What Do You Want For Yrth

[David Johansen]

So, we've asked why Yrth failed and I think determined that it's a bit too generic for some and a little too lightly detailed. We've also determined that most people want to do what they want and Yrth isn't what they want. There's some discussion as to whether anyone would want to brave SJG's writing and submissions policies. Which basically degenerated into criticism of SJG's approach to marketing.

So let's take a more proactive approach shall we?

I ask you Yrth fans, what do you want to see?

I'd like detailed baronies and even duchies in Megalos. We got Hark Wood for Caithness but Megalos tends to work differently due to the higher manna levels and more powerful state.

I'd like some detailed wizard's guilds. Chapterhouse maps, personalities, secret lore, stuff like that.

Adventures or perhaps more appropriately interesting events, people, and places for the PCs to interact with.

Detailed cities with maps are always appropriate.

A solitaire adventure or two would be sweet. Maybe a merchant caravan journey or a coastal merchant ship adventure. Though a good rational dungeon like the sewers of Megalos would be okay.

I'd really like a big poster map printed on canvas. I actually have the skills and access to the equipment (I've been screen printing professionally for 28 years) but I don't have the rights.

And I'm working on the novel again. It's a bit on and off but I'm thinking of serializing it here. Heck, where else would anyone even care? :D

[Phantasm]

China and India analogues on the other side of Muslim lands, along with a Silk Road passing through the latter to get to the former. Also some "dark" unexplored lands that they'd have to go around if trying to open a sea trade route. Tack that onto an unknown and unexplored western continent for attempts to Columbus a trade route west to the Far East.

Does Yrth have any Mongol/Golden Horde types? If not, I'd like to see some.

[David Johansen]

Interesting, I was a little less than impressed with the various cultural places in the Forgotten Realms setting though Al Quadim was neat as its own thing. It would have to be on another continent but I could totally see it fitting. An island with African, Native American, and Asian cultures all mashed up. Maybe with a bit more of a sword and sorcery vibe than Yrth's Tolkien meets King Arthur and Robin Hood vibe.

That's a big project. A whole new world really, and making it tie in and fit. Remember Talandis for Dragon Lance? Even so, if you wanted to put in such a place I think it would be a great fan project. Maybe the nomad lands reach up over Ytarria's north pole and there's a land bridge and a realm of Ice Elves and Frost Giants. You'd have to tone it down some or it would clash.

[SteamBub]

A update to the timeline would be neat. It has been over 10 and it would be cool to see the canon events that has happen.

[David Johansen]

Interesting notion but probably out of the fans hands if you see what I mean. Though, one might posit the discovery of another continent and some of the impact of that event over the ten years. That lets the setting remain as it is but allows the addition of the new material.

A silk road is hard to pull off without magically reshaping the map. But trade routes and seafaring would be an interesting direction that Yrth has largely ignored.

I would like to suggest that joke nations like Sahud be left out of the concept. One is probably enough if not too much.

[Refplace]

What I would like to see for the Yrth/Banestorm setting would be things that could be dropped in with little effort to other settings.
I have played in Yrth but I dont think I ever ran it. I recall Tredroy rather fondly.
Most locations and adventures could probably be ported over to other settings fairly easily. That would add visibility to the setting and satisfy those who want that kind of thing but the tinkerers and worldbuilders would still have somethign useful.
Market it for the setting and those wanting predone and ready to go stuff.
The setting is really good, I just like making my own worlds.

[mhd]

The thing that would get me to try Yrth would basically have to be an equivalent to Warhammer's "Enemy Within" campaign. An adventure or adventure "path" that contains a good setting introduction and takes you places.

[Ashtagon]

The big problem with Yrth for me is that real-world conflicts since 1986 (when it was first written up) have made in a problematic setting to play in. It heavily features variant mediaeval Christianity and Islam in a setting where the crusades are an essentially unresolved question. Back when it was first written, real-life religious warfare was a historical thing (sporadic acts of terrorism aside). But geopolitics of the last decade have re-ignited that conflict on a massive scale in ugly ways. That makes it hard to play in that setting as any kind of escapism from real-world stuff.

Developing other regions (such as Y-India, Y-Far East, Y-Mesoamerica, Y-Australasia, etc.) which have not been overtaken by real-world political strife might be a good way to keep the setting in use.

