Very well done! One minor edit: I think you meant "bowels" in the phrase "disturb the bowls, and scrape at the eyes."?
And out of curiosity: is there any in-game (mechanical) way you're depicting the "risk their mind, body and soul in pursuance of this craft" and "An ill disciplined or weak mind will be consumed by the utterances of this dead tongue"?

Based on discussions here in the past, my experiences at conventions, and working with new players, I have drafted a "HYPERBOREA PRIMER" to be included with the next printing of the game. This (below) is what I have so far. The intent is to create setting immersion whilst retaining brevity of information so as not to overload them. You know that glazed expression on your players' faces when you've carried on explaining something for far too long? I'm trying to avoid that, though providing useful content at the same time.
:::::::::::::::::::::::
HYPERBOREA PRIMER
 
Regardless of your character’s class, race, alignment, religion, and secondary skills, there are several facets of life that are generally known to all characters in Hyperborea:

• The sun is a red giant that skirts along the horizon
• Two ellipsoid moons revolve around Hyperborea
• Saturn (Kyranos) is oft visible during diurnal and nocturnal hours
• A week = 7 days, a month = 28 days, a year = 13 months, and a cycle = 13 years
• The 13-year cycle includes a year of perpetual light and a year of perpetual darkness
• A plague called the Green Death nearly obliterated humanity 1,000 years ago
• The Hyperborean Sea spills off the Rim of the World into the infinite Black Gulf
• Great obelisks rise from the six corners at the Rim of the World
• Mount Vhuurmithadon is the north pole and axis of the entire realm
• Khromarium is the largest city of the realm, a cosmopolitan metropolis
• The Xathoqqua orthodoxy is the most prevalent religion of the realm
• The indigenous Hyperborean race once ruled Hyperborea with savage cruelty

 
Of course, there are varying degrees of knowledge regarding all these particulars. Everyone sees the sun and the moons, but most have never seen the Rim of the World or Mount Vhuurmithadon. Khromarium may be renowned, but it doesn’t mean your character has ever been there. Xathoqqua worship is ubiquitous, but your character may be from a locale the eschews the bat-toad’s worship. Hyperboreans may be infamous for their wickedness, but perhaps your character has never met one and thus prefers to reserve judgement.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
  

Ghul wrote:

Based on discussions here in the past, my experiences at conventions, and working with new players, I have drafted a "HYPERBOREA PRIMER" to be included with the next printing of the game. This (below) is what I have so far. The intent is to create setting immersion whilst retaining brevity of information so as not to overload them. You know that glazed expression on your players' faces when you've carried on explaining something for far too long? I'm trying to avoid that, though providing useful content at the same time.
:::::::::::::::::::::::
HYPERBOREA PRIMER
 
Regardless of your character’s class, race, alignment, religion, and secondary skills, there are several facets of life that are generally known to all characters in Hyperborea:

• The sun is a red giant that skirts along the horizon
• Two ellipsoid moons revolve around Hyperborea
• Saturn (Kyranos) is oft visible during diurnal and nocturnal hours
• A week = 7 days, a month = 28 days, a year = 13 months, and a cycle = 13 years
• The 13-year cycle includes a year of perpetual light and a year of perpetual darkness
• A plague called the Green Death nearly obliterated humanity 1,000 years ago
• The Hyperborean Sea spills off the Rim of the World into the infinite Black Gulf
• Great obelisks rise from the six corners at the Rim of the World
• Mount Vhuurmithadon is the north pole and axis of the entire realm
• Khromarium is the largest city of the realm, a cosmopolitan metropolis
• The Xathoqqua orthodoxy is the most prevalent religion of the realm
• The indigenous Hyperborean race once ruled Hyperborea with savage cruelty

 
Of course, there are varying degrees of knowledge regarding all these particulars. Everyone sees the sun and the moons, but most have never seen the Rim of the World or Mount Vhuurmithadon. Khromarium may be renowned, but it doesn’t mean your character has ever been there. Xathoqqua worship is ubiquitous, but your character may be from a locale the eschews the bat-toad’s worship. Hyperboreans may be infamous for their wickedness, but perhaps your character has never met one and thus prefers to reserve judgement.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
  

Excellent Jeff: maybe add something about the sparsely-populated lands, due to the Green Death? And one thing I play up is the mystery of where/when Hyperborea is. With the usual Earth-historical (Vikings, Picts, etc.), legendary (Atlantean Hyperborean) and downright weird (undead Roman Legionaries, Vhuurmis, skyships, high-tech) elements it's much more than a weird set of geographical impossibilities. IMHO of course. 

rhialto wrote:

 and downright weird

Don't forget Atlantians, and the possible technology they may have left behind is high on the weird science side...

