!
#4. My Favorite! The Pales are a bit part of my "Legends" series and I'm drawing from a lot of fictional resources.
Thanks!
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Creeeeeaaaaak....it's time to lubricate this rusty thread! I think I've taken almost a year break from substantial posting...how are things in Rolemaster world? I keep getting 505 errors when loading Forum pages. Whats that about?
We've had problems for a few weeks. Now I am getting intermittent 500 errors, which is actually an improvement from the constant 505 (or was it 503?) errors I was getting last week, which made the website unreachable. Now you can just try to reload, and usually you will get through.
So, while I appreciate I have a very small audience for my material I was hoping for some input on what I should finish up and post next.
Of the ones you mentioned, my top choice would be Mentalism BASIL. The Shadow World Compendium and spell lists for SW organizations sound cool to me too.
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My vote would be for Mentalism spell lists :)
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Ok thanks. Given that you are now the standard bearer for RMU any thoughts on my Rolemasterblog.com post today?
About D&D being weirdly popular now? I do believe in the "rising tide lifts all boats" idea. I also think D&D needed 5th edition because 4th edition betrayed the ideas of the game so badly. Is the sudden uptake something about 5th edition per se or is it just that people are happy to embrace an edition that's not 4th? And that nerdy pursuits are catching on overall? We also see computer gaming becoming increasingly mainstream, and I have the impression that board games are really doing well too.
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My wish list would be for any of 8, 10 or 12.
(8. A huge SW edition of the Rolemasterblog Fanzine. (like issue #4 which is a top seller)
10. The travelogue of Caylis Deveran. (a written account of travels throughout Kulthea)
12. Spell lists for various organizations in Shadow World. (Steel Rain, Orders, etc).
)
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Forums are finally back, yay!
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So #9. that was originally part of Priest-King. Have you downloaded that yet? I would appreciate your comments. Basically Empire of the Black Dragon is all done-that was approved by Coleman Charlton in 1989! I'm not happy with the quality of the layouts but hoped that Priest King would push for more resources. Care to collaborate?
I have not read that before. I thought I had it, but no. And... thanks for the suggestion. I can't stress enough how great a read it has been.
The content is enough to make me want to put a halt to our recently started campaign and start a new one there. I will do the responsible thing and just "borrow" as much as possible, considering we are playing in Quellbourne, the mines and water ideas should be more than useful.
Also the quality is so good. It was entertaining enough for me to almost forget getting down on my stop while traveling. Only Terry Amthor and Brandon Sanderson had achieved that before. Congratulations!
My players don't normally go for the "looking for loot/work" campaign, but all the well thought locations and artifacts is sure to make an impact in my future campaigns.
I noticed the text mentions the Black Empress module to be released soon, whatever happened to it?
About the invitation to collaborate, what do you have in mind? Is it an open sourced document? I found it good enough that I wouldn't change a thing of the contents. Only some typos and layout issues.
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So #9. that was originally part of Priest-King. Have you downloaded that yet? I would appreciate your comments. Basically Empire of the Black Dragon is all done-that was approved by Coleman Charlton in 1989! I'm not happy with the quality of the layouts but hoped that Priest King would push for more resources. Care to collaborate?
I have not read that before. I thought I had it, but no. And... thanks for the suggestion. I can't stress enough how great a read it has been.
The content is enough to make me want to put a halt to our recently started campaign and start a new one there. I will do the responsible thing and just "borrow" as much as possible, considering we are playing in Quellbourne, the mines and water ideas should be more than useful.
Also the quality is so good. It was entertaining enough for me to almost forget getting down on my stop while traveling. Only Terry Amthor and Brandon Sanderson had achieved that before. Congratulations!
My players don't normally go for the "looking for loot/work" campaign, but all the well thought locations and artifacts is sure to make an impact in my future campaigns.
I noticed the text mentions the Black Empress module to be released soon, whatever happened to it?
About the invitation to collaborate, what do you have in mind? Is it an open sourced document? I found it good enough that I wouldn't change a thing of the contents. Only some typos and layout issues.
Thanks for the feedback--it's always helpful from other Shadow World users! EotBD is still on hiatus, I was waiting to get Priest-King published and put that in the editing queue....I'm working on it now and will post up like I did with Priest King. It will be "semi formatted", with some pictures and whatever floorplans and drawings I can do myself. As far as collaborating, I'm open to SW project.
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Something I've been meaning to do--many of the charts in Priest King didn't fit onto the page correctly. Attached are updated charts.
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Here is a very brief overview on the "Viksh" (Half-Elven cannibals) that live in Chaal-Chu. I left it out of Priest-King but they are great bad guys to have the PC's encounter on the open seas!
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For anyone that doesn't have a RM Forum account and can't see or access the download it can be found here as well:
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/the-priest-king-of-shade/
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For anyone that doesn't have a RM Forum account and can't see or access the download it can be found here as well:
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/the-priest-king-of-shade/
Brian,
while I appreciate your enthusiasm, you are violating ICE copyright and my own (expensive) trademark of Shadow World. You have to give credit, and ask before publishing this material. Please remove it at once, or I will have the site owner remove all of your materials..
Terry Amthor
Shadow World ® owner and editor.
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this raises the question "again" on why there is no clear fan publication policy?
maybe you could adapt the one from wotc:
https://company.wizards.com/fancontentpolicy (https://company.wizards.com/fancontentpolicy)
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this raises the question "again" on why there is no clear fan publication policy?
maybe you could adapt the one from wotc:
https://company.wizards.com/fancontentpolicy (https://company.wizards.com/fancontentpolicy)
I have contacted Nicholas, and he will be posting.But I own the Shadow World trademark, and ICE owns the copyright to any material related to rolemaster and shadow world. Nothing can be published in any way without previous permission. We have been lax in the past but to protect the rights we must enforce the laws. We appreciate the enthusiasm but if we do not enforce the law we are afraid that we lose rights.
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I have contacted Nicholas, and he will be posting.But I own the Shadow World trademark, and ICE owns the copyright to any material related to rolemaster and shadow world. Nothing can be published in any way without previous permission.
I think it might help if the acceptable use policy were updated to account for modern technology too. In today's world a lot of folks play online, and / or use online tools for world & campaign design. If I am remembering correctly ICE's policy doesn't clearly address sharing things like maps through VTT or using them in other online tools.
We have been lax in the past but to protect the rights we must enforce the laws. We appreciate the enthusiasm but if we do not enforce the law we are afraid that we lose rights.
I don't think you're being unreasonable here. I have encountered people who feel like it's OK to download all of the ICE material though the various online sources that have it posted. Not just the old MERP stuff, but the old stuff you have up on DriveThru RPG too.
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I too understand that the copyrights needs to protected!
Could have been written in private though.
With that said Brian`s stuff about things that are "left" out in the books is good doodoo, really love it!
With that said as an old RM2 freak I also think its sad that many RM2 books cant be bought as high quality PDF downloads because of some of the writters cant be reached! There is money to be made of this i theese PDFs if they would get buffed as someone did with RoCo I at some point.
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I updated a blog post over at the rolemasterblog.com about early iron crown enterprises advertising in dragon magazine. Take a walk down memory lane!
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/c-e-early-dragon-magazine-ads/
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Fantastic post, and thank you. I was playing AD&D at the time, but the rural Midwest didn't really get the chance for Dragon till well after that, and driving to the city was quite a few years away still.
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I updated a blog post over at the rolemasterblog.com about early iron crown enterprises advertising in dragon magazine. Take a walk down memory lane!
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/c-e-early-dragon-magazine-ads/
I get connection timed out :(
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The blog seems to be working! Can you pull up the site and search for "dragon ICE advertising" ?
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It's working now. Ah yes, I remember that post!
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I had some problems with the blog earlier today too (connection took too long and timed out), so it wasnt just you.
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Rolemasterblog is doing posts on Rangers. I put up some downloadable spells Lists—
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/three-tales-of-ranger-magic/
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I too understand that the copyrights needs to protected!
Could have been written in private though.
With that said Brian`s stuff about things that are "left" out in the books is good doodoo, really love it!
With that said as an old RM2 freak I also think its sad that many RM2 books cant be bought as high quality PDF downloads because of some of the writters cant be reached! There is money to be made of this i theese PDFs if they would get buffed as someone did with RoCo I at some point.
Just to be clear: if we (ICE and Eidolon/Shadow World) do not enforce trademarks and copyrights and allow people to publish (even online) without permission, if it came to it, ICE could lose those rights if it ever came to a lawsuit (as unlikely as that may seem).
Regarding RM2, I assume you mean the Companions. I believe that Nicholas has tried to contact those authors, but is also very careful about rights. He's not going to release anything without permission of all of the authors. It might be possible to organise new versions with just permitted material, but that would be a big project.
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It might be possible to organise new versions with just permitted material, but that would be a big project.
That may be an undertaking worth... errr.... undertaking. RMC-## (Revised Editions). There's certainly a desire and a market and it would be a revenue source (ok, small revenue source) but money-in is better than money-out. ICE could be pulling in some revenue from the reprints/PDFs. Even if it means combining RMC-I and II into a single item due to the inability to contact some authors and the permissible material available. And combining RMC-III-IV-V because there is less material due to the inability to reach other authors.
Heck, contact the authors and see what material is available with permissions and maybe combine all the Companions into just two brand new re-prints.
* - Hm. I just realized something: How will ICE be able to identify which content each author contributed within each Companion? :( Damn. This is why we can't have nice things.
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There's a thread following efforts to find all the authors: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=11282.100
You can see the issue with the sheer number of authors overall and even per book in the summary list on the first page of the thread. ICE doesn't even have contact information for most of them, so just that initial step is already difficult.
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Kindly disregard the bumbling ramblings of the post below. The answer is explained in the first paragraph of the referenced post. I read the other post after I printed this. Please read this post as it's very interesting.
http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=11282.100
I know nothing of copyrights, publishing, intellectual data laws, etc. But I have experience with producing products while a student and while an employee. As a student, any projects that are made while attending a university are the property of the university. The rationale sucks, but as you are student, the university sort of owns you and all your works and your compensation is an education and course credits. It's worse if you're an employee. If they can prove that you used ANYTHING at all from the university, even if it was taken out of a trash bin*, it is property of the university and they own all rights to whatever creation/idea you created and sold to a 3rd party. The university gets all the money and credit for the item you created. Happened to three of the computer folks I work with. As a senior thesis project, one buddy wrote the entire information database the university now uses. That database was sold off to other colleges and he received $1 USD for his efforts.
As contributing authors to an ICE product, wouldn't the material become property of ICE the instant it is submitted? ICE can therefore print and reprint as they own the material? The author, John Q. Public, can't print off the material he submitted to ICE as his own book, even though he created it. ICE has the copyright to it. He couldn't take his submitted material and make a game called "Public's D100 Game System" and release the book containing only his data, ICE would certainly sue for infringement.
If there is a super quick, 20-words-or-less, explanation why ICE can't print the material and still give credit to all authors, please share. If it's a long, in depth explanation, it's OK. No need to go into details.
* - Yes, this happened a few years back. A facilities management employee used bits from a trash bin to make a snow sweeper to remove snow from the fields without damaging the turf. He did all the work at home, on his own time, and did not use any university resources. The university found out and took over the rights and ownership of the device and he received $1 USD for his work. The device is now used at several universities and professional venues.
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I'm not sure if Canadian law is different, but students at our universities do own some of the materials they produce. I was told that final exams, for example, are literally the students' property, and they can demand them.
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Kindly disregard the bumbling ramblings of the post below. The answer is explained in the first paragraph of the referenced post. I read the other post after I printed this. Please read this post as it's very interesting.
http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=11282.100
I know nothing of copyrights, publishing, intellectual data laws, etc. But I have experience with producing products while a student and while an employee. As a student, any projects that are made while attending a university are the property of the university. The rationale sucks, but as you are student, the university sort of owns you and all your works and your compensation is an education and course credits. It's worse if you're an employee. If they can prove that you used ANYTHING at all from the university, even if it was taken out of a trash bin*, it is property of the university and they own all rights to whatever creation/idea you created and sold to a 3rd party. The university gets all the money and credit for the item you created. Happened to three of the computer folks I work with. As a senior thesis project, one buddy wrote the entire information database the university now uses. That database was sold off to other colleges and he received $1 USD for his efforts.
