Question for the masses...

[auyl]

So my company Solace Games, the company that produced Inhabitants of the Woods: Elves, is looking to start its next Legend compatible supplement and I was wondering what people would be most interested in of the options below.

I was thinking of the following:

1. A fantasy/horror campaign setting with new monsters, spells, heroic abilities etc.
2. A present day horror setting, see above.
3. A supplement on thieves with new cults, races, equipment etc.

What would you most like to see?

 

[strega]

A campaign.

 

[soltakss]

3 as I am not into horror games.

 

[tarkhan bey]

Either option 1 or 2 for me. I have no interest in Ultimate Character Class styled supplements.

 

[warlock1971]

I would also go for a campaign, unfortunately not on your list, so maybe a bit cheeky! :lol:

 

[Prime_Evil]

Interesting choice.

You'd need to provide more information about the kind of direction that you'd take a fantasy horror setting - are we talking something with a Ravenloft feel, a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay feel, or something else entirely?

A modern day horror campaign setting would be going head-to-head against Call of Cthulhu, which is very difficult to beat. Plus there are variants such as Cubicle 7's Laundry RPG and Delta Green that have the conspiracy angle covered. You could do a street-level urban horror game, but it's hard to pull that off without treading on White Wolf territory. But give me a gothic horror setting against a steampunk background and I'd be happy

 

[auyl]

Interesting choice.

You'd need to provide more information about the kind of direction that you'd take a fantasy horror setting - are we talking something with a Ravenloft feel, a Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay feel, or something else entirely?

A modern day horror campaign setting would be going head-to-head against Call of Cthulhu, which is very difficult to beat. Plus there are variants such as Cubicle 7's Laundry RPG and Delta Green that have the conspiracy angle covered. You could do a street-level urban horror game, but it's hard to pull that off without treading on White Wolf territory. But give me a gothic horror setting against a steampunk background and I'd be happy

The campaign setting would be a setting with all the classic fantasy feel such as elves, dragons, magic etc. but an evil empire known as Chaldea has waged war on the nations around them. The gods have also been cast out of their domains by a higher power.

It's more of a Midnight feel except the divine spells and abilities are still around and characters will be caught between a mortal and divine war.

 

[strega]

If you are going to do a campaign with all the usual tolkienish non-human races then count me out. If I wanted to play that sort of game I'd pick one of the OSR D&D packages.

When I play a Legend game I don't something that is churned out to mimic pseudo tolkien I want to play something in the style of Clark Ashton Smith - Zothique or Hyperboria.

Get rid of elves and dwarves and use something that is interesting and wondrous.

 

[Prime_Evil]

I don't know that the problem is so much with "the usual tolkienish non-human races" as the fact that many interpretations of them in RPGs are very lazy, using generic stereotypes that are three or four generations away from the original literary source material (let alone the medieval sources that inspired the literary sources). But it's entirely possible to go back to the original sources and create reinterpretations of those non-human races that are true to the material, but that also feel different to the generic versions that populate many fantasy RPGs.

I agree with you about a setting based on the works of Clark Aston Smith though - I'm a huge fan of his works and think that they don't get enough love from the RPG world.

 

[strega]

I've nothing against the original sources for elves and dwarves and am a big fan of Poul Andersen's take on them in books like Three Hearts and Three Lions etc. which are much closer to the source material. I just don't like the poorly written pastiches of pseudo tolkien that inhabit most fantasy rpg's.

If someone want's to offer material compatible with Legend then write for the style of game that Legend does well and not recycled D20 material with all the issues inherent with a level-based game being shoehorned into a skill-based system. If that material is stylistically compatible with Legend then have it properly written up by someone who knows the Legend ruleset. Darran/The Wolf will tell anyone that doing a conversion of the SGB material was helped by the input of the folks here who knew the system and he produced material that suited the Legend game system.

I have no idea why the OP thinks that to have a decent campaign they need imaginary races. Because the other game has them is hardly a good reason and one that too many fantasy RPGs fall in to. It seems like a cop out rather than inventing non-human alien creatures, even most humanoid creatures are simply reskinned tolkienish orcs in many RPG's

 

[auyl]

I've nothing against the original sources for elves and dwarves and am a big fan of Poul Andersen's take on them in books like Three Hearts and Three Lions etc. which are much closer to the source material. I just don't like the poorly written pastiches of pseudo tolkien that inhabit most fantasy rpg's.

If someone want's to offer material compatible with Legend then write for the style of game that Legend does well and not recycled D20 material with all the issues inherent with a level-based game being shoehorned into a skill-based system. If that material is stylistically compatible with Legend then have it properly written up by someone who knows the Legend ruleset. Darran/The Wolf will tell anyone that doing a conversion of the SGB material was helped by the input of the folks here who knew the system and he produced material that suited the Legend game system.

I have no idea why the OP thinks that to have a decent campaign they need imaginary races. Because the other game has them is hardly a good reason and one that too many fantasy RPGs fall in to. It seems like a cop out rather than inventing non-human alien creatures, even most humanoid creatures are simply reskinned tolkienish orcs in many RPG's

Okay, whoa, I never once said that in order to have a decent campaign I'd need those races. I was going to include them because that's the kind of fantasy I like. Don't get me wrong, there is lots of excellent fantasy out there that does not have those races, but the OP was sent out has a question about what people thought.

I'm sorry you feel that way and I was not going to include them just because other games do. Please don't jump to conclusions about why I wanted to include certain elements. That being said I don't feel I was "coping" out just because I was writing the type of fantasy I enjoy.

 

[Nickbergquist]

I'd be keen on options 1 and 3....if I want modern I have BRP and other systems for that.

 

[Tias]

One as well as three. I do my settings (and my campaigns) from the ground up, so I'd mostly be interested in new skills and heroic abilities, or new takes on, for instance, thieves.

I don't pay for campaigns - no offense, but I like full creative control over the plot as GM.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

If you want original races have a look at 'Flynn's guide to Alien Creation'.

It's written for 'Traveller', but there are certainly 'Traveller' to percentile conversion guides out on the web... although it's best use for 'Legend' is as a source for sparking ideas as to how strange you can go.

 

[danskmacabre]

Option 1, fantasy horror.