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Message: <blockquote data-quote="rjs" data-source="post: 1934261" data-attributes="member: 16164">Other Applications for the BCCSHere's my take. While I was working on this book, one of the things that struck me was how similar it was to "Earth." Whether real or imagined, there are real-world correlations to many of the sites mentioned and described in the books. While the map on page 33 is the end result from 3 reads of all ten novels during 13 months of work, it's merely one interpretation. You could for instance, make a case for increasing the size of the Salada Peninsula, making it somewhat Spain-like. Glen Cook mentions in the books the existance of the Western Islands, which could easily be Britain. The Black Company follows what you could consider the Nile into Africa, where the Plain of Glittering Stone would connect to right about where South Africa sits. You'll also notice, if you're as rabid of a fan as I am, that Cook describes every world connected to the PoGS as identical to the Prime world (though whether or not it's prime is debatable). So, from these insights, I started thinking about how to use Black Company in other ways. I think I mention it somewhere, but just think about the BC marching through the shadowgate to come through into southern Africa, wander around for a bit, encounter the classic Ethiopians and get dragged in the Trojan War. Or maybe they become a company under Caesar, at his side when he crossed the Rubicon. You really could go anywhere with this; there are 16 gates after all. However, because the world is flexible, Cook never included a map so you could juggle things to mesh the world with Oerth, Faerun (AL'Qadim baby!), Mystara, hell, even Dark Sun (man, you think it was bad with the Sorcerer Kings before, imagine what they'd be like with the Black Company at their side; Lady becomes the next Dragon?), and still never disrupt the integrity of the BCCS.So, after all this wandering nonsense, the natural question is what to do with the mechanics? Clearly there are some differences. True, the barbarian is a lot like the berserker, the rogue a lot like the thief, and while the classes have some slight differences, I intentionally avoided adding things like Reputation (though this could be a cool mechanic for BCCS), class-based Defense bonuses, and so on. I incorporated stuff like action points, because I figure most folks are already using a mechanic like this (d20 Modern, force points Star Wars, Monte's Hero Points (yes?), Unearthed Arcana, and so on). So, the classes themselves are pretty transparent to those in the PHB, though they have understandable twists. Plus, we included a tweaked thief and berserker and fighter so you could have all the classes in one place.Can you use Backgrounds in other d20 games? Absolutely. Note, each background limits your starting feat choice and where you allocate bonus skill points in exchange for a perk or bene, so the trade off should usually wash. I added the optional random element to force diversity in background-class selection. Personally, I think a beggar-wizard is infinitely more interesting than a Magician's Apprentice-wizard. The different scales in the Combat chapter can work in other settings fine, I'd imagine, as would many of the combat changes. Black Company combat is nasty as heck, but with healing magic in standard play, magic items, and the usual suspects in D&D, I don't think anything we introduced messes with things too bad. In fact, I kind of like how we ditched negative hit points.OK, so the real question then is Magic. Will it work alongside D&D spellcasting. Honestly, I haven't tried it. So, I'm theorizing here. I think you could make it work. Yes. Actually, I'm pretty sure of it. The effects should be familiar to players of d20. Create energy basically is a synthesis of all the direct damage spells in the PHB, stripped, and rebuilt under one streamlined spell (well one for each energy type). In fact, many of the BCCS spells can trace their roots back to something in D&D, twisted and rebuilt for an effect suited to the novels. You'll need to be careful though b/c BC wizards are slower in casting spell effects than D&D wizards. Unless the spell effect's Magic Use DC is no more than 5 points higher than your wizards ranks in Magic Use + his Magnitude modifier, an effect will take a full-round or longer to cast. Conversely, BC spellcasters are pretty darn flexible and can do all sorts of crazy things. In the end, whether or not you adapt the material for your Greyhawk game is up to you. But, I'm really interested in seeing what people think, how they use the BCCS and the magic system inside. And in just a few more months (well a little longer than that and forgive the plug) we'll be talking about how to blend Thieves' World Magic with Black Company's. Oh and if the Black Company invades another Campaign Setting, tell us! Watch out Elminster, Kina woke up and she's randy. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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