This is a quick one today. I am trying to get some things done. Why? Because I am headed to Gary Con again!
Once again I'll be with Elf Lair Games, so stop by (and buy!) if you can.
Looking forward to seeing everyone again.
This is a quick one today. I am trying to get some things done. Why? Because I am headed to Gary Con again!
Once again I'll be with Elf Lair Games, so stop by (and buy!) if you can.
Looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Welcome to my first proper Fantasy Fridays. For this first one I want to feature one of my favorite fantasy RPGs. It is Jeffrey Talanian's Hyperborea RPG, now in its 3rd Edition.
I keep coming back to this game time and time again for good reason, it is just a fantastic game.
This game has the feel of first Edition AD&D in a "Dying Earth" style setting. It is part Jack Vance's Dying Earth, but a greater part of Clark Ashton Smith's "Zothique." The world is old, cold, and dying.
The first edition was a boxed set of three books, and the second edition was a single massive tome. The third edition is now two separate books.
I have all three and have reviewed them all. I'll throw some links below to the reviews and other characters, here is the the latest, the third edition, which sits nicely on my shelves with my AD&D books.
HYPERBOREA Player's ManualPDF and Hardcover. 324 pages. Color cover, black & white art with full color art pages.
For my review, I am going to be considering the hardcover from the Kickstarter and the PDFs from DriveThruRPG.
The book starts with the credits, acknowledgments, and dedication to John Eric Holmes, the author/editor of the "Holmes" Basic edition.
Chapter 1: Introduction this covers what this game is and what RPGs in general are. This is important and worth a read since it sets the stage for what sort of sub-genre this game covers, "swords, sorcery, and weird science-fantasy." The classics of Swords and Sorcery are covered here briefly and how they add to the feeling of this game. This is pure Howard, Lovecraft, and Smith.
Chapter 2: Character Generation covers character creation. This chapter is brief covering of what you can do with the five chapters. This also has a listing of the common "facts" known to every character. There is a section on leveling up.
Chapter 3: Statistics or the "rolling up characters" chapter. The six recognizable methods are presented here. The most common of course is Method III; roll 4d6 drop the lowest. We also have the same six attributes we have always had.
Each class has a "Fighting Ability" (FA) and a "Casting Ability" (CA) which relates to attacks. So yes, even magicians can get a little better in combat as they go up in level. It's a great little shorthand and works great. So a 4th level Fighter has a fighting ability of 4. A 4th level magician still only has a fighting ability of 1 and a cleric 3 and thief 3. Subclasses can and do vary.
AC is descending (like old school games), BUT with the Fighting Ability stat it could be converted to an ascending AC easily.
Chapter 4: Classes We still have our Basic Four; Fighter, Magician, Cleric, and Thief. Each also gets a number of subclasses. Fighters get Barbarian, Berserker, Cataphract, Huntsman, Paladin, Ranger, and Warlock. The Magician has Cryomancer, Illusionist, Necromancer, Pyromancer, and Witch. The Cleric has the Druid, Monk, Priest, Runegraver, and Shaman. Finally, the Thief has the Assassin, Bard, Legerdemainist, Purloiner, and Scout.
Each subclass is very much like its parent classes with some changes. The classes look pretty well balanced.
Chapter 5: Background This covers all the things about the character that "happened" before they were characters.
Races are dealt with first. They include Amazons, Atlanteans, Esquimaux, Hyperboreans, Ixians, Kelts, Kimmerians, Lemurians, Picts, and Vikings along with the catch-all "Common" race of man. No elves or dwarves here. Physique is also covered.
Alignment is a simpler affair of Lawful Good, Lawful Evil, Chaotic Good, Chaotic Evil, and Neutral.
Along with race, there are various languages the characters can learn/know. There are also gods here, an interesting mix of Greek, Lovecraftian, Norse, and Smith gods.
There are background skills and weapon skills. Though I misread "charcoaler" as "chocolatier," and now I want a character with this background.
Chapter 6: Equipment Or the "let's go shopping" chapter. If you missed the "to hit modifiers vs. armor types/AC" in AD&D then I have a treat for you. Weapons here are more detailed than they were in previous editions of HYPERBOREA; or at least more detailed than my memory of the older editions. Just checked, this one is much more detailed.
Chapter 8: Adventure. This chapter improves over the previous editions. It covers all sorts of adventure topics like hirelings and henchmen, climbing, doors, nonstandard actions, time and movement.
Chapter 9: Combat. All sorts of combat topics are covered. Critical hits, unarmed combat, mounted combat and more. Damage and madness are also covered. The madness section is small and not really designed to mimic the real world.
