General RPG DiscussionDiscussion of all RPGs and non-system-specific topics. DM/GM/player issues, settings, etc. Rules discussion belongs in one the forums below.
Necromancer Press relased this amazing box set last year at Gen Con. I have no idea how fast it sold out but I imagine they all sold pretty well.
Have you had a chance to see this? If so what did you think? Where you able to use it and if so how?
Necromancer has three great box sets and while this will concentrate on the City of Brass the other two are worth looking into as well. I was sad but understand why there was no box set this year. Hopefully that will change as I'm really looking forward to seeing what more they have to offer.
I'm a big fan of this set. I bought it about 3-4 months after it came out. It is very similar to other Necromancer boxsets and that's a good thing. It reminded me more of Rappan Athuk, but as a city. Not Bard's Gate or (unfortunately) Wilderlands, but instead a vast city setting with lots of interesting places to use in a game.
The sad things is Rob Kuntz put out his Hackmaster version as well and it easily was the best product I'd bought in years (until I received Upper Works). I think I'll mix the best of the two and map as needed. Plus there are plenty of other Efreeti outposts and cities to account for in the plane of fire. Any good prep work like this is appreciated.
But I haven't used either in a game. For now Necromancer's great work is just a resource, but definitely worth purchasing.
__________________ Apparently Reagan never played RPGs ...but he liked to watch.
Spoiler:
Participants in the Pentagon simulations were sometimes of very high rank, including members of Congress and White House insiders as well as senior military officers. The identity of many of the participants remains secret even today. It is a tradition in US simulations (and those run by many other nations) that participants are guaranteed anonymity. The main reason for this is that occasionally they may take on a role or express an opinion that is at odds with their professional or public stance (for example portraying a fundamentalist terrorist or advocating hawkish military action), and thus could harm their reputation or career if their in-game persona became widely known.
(cut)
...former US president Ronald Reagan was a keen visitor to simulations conducted in the 1980s, but as an observer only. An official explained: "No president should ever disclose his hand, not even in a war game". Para,6
If I say everything there is to say about this set, I'll end up with a review. I haven't played using it yet, but I desperately want to.
If you are a 3e fan undaunted by high level play, it's a stunning boxed set. Even if you aren't in to 3e or prefer lower levels, there is a lot of fluff and background material there you can plug in to.
It's 50% setting, 50% adventure. Lots of sites are statted out that you don't necessarily have to face. And interestingly enough, if the players don't play their cards right, they can get on the bad side of the Efreeti, which is not a good thing.
This is an interesting roleplaying dynamic. At the levels you have to be to play this (12th-20th), the players may be used to have their PCs be absolutely bad-ass, above any sort of law. All of a sudden, the players have to watch their backs, as they will be in a city with very not-nice laws and the power to enforce them.
There are 3 books (+ a map booklet). The first is the setting book, detailing the city and the surrounding region. There are some encounter areas, but most of the ones that are "dungeon" type areas are in the second book.
The second book is a mini-campaign of sorts, that sets the PC about finding the fate of a prophet, drawn from real legends. It's epic, and includes many old school references, including the Codex of Infinite Planes. Assuming the players stay on task, they'll make their way through a variety of exotic locations, including the so-called "Pagoda of Devils", a pyramid devoted to Set, and more.
The final book is mostly opposition--NPC stat blocks and new creatures. The book also has a variety of cool encounter ideas.
The city itself is as fantastic as the reputation suggests. Sure, it's a planar metropolis where you can access anything (for a price). But you may find things are not a given here. To get drinking water, you must entreat priests who require you to sacrifice blood for the privledge, and to even get into the city, you must wait in a miles-long line, the "highway of the damned."
Tired, maybe more tomorrow.
__________________ "This game requires no gameboard because the action takes place in your imagination..." - Cover of Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules Set 1.
The sad things is Rob Kuntz put out his Hackmaster version as well and it easily was the best product I'd bought in years (until I received Upper Works). I think I'll mix the best of the two and map as needed.
Yep, it's pretty good, too. I plan on extracting bits of it and integrating it. I also found the artwork in Sir Rolibar's inspiring.
__________________ "This game requires no gameboard because the action takes place in your imagination..." - Cover of Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules Set 1.
Necromancer Press relased this amazing box set last year at Gen Con. I have no idea how fast it sold out but I imagine they all sold pretty well.
Not around here, apparently. Last time I want game shopping a few weeks ago, one of my LGS's had one copy left, while the other had two. It was really rather disconcerting.
Quote:
Have you had a chance to see this? If so what did you think? Where you able to use it and if so how?
The complete separation of the character descriptions and their game stats was a bit of a pain in the ass. It meant rather more page flipping than I would have liked to get the full picture on a particular area. I also think that having the same cover for all the interior books was a bit sloppy. It felt like it was written as single mammoth book, and then cut into a boxed set at the last minute. Those caveats aside, it was pretty neat. It did a good job of making a place that would continue to present challenges for PC's well into epic levels, while maintaining a decent degree of solidity in terms of feeling like a place that doesn exist purely for the players. You could play it casualy, as just another place to visit between dungeons, or you can make a whole huge campaign arc around the adventures in there.