As contributing authors to an ICE product, wouldn't the material become property of ICE the instant it is submitted? ICE can therefore print and reprint as they own the material? The author, John Q. Public, can't print off the material he submitted to ICE as his own book, even though he created it. ICE has the copyright to it. He couldn't take his submitted material and make a game called "Public's D100 Game System" and release the book containing only his data, ICE would certainly sue for infringement.
If there is a super quick, 20-words-or-less, explanation why ICE can't print the material and still give credit to all authors, please share. If it's a long, in depth explanation, it's OK. No need to go into details.
* - Yes, this happened a few years back. A facilities management employee used bits from a trash bin to make a snow sweeper to remove snow from the fields without damaging the turf. He did all the work at home, on his own time, and did not use any university resources. The university found out and took over the rights and ownership of the device and he received $1 USD for his work. The device is now used at several universities and professional venues.
ICE had written contracts with all of those authors. I was not directly involved with those works, only Shadow World, and artist contracts (which were much more straightforward), but often these writer contracts were one-product use, or worse, for royalties, meaning the author was due not just one payment and ICE owned the material, but the author was due royalties based on sales. It was a bookkeeping nightmare, but since ICE was usually cash-tight, it put off the initial payment. So if these books were issued again in any form, ICE might owe the authors royalties on every sale. Does that help explain the difficulties?
--Terry Amthor, former ICE Editor and Art Director.
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ICE had written contracts with all of those authors. I was not directly involved with those works, only Shadow World, and artist contracts (which were much more straightforward), but often these writer contracts were one-product use, or worse, for royalties, meaning the author was due not just one payment and ICE owned the material, but the author was due royalties based on sales. It was a bookkeeping nightmare, but since ICE was usually cash-tight, it put off the initial payment. So if these books were issued again in any form, ICE might owe the authors royalties on every sale. Does that help explain the difficulties?
--Terry Amthor, former ICE Editor and Art Director.
Isnt there som rule that states if they dont come forward to claim or answer email or ( letters ) they loss rights in some form?
It is really the craziest of things that RM2 RoCs cant be updated and sold for ICE because of what.. 30+ year old contracts. And not to offend, some of the authors might even have passed :/
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I cannot imagine even for 1 second that even if all the rights were there in black and white that any of the RoCos would be re-released
It makes no sense to put out more content for a version of RM that is about to be superseded by RMu.
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Isnt there som rule that states if they dont come forward to claim or answer email or ( letters ) they loss rights in some form?
When the author (or copyright holder in more general terms) can't be contacted, it's known as an Orphan Work. There are some extremely narrow provisions in EU, UK, and Canadian law for largely non-profit use of orphan works, but the US has not passed any law covering them. So basically if you use an orphan work and the copyright holder eventually appears and claims violation, you're in just as much trouble as if you had used a regular work without the copyright holder's permission.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_work (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_work)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_works_in_the_United_States (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_works_in_the_United_States)
Ideally when you write up a contract with an author you should cover the possible future issues, but the world was pretty different when the original Rolemaster Companions came out -- e.g. no electronic distribution -- and ICE didn't anticipate bankruptcy.
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I
I cannot imagine even for 1 second that even if all the rights were there in black and white that any of the RoCos would be re-released
It makes no sense to put out more content for a version of RM that is about to be superseded by RMu.
I think that many will stay in RM2 to be honest! So I think tha tmany would buy RoCo`s with errata in them for RM2.
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II cannot imagine even for 1 second that even if all the rights were there in black and white that any of the RoCos would be re-released
It makes no sense to put out more content for a version of RM that is about to be superseded by RMu.
I think that many will stay in RM2 to be honest! So I think tha tmany would buy RoCo`s with errata in them for RM2.
I tend to agree with that. This is a hobby, so people will use the ruleset they want to play regardless of whether or not it's the most modern. People still play dead rules systems like Star Frontiers and Twilight 2000 because it's fun.
Where I think old Pen & Paper games may find a problem is with younger players who expect abilities they can use in combat to alter the odds in battle.
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The issue is that every new book that supports the old system takes away time, effort and resources from developing the new system. It also reduces the desirability of the new system.
Initially, a lot of people will not even consider moving over. If you have hundreds of dollars and thousands of hours invested in getting any of the old editions to work exactly how you want them the appeal of going back to just a few core books is extremely limited.
If over time, all the new shiny and desirable things are for the new system then the appeal of the new edition goes up with every new companion or adventure that is released. Where and when the tipping point is reached will be different for each of us. For some people, they will never need to buy another book.
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Counterpoint to that, all the old books are already available on the net. If someone would like to pay ICE for them, but they can't, that's lost revenue. For old books that would be released as scans, rather than being redone, the amount of work required to make them available for sale is minimal.
Still moot if there are no rights available to proceed though....
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If over time, all the new shiny and desirable things are for the new system then the appeal of the new edition goes up with every new companion or adventure that is released. Where and when the tipping point is reached will be different for each of us. For some people, they will never need to buy another book.
The major RPG companies publish all their old material that they have rights to, including the rulesets. I think the big exception is Chaosium who only publish 1E & 7E of CoC. It doesn't seem to stop people from buying the new rules, and it brings in revenue. As it is now, if someone wants RoCo II their only legit way to get it is ebay, or a dealer table at a con. That gives nothing to ICE, and the presence of RMU isn't going to stop people who want to play RM2 from doing that.
If over time, all the new shiny and desirable things are for the new system then the appeal of the new edition goes up with every new companion or adventure that is released.
Unless something changes, new companions will likely take years between each release. I don't mean that as criticism, none of this is easy and people have their day jobs, it's just the way it seems to work right now.
Edit:
Counterpoint to that, all the old books are already available on the net. If someone would like to pay ICE for them, but they can't, that's lost revenue.
Not to mention ICE would probably be in a better position to shut that down if they had the rights.
I have all the print books, but I would buy every pdf and my print books would stay in slip covers
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On DriveThru, Chaosium actually have a lot of supplements I can recognise as being either 4th or 5th edition, and some I know are 6th. There's very little from earlier editions than 4th; I can only recognise one from the cover.
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Lack of PDF sale will leet people to sites like the throve... If you do a propper PDF of all RM2 books and sell them at fair price. My bet is that evry RM2 player will buy the lot just to own and have access to PDF all the time.
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On DriveThru, Chaosium actually have a lot of supplements I can recognise as being either 4th or 5th edition, and some I know are 6th. There's very little from earlier editions than 4th; I can only recognise one from the cover.
I mean the rulebooks they make available are 1E & 7E. AFAIK they are working to get all the supplements republished.
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The 6E rulebook is also available on DriveThru.
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Counterpoint to that, all the old books are already available on the net. If someone would like to pay ICE for them, but they can't, that's lost revenue. For old books that would be released as scans, rather than being redone, the amount of work required to make them available for sale is minimal.
Still moot if there are no rights available to proceed though....
I hope that no one is illegally downloading books from the internet.
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Counterpoint to that, all the old books are already available on the net. If someone would like to pay ICE for them, but they can't, that's lost revenue. For old books that would be released as scans, rather than being redone, the amount of work required to make them available for sale is minimal.
Still moot if there are no rights available to proceed though....
I hope that no one is illegally downloading books from the internet.
If you mean people in general, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.
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Very disappointed, I am afraid! But as I said, if people cant their hands on the books they want, they are gonna go to illegal download because its so easy sadly.
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The 6E rulebook is also available on DriveThru.
Ah, all I saw was 7E and Classic, so I stand corrected.
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In an attempt to steer this back to “misc Shadow Material », I posted a blog re: using Umbar in SW.
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-spin-cycle-umbar-haven-of-the-corsairs/
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Counterpoint to that, all the old books are already available on the net. If someone would like to pay ICE for them, but they can't, that's lost revenue. For old books that would be released as scans, rather than being redone, the amount of work required to make them available for sale is minimal.
Still moot if there are no rights available to proceed though....
May I ask which books? Are they Rolemaster or Shadow World? I know there is frustration that Emer I and II are not available, and I want to issue the new huge 2nd editions (along the difference of Haalkitaine which are largely complete, but I believe ICE is withholding those old '90s era books to increase the value of the new books. Sadly, as I am slow, these new books might be more than a year away. If you are tempted to download these for free, instead contact ICE and see if they might release the old editions for sale.
Terry
I hope that no one is illegally downloading books from the internet.
If you mean people in general, I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed.
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https://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-spin-cycle-umbar-haven-of-the-corsairs/
Fun.. In our SW setting we use Plasidar as the pirate island/home.
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"The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation
I stopped an old man along the way
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies
He turned to me as if to say, "Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you"
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Gonna take some time to do the things we never had (ooh, ooh)
The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless, longing for some solitary company
I know that I must do what's right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become..."
And...
Telegram force and ready
I knew this was a big mistake
There's a fine line drawing
My senses together
And I think it's about to break
If I listen close I can hear them singers, oh
Voices in your body coming through on the radio
The union of the snake is on the climb
Moving up it's gonna race it's gonna break
Through the borderline...
Emer IV is looking more and more complicated... Not just some desert... BTW Duran Duran inspired Court of Ardor, the 'Rogue' Middle-earth module.
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Have at the with another, that's...
No more paradise, no more soothing rain
All the sacrifice, the pain is all the same
Still I'm pushing onward, alone I can't deny
My presence fills the desert, my spirit never dies
Will these lonely nights ever end?
Will I live to see my journey's end?
As the world awakens me so hard, my values have been changed
I make a promise to myself: Never again
A dusty godforsaken path, endless to my dismay
I know these are the badlands, somehow I'll find my way
The vultures that circle, cloud the empty sky,
Patiently waiting, they wait for me to die
Tortured and beaten, blistered by the sun
Forceful and heartless, have the badlands won?
-- Badlands, Metal Church
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Bits of Coldplay's Viva la Vida make me think of Andraax.
Like the intro:
I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning, I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
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Also Kamelot's Rule the World:
When a new day reaches dawn
I feel it's worth the wait
But I tumble and I fall
When up against my fate
When the barricades come down
I build them up again
When I'm just about to drown
I still don't know the end
Sometimes I tremble like a little child
That faces morning with a broken smile
Sometimes I crumble when the shades unfurl
Sometimes I feel that I could rule the world
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Savatage's When the Crows are Gone has not only some Andraax...
I never wanted to know
Never wanted to see
I wasted my time till time wasted me
Never wanted to go
Always wanted to stay
Cause the person I am are the parts that I play
So I play and I plan
And hope and I scheme
To the lure of a night
Filled with unfinished dreams
And I'm holding on tight
To a world gone astray
As they charge me for years
I can no longer pay
...but Ondoval:
And the lights
Turn them off my friend
And the ghosts
Well just let them in
Cause in the dark
It's easier to see
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Im with B. Hansen here! No more songs!
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Don't make me quote some 80s metal...
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Don't make me quote some 80s metal...
Dude, what do you think I've been quoting?
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Dude, what do you think I've been quoting?
I'm not familiar with Floridian metal, but I certainly should have known by your user name!
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Im with B. Hansen here! No more songs!
Agreed this is off topic for the thread, but overall music is on topic for RPGs. When we played MERP we always had something like Jethro Tull's 'Broadsword' or Dire Straits 'Brothers in Arms' playing in the background. Perfect mood music for gaming.
Savatage's When the Crows are Gone
Yeah that evokes Andraax and Ondoval pretty well.
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Im with B. Hansen here! No more songs!
LOL! Okay no more from me.
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Agreed this is off topic for the thread, but overall music is on topic for RPGs. When we played MERP we always had something like Jethro Tull's 'Broadsword' or Dire Straits 'Brothers in Arms' playing in the background. Perfect mood music for gaming.
