Arcania of Legend: The Four Elemental Ways
- Thread starter DamonJynx
- Start date
Being laid out right now, expect to see it later this week!
Prime_Evil
Emperor Mongoose
Very nice. It's been a while since the last core release for Legend. Does this mean that there is more on the horizon? 8)
Well...I hope so. I've just started on a Cities of Legend title. Hopefully, all things going well, I can turn that around in a month or two. Unfortunately, unlike Darren, I have a boss who expects me to do stuff for him for at least 8-9 hours per day-why, I have no idea, possibly something to do with the money he pays me. And then I have some other personal things I'm committed to (or is that, I should be committed for?), so I don't have as much spare time as I'd like to work on these projects.
That being said, the fact that this book is in layout without Matt sending it back for changes indicates the quality of my work to be at the very least, acceptable. As long as I maintain the same standard throughout whatever projects Matt sends my way, I'll be working on the Legend line along with Darren. I'm not quick but I'll get there in the end, so expect more from me.
That being said, the fact that this book is in layout without Matt sending it back for changes indicates the quality of my work to be at the very least, acceptable. As long as I maintain the same standard throughout whatever projects Matt sends my way, I'll be working on the Legend line along with Darren. I'm not quick but I'll get there in the end, so expect more from me.
Prime_Evil
Emperor Mongoose
Good news! Also, keep in mind that even if there are problems with the book at the time of release, one advantage of the PDF format is that it is usually trivial to update the text as errata are submitted...
Prime_Evil said:
Indeed - however, we were very, very impressed with the level of DamonJynx's work on this book, which made it a breeze to go through! It is in layout now and should appear before the end of the week!
alex_greene
Guest
Sounds as if he learned some valuable lessons from The Blood Path, and run with the ball from there.
Bifford
Banded Mongoose
I long ago unofficially adopted Legend on the RPGGeek website, and I've now officially signed up to let the news crew know about any future Legend news. Last weeks news-round-up on the Geek included the Sheoloth release and future releases info, and i've just sent word about this lovely news to them.
So if Matt or any of you other lovely people ever want to get some news to the Geek team please PM or post to me the info!
Sam / Bifford
So if Matt or any of you other lovely people ever want to get some news to the Geek team please PM or post to me the info!
Sam / Bifford
Lord High Munchkin
Mongoose
Some Greek systems had five elements... Aristotle for example.
Prime_Evil
Emperor Mongoose
The book not only covers the four elements of RPG tradition, but also alternate schemes such as the Aristotlean conception of the elements, the Chinese (Taoist) conception of the elements and even the Aztec conception of the elements.
I've only skimmed through the book so far, but a couple of things jump out at me...
Firstly, it contains a generic version of the rules for summoning and binding elementals from the Elric RPG and releases them as OGC. This was a pleasant surprise!
If you are looking at building our own Swords and Sorcery campaign where summoned elemental entities are more common than fireballs and similar "heavy artillery" spells, this book should contain plenty of material for you. The section on the Elemental Courts blends concepts derived from Mooorcock with concepts derived from D&D to surprisingly good effect.
The Elemental Lore chapter is truly excellent, but probably should have been near the front of the book to provide a conceptual overview of the material covered by the book.
So far, the only issue that has jumped out at me is the difference in tone between the material adapted from older d20 source material and the new material written for this book - one shows a strong D&D influence while the other draws more upon the Runequest / Stormbringer / BRP tradition. However, this is a relatively minor complaint in the scheme of things
Hopefully we'll see more from Jim soon!
I've only skimmed through the book so far, but a couple of things jump out at me...
Firstly, it contains a generic version of the rules for summoning and binding elementals from the Elric RPG and releases them as OGC. This was a pleasant surprise!
If you are looking at building our own Swords and Sorcery campaign where summoned elemental entities are more common than fireballs and similar "heavy artillery" spells, this book should contain plenty of material for you. The section on the Elemental Courts blends concepts derived from Mooorcock with concepts derived from D&D to surprisingly good effect.
