Misc SW material

[Hurin]

That is a super cool project! Those images are quite high quality.

[thrud]

https://www.rolemasterblog.com/discussion-evil-and-the-anti-essaence-in-shadow-world/

Sorry for necro posting, but Unlife/anti-essæence is a pet peeve of mine. TKA published ideas/suggestions about hybrid spell casters were unsuitable for shadow world. This becomes extra perplexing when in a different place published that spell spell casters defacto becoming hybrids when they tap into the Unlife.
All Evil spell lists are to be treated as unlife, the dark gods unwittingly channeling unlife etc. And here's something that really can bake your noodles, try explaining evil mentalism. And if you effectively become an evil hybrid when learning some unlife spell lists, how do you justify there being any separation between the realms when using unlife powered magic?

In RMU there is no such thing as learning magic cross realm, and even though I love the unlife concept, it is a bit of a mess.

[MisterK]

All Evil spell lists are to be treated as unlife, the dark gods unwittingly channeling unlife etc. And here's something that really can bake your noodles, try explaining evil mentalism. And if you effectively become an evil hybrid when learning some unlife spell lists, how do you justify there being any separation between the realms when using unlife powered magic?

I never considered evil spell lists to be treated as Unlife, TBH. And the Dark Gods do not channel the Unlife as far as I'm concerned. They can be corrupted by it, and some of them would certainly be more prone to be so than others, but the Dark Gods by nature are similar to the Lords of Orhan and channel the same kind of power, only in a different hue.

Evil spell lists are like evil hues of auras - they are part of the Essaence. As are some demons (the Essaence Demons). The Demons of the Void are not of the Essaence, but neither are they of the Unlife (and neither are the Agothu). Psionics are neither Essaence nor Unlife either.

There is more than one axis of power for the supernatural, and more than two poles.

The Unlife is opposite to all of them. Evil casters can be corrupted by the Unlife (and are probably more prone to do so because they tend to believe that the end justify the means), but they are not 'of the Unlife' to begin with.

I would consider people being tainted by the Unlife (but not completely consumed) to be dual casters, with the caveat that their capability to manipulate the Essaence decreases as their capability to call the Unlife grows - in a way, the Unlife takes a part of their being and replaces it with a nothingness that is used to call it. The bigger the nothingness, the greater the capability to call the Unlife, but the less 'being' is left. People fully consumed by the Unlife would not be able to cast any normal spell, and would only have access to Unlife powers.

I agree that having Unlife powers in the form of spell lists is underwhelming and kind of undermines the whole concept. It would probably have been better to have a different mechanism to get those powers and a different way of manifesting them.

[kmanktelow]

I would consider people being tainted by the Unlife (but not completely consumed) to be dual casters, with the caveat that their capability to manipulate the Essaence decreases as their capability to call the Unlife grows - in a way, the Unlife takes a part of their being and replaces it with a nothingness that is used to call it. The bigger the nothingness, the greater the capability to call the Unlife, but the less 'being' is left. People fully consumed by the Unlife would not be able to cast any normal spell, and would only have access to Unlife powers.

Sorry, but isn't that basically the rules for learning Unlife/Evil spell lists from the Shadow World books anyway? ;-)

[MisterK]

I would consider people being tainted by the Unlife (but not completely consumed) to be dual casters, with the caveat that their capability to manipulate the Essaence decreases as their capability to call the Unlife grows - in a way, the Unlife takes a part of their being and replaces it with a nothingness that is used to call it. The bigger the nothingness, the greater the capability to call the Unlife, but the less 'being' is left. People fully consumed by the Unlife would not be able to cast any normal spell, and would only have access to Unlife powers.

Sorry, but isn't that basically the rules for learning Unlife/Evil spell lists from the Shadow World books anyway? ;-)

I do think the dual casting thing is a Shadow World rule. The fact that opening oneself to the Unlife actually *consumes* part of you, including all development, I don't remember reading in the SW books (but maybe I just forgot). The Unlife feeds on everything, including memories. Evil lists don't consume anything, you're just an a**hole, and being an a**hole 1) gives more power and 2) exposes you to the risk of being out-a**holed by someone or something else. Just like the real world, really
When you think about it, there's not a world of difference between, say, the sorcerer destruction lists and some of the Evil Essence lists. They come from the same source - the intent is different, but the intent is in the caster, not in the magic.

Whereas Unlife is radically different and alien. It's more alien than the Void, more alien than the Agothu. And yet, it resonates within everything and everyone that lives, like a beautiful, soothing dirge. Like a whisper that says your life of pain and suffering, your life of anger and frustration, can end. Nihility is a powerful attraction.
My problem with Unlife as depicted in the rules is that, technically, it's just an OP set of lists. Same structure, same logic, same parameters and seemingly same limitations. It doesn't match the Unlife that is depicted in the flavour text and, frankly, does it a disservice.

I think Unlife powers should not be based on level, but should be based on how much you've sacrificed to it - how *hollow* you are. Spell lists are just baubles to attract those who seek power, but the real Unlife powers should be radically different in nature, mechanics, and effects. All based on annihilation - annihilation of emotions, annihilation of pain, annihilation of movement, annihilation of energy, annihilation of life, annihilation of matter. By letting the Unlife devours you, you forget what makes you a living being, what makes you real, and you can be a conduit for the Unlife to affect the surrounding world. But it's never *your* power - it's only how much room there is inside yourself for the Unlife to enter the world and consume it.

