Been a bit since I posted (versus drafting 15 things) and I'm in somewhat of a bind. Because I'm way behind. And looking to make a deal.
Wait, that's the Devil when He went down to Georgia, and we know how that turned out.
Itching to play more BattleTech campaigns, get a Fallout 2D20 campaign rolling, and then also to DM, all whilst working 50-60 hour work weeks. Who needs sleep when there are dice to roll?
I've made mention of wanting to run a heavy Magic the Gathering inspired campaign (I have notes elsewhere for that) but now my wandering eye (of Sauron) is out there, looking at third party releases that're out now or will be soon and big fucking ooooof do I wanna explore a lil bit.
Legend of the Five Rings is one of the first gaming IPs outside of Magic/BattleTech that I really went balls-deep heavy into. I have literally hundreds of miniatures from the Clan War game, as well as most of the 1st and 2nd edition L5R RPG books. Love the system, love the world, but never got more than a couple people interested in it. But now, looks like there's an Adventures in Rokugan book coming out soon that is 5e compatible. It appears they're going less social roleplaying in the sense that L5R is known for and a bit more dungeon delving ala 5e but that's totally fine! Tomb of Iuchiban? Shadowlands? Any number of forests or the Burning Sands, or the Ivory Kingdom? Heck yeah! Oni and undead and players rocking out Nezumi (I'm old school Ratkin and Skaven fanboy so obv)? Lesgo!!
How can I not mention Exandra? Even though I'm not a "Critter" by any means and have some good reasons to actively dislike CR (I mean, I don't, I just have good reasons to), the world building is pretty fantastic and with shows like Vox Machina making it easier to access than just via the actual plays, getting players with no knowledge of Critical Role hype for it isn't terribly hard. Two sourcebooks and an adventure book, plus dozens of comics and novels and other tie-ins mean that information on Exandria in general is super easy to collate and digest and with a minimal amount of legwork, other campaigns (like Saltmarsh) can be adapted to the world. Actually, Saltmarsh, and any other port-type campaigns would be -super- easy to set in Exandria and I have some thoughts on some things in that direction.
I'm going to loop both Iron Kingdoms and Midgard together because I don't know a ton about either, except that I've thumbed through some Midgard stuff and I know the minis for WarmaHorde. And, actually, it's the WarmaHorde minis that make me want to run something in the IK setting. Both have some ideas in common, like pew pew steampunk gun tech, but Iron Kingdoms also has warjack 'mecha stuff going on that is pretty sweet. Plus giant werewolf looking guys and trollkin that are as cool or cooler than orcs and ogres.
There's also a lot of mix and match situations that're possible. Like, I would -love- to run a traditional Forgotten Realms or Exandria game wherein a samurai or shugenja of Rokugan (Mantis Claaaaan) washes ashore and appeals to the party for aid. A naval campaign leads into a "fish out of water" campaign as the barbarian (or possibly even Barbarian) PCs arrive at the Mantis Isles and have to fight some kinda evil or something. I dunno. Bloodspeakers (mentioned Iuichiban above) or, depending on what part of the timeline the new RPG is in, fighting in the Clan Wars, or against Daigotsu, or even opposing the rise of Fu Leng. Who knows? Conversely, Iron Kingdoms or Midgard as explorers going into a brave new land, like Ixalan. Warjacks vs dinosaurs? Dude, how could you -not- like that idea.
But either way, time is fleeting and I need to address my work situation before I make any calls on a new DnD campaign. I just have lots and lots of ideas floating right now.
Now that I have a little more knowledge of the Iron Kingdoms, Midgard, and L5R books for 5e (and now my DnD bookshelf is starting to bow heavily), I definitely gotta say that I do -not- like where Edge Studios took L5R. AEG made a beautiful game and a fantastic setting with their first and second editions/card game/Clan War minis game and Edge really tried to go "woke" with it. Like the sheer amount of backstepping and half a chapter dedicated to what -not- to do when playing L5R seems super excessive. AEG celebrated the influences on the gameline, the Japanese films that inspired things like duels (not white-washed Japanese films, like, Kurosawa was a huge deal to L5R, just ask Akodo Ginawa), and wanted people to learn more about the cultures & nations that the game drew from. Edge wants you to know that if you're white and playing L5R, you're probably a terrible person and you should put the book down but if you're going to play anything, don't use any offense accents or throw in "made up" words into your dialogue to sound more "native." Like... No shit? But also, first ed L5R had a basic Japanese pronunciation guide and common phrases, as well as the Japanese terms or nouns for common items like gear and supplies. AEG was incredibly respectful of the setting and the real world behind it. But, hey, at least companies are hiring cultural consultants so they can accurately depict Naga and Deep Gnome societies -accurately- lmao.
ReplyDeleteI know, I know, it's 2022. Just find that kind of hilarious.
Iron Kingdoms and Midgard are both fantastic though. If the Exandria campaign doesn't work out, I am for sure swinging towards Midgard right now, with some of the IK concepts applied to Zobeck, the City of Clockwork.