THE TURAKIAN AGE -- What Do *You* Want To See?

[Steve Long]

I don't normally post "what do you want to see?" threads about things like setting books, since they're not usually useful for such things. But Mike B. suggested that the fans might like to chime in on The Turakian Age, which I'm currently working on, so I thought, "Hey, sure, why not?".

 

To (theoretically) save time and effort, let me briefly describe TA so you'll have some understanding of what the book is. The Turakian Age is our first FH setting book. The setting in question is a High Fantasy one in the classic gaming mode. Magic is fairly plentiful, there are god who interfere in the affairs of mortals, there are lots of monsters to kill, treasure abounds, and characters can become powerful enough to affect the destiny of nations... or perhaps the entire world.

 

Looming over all this is the shadow of Kal-Turak the Ravager, an awesomely powerful spellcaster of malign intent. During the default campaign period presented in the book (the year 5000 of the Second Epoch), Kal-Turak has only recently established his stronghold in the far north and more or less openly declared his presence (and, by implication, his intent to conquer the world). So there's a big, bad mega-villain, should the GM care to use him... but he's easily ignored for the nonce if not.

 

The book's contents will include:

--the history of the Turakian Age.

--the kingdoms and realms of the Turakian Age, both human and non-human, ranging all across the political and cultural gamut. The largest continent described is roughly the size of Eurasia, but there are a couple other landmasses as well; beyond that, there's plenty of room left "undefined" where the GM can create his own continents and lands if he doesn't want to use ours.

--Turakian religions.

--Turakian magic. The bulk of the magic system is contained in The Fantasy Hero Grimoire and won't be reprinted in TA, but I'll supplement what's in the FHG with more setting-specific material -- Turakian Theurgy, Ulronai Warrior-Magic, deity-specific divine magic, and so on. And, of course, there'll be some magic items.

--NPCs of various stripes.

--plot seeds and such.

 

Anyhow, that's sort of where the book is going. That leads us back to the original question, "What do you want to see?". Within the framework described above, what's of most interest to you for a book like this?

[Captain Obvious]

Adventure hooks. Nothing sucks more than having a really cool setting, but no ideas what to do once everyone's made a character...(White Wolf is notoriously bad for this).

 

A couple of short adventures might be better, but would be probably too much space.

 

At any rate, I'm just happy that I'm posting first, and not having to say "me too" this time....

[Killer Shrike]

I want to see a setting well grounded in practical reality, with political alliances that exist not just because, but driven by circumstance and gain. I want to see a setting where though the focus is on the journey of the adventurers thru the setting, the setting is independent of and larger than the shinannegans of a handful of people. The world should function while the PCs are off-screen so to speak.

 

I want to see complexity in the powers that be; I dont want to see the one monolithic evil, the one bad-boy nation, the single unified power of good forces, a handful of opposing "sects". I want an internecine and organic melange of antagonists and protagonists, a believable tapestry of interaction with a high degree of versimilitude.

 

I want rich cultures with more than just stereotypical characterization, which present interesting roleplaying options. I want descriptions that inspire dozens of different character concepts. I want notes for each major culture discussing flavor elements and predispositions towards certain professions and abilities that are appropriate to a person of that culture.

 

And I want it yesterday!

[Hierax]

Since the age is named after him, how about a fully detailed character sheet for Kal-Turak (a.k.a. Takofanes) when he is at the absolute height of his power to serve as a perspective benchmark for the biggest baddest wizard of anti-herodom. For comparison purposes it would also be good to have one when he is a 'starting' character so we can see his development from 'humble' beginnings to nigh godhood.

 

Detailed NPC write-ups of the powers that be (be they Necromancer Lords, Gods, or those heroes who oppose them) serve as great examples and make it easy to make lesser versions for their followers and servants who try to emulate them.

 

A wide variety of package deals -- e.g., "Ulronai Warrior-Mages".

