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Post by scalydemon on Sept 21, 2015 19:54:37 GMT -6
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2015 20:16:26 GMT -6
The question is, is there any solid collection of CAS' Averoigne stories? - I recall that the stories were sort of scattered over the different tomes that made for his collected works. I also recall that there was some sort of unauthorized/pirated edition out there that created some online hubbus, a few years ago.
Averoigne, as a setting, not bad, but Leslie Barringer's Neustrian Cycle is thematically somewhat similar, yet more easily accessible.
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Post by grodog on Sept 21, 2015 20:31:58 GMT -6
I don't know of a dedicated Averoigne collection, alas. It would be a great idea to thematically collect all of the stories, fragments, and poems/sculptures/drawings/paintings (if any) for the setting in one volume.
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Post by scalydemon on Sept 21, 2015 21:22:34 GMT -6
I have all the stories collected together in one volume and printed, and bound. (Sourced from eldritch dark). I enjoy it  Looking for attempts folks may have made to turn it into a fleshed out sandbox setting. There are some blog posts that Chris @ Hill Cantons blog made on this subject that are insightful as well as a DF thread (maybe in Workshop or in a discussion thread elsewhere about expanding X2 that had some decent thoughts and links). Could be made into 5 or 6 gaming sessions of fun if brought together properly and laid out |
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Post by tkdco2 on Sept 22, 2015 1:26:09 GMT -6
Averoigne would make a great setting. The clerics would have to be beefed up quite a bit, though.
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Post by Porphyre on Sept 22, 2015 11:04:56 GMT -6
The clerics would have to be beefed up quite a bit, though. Depends: in my recollection, the priests and monks of Averoigne are pretty ineffectual against eldritch horrors, ancient nécromancers, animated stone gargoyles etc. . |
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Post by tkdco2 on Sept 22, 2015 16:31:57 GMT -6
The clerics would have to be beefed up quite a bit, though. Depends: in my recollection, the priests and monks of Averoigne are pretty ineffectual against eldritch horrors, ancient nécromancers, animated stone gargoyles etc. . Exactly. So clerics (at least the adventuring ones) would need to be more capble against those creatures. Perhaps NPC clerics would still be helpless against them. Another idea would be to use LotFP, where only fighters improve in combat ability. The clerics in the stories would be low level (level 3 at the most), so their spell selection would be limited. |
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Post by scalydemon on Sept 22, 2015 19:47:12 GMT -6
Maybe a cataclysmic event could be still utilized as in X2 (but better)? - to still make it a somewhat temporary campaign setting (5-6 sessions or so). A medieval doomsday clock of sorts. There could also be a form of SAN check associated with the setting.
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Post by tkdco2 on Sept 22, 2015 21:46:10 GMT -6
Maybe a cataclysmic event could be still utilized as in X2 (but better)? - to still make it a somewhat temporary campaign setting (5-6 sessions or so). A medieval doomsday clock of sorts. There could also be a form of SAN check associated with the setting. The Masque of the Red Death setting for 2e had Fear, Terror, and Horror checks. Those could be incorporated into the campaign. |
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Keps
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by Keps on Oct 6, 2015 1:03:43 GMT -6
I always had the players stuck there in X2 for longer than you should. I made it Medieval/Horror, Knights v Werewolves. Cheers for bringing light to this spot Scott:)
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Post by Vile Traveller on Oct 6, 2015 8:38:06 GMT -6
I'd be okay with an ineffective clergy whose power is mainly political. Magic-users are shunned and feared, so they have little chance of rivalling them. You probably just wouldn't get many cleric PCs. Also, you can always include things that don't contradict the stories, so clerics could still have other powers like healing. That alone would net them a lot of friends and allies.
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Post by Porphyre on Oct 7, 2015 12:33:38 GMT -6
Seven Voyages of Zylarten might be a good rule set Averoigne , methinks...
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Post by stevemitchell on Oct 18, 2015 22:40:19 GMT -6
"I also recall that there was some sort of unauthorized/pirated edition out there that created some online hubbus, a few years ago."
I have a book called Tales of Averoigne, published in trade paperback by the Cerberus Gaming Combine of Portland, Oregon, that I suppose is the edition in question. It's a roughly 300-page collection, with Smith's original stories, some story fragments and plot summaries for Averoigne tales he did not complete, and several "tribute" stories by other writers using the Averoigne setting. I purchased this through Amazon.com, though it does not appear to be available from them anymore. I never heard of any controversy about this, and bought it in good faith from Amazon, assuming they had vetted its bona fides.
