D&D 5E The Lost Lands: Borderland Provinces

[Matthan]

I don't think that I am communicating well. I am curious what sets this setting apart from all others. What makes this different from the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk? Is it pretty standard D&D or is it going for a specific flavor? If it has a specific flavor (dark medevil was mentioned somewhere), what does that flavor mean and how is it expressed in the setting? When I am looking for a setting, what makes this setting unique? Is it just that it is built to accomadate random tables?

And again, I want to add that I want to be a customer. I have heard good things about the company and want to try the product. I just don't feel like I have a sense of what it is that I'm buying yet.

 

[Charles Wright]

The Lost Lands has its seeds in Bill Webb's campaign world that he developed in the 70s and 80s. His inspiration was very much grim Sword and Sorcery with heroes fighting dark magics. Think "Conan" but with more magic available. Demon Lords encroaching on the world - Orcus features heavily in "Slumbering Tsar" and "Rappan Athuk". It's an ancient world with ruins to discover and buried civilizations.

At the same time, The Lost Lands is immense. One not only finds "dark medieval fantasy", but pirates, Norse cultures, odd mutations, demonic encroachment, deadly secrets, undead, unscrupulous wizards, and lots of puzzles. Bill Webb loves his puzzles and deadly traps.

As a fan, and I was a fan well before I worked with Necromancer Games or Frog God Games, I have to say what drew me to the setting was that it brought me back to the "old days" of my gaming (I'm 43 now) when the survival of my character wasn't certain and I could get myself killed if I didn't know when to run.

I don't know if I'm articulating it well enough. I'm hoping that I can get a few more people aware of this thread to answer your question, because it's a GOOD question.

 

[Mythmere1]

Ok, here's where I'm at. I'm a 5E player. I have never read nor played anything from the Lost Lands or Necromancer/Frog God. All the material that this setting references are in systems that I don't use. I want to back this though because so many folks on this forum have spoken so highly of the material from the publisher. I need something to sell me. What sets this apart from other settings? What's the hook that will make me love reading it and want to play in it?

Hi Matthan, thanks for the question!

Let me see if I can answer this well without making reference to past products, since as you point out the major ones aren't (yet) available for 5e. I'll stick to the two main books in the Kickstarter, the Borderland Provinces (Campaign book) and Adventures in the Borderland Provinces (a book of 7 adventures set in the region) plus the auxiliary books.

First, the campaign book is designed for traveling adventurers, the type that prefer hitting the road and picking their own destinations rather than following a set adventure path or exploring hex-by-hex. The Firefly series and the Traveller game are good analogies in science fiction. So it's at its strongest for a DM who likes making up his own adventures or using modules, as opposed to longer pre-programmed series. (for non-5e DMs, those big series are already located in the area, but unless you enjoy converting stuff they aren't relevant to you as a 5e player). The campaign area absolutely doesn't depend upon you having any familiarity with those resources, incidentally -- it's absolutely stand-alone. It's designed around travel, like I said, with a scattering of multiple one-session lairs throughout, and the adventure book provides seven longer adventures - again, not a series.

In terms of the flavor of the place, if you're familiar with Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne stories, those are the best analogy. There's also a lot of influence from Jack Vance (more on the Lyonesse side than the Dying Earth side). Both of those authors portrayed worlds with a veneer of civilization under which there are some horrific realities lurking, both supernatural horrors and also horrors of human nature. Borderland Provinces weaves in and out the description of the veneer (government, trade, culture) and of the underlying menaces and horrors (the descriptions of monster lairs, ongoing villainous plots, and other such DM information).

It's getting a bit late, but I'll come back and maybe flesh this answer out more in the morning.
Cheers!

 

[Mythmere1]

I don't think that I am communicating well. I am curious what sets this setting apart from all others. What makes this different from the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk? Is it pretty standard D&D or is it going for a specific flavor? If it has a specific flavor (dark medevil was mentioned somewhere), what does that flavor mean and how is it expressed in the setting? When I am looking for a setting, what makes this setting unique? Is it just that it is built to accomadate random tables?

And again, I want to add that I want to be a customer. I have heard good things about the company and want to try the product. I just don't feel like I have a sense of what it is that I'm buying yet.

Ah, gotcha. The "dark medieval" thing is something I just posted about. If you're familiar with Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne, that's what's meant. Fairly "ordinary" fantasy world with underlying elements of horror is a good nutshell description. It is lower magic than the Forgotten Realms in terms of general feel, and I think grittier than most of the fiction/gaming in the Realms, with some exceptions.