We used to play AD&D with a DM who had a theme song for each major NPC and a soundtrack for the entire campaign. We spent a lot of time dissecting lyrics, trying to figure them out like some kind of prophecy of what was to come (which was always fun but rarely actually useful). He also had us pick theme songs for our own characters, I still hear songs and think "this would be perfect for so-and-so" even for characters I played in other campaigns. I have not been bold enough to create a soundtrack for my own campaign yet...
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Speaking of music and lyrics, new blog post about Bards and ideas on using them in Shadow World.
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/rolemaster-profession-review-taking-another-look-at-the-bard/
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Wow, in my 40+ years of gaming, I have never been in a group that has used music like you guys describe. Only recently have I been trying to use sound effects in my games, but even then I find that often they can just get in the way - it is often already hard enough to hear/understand everything going on with table talk.
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Last session I carefully lined up sound effects tracks for each of the major scenes, then forgot to play any of them. :)
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Now this has me thinking what theme songs might fit the major ShadowWorld characters.
The K'ta'viir from the First Era of Ire all seem like they should have 80s music as their theme. Artists like David Bowie, New Order, Romeo Void, and the like. Punk Rock, Post Punk, and New Wave music.
However, Ondoval would fit Black Sabbath's War Pigs pretty well.
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There are some great gaming soundtracks on Spotify, if like me you are lazier than most posters here. We're currently playing the Princes of the Apocalypse campaign (DnD 5e), and there is actually an entire set of soundtracks for it.
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Last session I carefully lined up sound effects tracks for each of the major scenes, then forgot to play any of them. :)
I've done that.
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Wow, in my 40+ years of gaming, I have never been in a group that has used music like you guys describe. Only recently have I been trying to use sound effects in my games, but even then I find that often they can just get in the way - it is often already hard enough to hear/understand everything going on with table talk.
BAck when I ran a game, I sometimes liked to use music for mood. I particularly remember using this song for a session when they were encountering an ancient temple...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCM4_5uB1ww (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCM4_5uB1ww)
And of course I used several Duran Duran songs, including Save a Prayer, the video had great visuals of temples.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uxc9eFcZyM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Uxc9eFcZyM)
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The funniest thing for us was recently when we put on a Spotify playlist of Queen while gaming. Every track seemed to have a title or lyrics that were relevant, including:
--Another One Bites the Dust
--Save Me
--Don't Stop Me Now
--Keep Yourself Alive
And of course, Seven Seas of Rhye.
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The funniest thing for us was recently when we put on a Spotify playlist of Queen while gaming. Every track seemed to have a title or lyrics that were relevant, including:
--Another One Bites the Dust
--Save Me
--Don't Stop Me Now
--Keep Yourself Alive
And of course, Seven Seas of Rhye.
LOL! My sister is the Queen expert so I can't really comment as I don't know the more recent ones, esp. 'Seven Seas', except where is Bohemian Rhapsody? ;-)
I'll try not to bore everyone with more of my '80s inspirational music videos...
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I'll try not to bore everyone with more of my '80s inspirational music videos...
It's not boring. You guys created something that has stuck with us for 30+ years. It's always interesting to hear what the inspiration for this stuff was.
All the music stuff is admittedly a bit off topic for this thread, and since not everyone is ok with that, maybe it could split off into it's own thread where people can discuss it without any remorse?
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I did this a few years ago--it needs some work since it's a hybrid of RM2, early RMU etc. It's a critical chart for shrapnel and "swarms of small things". I used it for Nannite attacks (Priest-King of Shade) and secondary blast results from munitions. Since both types of attacks are broad pattern, splatter or scattered it doesn't work as well with RMU body hit locations.
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Oooh, I like the shading Brian. RMU should definitely try to use that for their critical tables; it makes them much easier to read.
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For those that have downloaded “Priest-King” and have an interest in finishing any of the floorplans that were just sketched out, message me. I’m using this pandemic downtime to write and finish projects, but I’m just not good with graphics!
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Back in business!
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Amen and Hallelujah!
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And there was much rejoicing!
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Woohoo!!!
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What is this place? It seems oddly familiar as if I had visited here in a past life.
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While the forums were down, we published one of my last Rolemasterblog.com "50in50" adventures: The Lair of Ozymandius. It came from my SW campaign, but I scrubbed it of SW stuff for legal purposes. You can find it here:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/314407/The-Lair-of-Ozymandius
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In other news, the Rolemasterblog is moving ahead with another 50 adventures in 50 weeks (50in50 II). These will be adventure hooks, drop ins, mini dungeons and plot hooks.
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/peters-50in50-take-2-update/
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Bits of Coldplay's Viva la Vida make me think of Andraax.
Like the intro:
I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning, I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
I can't believe I forgot to comment on this earlier.
When ever I hear this song, I think of The Wheel of Time. That verse right there is Rand al'Thor to a 'T'.
"I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing
Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!" This is Matt, the Gambler/Battlemaster.
"It was a wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become" And this is Perrin, The Wolf King/Dreamwalker.
Gee, one might thing RJ was doing a retelling of some mythical event in Earth history... 8)
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Legends of Shadow World Chapter 2: The Temples of Muartaar
Chapter 1 can be found here: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15879.0;attach=4064
Cleric only PC group download here: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15879.0;attach=4069
Should have Chapter 3: The Caverns of Charon up next week or so depending on Rolematerblog projects!
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Looks very cool!
I spotted one typo: p. 7, right column, the last sentence in the paragraph 'Round 2', lacks an ending (just before 'the chase').
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Thanks, I'll make a note and amend it on the next iteration. (maybe with better artwork and layouts). Its hard being your own editor.
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What a resource! Thanks.
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I started on this a while back and forgot I was working on it! I think Terry has included some specific drugs in his recent works! If anyone wants to add to this file, message me.
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For an easy to read summary of SW files on this thread and some general notes,
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/bhansons-shadow-world-file-list/
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so it was down and no one told me it was back?
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Azukail Games and Rolemasterblog.com just published the last of our "50 Adventures in 50 Weeks" challenge. The last one is quite late (my fault) The Tower of the Elephant. This is my interpretation of the Conan story that I used n my SW campaign. It has been "de-Shadow Worlded" for IP reasons and easy to drop in to any campaign or a short adventure that takes about 2-3 hours. You can find it here:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/319887/The-Tower-of-the-Elephant
Now that we are done the first 50 adventure challenge, we'll be starting on the next: "50 Adventures in 50 Weeks Part II". Not an exciting name, but it gets the point across!
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Rolemasterblog has begun our new "50 Adventures in 50 Weeks" challenge this past weekend. The first in the series is The Haunted Dagger: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/322032/The-Haunted-Dagger
Like most of my submissions, these were generally written with Shadow World in mind.
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Azukial Games just published the 53rd adventure of RolemasterBlog's "50 Adventures in 50 Weeks" Part 2. This week is "The Horn of Holmir": https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/324212/The-Horn-of-Holmir
Last week we published a great adventure by Peter: The Crypt of Shadows.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/323129/Crypt-of-Shadows
By midwinter we will have 50 adventures published! There is also work being done on an RMU adventure path over on the ICE discord server, Terry is working on new material and RMU seems imminent!
Pretty good run happening for RM and RMU.
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Index of the files in this thread. Hopefully it's helpful!
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/bhansons-shadow-world-file-list/
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Meant to get this uploaded a month ago but wanted to clean up items that were really non-canon.
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It seems cool, thank you B Hanson
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Looks very cool! I look forward to reading it.
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Meant to get this uploaded a month ago but wanted to clean up items that were really non-canon.
i would be interested in the non-canon stuff.
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Meant to get this uploaded a month ago but wanted to clean up items that were really non-canon.
i would be interested in the non-canon stuff.
Well, all my stuff is non-canon, so I was referring to things that were much more removed from Terry’s material. I have a lot more on the fifth Pale; if you read the download I took that in a much different direction. Also a bit more about elves, and their relationship with the Pales, and some more tech and steam punk items. When I have time I will clean up the encounter tables include those in a newer version. I also like to leave things out, so in case there’s ever an opportunity to publish it, there’s enough new material.
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So, I have the 1998 file from Martin for the city of Lethys. He had given me permission to upload them here. These files are readily available elsewhere but should be included in the Misc SW file. thanks Martin--there is a lot of work here!
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Thanks for posting!
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So, I have the 1998 file from Martin for the city of Lethys. He had given me permission to upload them here. These files are readily available elsewhere but should be included in the Misc SW file. thanks Martin--there is a lot of work here!
Yes, this is more or less what state I had it in before it went to editing some 8 years ago. I added some, but I guess we have to wait until the editing is finished for that one. There are some adventures and rewrites as well as drawings for these adventures missing in the total file. If the editing is finished you have something to look forward too.
I made most of the work for Lethys before 1998 as I had no children and spare time. I guess most of the players using this non-canon (trying to be canon) material know what to use and what to fill witw own stuff.
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What a fantastic collection of info, data, and hard work! I'm still going through the reading, but it's nothing less than amazing. Thank you for sharing it with us.
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That is an excellent opportunity to thank you Zyax1/Martin for this great job !
I don't remember when I downloaded first on the web (but it was a long time ago).
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This still needs stats, the random encounter table and maps, but it is usable and I had a few people ask when I was putting the next chapter up.
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Here is Chapter 4: The Plains of Despair. Does not include the battle map or stats for the enemies but quite usable to keep running the module. It's a short, but intense battle with Demon Lords. On the plus side, the group finally gets a break to heal, re-equip and prepare for the final chapter.
I'm thinking of re-statting this series for RMU once it's finalized and out. Might be cool for new users to ry their hand at high level characters.
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I'd love to see more stuff statted out for RMU. Are you planning to do Priest-King for RMU too?
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I'd love to see more stuff statted out for RMU. Are you planning to do Priest-King for RMU too?
It hasn't been discussed, but I would think they would want RMU stats for any concurrent or new products in the pipeline. PK has very few stats in the main text. All the work would mostly be in the back tables.
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PK has very few stats in the main text. All the work would mostly be in the back tables.
Cool. That's easier to do then.
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The last chapter for "Legends of Shadow World". My next step is to format the PC's into usable character sheets, combine all 5 Chapters into 1 edition, add artwork and better floorplans and convert to RMu if possible!
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Looks like a lot of fun!
On the character sheet issue... I feel strongly that we need a Rolemaster character sheet for Roll20, like the standard D&D one that is the same whether you're playing Pen and Paper or VTT. This will not only make RM more available to more people, but eliminate the need to switch between different styles of sheet.
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Looks like a lot of fun!
On the character sheet issue... I feel strongly that we need a Rolemaster character sheet for Roll20, like the standard D&D one that is the same whether you're playing Pen and Paper or VTT. This will not only make RM more available to more people, but eliminate the need to switch between different styles of sheet.
Agreed, who would tackle that? It looks like ICE is adding some more staff officially, based on the last directors briefing. Maybe create a "Digital Czar" to oversee and direct ICE's online strategy?
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Everyone at ICE is a freelancer. If someone was interested in taking on that role, they should talk to ICE about whether ICE would be interested in supporting them doing it.
We do already have someone working on Fantasy Grounds implementation, and there are some separate Roll20 projects going on.
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This is more fleshed out version of various religions, lists and rules I've posted. Still needs a bit more work, better layout etc.
Hopefully this can be helpful for GMs and players with Priests and Clerics in the Shadow World setting.
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This is a great resource!
The one thing I might add would be just an extra paragraph on what each god represents -- its 'domain' if you will. I know it is referred to obliquely in the document and the reference to the Master Atlas, but I would like to see a quick description so I can give this to my players (when I might not want to share the Master Atlas due to its spoilers). The section on Kuor for example just says 'The Scions'. It takes me a bit of reading before I realize that Kuor is the god of Weather and the King of the Gods, while Cay is the god of physical strength and athletic prowess. I've found players coming from other systems will really want to know what each god represents -- that's usually how they first skim through these new gods, looking for the god that represents the domain they want.
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Hurin, that's a great idea. I was trying to avoid any material already presented in the canon books, but it makes sense. I'm adding the other Charon god religions, a list of temple locations in Emer and Jaiman and some new artifacts. So I'll take your idea for the next version.
