red_bus wrote:I'd be curious to know how close the JG Inferno is to the setting in the Divine Comedy - is it just loosely based, or is it really close?

Think I'll have to set aside some time to read/compare, too.
(And it's many years since I read Dante...).

At a casual glance of the first few pages, the elements are there (from what I recall), even if the original context is necessarily absent to a degree.
i.e. the allegorical pard, she-wolf and lion relating to temporal powers are somewhat more encounter-focused, even if they do serve the same "purpose" (may I say "railroading"? ).
*
In that case, the author took liberties with the source to "make their point", so I'd guess there's more of the same to follow. ^^
*g*. Mind you, I did the same myself, 'cept I made the pard a bit more fiery (using the excuse that Dante wouldn't have wanted to frighten his audience so early in the poem ).


*mutters at lousy .jpg compression*

Neat basis for a scenario, though. Just don't take your favorite paladins down into Hell 'coz I suspect they won't be coming back!

*reads on...*

Xaxaxe wrote:Is that a ... cougar? It really would explain so much ...

*LOL*

OK, I chickened-out drawing spots on the fiery feline: so sue me!
(The pard is a mythical beastie, anyhow; unlike the (unfortunately?) very real cougar...).

thx for the smile!

Faro & Red Bus:

Within the limits of a game scenario, I tried to make the original module very close.  That is, every location in the poem is also in the scenario with the same landscape and climate and monsters, and the only character missing is Virgil.  I had it written down to Circle 6 the first time and it was JG that decided to break before Circle 5...of course everythinig was lost in the interveening years and I started again almost from scratch.  Everything else should be readily recognizable to a student of the poem - but that won't necessarily help you figure out how to survive it all.

Yep, there is some railroading going on in the original module, making it very linear with not a lot of options.  The revision isn't constructed like that and characters are free to literally wander in circles if they wish.  I have worked very hard with the revision to preserve fidelity with the atmosphere of the poem all the way down to Lucifer's hairy hide.  I figure that I have about 3 maps left to draw and 180 rooms to describe and I'm fini !!  Then I have to convert to 3E and deal with publishers.

Geoff  

Geoff Dale wrote:Faro & Red Bus:

Within the limits of a game scenario, I tried to make the original module very close.  That is, every location in the poem is also in the scenario with the same landscape and climate and monsters, and the only character missing is Virgil.  I had it written down to Circle 6 the first time and it was JG that decided to break before Circle 5...of course everythinig was lost in the interveening years and I started again almost from scratch.  Everything else should be readily recognizable to a student of the poem - but that won't necessarily help you figure out how to survive it all.

Yep, there is some railroading going on in the original module, making it very linear with not a lot of options.  The revision isn't constructed like that and characters are free to literally wander in circles if they wish.  I have worked very hard with the revision to preserve fidelity with the atmosphere of the poem all the way down to Lucifer's hairy hide.  I figure that I have about 3 maps left to draw and 180 rooms to describe and I'm fini !!  Then I have to convert to 3E and deal with publishers.

Geoff  

Geoff.

just as a thought, you might want to go read Rob Kuntz's thread here:

Rob J. Kuntz's CAIRN OF THE SKELETON KING update info • Page 3 • Collecting General •  The Acaeum

if you had a 1E inferno way down to the end (lucifer), ppl would be VERY interested my friend. you could release that material as an addition to the converted 3E, maybe in the same thing as Rob is doing with the 1E/2E idea.

course if not, i would be very interested in buying the unconverted material before you converted it

Al

red_bus wrote:A complete Inferno - fantastic!!

I will have six copies now please, don't bother with 3E, we'll have it as it is.  Wow.

my thoughts exactly - an "untainted" copy would be amazing!

its one of my fave modules of all time that (not as good as Q1 mind but close)

Al

obiter wrote:A complete inferno would be fantastic.

Alas, the rest of it was never written.

if you had a 1E inferno way down to the end (lucifer), ppl would be VERY interested my friend. you could release that material as an addition to the converted 3E

I do have an Inferno which goes to the end, which actually goes past Lucifer, including a little bit about Purgatorio (if interested, see my post of about the exit on the Necromancer board) but it is in my own unique rule set which is closer to 1E than to any 3E version.  Except for some enchanted items and some spells a 1E'er could almost play it as written without much confusion.  Someday I hope to get to playtest it at a Con (probably around Texas).

What's Done:  Generic Information, Devil Bestiary, Entry to Inferno, Circles 0 through 9, and Exit from Inferno.  Still working:  King Samael's Tower (85% done) and a generic Palace of a Prince of Hell (5%).  The current page count (all straight text as a PDF file) is ~850 pages.

If all the interested players talk it up to the Demon Lords maybe they'll publish the Inferno revision even though they aren't real sure that revisions to JG material can sell.  Otherwise, I've talked to the Overlord about copyright issues and I may be able to bring it out myself, someday (e.g. not soon); I'd need one *hell* of an advance committment to be able to front the costs.

You can count me in.

ShaneG.

mbassoc2003 wrote:I have a feeling RJK's Cairn of the Skeleton King is going to be one of the great success stories of self publishing. There is a lot to be learned from how this is being done.

absolutely - i totally agree. i imagine most of us have pre-paid for 1 or 2 - and tbh, between us all, we must have enough contacts that we could mention this to also....

i really do hope that it is an immense success. this will encourage the man to carry on doing more (which i want to see) and hopefully will encourage other great authors out there to follow the same path.

Al