And in that way, 'using' the Unlife is truly Channeling - you open yourself to the Unlife. It merely asks for its pound of flesh in the process, but you don't feel it - of course you don't feel it, that was the point all along.

This way, true minions of the Unlife become more than sadistic bullies. They truly are the faithful, the devout, those who sacrifice of themselves to bring the world to an end and, at last, to eternal peace.

In other words, I think there is far too much "evil" in the Unlife as technically defined in Shadow World, and not enough nihilism. And the powers reflect that.

[thrud]

Yeah, I really like unlife as a concept, but ruleswise it's a huge mess. It's all over the place and full of contradictions. So, if Shadow World is ever going to get officially on-boarded for RMU, this is one mess that is in need of some serious untangling. Whipping up a list of updated stats might be time consuming, but it's still simple mechanical work. Wrangling one of the core concepts into submission is a different matter.

[B Hanson]

I'm trying to get through my "to do" list and this has been languishing for too long. The "Book of Herbs" is an illustrated flora for Shadow World herbs (page 61 Master Atlas). I wanted to emulate the look and feel of the original ICE parchment editions and a touch of the Voynich manuscript, and make it easy to hand a page to a player to add to their character sheet. I know some people aren't a fan of the parchment background or script font due to readability. (I can convert it to Times New Roman).

This does not include poisons or antidotes, which will be in a different volume and I have 100 new Herb names generated I'll do a supplement for in the near future.

[jdale]

Nice. Hands of the Healer had some similar information but of course is lost. I don't think any edition of RM has had it, which seems a shame.

[B Hanson]

never seen Hands of the Healer...I'll try and find it. Was is Shadow World or RM generic? Never mind, see that it's MERP, but does have almost 300 herbs so that's cool.

[jdale]

Yep. https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Hands_of_the_Healer   Last MERP product published.

[B Hanson]

Here is a version without the parchment background.

[Micael]

Here is a version without the parchment background.

Very cool material Are all of these from Shadowworld or Rolemaster products and can be found in ERA or most/all of them new?
Thanks
Micael

[Micael]

Yep. https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Hands_of_the_Healer   Last MERP product published.

Thanks for that tip - there are nice maneuver tables and rules for RMSS in it - diagnostics, first aid, surgery, apothecary, midwifery, healing meditation, healing songs, possession, herb preparation,  healer finding, different healing procedures for races (songs for elfes, crystals for dwarfes, tomes for haflings) new professions like embalmers, runecasters, undead creating rituals, holy water healing, healing trough spirit possession, ritual healing, healing tomes, hobbit herbalist, blood and rage healing, a few mystic healing locations, mud bad healing, Sleep/Dream healing and hundreds of healing herbs...
I will keep that one in mind... very cool stuff.. especially for fluff NPC healing... and there are NPCs from Middleearth on Kulthea like the Dreamlords...
Thanks
Micael

[MisterK]

Here is a version without the parchment background.

Very cool material Are all of these from Shadowworld or Rolemaster products and can be found in ERA or most/all of them new?
Thanks
Micael

HotH is a MERP product. ICE reused some source material from other product lines in it, but HotH is very Middle-Earth centric and certainly not Shadow World canon.

On the other hand, you can use the herbs and most of the content without issue. You still have to keep an eye out for myth discrepancies - SW ancient past and ME creation myth are completely different and this bleeds off into implementation sometimes.

[Micael]

Here is a version without the parchment background.

Very cool material Are all of these from Shadowworld or Rolemaster products and can be found in ERA or most/all of them new?
Thanks
Micael

HotH is a MERP product. ICE reused some source material from other product lines in it, but HotH is very Middle-Earth centric and certainly not Shadow World canon.

On the other hand, you can use the herbs and most of the content without issue. You still have to keep an eye out for myth discrepancies - SW ancient past and  ME creation myth are completely different and this bleeds off into implementation sometimes.

Yeah, I know - my question was regarding the Book of herbs... - if this is shadowworld contend or partly/fully inside of ERA?
Thanks
Micael

[B Hanson]

Book of Herbs is all of the herbs (but not poisons or antidotes) found in the Master Atlas 3rd Ed.

[Micael]

Thank you very much,

very late, but hopefully you will like it- not meant for players because of spoilers but for everyone else:
The Priest-King of Shade (module by Brian D. Hanson, proofread by Matt Hanson) – I can't thank these guys enough for all the content and entertainment they've brought to Shadow World over the decades. This epic adventure module is, in my opinion, one of the very best. So here´s a podcast review for all of you interested: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cvhDli2VSMSkNyRGeB5d-_0Xx-fzTgGu/view?usp=drive_link
Have fun
Micael

[B Hanson]

Just want to confirm everyone's expectations. I will put out material as I have time, podcasts when I get time and other material TBD. Where my submitted material is...it's there mostly.
As I said, I'm 55, and time is passing  and I'm exploring!

[Malim]

All you do for SW and this forum is awesome!
When a post here pops up, I allways get exited!
Happy new year!

[katastrophe]

In the Priest King module (excellent by the way and i'd love to see more of those), are the NPC data sheets for OB inclusive of the preferred weapon or is that base without the weapon bonus included ie does Telan's 210wh OB include the +25 for the magic one?