Blood Magic is out. (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=99583) And it's actually titled "Arcania of Legend: Blood Magic".
I don't know what the fuck an "Arcania" is supposed to be (maybe they meant Arcana, without the "i"? I don't think so, but this is Mongoose), but according to Matt (here (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=99583)), having "Legend" in the title means it's covered by the Legend OGL.
On a more general note, it's Pete Nash's last Mongoose book (which he wrote and delivered before leaving, IIRC, over a year ago), and I'm really curious as to what Mongoose's planning for the line. Pete and Loz are working on RQ6 themselves, and I'm looking forward to that, but I spent the $1 on the PDF and was quite surprised by the Legend core book; looks like a Mongoose didn't do a half bad job of it.
I'd like to know too. With it I might be able to run a Birthright game.
Gonna dload this bad boy soon as I get home, been waiting for this ever since I heard from Pete what it was about last year.
Crypts and Things (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=99577) in there too, so is Mandate Archive: Transhuman Tech (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=94471). DriveThruRPG delivers the goods.
Quote from: CRKrueger;515710Gonna dload this bad boy soon as I get home, been waiting for this ever since I heard from Pete what it was about last year.
Let us know what you think. The DTRPG review is a bit barebones, but it does suggest that there's some good stuff there.
Quote from: CRKrueger;515710Mandate Archive: Transhuman Tech (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=94471). DriveThruRPG delivers the goods.
I'll be jacking my own thread here, but this has definitely piqued my interest. If Pseudo converted Dark Heresy to SWN, I might try the same with Eclipse Phase, a game whose premise and setting fascinate me, but the system seems to be one of those easy-to-run-except-chargen-sucks deals (like GURPS and Palladium). And I've been looking for an excuse to run SWN for some time now... now if only I could get the expanded Mongoose edition with the same cover as the free PDF. ;)
Quote from: The Butcher;515725Pseudo converted Dark Heresy to SWN
Jesus, looking at his blog he's on fire this month.
I pre-ordered the print book, but of course Mongoose is too fucking cheap (or greedy) to include a pdf with a print order like 90% of the rest of the RPG world. SO glad Pete and Loz have RQ now, as I'm sure they will have a more than enough sense to bundle a pdf wth a print order. So, I get to wait for who the fuck knows how much longer in order to see this book. If it hadn't been Pete that wrote it, and didn't sound so much like it would be ideal for runing Birthright with RQ, I would have passed on it. Just hope it's worth the annoyance of dealing with greedy-ass Mongoose.
Quote from: Sigmund;515732I pre-ordered the print book, but of course Mongoose is too fucking cheap (or greedy) to include a pdf with a print order like 90% of the rest of the RPG world. SO glad Pete and Loz have RQ now, as I'm sure they will have a more than enough sense to bundle a pdf wth a print order. So, I get to wait for who the fuck knows how much longer in order to see this book. If it hadn't been Pete that wrote it, and didn't sound so much like it would be ideal for runing Birthright with RQ, I would have passed on it. Just hope it's worth the annoyance of dealing with greedy-ass Mongoose.
Well since I haven't received a courtesy copy I am unsure what exactly has been changed, except that (from the preview) it looks like they cut out my fully expanded Spirit Magic chapter and then failed to remove all references to it, yet included a credit for something that no longer exists...
But apart from that, the rest of the previewed intro text seems intact. I'll have to wait to hear if it some of the other quotes or alternative rules have been censored or not.
Not really any rules for Bloodlines in here other then...
1.) Certain sacrifices are tied to a bloodline (so this summoning rite requires the blood of the Royal House of Charybdis, etc...)
2.) A couple spells that can Dominate a bloodline.
I got the impression, Pete, that there was more to "Bloodline Magic" planned in the original manuscript, is that the case?
Quote from: CRKrueger;515770Not really any rules for Bloodlines in here other then...
1.) Certain sacrifices are tied to a bloodline (so this summoning rite requires the blood of the Royal House of Charybdis, etc...)