 

Martial Arts styles, armor, and weapons distinctive to this fantastic age.

 

Lots of background history and flavour text to make this setting really stand out.

 

Oh, yeah, and fill up all of those side bars with as much juicy Hero goodness as you can!

[Old Man]

Two things:

 

Lots and lots of plot seeds. I say this because in order to have plot seeds there must be a lot of things going on in the world, and that's one of the things that makes the world interesting to think about and play in.

 

Lots of pictures. If you can see how the typical Ulronai warrior-witch dresses and what the city streets of Peijan look like, it goes a really long way towards adding to the flavor. I know art is expensive, but it's probably more efficient than trying to achieve the same flavor through text alone.

 

Finally, I know TA is supposed to be the "generic" fantasy setting, but it can't hurt to try and break the mold a little, and do something to set it apart from Greyhawk and Western Shores and FR and so forth.

 

I guess that was three things.

[Old Man]

Originally posted by Killer Shrike

I want to see complexity in the powers that be; I dont want to see the one monolithic evil, the one bad-boy nation, the single unified power of good forces, a handful of opposing "sects". I want an internecine and organic melange of antagonists and protagonists, a believable tapestry of interaction with a high degree of versimilitude.

 

That's pretty easy to do even with the Monolithic Evil. Such an evil tends to cause treachery and changing alliances as people and kingdoms try to save themselves from the Evil, or flee it, or ingratiate themselves with it. Kal-Turak could easily use subversion and corruption to lay the groundwork for his conquest of the world.

[BobGreenwade]

Would it be going too far afield to ask that extremely high-level mages be able to take to the stars? (Yes, I'm talking about a Spelljammer sort of thing here -- but just "sort of.")

 

Pepper in a few adventure hooks here and there that might be of interest to time-travelers from the future (whether superheroes -- this would be a perfect "Silver Age" plot device -- or heroic-level "time cops"). Don't explicitly say that they're hooks for time-travelers, of course; just put the ideas there for the GM to find.

 

Oh, and a couple of notes on allowing the PCs to actually be "the gods" would be good too. Not much, mind you; I'm thinking of a couple of paragraphs to (at most) three or four pages.

[Killer Shrike]

Originally posted by Old Man

That's pretty easy to do even with the Monolithic Evil. Such an evil tends to cause treachery and changing alliances as people and kingdoms try to save themselves from the Evil, or flee it, or ingratiate themselves with it. Kal-Turak could easily use subversion and corruption to lay the groundwork for his conquest of the world.

I personally think the one really really bad evil power is a lot less interesting than many antagonists that are across the scale in power and at least a little ambiguous. If you KNOW the opposition is 100% totally EVIL bad asses who will always take the most heinous tact in any given situation, its a lot less stressful than if you arent sure what the antagonist is going to do because they are more complex than a "Me Is Bad Guy" cardboard villain. But tastes vary.

 

As a side note, Takofanes just kind of screams "Iuz" or "Vecna" to me, or worse, Sauron. Time will tell if he/its more interesting in his pre-lich days.

[TechnoViking]

I have been looking forward to the Turakian Age since Fantasy Hero came out. I think this will give the Hero System a chance to stand out in large volume of fantasy RPG in the market.

 

Here is what I would like to see in the Turakian Age

 

Races:

I think you must have elves and dwarves in the book, to appeal to the status quo group. Other than that, go wild. Avoid a halfling type race. The Erqigdlitn (MMM pg. 38) is a great example of a race would like to see.

 

Same for evil races, orcs are old hash. Avoid using drow, since they have been over done in other RPGs. Create something new that will scare the pants off of the PCs, even at 75+ points.

 

Professions:

You have this covered in Fantasy Hero and MMM, just the one for special military units.

 

Religion:

Most RPGs make religion too black and white. These are gods, and should not be limited to such concepts as good and evil. One areas sun and farming god may be another areas god of fire and burning. Also, do we need demi-human gods? Couldn't a god of battle appear to humans as human and dwarves as a dwarf?

