D20 Black Company conversions/ideas sought

[hellbender]

I am building a Black Company d20 site and will be taking any ideas, suggestions, conversions etcetera for the webpage. Everything is unofficial, but I am working on someday getting something done. All authors will be credited for their work. The idea is to flesh out a campaign setting for the Black Company milieu by the author Glen Cook.

 

[thullgrim]

I honestly think the first step is determining what level the Taken are, along with the Dominator, the Lady and so on...This will establish a baseline of sorts.

 

[jgbrowning]

I honestly think the first step is determining what level the Taken are, along with the Dominator, the Lady and so on...This will establish a baseline of sorts.

yep. agree.

joe b.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I think the first real question is how traditional do you want it to be in terms of standard d20? If very, throw out the idea of using the Black Company as anything other than a template of good ideas and gritty mercenary action.

Most magic has to be canned. Summoning, Necromancy, Illusion, Conjuration, and in latter books, Shadow, are all popular. Abjuration and Evokation seem missing. Clerical healing of all sorts is about 95% missing.

 

[Dr. NRG]

There are a couple of great sites on the web that feature 2E conversions of the Black Company, including a guy who programmed up a version of Tonk. Google around a little and you'll find all you want of this stuff.

Great series, btw.

NRG

P.S. Evocation is not missing. See the Limper's spellcasting for examples.

 

[thullgrim]

Abjuration seems to be used off stage, rather than on stage, but the off stage uses inplies existence and a certain commonality, after all how else were the Taken and Dominator imprisoned? I mean abjuration seems the obvious answer to me.

 

[hellbender]

I agree on creating a power base for the Taken and other powerful characters and creatures, as well as toning down the magic system. Ideally, I would like to focus on a humanocentric world (following the stories) as well as an offshoot to touch base with a fantasy world with other races inhabiting the planet.

h.

 

[dave_o]

I'd love to help with this, man. Drop me an e-mail.

I tried to head up a Black Company d20 project on the boards a while ago, but it fell through. I still have a few contacts, though, if I get involved.

I think the way to go with the Taken is a template. The specifics of that template? Iunno.

But I'll be glad to help!

 

[thullgrim]

Agreed the world is extremely humanocentric world. Adding on a fantasy aspect should be a secondary concern though not forgotten in development such that it seems tacked on. Some sort of smooth integration should be sought.

Dealing with the Taken as a template in an interesting thought. It would account for a set of standard abilities common to all of the Taken, but perhaps 2 seperate ones are needed. 1 for the original and another for those the Lady herself creates. As I recall the new taken were far weaker than the original.

Another thought, magic seems to have been more prevalent in earlier times, that needs to be taken into account. It seems to me this is a low magic setting because of lost know-how rather than a natural lack of magic. I am not sure what this means exactly and it could I am wrong, its been quite a while since I rad them.

As for toning down the magic system, magic is drawn from within the casters themselves so perhaps some form of hit point loss, or con drain might suffice. Perhaps the key element in a Taken template is that magic no longer deals real hit points but rather subdual damage. In this manner the taken get as exhausted as other casters but recover quicker....

 

[argo]

You might want to start by looking over the last thread to discuss this topic.

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=303884#post303884

I would suggest that if you really want to work on this seriously then you need to start by getting three to five guys to make a real time commitment- which I'm sorry to say counts me out.

Good luck.