Topic: Xa-ar

[munchy]

And on the other hand, we still talk of Hurin and a book about him has just been published. Well, all right, it is definitely better to live than to have the bards sing about you but still, a book about him!! Not bad!

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

Much sooner than that.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

That's almost evil. Knowing stuff, hinting at stuff but not telling things. Any further clues?

It means that Part I has been edited and various queries sent back to Terry, who has resolved all of them. Part 2 has now been edited in paper - assuming no crises tonight, I'll make the edits in the electronic version and send Terry his next batch of queries. That then leaves Part 3 still to be done.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

[Terry K. Amthor]

Just a little update (and I want to see if I still have my signature, after the warning that mine was too long).

All the text has been edited; Nicholas is working on the stat conversions and I am doing some Bryce pictures and the layout (and adding a few bits here and there, particularly some goodies for the GM to give to the players; the kind of stuff I particularly loved back in the old days of the Pete campaigns--though I could never match his poetic obscurity)

[munchy]

That really sounds like good progress, hope it will be out soon.
A question, however: does the involvment of Nicholas and his mentioning of the product mean it is going to be a Guild Companion product or did I mix that up?

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

The Land of Xa-ar will be published through the Guild Companion's commercial arm, Guild Companion Publications. It will be available as a pdf product through our store on the ICE website and at the other usual ecommerce sites.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

[munchy]

All right, excellent. Now, get back to work you two, want to read that thing.

[fac]

When it will be released?

I really miss an schedule of releases we can expect for Shadow World, in the past there were a few, and I'd like to see a sort of comment or list from Terry with the order of releases, I'd like to see the following (in this order):

- Emer III
- Artifacts
- Emer IV
- Urulan

Thanks!

[egdcltd]

When it will be released?

I really miss an schedule of releases we can expect for Shadow World, in the past there were a few, and I'd like to see a sort of comment or list from Terry with the order of releases, I'd like to see the following (in this order):

- Emer III
- Artifacts
- Emer IV
- Urulan

Thanks!

Then, in the second half of this year...

[NicholasHMCaldwell]

When it will be released?

I'm a third through the stat conversion first pass - skill renamings and values, 2nd pass sorts out spell lists and PP multipliers.

I really miss an schedule of releases we can expect for Shadow World, in the past there were a few, and I'd like to see a sort of comment or list from Terry with the order of releases, I'd like to see the following (in this order):

- Emer III
- Artifacts
- Emer IV
- Urulan

Thanks!

I doubt if Terry will feel up to committing to four books, let alone in any particular sequence. Please be realistic with your expectations - Terry has a day job and I'm sure he'd like to have a life outside of writing.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

[Terry K. Amthor]

I doubt if Terry will feel up to committing to four books, let alone in any particular sequence. Please be realistic with your expectations - Terry has a day job and I'm sure he'd like to have a life outside of writing.

Best wishes,
Nicholas

A life?! Me? Pft. Though teaching spin classes (4x a week now) does seem to put a dent in my time.

I have to say that I'd love to go back and finish Emer. Even if 3 & 4 got combined into one book... just doing the map would be daunting though; I'd prefer to with the nice watercolor look I used in Emer 2

[fac]

I know Terry has a job plus the spin classes, I'm not asking him to do all 4 books in the second half of the year 

My post was related to the old posts that TKA used to ask everybody here or in the SW mail list for what we wanted to see and which order of release. But if we talk about commitment, everybody here is sure that Terry is comitted to Kulthea.

Terry: Do you feel writing and doing layout for your books as a job?

I still remember when I ordered Emer I and Haalkitaine to Eidolon Studio, and I was glad when ICE came back as I know wrapping books and going to post office is boring. But I digress...

I'm waiting to see Xa-ar

[mathhatt]

I have to say that I'd love to go back and finish Emer. Even if 3 & 4 got combined into one book... just doing the map would be daunting though; I'd prefer to with the nice watercolor look I used in Emer 2

Emer I et II are my favorite Shadow World books, because we essentially play in this continent. I'd love to read Emer III & IV (even if it is merged into one, shorter, single book). Definitely number 1 on my wishlist ! Keep up the good work Terry.

