Aaaaannnd... we're back! The Picks of the Week return with a slew of cool stuff here on the front page of EN World, including fantasy of the classic, epic, and seafaring varieties, as well as the shadows of the near-future streets and a grand treatise on the matters of tropes in fantastic and adventure fiction.
SHAINTAR GUIDEBOOK: KORINDIA
The release of Shaintar books gets down to one of my personal favorites, and one of the more interesting cultures I ever had the pleasure to create. Way back when, I wanted to create an internally-consistent reason for the “monk” idea found in D&D – one that made sense to me, derived from the organic ideas of the world I was crafting. An entire race of outcast half-elves who rejected metal arms and armor was born…
Korindia, Revealed!
Home of the elusive race of the M’adukar. Originally part elf, part human, this race has become completely separate from its parent races. These people are usually mistaken for very pretty humans or blunt featured elves. They’ve a culture all their own and they bow to no one. Kor waited until his parents died and then chose to take as many of his people as he could and leave the unhappy homes with both human and elf societies treating them as less than instead of something different.
The island is discussed and its history. You’ll also find out about the cities, including the city that faces the rest of Shaintar, Kor’Davine. Once you’re beyond the walls you’d better have no metal on you or things will go badly, if you’re lucky. In this book you’ll find a history of Korindia, a bit about architecture, art, song and how in tune with Nature these people are. There’s some new edges, forms for the Kor-In martial art and a whole bunch of other stuff that will bring Korindia to life for you. It’s also got some story seeds and other good stuff for those GM’s who want to send a group there and any who want to explore being M’adukar with their next character.
SHADOWRUN: CUTTING ACES
The face. The con artist. The deal-maker. These are characters who often find themselves with not as much to do in many Shadowrun (and similar) games, due to too much focus on guns-blazing and tech-hacking action. This book aims to solve that by empowering the GM and players with more useful information and rules for just such gaming.
Hit Your Marks
The hotel bartender who slips you a guest’s room number because he thinks it will help him get lucky. The security guard who lets a team into a top-secret facility because he thinks he’s pitching in on covert-ops training. The business suit who drops ten thousand nuyen on a project because he thinks it’ll earn him fifty thousand.
Marks, all of them, and the Sixth World is full of them. Yeah, blasting your way into a well-guarded facility is fun, but talking your way in, smooth and subtle, might be more rewarding. Almost every kind of shadowrun involves at least a little con artistry, and some of them are full-on long cons. That means you need to sharpen your con game. With tips, plot updates, spells, gear, and more to improve characters’ con abilities, Cutting Aces gives players the swagger and skills they need to swindle the world. It also includes information on one of the Sixth World’s hottest spots for running a con—Istanbul, City of the World’s Desire.
Cuttings Aces is for use with Shadowrun, Fifth Edition, and it also contains plot information, story ideas, and characters that can be used with Shadowrun: Anarchy with slight adjustments of character stats.
ANCALIA: THE BROKEN TOWERS
The Godbound RPG is a d20/OSR romp that puts you in the role of nigh-deity scrambling to fix a shattered world where God no longer sits on the Throne. There’s a lot of fans delving into this post-apoc/divine war concept, and now we have some details about places to adventure… and perhaps conquer?
The dead are hungry in Ancalia.
For five long years, the nine terrible Night Roads have vomited forth horrors from beyond this world. For five anguished winters the people of Ancalia have been tormented by plague, corpse-horrors and Uncreated abominations. Now only scattered enclaves of desperate survivors remain amid this once-beautiful land. The last heroes of the golden past are guttering out in blood and despair, the last hopes of the nation falling away one after the other. Even the valiant royal knights and fiercely pious prelates of the Unitary Church can only prolong the nation’s death-agonies.
Yet the monstrous powers of the Uncreated Courts did not reckon with the Godbound. Unforetold by these dark lords and unfettered by the limits of mere mortals, these new heroes of the age have the power to avert Ancalia’s awful doom and the strength to forge a new destiny for a land long blasted by evil. They have the power to summon allies from among the fae Cousins, the scattered knights, and the hard-pressed survivors of Ancalia. They bear the Words that can shout down the terrible lords of the Uncreated Courts.
