MorningStar-First Thoughts

[SJE]

Well I got MorningStar today and had a quick look through at it. I hope this is the right forum to discuss as it looks like non-WotC D&D to me.

Overall, less than impressed. Average presentation, no colour art, and not too much B&W art. I saw the racial classes for the so-called immortal Fey elves and they were... Meugh.... Bone elves, Stream Elves, Meadow elves... I gave up caring.

Origin story doesnt seem too great with assorted oddness. Best idea in the book is that the moon of the planet is a magical Black hole in the ethereal plane- if your soul gets too far from your body, then you might get sucked up by the ethereal wind and be sucked into the black hole and forever destroyed.... Thats cool, but makes Resurrection a bugger.

Nations and setting are one of those where the names seem to be missing some vowels. 'Lreans' ?!?! The Prophecy is intellectually cool, but written in such an obscure way as to turn off the players. ("So the sisters are at war? OK, why do I care what that means?")

Basically Goodman games have produced a worthy, but slightly mediocre book, that I foresee comparing badly to something like DawnForge. Oh well- I'll give it a more thorough read, strip mine it for ideas and have a look at the Prophecy supplement when it comes out.

SJE

 

[RSKennan]

Well I got MorningStar today and had a quick look through at it. I hope this is the right forum to discuss as it looks like non-WotC D&D to me.

Overall, less than impressed. Average presentation, no colour art, and not too much B&W art. I saw the racial classes for the so-called immortal Fey elves and they were... Meugh.... Bone elves, Stream Elves, Meadow elves... I gave up caring.

Origin story doesnt seem too great with assorted oddness. Best idea in the book is that the moon of the planet is a magical Black hole in the ethereal plane- if your soul gets too far from your body, then you might get sucked up by the ethereal wind and be sucked into the black hole and forever destroyed.... Thats cool, but makes Resurrection a bugger.

Nations and setting are one of those where the names seem to be missing some vowels. 'Lreans' ?!?! The Prophecy is intellectually cool, but written in such an obscure way as to turn off the players. ("So the sisters are at war? OK, why do I care what that means?")

Basically Goodman games have produced a worthy, but slightly mediocre book, that I foresee comparing badly to something like DawnForge. Oh well- I'll give it a more thorough read, strip mine it for ideas and have a look at the Prophecy supplement when it comes out.

SJE

Hi, I'm the author...

Thanks for the comments. I'm definitely trying to do something different with Morningstar, but I'm on surer footing now. The oddness will make sense if you stick with us. It's a puzzle that could be solved via the first book, but which will be illuminated as the series continues.

If you're interested, you can download errated Artificer rules and some new options from the Yahoo group in my sig. Coming soon are character options and ideas for making the setting more Epic.

As for the Lreans; they are agents of the aberrant Empire Hrum Vaat... that might not excuse their odd names, but I thought it sounded appropriate.

I hope this doesn't sound defensive, since I'm not in the least bit offended. I appreciate that you bought the book, and that you think it's decent.

Anyway, thank you for buying the book, and I hope it gets some use.

 

[Pseudonym]

I think I'm going to "borrow" the moon idea for my campaign. The idea of natural phenomena impacting magic is an interesting one, such as the magneto storms of Tellene in Kalamar effecting teleportation and divination. It'd be nice to see more of that thing in other games.

 

[SJE]

Hi, I'm the author...
As for the Lreans; they are agents of the aberrant Empire Hrum Vaat... that might not excuse their odd names, but I thought it sounded appropriate.

Thank you for your reply Mr Kennan, I appreciate it.

Can I just ask- why the names missing vowels like 'Lrean' or 'Hrum'? Was there a design choice made there?

My trouble with such names is that I find them tremendously difficult to pronounce properly. I presume that the reason for missing the vowels is to empahsise their alieness of their people, but does this make up for the fact that the PC's cant pronounce the name of their arch-enemy without arguments and silliness?

Thanks,

SJE

 

[Christian]

Can I just ask- why the names missing vowels like 'Lrean' or 'Hrum'? Was there a design choice made there?

Heh.

From the MiSTing of 'The Eye Of Argon':

Tom: "Grignr"?
Mike: Look, we're already on the second chapter. Get over it.
Tom: I know, I know, it's just... I'd like at least buy a vowel or something.

 

[Turjan]

*chuckle*

This discussion sheds the right light on the fact that most "exotic" RPG locations are about as exciting as a typical American suburb crossed with Tombstone, AZ (including big parking lots around the buildings ). Even a modern Italian mountain village would look strange compared to the bulk of the material .

What's so difficult about "Lrean" or "Hrurn"? None of these words contains a single mute consonant, so what's the deal ?

 

[RSKennan]

Thank you for your reply Mr Kennan, I appreciate it.

Can I just ask- why the names missing vowels like 'Lrean' or 'Hrum'? Was there a design choice made there?

My trouble with such names is that I find them tremendously difficult to pronounce properly. I presume that the reason for missing the vowels is to empahsise their alieness of their people, but does this make up for the fact that the PC's cant pronounce the name of their arch-enemy without arguments and silliness?

Thanks,

SJE

One thing that got cut from the book for space reasons are details on Hrum Vaat. Hrum Vaat is ruled by Aberrations, in particualar, two new ones called Lreans and Gedge. Gedge are the workforce and lower class, and Lreans are the masterminds. A menagerie of other aberrations rounds out the empire, but they don't matter for this discusion. Gedge and Lreans are related classes of humanoid worm creatures.... still with me?

Just as every spirit on Thraxis was once a numinus (proto-elemental spirit), so too were aberrations, after a fashion. Aberration spirits are the 'echoes' of souls that have been drawn into the Wheel (the magical Black hole, for those without the book ). As such they lack something, like undead do... they are alien, and their forms are twisted.

OK. The Gedge (derived from the Dwarven word for 'Earthquake') are large musclebound humanoid worms... they have sonic powers... they speak by articulating throaty hums... Hence the name for their empire "Hrum Vaat".

Lreans are smaller, frailer Gedge, who build Magical exoskeletons and living magical devices..... I wanted their name to have the impression of a 'higher pitch', but I agree that they are in need of a name that they are called by other races.

I know that the book doesn't have this info, and even if it did, you might still find it odd. I had more info written on them (including stats), but in the interest of space, it was cut.

Even if it's not a reasonable justification, I figured you should know my rationale.

 

[RSKennan]

Oh, and here's a lttle Pronunciation guide:

Hrum Vaat= First word rhymes with 'Brum' (as the Children's show character), like a comibnation of 'Boom' or 'Broom' and 'Hum'. Second word rhymes with 'knot'.


Lrean= Luh*Ree* An . There is an implied schwa sound between the 'L' and 'R', and any pronunciation is at best an approximation, even for me. As I've said they likely need a easier name for humans to use; it's just that they're more rarely encountered and recognised for what they are.

 

[Mercule]

Can I just ask- why the names missing vowels like 'Lrean' or 'Hrum'? Was there a design choice made there?

I've got a few languages/races that do that in my homebrew. It creates a distinctive sound, depending on what consonant combinations you use in the language.

For example, my hobgoblins are called the D'Thek. Both the "D" and the "Th" (unvoiced, as in "thin") are pronounced. Try it a few times and it actually flows together creating a very hard "TH" sound a bit like the "th" in "there", but unvoiced.

Nothing to do with Morningstar, just a thought on odd pronounciations.

 

[Hypersmurf]

From the MiSTing of 'The Eye Of Argon':

Damn it.

There goes the rest of my day

-Hyp.