Fantasy Europe

R

RosenMcStern

Mongoose
I am going to self-publish a booklet about a Fantasy Europe setting. The manuscript is complete and currently undergoing proofreading, so I plan to release it at the Tentacles convention, where I shall also run one or two playtest session.

I'll have a bunch of printed copies at Tentacles, but not lots of them. If you are really interested in the book and will be at Tentacles, or have a friend who will attend, please drop me a PM on this forum, so that I can carry more printed copies with me if there are many requests. The book will still be available via Lulu after the Con, so this is just for your convenience if you are Fantasy Middle Ages fans.

The book will contain:
- background for thirteenth century Europe
- rules for Christian and Muslim Characters
- Knights Templars
- Monks and Friars
- sorcery-using character generation
- creatures from medieval folklore (angels, devils, djinni, incubi)
- some new skills and spells
- advanced rules for languages and literacy
- pre-generated characters
- two ready-to-play scenarios

Total of 96 pages, softcover, 50% rules and background and 50% scenarios.

Presumable price 12,00 EUR.
 
Sounds good to me, any chance of a pdf version..they are all i buy these days...singular lack of physical space.
 
What will the mix of history and fantasy be? Will the setting be mainly historically accurate, with the addition of magic and monsters? Or will there be some element of alternate reality as in the old Avalon Hill setting, where cultures from different eras were mixed and matched?
 
It is historicaly accurate, but there is room for anachronism in everyone's personal campaign. I do not think that Avalon Hill's Fantasy Europe mixed cultures from different eras, though. It was just set in a historical period when elements of the Roman Era were still abundant in the Middle Ages.
 
I'm proofreading it at the moment.

It's based in Central/Southern Europe - around the Holy Roman Empire. It has a bit of background, but not as much as, say, Mythic Russia. It does have equipment lists, rules for spell use and so on, which would fit any Medieval game.

It sems to be historically solid, not too much magic but enough for playable purposes. It is very much in the campaign-development camp, I think, where you develop the campaign around the politics of the era.

The beauty of that kind of era is that you could produce sourcebook after sourcebook without too much effort as you write up each of the cultures and introduce more scenarios.

All in all, it is a good Fantasy Medieval Europe setting, compatible with Mythic Russia and good for post-Crusader gaming.
 
soltakss said:
I'm proffreading it at ther moment.

It's based in Central/Southern Europe - around the Holy Roman Empire. It has a bit of background, but not as much as, say, Mythic Russia. It does have equipment lists, rules for spell use and so on, which would fit any Medieval game.

It sems to be historically solid, not too much magic but enough for playable purposes. It is very much in the camapaign-development camp, I think, where you develop the campaign arround the politics of the era.

The beauty of that kind of era is that you could produce sourcebook after sourcebook without too much effort as you write up each of the cultures and introduce more scenarios.

All in all, it is a good Fantasy Medieval Europe setting, compatible with Mythic Russia and good for post-Crusader gaming.
Click to expand...

Sounds very much like Ars Magica. Except for the lesser focus on magic and magicians, what's the main setting difference?
 
What was the design decision behind choosing a medieval rather than ancient setting? Just a personal preference, but I always felt more at home with 'ancient' civilisations in fantasy settings. It seems easier (to me) to slot fantastic elements such as monters and magic into the many and varied cultures and religions without having to make too many changes to the same. Introducing real magic into a large, monotheist empire calls for a lot of juggling to avoid undermining the power of religions like christianity and islam in that kind of setting.

I'm not being picky, by the way, I'd just like to know the thinking behind the setting. :wink:
 
I have also played semi-historical ancient time campaigns, and this kind of setting is nice, too. As for monsters, do not forget that medieval bestiaries are full of the weirdest sorts of creatures, even more than classical mythology. Honestly, I had to make very little changes to both RuneQuest magic and real history to make them mingle: just give Divine Magic to priests and imams and sorcery/rune magic to wizards, who are not allowed to practice any magic but astrology in public, and there you go.

I'll release a preview somewhere next week, however, so you can get an idea of how it works.
 
soltakss said:
I'm proffreading it at ther moment.

It's based in Central/Southern Europe - around the Holy Roman Empire. It has a bit of background, but not as much as, say, Mythic Russia. It does have equipment lists, rules for spell use and so on, which would fit any Medieval game.

It sems to be historically solid, not too much magic but enough for playable purposes. It is very much in the camapaign-development camp, I think, where you develop the campaign arround the politics of the era.
Click to expand...

I hope that your proofreading is better for the ms than your post! :lol:
 
RosenMcStern said:
I have also played semi-historical ancient time campaigns, and this kind of setting is nice, too. As for monsters, do not forget that medieval bestiaries are full of the weirdest sorts of creatures, even more than classical mythology. Honestly, I had to make very little changes to both RuneQuest magic and real history to make them mingle: just give Divine Magic to priests and imams and sorcery/rune magic to wizards, who are not allowed to practice any magic but astrology in public, and there you go.

I'll release a preview somewhere next week, however, so you can get an idea of how it works.
Click to expand...

Thats true. Even though already Herodotes mentioned creepy monsters like the Kynokephaloi, the thought that every being in nature had an "intermediate" (the way taht kynokephaloi are halway human, halfway dog) is good breeding ground for fantasy. I hope you let yourself be inspired by that erudite compatriot of you, Umberto Eco. :) Especially in Baudolino and Name of the Rose of course.
 
For your happiness, I just finished wriying the "Suggested movies" list, that was the last paragraph of the book. As you can imagine, The Name of the Rose is among them. Although the book is far better than the movie. :wink:
 
RosenMcStern said:
For your happiness, I just finished wriying the "Suggested movies" list, that was the last paragraph of the book. As you can imagine, The Name of the Rose is among them. Although the book is far better than the movie. :wink:
Click to expand...

It is.

I wish I could read italian, since that would probably make the latin passages more intertwined with the text. As it is, latin and swedish makes for more of a clash :/ ah well, yet another good reason to learn italian.... 8) Am I to take it then that the setting will be Eco-esque?
 
Etepete said:
Am I to take it then that the setting will be Eco-esque?
Click to expand...

Erm, in fact I wrote a new spell, named Eloquence, just to replicate the theological dispute between Franciscans and Domincans in "The Name of the Rose" :roll:
 
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