A section-by-section review of my new Sword & Caravan campaign guide!
#dnd #ttrpg #osr

The portion of the Silk Road that I like most is the Taklamakan Desert.  So many ancient ruins and anomalies.  The Canals of Yanqi, or the desert ruins south of Aksu look particularly intriguing. 

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on August 06, 2022, 07:16:38 AM
The portion of the Silk Road that I like most is the Taklamakan Desert.  So many ancient ruins and anomalies.  The Canals of Yanqi, or the desert ruins south of Aksu look particularly intriguing.

Yup, it's cool stuff!

I feel the need to pick one of these up soon. The historical fidelity of this appeals to me quite a lot.

Quote from: Cerulean Rex on October 18, 2022, 11:53:58 PM
I feel the need to pick one of these up soon. The historical fidelity of this appeals to me quite a lot.

Glad to hear it! I doubt you'd be disappointed.

I could have sworn this book had a manticore in the monster section but apparently not. Fake memories I guess. I even "remember" the art on the page being the below cropped. 

Quote from: WERDNA on January 29, 2024, 10:14:20 PM
I could have sworn this book had a manticore in the monster section but apparently not. Fake memories I guess. I even "remember" the art on the page being the below cropped. 

Alternate universe? That's pretty wild.

I have some questions/criticisms in regards to the monsters in S&C because I am a nerd for monsters. Since I've had the book since release, I am not sure why I waited so long to make this post, but I did want to some of my own research first.

• I somewhat expected certain monsters like the Manticore (which I expected so hard I imagined it), the Roc/Rukh as mentioned in Middle Eastern texts and by Jordanus, and the goblin/nymph-like Yaksha as nature spirits which were well-attested in Hindu Kashmir. Maybe in future books...
• What even is a Dire Ape? Dire wolves were a thing, but I have not heard of Dire Apes.
• I believe Preta and Arabic Ghuls are not that similar in their authentic lore, but I was unbothered by this since you have the Ghul-e Biyaban in the book.
• Jinn section is very solid. That said some info on the Jinn courts and kings in the otherworld and ranks/variants such as marid, ifrit, div, etc. and some details of how Solomonic Jinn binding works for PC's could be nice in the future. The Arabic sources are surprisingly inaccessible in English.
• Giant ants having a chance to have gold in their anthills as treasure based on Wonders of the East would have been neat and differed from the D&D standard.

The monsters ported over from Arrows of Indra are mostly good, but I take issue with two:

• The Garuda is clearly the more eagle-like sort of the Mahabharata and a good take from that point of view; however, S&C is a medieval game and in this period the bird-man view seems more common in folklore and iconography especially among the Buddhists widely present along the Silk Road. The fact that the enmity between the Garuda and Naga apparently goes unmentioned in the book should be a crime; that's a PC exploitable relationship.
• The Sharabha in S&C and AoI is boring. Here I find a creature described like a griffin, living near to where griffins live in western texts, with a griffin's diet but without the interesting magical uses of the L&D one. The iconography of the Sharabha can get kind of wild and leo-centaurish or be griffin-like, while in the text translations and excerpts I read it seemed more like a wild beast dwelling in mountain forests. However, I found that in these Sanskrit writings the Sharabha is almost always eight-legged and seems more associated with hunting lions and possibly elephants than men and horses (although I am sure it would not turn down the latter two). These things are interesting and distinguish it from its griffin relative so why is not described thusly? This description is even present in the Mahabharata so it is somewhat egregious to merely re-skin a griffin.

I hope I don't sound rude, got a bit passionate toward the end of that last one. Genuinely curious about your process in getting these monster descriptions.

Quote from: WERDNA on April 18, 2024, 12:42:59 PMI have some questions/criticisms in regards to the monsters in S&C because I am a nerd for monsters. Since I've had the book since release, I am not sure why I waited so long to make this post, but I did want to some of my own research first.

• I somewhat expected certain monsters like the Manticore (which I expected so hard I imagined it), the Roc/Rukh as mentioned in Middle Eastern texts and by Jordanus, and the goblin/nymph-like Yaksha as nature spirits which were well-attested in Hindu Kashmir. Maybe in future books...

I couldn't pick every single creature from the various mythologies of the Silk Road. Yakshas are found in Arrows of Indra. I also chose to put in the Garuda in place of the Roc, as the Garuda is probably what the roc derives from.