 

The regions of the world:

Any countries/fief you list I would like to see some basic information:

1. Capital

2. Ruler/type of Government

3. Alliances/Enemies

4. Economy and what they trade.

5. Groups of special interests: head temples of god, large magic school, large thieves guild, etc…

6. Any special laws: no magic.

7. Special units: packages deals and mass combat stats of special group/units

8. Maps, maps, maps

 

Magic:

I think you have magic covered pretty well. You may want to stat out some magic artifacts that are famous from that age (great for plot seed).

 

I would also avoid Psionics, it would make the world seem to D&D like.

 

History:

Give us lots of details and lots of plot seeds, and we will be happy.

 

More later

 

Mike

[Blue]

I think some interesting ideas might be...

 

A martial arts package of the region Kal Turak inhabits (Maybe something used by palace guards or his specially trained secret police).

 

What are the popular trade goods and their values for the major regions?

 

Laws. This is often neglected (Probably becasue GMs like to decide whether something is a hanging/beheading offense). But I think it would be useful to know the penalties for crimes of the various regions.

 

Sounds like you've got the rest of the mishmash about turakian life... Burial Customs, Gladiatorial Events or other bloodsports/racing events, average wages, literacy level, the average day of a Turakian citizen...

[Hierax]

Maps

 

Map.

 

One thing that really helps a good fantasy setting stand out is a nice map.

 

I don't know what your scale of production is but if you can afford a folded colour poster-sized map it would really make the setting a LOT more appealing!

 

Have someone work up a good one for you in Campaign Cartographer and you can make an electronic version available for GMs to pay and download from the store and thus make the settin more useful to them by making mapping a whole heck of a lot easier.

 

It's more up-front work, but I think in the long-run a nice map is well worth the effort.

[Hierax]

Mass Combat Section

 

A Mass Combat section with details on the setting's armies and fortifications would be great since Fantasy Hero has a section on it the example campaign should have one with examples in it too.

[Hierax]

Plants, Animals, Poisons

 

Unique plants, animals, and poisons that give the setting extra flavour.

 

Things that aren't necessarily magical can still have cool effects.

[Hierax]

Non-Terrestrial parts of the Setting

 

Detail (or at least outline) some of the non-terrestrial parts of the setting -- the underwater cultures, aerial, subterranean ones.

[Mutant for Hire]

I second the need for a set of sections for pictures, even simple pictures of how people dressed and the style of at least some of the buildings. The text can describe the coloration of cloth and how they used different metals for inlays. People can always color in the pictures themselves (and post them to the Net somewhere). Such things really make a world come alive for people. ven if they don't have enough illustrations, an attempt to describe these things would help.

[Storn]

How does magic impact every day life, which in turn, how does that impact the "adventurer class" such as most PCs? example: are healing potions common? non-existant? Does the grandson of a sick old farmer go out and seek a healing potion? Or is that only the privalege of the adventure class.

 

What makes Turkanian different than other high magic settings? (don't have to answer that, but I want a lot of thought put into that very thing).

 

A cohesive look to the illustrations... not style, but elements. If there is a particular look for mages (shaved heads) we artists HAVE to know that.

 

Most of our art lists are very loose. I don't think that can happen here. I think if we have us artists running around willy-nilly and drawing any ol' way... it will not hang together. The standards of fantasy world building are such that we cannot skimp on this.

[Old Man]

Originally posted by Storn

Most of our art lists are very loose. I don't think that can happen here. I think if we have us artists running around willy-nilly and drawing any ol' way... it will not hang together. The standards of fantasy world building are such that we cannot skimp on this.

 

Have to agree with Storn on this count. Steve Long must convey his vision of TA through the artists to the reader. The seeming practice of having pictures of 'whatever' works fine for the generic books but there needs to be some visual coherence to a setting book.

 

I'll echo the cry for a nice map, too. Don't hold back on the map. Maps are cool.