2.) A couple spells that can Dominate a bloodline.
I got the impression, Pete, that there was more to "Bloodline Magic" planned in the original manuscript, is that the case?
I thought I had included a section called Inheritance or something, which gave a framework for setting up Bloodline magic. Was it cut too?
Looks like it was cut, the sections are:
Blood and Sacrifice (Historical introduction and types of sacrificial practices)
Blood Miracles (Divine Magic)
Blood Sorcery (Lots of cool S&S stuff in here)
New Magic Skills (Concert, Enchantment, Summoning & Demon generation)
Bloody Campaigns (Tips on using this in various styles of game)
No Spirit Magic additions.
No Inheritance section with Bloodline-derived abilties or powers, sorry.
So the guys that wanted this specifically for Birthright, you're out of luck.
Well worth the price though, practically indispensable for Legend Conan. Now all I need is Runequest 6 in hand. :D
Quote from: CRKrueger;515773Looks like it was cut, the sections are:
Blood and Sacrifice (Historical introduction and types of sacrificial practices)
Blood Miracles (Divine Magic)
Blood Sorcery (Lots of cool S&S stuff in here)
New Magic Skills (Concert, Enchantment, Summoning & Demon generation)
Bloody Campaigns (Tips on using this in various styles of game)
No Spirit Magic additions.
No Inheritance section with Bloodline-derived abilties or powers, sorry.
Looks like its been more heavily gutted than I thought, since as well as Spirit Magic its also missing:
• Assimilation – The consumption of the flesh of other creatures to gain their powers.
• Headhunting – The taking of enemy's heads to enslave their spirits within.
• Inheritance – The gaining of powers via bloodline and birthright.
• Totemism – The development of a mystical bond of brotherhood with an animal species.
• Soul Sucking – The stealing of life-force by thaumaturgists, supernatural beings or undead creatures to empower their own magical abilities.
Pity.
Quote from: Pete Nash;515764Well since I haven't received a courtesy copy I am unsure what exactly has been changed, except that (from the preview) it looks like they cut out my fully expanded Spirit Magic chapter and then failed to remove all references to it, yet included a credit for something that no longer exists...
Fucking Mongoose.
I love Traveller and I love Legend (though RQ6 may substitute the latter), but really.
Did your Spirit Magic chapter become the free Spirit Magic PDF?
Quote from: Pete Nash;515775Looks like its been more heavily gutted than I thought, since as well as Spirit Magic its also missing:
• Assimilation – The consumption of the flesh of other creatures to gain their powers.
• Headhunting – The taking of enemy’s heads to enslave their spirits within.
• Inheritance – The gaining of powers via bloodline and birthright.
• Totemism – The development of a mystical bond of brotherhood with an animal species.
• Soul Sucking – The stealing of life-force by thaumaturgists, supernatural beings or undead creatures to empower their own magical abilities.
Pity.
Wouldn't be surprised if they turned up in a later supplement. "Soul Magic" or something?
Cool. I have a credit for doing no work. Admittedly I bought it anyway. It is pretty heavily gutted. What's there is is nice and lots of really nice colour too. And actually, the artwork is surprisingly good and makes surprisingly good use of S&S stylistics - lots of bound virgins and so on. Flavour-wise, I loved the account of the real world cannibal feast; that kind of thing would make most players queasy and they would never look at plantain leaves the same way again.
Crunch wise, fairly slight. It's only about 100 pages digest size and a lot of that is evocative colour and a light reskinning of the core rules. E.g. Pact is renamed Piety.
The spirit magic PDF is a mix of two things:
the spirit magic chapter from RQII and the first part of a 2-part article in Signs & Portents.
IIRC Blood Magic was going to expand the original Spirit Magic chapter from RQII drawing in part from the S&P article but it didn't make it past whatever mysterious processes happen in the bowels of Mongoose towers.
Quote from: Pete Nash;515764Well since I haven't received a courtesy copy I am unsure what exactly has been changed, except that (from the preview) it looks like they cut out my fully expanded Spirit Magic chapter and then failed to remove all references to it, yet included a credit for something that no longer exists...
