Remember RAPPAN ATHUK? Own The Campaign Setting!

Another cool preview dropped into my inbox today. If you fondly remember Rappan Athuk and The Lost City of Barakus, you can get the campaign setting from Frog God Games - and it's available for D&D 5E, Pathfinder, and Swords & Wizardry. It's a Kickstarter (already funded) with just 4 days to go, so you'll need to be quick, and it comprises multiple books - two hardcovers, and two softcovers, and assorted sundries. They've sent me along a preview of the campaign setting, which you can see below!

"We’re incredibly excited to finally reveal the long-awaited region of the Borderland Provinces, one of the most important key locations in all of the Lost Lands campaign world. The Borderland area connects the legendary dungeons of Rappan Athuk to the award-winning Lost City of Barakus, and also to several other Necromancer Games books from the d20 era. Not only that, it also links up the long-awaited northwest route from these areas to the city of Bard’s Gate, and ultimately connects Bard’s Gate to the campaign area described in Cults of the Sundered Kingdoms and the Domain of Hawkmoon."

The physical book sets start in the $80-$80 range (for GMs and Player's sets); the most popular backing level is the $95 Complete GM Book Set (GM Book, Player's Guide, Player Gazetteer, and an adventure). It's quite a complicated Kickstarter, so you'll need to look it over carefully before selecting your reward(s). The Kickstarter is here (or click on one of the previews).

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[moldyderp]

I think Rappan is not 5E compatible. Taken from the KS page:

4. Rappan Athuk. (PFRPG and Swords & Wizardry only)This massive book contains a lot of information about the eastern part of Eastreach Province, along with the legendary mega-dungeon itself. PFRPG and Swords & Wizardry versions only. ($30 for PDF, $90 for book).

 

[Mistwell]

I think Rappan is not 5E compatible. Taken from the KS page:

4. Rappan Athuk. (PFRPG and Swords & Wizardry only)This massive book contains a lot of information about the eastern part of Eastreach Province, along with the legendary mega-dungeon itself. PFRPG and Swords & Wizardry versions only. ($30 for PDF, $90 for book).

Well, the campaign setting itself is:

"Own the campaign setting of Rappan Athuk and Lost City of Barakus! Available for Pathfinder, Fifth Edition, and Swords & Wizardry."

But yeah the adventure as an add-on is not (though many other add-ons are for 5e, including adventures).

 

[qu0zl]

Everything that the kickstarter is funding is available for 5e, but the extra addons of old products of theirs that you can add via the backer kit if you like mostly aren't. There are their various 5e Quests of Doom volumes and their Fifth Edition Foes available as addons.

The campaign setting comes with an anthology of adventures (the 2nd hardback book) which are 5e. I'm backing it for fifth edition.

Hopefully they'll convert Rappan Athuk to 5e some day in the future. They've said that future 5e mega-projects like that depend on how this one goes for 5e but based on the number of people on the kick-starter comments saying that they've backed it for 5e, I'm feeling very positive about that. I'd like Slumbering Tsar and Sword of Air for 5e, and I wouldn't say 'no' to Rappan Athuk either. Or Cyclopean Deeps. The more mega-sandboxy the more I want it

 

[Barantor]

From the preview it looks very "Greyhawk-esque" but my question looking it over is why you wouldn't just use Greyhawk? Is there anything that makes it stand out on it's own?

 

[timbannock]

From the preview it looks very "Greyhawk-esque" but my question looking it over is why you wouldn't just use Greyhawk? Is there anything that makes it stand out on it's own?

From my (admittedly limited) experience with the modules in this setting, Necromancer/Frog God tends to veer toward a darker default setting, with smaller cities and towns, overall. Greyhawk certainly had its darkness, but these guys tend to have good gods that are all but absent and evil gods and demon gods that are *right there!(TM)* for the fighting.

Kinda hard to explain: it's not grimdark, but it's certainly closer to that. It's a much more sword & sorcery-style society, a bit more barbaric, and tends to avoid the "huge armies and lots of kingdoms" thing.