Incidentally, John Stater has just published a "Weird Fantasy Edition" of his Bloody Basic rules set, which would be just about perfect for gaming in Hyperborea or Zothique. The pdf is available from RPGNow.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2015 3:15:49 GMT -6
I think that book was the pirated edition, stevemitchell. I had some correspondence with the guys that run the CAS page, a few years back, and they warned me straight up. - Now, the question is, was the book any good, and, if so, why did it not get the authorization? If even William Hope Hodgson could get a solid complete edition, why is CAS' work such a mess? Not gonna rant, but the politics that go with modern copyright issues are beyond me, really. |
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Post by stevemitchell on Oct 19, 2015 9:21:55 GMT -6
From a professional standpoint, the book was very good--it looks as though it could have been published by, say, Miskatonic River Press or Hippocampus Press (although it did not have any of the scholarly apparatus one might have expected from the latter). But the stories, variants, plot summaries, etc, are all there, along with a decent overall book design.
Since there have been authorized collections of the Hyperborea and Zothique stories before--twice, in fact--I really don't know why a legal Averoigne volume can't be done. Good news for Clark Ashton Smith fans, though, is that the Night Shade Books collected Smith volumes are now being reprinted in paperback. The End of the Story is already out; The Door to Saturn will arrive in January. Presumably the others will be published later in 2016.
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Post by tkdco2 on Oct 20, 2015 0:01:10 GMT -6
I'd be okay with an ineffective clergy whose power is mainly political. Magic-users are shunned and feared, so they have little chance of rivalling them. You probably just wouldn't get many cleric PCs. Also, you can always include things that don't contradict the stories, so clerics could still have other powers like healing. That alone would net them a lot of friends and allies. I've been thinking that maybe the Cloistered Cleric from Dragon #68 would fit the monks of Averoigne. |
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Post by scalydemon on Oct 20, 2015 21:39:47 GMT -6
I saw this comment on a blog post from 2011:
"There exists a magazine devoted to CoC rpg (i can't recall the name right now), where they are trying to "build" the Averoigne setting."
Anyone know what the name of this magazine would be, and whether this came to fruition?
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Post by stevemitchell on Oct 20, 2015 22:21:25 GMT -6
This may be a reference to the Worlds of Cthulhu magazine. The first three issues (starting in 2004) had material for an Averoigne setting with the CoC rules. I don't know if any more material was published there.
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Post by Porphyre on Oct 23, 2015 0:58:05 GMT -6
Actually I'm pretty interested in the subject.
I would love to make a Averoigne adventure when my current pbp game will end, but I haven't give much though to it yet. It should brobably be a one-shot scenario using a level-less version of B/X edition, and it wouldn't be a re-enactment of X2 (to well known)
So,in your opinion, what elements would make a good Averoigne-game recipe ?
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Post by tkdco2 on Oct 23, 2015 14:42:59 GMT -6
For a one-shot game:
- Small area like a village or a single monastery.
- Single powerful monster, preferrably the type that likes to mess with the characters' minds.
- Low-level characters, but high enough to stand a chance against the monster (or the players will get frustrated).
- Gradual build of suspense; threat seems mundane at first, then supernatural elements creep in.
- Innocent victim in danger of being killed or corrupted.
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Post by Porphyre on May 12, 2016 16:00:09 GMT -6
I exhumate this thread after heving re-read Labyrinth-Lord scenario Blood Moon Rising and thinking it would make a good Averoinian history.
Now what we need is a good bunch of C.A.S-onian sounding names...
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Post by kesher on May 12, 2016 16:16:08 GMT -6
I exhumate this thread after heving re-read Labyrinth-Lord scenario Blood Moon Rising and thinking it would make a good Averoinian history. Now what we need is a good bunch of C.A.S-onian sounding names... What type of names? I'm deep into CAS right now... |
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Post by Porphyre on May 13, 2016 15:34:46 GMT -6
For Averoigne , we need some faux-french sounding names.
"Garanton" (the village named after a famous hero Garan) would become "Saint-Garaint" or "Garantlieu" for instance (but the second one seems a little dull for CAS, imho).
For character, the better is to look for ancient provençal names: Gaspard, Melchior Balthasar, Paraclet, Esprit , Sauvaire, Elzéar, Magdeleine , Isabeau, Jean, Peyron, Jacques (Jaume), André (Andrieu), Barthélémy (Barthomieu), Estiene, Honorat Boniface , Pancrace, Brancas, Benoît (Benezet), Cannat, Mitre, Abdon, Venture, Mayol, Eyriès, Armentary Réparate, Tulle
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Post by The Fiendish Dr. Samsara on May 24, 2016 18:10:35 GMT -6
Argh! There's a great blog that is exactly this: it's centered on the Abbey of Fausseflammes. And my brain is totally failing me in what it is called!
