Why?!
I got my fifty coming up fast & Rafael Chandler is a really nice guy but I wanna support my friends efforts. But there's a selfish reason for backing this kickstarter. I've already got plans for this setting coming up. Years ago I'd ask for a review copy of a particular OSR rpg or I'd get sent one. These days not anymore. Today I buy what I like or want. Not need for actual play. There in lay the two middle grounds of play. 'Like' & 'need' are vastly different things.. I'm I really excited about the 'Metallic Tome' yes because I know the author's mind set. On one of the social media platforms Mr.Chandler said there's a shared background universe to his gaming works. makes it clear that there's monsters among the Chandlerverse's planes 'The Teratic Tome' that are truly end campaign horrors.
"This enchiridion of entities should only be used by DMs inclined towards malfeasance, sadism, and base wrongdoing.
Torn from the pages of the Books of Pandemonium, these horrific fiends -- including the grotesquely talented Curhadac, the sadistic Eremite, and the death-singing Acronical -- will test the mettle of any adventuring party."
But are they really?! The more I've read of 'The Teratic Tome' the more I'm convinced that these 'monsters' while are monsters are actually just other NPC planar travelers among the larger scope of an incredibly dangerous multiverse. This book is filled with the minor minions & major players in this. What can we take away that I'm trying to make myself feel better for pledging or that's an author's fictional universe agenda at work here? Well, let's start with the fact that I believe the latter without giving the former any mental fodder. But who or what is watching at a distance?!
One set of gods of chaos opposes another & in this case Cha'alt speaks volumes into & unto itself.
Alien entities so alien that they are for all intents & purposes gods inimical to mankind.
The Black Pyramid smacks of the 'cosmic indifferentism' of the same lines of the monsters of the 'The Teratic Tome'. Two sides of the same forces warring over the resources of our population; "Though cosmicism appears deeply pessimistic, H.P. Lovecraft thought of himself as neither a pessimist nor an optimist but rather a "scientific" or "cosmic" indifferentist,[15] a theme expressed in his fiction. In Lovecraft's work, human beings are often subject to powerful beings and other cosmic forces, but these forces are not so much malevolent as they are indifferent toward humanity.[16] This indifference is an important theme in cosmicism. The noted Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi asserts that "Lovecraft constantly engaged in (more or less) genial debates on religion with several colleagues, notably the pious writer and teacher Maurice W. Moe. Lovecraft was a strong and antireligious atheist; he considered religion not merely false but dangerous to social and political progress."[17] As such, Lovecraft's cosmicism is not religious at all, but rather a version of his mechanistic materialism. Lovecraft thus embraced a philosophy of cosmic indifferentism. He believed in a meaningless, mechanical, and uncaring universe that human beings, with their naturally limited faculties, could never fully understand."
This is the same passion of design that we see in G1-3 Against The Giants by Gary Gygax . No I'm not comparing either authors with Gary Gygax's module tour de force. Instead I'm pointing out the fact that forces beyond the ken of mankind are in control of the lives, existence, & even the reality of their victims & targets. All the while indifferent to the suffering among the humans that they cause.
One set of gods of chaos opposes another & in this case Cha'alt speaks volumes into & unto itself.
Alien entities so alien that they are for all intents & purposes gods inimical to mankind.
The Black Pyramid smacks of the 'cosmic indifferentism' of the same lines of the monsters of the 'The Teratic Tome'. Two sides of the same forces warring over the resources of our population; "Though cosmicism appears deeply pessimistic, H.P. Lovecraft thought of himself as neither a pessimist nor an optimist but rather a "scientific" or "cosmic" indifferentist,[15] a theme expressed in his fiction. In Lovecraft's work, human beings are often subject to powerful beings and other cosmic forces, but these forces are not so much malevolent as they are indifferent toward humanity.[16] This indifference is an important theme in cosmicism. The noted Lovecraft scholar S. T. Joshi asserts that "Lovecraft constantly engaged in (more or less) genial debates on religion with several colleagues, notably the pious writer and teacher Maurice W. Moe. Lovecraft was a strong and antireligious atheist; he considered religion not merely false but dangerous to social and political progress."[17] As such, Lovecraft's cosmicism is not religious at all, but rather a version of his mechanistic materialism. Lovecraft thus embraced a philosophy of cosmic indifferentism. He believed in a meaningless, mechanical, and uncaring universe that human beings, with their naturally limited faculties, could never fully understand."