But will their power carve a path to glorious victory, or will they fall prey to the shadows of this ninefold-cursed land?
Ancalia: The Broken Towers is a nation gazetteer for the Godbound role-playing game (and its Free Edition). Within its 83 pages, you’ll find a host of tools and resources for fashioning mythic adventures and heroic challenges for a pantheon of shining demigods. Look within to find:
So seize this book now! Whether a GM in need of a thick sheaf of horror to unleash upon your table or a player looking for backgrounds and struggles to fire your new-made Godbound, Ancalia: The Broken Towers will serve your glorious will!
UPSIDE DOWN: INVERTED TROPES IN STORYTELLING
Today’s Pick is off the beaten path, but well worth your time, as it deals with storytelling in many forms, and is especially appropriate to consider as a Game Master, player, or would-be game/adventure writer. Take a hard look at your assumptions about what is and isn’t true or appropriate about fantasy and adventure stories…
Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling is an anthology of short stories, poetry, and essays edited by Monica Valentinelli and Jaym Gates.
Over two dozen authors, ranging from NYT-bestsellers and award winners to debut writers, chose a tired trope or cliche to challenge and surprise readers through their work. Read stories inspired by tropes such as the Chainmaille Bikini, Love at First Sight, Damsels in Distress, Yellow Peril, The Black Man Dies First, The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood, The Singularity Will Cause the Apocalypse, and many more…then discover what these tropes mean to each author to find out what inspired them.
Join Maurice Broaddus, Adam Troy-Castro, Delilah S. Dawson, Shanna Germain, Sara M. Harvey, John Hornor Jacobs, Rahul Kanakia, Alethea Kontis, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Haralmbi Markov, Sunil Patel, Kat Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Ferrett Steinmetz, Anton Strout, Michael Underwood, Alyssa Wong and many other authors as they take well-worn tropes and cliches and flip them upside down.
Introduction by Jerry Gordon
Section I: Inverting the Tropes
On Loving Bad Boys: A Villanelle by Valya Dudycz Lupescu
Single, Singularity by John Hornor Jacobs
Lazzrus by Nisi Shawl
Seeking Truth by Elsa Sjunneson-Henry
Thwock by Michelle Muenzler
Can You Tell Me How to Get to Paprika Place? by Michael R. Underwood
Chosen by Anton Strout
The White Dragon by Alyssa Wong
Her Curse, How Gently It Comes Undone by Haralambi Markov
Burning Bright by Shanna Germain
Santa CIS (Episode 1: No Saint) by Alethea Kontis
Requiem for a Manic Pixie Dream by Katy Harrad & Greg Stolze
The Refrigerator in the Girlfriend by Adam-Troy Castro
The First Blood of Poppy Dupree by Delilah S. Dawson
Red Light by Sara M. Harvey
Until There Is Only Hunger by Michael Matheson
Super Duper Fly by Maurice Broaddus
Drafty as a Chain Mail Bikini by Kat Richardson
Swan Song by Michelle Lyons-McFarland
Those Who Leave by Michael Choi
Nouns of Nouns: A Mini Epic by Alex Shvartsman
Excess Light by Rahul Kanakia
The Origin of Terror by Sunil Patel
The Tangled Web by Ferrett Steinmetz
Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa, Tfu, Tfu, Tfu by Alisa SchreIbman
Real Women Are Dangerous by Rati Mehrotra
Section II: Discussing the Tropes
I’m Pretty Sure I’ve Read This Before … by Patrick Hester
Fractured Souls by Lucy A. Snyder
Into the Labyrinth: The Heroine’s Journey by A.C. Wise
Escaping the Hall of Mirrors by Victor Raymond
Tropes as Erasers: A Transgender Perspective by Keffy R.M. Kehrli
Section III: DEFINING the Tropes
Afterword by Monica Valentinelli & Jaym Gates
Trope Definitions/Index of Tropes
Section IV: Acknowledgments and Additional Bios
7TH SEA: HEROES & VILLAINS
The most successful Kickstarter in RPG history. The highest of high adventure. A world like you’ve always dreamed of, but unlike any place you’ve ever been. That’s 7th Sea for so many people, and now you’ve a cast of righteous and nefarious characters with which to populate it.