But apart from that, the rest of the previewed intro text seems intact. I'll have to wait to hear if it some of the other quotes or alternative rules have been censored or not.
Shit man, you haven't even gotten a copy yet and the thing's out for sale? That's pretty bad. If it wasn't your name on it I probably would not have pulled the trigger on it. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what you've done with this, and I seriously hope Mongoose didn't fuck it up. Otherwise, I'll be waiting for you to write a version for ya'all's company and would definitely buy it in a heartbeat (hint hint ;D ).
Quote from: crkrueger;515773looks like it was cut, the sections are:
Blood and sacrifice (historical introduction and types of sacrificial practices)
blood miracles (divine magic)
blood sorcery (lots of cool s&s stuff in here)
new magic skills (concert, enchantment, summoning & demon generation)
bloody campaigns (tips on using this in various styles of game)
no spirit magic additions.
No inheritance section with bloodline-derived abilties or powers, sorry.
So the guys that wanted this specifically for birthright, you're out of luck.
Well worth the price though, practically indispensable for legend conan. Now all i need is runequest 6 in hand. :d
bastards!
Quote from: Pete Nash;515775Looks like its been more heavily gutted than I thought, since as well as Spirit Magic its also missing:
• Assimilation – The consumption of the flesh of other creatures to gain their powers.
• Headhunting – The taking of enemy's heads to enslave their spirits within.
• Inheritance – The gaining of powers via bloodline and birthright.
• Totemism – The development of a mystical bond of brotherhood with an animal species.
• Soul Sucking – The stealing of life-force by thaumaturgists, supernatural beings or undead creatures to empower their own magical abilities.
Pity.
I was half kidding before, but any chance of you guys releasing a book of this nature? I have been holding off on working on my own Birthright/RQ conversion since you first announced this book because I know your Inheritance rules are going to be better than what I could come up with on my own, and now they've cut them. What a waste of $20. Count me as very disappointed.
Mongoose does it again...crappy graphic design (the Legend line covers look like the menu of a 1980s restaurant with pretensions), and bad editing. I've given up on giving them any money again, but it's still painful when they are handed good material by their writers and proceed to butcher it.
Quote from: The_Shadow;515807Mongoose does it again...crappy graphic design (the Legend line covers look like the menu of a 1980s restaurant with pretensions), and bad editing. I've given up on giving them any money again, but it's still painful when they are handed good material by their writers and proceed to butcher it.
I obviously cannot comment on art or the editing in general, but whilst a significant part of the book has been axed, the remaining material has been well received by the fan base. So it might still be worth while purchasing the book, especially those wishing to run S&S campaigns.
Quote from: CRKrueger;515773Looks like it was cut, the sections are:
Blood and Sacrifice (Historical introduction and types of sacrificial practices)
Blood Miracles (Divine Magic)
Blood Sorcery (Lots of cool S&S stuff in here)
New Magic Skills (Concert, Enchantment, Summoning & Demon generation)
Bloody Campaigns (Tips on using this in various styles of game)
No Spirit Magic additions.
No Inheritance section with Bloodline-derived abilties or powers, sorry.
So the guys that wanted this specifically for Birthright, you're out of luck.
Well worth the price though, practically indispensable for Legend Conan. Now all I need is Runequest 6 in hand. :D
I actually like what I see. And it
is Pete's writing, maimed as though it may be, so I might just pick this up.
What's the demon summoning stuff like? Is it a reprint of the Elric stuff, or a spell-based system you can fold into a cult, or something else entirely?
If they were going to cut a goodly part of Pete's stuff, they might as well have folded the less sucky parts of the Necromancy book with it; it would make sense, thematically speaking, in a Teh Ebul Wizards of Legend sort of way.
Quote from: The_Shadow;515807Mongoose does it again...crappy graphic design (the Legend line covers look like the menu of a 1980s restaurant with pretensions), and bad editing. I've given up on giving them any money again, but it's still painful when they are handed good material by their writers and proceed to butcher it.
