Legends of the Dark Ages Q&A

[Vigilance]

Hey guys, just finished the next major Legends book. My draft clocked in at almost 80 pages.

Legends of the Dark Ages is an historical fantasy take on Europe 476-814 CE (from the Fall of Rome through the Death of Charlemagne).

It uses many of the same elements that past Legends books have (bloodline instead of race, nobility instead of alignment and spell points) while attempting to capture a very dark, bloody period in our history.

The book presents a number of new core classes, rules for equipment contemporary to the period and a historical treatise of the period.

Questions or comments welcome.

Chuck

 

[Turanil]

-- Will it see print and PDF?
-- What about price?
-- What about art in it?
-- With what is it compatible? For example, I have GR Medieval Player's Manual and R&R Excalibur; what's the amount of compatibility with that?
-- Amount of crunch versus fluff. Is there a slew of new feats and what not? Or is there more stuff about a dark age settting rather than additional game mechanics?
-- Can you list the new classes and briefly describe them?
-- The stupid question now: would it be easy to use with, or at least convert to Castles & Crusades?

 

[Vigilance]

-- Will it see print and PDF?

Its going to be a PDF first. There are no plans to print it right now, but there's been no definite decision to NOT print it (sorry to be vague- I guess this all means "I dunno" lol).

-- What about price?

Probably somewhere in the 8 dollar range in PDF. But I dont make these calls so that's just a guess based on past product pricing.

-- What about art in it?

Well I just turned in my draft so I haven't seen any art yet, but it will include some maps of Europe during the period.

-- With what is it compatible? For example, I have GR Medieval Player's Manual and R&R Excalibur; what's the amount of compatibility with that?

It should be usable with any d20 product with a little work. The spell points can be completely ignored if needed, converting nobility back to alignment wont present much trouble either.

Basically I took some things about d20 I really didnt like and changed them but we have worked hard to keep the books adaptable so people could use modules.

-- Amount of crunch versus fluff. Is there a slew of new feats and what not? Or is there more stuff about a dark age settting rather than additional game mechanics?

More crunch than fluff, but it does provide you with a history of the period as well as an overview of Christianity and the church.

-- Can you list the new classes and briefly describe them?

Charlatan: arcane spell caster, trickster/illusionist. Think "snake oil salesman" and you're right there. Its a low magic book, so this character will have to use some good old fashioned skills to get by, in addition to his spells (in other words no "boom" spells).

Hermit: Divine spell caster. Not a politician or a religious schemer, this is the guy who goes off into the desert and looks for God. He has a good skill selection of outdoors skills as well as some prophecy related abilities.

Marauder: A barbarian only class (in Dark Ages barbarian is a bloodline- so this is the barbarian as berserker). Rage and carnage related abilities.

Mercenary: A fighter who works best when there's a nice payout waiting for him.

Monk: Divine spellcaster. More the St. Anthony/Venerable Bede monk than the Kung Fu monk. This class combines priest spells with erudite scholarship.

Noble: Lord and the land are one take. Some mystical abilities relating to leadership and divine ordination. Most nobles would have the aristocrat class instead of this just like most soldiers would take warrior.

Nomad: Mounted barbarian archer. Would work for the Huns (who it was designed for) but also for the Mongols who come later or the Ainu savages from Japanese history.

Priest: Divine spell caster. Also gets social abilities related to the church, including the ability to absolve characters for sin.

Seer: Arcane spell caster. Diviner. Specialist in seeing the future.

Skald: Barbarian warrior-poet. A militant bard isnt too far off.

Soldier: Professional warrior. Gets to pick from a wide range of combat training abilities. Specialties included within this class: archer, cavalry, command, scout, swordsman.

Thief: Specialist in stealing your stuff and getting away quick.

-- The stupid question now: would it be easy to use with, or at least convert to Castles & Crusades?

I wish I could be more help on this last. My gut tells me it should be no harder to use with C&C than standard d20 but I havent read C&C so I can't give a definitive yea or nay here.

Thanks for the questions, hope this helps

Chuck

 

[Turanil]

So far I do like the classes; they fit better my wants than traditionnal Greyhawk-fantasy. I could get that book, and made some C&C conversion for my own use... Speaking of which: what about the OGC in this book?

 

[Vigilance]

Usual breakdown in the Legends book is that the crunch is OGC and the research is closed.

Glad you like the class list

Chuck

 

[Masada]

How does it compare to Legends of Excaliber? Both are roughly medieval fantasies and I'm curious how they differ.

Christianity is great. Do you happen to also have the Moors?

I'm a little rough on my history, are the Crusades part of the Dark Ages?

Do you detail any cities?

 

[Vigilance]

How does it compare to Legends of Excaliber? Both are roughly medieval fantasies and I'm curious how they differ.

Well the periods overlap. Excalibur technically takes place during the dark ages as well (although the "Arthurian Dark Age" described by Malory has knights... in full plate... but I digress).

Dark Ages takes a more historical tack. While some of the classes are the same (those with names you recognize from Excalibur are ported from that book), changes are made for historical purposes.

Mechanically the book gives you the tools to simulate the technology of the day. The book contains complete weapon and armor tables for the best technology of the day, which is wrought iron.

It also includes some wonders still used in the dark ages such as meteoric steel and Damascus steel.

Rules are also provided for mounted combat without stirrups.

So Id say the books compliment each other. If you wanted to run an Arthurian game as described in Excalibur, there would still be things in Dark Ages for you, such as the Barbarian bloodline, the Marauder, Monk and Soldier classes (heck I think most of the classes would be applicable to an Excalibur game) and the greater depth of history in the game.

If you wanted to run a "historical" Arthurian game then you'd probably keep a lot of the classes from Excalibur but port in the weapon and armor tables from Dark Ages.

Christianity is great. Do you happen to also have the Moors?

If by Moors you mean Muslims, they are covered as one of the two great threats faced by Europe during the dark ages (the defeat of the Arab army at Poitiers and the invasion of Europe by Atila and his Huns).

If by Moors you mean African Muslims living in Spain as a minority. They don't really exist yet in that fashion during the dark ages. During the dark ages the Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spain) was another part of the Arabic Empire.

In 1031 the Caliphate of Cordoba (as the Islamic territory in Spain came to be called) collapsed and North African Muslims take over the territory, which brings us to the Moors as we typically think of them (ie Othello).

I'm a little rough on my history, are the Crusades part of the Dark Ages?

The Crusades are after the period covered by the books. I believe the first crusade begins in 1059.

Do you detail any cities?

Not so far. Its my goal to do some campaign models for the book. Covering a city in depth would also be tough because finding information on a city during that period, as well as a map either to use or as the basis for an artist rendering would both be pretty hard.

Chuck

 

[Turanil]

It looks like that both games (Excalibur and Dark Ages) could be mixed pretty well, for play in a homebrew based on a Dark Ages period. It reminds me of "Dage" by the way. I guess that nobody will rmember what it is

 

[Vigilance]

It looks like that both games (Excalibur and Dark Ages) could be mixed pretty well, for play in a homebrew based on a Dark Ages period. It reminds me of "Dage" by the way. I guess that nobody will rmember what it is

Agreed... Legends of Excalibur takes a never never land approach to Arthur, so its really timeless. It is technically dark ages, but only technically

Chuck

 

[Stormborn]

Obviously a low magic world, but are we talking roughly a 5th level spell cap, similar to d20 Modern, or simply a more difficult/less fequent system of spell casting?

How are arcane spell casters viewed by the church? With a name like Charalatan I am guessing they don't hold a honored place in society.