I am told that good things come to those that wait...or something and the other...really I am too restless and impatient to listen anymore to these kinds of homespun adages.
Though recently it did ring true. After a year of patient (and disciplined) bidding, I won a sweet and affordable lot of those Ballantine paperback collections of Clark Ashton Smith's work.
Though recently it did ring true. After a year of patient (and disciplined) bidding, I won a sweet and affordable lot of those Ballantine paperback collections of Clark Ashton Smith's work.
Though I had read several of the entries in the Hyperborean cycle (including my favorite, flawed CAS gem “The Seven Geases”) it was pleasure to get a chance to read them all in one sitting. But even more than the stories; the introduction, hand-drawn map, and geographic walk-through by Lin Carter—really someone should have had a tough love intervention with that man to limit him to this kind of editorial core competency—really fired up my imagination.
I instantly wanted to plop that time-forgotten lost-isle straight down into the Hill Cantons. (Since I have had vague allusions to the lost Hyperborean civilization all along not a terrible stretch).
So here's my query of the week to you in the echo chamber: if you had to pick one of his story settings/cycles, which would you base a game setting on and why?
Zothique? Hyperborea? Averoigne? Xiccarph? Something else? (If you are going to cherry-pick from several, you better defend that position, pal.)
I think in the end, i would choose Averoigne.
ReplyDeleteThere exists a magazine devoted to CoC rpg (i can't recall the mane right now), where they are trying to "build" the Averoigne setting.
I defend my position stating that in Averoigne there is witchcraft and sorcery which are very dark in nature, a sense of doom, decadence, strangeness etc.. that makes it unparalleled.
I think the only rulebook you could actually use nowadays to game in Averoigne would be "Cthulhu dark ages".
And, more importantly than anything else, whoever shows capable of writing an RPG based on Clark ashton smith's writing is going to be the new Gary Gygax of the future.period.
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ReplyDelete@Catacomb Librarian:
ReplyDeleteYou're thinking of "Worlds of Cthulhu" published by (and translated into English) by the German company Pegasus Spiele.
Averoigne is a strong contender, not withstanding the fact that the Castle Amber module was the very first time (really my only real window into his work until four years ago) that I had heard of him. (Plus you already have a nifty hex map and encounter guide thanks to the Moldvay treatment.)
ReplyDeleteI think it also has a greater tension by contrasting the real and familiar, historical France in the medieval era, with the dark fantasy edges.
whoever shows capable of writing an RPG based on Clark ashton smith's writing is going to be the new Gary Gygax of the future.period.
ReplyDeleteI believe that is indeed what Geoffrey was going for in his soon-to-out Isle of the Unknown. First part at least.
I like Averoigne a great deal, but, if I had to pick just one, I'd go with Zothique.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'd go with Zothique all the way.
ReplyDeleteThe Dark Country is heavily influenced for Averoigne, and it might be my favorite of his cycles.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I already have the Dark Country for that kind of nonsense. If I just had to lift one and use it it would probably be Zothique.
I definitely would go with Zothique. I love the smell of Liches in the morning! Or, in this case, the late evening of a dying world.
ReplyDeleteAveroigne works if you're looking for that "French werewolf lurking in the woods" ambiance.
http://www.classicrealmsofadventure.com/2011/12/zothique-d20-system-game-guide.html
ReplyDeleteMy vote. Hope it helps :)
My favorite stories of his are in Hyperborea but his best and most influential world is Zothique.
ReplyDeleteSomeday, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea might actually be released. I have a portal to Cykranosh in my current game that no one has yet taken (lucky for them!). I could never choose just one. They're all too much fun, including the space ones.
ReplyDeleteI think Zothique will blend very well with D&D or a retroclone. Averoigne comes a very close second though, using the Call of Cthulhu rules.
ReplyDeleteWhile I've stolen bits of Zothique for my current Yggsburgh/Greyhawk C&C game (Dark Eidolon, imagery for demons), I find Averoigne to be more suitable in general.
ReplyDeleteYondo was Zothique though, wasn't it? My old 3.5 group almost ended up in Carcosa, and I'd been planning on stealing the landscapes from Yondo.
They are all enticing. Right now I'm working on a sandbox setting with elements of Smith's Hyperborea. I have a weakness for sabre-toothed tigers, Voormis, and Tsathoggua.
ReplyDeleteWord verification: Queeladl ... is henceforth an NPC shaman/cultist in the aforementioned setting.
The CAS Thing I've been puttering with off and on is bits and pieces of Hyperborea and Zothique yoinked out, mixed well with a Dying Earth-type setting of my own concoction, which at some point hopefully will be served in convenient picaresque-sized cups.
ReplyDeleteZothique- Its one of the greatest of his worlds. I'm just sayin'
ReplyDelete