Lankhmar Questions

S

sidkfjjteidlkkf

Mongoose
Hey Guys (Gals), I have all the current Runequest books out. I decided to order Lankhmar. Personally, I will probably play in that setting (my players are asking).

Any way, I ordered the book from FRP Games, and not being able to find any reviews on it, can someone tell me three things:

How is the magic different?

What are the cults like, in the AD&D Version, there were no priests, anyone could serve the god with the advantages...

Are all the current types of magic usable in the setting?

Thanks
 
Magic in Lankhmar is pretty neat actually, it's one of the bits I realy like about the main book. Here's a link to my review of the Black Magic rules.
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=24588&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

Cults in Lankhmar don't realy give you all that much of an advantage magicaly speaking. There are no divine spells only Divine interventions. At the most cults give you character some background flavor and maybe some skill bonuses. Magic wise, black magic is the only form of magic in the setting; although rare white magic wouldn't be too out of Character.
 
Cults in Lankhmar seem to be of two types:
1. Con-jobs raised by individuals with the sole intent of getting as many suckers to worship them. No real benefits except what other cultists can teach.
2. Cults of the Undead lords of Lankhmar who live in a great temple and come out to play when things get really, really bad. Once again, they don't teach much.

The jump from 1 to 2 is incredibly difficult, but can be done.

Basically, RQ-style cults just don't work in Lankhmar.
 
Magic is basically sorcery with some added bits to make it feel right. Its very cool really. Characters in Lankhmar dont really cast a lot of spells though. Its more sword than sorcery
 
CthulhuFnord said:
parejf63 said:
Got the book, but rather dissapointed in it.
Click to expand...

Realy how so?
Click to expand...

Well, I thought it would really have more Rules specifically fior the system. More armour, weapons, and stuff like that. not really impressed with the amount of spells that were there, and there coud have been more Monsters.

I did like the corruption and the Black Magic, but in all, It did have not what I anticipated it would have..
 
Im not sure what weapons and armour you'd want, thats not already in Runequest ?

I would have liked more spells though. 8-10 would have been nice
 
weasel_fierce said:
Im not sure what weapons and armour you'd want, thats not already in Runequest ?

I would have liked more spells though. 8-10 would have been nice
Click to expand...

Well, in particular, I was thinking on the lines of ghoul armor. SInce they are essentialy cannibals, some bone & Human (Monster) hide armour and weapons (bone & SHide) would have been cool, and spells devoloped by the ghouls.

In all, it was a great book, just not what I anticipated.
 
It was pretty heavy on the setting and light on the mechanics. I was suprised at the lack of Black Magic Spells, Enchanted Items, NPCS and Monsters myself. I however knew next to nothing about the setting despite being a big Sword and Sorcery fan. The excellent black magic rules were the icing on the cake for me.
 
parejf63 said:
Well, in particular, I was thinking on the lines of ghoul armor. SInce they are essentialy cannibals, some bone & Human (Monster) hide armour and weapons (bone & SHide) would have been cool, and spells devoloped by the ghouls.
Click to expand...

I know Lankhmar like the back of my hand. When writing the book, I had a simple goal in mind: if it was in the stories, I wanted it in the book if word count allowed for it.

What I didn't want to do - and what I think I achieved (to the disappointment of some) - was to invent anything. I'm an imaginative guy. I know how to invent cool stuff. But with source material like that, I wanted to treat it as respectfully as possible, and tread on no toes.

And the stories, bless them to bits, do have very few spells in them, and not much in the way of a plethora of monsters, either.

Glad you liked it, even if it wasn't what you were expecting. :)
 
Dead Blue Clown said:
parejf63 said:
Glad you liked it, even if it wasn't what you were expecting. :)
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Click to expand...

Sorry goofed on the last one :lol:

You did a GREAT JOB, and I know from experience you cannot please everyone, so at a point, we have to stop trying...

If we each did a project on ONE topic, it would be amazing how many different ways they turn out...
 
Dead Blue Clown said:
I know Lankhmar like the back of my hand. When writing the book, I had a simple goal in mind: if it was in the stories, I wanted it in the book if word count allowed for it.

What I didn't want to do - and what I think I achieved (to the disappointment of some) - was to invent anything. I'm an imaginative guy. I know how to invent cool stuff. But with source material like that, I wanted to treat it as respectfully as possible, and tread on no toes.

And the stories, bless them to bits, do have very few spells in them, and not much in the way of a plethora of monsters, either.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the right way to write a RPG book based on a specific setting to me. When I buy a game based on a certain setting that I am fond of, I want to be able to recreate that setting, and expect the rules to make that possible. I want the book to be true to the source material rather than use the source material as a background for some new stuff, no matter how intriguing or innovative. Some speculative expansion is probably unavoidable, but I prefer any original species, cultures, kingdoms, and the like to be held back for latter supplements, and noted as being original creations.


P.S. > It's nice to see DBC posting again.
 
Hey Aaron,

Just popping in to say well done for the work on Lankhmar. My only real disappointments were the lack of familiars such as Slivikin, the lack of the spell needed to summon a swarm of rats, and the lack of Snow Women magic, but those are minor issues.

cheers!
Colin
 
C. Chapman said:
Hey Aaron,

Just popping in to say well done for the work on Lankhmar. My only real disappointments were the lack of familiars such as Slivikin, the lack of the spell needed to summon a swarm of rats, and the lack of Snow Women magic, but those are minor issues.

cheers!
Colin
Click to expand...

I think I put Snow Women magic in Nehwon (it's been a while, sorry...) and... Damn, I'd have loved to do familiars in there, too. Nehwon got eaten up by the beginnings of my grand-planned adventure, but damn...good point, C.

Also, thanks. I appreciate you taking the time to pop in and say that, mate.
 
Lankhmar is a really good supplement and very true to the stories. Curious to know the origins of the map - it was clearly based on the one that TSR used, as was Nehwon. Why did you opt not to include a poster version, or will one be available at some point? I know it creates stasis, but roleplaying cities need big poster maps...especially when the city itself is a character in the campaign...

(That old D&D supplement, apart from being disastrous in the editing dept, was one of the most playable cities I know, and the maps were superb. The kind of map that makes players think "that looks interesting, we'll go there".)

The art was cool - Fafhrd and GM looked excellent.

Why Grey Mouser and not Gray? Defeated by software? Nitpicking, I know...

Very, very good though. Will be buying Nehwon when I see it...
 
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