03-29-2017, 05:08 AM | #11 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: DF in Yrth
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How far you expand from there, adding setting-specific politics, species and ethnic relations, and all the rest, is a matter of taste. But "barbarians come from the north, ninja come from the mysterious east, and the city is the only one so it doesn't have a name" is just too simplified for some people. (And the first reason for using a setting with an existing GURPS sourcebook is that you might actually need game mechanics for something in the setting, every now and again. Plus, settings designed for other games systems may well be flavoured by the mechanics of those systems.)
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03-29-2017, 08:35 AM | #12 | |
Banned
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
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Re: DF in Yrth
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That sewer would be stuffed full of the Ankh and there'd be no room to dungeon crawl. And any place in the sewer that the Ankh was too timid to pudding itself into wouldn't be safe for dungeonneering at all. No sir. Also probably full of dwarves. And you know what they get up to. |
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03-29-2017, 11:36 AM | #13 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Re: DF in Yrth
I'd say Yrth has several regions that could support some good DF-style adventures. Besides the already-suggested "south edge of Caithness, by the Great Forest", here's some other ones.
Megalos, being the biggest nation, has several:
Araterre is just as good or better for sea- and ship-based adventures as Min or Yibyorak. It's also the natural home of swashbucklers anywhere in Yrth. It's also a good place for courtly intrigue, which DF doesn't precisely support out-of-the-box, but can be adapted to. And the Ring Islands and Bilit Island are both close enough to provide changes of pace for your party - the Ring Islands are good for wilderness adventures and fighting weird magic beasts, while Bilit Island covers the wilderness as well, and mixes in "meeting exiting new people and killing them," if that's the party's idea of a morally-acceptable time. Caithness, as already mentioned, has good adventuring locations on its south border, but really the whole place is pretty much perfect for DF in "high heroic fantasy" style. Knights are actual knights, holy warriors and clerics are very much On a Mission from God, and everybody else is probably a squire or an old family retainer or something. The low mana will hamper wizards, though. Caithness is generally a bit more wild and unsettled than Megalos, so pretty much any of the various holdings can plausibly have monster problems in their hinterlands. The northern border is Zarakian territory, so you can do the same sort of "explore fallen dwarven holds" adventures as I mentioned with Mehan, but since the dwarves of Zarak are even more powerful than the ones in the Whitehoods, getting permission or being very, very sneaky is probably necessary. And, of course, the western border has that pesky orc problem. Al-Haz and Al-Wazif can both be used if you want a heavy dose of Arabian Nights flavour in your DF - and who doesn't? Al-Haz is good for more classic monster-bashing stories - it's a bit wilder in general than Al-Wazif, and it has the Fence of God and the Great Forest on its western and north-western borders, both of which are good sources of fierce beasties. Both also make good places to go to find pre-human ruins to kick open the doors of and loot. Al-Wazif is a bit more urbane and settled than Al-Haz. Tedroy is probably the place for Arabian-themed urban adventures on Yrth. Honestly, given its design, it's probably the best place for urban adventures in Yrth period, exceeding even Megalos and Yibyorak. Besides that, Al-Wazif is also the place to be if you want to the crusading sort of games I mentioned for Craine/New Jerusalem, just from the other side. Cardiel is the best place to set games of social maneuvering, court intrigue, and complex politics. So, probably the least-good for DF. But if you want to make it work, more power to you! And the south coast isn't a bad location for oceanic adventures either, between all the shipping, the Ring Islands being directly south, and close enough to the Maelstrom that weird stuff can come out of it. Sahud is where you go to break out your Oriental Adventures material, of course. Make sure you pick up DF 12: Ninjas. The rather odd tone of Sahud actually works pretty well for a somewhat-comedic DF game, I think - have fun explaining to the party that yes, they did kill the orc horde, but because they used a blade with a blue-colored hilt, they can only claim half the reward, because clearly this is the season for red weapons, not blue. Conversely, though, adventurers are probably in high (covert) demand in Sahud, because they can often be used to cut through a lot of the bureaucracy and custom that binds the hands of Sahudese society. Sahud makes a good jumping-off point for expeditions into the Nomad Lands to the east, the Orclands to the west, or even Zarak to the south (see commentary on