I've decided to separate my two home campaigns into retroclone game systems my Accursed Atlantis campaign is being shunted over to the tender sword and sorcery systems of the Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyberborea system.
Meanwhile the Warlords of The Outer Worlds campaign is really more suited for the Fantastic Heroes and Witchery rpg retroclone system. The classes backgrounds and ideas of the game are more suited to the weird fantasy and science fantasy set up of what I've been going for in my choices.
AS&SH has lots of interesting bits and pieces perfect for 'Accursed Atlantis' with its regular swords and sorcery vibe. The on line support for the game is mega friendly but as I've been talking for the past couple of weeks with my regular players and the non stop conversations about Zak's a Red and Pleasant Land , it becomes evident that I need to separate some of this into two distinct games. AS&SH has a ton of background and online support with it right over HERE The fact that it back ports into Lamentations of The Flame Princess means that AS&SH has a definitive advantage to other retroclone systems. The one off weird pulp science fantasy aspect of LoFP's adventures is something that makes appreciate the uniqueness of all of the adventures that James Raggi brings to market. This is another strength that makes crossovers with AS&SH happen. With great free adventures like The Doom Cave of the Crystal Headed Children and Better Then Any Man is any wonder why I always turn back to LoFP with its support HERE
That being said Fantastic Heroes and Witchery has its own vision as a retroclone system, as I've read the rules over and over again certain bits of inspiration keep popping up. There's an almost pulp science fiction and turn of the century steam punk vibe that runs through Fantastic Heroes and Witchery. Given the number of options that FH&W brings to the table its a fantastic game that enables a game master to assemble a science fantasy or space opera game quite nicely. So over the last week I've been quietly assembling a side campaign that has split itself off from Accursed Atlantis and over the next couple of days I'll be getting into the Warlords of The Outer Worlds campaign.
That being said Fantastic Heroes and Witchery has its own vision as a retroclone system, as I've read the rules over and over again certain bits of inspiration keep popping up. There's an almost pulp science fiction and turn of the century steam punk vibe that runs through Fantastic Heroes and Witchery. Given the number of options that FH&W brings to the table its a fantastic game that enables a game master to assemble a science fantasy or space opera game quite nicely. So over the last week I've been quietly assembling a side campaign that has split itself off from Accursed Atlantis and over the next couple of days I'll be getting into the Warlords of The Outer Worlds campaign.
Fantastic Heroes and Witchery has been one of my choices of old school retroclone awesomeness that has another ton of on line support as well with the most recent release of 'Eleven Converted Character Classes pdf which according to the FH&W website -" free supplement has been considerably extended / updated! It now proposes 20 pages with 11 character classes, for those who want the cleric, paladin and bard found in older editions of the game, as well as the draconic sorcerer, swan-maiden, warrior-monk, wizard of High Arcana, and others. All of this with cool artwork of course!" Available right over Here
So over the next day or so I'll be updating the details of the various pieces of science fantasy and science fictional old school retroclone & classic action I've got in the works.
So over the next day or so I'll be updating the details of the various pieces of science fantasy and science fictional old school retroclone & classic action I've got in the works.
"There's an almost pulp science fiction and turn of the century steam punk vibe that runs through Fantastic Heroes and Witchery... that enables a game master to assemble a science fantasy or space opera game quite nicely... over the next couple of days I'll be getting into the Warlords of The Outer Worlds campaign."
ReplyDeleteOutstanding! Some space (opera) fantasy is exactly what I need this summer :-)
Thanks Rainswept, I've got a few surprises in store, so stay tuned and thanks for the comments pal. More to come! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you that both AS&SH and LotFP (and thereby A Red & Pleasant Land) are very compatible, both mechanically and in spirit. Both do 'weird' well. I plan to amalgamate AS&SH with a self-written adventure I'm working on, and aspects of Carcosa, Red & Pleasant and Isle of the Unknown, and of course plenty of my own stuff. I think it will make for a very eclectic and zany campaign.
ReplyDeleteThe aesthetics of design that these OSR products take is very different. AS&SH handles itself very well but Carcosa and Isle of the Unknown are vastly different products by the same author that have very different voices of product identity. Then when you look at Zak Smith's a Red and Pleasant Land there's a certain weird aspect of it but when you look deeper below the surface of it, it really does stay true to the author's vision. A Red and Pleasant Land is sort of like the blood drenched mortar that can hold a campaign together. But the thing is that these products play off of each other and an OSR vibe quite readily which is the DYI inspiration and attitude. Zak did a majorly weird piece with a RPL and I think there are certain aspects that can be truly exploited for a ton of fun to really play around with to both personalize and create your own finger print on it.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting because I can see using all of those products for an AS&SH campaign. In fact, at my table last night I had the box set (AS&SH), Carcosa and A Red & Pleasant Land. I think each does the 'weird' well. Like you say, they are quite different products though.
ReplyDeleteEach one has a completely different flavor of OSR weirdness which is interesting because all of those products can be thought of as different shades of weird and pulpy goodness each which can be used for AS&SH as resources. But as you say their very different products that fill different needs of players. Cheers Corey!
ReplyDelete