Hey all…here it comes, and soon. In about two weeks, Frog God Games will begin its new Kickstarter on the next installment of the temple of elemental….I mean the Lost Lands.
Yours truly has made arrangements to take some time off of my day job to….you won't believe it…finish Sword of Air. After 14 years of waiting, this multi-phase adventure and sourcebook of the Necromancer Games (meaning me) home game world will come to light. This adventure and setting have been referenced in every book I have ever written, all the way back to Crucible of Freya.
I have resurrected all my old notebooks and (literally) typewritten manuscripts. Found all my old drawings and maps, playtested several sections of the adventure at the last few conventions, and am ready to finally bang this thing out. This adventure series links strongly to Rappan Athuk, Slumbering Tsar, Stoneheart Valley and many other old Necromancer Games books as well. Those links will be expanded here as well.
The underlying quest is to recover the lost fragments of a mythical artifact known as the Sword of Air, an icon of Law and Good, and perhaps the only thing that can stop the
foul minions of Tsathogga from overrunning the earth. This adventure itself is geared for 1st-20th level players (truly a sandbox), with the main storyline being set for levels 5-15 (really 3-12 for Swords and Wizardry). The book will be produced in both Pathfinder and Swords and Wizardry formats.
SIGNIFICANT deluxe editions will be available for you collectors. Two premium editions are planned; one leather embossed, and one, well, you will have to wait and see, but my printer is referring to it as the "nuclear" edition. I am estimating page count at 500 (may vary), and all versions will contain a large fold out map of the region as a stretch goal. Premium editions may have a few extra features related to the map itself. Additional stretch goals will include full color printing, additional material (for all!), and possibly an exclusive, Kickstarter only, module.
Currently, this book consists of several parts.
1. The Hel's Temple Dungeon—kind of like Tomb of Horrors on crack. This six level trap and puzzle infested dungeon formed the basis of my game through my high school and college years. Clark Peterson's very own Bannor the Paladin spent several real life months in the place, and sadly, finished the objective. This is where the fragments of the fabled Sword of Air can be found…perhaps.
2. The wilderness area to the west of Rappan Athuk and extending into the goblin filled Cragnook Mountains, providing detail about the Wizards Wall (created like the Great Wall of China to keep the goblins at bay by the great wizards Margon and Alickthron (actual player characters from the early 1980's). Over 70 unique encounter areas are detailed, each one an mini-adventure in itself.
3. The Ruined City of Tsen. Sister City to Tsar, and destroyed at nearly the same time by what many believe was a falling meteor. This place forms and aboveground dungeon area the size of a city, with over 100 detailed encounter areas. It's a very dark place…even at noon.
4. The Wizard's Feud—This campaign style adventure pits the players in a long-running series of intrigues and battles between two archmages. Which side will they take? Their actions all play into the overall quest, and could well determine which side wins. Law and Chaos are not always what they seem, and if the wrong decisions are made, the entire ordeal could fail. Remember, one of the wizards WANTS Tsathogga to win.
5. New Gods and Demons of the world, new spells, and new rules for various aspects of play.
That's it for now. I'll update this prior to the Kickstarter initiating.
Bill