Caithness about why the last might need permission, though). Zarak itself is a good adventuring location - if you're a dwarf or a gnome. If you can claim some kind of legitimacy, there's a lot of things for a party to do - as mentioned, exploring fallen holds is almost the Platonic DF adventure, but there's also monsters in the wilderness to fight, orc bands to track down and eliminate, and living holds to defend when the dwarves inevitably Dig Too Deep and wake up stuff that shouldn't have been disturbed. A party doesn't even need to all be dwarves or gnomes, just as long as they can plausibly claim to be under the leadership of a trusted dwarf (the non-dwarves probably won't be allowed inside a hold until they've done some significant services for the Kings of Zarak, though). The Orclands are a very good example of one of the classic DF locations - The Wild Frontier Full of Evil Monsters That Needs to be Settled. The party can be based out of Castle Defiant or another similar small settlement, trying to defend it from the orcs, or they can set out into the wilderness on their own, looking for a good place to start up a fortress and orcs to loot. The adventures might get a little samey after a while, but you'll almost certainly never run out of orcs to slay. The Nomad Lands are prime adventurer territory, both to be there, and to be from. It's an even bigger homeland for barbarians than Araterre is for swashbucklers. In the Nomad Lands themselves, there's always tribes to defend against other tribes, other tribes to raid yourselves, monsters to battle, pre-human ruins to explore (despite the warnings of the tribal shaman, of course), and soft, civilized folk to plan attacks against. The Southwestern Wilderness is good for two sorts of adventures, really. First, wilderness survival, where it excels. Low mana, or no mana in the Great Desert, means magic can't overcome all the problems the way it sometimes can, and the actual survival skills of the party will come into their own. Also, fighting lizard men will happen. Of course, this area is also going to produce most lizard man adventurers. The second thing is the classic DF adventure, "explore the tower of a mad wizard who may or may not be dead," which is what the Djinn Lands are all about. This is also an excellent source of Mad Wizard Patrons for adventuring parties. |
03-29-2017, 12:43 PM | #14 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: DF in Yrth
I direct the honourable gentleman to Men at Arms.
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03-29-2017, 01:20 PM | #15 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
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Re: DF in Yrth
Our current DF game is set in Yrth -- specifically, Araterre. So most of the clerics and holy warriors are Christian, Muslim, etc. The only real social change we made is that "pagan" religions are more common, to keep books like DF7 viable. However, even then, we try to draw gods from real-world religions like Hinduism, Shinto, etc. (Our Cleric of Commerce worships Ganesha, for example.)
Of course, we also threw out the "all casters are the same" in favor of DF's mix of wizards, clerics, druids, etc. -- and doing so has changed little of the setting from our perspective.
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03-29-2017, 02:17 PM | #16 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Saskatoon, SK
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Re: DF in Yrth
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I would definitely like to hear more on your experiences with DF on Yrth. Did you change any of the social attitudes for any races or religions? Are pagans still thought of as demon-worshippers? Do pagan clerics have to be secretive in cities? Speaking of religion, why do Hindu Brahmin need to be secretive?
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03-29-2017, 02:21 PM | #17 |
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: DF in Yrth
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03-29-2017, 02:43 PM | #18 | ||||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
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Re: DF in Yrth
Keep which? "All casters are wizards" or "the full range of DF casters exist"?
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Reverend Pee Kitty of the Order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Twitter) (LJ) MyGURPS: My house rules and GURPS resources.
#SJGamesLive: I answered questions about GURPS After the End and more! {Watch Video} - {Read Transcript} |
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03-29-2017, 02:51 PM | #19 | ||
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Saskatoon, SK
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Re: DF in Yrth
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MiB 7704 Playing: GURPS Nordlond Dragons of Hosgarth Running Savage Worlds Tour of Darkness (Vietnam + Mythos) |
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03-29-2017, 02:52 PM | #20 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Saskatoon, SK
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Re: DF in Yrth
Missed that, sorry.
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