Appendix A: Name Generator. Pretty useful, really, to get the right feel of the game. Afterall "Bob the Barbarian" isn't going to cut it here.
Appendix B: Lordship and Strongholds. What each class and subclass gains as a Lord or Lady of their chosen strongholds. There is a great section on creating strongholds as well.
Appendix C: Cooperative Gaming. This covers how well to play in a group.
Appendix D: OGL Statement. This is our OGL statement.
These appendices (with the exception of D) are all new.
There is also a great index.
So I will admit I was unsure about backing the 3rd Edition of HYPERBOREA. I have the 1st and 2nd Editions and they have served me well over the last few years. This edition brings enough new material to the table that it really is the definitive version of the game.
The leatherette covers are really nice and I am happy I waited for it. Since the Player's and Ref's books are now separate, I could, if I wanted, pick up another Player's book.
The art is great. There are some reused pieces and still plenty of new ones. It uses the art well and helps set the tone of the game.
PDF and Hardcover. 308 pages. Color cover, black & white art with full-color art pages.
Chapter 10: Introduction Again, this is our introduction this time for the Game Master or Referee's point of view. What the Referee does for the game and more.
Chapter 11: Refereeing This get's into the Game Mastering process in detail. This covers grant experience for the characters and setting up the campaign.
Chapter 12: Bestiary Our monster section and truthfully one of my favorites. The expected ones are here, but there are also plenty of new ones. This covers roughly 130 pages. There are interesting new takes on some classic "D&D" monsters, plus many new ones like a bunch of new "lesser" and "sublunary" demons. The format is most similar to Basic or Labyrinth Lord, and it is full of the usual suspects with some Lovecraftian Horrors, and even remnants of alien and bygone ages. "Demons" are here, but no devils.
Chapter 13: Treasure Covers treasure types and magical treasure. Among the magic items are things like Radium Pistols and other sc-fi artifacts. Very pulpy. It also includes some rules on scribing spell and protection scrolls. There is even a small section on Alchemy in Hyperborea. Very useful to have really.
Chapter 14: Gazetteer. The lands are a pastiche of Howard, Vance, Lovecraft, and Smith. If these names mean anything to you, then you know or have an idea, of what you are going to get here. This section has been greatly expanded from the previous editions. Included here are the gods again and a little more on religion. Basically, you get the idea that gods are either something you swear by (or to) or get sacrificed to by crazy cultists. So yeah, you know I am a fan.
Appendix A: Weather in Hyperborea. Likely more important here than, say, other game worlds. Weather in Hyperborea is dangerous.
Appendix B: Hazards of Hyperborea. There are horrible things waiting for you in Hyperborea and they are not all monsters or the weather.
Appendix C: Waterborne Expeditions. Covers waterborne adventures and combat.
Appendix D: Warfare and Siege. Your characters have built their strongholds. Now someone wants to know it down. Here are the rules.
Appendix E: OGL Statement. The OGL statement for this book.
Since the 2nd edition, nearly every aspect of this game has been expanded, some sections more than others, but it is a great upgrade.
The art throughout is very evocative of the setting. Mighty thewed barbarians, shining knights, elderly and eldritch wizards.
Larina Nix for Hyperborea 3rd Edition
A dedicated witch class? Yes please! That means I want to try out Larina here. Now I have tried other witch characters with the Hyperborea rules, but to build my iconic witch is something of a full test for me and a game.
Larina Nix
Female Kelt Witch 12th level
Magic Items
Bracers of Defense, Ring of Spell Storing (4 spells), Ring of Telekinesis (100 lbs), Wand of Magic Missiles, Wand of Lightning Bolts, Bonded Broom, Cloak of Shadows, Gem of Brightness, Horn of Blasting (Thor), Copper Skull Necklace
I like this version. So who is this Larina? This is Larina at the End of Time. She has all the memories of her past lives and often gets lost in them. Not really remembering who, or when, she is. She lives alone in her witch's cottage with her, yet unnamed apprentice. This is not the Witch-Queen Larina, this is something lesser and far older.
She would make for a great NPC for the next time I run this game.
Who Should Play This Game?
Anyone that enjoyed First Edition AD&D but liked the level limits of B/X D&D. Humans abound here, so if you like playing anything other than a human, you might not have as much fun. Also, the world is bleak and dying. This is not a time of heroes to make for a better day; better days are past. This is a time to survive against brutal odds and in the face of an uncaring universe.
Also, play this if you loved the works of Jack Vance, H.P. Lovecraft, and especially Clark Ashton Smith.