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If you follow the Rolemasterblog, you might have caught my "Year in Review" https://www.rolemasterblog.com/bhansons-2020-year-in-review/ (https://www.rolemasterblog.com/bhansons-2020-year-in-review/)
I'm quickly knocking down my to-do list but now I'm getting sidetracked by a long gestating item: a city module of Nontataku. This is connected to Priest-King; it's really Part 1, (Priest-King is Part 2 and Empire of the Black Dragon is Part 3). I've always wanted to tackle a large city and I've been picking away at this with notes and rough maps for many years. Due to the popularity of Eidolon, Haalkitaine and Norek and the interest in Lethys, it's pretty clear that in-depth city modules are great resources and a good add to the SW library. Even if it's non-canon.
So, I'm moving ahead with a professional map commission and trying to finish this up. I'm at 76 pages and shooting for 150 pages without art, maps or charts and averaging 2 pages/day. Here is a quick blurb (that needs some polishing)
Nontataku.
For thousands of years the City of Sails has watched over the Imarij Sea Tunnel in Wester Agyra. Perched on the high bluffs overlooking the Kelp Sea, the city has been a major trade center for both merchant ships and the passing caravants traversing the continent.
Explore the narrow streets and the Old Walled City with its red stone buildings and colorful awnings. To the west you can find Traders Row and the immense lifts that raise goods from the harbor below, or watch the ships line up to enter the Sea Tunnel. It is said that the Day Market on the outskirts of the city is the most diverse bazaar in all of Agyra, where anything can be bought or sold.
Always vibrant, the city is now torn between two forces: the ruler and wealthy merchant class that controls Nontataku and the Alliance. The battle is not being decided by soldiers or use of force, instead it is being waged in trade houses and back alleys. But conflict brings opportunity, and the city is bursting with intrigue as players both weak and strong vie for an advantage.
In Nontataku, loyalties can change quickly. Will you pick sides?
The Supplement Includes:
1. 4 page color map of the city.
2. Detailed descriptions of buildings, shops, important locations.
3. More information on the Imarij Sea Tunnel.
4. Details on organizations and key NPCs.
5. 12 Ready to play adventures.
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I'm starting the process of re-statting "Legends" for RMu; the preliminary step is just identifying and highlighting material that needs to be reviewed and/or changed. Of course, without the final ruleset some of this is speculation but wanted to reach out and get everyone's thoughts. Many of you have spent a lot of time reviewing and discussing RMu and I really haven't looked at it for years.
1. What stays the same. I assume that items like difficulty modifiers use the same scale as previous versions?
2. Creature stats. Does anyone know if the new books have stats for Shadow World specific creatures?
3. SW Spells. Loremaster, Navigator and other SW specific lists in Powers and others are not included in RMu Spell Law. Does anyone see any obvious issues using those original lists in RMu?
4. AT's are still reduced to 1-10? Any major adjustments to Hit Points or PPs?
5. Stat blocks. Any needed changes to Master Military Charts, Master NPC charts or other?
6. PP multipliers. Was there a change to these?
7. Class Changes. I mapped those out in a document in this thread. Has there been any other profession changes in the last few years?
In some respects, Shadow World may be more problematic to switch to RMu since it already contains deviations from RM. I discussed some of that here: https://www.rolemasterblog.com/rule-sets-settings-gap-rolemaster-shadow-world/ Plus, it's hard to imagine that SW will ever fully convert all of it's material to RMu. Terry has indicated he is sticking to RM2 and there is quite a bit of material.
Anything else? Personally having played RM for so long, I can probably handwave away most of the discrepancies, but I would like Legends to be a formalized RMu product.
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I actually need closely related information, which is to say: what information do people need to use RMU and Shadow World together? Maybe we should make a separate thread for that?
Difficulty modifiers are the same. The creatures in Creature Law will be all the creatures from RMSS Creatures & Monsters or RMC Creatures & Treasures 1-3. I don't know whether there are Shadow World creatures not in those books.
ATs are 1-10. Hits and PP are determined based on your bonus in body development and power development, and will not be exactly the same.
Spell lists from previous editions will generally be ok. Major points of difference are anything that refers to % activity (convert to AP) and healing (use the descriptions of the corresponding spells from RMU). For lists from RM2, you might need to specify the spell type. For full conversion you'd want to fill in all the gaps and take a closer look at balance etc.
PP multipliers exist in steps x1.25, x1.5, x1.75, x2, x2.5, x3 (that's 75th level to create though...).
Most of the issues you identify in the linked blog article seem to identify areas where Shadow World doesn't give an answer. As far as I'm concerned, if Shadow World leaves it open, that's not a point of conflict with the rules. You as GM might decide to make changes for thematic or setting reasons, but based on what you are saying Shadow World doesn't require a change to the rules.
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Maybe I'm suffering from the Mandela Effect, but I recall that there was a full map of Kulthea that showed all the Essence Flows. Can someone point me in the right direction?
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Maybe I'm suffering from the Mandela Effect, but I recall that there was a full map of Kulthea that showed all the Essence Flows. Can someone point me in the right direction?
i have been looking for this for some time now.
in the original boxed set of either the atlas or emer there was a simple inlet,
featuring the conversion rules for 1st edition AD&D
and the world feature maps, one of which had the essaence flows and foci on it.
i still have the boxes but seam to have lost the inlet somehow.
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Thanks, I'm going through all maps again!
Part of this search is due to this: https://www.rolemasterblog.com/edited-and-republished-maximizing-essaence-flows-in-your-shadow-world-campaign/
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i found it: 1st Edition Master Atlas (Boxed Set), Atlas Addendum page 28: World Status Maps - Essence Flows
and yes the "Atlas Addendum" is the paper inlet.
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If you the time and inclination, would appreciate everyone's thoughts.
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-looking-ahead/
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I'd love to see Shadow World continue. I think Emer IV was nearly complete, apart from the City of the Dead. And Terry was constantly working on other streams, so there would be a lot to expand on that may be in various stages of completion.
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Good comments over at the Rolemasterblog. Please, if you have thoughts, contribute!
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To address some things mentioned on the blog, in my personal, unofficial opinion...
Shadow World can't be ICE's official setting and be frozen. It has to be one or the other. If it's not frozen, it would need someone enthusiastic about and respectful of the setting to be in charge of consistency (or be the sole author, which amounts to the same thing). If there turns out to be a lot of unfinished material to work with (I don't know whether that's going to be the case), that would be a good warm-up and trial for that person.
Modules are helpful but by their nature won't sell as well as other material. Only the GM needs a module, and even a GM doesn't need every module; some GMs don't need any. A setting book that contains races, professions, and/or spell lists will sell better, because they are useful to more people in more ways. So reducing new products down to only modules doesn't seem like a sustainable direction. They can be part of the whole package, but not the whole thing. That might be less of a consideration if the market was a lot bigger, but RM isn't D&D.
5E is very different from RM. I don't think you can do that merely by presenting dual-stats, it needs system support (e.g. new classes and spells). I don't feel like that's a good use of ICE's resources. In any case, selling the Shadow World setting to the 5E market would not be viable, in my opinion, if the setting was frozen. The promise of new material is part of the attraction of a setting.
Terry absolutely did a lot of layout. We do fortunately have Nick Morawitz onboard now to do layout as well but I don't know how feasible it is to double his workload, or whether ICE will need to add someone else for that too. I can only imagine this will cost ICE some time to sort out.
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Ok, not exactly Shadow World, but I do have “dice bags”. Unlike the old standby bartender tip bags that said “Crown royal”, these are Blanton bourbon cloth bags with draw strings. If you want one, just pay shipping. Email or message me.
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Ok, not exactly Shadow World, but I do have “dice bags”. Unlike the old standby bartender tip bags that said “Crown royal”, these are Blanton bourbon cloth bags with draw strings. If you want one, just pay shipping. Email or message me.
A while back I went out and bought a bunch of those in different colors. I think I have most of them (unless CR has put out a bunch of new "flavors" recently).
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Yes, Crown Royal uses different colors for the various whiskeys.
btw: I just mailed one out and shipping cost seems to be $.85 (I just put it into an envelope)
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Happy 2022! Given that Nicholas/ICE has several third party products for Shadow World in the works (Priest King and Night of the Third Moon), there may be more opportunities for additional SW products in the coming year.
I think most agree that Terry's "core" material around Jaiman and Emer should be left alone, but what is everyone interested in seeing? Low level adventures? Small source books? Material on other continents? Atlas addendum products? Tech, magic item or spell lists? City books? Something else? Or would you prefer to leave SW alone and the work product to stand as is?
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I'm looking forward to Emer IV, as Terry's last work, so I don't need additional regional books for the time being; I want my players to be exploring all of the vast continents we already have.
What I'd like to see are focused adventures, set in existing places in Jaiman and Emer. I really like the premade adventures that I can just plug and play with very little prep, but set in existing regions and not contradictory to the general canon of Shadow World.
I would also love to see them statted out for RMU, as I think we are really going to be lacking adventures for the new edition for a while.
That's just my 2 cents of course.
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What I'd like to see is campaign modules - Emer IV, but also a multi-part Thuul, for instance. Plus, northeast Jaiman made right (reboot of Sky Giants). Including technical aspects such as training packages, gear (mundane or magical) and spell lists is OK, but please pretty please, NO new skills !
Second, city books. Lethys, Kaitaine, Izar, even a multi-city book for smaller cities.
Third, organisation books. PoLaD scratched the surface, but there's so much more to say about them. Once again, you can either focus on multicontinental organisations or have a book more focused on a single continent but describing more organisations - Cults of Jaiman, anyone ?
Any of those books can include adventure seeds in the Hook/Line/Sinker form, but I'd rather not have full-blown adventures, especially if the basic hook for them is "you are offered money to tackle one problem" which is something I've *never* used in all my Rolemaster years.
Fourth, or maybe first, a book that twists the arm of Rolemaster magic to make it Shadow World compatible and not the other way round. The current situation requires so much handwaiving and "of course it can be done, just not by player characters" that's it's not sustainable. Have a book that reshape Rolemaster magic *based* on the Shadow World setting and specifics.
I certainly don't need any adventure book, however.
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What I'd like to see is campaign modules - Emer IV, but also a multi-part Thuul, for instance. Plus, northeast Jaiman made right (reboot of Sky Giants). Including technical aspects such as training packages, gear (mundane or magical) and spell lists is OK, but please pretty please, NO new skills !
So it sounds like more source material/sandbox setting than any actual adventures would be a priority for you?
Second, city books. Lethys, Kaitaine, Izar, even a multi-city book for smaller cities.
Third, organisation books. PoLaD scratched the surface, but there's so much more to say about them. Once again, you can either focus on multicontinental organisations or have a book more focused on a single continent but describing more organisations - Cults of Jaiman, anyone ?
Any of those books can include adventure seeds in the Hook/Line/Sinker form, but I'd rather not have full-blown adventures, especially if the basic hook for them is "you are offered money to tackle one problem" which is something I've *never* used in all my Rolemaster years.
Fourth, or maybe first, a book that twists the arm of Rolemaster magic to make it Shadow World compatible and not the other way round. The current situation requires so much handwaiving and "of course it can be done, just not by player characters" that's it's not sustainable. Have a book that reshape Rolemaster magic *based* on the Shadow World setting and specifics.
I certainly don't need any adventure book, however.
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In response to a few messages, and to clarify, the BASiL project was both a revision of Spell Law and to create Shadow World specific lists for my own game. This Miksc SW material thread has the lists for the various dieties, Priest Arnak and a few others but the bulk of the lists are in the Rolemaster threads here:
Mentalism (not finished with this yet): https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?topic=17405.0
Essence: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16681.0
Channeling: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?topic=16688.0
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I already send you a mail Brian :)
But for all to read!
I really think SW should be cleaned up book wise, timeline wise and map wise!
So we get a clean SW as it should be and that can move forward in honor of TKA!
I also believe that if its gonna survive, it has to be done as a master book, and tier books under it. Take Jaiman , the crown kingdoms in a book and then maybe the larger cities in smaller "books" and then make it online so it works on a chosen platform, beyond roll20 or whatever can pull in people to the setting!