A great power summoning forth the brightest souls, and the darkest. These are the Heroes and Villains of Théah. For every knife-twisting assassin, there is an ever-diligent bodyguard. For each great act of courage and hope, there is a dastardly deed performed in darkness. For every Hero there is a Villain.
The 7th Sea Heroes & Villains book gives you 40 Heroes and 40 Villains to use in your game. It discusses heroism, villainy and possible redemption for lost souls who have fallen into darkness and includes new Advantages, Backgrounds and other systems for use with 7th Sea: Second Edition.
The 7th Sea Heroes & Villains book includes:
• 40 Heroes to use as NPCs or pregen characters
• 40 Villains ready to drop into any campaign
• Plot points and storylines for all characters
• Tips and tricks for creating your character
• History and Goals for all Heroes
• History and Schemes for all Villains
• New Mechanics and Dueling Styles
Looking for the 7th Sea core rulebook? Click here.
~~~~~
Today's my last day to get ready for a long-overdue trip back east, where I will see some long-loved and long-missed friends, and spend Christmas Eve on Signal Mountain with my mom. I hope all of you have some great holiday plans, as well.
I am still thinking a lot about what I want to do in the future here on EN World, now that we've returned the Pick of the Day to their original site. I appreciate the feedback I've gotten so far, but I welcome more as you care to share it.
The Adventure Continues!
Note that I use affiliate links in all my posts as a way to generate additional revenue for my efforts; I make my Picks and other article choices, however, based on the desire to share a wide variety of things with you. Thank you for your support.
Sean Patrick Fannon
Writer & Game Designer: Shaintar, Star Wars, Savage Rifts, much more
Please check out my Patreon and get involved directly with my next projects!
SHAINTAR GUIDEBOOK: KORINDIA
The release of Shaintar books gets down to one of my personal favorites, and one of the more interesting cultures I ever had the pleasure to create. Way back when, I wanted to create an internally-consistent reason for the “monk” idea found in D&D – one that made sense to me, derived from the organic ideas of the world I was crafting. An entire race of outcast half-elves who rejected metal arms and armor was born…
Korindia, Revealed!
Home of the elusive race of the M’adukar. Originally part elf, part human, this race has become completely separate from its parent races. These people are usually mistaken for very pretty humans or blunt featured elves. They’ve a culture all their own and they bow to no one. Kor waited until his parents died and then chose to take as many of his people as he could and leave the unhappy homes with both human and elf societies treating them as less than instead of something different.
The island is discussed and its history. You’ll also find out about the cities, including the city that faces the rest of Shaintar, Kor’Davine. Once you’re beyond the walls you’d better have no metal on you or things will go badly, if you’re lucky. In this book you’ll find a history of Korindia, a bit about architecture, art, song and how in tune with Nature these people are. There’s some new edges, forms for the Kor-In martial art and a whole bunch of other stuff that will bring Korindia to life for you. It’s also got some story seeds and other good stuff for those GM’s who want to send a group there and any who want to explore being M’adukar with their next character.
SHADOWRUN: CUTTING ACES
The face. The con artist. The deal-maker. These are characters who often find themselves with not as much to do in many Shadowrun (and similar) games, due to too much focus on guns-blazing and tech-hacking action. This book aims to solve that by empowering the GM and players with more useful information and rules for just such gaming.
Hit Your Marks
The hotel bartender who slips you a guest’s room number because he thinks it will help him get lucky. The security guard who lets a team into a top-secret facility because he thinks he’s pitching in on covert-ops training. The business suit who drops ten thousand nuyen on a project because he thinks it’ll earn him fifty thousand.
Marks, all of them, and the Sixth World is full of them. Yeah, blasting your way into a well-guarded facility is fun, but talking your way in, smooth and subtle, might be more rewarding. Almost every kind of shadowrun involves at least a little con artistry, and some of them are full-on long cons. That means you need to sharpen your con game. With tips, plot updates, spells, gear, and more to improve characters’ con abilities, Cutting Aces gives players the swagger and skills they need to swindle the world. It also includes information on one of the Sixth World’s hottest spots for running a con—Istanbul, City of the World’s Desire.
