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Thieves' World/Lankhmar - why do you like them?
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<blockquote data-quote="PatEllis15" data-source="post: 1335256" data-attributes="member: 1718"><p>Hmmm</p><p></p><p>I've run some Lankhmar, but I haven't actually read the books. For me what Made Lankhmar so great was that the City Design done up by TSR was GOOD, it was SOLID! If I recall correctly, it was the first city detailed to any degree. Each part of the city with its own entry, the geomorphs that allowed you to make the city yours! I've often ported Lankhmar to other locations in Greyhawk. As I recall Lisa Stevens of WotC (she who helped the Greyhawk revival in 1998) had ported either Sanctuary or Lankhmar into Greyhawk for her version of Dyvers...</p><p></p><p>I can speak more to Thieves world though. I've never roleplayed there much (though I do own the RPG), but I've read all the novels, and many of the Spin offs.</p><p></p><p>What I liked about Thieves World was that the City of Santuary became one of the characters. You can see this in the first book when Myrtis, and NPC by every definition, helps mold the New Captain of the Guard, Zalbar, to insure that the Red Light district stays in business, and that Zalbar in fact will protect them.</p><p></p><p>I'm a fan of Greyhawk, so many of these next items have a clear link with ow I view Greyhawk as well...</p><p></p><p>The Characters, while heroic, or not invincible. Even Tempus, who has regeneration to the nth degree granted to him by the gods, gets taken out. Lythande, the Wizard is nearly brought to bay, and in fact leaves for agreat deal of time to protect "himself". Zalbar is nearly killed by street urchins before the crime lord Jubal rescues him. Jubal himself is then nearly killed, and when reborn is but a shell of his former self.</p><p></p><p>The Rankan's can do nothing to stop the beysib invasion, nor can the beysib/rankan rulers get rid of Zip and the PFLS.</p><p></p><p>Because each character had its own author, each gets deserving levels of detail. I just loved One Thumb, and was sorry to see that the author made the assumption that the one off book would not be duplicated, and didn't give himself much room to keep the character going.</p><p></p><p>Also, the races are WELL detailed, the Issili vs the Rankan + the Beysib and the Nisibisi are different cultures, and written that way (Much like the Oeridian, Suel and Flan of greyhawk). No need to a multitude of different races (elf, dwarf et al) because of the diversity of Humans.</p><p></p><p>As for an RPG, interacting with MORTAL NPC's fromthe books is possible, because it is clear that those NPC's can be challenged.</p><p></p><p>That said, Wizards and Cleric's in Thieves world are RARE. I'd say that you assume that wizards and Clerics advance a 1/2 rate, or that they don't get spells until 4th or 5th level (just cantrips.) to balance that out. Magic items exist, but obviously they are much more rare, because those high level spellcasters are that much more rare.</p><p></p><p>Pat E</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="PatEllis15, post: 1335256, member: 1718"] Hmmm I've run some Lankhmar, but I haven't actually read the books. For me what Made Lankhmar so great was that the City Design done up by TSR was GOOD, it was SOLID! If I recall correctly, it was the first city detailed to any degree. Each part of the city with its own entry, the geomorphs that allowed you to make the city yours! I've often ported Lankhmar to other locations in Greyhawk. As I recall Lisa Stevens of WotC (she who helped the Greyhawk revival in 1998) had ported either Sanctuary or Lankhmar into Greyhawk for her version of Dyvers... I can speak more to Thieves world though. I've never roleplayed there much (though I do own the RPG), but I've read all the novels, and many of the Spin offs. What I liked about Thieves World was that the City of Santuary became one of the characters. You can see this in the first book when Myrtis, and NPC by every definition, helps mold the New Captain of the Guard, Zalbar, to insure that the Red Light district stays in business, and that Zalbar in fact will protect them. I'm a fan of Greyhawk, so many of these next items have a clear link with ow I view Greyhawk as well... The Characters, while heroic, or not invincible. Even Tempus, who has regeneration to the nth degree granted to him by the gods, gets taken out. Lythande, the Wizard is nearly brought to bay, and in fact leaves for agreat deal of time to protect "himself". Zalbar is nearly killed by street urchins before the crime lord Jubal rescues him. Jubal himself is then nearly killed, and when reborn is but a shell of his former self. The Rankan's can do nothing to stop the beysib invasion, nor can the beysib/rankan rulers get rid of Zip and the PFLS. Because each character had its own author, each gets deserving levels of detail. I just loved One Thumb, and was sorry to see that the author made the assumption that the one off book would not be duplicated, and didn't give himself much room to keep the character going. Also, the races are WELL detailed, the Issili vs the Rankan + the Beysib and the Nisibisi are different cultures, and written that way (Much like the Oeridian, Suel and Flan of greyhawk). No need to a multitude of different races (elf, dwarf et al) because of the diversity of Humans. As for an RPG, interacting with MORTAL NPC's fromthe books is possible, because it is clear that those NPC's can be challenged. That said, Wizards and Cleric's in Thieves world are RARE. I'd say that you assume that wizards and Clerics advance a 1/2 rate, or that they don't get spells until 4th or 5th level (just cantrips.) to balance that out. Magic items exist, but obviously they are much more rare, because those high level spellcasters are that much more rare. Pat E [/QUOTE]
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