Darklands Artwork?

[hal]

I just got my Darklands book. Looks great but unless I missed something, except for the two maps and the flags, there is not a single piece of interior art in this 160 pages book. At US$20, a few pieces don't seem like a big ask, especially as this RPG is partially designed to bring young people into the hobby.

I am not expecting Dragon Warriors level of art but what we have seen in LW books so far has been OK. I hope this is not the start of a trend.

 

[Zager Krahl]

Rather no art than the "art" that went into the d20 version of the book...

 

[August1]

Heh, hey now. A few of the pieces in the d20 book were pretty decent. Play nice.

-A

 

[Pathwalker]

Well, I've got to admit that I somewhat agree with both viewpoints here. While for the most part I did not really like the style of the art in the D20 version, at least there was plenty of it. I have really enjoyed the art in the rest of the MPRPG books - especially the cover of Heroes of Magnamund - and would have liked to have seen more in the new Darklands book.

 

[hal]

Whilst I am not supportive of bad art, I am aware that the quality of art is subjective. The presence of art is important for an RPG aimed at a younger audience and I think even the d20 Darklands art would have been a better option to help break up what is essentially 160 pages of text.

The absence of art is a glaring ommission as it is different from the industry norm. I understand that Lone Wolf may not be a hugely popular licence (the higher price point on LW books compensates that to some extent already IMO) but comparable licences (Dragon Warriors, Fabled Lands) manage to illustrate their books to some extent.

 

[onelostroad]

I've got to say that the overall quality of the Darklands book is amazing. I don't miss the interior art at all. If it meant they were going to get to stuff in a few more domain descriptions or darklord write-ups I'd forgo the art in a second.

EXCELLENT job putting together the Darklands book, folks. By far the best LWM book to date.

 

[Zorkaan]

I've got to say that the overall quality of the Darklands book is amazing. I don't miss the interior art at all. If it meant they were going to get to stuff in a few more domain descriptions or darklord write-ups I'd forgo the art in a second.
EXCELLENT job putting together the Darklands book, folks. By far the best LWM book to date.

Well, I'm so happy to read that! We all worked very hard on it (even if there have been artwork omissions, unfortunately), I'm relieved by your compliments.. Thank you, Onelostroad !

Vincent Lazzari

 

[August1]

Indeed; very kind words. Make no mistake, Vincent and Joe deserve the lion's share of the accolades. I'm just glad you enjoyed the book!

-A

 

[Floribur]

Hum.
Please do not forget (again) August, who was the first author of this book.
Many important things were changed and added in this second edition, with a strong involvment of Joe himself, but August had already written an excellent basis, this sourcebook is for me one of the best published!

 

[Zorkaan]

That's right: August wrote the largest part of this book and he deserves most of the compliments!
And Floribur must not be forgotten too, as he substantially took part in the writing of some new parts of The Darklands and in the development of all the new geographic areas .

 

[Floribur]

That's right: August wrote the largest part of this book and he deserves most of the compliments!
And Floribur must not be forgotten too, as he substantially took part in the writing of some new parts of The Darklands and in the development of all the new geographic areas .

But August was right when he said Joe and you did most of the work on this 2nd edition. Nevertheless, there was a 1st edition before, that's what I wanted to say. :wink:

 

[August1]

Awh, heck; we all rock.

 

[Zager Krahl]

Why was the Giak naming convention changed for the geographical regions of the Darklands?

 

[Zorkaan]

In fact, the Giak naming convention is not applied to every region of the Darklands, only some of them like Gourizaga and Zutiznozaga used it. It can be easily explained because Giak is not the "primary" language of the Darklands. Indeed, the Giaks were created after the arrival of the Darklords in MS 3072, who have their own language: the Darke Tongue (LW5, section 289). The names of most of the regions of the Darklands are thus not in Giak language, but in Darke Tongue, named by the Darklords themselves.

 

[Floribur]

ZutZInozaga 8)
There are 2 other Giak named provinces too, introduced by Joe Dever himself on this second edition:
- Jegdazok ("the broken land", jeg+dazok (jeg is the verb take, but used as an adjective too with a different sense);
- and Iznogdazokim ("the dry lands", iznog+plural dazok form)

 

[Hellebore]

just received my copy of this book. Whilst the depth is great, the writing in some places isn't.

I don't see much proof reading going on because there is quite a lot of bad grammar and inappropriate word use in the book and not just simple stuff. It almost reads like a poor translation in some cases:

The moment a normal, or a not much powerful magical weapon hits a Darklord's flesh...

page 101 has a sentence under the "Darklords Weaknesses" that is over five lines long with five commas in it...

...Chlanzor rules a domain no one else and wields a power no one else would desire.

...they will cause 10 Endurance supplementary damages for each of the two next rounds of the combat, as a consequence of their venomous bite.

'their' can be used to represent a single person, but not normally in this context (Chlanzor's bite).

The sole Darklord whose the domain is located completely outside the borders of the Darklands,

This suspicion will probably be one of the reasons why the Lord of Kagorst will not succeed to Zagarna after his defeat.

Those are just a few of the many I noticed flicking through the Darklords section - and they are found across 4 pages. There are more on those pages.

I like the book, but I really can't see how such basic errors could get through editing/proofing...

Hellebore

 

[Oiseau]

I found a ton of these in Corruption of Ikaya too, including mention of the Fortress of Ikea. That gave me a good laugh (see page 4 last paragraph). Imagine the time it took to assemble that.

Another good one (p.39) : "A creature rubbed with the oil of the Baknar gains a cold to cold and does not suffer from the effect of cold for a period of 8 hours."

Or p.55 : If broken a bowl it will lose all its magical properties… although the it will take a strong blow…

Not to mention the slew of references to 1d6, 2d4, 1d3, etc, that haven't been changed from the original D&D ruleset and don't work with the Random Number Table.

There are plenty more, and some are found in the other books too. Even the new mini-adventures tacked on to the main collection aren't immune to these, although they come up less frequently.

 

[GreyLord]

Is there enough additional information above and beyond the D20 version of the Darklands to suggest someone who owns the D20 version get this version?

I'm not really interested in the rules so much as the fluff.

 

[Zorkaan]

just received my copy of this book. Whilst the depth is great, the writing in some places isn't.
I don't see much proof reading going on because there is quite a lot of bad grammar and inappropriate word use in the book and not just simple stuff. It almost reads like a poor translation in some cases:

Hi Hellebore. I wrote the sections you incriminate (the others authors of the book are not responsible for this!)... The only thing I can tell now is that I sincerely apologize. As you may not know, I'm French, and regardless of my passion for the LW Universe I have to shamefully admit I still make mistakes in English. There must have been a malfunctioning in the proof reading of the parts I wrote alone, sorry!!

At least, I'm happy that you appreciated the depth of the book, which, I think, uncovers many secrets of the Darklands, revealed by Joe Dever himself!!

Vincent Lazzari

 

[Zorkaan]

Is there enough additional information above and beyond the D20 version of the Darklands to suggest someone who owns the D20 version get this version?

I'm not really interested in the rules so much as the fluff.

Hi Grey Lord. I have already detailed what changed in the new version of The Darklands here: http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=48554&start=15