New BR Products

[John Rickards]

> I like the fact that it's kept mysterious. One of the big problems with
> game worlds is when what should be mysterious becomes commonplace (cf the
> World of Darkness), and the ideas loose the magic that they had. There's
> enough information in the books that you can take the basic idea and run
> with it, but without ever having to wonder about rules or logical
> consistancy (just assume that it has it's own logic on a level that's not
> immdeiately apparant...).
>
> GMs can do what they want with the Shadow World without players having a
> clue what to expect (beyond the obvious). The unknown is always scarier
> than stuff you understand.
>
> neil

That's true, to a certain extent. However, while I'm not too
interested in rules and tables etc. for the Shadow World, I'd like
something that details what you can expect (if that's quite the right
word) to find their, exactly what halflings can do with their inate
abilities.
The problem I have right now is the discrepancies between the main
books in the boxed set, the novels, and later supplements, many of
which have different perspectives on what the Shadow World is and
what you can do there.
Again, specifics are not so important. What might be good is a book
that has, say, a number of possible versions of the Shadow World -
the 'dark and twisted counterpart to Cerilia', the rather surreal
blood-and-symbolism version, and, say, the exact counterpart, only
everything's dead/darker/twisted, with towns populated by undead
where living people would be etc.
Right now, it's very much arbitrary as to some of the things that can
be done, which can make things tricky to GM (I know, I've been there)
- - for example, where there is a building in Cerilia, is there a
complementary building in the Shadow World; since halflings can read
alignment by looking in to the Shadow World, this implies a spirit
corresponding to the person observed - does this mean that someone in
the Shadow World can kill/injure/posess someone in Cerilia by killing
this spirit, and so on.
I, and I'm sure many others, would like to see these ambiguities and
questions cleared up. Like I say, it could be done as a set of
'possible dimensions' - to preserve some of that air of mystery, but
which would make it far easier to GM stuff there.

My 2GBs (although, it was two posts, surely that would be 4GBs...)


John Rickards

"He who is looking for something has lost something."
"And he who is not looking?"
"He gets run over."



PS. Dan. Hahahahaha.

[Bearcat]

One thing that we might like would be a book that is a compilation
of all the domain sourcebooks.

-

[John Rickards]

> Not a bad idea. It might be possible to release a group of sourcebooks
> (maybe some old and even some new) in the future, rather than just single
> domain packs.
>
> What's everyone think?
> Ed Stark

Good idea.

John Rickards

"He who is looking for something has lost something."
"And he who is not looking?"
"He gets run over."



PS. Dan. Hahahahaha.

[Dan Medeiros]

>Hmmn ... good point. So a "bundle" of domain packs is really what you
>mean--not a big book compiling them. I think you're right.
>

I was thinking perhaps a large folder with several domain booklets
in them, for example, "The Southern Coast". you know, a region thing.

-

[Cymbelline]

Things I would like to see:

* Shadow World product (no surprises there)
* A book detaling various types of Guilds
* More information on the Anuirean culture
* Information about other continents
* Grand-scale heroic adventure (i.e. Rod of Seven Parts/Gates of
Firestorm Peak)
* More Domain Sourcebooks (though I heard this idea has been shelved?)

That's about it for now.

Regards,
Cymbelline.

[Sepsis]

Greetings,
On the TSR chat board, Ed Stark has asked for some input on new BR products
we would like to see. I'm sure many people on the List have a few ideas
they would like to give. So if anyone has any suggestions lets here them. I
for one would like to see a supplement dealing with various fairies, and
fairie-kind. Such things as Sprites, Treants, Pixies, Leprechauns,
Centaurs, Dryads, Brownies, etc. I'm sure these creatures have a unique
flavor in BR, and I would like to know more about them.


Sepsis, richt@metrolink.net

"War is a matter of vital importance to the State;
the province of life or death;
the road to survival or ruin.
It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied."
-Sun Tzu,(The Art of War)-

BR Netbook: http://webpages.metrolink.net/~veleda/birth.html

[Bannier Andien]

At 11:45 PM 9/30/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Greetings,
>On the TSR chat board, Ed Stark has asked for some input on new BR products
>we would like to see. I'm sure many people on the List have a few ideas
>they would like to give. So if anyone has any suggestions lets here them

I'd like to see some global views and expansions. What is on the rest of
the world. I don't want the whole thing, but expand out alittle more. Also,
how about going more int the humanoid races and thier views/ideals. Lastly,
what is going on in the shadow lands.

Thanks
Bryon
My signature is for those people in certain PBEM games that take things to
personnal.

This is OOC-Do we understand what OOC is?-Can we handle that the game is not
real?
And still they can't play nice and continue to say those words...
"I'm Not A Twirp, I say, I'm not"

May you alway smile at life ;-)

[Neil Barnes]

> Point - I'd like to see some Shadow World stuff. It's one of the
> coolest parts to Birthright, as well as being a major one (as anyone
> who's ever played in one of my campaigns will testify), but it only
> gets 3 paragraphs in the main books, along with some scattered
> material elsewhere.
> "The Dark Half - A Guide to the Shadow World" would definitely get my
> vote (and cash, of course).

I like the fact that it's kept mysterious. One of the big problems with
game worlds is when what should be mysterious becomes commonplace (cf the
World of Darkness), and the ideas loose the magic that they had. There's
enough information in the books that you can take the basic idea and run
with it, but without ever having to wonder about rules or logical
consistancy (just assume that it has it's own logic on a level that's not
immdeiately apparant...).

GMs can do what they want with the Shadow World without players having a
clue what to expect (beyond the obvious). The unknown is always scarier
than stuff you understand.

neil

[Paul Jeffery Eves]

>
> Things I would like to see:
>
> * Shadow World product (no surprises there)
> * A book detaling various types of Guilds
> * More information on the Anuirean culture
> * Information about other continents
> * Grand-scale heroic adventure (i.e. Rod of Seven Parts/Gates of
> Firestorm Peak)
> * More Domain Sourcebooks (though I heard this idea has been shelved?)
>
> That's about it for now.
>
> Regards,
> Cymbelline.
>
>Just a little input from a new subscriber, and I agree with the need for
a book about guilds, as well as the effect they would have on the kingdoms
economy. Ie: Wouldn't having a weapons guild in a city make weapons
cheaper, and thus have cheaper recruiting costs for military units. Or If
a kingdom specialized in one particular type of guild, thus making the
best of one thing for trade purposes, and causing a demand for that
product.

Just a thought from the man who has eyes in every court

Calis. >
> ************************************************** *************************
> > 'unsubscribe birthright' as the body of the message.
>

[Bill Seurer]

> I agree with the need for
> a book about guilds, as well as the effect they would have on the
> kingdoms
> economy. Ie: Wouldn't having a weapons guild in a city make
> weapons
> cheaper, and thus have cheaper recruiting costs for military
> units.

That's not how it always works; sometimes countries reserve most of
their products for export. For years there were multi-year waiting
lists to get nice cars in West (note, *NOT* East) Germany for example.
So if a country's main source of guild income was the weapons trade it
might actually be MORE expensive to buy those weapons there than over in
the next kingdom.


- - Bill Seurer ID Tools and Compiler Development IBM Rochester, MN
Business: BillSeurer@vnet.ibm.com Home: BillSeurer@aol.com
[work page]
Home page: http://members.aol.com/BillSeurer/