Last edited by BlackKnight (1/03/2021 3:11 pm)

Ghul wrote:

For years we've been promoting the game as "Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Fantasy," but lately I've been considering adjectivally expanding that catch phrase to "Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy." The simple addition of "Science" creates broader streams of information for the reader, further emphasizing our thematic flexibility. Meaning, a referee can embrace all the aspects of sword-and-sorcery and cosmic horror, but there is also a bit of that "sword-and-planet" component here, with radium pistols, laser crossbows, anti-grav belts, sky ships, and so forth.
 

I like this idea a lot, and it's one of the aspects I've played up in my Hyperborea: the Atlanteans (and Hyperboreans before them) had access to high-tech (what you mention above), and in my game even more advanced things, with a sword-and-planet flavor. 

Ghul wrote:

For years we've been promoting the game as "Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Fantasy," but lately I've been considering adjectivally expanding that catch phrase to "Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy." The simple addition of "Science" creates broader streams of information for the reader, further emphasizing our thematic flexibility. Meaning, a referee can embrace all the aspects of sword-and-sorcery and cosmic horror, but there is also a bit of that "sword-and-planet" component here, with radium pistols, laser crossbows, anti-grav belts, sky ships, and so forth.
 

Hmm, this has got me thinking... I wonder if ‘weird fantasy’ encompasses ‘science fantasy’ as well as other things besides (such as Lovecraft and so on).  That is, the term ‘weird fantasy’ may already be sufficiently broad, and the addition of ‘science’ may act to constrain rather than expand the concept, thus leading to a different impression in someone unfamiliar with AS&SH.  Not intending to throw a spanner in the works, but just a thought....
 

My thinking is that when we employ the nomenclature "sword-and-sorcery," the reader immediately can think of Conan, Kull, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, Elric, Death Dealer, et al. This is great, and it's immediately impactful. I feel that "weird" is evocative of cosmic horror, the likes of which we see in HPL and CAS (likewise, REH was influenced by his pen-pal, HPL, and these elements found there way into his works, too).

Of course, with CAS, there is a strong sword-and-sorcery feel, because his worlds (and he was a master world builder) are often magical, with sorcerers, necromancers, and so forth, but there are decidedly different tones/moods in the respective fiction of HPL and CAS, even if the subject matter, on the surface, is "weird" and "horror". CAS is more stylized, lyrical, and has a strong amount of dark humor in his fiction. But like I said, he had that sword-and-sorcery or fantasy element to a lot of his fiction, as seen in Poseidonos, Hyperborea, Zothique, and Averoigne. But it's not of heroic stamp, the way REH's fiction is, which has those world-building elements -- shifting (rise and fall) of nations, cosmic horror, and so forth. REH's fiction is typically more personal, and the heroes are not always doomed. They often triumph -- they live, they love, etc. I digress.

So why "science-fantasy" instead of  simply "fantasy"? Because, IMO, I do feel that when we add "science," we can open our minds to Wagner's Kane, Moorcock's Hawkmoon, Burroughs' John Carter, and so forth. If the new reader digs more deeply into the setting aspect of the HYPERBOREA game, they will soon discover these strange allusions to an "Old Earth," a dying, red giant sun, and a realm that is littered with strange, ancient Atlantean artefacts of technology, eldritch horrors that utilize super-computers, and snake-men that conduct laboratory experiments.

I want to capture all of these elements in as few words as possible, because, like I mentioned upthread, I feel that with a few simple words like "Swords, Sorcery, and Weird Science-Fantasy" the reader can (based on their own experience with literature and other media) open strings of associations that relate to these different aspects of the game. So, in a nutshell, I respectfully disagree that it constrains; rather, I feel that it expands the scope but in a tasteful, evocative way.  

Last edited by Ghul (1/13/2021 4:09 pm)

Thanks for elaborating Ghul. An excellent summary of the influences and solid rationale; I concur with your take - tasteful, evocative and suitably expansive. 

Doctor_Rob wrote:

Thanks for elaborating Ghul. An excellent summary of the influences and solid rationale; I concur with your take - tasteful, evocative and suitably expansive. 

My pleasure.

Yeah, something like that.

"Hey Xill, you feel like mounting an expedition to the Spiral Array? I hear there's some ancient Snake People warrens in there. Maybe they left behind some alchemy tomes."

"Graber, your squirrelier than an Ixian in the Diamond Desert, but by gum why not!?"