[Jkeown]

About Campaign Cartographer...

 

... I'll do it. I have the whole suite. Even if its not for compensation, Steve. The whole of HERO-dom can read it right here: I'LL CC THE MAP FOR FREE.

 

jephkay@yahoo.com if yer interested.

[keithcurtis]

I echo Storn's comments. Much like you did with TE, having one artist work out all the races for example would be wonderful if done well ahead of the general cattle call. One reference picture is worth a thousand descriptors.

Beyond that, using historical references would be OK. "Model the dress on the Late Roman Empire but the swords are all basket-hilt sabers" sort of thing.

 

Other things:

 

Organizations: Knighthoods, Ranger brotherhoods, Mage societies and so forth. With packages, please. Rivalries of these organizations would be nice.

 

Having just run a merchant campaign, I second the mention of trade goods. A fairly simple system of determining what is likely to be on a caravan from City X to City Y, along with a rough guide to prifitability would be good.

 

Lastly, Maps. Lots and lots of full page maps. I got a mortgage to pay!

 

Keith "Don't forget the maps" Curtis

[PhilFleischmann]

A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

If you're concerned about the expense of illustrations, consider the benefit. How much delevopment time and page space does a thousand-word description take? Compare that to an illustration and what it gets you. I include maps as one type of illustration. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a map is probably worth ten thousand.

 

And make sure the pictures match any text descriptions given (unlike many 4th Ed. books and the cover of Champions). If possible keep character and monster illustrations on the same page as their write-ups. Or at least provide labeling captions so there's no doubt as to who's who. And speaking of captions, you could add a lot of flavor with captions on action scenes and landscapes, etc.:

 

"On the fifth day of the battle of Rhytoughm, the demons were unleashed, destroying all hope..."

"The mystics of Ulim practice elaborate and beatiful rituals. Strangers are welcome to watch or participate, but remember not to speak until Sreuzan opens her eyes."

[AnotherSkip]

While we are on maps. How about an interesting way to navigate the map.

 

ED was really very interesting about this....

 

A good begginers location, as fleshed out as possible.

 

and I would suggest no scale on the map so the playing are can be as big or small as desired.

 

My Gm loves ED but has the scale about x10 on the map so that the playing area is larger.

[Ron]

Originally posted by Storn

How does magic impact every day life, which in turn, how does that impact the "adventurer class" such as most PCs? example: are healing potions common? non-existant? Does the grandson of a sick old farmer go out and seek a healing potion? Or is that only the privalege of the adventure class.

 

I agree with Storn, the impact of magic is of prime importance in any magical setting. Still, is often overlooked in many books. I would really like to see how magic influence individual lifes in all social classes and how it shapes society at whole.

[Muldegian]

To echo some good thoughts: Maps...well done maps, a "cohesive style" to the art to give the world a feel, and relevant art to the section you are reading.

 

A trend in most RPG stuff has been to focus on "crunch" and away from "fluff" - but settings are fluff with some crunch and a second helping of fluff thrown in. Make it a good read. Nothing is worse than a boring read when looking over a brand new world, most of my RPG reading has been boring of late; not badly done, just boring.

 

Like others said....HOOKs, CROOKs, and COMPETETION!!!

 

[ADDED] Oh yeah!

 

I want to read about your world but I don't really want to play in it, I just want to borrow from it. Make everything as "liftable" as possible.

 

[Rick]

I'll be honost W/you Mr. Long there is only one thing I want to see. You are a renouned Tolkien-phile, I believe you even authored the latest incarnation of the LoTR RPG.

 

I want to see your write up for a Balrog, call it a Class 5 pit fiend, an Abysal prince or real big fire devil thingy, I don't care, I just want to see what you think a Balrog should be in your sand box.

[Talon]

Detailed, specific guidelines / advice on balancing characters (characteristics, skills, combat, magic, etc.) in the Turakian campaign world.