My guess is that not many new players arrive at SW, because its so hooked on rolemaster. ( I AM a big RM2 fan, so easy :) )
Maybe even make SW 5e/Pathfinder compatible !!! (can be done with limiting some classes/spells whatever from the systems.)
If "we" Freeze SW, I fear it will slowly perish.
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Malim:
These are all great ideas. Again, I think many people are uncomfortable changing Terry's vision, but re-organizing and re-statting for other systems seems worth exploring?
For my part, I also float around on projects based on my interest, creative capacity, energy and focus. Right now I'm finalizing the "Book of Herbs" (I'm awful at titles btw). I've expanded on the 100 or so SW "herbs" and added another 100 of my own. Simplified rules of foraging herbs, preparing them and administering them...PLUS!!
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I think I've posted this previously but for those who haven't perused the 22 pages of this thread..here is links to the files:
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/bhansons-shadow-world-file-list/
As some of you have noted, I am being more active in these forums and the Rolemasterblog. Hopefully I can get Matt (Vroomfogle) back "in the game" as well. Terry has left a unfillable hole in our game and setting and while no one can fill that in any way, we need to rally community for creative support, product submissions and energy.
Otherwise: https://www.rolemasterblog.com/thoughts-on-mortality/
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Regarding that last link, read that last paragraph:
Let’s tie the two together. I.C.E. was founded by young people in college, most in their early 20’s. The growth in RPG players is: overseas, youth and females. Does I.C.E. now need to recruit new, relevant writers to appeal to today’s player demographics? What happens in just the next decade as we all enter our 60’s and even 70’s? Will our writing be relevant or we just existing for the small core of die hards our own age? Who takes over after that? Does ICE sell it’s catalog to a young upstart company or established gaming entity?
Then think about the issues in https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?topic=20451.0
I am afraid I am not bringing down the average age of RM writers (I'm 50 myself).
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To clarify!
Terry`s world should stay as it is thought. But re-organizing is key, to getting new people into our beloved setting.
New people will want to buy into a setting that is set and easy to start up in. That aint it now in my opinion :/
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A setting that's frozen in time and isn't going to get genuinely new material, but only reorganization of old material, probably isn't going to sell very well. There's a very strong Cult of the New in gaming, and for "old school" settings for the nostalgia crowd, there's too many better-known worlds out there. A Shadow World that sticks strictly to Terry's canon and doesn't continue to grow beyond it isn't going to bring people into Rolemaster.
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A setting that's frozen in time and isn't going to get genuinely new material, but only reorganization of old material, probably isn't going to sell very well. There's a very strong Cult of the New in gaming, and for "old school" settings for the nostalgia crowd, there's too many better-known worlds out there. A Shadow World that sticks strictly to Terry's canon and doesn't continue to grow beyond it isn't going to bring people into Rolemaster.
My current GM decided to transfer all the characters in his current MERP campaign to SW. I've glanced at the SW material but it's all new to me and opens a world not constrained by a timeline that all the players are familiar with.
There are benefits and liabilities to a universal timeline. A GM could schedule events like wars and royal successions while (as I've seen in the past) players can take advantage of knowledge of future events, such as actively preparing for them.
SW opens up new possibilities to me as it is as new to me today as it would have been if I had played it when it was first published. In that respect, some gaming elements are timeless and so far as I've read, SW is one of them. I wish I had discovered SW years ago.
There is a company that makes cell phones (which shall remain nameless) that releases a new one every year with enough cosmetic changes to attract new buyers without actually improving their product. They have made a huge profit on repackaging the same product every year. While I don't recommend copying that marketing technique, it does work in practice. There are worse business models, like rewriting (censored) rules ever few months just to sell a line of (censored) miniatures...
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My group would use:
- More detailed descriptions of the other continents, especially as they related between them (is there a portal from A to B? are the tribes in C descendant from settlers from D?)
- Some adventure ideas, and also hooks for higher level adventures
- Detailed cultures to be used as PCs when playing in those continents
- Retconning or errata documents unifying the ideas in the old books, since some are contradictory (I know the blog has some ideas about that, but an official account on how it all ties together would be good for new players and GMs)
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- Detailed cultures to be used as PCs when playing in those continents
Yes, I'd even like more cultural summaries for just the basic races in RMU for example. Those old 'Cultural Summaries' that we see in the old Shadow World books were very helpful for my players, but there are many races that never got them (e.g. Avinarc, Idiyva, Sibbicai, Sstoi, Vulfen), and the ones that do exist are scattered across assorted SW publications. Having a collection of cultural summaries for each playable race would really help roleplaying.
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I listed out all of the lists and links to expedite searches in the future.
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/master-spell-list-reference/
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Thank you for that link!
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basically i do consider a static/frozen setting a dead duck in the water.
yet than again Middle Earth is exactly the same thing. we have history up to the forth age and then nil.
also warhammer fantasy has been rehashing their empire in flames a forth time until a publisher got enough balls to do an alternative base campaign in a different part of the country.
maybe it is exactly that -- freeze emer and jaiman -- and develop another part of the globe for the upcoming RMU.
but dont get into the frenzy and detail every other outhouse there is.
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...maybe it is exactly that -- freeze emer and jaiman -- and develop another part of the globe for the upcoming RMU.
I like that idea. We know that Emer IV will be coming out, I believe as Terry's last major work in SW, and mostly completing the continents of Jaiman and Emer. I do like the idea of leaving those regions as is, and exploring some of the other continents.
From what I recall, there are already some works set beyond Jaiman/Emer: Star Crown Empire; Kingdom of the Desert Jewel; Islands of the Oracle; Gethaena; Nomads of the Nine Nations; and the Bladestorm stuff.
There is enough background material in Shadow World to make adventures set in these areas feel like Shadow World, while giving enough freedom to create new adventures. These other areas are entire continents, after all
As a map fetisist, I'd also really like to see a map of another continent done in the style of the Emer maps.
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...maybe it is exactly that -- freeze emer and jaiman -- and develop another part of the globe for the upcoming RMU.
I like that idea. We know that Emer IV will be coming out, I believe as Terry's last major work in SW, and mostly completing the continents of Jaiman and Emer. I do like the idea of leaving those regions as is, and exploring some of the other continents.
From what I recall, there are already some works set beyond Jaiman/Emer: Star Crown Empire; Kingdom of the Desert Jewel; Islands of the Oracle; Gethaena; Nomads of the Nine Nations; and the Bladestorm stuff.
I would first check which part of the old catalogue Terry actually considered canon or close enough to be part of his vision. There were a number of things he did not, and it would be nice to make sure they stay that way.
Second would be to ensure compatibility with existing material from Terry, first and foremost the Master Atlas descriptions. After all, this is the most comprehensive data we had to work with since basically the beginning whenever an area was not covered by a campaign module already.
And then... yes, going somewhere new is good. I would seriously suggest either Kelestia or Thuul, both because they have *not* been covered by a previous product and because they are close enough to areas that *have* been covered already (Jaiman and Emer) that going from one to the other is actually possible with mundane means (ships) and authors would have to care about integration of new material with the old - the continents are close enough that they might really have influenced one another, and having successful integration is much more interesting than having completely separate continents that could as well be on different worlds.
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And then... yes, going somewhere new is good. I would seriously suggest either Kelestia or Thuul, both because they have *not* been covered by a previous product and because they are close enough to areas that *have* been covered already (Jaiman and Emer) that going from one to the other is actually possible with mundane means (ships) and authors would have to care about integration of new material with the old - the continents are close enough that they might really have influenced one another, and having successful integration is much more interesting than having completely separate continents that could as well be on different worlds.
Those are good suggestions. Of the two, I'd probably lean towards Kelestia, since it is roughly equidistant from Jaiman and Emer, whereas Thuul is far from Jaiman.
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Those are good suggestions. Of the two, I'd probably lean towards Kelestia, since it is roughly equidistant from Jaiman and Emer, whereas Thuul is far from Jaiman.
True. On the other hand, Thuul is much bigger - you could make about four Thuul books (same as Emer), while Kelestia would likely go in one or at most two books.
And since I already used Kelestia, mine would not be canon, so I'd rather have Thuul 8)
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Those are good suggestions. Of the two, I'd probably lean towards Kelestia, since it is roughly equidistant from Jaiman and Emer, whereas Thuul is far from Jaiman.
rereading the master atlas ...
Kelestia would be some sort of mostly stone/bronze age setting with the Raven Queen as only adversary.
Thuul on the other side is interesting ... almost like europe including mediterrenian seas and northern africa !
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Those are good suggestions. Of the two, I'd probably lean towards Kelestia, since it is roughly equidistant from Jaiman and Emer, whereas Thuul is far from Jaiman.
rereading the master atlas ...
Kelestia would be some sort of mostly stone/bronze age setting with the Raven Queen as only adversary.
Thuul on the other side is interesting ... almost like europe including mediterrenian seas and northern africa !
Isra in Kelestia is TL4, and parts of Verya are up to TL3. But the rest is officially TL1-2, which is more primitive, technologically speaking, than most of Jaiman.
However, technological bronze age does not mean non-civilised (most of heroic and classic Greece is bronze age, as are Egypt and most famous middle eastern pre-islamic civilisations). On Emer, almost all of Tai-Emer (Pochantos and Lankanôk) is TL2-3, Vajaar is 2-3, the Rhiani and Shynsari are TL2, as are Quon and Ahnasan. Basically, more than half of Emer is TL2 or at most 3. And no one ever said that Emer was dull :)
(and if you check Thuul, the situation is not much better).
Kelestia is also close to both Jaiman and Emer, and also close to Gaalt (I'm not including Iyxia, because it is mostly inaccessible), and most of southern Kelestia was once part of Voriig Kye's Dragon Kingdom, which is a major plot point of sorts.
In terms of integration with the existing books, Kelestia is the better choice.
(but as I said, I am partial to Thuul. It's even more a continent of contrasts than Emer is, has unmistakable features - including the Pillar of the Gods, major plot points in the Alliance war against Vashaan colonies, one of the Ahrenreth's Secrets... and the racial mix is all over the place).
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it is not for us to decide.
someone has to sell it to the powers of the iron crown.
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it is not for us to decide.
Yes, but it is kinda fun to think about!
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There wouldn't be any point in selling something if the fans didn't want it.
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We don't need to sell a single thing to a single person at Iron Crown. Indeed, they are the ones with a need to sell to us. It's very kind of us to give them this market research for free.
I'm personally not very concerned about what non-TKA content ICE publishes, and won't be until it is demonnstrated that content is worth my while. The non-TKA SW content was shaky at best I'll most likely write my own content.
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I agree with the above poster. I have taken to writing my own material. Frankly it has been one of the most rewarding parts of my hobby time now and for many years.
Once I sat down with an actual great outline map of Jaiman, and began filling it in with Wonderdraft, TKA errors began flushing to the top like crazy, and this is just something recent, not going to besmirch TKA, he had a great imagination. What he did not have was consistency.
Believe it or not, I RAGED over a couple of things in the revised Jaiman material.
Frelic the Usurper lives in Minion, and had allies from Saralis come to his aid in his quest.
Earlier materials show Minion in the NORTH basically in Prevan, and new material has moved it to SOUTH Rhakhaan. This single point, which was not sufficiently addressed in his Haalkitain sourcebook really triggered me. Minion in the North and having his troops invading Prevan and elsewhere in the North made sense, in the older materials. In the newer book, it made no sense.
Just one stupid point, which set me off. I have taken to following the map when it makes sense, and throwing out things which do not. My players are in wholehearted agreement.
Likewise I write new material almost every week as I have for years. Much of it is completely contrary to later materials released.
So I will look long and hard before buying future materials, even assuming I will make the shift to RMU, which is unlikely.
Peace
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Master Spell List Reference: https://www.rolemasterblog.com/master-spell-list-reference/
Master Shadow World File List: https://www.rolemasterblog.com/bhansons-shadow-world-file-list/
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Great resources! I like them especially for NPCs and Big Bad Evil Guys.
