Rappan Athuk announcement • Collecting General

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Rappan Athuk announcement
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Mythmere1
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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 8:11 pm

Now that Bill has announced that Rappan Athuk will be released for PFRPG and Swords & Wizardry, I have a question. In the levels I'm writing for the Rappan Athuk expansion, and in the Swords & Wizardry conversion, there are a lot of interesting design decisions to be made (one quick example: the original RA was clearly slimmed down at the upper levels to accommodate the fast advancement rate in 3e, but needs more square footage and monsters to let regular OD&D/S&W characters get strong enough for the lower levels). Is anyone interested in seeing some of those decisions in a design log, or would that be boring?

Edit: the Pathfinder converters are going to be facing some of the same issues, and of course Bill is bringing in a lot more of his material as well. So there is going to be quite a bit of background material that might be interesting to follow (as long as we don't give away actual spoilers).

JasonZavoda
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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 8:29 pm

Mythmere1 wrote:Now that Bill has announced that Rappan Athuk will be released for PFRPG and Swords & Wizardry, I have a question. In the levels I'm writing for the Rappan Athuk expansion, and in the Swords & Wizardry conversion, there are a lot of interesting design decisions to be made (one quick example: the original RA was clearly slimmed down at the upper levels to accommodate the fast advancement rate in 3e, but needs more square footage and monsters to let regular OD&D/S&W characters get strong enough for the lower levels). Is anyone interested in seeing some of those decisions in a design log, or would that be boring?

Edit: the Pathfinder converters are going to be facing some of the same issues, and of course Bill is bringing in a lot more of his material as well. So there is going to be quite a bit of background material that might be interesting to follow (as long as we don't give away actual spoilers).

I am extremely pleased to hear that there is going to be a S&W version. I use 1e AD&D and converting from S&W to 1e is much simpler than from 3.x or Pathfinder for exactly the reasons mentioned above.

I'd like to see a design log and I can't see why it wouldn't be interesting to a good deal of the potential buyers. It also might be get a little feedback, even in a general way about the design.

It is going to be a big project, bigger than Tsar if there are going to be expansions on the massive boxed set.

"You get more with a kind word and an excruciator than with just a kind word."

Mythmere1
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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 8:43 pm

JasonZavoda wrote:It is going to be a big project, bigger than Tsar if there are going to be expansions on the massive boxed set.

Lots of expansion.

Badmike
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Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 10:04 pm

I hope the existing levels are expanded. I love the product, but IMO some of the levels seem too "small" to accomodate a larger party with the smaller encounter areas. Almost like the guy in the back of the party is still standing at the way in while the guy in the lead is all the way down the hall and around the corner....far too cozy. I'd like more of a "megadungeon" feel to a few new levels, with perhaps 30+ rooms to a level rather than less than a dozen...

Mike B.

Edit: Mmmm, you said exactly this in your initial post Matt, sorry!!!

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frankfromgermany
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 7:51 am

A design (b)log would be very interesting.

Mythmere1
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 12:30 pm

I put up the first installment today -- being a first entry intro, it's a bit non-specific, and it's on the topic that's been discussed above, but the later posts will probably get into more specific matters about the issues and the possible approaches to take, plus maybe getting some commentaries from other people who are working with different parts of the project (the Pathfinder converters, possibly even matters such as layout decisions).

Link to first entry: http://swordsandwizardry.blogspot.com/2 ... log-1.html

Munafik
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 6:41 pm

Mythmere,

Is there any way that when listing saving throws for traps and such in forthcoming Swords & Wizardry Frog God Games releases, you could indicate the specific Original D&D/AD&D saving throw category, perhaps setting such off in brackets or parenthesis. I know that Swords & Wizardry works on a single saving throw mechanic, but for those using your products in our Original D&D and 1st Edition AD&D games, like myself, a specific saving throw such as "spells," "paralysis," "poison," etc. would make running the modules a lot easier.

Thanks for reading,
Alphonso Warden

"Curses to those responsible for wrapping blackness in everlasting chains."

--WG4 Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun

Mythmere1
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:42 pm

Another Design Note is up http://swordsandwizardry.blogspot.com/2 ... log-3.html

Prufrock
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Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 12:53 pm

This thread is going to make for a very long winter for me.

Matt: it sounds great. Love the mini-wilderness idea.

Martin

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