The Elemental Lore chapter is truly excellent, but probably should have been near the front of the book to provide a conceptual overview of the material covered by the book.
So far, the only issue that has jumped out at me is the difference in tone between the material adapted from older d20 source material and the new material written for this book - one shows a strong D&D influence while the other draws more upon the Runequest / Stormbringer / BRP tradition. However, this is a relatively minor complaint in the scheme of things
Hopefully we'll see more from Jim soon!
Thanks Prime_Evil.Prime_Evil said:
I can only take so much credit though. The material from the original authors was excellent. The hardest part for me was in translating/converting the D20 mechanics to work with Legend. At the time of writing my intent wasn't to create an OGL version of the summoning & binding rules found in the Elric books but now that you mention it, it's pretty obvious I was highly influenced by them.
Prime_Evil
Emperor Mongoose
DamonJynx said:
It's not a bad thing by any means - the new version is close enough to the Elric rules to be familiar, but different enough to be interesting in its own right. For my own games, I'm interesting in integrating them with the summoning rules already released in Blood Magic to create a definitive summoning system...
alex_greene
Guest
When I heard that it was now available, I got it downloaded as soon as I could.
I've just downloaded the book and am skimming through it now. Page 14 and 16 show the cycle of elements and talk about how an Elementalist can never use his opposing element, and the text uses the example of a Fire Elementalist who can never learn water magics. All fair enough, except the picture of the cycle doesn't have water opposing fire, it is adjacent. In the image, Earth opposes Fire. Indeed, instead of the traditional Fire vs Water, Air vs Earth the model shows Fire vs Earth and Air vs Water.
Which is correct, the text example, or the image?
Some other questions - You said previously you included element specific wrack spells. I can see them for Fire and Air, the easy ones to imagine. earth is listed as teaching Wrack, but with no energy form associated, and where is Water's?
Why offer Form/Set to only earth and Water? Form/Set (fire) and Form/Set (air) would be very effective spells.
Where's the Desiccate spell?
Reviewing the elemental Mastery skill uses, it appears that almost all the effects described can be done with pre-existing spells, mainly uses of Fly or animate and Form/Set. The ability to Create elements for use with other spells is very handy, and an ability to transform into another element or adopt some of its characteristics, for purposes of travel, is also neat. However Air Propulsion is such a good weapon, denying its targets a resist roll, I would ban it immediately. Pick your targets, cast the skill, and lift them up to your maximum height before cutting off the ability and allowing them to fall to Earth. With a skill of 41-50% that would inflict 3d6 damage on 3 random locations on each target, with no opportunity to resist!
The book is definitely a neat idea, but may I suggest if updating it, you consider and include discussions of the tactical uses of all 4 element's Form/Set and Animate spells, along with an exploration of how different energies and concepts could be used to apply Wrack to all of the elements?
Which is correct, the text example, or the image?
Some other questions - You said previously you included element specific wrack spells. I can see them for Fire and Air, the easy ones to imagine. earth is listed as teaching Wrack, but with no energy form associated, and where is Water's?
Why offer Form/Set to only earth and Water? Form/Set (fire) and Form/Set (air) would be very effective spells.
Where's the Desiccate spell?
Reviewing the elemental Mastery skill uses, it appears that almost all the effects described can be done with pre-existing spells, mainly uses of Fly or animate and Form/Set. The ability to Create elements for use with other spells is very handy, and an ability to transform into another element or adopt some of its characteristics, for purposes of travel, is also neat. However Air Propulsion is such a good weapon, denying its targets a resist roll, I would ban it immediately. Pick your targets, cast the skill, and lift them up to your maximum height before cutting off the ability and allowing them to fall to Earth. With a skill of 41-50% that would inflict 3d6 damage on 3 random locations on each target, with no opportunity to resist!
The book is definitely a neat idea, but may I suggest if updating it, you consider and include discussions of the tactical uses of all 4 element's Form/Set and Animate spells, along with an exploration of how different energies and concepts could be used to apply Wrack to all of the elements?