terje
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Post by terje on Jun 13, 2011 15:41:43 GMT -6
Now, you can't beat that price, but if you want city encounters that'll blow your mind, check out Vornheim... Yeah Vornheim is really cool! I love the dungeons and all the lists and tables are quite impressive, so much useful stuff on so little space.
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terje
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Post by terje on Jun 13, 2011 10:20:45 GMT -6
Thanx!
Tack jag hade helt misslyckats med att finna åt den där.
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Post by terje on Jun 12, 2011 6:18:16 GMT -6
So I've been reading reviews of City Encounters and it seems to be a very useful supplement for urban adventures, but where can I buy it? It doesnt seem to be available on lulu anymore.
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Post by terje on Jun 9, 2011 13:20:14 GMT -6
I'm 34 and I started gaming when I was 11. My first rpg was WEG's Star Wars (the swedish edition) and Drakar och Demoner ("Dragons and demons", swedish brp fantasy). A friend bought the Mentzer D&D basic set and we played some of the modules (the Silver Princess) but we thought it sucked. Which it of course did since we tried to play it like a modern mainstream game and it did not live up to our expectations. It was many years later, after trying freeform and indie games, that I understood how to play classic D&D. ;D
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Post by terje on Mar 30, 2011 9:29:02 GMT -6
Cool video xerxez, thanks for sharing! I agree that Derinkuyu is the most intriguing in that it is both ancient and large enough to constitute a real meegadungeon (the fact that its connected to another underground city by a tunnel 8km long is awesome!). But its also situated in the region of Cappadocia with its weird otherworldly landscape. Its like a piece of fantasy in the real world! ;D Montreal's underground maze of tube stations, shopping malls, service tunnels, etc seems like a really good candidate for a post-apocalyptic megadungeon. I wonder if one could get hold of a map?
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terje
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Post by terje on Mar 29, 2011 12:47:42 GMT -6
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Post by terje on Mar 23, 2011 14:17:00 GMT -6
Yes its a good film, but its not only philosophical it is also funny. Sure its often a dark gallows humor but I laughed several times when I saw it. The squire especially makes laconic, and sometimes grim, jokes.
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Post by terje on Mar 17, 2011 14:37:54 GMT -6
This is kind of OT, but I hope its ok since its a piece of trivia related to the subject.
Worlds of wonder (or rather book 1 BRP and book 2 Magic world) was translated into swedish and published as swedens first rpg "Drakar och Demoner" ("Dragons and Demons", the name was clearly inspired by D&D!) by Target Games / Äventyrsspel (Adventure Games). The same company later published a postapocalyptic game "Mutant" with the same brp rules (the authors have revealed that their initial commission was to make "a game like Gamma World"!). In the early 90's they published the infamous horror rpg "Kult" and the dark science fantasy rpg "Mutant Chronicles". In the later part of the 90's the company stopped publishing rpgs and split into several companies, one of wich is Paradox Entertainment, producer of computer games (Europa Universalis) and owner of the Conan trademark.
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Post by terje on Mar 17, 2011 12:34:47 GMT -6
There is a Mi-go character class in Terminal Space :-) Yes, I think I would use Labyrint Lord, Realms of Crawling Chaos and bits and pieces from Terminal Space.
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Post by terje on Mar 15, 2011 15:30:34 GMT -6
Yes it is an intriguing campaign concept isnt it? :-) Thanks for the link harami! I hadnt seen that thred before.
I was thinking about magic and wether I would like my lovecraftian space adventures to be fantasy or sf. Lovecrafts stories show a great variety, some are plainly fantasy, others are just as plainly sf, some fall somewhere in between. Of course one doesnt have to choose, we can mix technological artifacts and arcane spells in the same game. Thats how its done in both Call of Cthulhu and Realms of Crawling Chaos. However, if I were to run a campaign like this now I'd make it a weird scientifiction universe.
