Jack Vance, Dying Earth, and the Primer of Practical Magic

[Drifter Bob]

DERPG Gazetters

Thanks for joining in Bob!

Tell us/me about the gazeteer type DERGP materials. Are they mostly fluff (general setting) that would be universally applicable or more crunchy (mostly DERPG rules).

If more fluff, I will seriously think about ordering one.

Which would be the best to get first to just use as a campaign setting?
Anyone else who has these please chime in.

The Scaum Valley Gazetteer

The Player's Guide to Kaiin

Ascolais and the Land of the Falling Wall

The thing about the DERPG stuff, as you probably know, is that it's quite rules-lite. The same goes for all their suppliments, they do not mess about constantly with crunchy bits, (thats what I get to do later when I'm converting things to D20) they concentrate more on characters, plots, mood, and humor. Oh, and recipes. They really like recipes... and food. And drinks. And funny hats.

That makes it adaptable pretty readily. As for the three you mentioned, I don't have Acolais and the Land of the Falling Wall yet, but I have Kaiin and Scaum valley. Both are very richly detailed, full of NPC's and sub plots and adventure hooks. It would boil down to whether you want a city, or a swath of countryside. I personally found Scaum valley a bit darker and Kaiin a bit more humorous. As I said before I also highly reccomend the XPS issues, because they have such a variety of material in there, most of it again, readily adaptable to any other rules system. There aren't a lot of charts or numbers to get in the way.

DB

 

[Drifter Bob]

Primer Excerptus

In terms of a preview, that's another thing that goes a long way to making me interested in a book! I guess a smatering of the spells (say three or four) and the magic items (one or two?) would be fantastic! Just to get an idea of how the design philosophy behind the book works.

Ok, here is a link to a word doc with a smattering of items, Some cantrips, a few spells, a few magic items. Please be kind! Also keep in mind, this is from before the final edits, so there were some changes. I know they took the rulebook page references out, there were some mods for 3.5, and etc.

It's also hard to get a general sampling, as all the spells and items are so different. And don't forget the spell failure / success rules are optional.

http://bellsouthpwp.net/d/e/deodand23/Primer-Sample.doc

J

 

[Olive]

Ok, here is a link to a word doc with a smattering of items, Some cantrips, a few spells, a few magic items. Please be kind! Also keep in mind, this is from before the final edits, so there were some changes. I know they took the rulebook page references out, there were some mods for 3.5, and etc.

Oooh, thanks for that! The spells are cool. What sort of levels of the spells cover? It's nice to see spells and magic itmes given a back story etc. I also really like Baron Kalofoi’s Jewels.

A question: does the final book have pre-reqs for the magic items? or just the market price?

 

[Drifter Bob]

Primer

Oooh, thanks for that! The spells are cool. What sort of levels of the spells cover? It's nice to see spells and magic itmes given a back story etc. I also really like Baron Kalofoi’s Jewels.

A question: does the final book have pre-reqs for the magic items? or just the market price?

A quick count shows the spell breakdown as follows:

cantrips: 34
Level 1 16
Level 2 17
Level 3 19
Level 4 23
Level 5 13
Level 6 9
Level 7 4
LEvel 8 2
Level 9 3

So the concentration is in the middle, around 3-5th level. There are also many spells in the existing D20 repetoire which have D20 equivalents, some likely borrowed direct from Vance. An example of the latter would be the Charm of the Forlorn Encystment, which is equivalent to the 9th level Arcane spell Imprisonment, or the Seventh Set's Web of Hiding, which is the equivalent of the 8th level Arcane spell Screen. These are rarely used outside the Dying Earth milieux, IMHO, and fit well here. Other spells such as Clambard's Rein of Long Nerves, (Dominate Person) Felojun's First Hypnotic Spell (Hold Person) and Phandaal's Mantle of Stealth (Improved invisibility) help flesh out the repetoire of Dying Earth spells for those wishing to conduct a campaign completely within the milieux. A complete list of these spells is also included in the book (Appendix V)

As for the items, we make the assumption that they are generally of such rare vintage, that it is no longer possible to make most of the items in the book. These are usually rare, often unique artifacts, and there aren't meant to be dozens of them for sale in every store front. Other more mundane items such as Live boots, could be made, but they have their D20 equivalents (boots of striding and springing).

However I would be willing to help provide some assitance to any mage seeking to redo the work of the ancients.... I have speculated along these lines myself...

J

 

[Drifter Bob]

Thanks for joining in Bob!

I notice that you, like me, appear to reside in New Orleans. I don't often run into Orleanians in cyberspace, if you don't mind my asking, do you live in the city proper or in one of the outlying parishes?

J

 

[redkobold]

I notice that you, like me, appear to reside in New Orleans. I don't often run into Orleanians in cyberspace, if you don't mind my asking, do you live in the city proper or in one of the outlying parishes?

J

I was born here. I lived uptown for a couple of years recently but with the birth of our two kids and good real estate prices uptown we sold and moved to Destrehan.

Where y'at?

Are you officially working on other d20 supplements for DERPG?

 

[Belegbeth]

Drifter Bob,

I am *very* excited about your book. I love Jack Vance, and look forward to giving my d20 game a special Vancian injection!

But out of curiousity: is there any plan at Pelgrane to make use of Vance's Lyonesse novels? IMO, those books are actually superior to his Dying Earth novels -- at least in terms of coherence and "mystical feel." They are also closer in spirit to RPGs. A Lyonesse source book would be amazing.

Of course, I likely ask in vain, as Vance's Lyonesse novels have been sadly neglected over the years.

 

[Drifter Bob]

jewels

I also really like Baron Kalofoi’s Jewels.

I used this item in my last campaign, and I was amazed by the myriad uses that the party put it to. It turns out to be an extremely effective magic item!

DB

 

[Drifter Bob]

Lyonesse

Drifter Bob,

I am *very* excited about your book. I love Jack Vance, and look forward to giving my d20 game a special Vancian injection!

But out of curiousity: is there any plan at Pelgrane to make use of Vance's Lyonesse novels? IMO, those books are actually superior to his Dying Earth novels -- at least in terms of coherence and "mystical feel." They are also closer in spirit to RPGs. A Lyonesse source book would be amazing.

Of course, I likely ask in vain, as Vance's Lyonesse novels have been sadly neglected over the years.

I do not know for sure, as I am only a lowly freelancer and have never actually visited Pelgrane HQ in England, but I believe they only own the rights to the Dying Earth stuff. They do, however have a good relationship with Jack Vance and his family so who knows. I like the Lyonesse novels as well, actually. You might be able to mix the two systems somehow, there is already a considerable difference between the Turjan level material and the Cugel level stuff, the latter being darker and more "high fantasy", perhaps you could tailor some of the material to a Lyonesse campaign. It's been a while since I read any of those books and I don't remember too many spells and monsters specific to the Lyonesse milieux... was there anything specific you were hoping to see?

DB

 

[Gez]

If you can read French, there's a Swiss company that published an adaptation of Lyonesse. -->

Sadly, I think said company has gone bankrupt since...