[tbone]

There's lots I'd like. My old Banestorm review points out some quibbles I have with the book, but also lays out my biggest dissatisfaction: Banestorm's great, which means there's not enough of it!

Specifically, here are things I say I'd like to see more of, or see improved:

* More excitement in the chapter openers. (As I wrote way back then: "...the short fictional interludes that open each major section won't do much to dispel charges of blandness, either; while serviceable, they could use an injection of rampart-blasting magic, screaming Northmen hordes, or tentacled dungeon horrors.")

* More peeks at varied human cultures (a topic further detailed here).

* More variety within non-human cultures/societies (and, for fun, a greater selection of personal names for non-humans).

* Suggestions for what each race might "do" in the campaign. (The example I used: We all know Elves are artful and protect nature, and Dwarves are they guys you go to for fine stone and metal craftsmanship, but Gnomes do... what? What would you expect to ask from them, or trade with them, etc.?)

* Similarly, we learn a bit about things like Elvish religion, but (to stick with that example) what does that cause Elves to do? What are their rituals, ceremonies, holidays, etc.? Outside of religion, too: What are Elves' marriage customs, festivals, funerals, etc. all about?

* Yrth is medieval. I'd like to see a little more about what people in general believe (outside of just religion), including their superstitions and even outright delusions about the world. That'd go a long way toward making NPCs more than "moderns in medieval garb".

* More physical features, beyond just the big deserts and forests! Interesting canyons and mountain passes, a rough city map or two, places of historic (and adventuring) note...

* More dynamic features of the world. What are travel times between key locations? Where are the main roads and the key trade routes (i.e., the Ytarrian Silk Road)? Where do significant movements of people take place? (As it is, the world overview is a bit of a static snapshot.)

* Optional: A more serious Sahud, drawing a bit on actual Far Eastern locations and societies (the way "European" Yrth picks up on real-world history, organizations, rivalries, etc.).


With additional hindsight since writing that review, here's even more I'd like to see:

* Better art – namely, art that uniquely depicts Yrth, not a generic fantasy world. (See mini-rant in my post in the other Banestorm thread here.)

* Updated cities, guilds, and other organization, using newer resources like City Stats, Boardroom and Curia, and DF: Guilds.

* More all-out storylines that play up cross-dimensional travel and displaced other-time adventurers. That potential is what's most uniquely Banestorm; maybe it's time for the series to unleash it.

* More support for door-kickin' dungeoneering – even outright (and optional) integration with Dungeon Fantasy. Creatures on Yrth, and even parts of Yrth itself, have been brought over from Other Places. Which are not always Good Places. That's all the excuse Banestorm needs to dish up the biggest, baddest dungeons ever...

* Adventures!

* More land! Ytarria feels a wee crowded; if it were possible, blowing up the map a bit and opening up more wide-open spots for GMs to play with is something I'd go for. The same for whole new continents...


All right. All sounds good to me... especially since, as an armchair commentator, I don't have to worry about continuity, page counts, sales, or finding people to write it all. : )

I understand that the actual authors did have to worry about resources and deadlines and just making everything fit between the covers. I think they did a great job, and I'm sure they'd have added much of the above, and many more awesome things, if they didn't have real-world constraints to deal with.

In short: There's much more I'd like to see for Banestorm, but even if nothing more ever comes out, it's still one of my favorite GURPS lines.

[David Johansen]

Originally Posted by tbone

* Optional: A more serious Sahud, drawing a bit on actual Far Eastern locations and societies (the way "European" Yrth picks up on real-world history, organizations, rivalries, etc.).

I think one way to go would be to have a Schrodinger's Sahud. It might not be silly and it might be. It's the butt of a lot of jokes in other countries but that might just be blatent racism right? I think that's where I'd go with Kobolds too. It's possible that all those little idiots in the streets are actually spies for a highly organized and intelligent secret society. What if the assassin's guild is the Kobold society?

One thing Yrth doesn't support is a an anarchic murder hobo play style. If you make problems for Megalos, well, they have powerful wizards who will find you and powerful warriors who will kill you. The main adventure areas are the Nomad Lands, the Orc Lands, the Black Woods, and the Djinns. Man this is making me want to run Yrth.