The gods are aliens (either individual entities or entire civilisations, it doesnt need to be obvious wich is the case to the pc's) and sorcery is an alien hyperspace technology used to manipulate space and time in order to shape the flow of of matter, energy and information. The sentient machines whereby this is achieved are not situated in the spaces we inhabit but between them, in the multidimensional abysses beyond our einsteinian universe. Spells and rituals are methods to put the human nervous system in a state where it can be linked to and communicate with these hyperspace-entities / -machines.
Clearly this has little or no impact on the rules, but it makes a differense in how the arcane arts are described in the fiction.
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Post by terje on Mar 13, 2011 8:48:57 GMT -6
Many of Lovecrafts stories feature beings from other planets and some even show us vistas from these worlds. In The Dream-Quest for Unknown Kadath Randolph Carter is brought to the moon by the Moon Beasts, and in Through the Gates of the Silver Key he remembers an earlier life as Zkauba, an insectoid sorcerer on the doomed planet Yaddith. Clark Ashton Smith has written many tales of weird adventures on alien worlds, in The Door to Saturn the wizard Eibon travels to the ringed gigant and meets many strange creatures. So, here are some links and random thoughts on weird adventures amongst the eldritch stars. Stars and planetsCthulhu Mythos celestial bodiesStar faring racesMi-GoShan - the Insects from ShaggaiElder OnesFlying PolypsThe Nug-Soth of YaddithStar Spawn of CthulhuThe Great Race of YithMethods of travelSome beings like the Mi-Go and the Elder Ones journey unprotected through the interstellar vacuum on their eather wings. Others like the Nug-Soth traverse the cosmic gulfs in "envelopes" of folded light. The Shan have pyramidal temples devoted to Azathoth that can teleport between planets. Humans may be carried in a Mi-Go brain cylinder (The Whisperer in Darkness), move through hyperspace (Dreams in the Witch-House) or step through a gateway (The Door to Saturn). Overall very little attantion is given to space travel in itself (nowhere is there mention of space craft, except the galleys of the Moon Beasts but they only show up in the dreamlands), the focus is entirely on the alien planets and their inhabitants. AdventuresWhat could motivate human adventurers to journey from our placid island of ignorence and out amidst the black seas of infinity? Fighting the eldritch horrors - Like Laban Shrewsbury from Derleths The Trail of Cthulhu the PC's may travel to other worlds to find information, spells or artefacts needed to defeat their enemies. Or they could seek to bring the war to the homes of their extreterrestrial nemesises. To journey where no man should go - Exploration, for profit or curiosity, is a common motivation for adventurers. In a Lovecraftian setting such goals likely leed to certain doom, but the journey could prove to be entertaining nonetheless! Chaotic adventurers who dont mind loosing some of their sanity and humanity may well live forever and prosper in the outer darkness. Desperately trying to find a way home - the PC's could step through the wrong portal or be whisked across the universe by some jesting godling. Now they need to find their way back home before they attract to much attention from the not-so-friendly locals. The party could share the same motivation or the PC's could have different goals. The characters might all come from the same place or they could be of different origins and meet one another out amongst the stars. Whatever the motivation of the adventurers, a lovecraftian space campaign could be run as a sandbox. "So, the gateway in the Temple of Shub Niggurath leads to the library of Celaeno where you should be able to find fine maps of the space ways, the Labyrint of Xodra is rumored to contain a shrine devoted to the Oracle of the Purple Nebula - and then theres that map to the treasure horde of the Ancient Ones in the Moon of Yarguuhl. Where do you want to go?"
