Sheoloth: Legend conversion (Completed - now in editing)

[The Wolf]

Well, I can't say too much about this to begin with until more is clarified. But I'll be working on a 230-250 page city setting book which will expand into a few other things down the line. Expect new Professions, perhaps new Backgrounds, new magic and the kind of things that I was able to do for Spider God's Bride.

This might also be my chance to pitch a specific Bestiary down the line and get some old-school monsters into Legend with my own spin. I have purposely not looked at a lot of third party content in that regard, since as much as I admire other people's work - I don't want to draw from their ideas (or be accused of copying their content).

I plan to sink my teeth into Legend whilst I wait for any other Spider God's Bride work to pop my way!

I will be keeping folks appraised though, like I did with the last 3 Spider God's Bride books!

Darren!

Edit: I've updated the title to include the name of the project now.

 

[warlock1971]

Great to hear Darren!

 

[Prime_Evil]

Interesting. Will this still have a swords & sorcery feel or are you aiming for something else this time around?

 

[The Wolf]

This one will be a fantasy themed setting, I doubt S&S would work for it. I have a few plans in that regard myself - later down the line

 

[Prime_Evil]

So this is more of a traditional fantasy setting then?

Personally, I'd love to see something like the old Judge's Guild City-State of the Invincible Overlord and City-State of the World Emperor for Legend - that'd be awesome. Most other D&D cities - including Waterdeep and Greyhawk - have left me a bit cold. I did like what Gary Gygax was doing with Yggsburg at the time of his death, but that project will sadly never be finished now.

 

[Deathdealer]

This one will be a fantasy themed setting, I doubt S&S would work for it.

Too bad, no interest in this one.

I have a few plans in that regard myself - later down the line

I might be interested in that though.

If they cannot do more with Xoth, then they need to come up with a sword & sorcery setting of their own instead of doing another insipid elves&dwarves&orcs setting. Legend and Sword & Sorcery go together extremely well. Mongoose should be exploiting this rather that trying to be the thousandth hog at the D&D/generic fantasy trough.

 

[strega]

Blame Dave Arneson. Gary was a huge S&S fan but Dave was a massive Tolkien fanboi and wanted elves, dwarves and hobbits in their game so we've been plagued with the obnoxious creatures ever. since.

 

[Ultor]

So this is more of a traditional fantasy setting then?

Personally, I'd love to see something like the old Judge's Guild City-State of the Invincible Overlord and City-State of the World Emperor for Legend - that'd be awesome. Most other D&D cities - including Waterdeep and Greyhawk - have left me a bit cold. I did like what Gary Gygax was doing with Yggsburg at the time of his death, but that project will sadly never be finished now.

+1

Heck, +1000000

 

[Prime_Evil]

I still think that the map from the original City-State of the Invincible Overlord was one of the best maps ever produced for ANY RPG. It managed to be extremely functional and aesthetically pleasing, with just the right amount of detail to give the GM something to work with - without limiting their ability to improvise new material on the fly. Brilliant stuff.

The primary inspiration for the city-state was obviously Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar, which is still the finest urban setting in traditional fantasy (even if it is sadly unknown by most gamers nowadays). I suspect that this influence loomed large over Gygax's Greyhawk, but we'll never know for sure. There is evidence that Ed Greenwood's Waterdeep was a different place in his home campaign to what appeared in print - during the second edition AD&D days, TSR management toned down the darker elements of that setting and turned it into a fantasy Disneyland...

What I'd love to see is a city that combines the feel of Shadizar the Wicked from Robert E. Howard's Conan stories with the depth of Leiber's Lankhmar, with some additional influences from the Low Canal Cities of Leigh Brackett's Mars (esp. Jekkara and Kahora) and the Northwest Smith stories of C.L Moore. And it would need to have sinister necromantic cults influenced by Clark Ashton Smith for good measure. Is this the kind of thing that would appeal to anyone else?

 

[Prime_Evil]

Blame Dave Arneson. Gary was a huge S&S fan but Dave was a massive Tolkien fanboi and wanted elves, dwarves and hobbits in their game so we've been plagued with the obnoxious creatures ever. since.