Cuttings Aces is for use with Shadowrun, Fifth Edition, and it also contains plot information, story ideas, and characters that can be used with Shadowrun: Anarchy with slight adjustments of character stats.
ANCALIA: THE BROKEN TOWERS
The Godbound RPG is a d20/OSR romp that puts you in the role of nigh-deity scrambling to fix a shattered world where God no longer sits on the Throne. There’s a lot of fans delving into this post-apoc/divine war concept, and now we have some details about places to adventure… and perhaps conquer?
The dead are hungry in Ancalia.
For five long years, the nine terrible Night Roads have vomited forth horrors from beyond this world. For five anguished winters the people of Ancalia have been tormented by plague, corpse-horrors and Uncreated abominations. Now only scattered enclaves of desperate survivors remain amid this once-beautiful land. The last heroes of the golden past are guttering out in blood and despair, the last hopes of the nation falling away one after the other. Even the valiant royal knights and fiercely pious prelates of the Unitary Church can only prolong the nation’s death-agonies.
Yet the monstrous powers of the Uncreated Courts did not reckon with the Godbound. Unforetold by these dark lords and unfettered by the limits of mere mortals, these new heroes of the age have the power to avert Ancalia’s awful doom and the strength to forge a new destiny for a land long blasted by evil. They have the power to summon allies from among the fae Cousins, the scattered knights, and the hard-pressed survivors of Ancalia. They bear the Words that can shout down the terrible lords of the Uncreated Courts.
But will their power carve a path to glorious victory, or will they fall prey to the shadows of this ninefold-cursed land?
Ancalia: The Broken Towers is a nation gazetteer for the Godbound role-playing game (and its Free Edition). Within its 83 pages, you’ll find a host of tools and resources for fashioning mythic adventures and heroic challenges for a pantheon of shining demigods. Look within to find:
- The history of Ancalia before the coming of the Night Roads and the Hollowing Plague, along with information on its governance, religion, and daily life.
- Details on the blighted peninsula and its towns, strongholds, and cysts of unearthly evil.
- The Five Families of Ancalian nobility and the transhuman gifts they’ve inherited from their Khamite ancestors, with rules for PC nobles.
- The Uncreated that torment Ancalia, and the four titanic Uncreated Lords that rule over the Incendiary, Poxed, Rotting and Shackled Courts of abominable horror.
- The grim Mercymen who seek to bring salvific death to the populace, and the fae Cousins who curse an unearthly lineage that cannot endure this duller, damaged age.
- The Undead hordes that clot the streets of Ancalia’s broken cities and the monstrous Energumen who lead them.
- The seven orders of Ancalian Knighthood and their heroic purposes, with notes for PC knights.
- And the Sine Nomine Adventure Generators you know so well, tuned specially for generating challenges and situations fit for an undead-scourged, post-apocalyptic fantasy landscape.
So seize this book now! Whether a GM in need of a thick sheaf of horror to unleash upon your table or a player looking for backgrounds and struggles to fire your new-made Godbound, Ancalia: The Broken Towers will serve your glorious will!
UPSIDE DOWN: INVERTED TROPES IN STORYTELLING
Today’s Pick is off the beaten path, but well worth your time, as it deals with storytelling in many forms, and is especially appropriate to consider as a Game Master, player, or would-be game/adventure writer. Take a hard look at your assumptions about what is and isn’t true or appropriate about fantasy and adventure stories…
Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling is an anthology of short stories, poetry, and essays edited by Monica Valentinelli and Jaym Gates.
Over two dozen authors, ranging from NYT-bestsellers and award winners to debut writers, chose a tired trope or cliche to challenge and surprise readers through their work. Read stories inspired by tropes such as the Chainmaille Bikini, Love at First Sight, Damsels in Distress, Yellow Peril, The Black Man Dies First, The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood, The Singularity Will Cause the Apocalypse, and many more…then discover what these tropes mean to each author to find out what inspired them.
Join Maurice Broaddus, Adam Troy-Castro, Delilah S. Dawson, Shanna Germain, Sara M. Harvey, John Hornor Jacobs, Rahul Kanakia, Alethea Kontis, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Haralmbi Markov, Sunil Patel, Kat Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Ferrett Steinmetz, Anton Strout, Michael Underwood, Alyssa Wong and many other authors as they take well-worn tropes and cliches and flip them upside down.