There is also a pretty good online community for this game, so support and advice are often a click or two away.
This is one of the games that I play the least but want to play the most. I love everything about it. It combines so many of my favorite things in one game that I am hard pressed to think of something I would have done differently. Well...maybe go to level 14 so I could map it onto my Basic-era games plans a bit better.
Links
I have had a burst of creativity over the last couple of months, and my desire to get things off my WIP plate has been strong.
You all may have noticed with the publications coming from me recently:
I have more of those series to come out. Plus I also want to get back to my Myths & Monsters series for 1e to cover more gods.
Also, I have been trying to finish a large project that has been taking all my time. No announcement yet, I want to see if I can hit my self-imposed deadline, but this one is pretty big.
So, posting will be a little sparse while I try to finish these all up.
OH! And if you are going to Gary Con, stop by the Elf Lair Games booth to say hi.
This came across my feed today. A new tartan pattern has been unveiled to memorialize those who suffered due to The Witchcraft Act 1563 to 1736 in Scotland.
It looks like anyone can wear it, but you can only make things out of the pattern with the permission of the Witches of Scotland.
I am currently reading "The History of Witchcraft" by Delores E. Wren, and I am reminded anew of the horrors people are willing to commit in the name of their religion. So seeing something like this and the group asking for an official apology is a good start.
Not sure if I'll get any art of witches wearing this, but that would be fun.
Links
1990. by Nigel Findley, et al. Softcover, 128 pages. B&W art with magenta and some full color pages.
For this review I am considering my original softcover book and the PDF from DriveThruRPG.
Obviously named after the Necronomicon and the more in-universe Demonomicon. I grabbed this one fairly late in my gaming life to be honest. I knew about it, of course, but I never bothered to grab it until my oldest began an interest in D&D at a very young age. He had a copy of the Draconomicon for 3rd Edition that he had carried with him everywhere (he was 5). It was so beat up and abused I thought it might be nice to get him the AD&D 2nd ed one as well, so I grabbed it at the local Games Plus Games Auction a few years ago. He loved that one too, but took better care of it!
So I suppose, this book really isn't part of *my* collection.
In any case this book feels more like the "Complete Handbooks" and "Dungeon Master Guides" books than it does an Forgotten Realms one. Thus the "FOR" code vs. the "FR" one. And yes, while there is a lot of Realms specific lore here, it reminds me enough of the old "Ecology of..." article from Dragon to be portable to any other world, save for maybe Krynn. That world has some very specific dragon lore already.
Chapter 1: Reference
This covers some history of how dragons first came into the world. There is an interesting piece on dragon evolution from the early Eodraco to "modern" dragons. Love the supposedly "extinct" line of dragons, perfect for an enterprising DM to come up with their own. We also see the return of the taxonomic nomenclature for dragons from the the 1st Ed. Monster Manual.
The various "main" dragon species are described in detail, including a "racial preference" table common to the time.
There are even Draconic Gods other than Bahamut and Tiamat listed. Note Bahamut and Tiamat are not listed here, but Zorquan is. I like the notion that dragons also worship "human" gods, they just appear draconic to them. This honestly makes a lot of sense and helped pave the way for Dragonborn in my mind.
And to come full circle there is even some information on human who worship dragons. We will see more of this in future books.
Chapter 2: Geography
As expected, this covers the area where the dragons are found, listed by dragon type. Only slightly expands on what has been seen already in the AD&D 2nd Ed Monstrous Compendium/Manual.
Chapter 3: Dragon Psychology
A little more detail here, and this feels like the old Ecology of articles more. It discusses what motivates dragons, including their hoarding behaviors, and how to deal with such a long-lived creature.
Chapter 4: Role-Playing Dragons
This chapter flows, concept-wise, from the previous. That is, how do dragons become (or be) "Dragons." How do they deal other species, how do they learn to fly, talk, do magic, what do they eat. All of these are discussed. There is even some discussion on how to raise a dragon.
Need to know how long a dragon needs to incubate an egg? That information is here as well. Interestingly enough it mentions that chromatic dragons can interbreed. More on that later.
This chapter is good for an DM that uses dragons in their game and either wants to them be more fleshed out as a character or wants them to be a greater threat in combat.
Chapter 5: Dragon Hall of Fame
Here we get some unique dragons. Bahamut and Tiamat seem "demoted" here to just special unique dragons. Others mentioned are Lareth, Aurus, Nexus, and Lux to name a few, I recognize.
