tkdguy

10 out of 10, WITHOUT using any of my books. I've been spending too much time on this subject. Maybe I ought to get a girlfriend.

Here's a link to Ed Greenwood's take on FR. I found this on the WOTC boards. http://oracle.wizards.com/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0311b&L=realms-l&D=1&O=D&P=17813

There's really nothing wrong with adapting something from another world to your world, or mixing and matching different campaigns to make your own setting. I've done both these things, and they do work. If I like elements from Harn and Castle Falkensein, I try to find a way to incorporate them into my campaign after doing whatever modifications are necessary. I'm already doing it for my current campaign, since it's so hard to find a fantasy adventure without any magic in it.

How about the Vogons from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy? Green skin, unpleasant demeanor. Special power: Bad poetry. 1d6 EB, Continuous, NND (Defense is not being able to hear it), Incantations, Extra Time (1 Segment).

Guess we'll just have to agree to disagree there. BTW, I'm a big fan of your work. You put in a lot of thought in your stuff, and it shows. See folks? You CAN disagree on something without starting a flame war!

The Warhammer FRP map is similar to our world, with a few significant changes. I'm using the map along with some NPCs from 7th Sea to flesh out a new campaign.

I have to agree with PerennialRook about keeping it simple. Put in some combat, but don't make it a purely hack-&-slash game. Use the interesting NPCs to encourage roleplay. Chances are, they've seen the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter films, even if they haven't read the books. They'll probably be expecting something along those lines. But Harry Potter blasting orcs with fireballs is just wrong!

I've always enjoyed the Conan, Elric, and John Carter series. How about the Thieves' World series? They were more a bunch of short stories than novels, but they were pretty good.

Forgotten Realms is way more inteesting than Greyahwk, IMO. Then again, I played with a bunch of hack & slashers (I was one too) during our GH campaign. Still, I think there's a lot more flavor to FR, because the cultures are more detailed. The only problem I have with it is that the magic there is obscenely powerful. Of course, GH is the same way. BTW, I'e read somewhere that FR was originally meant to be a world where Ed Greenwood could set his stories in. It became a D&D world afterwards. Greyhawk was meant to be a game world from the start.

If you look at the New York Life commercials you'll see flying cars and taxis. And the kids apparently consult their insurance agents without their parents. My, they grow up quickly nowadays...

Oh yeah... If you need pics, go to the WOTC webpage and go to PC Portraits. There's a section on Steampunk heroes.

I wrote up a package deal for vampires using 4th edition rules, but it was based more on Forever Knight. I posted it on the boards earlier in the year.

Here's a list of things you may wish to have before you start running the game: 1. A map of the relevant area. How much of the world you need is up to you. Be sure to include terrain and major cities. 2. A general timeline of world events. You can make more details afterwards. 3. Laws and cultures of countries/cities. Again, get a rough guide, and add details later. 4. The movers and shakers of the world, as well as the NPCs the players will interact with. 5. Lots of inventions, since you're running a steampunk game. 6. Several plot hooks and alternative adventures (if the players decide to do something you hadn't thought they'd do). 7. Resources you can fall back upon if you need to. Example: It's not very likely a player will play a stargazer (I would, but I was an astronomy major), but if someone does, you can have a book or know of a website where you can flesh out that information.

There are lots of sites that talk about world building. You may want to check them out. Alternatively, use whatever resources you already have and make whatever changes you think are necessary. There's no reason not to mix and match if you want to. I'm going to be doing that in my campaign.

And furthermore... Another setting I've thought about but never tried mixes science fiction with fantasy. Sure there are knights, but they ride cyborg horses and wield light sabers. And flying ships look like galleons and sloops sailing through the sky. And several floating cities exist, although the majority of people live on the ground. Crossbows fire laser bolts rather than quarrels, like Chewbacca's bowcaster. And the bow used by Hank the Ranger in the D&D cartoon in the 80's (remember that one?) would be popular with the elves.

You could try to find Masque of the Red Death by TSR, before it was bought out by WOTC. Or try Castle Falkenstein from R. Talsorian. Keep in mind that these are out of print (I think RTS is gone, but I'm not certain). GURPS has both Castle Falkenstein and Steampunk books in print. There's also a d20 book called Sorcery and Steam, I think. White Wolf does have a Victorian-age Vampire, as well as Werewolf, the Wild West. Deadlands and Call of Cthulu may also have ideas for you. Personally, I recommend Castle Falkenstein. Even if you remove magic, there are lots of examples of strange inventions you can use. There's also a setting already (New Europa) for you to use.

Here's an idea I discussed with my group. How about setting the campaign in the modern world, except gunpowder was never invented. That leads to a change in technology. Perhaps crossbows and longbows fired projectiles that could pierce the strongest armor, so eventually, armor would be phased out. One of my friends said planes and tanks would still exist. Tanks would fire projectiles propelled first by steam, then by petroleum. Perhaps an electromagnetic propulsion system would be next in line. However, this would be impractical for handheld weapons. If chemically propelled weapons exist, however, flame throwers would exist as well. Now, without armor, civilian weapons like rapiers and later smallswords would be used in the cities. And if duelling is outlawed (as it was in many cities) AND the authorities can enforce that edict, unarmed combat would flourish as well. How would history change without gunpowder? For one, maybe Constantinople wouldn't have fallen to the Ottomans in 1543. And perhaps colonizing Asia and the New World would have been more difficult, but not impossible. I get into that more after I've thought about it a bit more.

Personally I enjoyed The Silmarillion. It made me look at the world in a whole new way. If Spillane's work hits you in the gut, this one kicked me in the head. That being said, I don't think Tolkien is the only viable source of good fantasy. Like other people have said on this thread, authors like Burroughs, Howard, and Moorcock have their own invaluable contributions to the genre. I've read lots of fantasy novels both good and bad, but even on the bad ones I can find ideas I can work with. My point: If it gets your creative juices flowing, then it wasn't a waste of time.

Does that include the schoolgirl in UMA p. 145 applying an armlock on the school bully?

But what about the movies where the unarmed hero starts beating up people with swords (like Bruce Lee in The Chinese Connection)? Some heroes even start kicking their enemies even when they have swords!

Definitely Ladyhawke and Thieves' World are excellent examples of the genre. I wish we'd see more of those movies. I guess Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon would qualify too. I do agree that hack & slash wears thin after a while, but high fantasy doesn't have to be hack & slash any more than low fantasy, even with magical healing. Okay, I'll up the ante. Why do you prefer low fantasy to high fantasy? I just notice myself wanting more realism and logic in my campaigns (with a few examples).

I just want to know how many people prefer low fantasy to high fantasy. I used to love high fantasy, but my interest in it gradually declined. I enjoy historical fantasy; ie set in the real world with little or no magic. I'm talking about stuff like Ivanhoe or the Father Cadfael mysteries. Even movies with wildly inaccurate stories about real people such as Shogun or Braveheart qualify. I'm pretty sure I'm in the minority here, but I can't be the only one who enjoys it.

My favorite part was when The Bride was flying to Tokyo, and O Ren was traveling to the restaurant via motorcade. Having The Green Hornet soundtrack in the background was so bad, it actually worked. But I thought Sophie was hotter than Gogo.

Good point. Although I admit that adding the Highlander bit was an afterthought. I originally envisioned the campaign without any supernatural elements. But I thought it could work with supernatural stuff too. Then if you want to go overboard, you can can do a Highlander/Kill Bill/Underworld/Big Trouble in Little China crossover. Then again, maybe not. I've seen campaigns blow up by including too much stuff.

Come to think of it, this would make a great Highlander campaign too.