Here's a quote from page 130 in book 2 I found interesting:
"The overall plot of the adventure is designed to encourage PCs towards a plane spanning saga the likes not seen in RPGs for over twenty years,"
What is this intimating at? The GDQ series?
I know Casey's an old school 1e fan, but Planescape's Dead Gods was scarcely over 10 years ago.
Edit: This quote from Casey puts the Demonweb pit allusion more in context:
Quote:
Originally Posted by bowbe
Portions of the city sit within the plane of fire, portions in the plane of molten skies. The text of the book refers to the plane of molten skies as being more or less the sultan's personal playground a demi plane whereby he gains greater access to conquered or soon to be conquered material planes. At least that was our intent on how it was to be inferred.
So, the Plane of Molten Skies could operate a bit like the Demonweb Pits did in Q1... a front to assault prime worlds.
__________________ "This game requires no gameboard because the action takes place in your imagination..." - Cover of Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules Set 1.
This is a boxed set that I consider an "instant classic". I own two and hope to get a third eventually.
__________________ It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. NEVER hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, IF it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters give in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Volumes, YOU are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a WHOLE first, your CAMPAIGN next, and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons as it was meant to be. May you find as much pleasure in so doing as the rest of us do.
I have it. I've read it thoroughly. I used it for inspiration in two games. One got close to the City (and if there's an ENWorld GameDay soon I may run a sequel in the city). The other I pulled some ideas from for an encounter that never happened since the players went a different way.
I thought it boiled over with ideas. I also thought that it needed a bit more editing than it had. Parts of it were...choppy. That however is a small nit. I enjoyed the description of the areas around the City too, as well as the many imaginitive places within.
__________________ Looking for a convention game, custom adventure for your gaming group, or a playtest? Please join my Google Group and mailing list.
Good question. I would say slightly better on the setting side than the adventure side (because it's so wide open), but it's pretty good at both. There are many detailed locations in the city and outside. (I particularly like the line to get in.)
__________________ Looking for a convention game, custom adventure for your gaming group, or a playtest? Please join my Google Group and mailing list.
I like it better as a setting because just roaming around and playing in the setting will inspire tons of adventure hooks.
__________________ It is the spirit of the game, not the letter of the rules, which is important. NEVER hold to the letter written, nor allow some barracks room lawyer to force quotations from the rule book upon you, IF it goes against the obvious intent of the game. As you hew the line with respect to conformity to major systems and uniformity of play in general, also be certain the game is mastered by you and not by your players. Within the broad parameters give in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Volumes, YOU are creator and final arbiter. By ordering things as they should be, the game as a WHOLE first, your CAMPAIGN next, and your participants thereafter, you will be playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons as it was meant to be. May you find as much pleasure in so doing as the rest of us do.
I started reading with the first book (the setting book), and put it aside to delve into the Pathfinder RPG Beta rules. When I finished them up I really didn't feel like going back to the setting book, so I skipped ahead to the adventure book.
I. LOVE. IT.
I've never been a big fan, or even a "fan" really, of anything from Necromancer that I've read (which is an admittedly small sample)*. I just didn't get what all the fuss was about. Now I get it: the adventures in City of Brass are loose enough to run with, creative, evocative as hell, and have just the right quotient of twisted I'm looking for. I can't wait to actually run these for some people.
Now that I'm actually invested in it a bit more I'm eager to get back to that setting book, as well.
EDIT:* that's not entirely true. I did really like that one with the ravens that I can't recall the name of now. That was quite good.
I've never been a big fan, or even a "fan" really, of anything from Necromancer that I've read (which is an admittedly small sample)*. I just didn't get what all the fuss was about. Now I get it: the adventures in City of Brass are loose enough to run with, creative, evocative as hell, and have just the right quotient of twisted I'm looking for. I can't wait to actually run these for some people.
Don't forget to tune in to the City of Brass PbP I'm starting over at CM.
__________________ "This game requires no gameboard because the action takes place in your imagination..." - Cover of Dungeons & Dragons Basic Rules Set 1.
I wanted to use this book, and started using it around level 10. The campaign ended around level 15. My players did not (!) like the City of Brass, and I have mixed feelings about it. You must be in a certain state of mind to run it, and I guess I didn't have it.
First small things I didn't like: Finding appropriate stat blocks in the back was very aggravating. Reading some of the entries inspired me to interesting scenes, but for my players, it seemed like all these awesome adventuring locales that were off-limit and full of very, very powerful foes. So they didn't go there. The only thing they liked was buying magic items (since I had controlled magic items available to the group for the first nine levels). The maps were uninspiring.
I think reading some of the inspiring entries (the wooden tower with the wizards at the top, the bathhouse run by salamanders, the hidden temple of Orcus in the sewers, the kobold kitchen assassins) but failed to produce an interesting adventure. Maybe due to my players not really engaging because they felt so out of their league.
If you plan on running with this box you need to be aware of these issues.
Linear Mode
And yet another word from our sponsors