It is very much like the first-edition Greyhawk, but there has been so much added to Greyhawk over the decades that I'm not comfortable trying to make a comparison with anything later than the 1e version. Another way of thinking of it, if you're not familiar with Averoigne, is that it's like the world of Warhammer, but not quite so much.

 

[DaveMage]

What has made it different (and appealing) for me is that the PCs make the story - not "The Circle of Eight" or "The Seven Sisters" or anything like that. There is no real "metaplot."

It's designed with much more of a sandbox philosophy.

 

[Shadow Demon]

The free PDF of Rogues in Remballo is now available for all Kickstarter backers. Available to all tomorrow.

 

[Parmandur]

How would you go about describing the feel for this who have never read Clark Ashton Smith...?

 

[Charles Wright]

How would you go about describing the feel for this who have never read Clark Ashton Smith...?

By reading my description.

 

[Matthan]

So let me take a stab at this. The Lost Lands is a standard D&D fantasy world (PHB descriptions and abilities are all present without tweaks), but features a crumbling civilization that cannot maintain order in the land leading to the ability of motivated individuals to find adventure, treasure, and glory. Due to the state of civilization, any dangers that exist have to be stopped by the PCs as there aren't powerful NPCs or Groups that are also fighting to preserve the world. The PCs should feel that they alone control their fate.

The setting is designed to empower players to set out and carve out their own adventures ("That place sounds neat, let's go explore it!") The setting book is a mix of regional writeups (towns, NPCs, nations, etc...) and lightly detailing some of the adventure sites that the PCs may want to explore. It is designed to allow for a variety of short adventures instead of an overarching adventure path or metaplot. To advance this concept, a detailed set of random tables and the Journey generator are offered to help develop adventures wherever the PCs decide to explore.

If that's accurate, could you share brief blurbs about some of the places featured in the setting (that are not explored in other products) that are designed to hook players' curiosity?

*edit* I don't know why 'fate' automatically hyperlinked and I don't know how to remove it. Sorry.

 

[Mythmere1]

So let me take a stab at this. The Lost Lands is a standard D&D fantasy world (PHB descriptions and abilities are all present without tweaks), but features a crumbling civilization that cannot maintain order in the land leading to the ability of motivated individuals to find adventure, treasure, and glory. Due to the state of civilization, any dangers that exist have to be stopped by the PCs as there aren't powerful NPCs or Groups that are also fighting to preserve the world. The PCs should feel that they alone control their fate.

The setting is designed to empower players to set out and carve out their own adventures ("That place sounds neat, let's go explore it!") The setting book is a mix of regional writeups (towns, NPCs, nations, etc...) and lightly detailing some of the adventure sites that the PCs may want to explore. It is designed to allow for a variety of short adventures instead of an overarching adventure path or metaplot. To advance this concept, a detailed set of random tables and the Journey generator are offered to help develop adventures wherever the PCs decide to explore.

If that's accurate, could you share brief blurbs about some of the places featured in the setting (that are not explored in other products) that are designed to hook players' curiosity?

*edit* I don't know why 'fate' automatically hyperlinked and I don't know how to remove it. Sorry.

Here's one, as an example:
SPOILER ALERT









Here, the red-robed members of the Order of Teeth inspect skeletons in the catacombs, using the Book of Ossuic Marks and the Astrologicus Carnum to identify where unknown patterns of magic and fate are taking place in the world. The ritually scarred members of the Order of Corollaries use the Seven Ciphers and the Forty Codes of Jamboor to interpret trends in bird migrations, manuscripts, and other records obtained for them by the Excriptors. The Order of Preservations moves through the libraries and catacombs, ensuring that both books and funereal remains are properly cared for and maintained. Most numerous of the Reliquary’s staff are the Holy Scribes, expert copyists who copy manuscripts for distribution to the smaller libraries of Jamboor, re-copy worn books that can no longer be saved by the Order of Preservations, and prepare informatory letters for the priesthood throughout the Provinces, based on the bone-readings of the Order of Teeth, the reports from the Excriptors, and the omen-interpretations of the Order of Corollaries.

In the very deepest chambers of the catacombs, the dying bodies of the demon-listeners mutter words overheard in the councils of the Hells and underworlds, their eerie monologues recorded by the senior-most of the Holy Scribes as the murmuring bodies slowly rot away.