Red Steel/Savage Coast setting -- thoughts?

I have a bunch of Known World stuff (all for B/RC D&D -- no AD&D 2E stuff), that I have been half-heartedly collecting over the past year or so (though I own Karameikos from waaay back). Even though I run my campaign in my homebrew setting, I enjoy reading the KW Gazatteers, and porting stuff over when appropriate.

The 'Red Steel' setting is also part of Mystara, but my impression is that it is quite distinct in tone and character. Also, none of it was produced during the 'golden age' of the Known World Gazatteers (IMO the 2e AD&D stuff is vastly inferior, but that is based mainly on the horrible 2e "Glantri").

What is it about? Is it worth picking up?

I own the Red Steel and Savage Baronies Boxed Sets. I loved these and would recommend them. With the help of the Vaults of Pandius it shouldn’t be too hard to update the material. I also recommend acquiring Dragon Magazine #315 (Campaign Classics issue), as it updates some of the Red Steel information (includes info on The Red Curse, The Afflicted (template), Randomly determining Legacies, the Inheritor feat, Cinnabryl, Red Steel and it updates the Tortles).

Thanks for the info Frukathka!

I don't care about 'updating' to 3e, since I use C&C when I DM anyway (and converting from pre-3e D&D to C&C takes about 5 minutes).

I am more curious about the setting itself. What makes it cool/interesting? What distinguishes it from other A/D&D settings?

Thanks!

If you're looking on "Gazetteer" era information on that region, I can only recommend downloading the Champions of Mystara boxed set from RPGNow or other sources. 4,95$ for a clear and concise treatment of the Sindh desert, the Serpent Peninsula and parts of the Savage coast, I don't think you can go very wrong with that. It collects a lot of information from the "Voyage of the Princess Ark" articles, and adds in a designer manual for airships, deckplans and a big Gazetteer-style map.

So the "Champions of Mystara" box set gives you everything you need for a campaign in this region? (AC 1000, using OD&D stats?)

The Red Steel box set looks appealing, but if 'Champions' accomplishes the same task, then that might be the way to go...

Akrasia said:

The Red Steel box set looks appealing, but if 'Champions' accomplishes the same task, then that might be the way to go...

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If you're not interested in the art and stuff in the Red Steel box, I'm pretty sure it's all recycled in the Savage Coast files that should hopefully still be around somewhere on the WOTC site. As I understand it, Savage Coast = Red Steel + Savage Baronies + some more stuff, and Orc's Head and the MC appendix then add further to that.

Hi Akrasia,

if you are interested in Red Steel or Savage Coast, you really should take a look at http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/html/svgecst.html: there are nicely free pdf-formatted atlas of the Savage Coast and of Orc's Head Peninsula, a nearby area. There are also the html versions, of course.

Anyway, the voyage of the Princess Ark boxed set is OD&D and personally I found it good, much of the material relating to the geography was taken from the articles that Bruce Heard wrote on Dragon Magazines (number 160-200, I didn't recall very well, check at the Vaults http://www.mystaranet.jamm.com/vaults/html/prodlist.html#DraRef). There are also rules for building skyships, which is an expensive process, but I like alot,a nd for world building.

Red Steel and Savage Baronies are instead boxed sets for AD&D. I never played in these areas, but I re-evaluated the setting recently. It is a rather eerie setting with the Red Curse (a powerful curse which guarantees powers and penalties, to speak very concisely) over the area and firearms (in some way restricted).

Hope this helps!

I have both boxed sets and I love them dearly. I even DMed a couple of adventures, making full use of the Player's Options system for 2e (yeah, bad move...)

The feel is very swashbuckling, and the boxed sets come with incredibly cool soundtrack CDs!

Klaus said:

I have both boxed sets and I love them dearly. I even DMed a couple of adventures, making full use of the Player's Options system for 2e (yeah, bad move...)

The feel is very swashbuckling, and the boxed sets come with incredibly cool soundtrack CDs!

Click to expand...

I have the Savage Coast setting downloads saved (Hell, I've got almost everything free from WotC.com saved!) and looked through it. I don't like the Lupins or Rakasta (cat or dog-people) but what they did with Araneas is cool, and the Tortles, Wallaras and various lizardman tribes, as well as various other factors give the place a very South American feel. Of course, the Red Curse is an everpresent danger. Now that I think about it, I might set a campaign there sometime.

Hey! No dissin' the Rakasta!

Lupins, OTOH, are free game.

One of the things I liked was the Spanish/Portuguese feel of the Savage Baronies. Very close to home there.