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Post by terje on Jan 22, 2011 5:40:30 GMT -6
Wow, I never figured ERB wrote Hard SF! :-)
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Post by terje on Jan 13, 2011 6:11:46 GMT -6
CAS' Hyperborea is a set in prehistoric Greenland before it was covered in ice. There are several nice stories: In 'The Tale of Satampra Zeiros' two thieves enter the lost city of Commoriom to plunder the temple of Tsathoggua. 'The Testament of Athammaus' relates the terror that caused Commoriom to be abandoned. In 'The Door to Saturn' the wizard Eibon tries to flee the clerical inquisition by way of a portal to Saturn. Its well worth reading. Edit: Heres a nice essay on the Hyperborea cycle www.blackgate.com/the-fantasy-cycles-of-clark-ashton-smith-part-ii-the-book-of-hyperborea/
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Post by terje on Dec 31, 2010 23:13:35 GMT -6
Happy new year! Hope its a better one.
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Post by terje on Dec 17, 2010 17:03:05 GMT -6
bert - yes, lots of psychedelia / space / kraut! Thanks for the link to A Scent Of Garmambrosia, great stuff! When it comes to Hawkwind I think my favorite song is this: Hassan I Sahba / Assassins of Islam: www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEmnqqFO1Gs
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Post by terje on Dec 17, 2010 7:00:16 GMT -6
Yea, the Chemical Brothers are great! :-)
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Post by terje on Dec 16, 2010 9:04:52 GMT -6
Do you use music when you play Carcosa, if so what? I prefer to use music for atmosphere and mood when I gm and for Carcosa I would choose themes from heroic fantasy movies and games (Conan the Barbarian! ), something exotic like Dead Can Dance or otherworldly ambient (Brian Eno, Tangerine Dream, Planete Sauvage). And lots of dark ambient (Lustmord, Abominations of Yondo) for rituals and encounters with Great Old Ones and other nasties.
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Post by terje on Dec 16, 2010 8:33:07 GMT -6
Atmospheric and haunting interpretation of Chambers poem by Lindbergh baby.
Along the shore the cloud waves break, The twin suns sink beneath the lake, The shadows lengthen In Carcosa.
Strange is the night where black stars rise, And strange moons circle through the skies But stranger still is Lost Carcosa.
Songs that the Hyades shall sing, Where flap the tatters of the King, Must die unheard in Dim Carcosa.
Song of my soul, my voice is dead; Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed Shall dry and die in Lost Carcosa.
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Post by terje on Dec 6, 2010 9:19:24 GMT -6
The easiest approach might be to start with standard OD&D characters, and at some point they enter a portal in the underworld or whatever and find themselves in Oz. That way you don’t have to worry about system, or the implications of having children and animals as PCs, just worry about presenting some fun adventuring possibilities in that world. Not saying it’s necessarily better, but definitely easier. Yes, OD&D adventures in Oz could be great fun (flying monkeys! ;D ), and perhaps one could visit Wonderland and Never-Never-land as well. And one could easily have children and talking animals as pc's, theres no reason why your fighter or magic-user couldnt be 10 years old or furry and four legged. If you want to reflect this in the game mechanics, make ac and strength one or two steps lower. Halflings can be made into Munchkins.
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Post by terje on Nov 21, 2010 14:57:16 GMT -6
Makes me think of the pantheon of Pavar in Tekumel, where you have the Gods of Change and the Gods of Stability who fight to control the worlds of the multiverse, but also the Pariah Gods who tend to simply make the worlds disapear.
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Post by terje on Nov 21, 2010 14:52:08 GMT -6
I enjoyed reading Barkers novels. He's an ok author, and a master fantasy world creator. The Tekumel source books are fascinating to read, but the novels really make the world come alive. I recommend all five novels.
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Post by terje on Nov 10, 2010 14:07:58 GMT -6
Just began reading Drell Master by Poke Runyon ( www.amazon.com/Drell-Master-Poke-Runyon/dp/0971055203). Its a sword n planet adventure story inspired by Burroughs, Merrit, Carter and also Herberts Dune, but made somewhat unique by the emphasis on adult erotic themes. Its pretty good this far, the plot is interesting and the world is fascinating. The book also includes an essay by Lin Carter on the art of creating fantasy worlds.