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2016 1:08:30 GMT -6
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Post by The Fiendish Dr. Samsara on May 25, 2016 10:11:39 GMT -6
Has anyone fleshed this out to any extent beyond what Castle Amber did? ! I can't believe how hard that was to remember. OK, technically, the place is Nightwick Abbey, but the setting is Averoigne. Great stuff. |
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Post by kesher on May 25, 2016 11:39:04 GMT -6
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akiyama
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by akiyama on Jul 12, 2016 16:21:58 GMT -6
Some of my disconnected thoughts on this . . . The Worlds of Cthulhu articles on Averoigne first suggest (in issue 1) that the time period for Averoigne should be between the late middle ages and the Rennaissance (i.e. circa 1450), then later state (in issue 4) that it is 1275. The Hundred Years War would also be an interesting period of French history, particularly in the post Black Death era (lots of social upheaval and brigandage). Bloody Basic: Sinew & Steel Edition is a very short OSR rules set for medieval settings. J D Jarvis wrote a Wandering Guard Table for it: aeonsnaugauries.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/storming-castle-wandering-guard-tables.htmlBurgs & Bailiffs: Hunger, Disease & the Law, and Burgs & Bailiffs: Warfare Too are free pdfs by Paolo Greco about the medieval D&D. tsojcanth.wordpress.com/category/burgs-bailiffs/Fief and Town by Lisa J. Steele are sourcebooks for role-players about life in the Middle Ages. www222.pair.com/sjohn/fief.htmAnd of course there's also A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe from Expeditious Retreat Press. In the Middle Ages there were no oil lanterns - and therefore no Molotov cocktails . . . This is an article on medieval lighting: www.markland.org/docs/lettherebelight.pdfFlavourful character classes: savevsdragon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/new-bxll-character-class-archer-rogue.htmlsavevsdragon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/new-bx-character-class-varlet.htmlsavevsdragon.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/new-bx-character-class-bard-version-i.htmlmatt-landofnod.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/taking-bite-out-of-dungeon.htmloldguardgamingaccoutrements.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/fighting-friar-will-beat-your-monk.htmlI totally agree about the Cloistered Cleric being a good character class for Averoigne (or at least, more in tune with the setting than the standard cleric). But I also like the idea of PC monks or friars who are Thieves or Magic-Users rather than Clerics. Alchemists, Cavaliars and Paladins, Necromancers, Witches, Mountebanks (from Adventures Dark & Deep), Demonolators (from BRW Games) and Occultists (from Fantastic Heroes and Witchery) might also make suitable characters or opponents. Castle Triskelion could be modified for a castle-based megadungeon. castletriskelion.blogspot.co.uk/The Gothic Sampler from Elfmaids and Octopi has lots of random tables for adding flavour to said megadungeon. elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.co.uk/p/downloads.htmlRuined castles need ghosts: swordsandstitchery.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/review-commentary-on-ghosts-incorporeal.htmlA Book of Wondrous Beasts is a collection of medieval monsters for OSR games. engineoforacles.wordpress.com/downloads/Of course Realms of Crawling Chaos would be a must-have. |
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akiyama
Level 4 Theurgist
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Post by akiyama on Jul 12, 2016 16:31:28 GMT -6
Possibly inspirational books and stories for a Medieval/Fantasy France setting:
Cabell, James Branch. “Poictesme” Series
Carey, Jacqueline. “Kushiel” Series
Kay, Guy Gavriel. A SONG FOR ARBONNE
Moore, C. M. “Jirel of Joiry” Series
Perrault, Charles. TALES OF MOTHER GOOSE
Rabelais, Francois,. GARGANTUA AND PANTAGRUEL
Cornwell, Bernard. “Grail Quest” Series
Druon, Maurice. “Les Rois Maudits” Series
Haasse, Hella S. IN A DARK WOOD WANDERING
Froissart, Jean. CHRONICLES
Gies, Joseph and Frances. LIFE IN A MEDIEVAL CITY; LIFE IN A MEDIEVAL CASTLE
Huizinga, Johan. THE WANING OF THE MIDDLE AGES
Tuchman, Barbara W. A DISTANT MIRROR
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Post by stevemitchell on May 22, 2017 11:23:13 GMT -6
I just saw a pre-order announcement on Amazon.com for THE AVEROIGNE CHRONICLES, a deluxe, lavishly illustrated hardback edition from Centipede Press containing all of Smith's Averoigne work. Unfortunately, the pre-order price is about $193.00! So there will finally be a complete and authorized Averoigne collection--that no one can reasonably afford.
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