They had a different cover planned originally (http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/l/e/legend_cover.jpg), but changed it to the black-and-silver thingie after some weird outrage on the forums, that it looked "like an MMO" or something.
I have this weird love-hate relationship with Mongoose. Between Traveller and Runequest/Legend, they're putting out stuff for two classic games that I've only recently discovered, and which have been really growing on me for the past year or two. But I really, really wished they'd get their act together with regards to editing.
Shit, it's like being a Palladium customer all over again.
Also, letting go of Loz and Pete? Not a good idea. I'll be quite surprised if RQ6 isn't essentially MRQ2/Legend with decent editing (and art, but that's a nitpick), which sadly might be the death knell for Legend.
Double post, my bad. Mods, feel free to delete.
Quote from: Sigmund;515803I was half kidding before, but any chance of you guys releasing a book of this nature? I have been holding off on working on my own Birthright/RQ conversion since you first announced this book because I know your Inheritance rules are going to be better than what I could come up with on my own, and now they've cut them. What a waste of $20. Count me as very disappointed.
Not for the foreseeable future I'm afraid. Loz and I first need to concentrate on setting material and adventures in order to support RQ6 after its launched. After which our current book schedule is pretty full for the next couple of years...
Quote from: Pete Nash;515828Not for the foreseeable future I'm afraid. Loz and I first need to concentrate on setting material and adventures in order to support RQ6 after its launched. After which our current book schedule is pretty full for the next couple of years...
Bummer. Looks like I'm going to have to go ahead and make my own BR blood magic conversion after all :( Ah well.
Edit: BTW Pete, any tips or rough guidance on putting together my own inheritance type magic rules for RQ that I could use for converting BR would be greatly appreciated. I wouldn't expect you to give what you had written away, but if you have any guidance on how I might approach making it for myself Id be very grateful, I'm not that experienced at making conversions as I've been mostly a player for the last 30 years :D
Quote from: Pete Nash;515828Loz and I first need to concentrate on setting material and adventures in order to support RQ6 after its launched.
I know it's too early to ask, after all the core book hasn't been released yet, but could you tell us anything about your plans for RQ6?
Quote from: Claudius;515834I know it's too early to ask, after all the core book hasn't been released yet, but could you tell us anything about your plans for RQ6?
Monster Island and Book of Quests will be the follow-up releases. Monster Island is intended to be a mixture of bestiary, campaign setting and GM guide/resource. Think along the lines of Griffin Island and you'll be hitting the mark.
Book of Quests will be a series of loosely-linked S&S scenarios that can be easily strung together to form a complete campaign or played as one-offs. I'll be co-ordinating this project, developing background and writing one of the scenarios, but otherwise we'll be soliciting external contributions.
Pete's handling Monster Island.
After these, we have plans for historical works: Mythic Greece (Pete), Mythic Briton (me) and Mythic Constantinople (Michael O'Brien). We also have plans for a Sword and Sorcery/Dying Earth setting book and are working towards a licensed property
that we absolutely won't discuss with anyone at this stage of things. So don't ask... :)
In other words, Lots.
I didn't expect you to say anything at all :D, I asked because, what the hell! Thank you for the info!
I was originally looking forward to Blood Magic, but now not so much after reading some of the earlier comments on this thread.
I haven't picked up any Legend books yet. I was originally planning on picking up the first three core books at a local gaming store later this week. But now I'm not so sure.
In regard to Legend in general, I'm now going to be taking a "wait and see" approach instead.
So far many of the upcoming Legend releases, look sorta lackluster at this point. The Legend stuff mentioned in "State of the Mongoose 2011" isn't particularly impressive sounding either, other than maybe the Eternal Champion titles (if they ever get around to releasing them this year).
If they don't have any interesting releases later this year, I may just forgo Legend altogether.
The list of stuff might only be half of Pete's original manuscript, but it's still Pete's stuff. Pretty much mandatory for BRP-style S&S magic.