Chapter 6: New Dragon Species
We have some tables on dragon interbreeding. This section also has Monstrous Compendium style sheets for you to use. They are not numbered, so I wonder if the idea was you cut them out for use? No chance of that today! I'll just print mine from the PDF. These include the Mercury Dragon (with all of page 65's text on the back side!), Dracohydra, Steel Dragon, and Yellow Dragon.
Chapter 7: Magic
Spells and magic items. I like the idea that some of these spells are so rare that only dragons know them.
Chapter 8: Hunter's Guide
I mean, the game is called "Dungeons AND Dragons" so hunting dragons will come up. This chapter has some good advice and role-playing tips for both sides of the DM's Screen.
Chapter 9: Miscellaneous Information
It covers everything else not touched on in the previous chapters, including details on the in-world Draconomicon itself. There is a bit on dragons and Spelljamming too.
Adventures
The last 30 or so pages gives us three mini-adventures.
Dragons should be awe-inspiring, or at least terror-inspiring, in the *D&D game and this book moves us a little closer to that.
For a book about dragons, it is great. I would have eaten this one up back in 1990, but I would have chaffed under Bahamut (and Tiamat) getting such ill-treatment. As a Forogtten Realms book tit dosen't push my understanding of the Realms any further save for the fact that there are colleges of scholars who spend a lot of time talking about dragons, but little time actually near dragons! (maybe they are smarter!)
It does help build a world where this is some mystery. What about that extinct line of dragons? Where are they? What were they? Can I learn new spells from dragons? What treasures do they hoard?
Great way to start adventuring in the world.
Catching up with Sinéad
Since I am using my character Sinéad as my discovery point of view of the Forgotten Realms, I think it is time I check in with her and her band of adventurers. When we last left them they had run into some trouble in Waterdeep ("Ill Met in Waterdeep" a year ago!). Since then they have been wandering the lands. With this book, my son and I decided that they see a yellow dragon flying overhead, ala, Ash Ketchum and his Ho-oh Pokémon. We thought that was funny given my son's love of dragons and Pokémon growing up.
The party consists of Sinéad, the thief Nida, the barbarian Jaromir, Rhiannon the witch (not Grenda's Rhiannon), Arnell the cleric, and Argyle the dwarf fighter. Right now I am still using their 1st Edition AD&D sheets, but I will need to update them soon. There are no real barbarians in AD&D 2nd ed, so I think when I do update, Rhiannon and Jaromir will have moved on. Too bad really, I kinda liked Rhiannon. I will have them show up again when Sinéad and company get to Rashemen. We decided that while Nida and Rhiannon get along well, Sinéad and Arnell do not. Well. Sinéad want to know everything about elves from Arnell, but he is uncomfortable talking to a worshiper of Sehanine Moonbow. I am playing him as having a crisis of faith at this point; his faith vs his attraction to Rhiannon.
Not sure who is making the cut to AD&D 2nd Edition yet, but I better figure it out soon.
Yeah. Ok. I know last week I said I wasn't going to do these anymore. BUT both of these Kickstarters are prime examples of why I think Kickstarter is a good thing.
Let's get into them.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/djinnintheshade/in-booty-n-lust?ref=theotherside
Djinn has long been a good friend and I love her art. Her newest art book features her central original witch character Solaine and her band of mischievous and amorous pirates.
I featured her last book here and it was a huge success.
This is the reason why Kickstarter works. It given smaller publishers and creatives the means to make their visions a reality.
She is also doing a "crossover" with the comic Dawn of Time #1 - NSFW, Time Travel Adventure Series. So that is worth checking out as well.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/heroforge/custom-dice?ref=theotherside
HeroForge owes its very existence to Kickstarter. Once the idea of DIY custom minis that can be 3D printed was a dream. Then they added color. Well, while this is not the next step in their evolution, it is certainly a big, bold step.
Custom dice to match your minis.
It is a wonderful idea and adds even more value to an already valuable service.
--
There. Djinn and HeroForge made a liar out of me, but both are for great products.
My copy lacks a cover, so I grabbed this image off of my Dragon Magazine CD-ROM. All these later and that purchase keeps paying off.
Our cover is by none other than the illustrious and late Jennell Jaquays.
Letters discuss the issues of the day, namely more about the über-ridiculous character Waldorf and challenges to his title. Hopefully that is the last of that. Nitpicks on Hawks vs. Falcons and some bits on spells and dragon hunting.
In his Editorial, Roger E. Moore discusses helping others in hard times, which was a novelty then and is talked about more and more now. In particular, he mentioned that gaming conventions rarely give to charity, whereas now that is much more commonplace.
