Amazing Deal: If You Ever Wanted to get into RC D&D or Mystara...

Omega · May 25, 2017, 07:08:43 PM

Quote from: Larsdangly;964303The GAZ series is one of the only major bodies of D&D material that I've never really checked out. What is the best thing about them?

It presents an interesting setting thats very different from Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms. And its linked to the Blackmoor setting. The races are NOT unified and though yes they mingle alot, they also are in their own individual kingdoms. Theres also more variety to the setting in terms of cultures and they feel more intigrated into the world than other settings do in some places.

Cant say I like some of the elements. But it stands up well next to gold box Greyhawk in presentation via the gazeteers.

My only real complaint with it all is that it makes the setting feel way too crowded and populated. It very much removes the "make of it what you will" aspect of BX's Karameikos.

Armchair Gamer · May 25, 2017, 10:53:13 PM

Quote from: DavetheLost;964358It's ten bucks for the RC alone normally. This is a great deal.

The other two bundles are arguably even better deals, depending on your interests--they amount to the core rules for either edition at half price plus a bunch of effectively free extras.

RPGPundit · May 27, 2017, 03:57:39 AM

The GAZ series presents a whole variety of very very different nations, each with their own sub-rules, areas, new spells/items, monsters, dungeons, and in some cases new classes or races. Some of them are not like any other nation you'll find in any D&D product.

Rezendevous · May 27, 2017, 09:56:31 AM

Yes, it's a very content-rich series -- there's a lot to use there. I had a physical copy of the Darokin one years ago, and purchased the Karameikos supplement earlier this year from DTRPG just for nostalgia purposes. Either one of those could support a lot of gaming on their own, so I'm looking forward to the others, having just bought the bundle myself (I didn't realize they credited items you already bought too, so that saved me a couple bucks).

Dumarest · May 27, 2017, 11:07:11 AM

Quote from: Omega;964404It presents an interesting setting thats very different from Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms. And its linked to the Blackmoor setting. The races are NOT unified and though yes they mingle alot, they also are in their own individual kingdoms. Theres also more variety to the setting in terms of cultures and they feel more intigrated into the world than other settings do in some places.

Cant say I like some of the elements. But it stands up well next to gold box Greyhawk in presentation via the gazeteers.

My only real complaint with it all is that it makes the setting feel way too crowded and populated. It very much removes the "make of it what you will" aspect of BX's Karameikos.

That was my feeling about it after I found the free PDFs, but there's some stuff to rip off here and there. I prefer not to have so many corners of the canvas painted in for me.

S'mon · May 27, 2017, 05:30:29 PM

Quote from: Dumarest;964663That was my feeling about it after I found the free PDFs, but there's some stuff to rip off here and there. I prefer not to have so many corners of the canvas painted in for me.

It's probably best not to use them all together. They are not 100% compatible and each makes its own realm the Hero of the Story. If your campaign is centred on the Northern Reaches you probably are looking for a Viking type setting and are not interested in having 1000+ MU 36 over to the east in Alphatia, or the cheesy holiday isles of Ierendi. I know in my current Karameikos campaign I tone down Thyatis & Alphatia and I'm not really using Ierendi & Glantri as depicted at all - eg I ran Castle Amber ca 1020 AC so no Averoigne, no Stephen as an Immortal. Ierendi as the adventurer's holiday isles feels too stupid to use ever. Same for the way the Broken Lands is depicted.

RPGPundit · May 29, 2017, 03:59:48 AM

Mystara is the only TSR setting I have every setting book for. That is to say, all the GAZ series, Dawn of the Emperors, Hollow World, the Hollow World sourcebooks, the Blackmoor setting/adventures, Wrath of the Immortals, the Red Steel/Princess Ark stuff (which is some of the very best stuff in the setting!), and the Wizard Almanacs.

Omega · May 29, 2017, 06:12:52 AM

Red Steel was a pretty odd little setting. I had both boxes. Those came out during TSRs late CD craze so it had that CD with the introductions and some commentary.

Dumarest · May 29, 2017, 11:12:30 AM

Quote from: S'mon;964705It's probably best not to use them all together. They are not 100% compatible and each makes its own realm the Hero of the Story. If your campaign is centred on the Northern Reaches you probably are looking for a Viking type setting and are not interested in having 1000+ MU 36 over to the east in Alphatia, or the cheesy holiday isles of Ierendi. I know in my current Karameikos campaign I tone down Thyatis & Alphatia and I'm not really using Ierendi & Glantri as depicted at all - eg I ran Castle Amber ca 1020 AC so no Averoigne, no Stephen as an Immortal. Ierendi as the adventurer's holiday isles feels too stupid to use ever. Same for the way the Broken Lands is depicted.

Oh, yes, I know what you mean. Honestly there is so much material in all those gazetteers when combined I don't believe anyone could ever really use it all in one campaign even if you were inclined to do so. Karameikos was pretty good but there were only bits and pieces I would actually use as if I play a fantasy game it's more likely to be without elves and hobbits and a lot of the usual D&D fantasy world tropes. Plus I'd likely use The Fantasy Trip rather than any version of D&D due to personal preference.

Christopher Brady · May 29, 2017, 11:22:00 AM

Quote from: Omega;964404It presents an interesting setting thats very different from Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms. And its linked to the Blackmoor setting. The races are NOT unified and though yes they mingle alot, they also are in their own individual kingdoms. Theres also more variety to the setting in terms of cultures and they feel more intigrated into the world than other settings do in some places.

You just described Forgotten Realms and what little I know of Greyhawk... And I'm not being snarky. :confused:

Quote from: Omega;964404Cant say I like some of the elements. But it stands up well next to gold box Greyhawk in presentation via the gazeteers.

My only real complaint with it all is that it makes the setting feel way too crowded and populated. It very much removes the "make of it what you will" aspect of BX's Karameikos.

That was a major flaw I had with it, when I flipped through a friend's copy of Dawn Of The Emperors: Thyatis and Alphatia last week.

RPGPundit · May 30, 2017, 06:27:24 AM

Dawn of the Emperors was good in that it presented two enormous kingdoms as superpower nations of the setting, but otherwise it was not really as interesting as the rest of Mystara.

Willie the Duck · May 30, 2017, 08:38:07 AM

I'm getting a message that DTRPG is not secure. Anyone else have that problem?

crkrueger · May 30, 2017, 09:13:37 AM

I'm getting SSL on DTRPG. RPGnow is defaulting to non-secure, but I get secure when I manually put in https.

RPGPundit · June 02, 2017, 08:19:49 AM

Hadn't they been hacked once? I wonder if it's happened again?

Willie the Duck · June 02, 2017, 09:11:44 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;965978Hadn't they been hacked once? I wonder if it's happened again?

I don't know, and that's why I'm not making a one-time exception to allow content, etc.