Flynn
First Post
In a fit of nostalgia, I poked around looking at forums dedicated to previous incarnations of D&D, and was reminded of some of the best third-party RPG supplements I'd ever seen. For those that recall the old Mayfair Games Role-Aids products, particularly the Demons campaign setting, I'm sure you will remember how cool those were. The whole Demons campaign stuff, in particular, provided a much cooler background for integrating infernal creatures into a game than any I'd seen up to that point, and truthfully, I haven't seen better since.
Seeing as how I will be starting a new fantasy campaign in the fall, after I wrap up my current Grim Tales campaign, I started thinking about how I could use my old Role-Aids material to add some life into my next campaign. I started checking stuff out on the web, and aside from some conversions I and Malachi Martin did in the early days of 3E, no one's really done anything in regards to conversions. I did find, however, that one could pick up the entire Demons product line for only $13, under a special being run by Mayfair Games here:
http://www.mayfairgames.com/shop-special/roleaids/mfg-ra.html
(The fluff material alone is well worth the money, and with a little elbow grease, conversion to 3E/v3.5 isn't that hard. If you are running C&C, BFRPG or OSRIC, you probably won't have to do much at all to use the material directly in a game.)
I am seriously considering using this material to replace the Lower Planes in my next campaign. The advantages are many:
There are more reasons, of course, such as the ability to be creative in conversions or in the use of 3.5 demons and devils under the new setting context. But I'm definitely interested in doing this, as it has been a while since I've run a campaign world where demons featured as the big bad guys. My players used to chide me over that, so I ran a three and a half year game focused on undead, followed by a one year campaign focused on vermin, and created some different experiences for them. Now, I'm running a year and a half long Grim Tales campaign in the planetary adventure style, with a focus on aberrations. That's going well, but with almost six years of non-outsider focus in my games, I think it's time to go back to the basics, so to speak.
I'm sure I'm not the only one to have enjoyed these old Role-Aids products. Has anyone else used them in past or current campaigns? If so, what are your suggestions or thoughts on integrating them into a new 3E/v3.5 campaign? (I'd try doing this with one of the "basic games", but I don't think I'd find players locally if I did.) Heck, even if you are using one of the "basic games", what have been your experiences using this material, if any?
Thanks For Your Time,
Flynn
Seeing as how I will be starting a new fantasy campaign in the fall, after I wrap up my current Grim Tales campaign, I started thinking about how I could use my old Role-Aids material to add some life into my next campaign. I started checking stuff out on the web, and aside from some conversions I and Malachi Martin did in the early days of 3E, no one's really done anything in regards to conversions. I did find, however, that one could pick up the entire Demons product line for only $13, under a special being run by Mayfair Games here:
http://www.mayfairgames.com/shop-special/roleaids/mfg-ra.html
(The fluff material alone is well worth the money, and with a little elbow grease, conversion to 3E/v3.5 isn't that hard. If you are running C&C, BFRPG or OSRIC, you probably won't have to do much at all to use the material directly in a game.)
I am seriously considering using this material to replace the Lower Planes in my next campaign. The advantages are many:
- the players won't have the monsters or magic items memorized;
- I can easily use the fluff material and the fluff is great;
- the presence of Demons and their counterparts, the Sentinels, puts the Plane Prime as the focus for their works, instead of some distant Blood War, so the characters don't have to go anywhere extradimensionally to be involved with the material;
- there's plenty of supporting material in the setting that can easily be integrated into a homebrew setting of my own creation, freeing me of that extra work while giving me lots of good flavor; and
- I get a hint of nostalgia in my next game.
There are more reasons, of course, such as the ability to be creative in conversions or in the use of 3.5 demons and devils under the new setting context. But I'm definitely interested in doing this, as it has been a while since I've run a campaign world where demons featured as the big bad guys. My players used to chide me over that, so I ran a three and a half year game focused on undead, followed by a one year campaign focused on vermin, and created some different experiences for them. Now, I'm running a year and a half long Grim Tales campaign in the planetary adventure style, with a focus on aberrations. That's going well, but with almost six years of non-outsider focus in my games, I think it's time to go back to the basics, so to speak.
I'm sure I'm not the only one to have enjoyed these old Role-Aids products. Has anyone else used them in past or current campaigns? If so, what are your suggestions or thoughts on integrating them into a new 3E/v3.5 campaign? (I'd try doing this with one of the "basic games", but I don't think I'd find players locally if I did.) Heck, even if you are using one of the "basic games", what have been your experiences using this material, if any?
Thanks For Your Time,
Flynn