Ask me about Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra

[Mouseferatu]

Edit: Nevermind. Silly Mouse can't read the board properly.

 

[Quickleaf]

Wow, I just keep getting more questions for you! So...

What is Set's nature in the setting? Utterly evil and stereotypical god of snakes or more of a desert dweller's god who grants power? What types of animals are sacred to Set?

Does Neith appear in the setting? If so, is she a goddes of war, hunt, and protecting souls going to the underworld?

How are spells organized/grouped?

There seems to be a theme of race-patron deity correlation...Can you share the patron deities for Elves and Gnomes? Do Half-Elves have a patron?

Are there True RItuals (like in Relics & Rituals)? or is everything pretty much incorporated into the spellcasting system?

Are Redlanders universally evil and barbaric or are they an actual culture in and of themselves?

Who is your favorite artist? (this has nothing to do with the topic, just thought i'd ask )

Thanks!

 

[Mouseferatu]

Wow, I just keep getting more questions for you! So...

What is Set's nature in the setting? Utterly evil and stereotypical god of snakes or more of a desert dweller's god who grants power? What types of animals are sacred to Set?

Well, he's both, in a way. See, C.A. and I both felt (even before Hamunaptra ever came up, though we didn't know the other agreed with us) that it was inappropriate in some settings--not all, but some--to give the gods alignments at all. If they are truly divine beings, they are above (or at least outside) mortal concepts of morality. They may have good reasons for doing things that seem evil to us, or vice-versa. So the gods of Hamunaptra are described, and given personalities, but not alignments.

What that means is, those who see Set as a dark god of snakes will worship him as such, and they'll gain power as such. And since Set is a warrior god associated with night, it's safe to say that the majority of his priests probably lean toward evil. OTOH, if you wanted to play a lawful good priest who worshipped Set in his capacity as Ra's guard on his journey through the Underworld at night, you certainly could.

Does Neith appear in the setting? If so, is she a goddes of war, hunt, and protecting souls going to the underworld?

She does. She's a goddess of war and judgment both.

How are spells organized/grouped?

Divine heka, innate heka, divine akhu, and innate akhu.

There seems to be a theme of race-patron deity correlation...Can you share the patron deities for Elves and Gnomes? Do Half-Elves have a patron?

All the races but humans have a single specific patron deity. (The reasons for that, and the reasons humans do not have one, are explained in the book.) That doesn't mean members of the race can't worship others, it's just not common. (We also explain why elves can breed with other races but others cannot; so no, half-elves don't have their own patron.) Elves are associated with Isis, and gnomes with--nah. I think I'm going to leave some stuff for the book. You'll be surprised, though, and it's one of the coolest ideas C.A. came up with, IMO.

Are there True RItuals (like in Relics & Rituals)? or is everything pretty much incorporated into the spellcasting system?

Not as defined in R&R, but there are rules for ritual use of magics.

Are Redlanders universally evil and barbaric or are they an actual culture in and of themselves?

Nobody's universally evil, and in fact Redlanders are entirely acceptable as PCs. They aren't as "civilized" as the Blacklanders, and there is often conflict between them, but that makes them neither evil nor unintelligent by default. There's even a fixed, major Redlander community or two.

Who is your favorite artist? (this has nothing to do with the topic, just thought i'd ask )

Wow. Uh...

That's a toughie. There are a lot of artists whose work I really like, and a lot I don't care for. If you're asking about Hamunaptra art specifically, I'm a big fan of Beth Trott. (Not that I dislike the others, mind, just that I really like her stuff.) If you're talking about more generally, I really don't know that I could narrow it down.

 

[Quickleaf]

Elves are associated with Isis, and gnomes with--nah. I think I'm going to leave some stuff for the book. You'll be surprised, though, and it's one of the coolest ideas C.A. came up with, IMO.

Ah so... I just knew they were too cute to be trusted.

Hey, what you decided to do with the gods is awesome!
In fact, it inspires me to ask you a question based on a project I'm creating wherein Khemitian lycanthropes are considered blessed by the gods and do not spread curse of lycanthropy (except maybe Set). Here are the Netereu's Chosen (as they're called) I've come up with thus far:

Chosen of the Cat Goddess (for Bast, Sekhmet, and Tefnut)
Chosen of the Hawk God (for Ra, Horus, Anhur, etc)
Chosen of the Mother Goddes (for Hathor, Isis, Nekhbet, Nut; have various forms; cow, vulture, swallow, scorpion)
Chosen/Accursed of Set (crocodile, hippo, warthog, viper, donkey)
Chosen of Thoth (have ibis and baboon forms)

Can you see anything left out? or anything you'd like to see included?