Introduction by Jerry Gordon
Section I: Inverting the Tropes
On Loving Bad Boys: A Villanelle by Valya Dudycz Lupescu
Single, Singularity by John Hornor Jacobs
Lazzrus by Nisi Shawl
Seeking Truth by Elsa Sjunneson-Henry
Thwock by Michelle Muenzler
Can You Tell Me How to Get to Paprika Place? by Michael R. Underwood
Chosen by Anton Strout
The White Dragon by Alyssa Wong
Her Curse, How Gently It Comes Undone by Haralambi Markov
Burning Bright by Shanna Germain
Santa CIS (Episode 1: No Saint) by Alethea Kontis
Requiem for a Manic Pixie Dream by Katy Harrad & Greg Stolze
The Refrigerator in the Girlfriend by Adam-Troy Castro
The First Blood of Poppy Dupree by Delilah S. Dawson
Red Light by Sara M. Harvey
Until There Is Only Hunger by Michael Matheson
Super Duper Fly by Maurice Broaddus
Drafty as a Chain Mail Bikini by Kat Richardson
Swan Song by Michelle Lyons-McFarland
Those Who Leave by Michael Choi
Nouns of Nouns: A Mini Epic by Alex Shvartsman
Excess Light by Rahul Kanakia
The Origin of Terror by Sunil Patel
The Tangled Web by Ferrett Steinmetz
Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa, Tfu, Tfu, Tfu by Alisa SchreIbman
Real Women Are Dangerous by Rati Mehrotra
Section II: Discussing the Tropes
I’m Pretty Sure I’ve Read This Before … by Patrick Hester
Fractured Souls by Lucy A. Snyder
Into the Labyrinth: The Heroine’s Journey by A.C. Wise
Escaping the Hall of Mirrors by Victor Raymond
Tropes as Erasers: A Transgender Perspective by Keffy R.M. Kehrli
Section III: DEFINING the Tropes
Afterword by Monica Valentinelli & Jaym Gates
Trope Definitions/Index of Tropes
Section IV: Acknowledgments and Additional Bios
7TH SEA: HEROES & VILLAINS
The most successful Kickstarter in RPG history. The highest of high adventure. A world like you’ve always dreamed of, but unlike any place you’ve ever been. That’s 7th Sea for so many people, and now you’ve a cast of righteous and nefarious characters with which to populate it.
A great power summoning forth the brightest souls, and the darkest. These are the Heroes and Villains of Théah. For every knife-twisting assassin, there is an ever-diligent bodyguard. For each great act of courage and hope, there is a dastardly deed performed in darkness. For every Hero there is a Villain.
The 7th Sea Heroes & Villains book gives you 40 Heroes and 40 Villains to use in your game. It discusses heroism, villainy and possible redemption for lost souls who have fallen into darkness and includes new Advantages, Backgrounds and other systems for use with 7th Sea: Second Edition.
The 7th Sea Heroes & Villains book includes:
• 40 Heroes to use as NPCs or pregen characters
• 40 Villains ready to drop into any campaign
• Plot points and storylines for all characters
• Tips and tricks for creating your character
• History and Goals for all Heroes
• History and Schemes for all Villains
• New Mechanics and Dueling Styles
Looking for the 7th Sea core rulebook? Click here.
~~~~~
Today's my last day to get ready for a long-overdue trip back east, where I will see some long-loved and long-missed friends, and spend Christmas Eve on Signal Mountain with my mom. I hope all of you have some great holiday plans, as well.
I am still thinking a lot about what I want to do in the future here on EN World, now that we've returned the Pick of the Day to their original site. I appreciate the feedback I've gotten so far, but I welcome more as you care to share it.
The Adventure Continues!
Note that I use affiliate links in all my posts as a way to generate additional revenue for my efforts; I make my Picks and other article choices, however, based on the desire to share a wide variety of things with you. Thank you for your support.
Sean Patrick Fannon
Writer & Game Designer: Shaintar, Star Wars, Savage Rifts, much more
Please check out my Patreon and get involved directly with my next projects!
