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| Television and Film » Fire and Ice » 12/13/2017 11:40 am |
- bat
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And Ator, The Fighting Eagle, which has an interesting magic item that is useful to the hero in battling the big bad guy.
| General Discussion » How many are starting a new campaign with the 2nd edition? » 12/11/2017 6:44 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 64
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I didn't run the game shop Halloween game, however I will be running a tavern game of ASSH2E and I have half of the character made (Kimmerian Fighter, Hyperborean Ranger, Common Monk, Kelt Bard, not sure of the remaining three yet, we will make characters for them this week). They will waken on the shores of Brigand's Bay with their gear and in not too bad of shape. Which is good because there will be a giant crab attack as they are gathering their wits and we go on from there, sandbox style. What they don't know is that Hyperborea is alien to them and as they landed where they did a mysterious arcane twist of fate (or interference by Chaos) crashed a ship full of beastmen (goat-headed broo or Warhammer-style) along the Savage Boreal Coast and their shaman knows about the adventurers and believes they have the way back to their world (they probably don't) and to this end the beastmen will do everything that they can to strengthen their cult and get to the adventurers.
| Bestiary » Orcs in Hyperborea » 12/11/2017 3:50 pm |
- bat
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DominionClark Ashton Smith“ muffled levies rise, from mist and Lethe drawn,
Waging some goblin war at thy forgotten whim;
What travelers in lone Cimmeria, drear ”
The Black Abbot of Puthuum (also by CAS):
The king had deemed that Zobal and Cushara should form an escort equal to all contingencies: for Izdrel was a land reputedly free of robbers, or, indeed, of any human inhabitants. Men said, however, that malign goblins, tall as giants and humped like camels, had oftentimes beset the wayfarers through Izdrel, that fair but ill-meaning lamiae had lured them to an eldritch death.
| Television and Film » Fire and Ice » 12/10/2017 7:45 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 5
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Frazetta & Bakshi tale of dark magic, subhuman races, witches and gore. Free to watch on YouTube and with Amazon Prime.
| Artistic Inspirations » Vytautas Laisonas » 12/09/2017 7:09 pm |
- bat
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| Literary Inspirations » David Mason » 12/09/2017 3:10 pm |
- bat
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Not the most noteworthy S&S author, but he has some great stories nevertheless, including The Sorcerer's Skull
Creepy wizards, dubious adventurers, odd peoples, strange orders. Lots of adventure seeds.
| Television and Film » Atlantis, the Lost Continent » 12/09/2017 2:56 pm |
- bat
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A classic with a lot of gaming material to harvest. [url=,_the_Lost_Continent]Atlantis, the Lost Continent [/url]
A great blend of fantasy and science fiction.
| Swordsmen & Sorcerers » Demihumans! » 12/09/2017 2:45 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 67
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Running a public ASSH game and I only had one person ask to be an elf (and they will be a Hyperborean) and nobody wanted to be a gnome, much to my chagrin.
Oh, there will be demi-humans, weird and alien types in the background, ready to foil the plots and schemes of those humans!
HUMANS!
| General Discussion » Sorcery in the original Conan stories » 12/09/2017 2:42 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 58
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To be fair, while BoL may be used as a Conan game quite easily, it is actually based on Lin Carter's Thongor series and the wizards in that were inhuman, the Dragon Kings....
Sad to hear about the new Conan game,, especially since I am in at the Treasure of Tranicos level.
| Swordsmen & Sorcerers » Demihumans! » 11/13/2017 1:49 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 67
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In Lin Carter's Imaginary Worlds he goes into some depth regarding Fritz Leiber's term, 'secondary world' which just means a world like ours with recognizable things in it like horses, trees, rivers, gnomes, things we see or know are in this world as well. I believe that this is the root most often used in fantasy tales, high, low or in between.
| Swordsmen & Sorcerers » Demihumans! » 11/07/2017 3:59 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 67
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No, I was being a smart apple about the swords.
To me Lord of the Rings is just a dismal tale of loss.
Now gritty is different, I'd put Glen Cook's Black Company series into the gritty category.
| Swordsmen & Sorcerers » Demihumans! » 11/06/2017 7:08 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 67
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I would consider Earthsea high fantasy. And The Hobbit (which is told from Bilbo's point of view, The Red Book of Westmarch has several writers, which may have taken the sense of wonder that Bilbo had out of it). The Silmarillion is also high fantasy, with magic all over the place. Most of Dunsany's stories I would also consider high fantasy, and even Shannara. Edding's Belgariad. Heck, the Elric stories are very high fantasy, with pacts to elementals and forces of Chaos here and there, magical artifacts abound and Tolkien just had ONE ring, Elric has to deal with TWO swords.
| Swordsmen & Sorcerers » Demihumans! » 11/06/2017 6:16 pm |
- bat
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I often wonder how people see the Lord of the Rings as 'high fantasy' considering that it is a story of loss, horrible alchemical experiments (Saruman creating the uruk-hai), and the reduction of the world from one of wonder and magic to the mundane world we have inherited. It is fairly low magic and dismal. Defeating the great evil still ruins everything. In essence, the world became what the goblins wanted, one of noise, pollution, destruction, war and machinery.
| Swordsmen & Sorcerers » Demihumans! » 11/05/2017 5:53 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 67
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I do have them on my blog as options for Astonishing Swordsmen And Sorcerers of Hyperborea on my blog.
That said I've already got a player intrigued by the dangerous elf idea so I'm going to make a detailed re-write of demi-humans for Astonishing 2.
Edit: After all: Dwarves and Hyperborea: A Fictional Iceland Baedeker Guide
| Swordsmen & Sorcerers » Demihumans! » 10/31/2017 11:08 am |
- bat
- Replies: 67
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For the second edition and second campaign go I am going to include these races, not as playable options, as I'd like to, but as they are portrayed in myths and legends and in S&S stories, on the fringes. As creatures to avoid or appease. Gnomes become Nisse, Elves deadly creatures of the forest, Dwarfs become more martial and less of a degenerate race.
| Announcements » Second Edition AS&SH Hardbacks Have Arrived! » 10/31/2017 10:50 am |
- bat
- Replies: 90
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That looks like a good way to throw your back out, measuredrums.
| Announcements » Second Edition AS&SH Hardbacks Have Arrived! » 10/30/2017 4:07 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 90
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Have faith, 1970! And be prepared. I thought the mailman was joking as he staggered up with my two books. These are mammoth tomes! Small pets and children would be crushed under the weight of one of these!
| Announcements » Second Edition AS&SH Hardbacks Have Arrived! » 10/30/2017 12:35 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 90
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"Out for delivery...." AHAHAHAHA!
Edit: In my hands.
| Announcements » Second Edition AS&SH Hardbacks Have Arrived! » 10/27/2017 11:19 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 90
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Backer #236 received an email today with a tracking number and can now breathe a little easier. Hoping the same message soon finds its way to all others!
| Announcements » Second Edition AS&SH Hardbacks Have Arrived! » 10/25/2017 4:29 pm |
- bat
- Replies: 90
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Backer number 236 is really hurting for these books, man, I'm jonesing!
Edit: By the way, will there be a chance to buy one of the fancy maps? I didn't leap on the map and now I regret it. A lot.
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