Colonial RPG?

[dougmander]

My apologies. I confess, I've only skimmed it, but I know Ben Franklin is prominently mentioned in much of the marketing text. He wasn't alive in the 17th century. So, now I'm genuinely curious: What's the deal with that?

Ben Franklin is never mentioned in Northern Crown, although there is a 17th century analog of him in the character of Chiron Franklyn, a natural philosopher/wizard who is quite clearly inspired by the historical Franklin. So the confusion is totally understandable!

 

[Justin D. Jacobson]

Ben Franklin is never mentioned in Northern Crown, although there is a 17th century analog of him in the character of Chiron Franklyn, a natural philosopher/wizard who is quite clearly inspired by the historical Franklin. So the confusion is totally understandable!

Thanks. BTW, I noticed this nugget on the Atlas Games product page:

What if Ben Franklin was a natural philosopher whose inventions blurred the border between science and magic?

So I guess they're trying to have their cake and eat it too.

(Not remotely a complaint. I've done a little blurring of "Victorian era" with Passages too.)

 

[Woas]

You don't say. From the description I got of Northern Crown I made the assumption it was more 18th/early 19th century time setting. They mentioned Paul Bunyan - Davey Crockett - Jonny Appleseed and other such figures that I always associated with these later time periods so I guess my understanding of the book was skewed.

I would be interested at the least in the stats and mechanics of equipment. And those mundane classes would also be good. I'll make sure to check out Northern Crown[/i} at my LGS too.

Stuff like maps and historical background info isn't needed as much which is I guess is somewhat my fault. I never really mentioned that I didn't need it specifically but I've just recently graduated from university, majoring in history: specifically focusing on colonial America/colonial New York (state). So I have plenty of maps and context to run the game with.

 

[Aussiegamer]

sure no worries, but when your done love to see the new gear

 

[Steve Jung]

Although its probably bad form on my part, I had done some searching on my own prior to posting and found this Northern Crown stuff you mentioned. But after reading into it I found that it wasn't really what I needed for the reasons Stormborn mentioned. But yea know... great minds and everything

That's OK. Doing research before asking a question? We can't have that. Next thing you know, people will be making informed decisions. Good luck with finding something that works.

 

[frank_blankenship]

Northern Crown has all the material you need, and the magical/fantasy material is easily trimmable.

As an example, I bought Skull & Bones, the Pirate/Carribbean setting/guidebook for d20 from Green Ronin. It is perfect fit -BECAUSE- the historical information matches up so well.

Now don't get me wrong, Northern Crown is a fantasy campaign setting. And there are fantasy materials aplenty but think about how easy it is to turn a Dark Ages Vampire game into an Historical rpg without vampires and you can understand why people would recommend it for this genre.

No other books, historical or fantasy, represents the period so well in RPG terms as Northern Crown despite it being magical and alt-history IMO. The feel is dead on.

SO pardon the minor threadjack but when will we see a Uropa or Southern Cross book? Europe and South America in the 17th century are just as exciting in my opinion.

 

[Sheridan]

As a bit of shameless self-promotion, E.N. World Gamer #3 (available on RPGNow.com) from EN Publishing has an article called Land Ho! that provides rules for role-playing during the phases of exploration, colonization, and early independance. It is d20 based and was co-written by myself and my wife, Cindy. There are a couple reviews of the issue around which address our article pretty favorably.
-Scott Moore

 

[dougmander]

Northern Crown has all the material you need, and the magical/fantasy material is easily trimmable. (edit) SO pardon the minor threadjack but when will we see a Uropa or Southern Cross book? Europe and South America in the 17th century are just as exciting in my opinion.

I agree! The short answer is, when someone else gets around to writing it. That would be a huge task, and now that I'm a dad, I don't have the large blocks of free time that I had when I wrote and illustrated Northern Crown. Although I doubt Atlas Games would be interested in publishing a hardcover Uropa or Southern Cross gazetteer, they have given the thumbs up to the Northern Crown webzine and podcast, to which anyone could submit Uropa or Southern Cross-related material. So get typing already!

 

[Wik]

So... what about d20 Past?

 

[Maester Luwin]

Hey Scott! I would be interested in reading that article. Do you have a link to it handy? Thanks Maester Luwin