There's nothing quite like a plague of hobbits....

(Hmmm...now I'm imagining a group of cannibalistic hobbits who arrive in a rural area and devour most of the inhabitants before moving on to the next village...lol)

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

I used to allow players to roll-up Hobbit/Haefling/Gnomeoid characters, but their horror when the local NPCs immediately slaughtered them as "Devil-spawn" sadly caused me to eventually ban them as a player option.

 

[RangerDan]

(Hmmm...now I'm imagining a group of cannibalistic hobbits who arrive in a rural area and devour most of the inhabitants before moving on to the next village...lol)

Ever played the Dark Sun setting?

 

[The Wolf]

So this is more of a traditional fantasy setting then?

Personally, I'd love to see something like the old Judge's Guild City-State of the Invincible Overlord and City-State of the World Emperor for Legend - that'd be awesome. Most other D&D cities - including Waterdeep and Greyhawk - have left me a bit cold. I did like what Gary Gygax was doing with Yggsburg at the time of his death, but that project will sadly never be finished now.

Yeah, Gary had some good things going on there. I'm all for interesting settings and I'm not a huge fan of the recycled D&D tropes at all. I am a fan of Lankhmar however, and the Robert L. Asprin - Thieves World setting aka Sanctuary.

Those were big influences when I was younger.

 

[The Wolf]

(Hmmm...now I'm imagining a group of cannibalistic hobbits who arrive in a rural area and devour most of the inhabitants before moving on to the next village...lol)

Ever played the Dark Sun setting?

Funny you should mention Dark Sun, considering I'm involved in the spiritual successor to that called: Dragon Kings.

 

[RangerDan]

Ah yeah Darren I had spotted your name on the Kickstarter page.

I'm intrigued, though I don't actually play any of the supported game systems. I guess you're in for 13th Age, or is there some secret d100 support planned as well?

(As a side-note, it seems like an attractive print product, but $35 shipping to the EU for a single 160-page book is pretty steep. I've gotten books twice that size for half the shipping cost).

 

[The Wolf]

13th Age, and I know what you mean RangerDan - the pledge levels are a mystery to me but that's not where I have any say at all.

 

[RangerDan]

13th Age, and I know what you mean RangerDan - the pledge levels are a mystery to me but that's not where I have any say at all.

Right, and I think that may be my concern with it. I'm intrigued by the idea of a spiritual successor to Dark Sun (I had a lot of fun in that setting), but my impression is that this KS focuses more on aspects that interest me less (like the music). Ultimately I don't think I'll be able to justify the expense.
I do wish the Kickstarter success though, and judging by what they're doing in only a few days I think they'll smash their goals.

 

[The Wolf]

Well, the World Book will be an interesting thing to see and the new pledge levels aimed at gamers are certainly more in line with the kind of thing I like.

I think the 13th Age goal will be met, that's where I come in.

Then there's my own 13th Age related projects, including one which does have S&S elements.

I might have a word with Matt down the line and see if he wants a Legend conversion.

Darren

 

[The Wolf]

What's happening with this new thing then, well, I can tell you so far that the core text has already been written way down the line. So rather like Spider God's Bride this is more a conversion of a huge project that Matt has in the dark laybrinth of Mongoose Towers.

It's rather subterreanean in origin and has a pretty neat flavour to it. I won't be writing much in the way of flavour text, not for most of the city design. There's a ton of that already, what I'll be doing is coming up with a way to Legend-i-fy what's there and present options for Legend players.

Imwi Lusakras (drow/Noble Warrior/Veteran) lives in this ward, far from the centre of the city where she can indulge her penchant for lustful violence and where disappearing young drow are not missed. She controls the operations of the Network in the Sun Gate and deals efficiently with orcs, hobgoblins, and even the brutal bugbears. Imwi now lounges within her home, luring paramours to their doom in between trade meetings with the surface dwellers she despises.

For example.

 

[Prime_Evil]

Are we talking about a conversion of Sheoloth????

Wow...