Quote

• What even is a Dire Ape? Dire wolves were a thing, but I have not heard of Dire Apes.

There are multiple areas of the region where people believed that there were large ape-like beings, even though there were no such apes in biology.

Quote

• I believe Preta and Arabic Ghuls are not that similar in their authentic lore, but I was unbothered by this since you have the Ghul-e Biyaban in the book.
• Jinn section is very solid. That said some info on the Jinn courts and kings in the otherworld and ranks/variants such as marid, ifrit, div, etc. and some details of how Solomonic Jinn binding works for PC's could be nice in the future. The Arabic sources are surprisingly inaccessible in English.

Yes, it is tricky to do that and be sure to be authentic. Also, how much of all that is later speculation.

Quote

• Giant ants having a chance to have gold in their anthills as treasure based on Wonders of the East would have been neat and differed from the D&D standard.

The monsters ported over from Arrows of Indra are mostly good, but I take issue with two:

• The Garuda is clearly the more eagle-like sort of the Mahabharata and a good take from that point of view; however, S&C is a medieval game and in this period the bird-man view seems more common in folklore and iconography especially among the Buddhists widely present along the Silk Road. The fact that the enmity between the Garuda and Naga apparently goes unmentioned in the book should be a crime; that's a PC exploitable relationship.
• The Sharabha in S&C and AoI is boring. Here I find a creature described like a griffin, living near to where griffins live in western texts, with a griffin's diet but without the interesting magical uses of the L&D one. The iconography of the Sharabha can get kind of wild and leo-centaurish or be griffin-like, while in the text translations and excerpts I read it seemed more like a wild beast dwelling in mountain forests. However, I found that in these Sanskrit writings the Sharabha is almost always eight-legged and seems more associated with hunting lions and possibly elephants than men and horses (although I am sure it would not turn down the latter two). These things are interesting and distinguish it from its griffin relative so why is not described thusly? This description is even present in the Mahabharata so it is somewhat egregious to merely re-skin a griffin.

I hope I don't sound rude, got a bit passionate toward the end of that last one. Genuinely curious about your process in getting these monster descriptions.

In retrospect I should have updated a couple of the entries borrowed from AoI to fit the medieval, rather than classical, views of those monsters.

Quote from: RPGPundit on April 18, 2024, 09:45:08 PMI couldn't pick every single creature from the various mythologies of the Silk Road. Yakshas are found in Arrows of Indra. I also chose to put in the Garuda in place of the Roc, as the Garuda is probably what the roc derives from.

Fair enough.
Yeah, I use modified Yaksha (Ghandharva, Kinnara, and Apsara also) stats from AoI. Just not the physical descriptions as is, in folklore there tends to be a great amount of sexual dimorphism with regards to height and I try to have them feel like nature spirits rather than a PC race.

You are of course most likely correct about the Roc-Garuda relationship, but there are many medieval attestations of rocs. The Roc's nature also differs as it would be Neutral with animal intelligence, drop rocks on boats, and its range of habitat larger, ranging from Sind to the various Isles of the Indian Ocean. In retrospect, you probably could have mentioned the roc as a minor variant in the Garuda's description. Like the Lernean and Pyrohydra in AD&D MM1 who only differ from typical Hydrae in regeneration/fire-breath and are under that entry. Maybe worthy of a Medieval-Authentic Bestiary entry since those are from a more western perspective and rocs are in European travelogues; you did both cynocephali and Itbaraks after all.

Quote from: RPGPundit on April 18, 2024, 09:45:08 PMYes, it is tricky to do that and be sure to be authentic. Also, how much of all that is later speculation.

I am assuming by "that" you mean the Jinn magic and society not the Ghul/Preta stuff. I had some notes on that topic; I'll see if I can find them and post more later. But I do recall that Shams al-Ma'arif is supposed to have information on Jinn summoning and Jinn in general, but I know no Arabic. Kitab al-Bulhan should record the Seven Jinn Kings (mentioned in western sources such as Heptameron and Liber Juratus as Kings of Air iirc) and some other Jinn lore. These two, at least, are medieval sources.

Quote from: RPGPundit on April 18, 2024, 09:45:08 PMIn retrospect I should have updated a couple of the entries borrowed from AoI to fit the medieval, rather than classical, views of those monsters.

Maybe one day in an S&C omnibus or large Medieval-Authentic Monster Manual.