This is the same passion of design that we see in G1-3 Against The Giants by Gary Gygax . No I'm not comparing either authors with Gary Gygax's module tour de force. Instead I'm pointing out the fact that forces beyond the ken of mankind are in control of the lives, existence, & even the reality of their victims & targets. All the while indifferent to the suffering among the humans that they cause.
The giants are the willing pawns of powerful forces beyond the ken of men that goes back thousands of years. This makes the point even with 'cosmicism' at its center is the fact that heroes are needed even more. The weight of history cries out to the blood of player's PC's focus's on the map of their world setting. The 'Metallic Tome' smacks of the violence & horrors in a huge metal rock & roll world of horrors.
Is the world setting of the 'Metallic Tome' subject to similar horrors as 'The Teratic Tome'? In a word I believe so because all of these creations are part & parcel of the mind of the writer. So has this world of metal horror been the future of a world not unlike Cha'alt in way? A far more twisted fantasy version of a fantasy module classic such as B4 The Lost City by Tom Moldvay?
All planar Prime quantum echoes of higher dimensional alien entities completely indifferent to the insects called humanity. Meanwhile minions scatter, caper, & dance to the alien tunes of their masters while these things war with each other? The mind boggles at the possibility as the cosmic indifference of affairs allows them to go on with their alien agenda.
The 'metal PC's' of Thrash Dwarves, Black Paladins, Death Rangers, Glam Wizards, and Doom Thieves of the 'Metallic Tome' are the sort of player characters who are perfectly suited to take on alien monsters of Cha'alt. Could the PC's actually not only take back portions of Cha'alt but win for themselves vast wasteland domains?! The gods & monsters warring among themselves puts vast group of victi erm humans at risk. I'm taking many of my 'P''s & 'Q''s from classic sources such as "Supplement IV" Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes by James M. Ward & Robert Kuntz.
But what's really happening is that I'm digging out my copy of Eldritch Wizardry. Why?! Because a version of the Rod of Orcus has been floating around my campaign settings for awhile now. Its time that I got serious about this particular artifact and that brings me back to 'The Teratic Tome'.
Several of the undead horrors in that book are absolutely primed to be used by a servant of the foul demon lord of the Undead. Is there a connection between Cha'alt black pyramid & the demon lord of the undead? Absolutely there is but what this is has yet to be revealed to the players!
All planar Prime quantum echoes of higher dimensional alien entities completely indifferent to the insects called humanity. Meanwhile minions scatter, caper, & dance to the alien tunes of their masters while these things war with each other? The mind boggles at the possibility as the cosmic indifference of affairs allows them to go on with their alien agenda.
The 'metal PC's' of Thrash Dwarves, Black Paladins, Death Rangers, Glam Wizards, and Doom Thieves of the 'Metallic Tome' are the sort of player characters who are perfectly suited to take on alien monsters of Cha'alt. Could the PC's actually not only take back portions of Cha'alt but win for themselves vast wasteland domains?! The gods & monsters warring among themselves puts vast group of victi erm humans at risk. I'm taking many of my 'P''s & 'Q''s from classic sources such as "Supplement IV" Gods, Demi-Gods and Heroes by James M. Ward & Robert Kuntz.
But what's really happening is that I'm digging out my copy of Eldritch Wizardry. Why?! Because a version of the Rod of Orcus has been floating around my campaign settings for awhile now. Its time that I got serious about this particular artifact and that brings me back to 'The Teratic Tome'.
Several of the undead horrors in that book are absolutely primed to be used by a servant of the foul demon lord of the Undead. Is there a connection between Cha'alt black pyramid & the demon lord of the undead? Absolutely there is but what this is has yet to be revealed to the players!
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