Castlemourn, Anyone Played it Yet?

[dmccoy1693]

So I'm looking at Castlemourn, the post-apocalyptic fantasy setting by Ed Greenwood. I'm interested in playing/running it, but first I want to hear what others that have played it have to say about it. Anyone?

 

[Eridanis]

Here's a working link.

Can't say I've played it, though. Didn't even know it was out yet!

 

[fusangite]

I will say that the PrCs and races in the book do not appear, at first glance, to be balanced against core D&D races and PrCs. So I would recommend making all the PCs and NPCs using the setting materials rather than mixing in core PrCs and races.

 

[mattcolville]

I guess I don't really understand what Castlemourn is. As a campaign setting; it is a single castle? Is it a whole world, like the Forgotten Realms? Is it "generic fantasyland cosmetically reskinned" or is there some distinctive hook that separates it from, say, FR?

 

[Mystaros]

Going from my Castlemourn Player's Guide, Castlemourn is:

1) A complete setting, in a vein similar to FR and GH. It is a bit smaller, at least what is initially being produced, at least the map in the PG is ~16" by 10" at 100 miles per inch, or 1,600 miles by 1,000 miles, say from Waterdeep in the northwest to Amn in the south, and out to Thar in the northeast and Turmish in the southeast. And then, about half or mroe of the map in Castlemourn is water, with nine major islands... so even less area than that.

2) It is Greenwoodian High Fantasy. Names like Glamryn, Orthmael, Baerent, Khaladorn, Arshroon, and so forth, exhibit his style. The name "Castlemourn" comes from the fact that history was lost "when the castles fell," ~360 years ago, and no one has any memory or knowledge of what came before then, even the elves who still live from that time. There are many small kingdoms and city states, lots of "lost" and "debatable" lands, and plenty of ruins from before the castles fell. The cultures seem pretty much RPG Euro-Medieval derived standards.

3) The races are altered versions of standard races. Dwarves, for example, all believe life is an illusion, so have trouble seeing through illusion magic. Elves all glow in the dark, so there are very few elven thieves. Gnomes tend to be specialty mages of all kinds. Golaunts (goblin/orcs) are tough, spirited, and barbaric. Halflings make great thieves and, for whatever reason, can make magic items at 75% of the normal experience cost. Thaele seem to be a mysterious wandering people, apparently related to vampires and/or lycanthropes (there are few details on them in the PG). The one PRC included in the PG is the Waymaster, essentially a master merchant/swordsman. So trade, it seems, will be as important in this setting as in FR...

 

[dmccoy1693]

I guess I don't really understand what Castlemourn is. As a campaign setting; it is a single castle? Is it a whole world, like the Forgotten Realms? Is it "generic fantasyland cosmetically reskinned" or is there some distinctive hook that separates it from, say, FR?

It's post-apocalyptic. A few hundred years ago, the entire world underwent a great and terrible change. People died by the thousands, by the millions. But the strange part is is that no one knows the world was like before hand. Even those old enough to remember 1st hand, no one remembers a thing about the world before that change.

It's a world, there are nations, and ancient ruins of whatever the world was before hand. Places you just don't go because "bad stuff happens there" that kind of thing. It's all about a people trying to rebuild a world after it was nearly destroyed.

Also elves glow.

 

[Voadam]

This became available in January? I watch the front page of rpgnow for new releases but this is the third product I've been keeping an eye out for recently that I never saw on their front page but otherwise found out was available.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Can't say I've played it, though. Didn't even know it was out yet!

It's out. How long is debatable. BN.com says it's been out Oct of last year while Amazon says it only came out March 07. But there's the thing, the cover artwork for the Amazon/BN pictures don't match the one on RPGnow.com/DTRPG.com's website (which matches the one on MWP's online store). Also the page counts don't match up. Amazon/BN say it has 224 pages while MPW/RPGnow/DTRPG says it has 256 pages. So I'm not sure if they're talking about the same thing. But considering that the price on Amazon's costs $30 and MWP's costs $45. I'm not trilled about ordering it straight from Margaret Weis.

 

[Mystaros]

The Player's Guide was released at Gen Con, IIRC.

The 256-page Campaign Setting book was released June 1, according to the Dragonlance website (which, until MWP gets their complete site going, is essentially the MWP site apparently). Here's the blurb from the webstore page for the Campaign Setting book:

Castlemourn is a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting where kingdoms fight for power through political intrigue and outright warfare; where the brave seek their fortunes in dangerous ruins, and where everyone fears the unspeakable evil that shadows their land.

Castlemourn is a land searching for its past. Its people are unaware of their origins, the greatness of their history, or what disaster brought about the dark age that has engulfed the land. Some three hundred years before the setting’s current era, there existed a magical place of shining towers and marvelous wonders called the Realm of Castles. Legends tell of a great war against fell creatures that destroyed the realm, leaving scorched ruins and crumbling citadels. Whatever befell this realm was so terrible that the gods have "cordoned" it off. No one is permitted to leave Castlemourn and those who find their way there, do so at their own peril, as adventurers, treasure hunters, and questors scour the land searching for relics, artifacts, and clues to their past.

256 pages with a full color fold-out map at $44.99 MSRP.

 

[Ghostwind]

It hit the game stores about two weeks ago.