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Post by terje on Oct 27, 2010 17:35:24 GMT -6
Yes, John Bauer is one important source of inspiration for that incarnation of the game.
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Post by terje on Oct 26, 2010 13:03:41 GMT -6
The 6th and 7th editions of the swedish fantasy rpg Drakar och Demoner featured some really great artwork. The setting for these two editions of the game, Trudvang, is veru much inspired by nordic myth and the tribal societies of iron age europe (celtic, germanic, slavic, finnish, sami). Paul Bonner made all the covers. Look under artwork / riotminds for the awesome pictures. Unfortunately the illustrators dont seem to have a lot of their work available on the web, but here are a few pictures by Alvaro Tapia from an exhibition: 1, 2, 3, 4. If you look at the books here at Riotminds products page you can see some previews on pages and illustrations.
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Post by terje on Oct 19, 2010 10:08:39 GMT -6
Oh yes, Leibers board game, thats so cool! Do you know if there is any information about the game? Such as how it was played and what the rules where supposed to be like?
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Post by terje on Oct 18, 2010 10:30:55 GMT -6
Yes thats a great resource.
Actually I think Old school gaming and Indie gaming has some things in common, especially when compared to modern mainstream gaming. When modern mainstream games go for complex plotlines, old school and indie games tend to favour open ended situations (like a sandbox). Many modern mainstream games have very complex and detailed rules, whereas old school and indie games often have lighter systems (but not always, Burning Wheel).
Granted, theres also a lot of differences between Old school and Indie games, especially when it comes to the whole "rulings, not rules" approach. But thats not really a problem, it simply means we have more different types of games to enjoy!
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Post by terje on Oct 17, 2010 15:57:15 GMT -6
Aside from my original post topic and still in regards to Sword & Sorcery, I am curious as to what a game similar to D&D would have been like if it had come about in, say, the 1930s or 1940s and attempted to approximate much of the Sword and Sorcery pulp fiction. If Robert E. Howard had some kind of inkling of what a wargame or even more unlikely (impossibly), a roleplaying game was, what kind of game would he have come up with? Would it use dice? They would obviously be six-sided. I imagine that it would be similar to Chainmail, but of course my imagination of such is tainted by what I already know. Needless to say, it fires my imagination. So much so, that I have begun work on a "manuscript" using an old Underwood style typewriter font outlining a set of rules of what I imagine someone like REH or CAS would create surrounding the whole S&S pulp genre. Now that is old school! Its certainly a great alternative history scenario! HG Wells Little Wars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Wars) was published in 1913 so its possible, though perhaps not likely, that RE Howard could have read the book. Given his interest in history he might have been tempted to create his own wargame where he could leed celtic freedom fighters against the roman invaders. And perhaps he would have set the game in the Hyborian era, with wizards and monsters. And if the game had focused on individual combatants rather than whole armies a series of battles could have been strung together within a fictional framework forming a kind of s&s adventure! Not likely, but very fun to imagine! Please tell me more about that manuscript you are working on, it sounds really interesting! ^^
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Post by terje on Oct 14, 2010 13:57:20 GMT -6
Just finished Poul Andersons The Broken Sword - wow, I was totally blown away! Really good (and dark and tragic) fantasy. And boy, Moorcock didnt joke when he said Elric was "inspired" by this book! I'm also reading some of the Thieves world stories and planning to get hold of Tanith Lee's Flat Earth books.
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Post by terje on Oct 10, 2010 15:53:29 GMT -6
I think Marion Zimmer Bradley's Darkover stories are kind of science fantasy as well, though I havent read them so I could be wrong.
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Post by terje on Oct 9, 2010 16:41:01 GMT -6
Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories certainly fits the bill and the Warlord comic from DC combines sword n sorcery with weird science (in the hollow earth!).
I second Leigh Bracket's sword n planet stories, many of them have a very 'fantasy-ish' feel even though its technically SF.
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