Jack Vance Dying Earth RPG ending, Sale, Experiences?

[Voadam]

I saw on RPGnow that the Dying Earth RPG (based on the Jack Vance stories and style) by Pelgrane Press will no longer be sold after April and they have a 50% off sale on the pdfs (core rule book for $5). I think their license to use the Vance stuff is expiring. I read a few reviews there and on rpgnet and got a few books recently.

Anybody have experience with these? Either as its own game or as an add on or source of stuff for D&D?

They have the Primer of Practical Magic for 3.5 d20 as the only directly D&D one as well as I think a Keith Baker set of d20 conversion rules or general vancian d20 rules article in the 6th Excellent Prismatic Spray (the Pelgrane Press Magazine for Dying Earth stuff). The Scaum Valley Gazeteer and Kaiin City sourcebooks are also supposedly good statless gaming sourcebooks and I think the Compendium is pure fluff stuff as well.

I've read that the DE rules are designed to handle and encourage a lot of fast talking and the mechanics could be applied easily to D&D.

 

[Piratecat]

I love, love, love Dying Earth. It's a game that you read and think, "huh. I wonder if this will be fun?" Then you play it and everyone spends four hours in hilarious laughter, scamming one another out of useless stuff and spouting polysyllabic constructions that make your thesaurus ache. It's completely made of win, particularly if your group has people who don't mind roleplaying instead of fighting.

Fighting is really dangerous in Dying Earth; if you've drawn weapons, you've already screwed up somewhere. Other than that, it's a little bit like what you'd get if you crossed D&D with Paranoia.

I'm not so sure about converting it to D&D. They have different feels. Dying Earth (particularly the default Cugel-tier sourcebook) features witty, completely penniless, morally suspect con-men. I'd be interested to see those conversion rules.

So anyways, if this is on sale, I'd certainly recommend it. Robin Laws wrote a great game.

 

[Voadam]

and I think the Compendium is pure fluff stuff as well.

My mistake, it says the Compendium also includes DERPG game stats for 80 creatures.

 

[pawsplay]

It's one of my most prized RPG purchases ever, despite that I have yet to actually run the thing.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

It's excellent - I think the analogy with Paranoia is very apt. It's also incredibly faithful to Vance.

I want to run a Lyonesse game as a Pendragon/Dying Earth mash-up.

 

[LostSoul]

How does it work?

(Reading Jack Vance right now - Eyes of the Overworld.)

 

[Glyfair]

How does it work?

(Reading Jack Vance right now - Eyes of the Overworld.)

You can download the quickstart rules (and adventures) at ehir homepage still.

The experience system I found the most interesting. Each player choose two quotes from Vance (there is a list in the book, although you aren't necessarily limited to it) and the GM chooses one for you. If you use the quote you get some experience, the amount depending on how appropriate the quote is (nothing if it doesn't fit, to the maximum if the use sends everyone into apoplexy). It adds to the "Vance" feel (somewhat Gygaxian, but more).

 

[Glyfair]

Looking at the PDF list (I was pointed in that direction by Simon's blog), I think I will have to pick up a handful before the end of the month. I never did get to play, but it did look fun and I would like to try a one-off or two.

My biggest issue with the game is finding a group that is familiar enough with the books to get the atmosphere. Someday I might try a few one-off games for a lark, so a few adventures would be nice.

For those of you that have played, which adventures seem like they would be best for one-off adventures for a group of players who have never played?

As an aside, the anthology Songs of the Dying Earth is due out soon (George R. R. Martin recently got his author's copy). George R. R. Martin, Glen Cook, Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, Elizabeth Moon, Robert Silverberg, Dan Simmons, Tad Williams, and many other authors have short stories sent in the world. It's a must have for me.

 

[dbm]

Thanks for flagging this up, I love Vance and have been meaning to invest in these for a while. Just picked up the set

Cheers,
Dan

 

[Piratecat]

Game designer (and former D&D creative director) Mike Selinker blogs about the Dying Earth book:

The Most Beautiful Things - the most beautiful fantasy novel series: The Dying Earth