Quote from: Loz;515836Monster Island and Book of Quests will be the follow-up releases. Monster Island is intended to be a mixture of bestiary, campaign setting and GM guide/resource. Think along the lines of Griffin Island and you'll be hitting the mark.
Book of Quests will be a series of loosely-linked S&S scenarios that can be easily strung together to form a complete campaign or played as one-offs. I'll be co-ordinating this project, developing background and writing one of the scenarios, but otherwise we'll be soliciting external contributions.
Pete's handling Monster Island.
After these, we have plans for historical works: Mythic Greece (Pete), Mythic Briton (me) and Mythic Constantinople (Michael O'Brien). We also have plans for a Sword and Sorcery/Dying Earth setting book and are working towards a licensed property that we absolutely won't discuss with anyone at this stage of things. So don't ask... :)
In other words, Lots.
Cool ... and the gang. :cool:
Any info yet on the S&S/Dying Earth setting? Something along the lines of CAS's Zothique would be brilliant.
In fairness, the fact there's stuff missing from Pete's original draft (good/interesting as that stuff is) is not really relevant to whether the book as published is a worthwhile purchase. Other than the fact that the book is a little thin at 100 digest size pages. What's there is great, and the layout/art shows general improvement. You have Enchanting Rules (better than in Arms of Legend IMHO), Summoning rules and Concert (group effort) spell casting on top of the bloody stuff. So its a really useful package.
I'm mostly bothered by the fact it is called Arcania (rather than the more proper, in my view 'Arcana' of Legend. Urban Dictionary defines Arcania as:
A mysterious place where 'people' only have bizarre kinky sex.
I think they need to fix their blurb--it still says it has inheritance magic. I too am really bummed it doesn't have it, and will have to do my own work up which is annoying since we've been expecting a book advertised to have it already.
Ah well, less money to Mongoose I guess...
Well if they plan other books in the line im guessingthe rest of your manuscript may end up in those in some form or other pete, i'd be abit miffed that they didnt send you a comp copy but it's possible they forgot or its in the mail(its currently only in pdf and not due on retail sale for another month or so).
Kinda annoying they have inaccurate info on drivethru about its contents though.
Quote from: Loz;515836Monster Island and Book of Quests will be the follow-up releases. Monster Island is intended to be a mixture of bestiary, campaign setting and GM guide/resource. Think along the lines of Griffin Island and you'll be hitting the mark.
Book of Quests will be a series of loosely-linked S&S scenarios that can be easily strung together to form a complete campaign or played as one-offs. I'll be co-ordinating this project, developing background and writing one of the scenarios, but otherwise we'll be soliciting external contributions.
Pete's handling Monster Island.
After these, we have plans for historical works: Mythic Greece (Pete), Mythic Briton (me) and Mythic Constantinople (Michael O'Brien). We also have plans for a Sword and Sorcery/Dying Earth setting book and are working towards a licensed property that we absolutely won't discuss with anyone at this stage of things. So don't ask... :)
In other words, Lots.
Very much looking forward to Monster island, sounds damn cool.
Quote from: Iron Simulacrum;515963In fairness, the fact there's stuff missing from Pete's original draft (good/interesting as that stuff is) is not really relevant to whether the book as published is a worthwhile purchase. Other than the fact that the book is a little thin at 100 digest size pages. What's there is great, and the layout/art shows general improvement. You have Enchanting Rules (better than in Arms of Legend IMHO), Summoning rules and Concert (group effort) spell casting on top of the bloody stuff. So its a really useful package.
I'm mostly bothered by the fact it is called Arcania (rather than the more proper, in my view 'Arcana' of Legend. Urban Dictionary defines Arcania as:
A mysterious place where 'people' only have bizarre kinky sex.
