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Old 05-29-2017, 12:55 PM   #41
hal
 
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Default Re: What Do You Want For Yrth

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Originally Posted by Stormcrow View Post
Yrth was invented in a time when the emphasis on GURPS's realism was high and a focus on tropes was low. That is not the case now: today, cinematic is the buzzword most used. Dungeons of the D&D sort back then were, I think, quite expected in Yrth, but not required. These weren't supposed to obey today's dungeoneering tropes; they were just underground mazes filled with monsters, traps, and treasure. There's nothing about Yrth that prevents you from putting them just about anywhere you want. In the mountains of Zarak? In a cave in the Blackwoods? Under a goblin town? Any or all. The given backgrounds aren't the only stories to be had.
This is largely why GURPS BANESTORM was a failure in my eyes as a GM, and as a consequence, any YRTH based campaign went out the window never to return. GURPS BANESTORM as a book, falls very nearly at the bottom of the list of favorite GURPS books. The only book that rates WORSE than GURPS BANESTORM for me, is GURPS GRIMOIRE as a book that was badly vetted, gone through multiple authors (and looks it) to where any subsequent work based on it shared the same flaws.

When someone says they don't want to limit the spell list from GURPS MAGIC for their Yrth campaigns, largely don't have a problem with the issues stemming from GURPS GRIMOIRE - which is fine. But if they or their players step back a moment and ask "if these spells were available in Yrth - does the written history of Yrth even make sense?" then GURPS BANESTORM is going to cause a dissonance between what makes sense and what is "cool" and what is being used in game play.

In all fairness - there is nothing to keep me from "fixing" the issues and writing material for my own use. I've been doing that since 1986 (and earlier for other game systems). Truth is, I'm more willing to work with more "realism" based material to bring it up to my needs, than to have to delete out the cinematic stuff, in order to bring the material up to my desires. In the end, role playing is about human nature (both of the player characters and of the NPC's). Anything that badly throws out of whack - the "I believe" aspects of role playing for me, becomes an exercise in which I have to work HARDER to enjoy the experience itself. Distances between villages in an era where you can travel 55 mph easily, is one thing. Distances between villages in which you can only travel 3 mph for the most part, results in a whole different set of realities.

Yrth as written, sort of implies that human settlements have to be close enough together in order for a runner or rider to get to the next settlement in order to beg for assistance should the locals be unable to handle it. Think Viking Raids or Norman Raids, and you'll get a better appreciation of why villages were much closer together in the olden days.

So - for me, what I want is this...

A stronger "Realism" approach, with the OPTION of adding in cinematics. For me, the approach of removing the over the top stuff runs the risk of having something that I deem over the top, be a linchpin in something that some author wrote. But - that's just ONE customer's desires/needs.
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Old 05-29-2017, 01:36 PM   #42
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Default Re: What Do You Want For Yrth

Okay, going back into something more positive, what I'd like to see is an Atlas series of sourcebooks examining various regions of Yrth in more detail. Something like the AADA Road Atlas series did for GURPS Autoduel.

Maybe start by updating the books on Hawkwood and Tredroy to Fourth Edition, and expanding on them a bit. You could have a three-part series on Megalos, featuring the Central, Eastern and Western regions of the Empire.
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Old 05-29-2017, 04:06 PM   #43
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Default Re: What Do You Want For Yrth

Yrth titles that would make me think "I must buy this":

A magic system book. Not just an expansion of the existing system, but either a ground up system made for the setting or a tight version of the system adapted for daily life. I'd love to see a versatile magic system worked into a society.

An adventure that delves into the details of one of yrth's more unusual locations. A jinn tower. Dwarven politics.

An adventure or supplement building the complete relationship between Infinity and Yrth. If we want to make it bigger rather than smaller, more detail on the worlds that populated Yrth would be really cool.
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Old 05-29-2017, 06:09 PM   #44
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Default Re: What Do You Want For Yrth

The Ministry of Serendipity's Book of the First Earth. What they understand about this world, especially what they understand incorrectly. And there really, really should be a Book of the First Gabrook and Book of the First Orendil too.
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Old 05-30-2017, 07:18 AM   #45
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Default Re: What Do You Want For Yrth

The discussion of what 'Cinematic' means and car doors split off into its own thread, being something that is driving fast away from Yrth.
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Old 05-30-2017, 07:53 AM   #46
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Default Re: What Do You Want For Yrth

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I would also note that, in my experience, you're playing with fire any time you use real world religions.
That genie is already out of the bottle. That said, I'd have the various Muslim lands on Yrth focus more on the Arabian Nights vibe and less on Islam. Maybe have a now somewhere that some Al Queda terrorists got pulled over by the Banestorm, but quickly found that nobody on Yrth is interested in what they're selling; the politics are just too different, and the various Muslim nations on Yrth are more interested in stamping them out than on giving them aid and shelter.

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Note that Yrth at the time of the original Banestorm would actually be a pretty decent adventuring setting.
There was a Pyramid article about that very notion, back when Pyramid was a physical product.
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Old 05-30-2017, 08:54 AM   #47
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Default Re: What Do You Want For Yrth

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I'd have the various Muslim lands on Yrth focus more on the Arabian Nights vibe and less on Islam.
That's explicitly what al-Wazif is there for: "Al-Wazif is Yrth's 'Arabian Nights' location..." You've got hundreds and hundreds of miles of country where magic is okay, secular legal tradition is strong, and the presence of other religions and races is tolerated. There's no reason you can't narrow the focus of your campaign strictly to al-Wazif and tell all the tales of Arabian Nights you want.
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Old 05-30-2017, 08:55 AM   #48
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Default Re: What Do You Want For Yrth

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Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
Note that Yrth at the time of the original Banestorm would actually be a pretty decent adventuring setting.
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Originally Posted by dataweaver View Post
There was a Pyramid article about that very notion, back when Pyramid was a physical product.
Yrth 1100. Which was originally from Pyramid Classic #13, but is still available as a free sample from the Pyramid 2 webzine days.
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Old 05-30-2017, 09:30 AM   #49
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Default Re: What Do You Want For Yrth

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For that, I'd probably want a Yrth 1100 supplement.
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Yrth 1100. Which was originally from Pyramid Classic #13, but is still available as a free sample from the Pyramid 2 webzine days.
I'm kind of running such a campaign right now. Kind of. I'm not using the standard map, and I rolled up my own peculiar mix of races. The story about the elves and the orcs is still there, but I've swapped out most of the other races. I also stuck the PC's in charge of their roman town.

So in some ways its totally a Banestorm game and in some ways its a totally different game. I would have course, loved to have that article known to me before I started the game...
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Old 05-30-2017, 10:30 AM   #50
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Default Re: What Do You Want For Yrth

The problem I've had with Yrth is that I can generally pick a real point in history, add a few elements (perhaps magic, other races), and have a very similar feel. It's also easier to explain historic settings then trying the explain the Yrth setting. For Yrth to be more appealing it would need more of a theme, preferably one that's easy to convey.

Dungeon Fantasy is appealing as a toolbox for adventures (and can be dropped into quite a few fantasy settings).
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