 

[Mouseferatu]

Ah so... I just knew they were too cute to be trusted.

Hey, what you decided to do with the gods is awesome!
In fact, it inspires me to ask you a question based on a project I'm creating wherein Khemitian lycanthropes are considered blessed by the gods and do not spread curse of lycanthropy (except maybe Set). Here are the Netereu's Chosen (as they're called) I've come up with thus far:

Chosen of the Cat Goddess (for Bast, Sekhmet, and Tefnut)
Chosen of the Hawk God (for Ra, Horus, Anhur, etc)
Chosen of the Mother Goddes (for Hathor, Isis, Nekhbet, Nut; have various forms; cow, vulture, swallow, scorpion)
Chosen/Accursed of Set (crocodile, hippo, warthog, viper, donkey)
Chosen of Thoth (have ibis and baboon forms)

Can you see anything left out? or anything you'd like to see included?

That's a pretty cool idea, actually. I'd love to see that up on your site, once you get it going.

What about Chosen of the Guardian, werejackals who serve Anbuis? It's the closest equivalent you'll likely find for werewolves in Khemti, and several of the major gods (Anubis is the obvious choice, but there are others) are very appropriate for it. Besides, the idea of a gnoll werejackal is just cool.

 

[Quickleaf]

Hmm...werejackal, eh? Let me scribble that down; I'll have to find a way to make such a lycanthrope fit into the mythology given the existence of the Anpur who were created in the image of Anubis already.

Oh! just thought of one more...Bes! He could wear the skins of animals he killed to assume their form. Maybe that'd be better as a PrC or a dwarf feat. hmm...

I am designing the Neteru's Chosen as prestige races, using the rules provided by Bastion Press; they represent those who (through force of will or destiny) reform themselves into the image of their chosen god.

For example...
A gnoll decides to devout himself to Thoth. There are dramatic social repercussions in the rest of gnoll society which rejects the character who they feel has turned his back on Anubis, the racial progenitor. Still, he is determined that his faith will prevail against all odds. At 7th level he sacrifices 6,000 XP and becomes a "Handwritten creature."
He gains empathy with ibises and baboons, and can communicate with such animals with +4 Charisma bonus on related checks. He also gains this Charisma bonus when interacting with faithful followers of Thoth, who adopt the rejected gnoll. He gains a +4 competence bonus to Decipher Script and Profession (Scribe) checks. Decipher Script becomes a class skill for him. He gains Spell Resistance (10) against glyphs, wards, and spells cast from scrolls. Finally, he gains the Scribe Scroll feat. These changes represent many months (perhaps years) of prayer and rituals performed for Thoth on the part of the gnoll. Reveling the knowledge of his deity, the gnoll looks forward to becoming a Spoken-into-Being creature at 9th level...assuming other gnolls don't lynch him first. Eventually, he will gain the power to adopt an ibis headed form. A gnoll with the head of an ibis!

I'm looking for a good hosting site if you have any tips...

 

[Imhotepthewise]

this FINALLY showed up in my FLGS.

It is a great read.

I have one question so far. What size horses draw chariots? do they have to be war horses?

It took me a long time to find a 'hotep in text.

Tut was not murdered, in case anyone still doubts it

 

[Mouseferatu]

this FINALLY showed up in my FLGS.

It is a great read.

I have one question so far. What size horses draw chariots? do they have to be war horses?

Heya. Really glad you liked it.

I passed your question along to C.A. Suleiman--he developed the project and wrote over half of it himself, including the section on chariots--and his response was as follows:

"A chariot will work with any horse (even a pony), but is more combat-effective when drawn by warhorses. Specifically, a chariot rider cannot take advantage of the feats mentioned in the charioteering section unless his mounts are war-trained. In addition, double-chariots work best when drawn by horses of exact same size and gender."

By the way, if you're interested in further desert-based material by C.A., check
this out. (And watch for an announcement, regarding this and other products, in the next few days...)

[end plug]

 

[Crothian]

THis has never made it to Columbus that I've seen. It is one I'd like to pick up at some point, and will during the con season but still it would be nice to see it inn a store

 

[Mouseferatu]

THis has never made it to Columbus that I've seen. It is one I'd like to pick up at some point, and will during the con season but still it would be nice to see it inn a store

Huh. That's odd. I mean, it's not like Green Ronin's a minor company, or uses a minor distributor. Weird...

But it's available in a whole bunch of places online, including (I believe) Green Ronin's own website.