Red Steel/Savage Coast setting -- thoughts?

[Allandaros]

Gaaah, my last post about the setting got eaten.

Um. Truncated form - not only are there guns, there are magical guns, and also, if I remember correctly, six-shooter hand crossbows (coexisting with the magical guns, someone correct me if they definitely remember to the contrary, as I don't have the Savage Coast docs on this compy).


The setting also included Dueling Schools, which are really, really fun to add into a regular campaign.

 

[Davelozzi]

Okay, I guess I stand corrected about the guns, I just remembered it having lots of Wild West flavor while still remaining definately fantasy.

 

[Banshee16]

Ain't that the truth!

What would a hard copy be worth? I have the original Red Steel boxed set, as well as the supplemental boxed set, in perfect condition..

Banshee

 

[Akrasia]

What would a hard copy be worth? I have the original Red Steel boxed set, as well as the supplemental boxed set, in perfect condition..

Banshee

Based on my recent ebay searches, they go for $10-20 each, depending on condition (I saw a few 'mint' or 'shrinkwrapped' sets going for only $20).

Given that these are box sets, those are pretty low prices. Many gazetteers (e.g. GAZ3, 13) regularly get prices in the $40 range, even though they are just stapled books (albeit with very nice large colour maps, and sometimes with counters, etc.).

 

[Akrasia]

As you are well aware Akrasia, the Known World has Immortals, not gods. Just keep that in mind while digesting the following information. The following information is lifted from the Red Steel Campaign Book.
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....

That is a great summary -- thanks!

In reading it, though, I did not see how the fact that Mystara has Immortals rather than dieties makes a difference -- did I miss something? (I know that they are quite different, obviously, but I didn't how this difference affected the Red Steel setting itself.)

This setting sounds really cool! I am surprised that it doesn't have more fans out there (along the lines of other OOP settings, like the KW region of Mystara, Planescape, or Darksun).

 

[Davelozzi]

I am surprised that it doesn't have more fans out there (along the lines of other OOP settings, like the KW region of Mystara, Planescape, or Darksun).

Well, it wasn't around long enough to build up too much of a following, plus I think the fact that it was presented as a subsetting of Mystara turned a lot of people away. It's a shame.

 

[Nisarg]

The Princess Ark box set, though incomplete, was significantly better than the 2e Red Steel box set.. Mystara was not designed for 2e, and everything done aroudn that was a disaster. Also, the powers-that-be at TSR, as always perenially shitting themselves with fear over the potential wrath of the conservative christian soccer mom, chose to re-do a major element of the setting (cinnabar) from being a thinly-veiled metaphor for drug use into a stupid "disease".

In reality, the very best option would be if, like me, you were able to find a collection of all the princess ark articles from the old Dragon series. Put together, they make a far better sourcebook than either of the box sets.

Nisarg

 

[rogueattorney]

In reality, the very best option would be if, like me, you were able to find a collection of all the princess ark articles from the old Dragon series. Put together, they make a far better sourcebook than either of the box sets.

Agree 100%. Especially if you don't care what system it's for.

What would a hard copy be worth? I have the original Red Steel boxed set, as well as the supplemental boxed set, in perfect condition..

All of the 2e Mystara/Red Steel stuff is worth cover price if even that much. They're not collectors' items. My FLGS still has some of the stuff in shrink sitting on the same shelf all these last 10 years despite repeated price slashes.

So the "Champions of Mystara" box set gives you everything you need for a campaign in this region? (AC 1000, using OD&D stats?)

No the Champions of Mystara boxed set has some text that tells a story about events that occurred in the Red Steel setting. It has stats and info regarding Sind, Yavdlom, and Graakhalia, which are all east of the Savage Coast. TSR never republished the RC D&D information regarding the Savage Coast that was in The Dragon, and the only place you can get it is in the Dragon CD ROM archive.

R.A.

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Akrasia...could you send me an email to geron_raveneye@web.de ? I can't send PMs, and you switched off email messages.

 

[Akrasia]

The Princess Ark box set, though incomplete, was significantly better than the 2e Red Steel box set.. Mystara was not designed for 2e ...

I agree that the 2e Mystara stuff is vastly inferior to the B/RC D&D Known World material (at least based on what I have read).

But my impression was that Red Steel/Savage Coast was somewhat separate from the crappy 2e 'reworks' of the KW, and heavily influenced by Bruce Heard (who wrote GAZ3 and the Princess Ark stuff, IRC).

Have you actually read RS in order make this comparison, or are you basing this claim on the relative quality of other 2e AD&D Mystara products? (This is not a snipe or anything -- I am just curious as to whether this claim is based on the merits of the Savage Coast setting itself, or a more general claim about the pre 2e versus post 2e Mystara products.)

In reality, the very best option would be if, like me, you were able to find a collection of all the princess ark articles from the old Dragon series. Put together, they make a far better sourcebook than either of the box sets.

But I thought that the Princess Ark stuff does not in fact cover the Savage Coast region?

In any case, tracking down the original Dragon articles sounds painfully tedious -- there is no way that I am doing this. If I can get the Dragon CDRom sometime for a reasonable price, then that might be an option.

I was hoping that the Red Steel/Savage Coast might constitute a relatively self-contained, unique campaign setting -- one that I might run sometime for C&C for a real 'change of pace'.