Ack, that is odd. Otherwise, you are right IS. I'm sure I'll like the book once all is said and done. I have only been upset because I bought the book specifically for the Inheritance rules in order to convert Birthright to MRQII/Legend. It'll work out I'm sure, just some disappointment on my part is all. that and my annoyance at Mongoose's policy of not bundling a pdf with a print purchase, which is pretty cheap IMO. Many other companies manage to do it with little apparent ill effect. I'll get over that too, however :D
Quote from: Silverlion;515970I think they need to fix their blurb--it still says it has inheritance magic. I too am really bummed it doesn't have it, and will have to do my own work up which is annoying since we've been expecting a book advertised to have it already.
Ah well, less money to Mongoose I guess...
Another good point Tim.
Quote from: Iron Simulacrum;515963In fairness, the fact there's stuff missing from Pete's original draft (good/interesting as that stuff is) is not really relevant to whether the book as published is a worthwhile purchase. Other than the fact that the book is a little thin at 100 digest size pages.
I want to get it, but $12 for digest-size 100 pages in PDF doesn't look good to me. I'm already loathe to part with more than $10 for a PDF in any case.
Quote from: Iron Simulacrum;515963What's there is great, and the layout/art shows general improvement. You have Enchanting Rules (better than in Arms of Legend IMHO), Summoning rules and Concert (group effort) spell casting on top of the bloody stuff. So its a really useful package.
What do the Summoning rules look like? Are they spells that you get to fold into a cult? A reprint of the Elric system? Or something else entirely?
Quote from: Iron Simulacrum;515963I'm mostly bothered by the fact it is called Arcania (rather than the more proper, in my view 'Arcana' of Legend.
Same here, see my original post...
Quote from: Iron Simulacrum;515963Urban Dictionary defines Arcania as:
A mysterious place where 'people' only have bizarre kinky sex.
:eek:
Quote from: The Butcher;516022What do the Summoning rules look like? Are they spells that you get to fold into a cult? A reprint of the Elric system? Or something else entirely?
I'm not really across the Elric stuff - its a points buy to build the demon based on Magic Points expended in the summoning ritual. Hence the fit with Blood Magic, which gives you the opportunity to massively inflate the MPs used if you shed enough blood in the process - tho if you use plenty of stored/tapped MPs in your setting that's equally useful.
It's a bit like the CM system - you can use the tables to decide/narrate the process and outcome of the summons a bit, rather than simply determine whether you successfully summoned up a specific demon type with one skill roll.
The tables are equally fun/useful if you want to use them to build a fixed bestiary of demon types.
I haven't worked out how I would use these rules in my Age of Treason setting yet, but the rules on cannibalism and human sacrifice are a godsend as it saves me a lot of legwork in putting in the Legend mechanics for stuff I have said is there as the standard approach to magic in certain cultures but have not yet described in detail (that's for a future supplement).
The other thing about this book - there's a lot of Pete's GM advice in it - which is good
Quote from: Iron Simulacrum;516192I'm not really across the Elric stuff - its a points buy to build the demon based on Magic Points expended in the summoning ritual. Hence the fit with Blood Magic, which gives you the opportunity to massively inflate the MPs used if you shed enough blood in the process - tho if you use plenty of stored/tapped MPs in your setting that's equally useful.
It's a bit like the CM system - you can use the tables to decide/narrate the process and outcome of the summons a bit, rather than simply determine whether you successfully summoned up a specific demon type with one skill roll.
The tables are equally fun/useful if you want to use them to build a fixed bestiary of demon types.
It does look a lot like the Elric system.
How do they tie it to cults? Does it get somehow folded into divine magic or sorcery?
Quote from: Iron Simulacrum;516192I haven't worked out how I would use these rules in my Age of Treason setting yet, but the rules on cannibalism and human sacrifice are a godsend as it saves me a lot of legwork in putting in the Legend mechanics for stuff I have said is there as the standard approach to magic in certain cultures but have not yet described in detail (that's for a future supplement).
The other thing about this book - there's a lot of Pete's GM advice in it - which is good
Now these feel like better reasons to buy the book.
If the print version is out by the first week of May, I hope to get the opportunity to browse it when I'm in England.