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https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?topic=5543.msg239253#msg239253
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I am really digging these and wondering if I should implement some or all of them in my RMU game (someday)
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I'm attaching 2 optional charts: a Scorpion Attack Table and a critical chart for Rips/Tears. These were created by "Jengada"--author of the Shadow World module Nomad of the Nine Nations. Thanks for letting me post these Jengada!
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I'm looking for some feedback to help direct my future work focus. Specifically, reviews or critiques on 3 of my most recent projects:
1. "Legends of Shadow World". High level tourney style module. Has anyone run this as a one-off?
2. "The Book of Pales". Material on Demons etc. http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15879.0;attach=4353
3. "Channeling Handbook". Material on SW religions and PC's playing Clerics. http://ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=15879.0;attach=4373
Feel free to message me or comment in this thread.
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--In the Book of the Pales, the last page has Encounter Tables and Spell Lists deleted.
--I like the art in the Channeling Handbook better than the art in the Book of Pales.
Will try to give more detailed feedback when I get a bit more time to look through it.
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1. Never run it. I'll look at it, and talk with my players.
2. I've always considered it a nice (starting) effort to detail the largest influence on SW: namely the Outsiders. They heavily influence Kulthea, and a good, comprehensive, detailed look at them we've never had. Especially given that just through Essænce Storms alone you could have an untold number of Outsiders (both flora/fauna) being deposited on Kulthea each year.
- I find the structure OK, but find the layout (especially the paragraphs) to be too close and cramped.
- It lacks any kind of creature stat, referencing everything back to SW MA. I know the reason, but the lack of those details (I find) holds the effort back.
- References to things that might be creator campaign dependent ("Void Knight", pg 6 (under 'Wanderer').
Nice to haves:
- Defining a reason why these creatures even show interest in Kulthea might be an interesting exercise, as well as how they might react to being in Kulthea (willingly or not).
- Ecology of those Planes, or Factions or congregations.
- Beneficial Outsiders exist; Why are they so different than the majority?
- How common are the cross-plane contacts and in what manner are they accomplished.
- Examples. I'm NOT saying a Bestiary, but something along the lines of, say, a few examples of the powerful "rare poisons, herbs and compounds.. poisons" found on the II Pale.
3. Wonderful resource. It will be used in my next, new campaign.
- Organizational Details (especially Kuor): Very, very good. I get a true feeling for the organization after reading the descriptions here. "Important Dates" and "Significant Artifacts" are top notch details. However, due to the detail and depth of, say Kuor, it almost leaves the other organizations feeling a bit lackluster.
- I find the layout much better than Book of the Planes (especially irt the spacing of paragraphs).
- Not a big fan of the parchment background. =D
- Nice to haves:
- Perhaps a few notable NPCs (aka Key Figures) of each Religion, and where they might be found.
- Maybe a couple of detailed Archetypes for a few Religions. For example the 'Dream-Priests' are "tireless warriors against the Unlife", yet they seem woefully underpowered when compared to the followers of Kuor or Cay. I'm sure this isn't the case, but appearances.
- Adventure Seeds?
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Have to agree a out the parchment background; it is a little distracting.
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1. "Legends of Shadow World". High level tourney style module. Has anyone run this as a one-off?
Where can I get a copy of this to check out?
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1. "Legends of Shadow World". High level tourney style module. Has anyone run this as a one-off?
Where can I get a copy of this to check out?
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/bhansons-shadow-world-file-list/
Links are at #46
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Even after signing up it won't let me download them. I was able to, in around-about way, get the updated first chapter, but cannot get anything else. Well, almost anything. The spell lists (43-45) redirect me to the thread on these boards. It looks like it tries to go, but after a second it just stops.
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Thanks for the feedback!
1. Parchment view is not a fan favorite. Message me and I can send the raw Word file. I like the parchment as a throwback to the original ICE products, but heard.
2. Finding files. There are a lot, so maybe click on my user name and look for attachments?
3. Finalizing my SW Channelers "Chronicles". Includes how to use the religion in your campaign, key and useful NPCs and adventure hooks. I will post up soon.
4. Kuor was fleshed out, but Phaon had more material and the Daughters of Inis is awesome? right? just me?
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Z'Taar spell list, Battle Lust spell, says the target 'ignores up to -10% in pain penalties and stun effects are reduced by 1'. What is meant by 'pain penalties'? Presumably not stun, since the last clause covers them; do you mean injury and/or fatigue penalties?
4. Kuor was fleshed out, but Phaon had more material and the Daughters of Inis is awesome? right? just me?
Daughters of Inis confirmed as awesome. Sun Bros forever tho.
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Any crit penalty received.
Z'Taar spell list, Battle Lust spell, says the target 'ignores up to -10% in pain penalties and stun effects are reduced by 1'. What is meant by 'pain penalties'? Presumably not stun, since the last clause covers them; do you mean injury and/or fatigue penalties?
4. Kuor was fleshed out, but Phaon had more material and the Daughters of Inis is awesome? right? just me?
Daughters of Inis confirmed as awesome. Sun Bros forever tho.
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I've been bugging him...maybe he's ready to come back.
https://discord.com/channels/737958249936060416/750324220533145680/1046734315783995432
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https://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-as-a-cross-platform-setting-what-would-it-take/
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https://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-as-a-cross-platform-setting-what-would-it-take/
I have the fear of SW just fizzling out. In the best of worlds, there would be a couple of new books a year (thinkiing back to the time when SW was launched). I'm not in the position to write material myelf, but if someone decides to start working on something, I would be prepared to step up to do something, because SW is worthy of getting a lot more recognition than it has, at the moment. A coversion to 5E, yes, why not! To start working on the completion of the Grand Campaign, would be great, too!
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https://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-as-a-cross-platform-setting-what-would-it-take/
I have the fear of SW just fizzling out. In the best of worlds, there would be a couple of new books a year (thinkiing back to the time when SW was launched). I'm not in the position to write material myelf, but if someone decides to start working on something, I would be prepared to step up to do something, because SW is worthy of getting a lot more recognition than it has, at the moment. A coversion to 5E, yes, why not! To start working on the completion of the Grand Campaign, would be great, too!
It likely will. Let's face it, Terry was the only one keeping it afloat publishing-wise. And I shudder to remember all that was published without his direction and was awfully incompatible with his own publications and seemed to stem from different settings. The lack of strong editorial supervision was killing the line.
I also think that having the timeline progress in the official Shadow World products was a mistake. A moving timeline potentially invalidates everything that people have done in their own campaigns and that does not fit the updated timeline, and Shadow World was never a large market to begin with. I know for a fact that I could only use part of some products because of the progressing timeline, which was a shame.
Only a major effort would allow the Shadow World line to prosper, and this would require a bunch of engaged and involved people, a strong and committed direction, and proper investment to capture a market worthy of that effort and worthy of pushing out products on a regular basis. Historically, Shadow World never had those even in the heyday of ICE, and I can't see how it would get them now (no fault of the current iteration of ICE - there are things a small business just cannot do).
I also happen to think, after having played and GMed in Shadow World for the better part of 35 years, that RM is not an ideal ruleset for Shadow World. Or maybe it never had the RM hack it required, with a significant magic overhaul to fit the setting to a T.
Is Shadow World dead ? I don't know. A D&D 5e version could attract interest but would require both a large amount of work to convert it properly and significant effort to tweak the D&D rules to fit the setting properly (the recent Iron Kingdoms Requiem is an example of the kind of work required, not necessarily in terms of illustration effort, but at least in terms of design). Re-statting for RMU is IMHO secondary unless Shadow World becomes the official setting for RM, which opens its own can of worms ("official setting" means that the rules are made for this setting first and for others as an afterthought, which is definitely not the case for RM in general and RMU in particular). Porting it to HARP would be in the same boat - superfluous unless it becomes the official HARP setting. Other popular rulesets could be targeted but would require significant work as well (BRP-like - e.g. Mythras or similar; 2d6/Cepheus; or even the Cypher system which powers a variety of Monte Cook's settings).
But the first order of business is obviously to complete and publish what Terry left 'almost done' - namely, Emer IV. Personally, I will find it a waste of effort because I've already GMed a campaign in southwestern Emer and, as such, already have material that will likely be incompatible with what Terry wrote, but I guess most people want it published and I fully agree that it should be (I might even buy it, just because).
Beyond that, I would welcome new campaign modules - Terry hinted at Wuliris and northeastern Jaiman (presumably to complete the Jaiman setup and replace Sky Giants of the Brass Stair). I think Kelestia would be interesting as well - close enough to Jaiman and Emer to actually be useful, and not large enough to require multiple books (the other main point of interest would be Thuul, but there's no way you can do Thuul justice in a single book - it would require the same kind of effort as Emer).
Adventures, why not - I'm not sold on them because I never use them, but I gather that most people prefer to use existing adventure material (I don't) and it probably makes sense from a commercial point of view. But having a blank permission to publish anything under the Shadow World license without proper supervision would be a huge mistake in my opinion.
But most of all, I think the powers that be at ICE must have a long hard look at Shadow World and decide why it is a setting that is worth investing into. What makes it special ? What makes it an attractive, non-generic product ? What makes it something that make people buy books ? A run-of-the-mill medfan setting will not make the cut - there are plenty of those out there already. I know what made me buy the products from the days of the World of Loremasters onwards - it was the early work [Vog Mur, Cloudlords of Tanara, Iron Wind] and the feeling of a post-post apocalyptic multicultural fantasy setting where unfathomable darkness (not "evil" but "darkness") is lurking in the corners, not eager to conquer but eager to lure and consume. The Unlife is not evil so much as it is utterly alien - evil is for people who are deceiving themselves into thinking they can use the Unlife for their own benefit. The K'Taa'Viiri were alien as well - somewhere between men and gods, having self-destructed and left remains of their incomprehensible civilisation behind.
I had trouble with Terry's more recent work - the "lurking Unlife" was not lurking anymore, it was in full swing, and it made things less interesting. It also identified as evil and it made things less interesting as well. I partially blame the progressing timeline and the fact that he was probably feeding material from his own games into the line.
But I am only one person. And I don't need the line to survive commercially to continue using it for years - I have all I need and can imagine the rest. I would like to get more information on the setting - information on cultures, on religions, on social setups because it makes life easier and is more difficult to come up with than a campaign plot. But I don't *need* it from an official source.
What I would *really* like is to have Shadow World published for/with a ruleset that really does it justice. As far as I'm concerned, RM is not that ruleset.
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I was in contact with TKA about a U-lyshak "area" book.
Since our group has written alot about that area in our wiki.
He was happy about the outline of it.
We wrote some adventure hooks and made NPC gallery.
So if someone wanna build on that, contact me!
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Similarly, my wife and I took a liking to the Bay of Izar region from the 4th ed Master Atlas and developed some of the towns and sites therein. Since the intended project target moved to a new setting, we've parked development for now. If there's interest in that area, we'd be interested as well.
Happy Holidays,
Old Man
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I can't wait for ICE to decide to act, I've got a campaign to run. I started the clock in 6047, my 6050 wasn't Terry's 6050 30 years ago and none of the advancing timeline means a thing to me.
I've been telling ICE since 1995 that I have a ruleset called RM2 and will never buy a ruleset to replace it, the one and only thing that keeps me looking at ICE is the potential for Shadow World content that I can cannibalize to avoid having to paint in a corner of the planet myself.
ICE will publish more SW content or they won't. It's be nice if they would. I've even made it clear that I'm willing to pay them cash money for Terry's raw notes if they aren't in a position to turn it into a polished end product.
Now if everyone will pardon me, the South Commons Clinic Murdohobos out of Sel-Kai are navigating the roads from Bentara to Falnkenna as part of a plot to replace Bryce Korel as Rhungraf of Bentara with his forgotten sister Aylannah, and they've tripped across two demonic incursions, a haunted watch tower, and a feral vampire in the process - all of which is going to complicate their lives real soon now.
Shadow World will live on no matter what ICE does.
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I love Shadow World, it is my second favorite game setting of all-time, with Dark Sun being the first. (Sorry, Terry.)