 

[Charles Wright]

A quote from the author from another thread in the forums on the flavor of the Borderlands.

"In terms of the flavor of the place, if you're familiar with Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, those are the best analogy. There's also a lot of influence from Jack Vance (more on the Lyonesse side than the Dying Earth side). Both of those authors portrayed worlds with a veneer of civilization under which there are some horrific realities lurking, both supernatural horrors and also horrors of human nature. Borderland Provinces weaves in and out the description of the veneer (government, trade, culture) and of the underlying menaces and horrors (the descriptions of monster lairs, ongoing villainous plots, and other such DM information)."

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?470643-FGG-Lost-Lands-Borderlands-is-5e#ixzz3rDFFXoWz

 

[Mythmere1]

This is a much less expensive Kickstarter than most Frog God projects, too. The main book is a $35 hardcover which comes with free PDF and poster map, and a PDF version is even cheaper.

 

[silverhair2048]

From the preview it looks very "Greyhawk-esque" but my question looking it over is why you wouldn't just use Greyhawk? Is there anything that makes it stand out on it's own?

I have been running a Rappan Athuk campaign since January 2015. My players' are just getting to 6th level. They have explored some of the surroundings of RA and have traveled to Endhome. However, I have pledged to this KS for the PF version as I want to have more detail of the areas surrounding the main dungeon and Endhome. In the campaign book for RA there isn't very much detail of the areas around Zelkor's Ferry and RA. I do like that FGG doesn't detail every square inch of ground so if I want to place a village somewhere I can if I want it to be jungle type forest I can. I have plans to insert a certain city with a large Magick University nearby. I didn't have much experience with Greyhawk so using PF and RA does what Greyhawk did for others. I also like that the Powers-that-Be from FGG are willing to take time to help a struggling GM figure out how to mess with his Players. RA is as open ended as you need it to be or as detailed as you want it to be.

There is only $2000 left before reaching a stretch goal of getting a list of the relevant Deities of the Borderland Provinces. There are 4 days left. Come help us over the hump.

 

[Barantor]

From my (admittedly limited) experience with the modules in this setting, Necromancer/Frog God tends to veer toward a darker default setting, with smaller cities and towns, overall. Greyhawk certainly had its darkness, but these guys tend to have good gods that are all but absent and evil gods and demon gods that are *right there!(TM)* for the fighting.

Kinda hard to explain: it's not grimdark, but it's certainly closer to that. It's a much more sword & sorcery-style society, a bit more barbaric, and tends to avoid the "huge armies and lots of kingdoms" thing.

I understand that and I have other Necro/Frog god products so I know their style, which feels more 'old school' than some of the other settings that have come out.

Good gods aren't absent in Greyhawk and the bad gods are 'right there' in that setting too, so I guess I will probably pass and maybe pick this up after it goes on their site or on sale or something. It's interesting and the layout and kingdom focus are spot on with what I like, but it just doesn't seem that different to me from what I get with Greyhawk for now.

I have been running a Rappan Athuk campaign since January 2015. My players' are just getting to 6th level. They have explored some of the surroundings of RA and have traveled to Endhome. However, I have pledged to this KS for the PF version as I want to have more detail of the areas surrounding the main dungeon and Endhome. In the campaign book for RA there isn't very much detail of the areas around Zelkor's Ferry and RA. I do like that FGG doesn't detail every square inch of ground so if I want to place a village somewhere I can if I want it to be jungle type forest I can. I have plans to insert a certain city with a large Magick University nearby. I didn't have much experience with Greyhawk so using PF and RA does what Greyhawk did for others. I also like that the Powers-that-Be from FGG are willing to take time to help a struggling GM figure out how to mess with his Players. RA is as open ended as you need it to be or as detailed as you want it to be.

There is only $2000 left before reaching a stretch goal of getting a list of the relevant Deities of the Borderland Provinces. There are 4 days left. Come help us over the hump.

I understand wanting to make it your own, that is something I have struggled with in pre-made settings before too, especially Forgotten Realms (one of the reason I rarely use it!). Like I said above I might wait on this one, but thanks for the answer and I hope it turns out like you want.