Forum has some discussions on using other game systems to aid D&D DMs (Marvel Super Heroes is given as the example), a thought that D&D in not really Medieval Europe, but 20th Century Earth where magic has prevented technology from advancing (neat idea really) and some ideas on various humanoids played intelligently.
Sage Advice gives us some rule clarifications on the NEW AD&D 2nd Edition rules.
Our Special Feature of this issue is all about the Underdark. Ok, this could be fun. Since I had to switch gears, I am discovering all of this issue as I write.
Up first, a nice surprise, Tony Jones (a name I don't recall) is up with The Ecology of the Umber Hulk. It's a rare (for the time) non-Ed Greenwood ecology article. Also I admit a certain fondness for the Umber Hulk. I think it was because when I first read about him in the Monster Manual, he was so different than other monsters I had seen before. Like all good Ecology of articles the details here can be used in any edition/version of the game. While the Umber Hulk growth table would need to be adjusted per game, the data is still good. There is even a good bibliography.
Ads for Buck Rogers books and Activision video games.
Thomas M. Kane is up with In a Cavern, In a Canyon. This covers metallurgy in fantasy games, though the emphasis is obviously AD&D here. It is still good and useful information and again, easily adaptable to new versions of the game.
Another ad for the Science Fiction Book Club, which I am sad to report, has shut down after 70 years.
The Wanderers Below is a good set of random encounter tables from Buddy Pennington. The art is from module S4 by Jim Holloway and the list could be AD&D 2nd ed or 1st, I can't really tell to be honest. Likely works for both.
We break up our feature with Role-Playing Reviews from Jim Bambra. He covers Twilight: 2000, Top Secret S.I. and GURPS High Tech.
Registration page for Gen Con 1990.
Eric Oppen is back with Servants of the Jeweled Dagger, a bit abotu the lives and habits of the duegar, the gray dwarves. It is a little like an Ecology of article, but less game stats. Not a bad piece at all. I read while thinking about the duegar you encounter in Baldur's Gate 3. It still works.
None other than R.A. Salvatore is up for the fiction section The First Notch.
Greg Minter is next, is what is a loose interpretation on today's theme, In Quest of Adventure. It covers all sorts of quests, but for me the real treat is the Stephen Fabian art.
My issue lacks the giant poster advertised. No idea what it was.
The late Jim Ward waxes philosophical on "what do the simple folk do?" in The Game Wizards. He discusses well, I am not sure, it is a little rambling.
The Lessers are all back with more video game reveiws in The Role of Computers. They loved DragonWars for the Apple II, and enjoyed The Kristal for the Amiga. They also got in a couple of MS-DOS games like Beyond the Black Hole and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. From what I can tell these are graphic (as in EGA) games and not text-based ones. An important distinction at this time that will soon no longer matter.
TSR Previews gives us the new games and accessories for November and December 1989. A few novels to support the Top Secret, Dragonlance, and Buck Rogers lines. Monstrous Compendium vol 3, the Bloodstone Lands, Pool of Radiance novel, and Kara-Tur trail maps leave no doubt that the Forgotten Realms is the darling of the time.
Spider-Man to Wed Vanna White! from Fraser Sherman gives us the best article title of the issue. He discusses how to use real-world events in your Marvel Super Heroes games. I just watched the first two episodes of the Disney+ "Daredevil Born Again" and I can say Marvel does not have an issue using real world events in their tales.
Robert Bigelow has more new miniatures for us in Through the Looking Glass. I rather like the Joker and Batman minis from Grenadier Models. Very much in support of the Batman RPG. They have a real Neal Adams meet Jim Lee feel to them.
The Convention Calendar covers the last bit of 1989 and the winter of 1990. In general, I think there were more conventions back then. Am I wrong? I don't know. The Egyptian Campaign is listed. I can't recall if I went then or not.
Not to be forgotten, we still have Make the Most of Your Missions from Merle and Jackie Rasmussen. This covers mission starters for the Top Secret SI game.
Dragonmirth has our comics. Gamers Guide has our small ads. Among the ads is one to allow you edit your IBM versions of characters for Might and Magic and Pool of Radiance games. Just $15! Lots of ads produced on what look like AppleWriter printers. Walter Moore will also draw your character, also just $15. Wonder if he is still in business?
Back page ads for the AD&D 2nd Edition Monstrous Compendiums and Spelljamer.
So not a bad issue really. The special feature had a lot of material and nearly all of it is still useful today. The tone has shifted completely to AD&D 2nd edition and away from 1st Edition or Basic/BECMI. This will continue until all other games except those from TSR are shut out. Dragon was not unique with this, all game magazines were doing this.
The underdark features were good and ones I can see myself using. I still love looking at all the old ads too.