If ICE doesn't do anything with the setting, hopefully they will be willing to sell it to someone who does. (If it isn't too costly, I might even buy the rights.)
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It has been over 12 months since TKA died and that is long enough for ICE's counsel to finalise any outstanding issues. Shadow World is unfortunately dead at this point.
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It has been over 12 months since TKA died and that is long enough for ICE's counsel to finalise any outstanding issues. Shadow World is unfortunately dead at this point.
Considering how long we have been waiting for RMU I think that evaluation is a few years premature. ;-)
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Yes, and ICE folks did say that they plan to release Emer IV, but understandably they have quite a lot in the development pipeline, so that might take a bit.
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https://www.rolemasterblog.com/rmu-has-had-a-successful-launch-will-shadow-world-benefit/
What do you think?
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A thread over at discord: https://discord.com/channels/737958249936060416/750324220533145680/1073712894912512041
It was brought up that there should be clear content guidelines if new third party SW material would ever be published. I actually drafted up guidelines about 10 years ago and have attached them here as an example. These are not official or ICE endorsed in anyway, but meant as an example of how such guidelines might work to create setting consistent material.
This dates to Feb of 2013.
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I like those basic guidelines and your ideas of product types.
I agree that writing to the "canon" should be the first criteria. Anything added (but especially races, places, significant cultures, powerful individuals, or history) must not contradict the established Shadow World timeline and power structure. And while there are relatively isolated regions of the world (mainly thanks to the Essænce flows), there are few (if any) areas that don't have some interaction with Loremasters, Navigators, and the Unlife. If there's a "great evil" its very likely some local manifestation of the Unlife or one of its servants.
Anyone looking to submit content should be required to read the Shadow World Player Guide (GCP-SW-1001) and it should be used as the primary standard of whether the content fits into the world. At only about 50 pages, it's an excellent but concise overview of what makes the Shadow World unique. Of course, since it's aimed at players, it skips over some important content, so the Master Atlas and Powers of Light and Darkness are also important references for any content creators.
Second in importance to me is that there are already enough (too many?) world-level events, groups, and powerful individuals. What we need is more local and regional content. If someone really wants to write about the world-level events, then they should be fleshing out aspects of the latter parts of the Grand Campaign or giving more detailed adventures set in existing strongholds of the major powers.
One thing that isn't particularly important to me is which Rolemaster rules are used. Shadow World characters have never been entirely bound by the standard rules of any Rolemaster version. Many standard Rolemaster races are out of place on Kulthea, even more so for RMU's new races. And an idea based around Vancian magic ported to the Shadow World is going to be out of place. But generally as long as the concept doesn't directly contradict what can be represented in Rolemaster and doesn't violate the established world canon it should be fine.
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Anyone looking to submit content should be required to read the Shadow World Player Guide (GCP-SW-1001) and it should be used as the primary standard of whether the content fits into the world. At only about 50 pages, it's an excellent but concise overview of what makes the Shadow World unique. Of course, since it's aimed at players, it skips over some important content, so the Master Atlas and Powers of Light and Darkness are also important references for any content creators.
I would say that anyone looking to submit content should be required to read and integrate all canon products (those written by TKA), starting with the Master Atlas, and make sure they stay completely compatible with that base. There's nothing more irritating than opening a campaign module and being swamped with ideas that contradict canon, ignore the tenets of the world and the timeline, and disregard what has already been written and integrated in canon regarding the area they are using as a setting (I'm looking at you, Sky Giants of the Brass Stair).
Read the SWMA. Read the Player's Guide. Read Jaiman, Haalkitaine, Emer I, II and III, and Eidolon. Try to get the previous versions of those books to catch a few things that were removed in later editions (such as languages). Get Cloudlords of Tanara and Iron Wind - despite having been written before Shadow World was completely defined, they are more faithful to the canon than many campaign modules that were published later, and are more interesting than most as well.
And try to avoid generic adventures like the plague. Anchor your plots in the setting. There's no reason to publish a generic dungeon crawl for Shadow World - it does not do the setting justice, and it does not play into its strengths (I would also say 'try to avoid adventure hooks when someone pays the characters to do something' - if someone is rich enough to pay strangers an extravagant amount of money to do something, it means they need deniable assets or sacrificial pawns. The characters should fall into that trap only once, if at all).
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"...it means they need deniable assets or sacrificial pawns."
Embrace the awesome power of "and."
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I agree about not needing generic dungeon crawls and contradictory content in well-established locations (i.e. Jaiman and Emer). Anyone adding something on one of those continents really needs to know the area they are planing to use. And ideally authors would know everything about the setting, but in practice that's not a reasonable expectation for everyone who might want to contribute.
Kulthea's a big place so there's plenty of room for one or more authors to establish an entirely new set of cultures with unique adventures on one of the other continents. For someone creating something on Mythenis or Murlis, there's no need for any significant knowledge of Jaiman and Emer. But I would expect them to stay within the bounds of what little information is provided in the Master Atlas about their chosen continent and know something about the world-level powers. Only the Master Atlas would really be needed as a reference.
"Have you read the Shadow World Player Guide?" should be the initial question by ICE when receiving an initial contact from a potential content author. And if ICE puts out an announcement seeking authors asking them to read that 50-page document describing the setting should be enough to weed out the folks with ideas that really don't fit into the world. But yes, if someone wants to add to Jaiman or Emer, I expect more research to be required.
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I agree about not needing generic dungeon crawls and contradictory content in well-established locations (i.e. Jaiman and Emer). Anyone adding something on one of those continents really needs to know the area they are planing to use. And ideally authors would know everything about the setting, but in practice that's not a reasonable expectation for everyone who might want to contribute.
Kulthea's a big place so there's plenty of room for one or more authors to establish an entirely new set of cultures with unique adventures on one of the other continents. For someone creating something on Mythenis or Murlis, there's no need for any significant knowledge of Jaiman and Emer. But I would expect them to stay within the bounds of what little information is provided in the Master Atlas about their chosen continent and know something about the world-level powers. Only the Master Atlas would really be needed as a reference.
"Have you read the Shadow World Player Guide?" should be the initial question by ICE when receiving an initial contact from a potential content author. And if ICE puts out an announcement seeking authors asking them to read that 50-page document describing the setting should be enough to weed out the folks with ideas that really don't fit into the world. But yes, if someone wants to add to Jaiman or Emer, I expect more research to be required.
I expect people to read more than the Player's Guide and the MA not because of the factual information included in the other books, but to get more of a feel of what shadow world is and what it is not. Keep in mind that we didn't only get Sly Giants, but Gethaena as well (and, in my opinion, you could thrown Journey to the Magic Isle in the same bag for good measure). A unique sub-setting is good. A sub-setting that clashes with the atmosphere and 'feel' of Kulthea isn't. Basically, a new sub-setting must both be unique and fit in.
Which, incidentally, is a taller order each time the number of canon products increases.
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I agree about the importance of new material fitting in, I'm just not convinced you need to be an expert in the world to achieve that.
I'm fairly certain the problem books were all written before the authors knew anything about the Shadow World. To be fair, even the second edition Master Atlas wasn't available until 1992. But I agree that too much of the content published in the late 1980s really doesn't fit the world and contradicts even the first edition atlas. It seems the ICE staff of that era made sure that the Rolemaster rules (and even Fantasy Hero stats) were well-represented, but had very different views than you and I about what was appropriate for the Shadow World. I think the "and may also be used as isolated or hidden areas in any Gamemaster's campaign world" blurb certainly applied. Unless that world happens to be Kulthea.
Magic Isle is a great example of something generic (or designed for another world) grafted into the Shadow World. It has a "College of Loremasters" founding an Elven center of learning in the Second Era. But that group apparently has nothing to do with the "College of Loremasters" who's founding actually marks the beginning of the Second Era of Ire. Really? Mysteriously all of the elves then left (I'm getting Middle Earth vibes on that one.) and now the isolated isle is filled with 27 powerful humans. Most of them are from Jaiman and Emer and then a few more are from cultures and races that aren't described fully and don't appear anywhere else. The big enemy is a Lich, but apparently with no connections to the Unlife. The Monk and Bard are standard Rolemaster versions, not the Amthorian variants most common in the Shadow World, betraying the preference for Rolemaster rules over Shadow World as a setting.
In thinking about getting a feel for the world, Terry's "Loremaster Legacy" should definitely be on the highly recommended reading list for any new authors.
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So there are many opinions about what an authentic Shadow World supplement might look like. That's great as a consumer, but are you a content provider? Do you have SW material that adds to the setting? Tell us about it! The more interest, perhaps there is an equal response from the publisher!! This is NOT an official submission process, just trying to gauge interest and intent.
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https://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-religions-handbook/
Based on feedback (Hurin especially) I will be posting up "Canticles"; each a variety of perspectives, adventure threads and material on the various pantheons. My goal is 5 pages each, with another 50 pages on top of the handbook noted above.
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I agree about not needing generic dungeon crawls and contradictory content in well-established locations (i.e. Jaiman and Emer). Anyone adding something on one of those continents really needs to know the area they are planing to use. And ideally authors would know everything about the setting, but in practice that's not a reasonable expectation for everyone who might want to contribute.
Kulthea's a big place so there's plenty of room for one or more authors to establish an entirely new set of cultures with unique adventures on one of the other continents. For someone creating something on Mythenis or Murlis, there's no need for any significant knowledge of Jaiman and Emer. But I would expect them to stay within the bounds of what little information is provided in the Master Atlas about their chosen continent and know something about the world-level powers. Only the Master Atlas would really be needed as a reference.
"Have you read the Shadow World Player Guide?" should be the initial question by ICE when receiving an initial contact from a potential content author. And if ICE puts out an announcement seeking authors asking them to read that 50-page document describing the setting should be enough to weed out the folks with ideas that really don't fit into the world. But yes, if someone wants to add to Jaiman or Emer, I expect more research to be required.
I expect people to read more than the Player's Guide and the MA not because of the factual information included in the other books, but to get more of a feel of what shadow world is and what it is not. Keep in mind that we didn't only get Sly Giants, but Gethaena as well (and, in my opinion, you could thrown Journey to the Magic Isle in the same bag for good measure). A unique sub-setting is good. A sub-setting that clashes with the atmosphere and 'feel' of Kulthea isn't. Basically, a new sub-setting must both be unique and fit in.
Which, incidentally, is a taller order each time the number of canon products increases.
I agree with the principle of what you are suggesting and some of the practical. Further to it however is that any submitted product/outline/draft should be reviewed by the ICE employee that is in charge of "Shadow World" in whatever position title that is (line editor?). Their primary function is to be familiar with all canon material of the setting and any of the "plots" that are either in play and left open for individual gaming groups or perhaps even resolved in other supplements. This is likely the role that Terry filled however as Shadow World seemed to be more of a hobby than a business venture that also created quite a bottle neck for product releases.
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What I would love to see is RMU Shadow World conversion of the races and a few of the already printed NPCs. Maybe even a couple of the critters from an adventure or two.
It may just be me but that would go a long way in allowing people currently playing with the old material to TRY to move forward to RMU.
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What I would love to see is RMU Shadow World conversion of the races and a few of the already printed NPCs. Maybe even a couple of the critters from an adventure or two.
It may just be me but that would go a long way in allowing people currently playing with the old material to TRY to move forward to RMU.
That promotes RMU, not Shadow World per se.
I'll be honest, I'm not interested in RMU at all. Shadow World, on the other hand, is of interest to me, even as a system-agnostic setting (probably even more so as a system-agnostic setting).
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Promoting the game and primary setting ties together. If material going forward is to be RMU, that makes it easier to produce more content for SW. material that people will pick up and use needs setting, stats, critters, etc. so the RMU conversion is necessary to get there.
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Can you answer these without looking at the books?
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-questions/
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I'm curious to see if what I remember matches what other people say (and if I've gotten anything wrong). It was a fun exercise in any case.
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Attached is PT1 of my Shadow World Trivia test. I've included a scale for you to score yourself, or you can send me an answer sheet and I'll score it for you. Enjoy and Good Luck!!
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https://www.rolemasterblog.com/discussion-evil-and-the-anti-essaence-in-shadow-world/
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This is a Shadow World thread, but should we focus on the Rolemasterblog for this content? btw: chronicles of Kuor is upcoming!!
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So just self-checking my progress on a number of goals I posted "pre-covid":
FROM 2019:
So, while I appreciate I have a very small audience for my material I was hoping for some input on what I should finish up and post next. I have most of the work done, so it's a matter of focusing on one thing, finishing it and moving on to the next. Some choices:
1. Chapters 2-5 of Legends of Shadow World. Finished.
2. Mentalism spells for BASiL. Still working on this..but added a few.
3. Fully expanded material on Orhan religions and priesthood. Posted!
4. Book of Pales. (expanded material for the various demon realms with environmental rules and expanded bestiary) Published.
5. New adventures for Priest king of Shade. Done but not published.
6. d100 adventures at the Rolemasterblog. (Lair of Ozymandius & Tower of the Elephant) Published.
7. S.W.A.R.M. (Shadow World Alternative Role Master) Done but not published...not sure it's needed with RMU.
8. A huge SW edition of the Rolemasterblog Fanzine. (like issue #4 which is a top seller). Not even started, but waiting for SW/Terry estate to be clarified.
9. Empire of the Black Dragon. All about Ulya!!! done except for layouts.
10. The travelogue of Caylis Deveran. (a written account of travels throughout Kulthea). nothing except for what is already included in other works.
11. Shadow World Compendium. A revised master atlas which includes all of my material. Done. Not published due to IP issues.
12. Spell lists for various organizations in Shadow World. (Steel Rain, Orders, etc). A lot done. See forums or Rolemasterblog.
13. SW Channeling. Upcoming.
14. Nontataku. City of the Alliance. Forthcoming.
15. Agyra. NW, NW & SW. This is addition to Priest-King and finishes up the continent including the Cult of Dragons and Assassins of Shurgur.
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I've incorporated most of your Shadow World lore material as cannon in my campaigns.
On the other hand, I don't find the spells you have created match my gaming group style.
So my answer is clear, go for the flavor content. Describe cultures, history, artifacts, and suggest adventures. I'm sure to use all of that.
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Really hope that you can continue TKA awesome work.
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I will rate them from 1 (least desired) to 10 (most desired) - also, some questions about what something is, sorry buy it has been a while since I looked at this ;D ):
1. Chapters 2-5 of Legends of Shadow World. Finished.
?? Not exactly sure what this is, but if it is flavor material about different people, places and things of the world, then: 8
2. Mentalism spells for BASiL. Still working on this..but added a few.
6
3. Fully expanded material on Orhan religions and priesthood. Posted!
9 - This might play into the campaign I am putting together, where I expand the adventure Cult of the Third Moon* in the Jaiman sourcebook.
4. Book of Pales. (expanded material for the various demon realms with environmental rules and expanded bestiary) Published.
3
5. New adventures for Priest king of Shade. Done but not published.
Isn't this the one that isn't Shadow World? But you connect it with Agyra? 5
6. d100 adventures at the Rolemasterblog. (Lair of Ozymandius & Tower of the Elephant) Published.
2
7. S.W.A.R.M. (Shadow World Alternative Role Master) Done but not published...not sure it's needed with RMU.
7
8. A huge SW edition of the Rolemasterblog Fanzine. (like issue #4 which is a top seller). Not even started, but waiting for SW/Terry estate to be clarified.
4
9. Empire of the Black Dragon. All about Ulya!!! done except for layouts.
8
10. The travelogue of Caylis Deveran. (a written account of travels throughout Kulthea). nothing except for what is already included in other works.
5
11. Shadow World Compendium. A revised master atlas which includes all of my material. Done. Not published due to IP issues.
10
12. Spell lists for various organizations in Shadow World. (Steel Rain, Orders, etc). A lot done. See forums or Rolemasterblog.
9
13. SW Channeling. Upcoming.
8
14. Nontataku. City of the Alliance. Forthcoming.
7
15. Agyra. NW, NW & SW. This is addition to Priest-King and finishes up the continent including the Cult of Dragons and Assassins of Shurgur.
8 - a new place to explore would be great!
*I am turning it into a multi chapter campaign where the PCs uncover and must stop (or not, of course) Mara-sa from fully awakening the powers of the Amulet. (It will become a 70th level artifact with lots of powers and abilities, giving the forces of darkness a huge boost in strength.) It revolves around a massive ritual that she has to do, one that incorporates an "ingredient" geared to appease each of the Gods of Charon. Some more details about how they go about worshiping and what they (the Dark Gods) each find important could give me ideas on what "ingredients" could be needed.
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Thanks for this. It's helpful!!! OTOH, I thought the "Book of Pales" was a good addition for a number of reasons.
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A bit from the recent work:
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I have to say that more Mentalism love would not go amiss, especially given the amount of material you've put into Essence and Channeling. Thank you for all you do though!
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7. S.W.A.R.M. (Shadow World Alternative Role Master) Done but not published...not sure it's needed with RMU.
Personally I am about 50× more interested in SWARM than in RMU!
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In an attempt to keep Shadow World files in one place, I've attached a map put up by "Voriig Kye".
Pretty cool, and shows how a little customization can add to the SW work product!
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Oh, I have a few of those - of Uj. It's on a white map background. Maybe I'll post them in the future. I had one for each of the major powers in southwest Emer, if I remember well.
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Attached is Matt's (Vroomfogle) campaign notes from his SW "Legacy of the Y'kin" that we discussed at the Rolemasterblog. This was created using AI.
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/the-shadow-world-a-i-project/
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Just to be clear - the campaign doc was created with the help of AI. There were notes and I had some stuff already written. I used ChatGPT-4 to summarize text, in some cases from source books, or to expand upon some ideas to flesh them out more (as explained in the blog post).
Except for the map of Jaiman and a town map, all the images were created using Stable Diffusion, using DreamStudio.ai currently but working on running Stable Diffusion locally (it's open-source).
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I dislike that AI is going to put some artists out of business, but I am pretty stunned by the quality of the art that can be generated, as Matt's work here shows. The ability to have high-quality, realistic images of races and characters, and ones that have an internal consistency, is incredible.
I think I would pay a body part to get a SW Races guide with images like those for each SW race.
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I dislike that AI is going to put some artists out of business, but I am pretty stunned by the quality of the art that can be generated, as Matt's work here shows. The ability to have high-quality, realistic images of races and characters, and ones that have an internal consistency, is incredible.
I think I would pay a body part to get a SW Races guide with images like those for each SW race.
We are working on it...and you won't have to give up a body part since it will be a free download like the rest of our stuff.
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We are working on it...and you won't have to give up a body part since it will be a free download like the rest of our stuff.
That is something I will eagerly look forward to!
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Impressive stuff guys, I particularly like the Duranaki (looks like Sting in the Dune movie of 1984)
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Impressive stuff guys, I particularly like the Duranaki (looks like Sting in the Dune movie of 1984)
That's literally what someone in one of my groups said when I showed them the pic last Friday! Maybe they remember some of those other 'illustrations' in earlier editions of RM and SM.
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I've been reviewing some files and found a few charts that I never posted up. This one is suggested Patron gods for the various professions. I think I did this years before I expanded my SW Channelers guide so I'm not sure how relevant it is. Next to post up is my Master Navigator Pricing Chart.
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I never filled this in, but if someone wants to take a crack at it please do!
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Our transport cost chart including Navigator Services. Typically the Navigator will charge extra for various services during the trip (weather modification, passing through a Essaence Barrier etc) so it's "affordable" but can end up costing much more.
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Our transport cost chart including Navigator Services. Typically the Navigator will charge extra for various services during the trip (weather modification, passing through a Essaence Barrier etc) so it's "affordable" but can end up costing much more.
I thought the books list the costs as per person AND per 100lbs. Which dramatically changes a lot of those numbers.
/me still thinks navigator costs are too high for the merchant; so their only business would be adventurers... which makes no sense.
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Yes, we use different costs but they seem to work better. Taking the weight factor out makes sense for a merchant ship. They pay for the Navigator no matter their cargo load or the # of passengers but they will probably need extra services.
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Yes, we use different costs but they seem to work better. Taking the weight factor out makes sense for a merchant ship. They pay for the Navigator no matter their cargo load or the # of passengers but they will probably need extra services.
That seems like a really good idea.
Guidance in general doesn't need to be per person I think; or at least a smaller scaling factor. It never makes sense for a Navigator to charge for crew on a ship for instance. And then you can bump the base price. Suddenly overland transport makes sense for a group of merchants but expensive for PCs. Which is pretty much the goal right? Then we can have the Navigators pulling out a tax on all commercial traffic (and hence making a mint) while still being something the PCs may not want to hire or can't hire at low levels.
Of course things like Jumps are always going to be per person; and that makes perfect sense. Means the upsell is extremely lucrative.
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Those per-unit prices seem like they make a lot more sense for teleporting than for serving as a guide. Although that said, it's funny that it's cheaper to make the navigator travel with you potentially for weeks than to have them do a few minutes of work for a quick teleport.
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Terry wrote a very relevant conversation about the topic in The Loremaster Legacy (and The Shadowstone Chronicle before that):
The herbalist took the opportunity to press Tar-esiir about the Navigators and their sometimes-incomprehensible fees. “Forgive my ignorance, sir,” She leaned forward with a quick half-smile, “but it would seem to me more efficient for you and for your clients to simply teleport them to and fro, rather than you spending days or weeks aboard ship or leading caravans.”
Tar-esiir raised an eyebrow and swirled the wine in his glass, examining the liquid’s movements as if they had some secret meaning. “That would be true, if we were all equally capable of Jumping passengers any distance we pleased as often as we pleased, and if doing so did not cause perilous disturbances in the Flows.”
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Those per-unit prices seem like they make a lot more sense for teleporting than for serving as a guide. Although that said, it's funny that it's cheaper to make the navigator travel with you potentially for weeks than to have them do a few minutes of work for a quick teleport.
Now you have me thinking about the opportunity cost for Navigators _not_ jumping you.
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https://www.rolemasterblog.com/gming-navigators-in-your-shadow-world-campaign-stick-to-the-code-pt-2/
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Ok, so maybe one of the powers of the lesser compasses is the ability to contact a more senior navigator and let them know an extremely high-price teleport gig is requested. Otherwise they leave the low-level guys on the job.
It's possible extremely major teleports (ships etc) are achieved via ritual rather than spell.
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My first thought is that Navigation is Arcane. So there's access to all realms, which means there's access to Channels. Enhanced by the compasses, they way I see it Senior Guild stays in Nexus most of the time and when a Journeyer needs a big complex jump they ask for one and it gets channeled to them.
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My first thought is that Navigation is Arcane. So there's access to all realms, which means there's access to Channels. Enhanced by the compasses, they way I see it Senior Guild stays in Nexus most of the time and when a Journeyer needs a big complex jump they ask for one and it gets channeled to them.
Metallion???? Are you back in the forums? I have followed you for the last decade?!!
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Is there pop culture attributed to our world?
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/i-would-like-my-279million-please/
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My first thought is that Navigation is Arcane. So there's access to all realms, which means there's access to Channels. Enhanced by the compasses, they way I see it Senior Guild stays in Nexus most of the time and when a Journeyer needs a big complex jump they ask for one and it gets channeled to them.
Metallion???? Are you back in the forums? I have followed you for the last decade?!!
I've never left. There just hasn't been much to say.
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I have a homemade RM character generator Excel spreadsheet with RM2+Shadow world races, professions, spell lists and other stuff.
Is this useful for anyone I gladly attach it.
If this is approved I will edit this post to make an easy explanation of how to use it!
Hi, thanks for the sheet, but I could´t figure out how to use it? Is this a script to be started? Where is the page for input?
Thaanks
Micael
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We are posting up some Shadow World inspired artwork over at the Rolemasterblog. If you have any art/illustrations that you want to share, let us know!
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Starter post on AI and Shadow World languages:
https://www.rolemasterblog.com/shadow-world-ai-project-kugor/
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That is a super cool project! Those images are quite high quality.