I'd like to ask you a question: what are you feelings about the fact that the world you created is still alive and kicking more than a quarter of century after its creation ? Is it kind of daunting ? Are you happy about it ?
I must say, I find it impressive, when I think about it, that my big brother (he is 10 years older than me) was playing in the Shadow World with his friend 20 years ago, and now it's me, exploring it with my friends for more than 10 years now. I hope I will be able to pass this passion down to my nephews or my children

[Mider]

Thanks for that splash of cold water.   I started playing RM in the early 80's and than Shadow World when it came out.  I hadn't put it in perspective of RL time until I read that.
I don't know of many worlds that have so much possibilites and directions to go.

[mathhatt]

Thanks for that splash of cold water.  

You're welcome 

I started playing RM in the early 80's and than Shadow World when it came out.  I hadn't put it in perspective of RL time until I read that.
I don't know of many worlds that have so much possibilites and directions to go.

Yup, Shadow World is a BIG and RICH universe

[RandalThor]

Yup, Shadow World is a BIG and RICH universe

Does that mean the Musikmafia exists on Shadow World? 

[Terry K. Amthor]

I'd like to ask you a question: what are you feelings about the fact that the world you created is still alive and kicking more than a quarter of century after its creation ? Is it kind of daunting ? Are you happy about it ?
I must say, I find it impressive, when I think about it, that my big brother (he is 10 years older than me) was playing in the Shadow World with his friend 20 years ago, and now it's me, exploring it with my friends for more than 10 years now. I hope I will be able to pass this passion down to my nephews or my children

Has it been that long? I can't remember the publication date of the first Atlas, when it came in that box in 2 books. I do remember having a huge map of Kulthea in tracing paper up on my office wall back at ICE! It is kind of cool that SW is still around, and that there are people out there still playing it! There were some regrettable modules in the early days (more because they didn't fit that well in what I had in mind than being bad quality) but ICE wanted to get a lot of product out. I have to say it was exciting actually working at a game company, going to GenCon and meeting the players. *sigh*

One thing that is daunting is the sheer volume of stuff now, and trying to keep track of things (I am not an organized person by nature). That the gods that most of the stuff is in PDF format now so I can search for things in the older books.

But in any case thanks to you all for keeping SW alive!   

[Terry K. Amthor]

Quick update: All the text is back on my lap, and I'm doing a few last-minute additions as I work on the layout. I'd like to make this PDF as interactive/useful as possible, with working bookmarks, a few web links, etc. Anything in particular you would like to see?

Terry

[Walt]

I´m not sure if it´s possible, but here some topics I would search on in this module:
- Connections with Ulor and also (!!!!) Ly-Aran
- Border traffic to and from Saralis
- Trade links with the rest of the world
- local gods and/or spirits

Basically I always had problems with the "stand-alone" decreptions of Ulor, Ly-Aran and Xa-ar. (" Xa-Ar was the second large country that fell to the powers of the white lord early during the second era. Since then not much is known about the country..." or "A land not much known about, Ly-Aran was a peaceful land that fell under the power of the white lord in 3750 S.E.I. [...], and not much has been heard from the original population since then."

So in my mind there are more the questions of linking this stand-alone solution Xa-ar more to the overall picture. For example what´s about all this ship trade entering the bay of Ulor heading for example towards Cynar.
What are the goods coming out of Xa-ar? Something special? Probably, even if there is some kind of bane, there are smuggling activities.
And hopefully there are some links to the pretty good stuff of Jonas Cedher. Who did a lot of impresive work about Saralis!

[Terry K. Amthor]

I?m not sure if it?s possible, but here some topics I would search on in this module:
- Connections with Ulor and also (!!!!) Ly-Aran
- Border traffic to and from Saralis
- Trade links with the rest of the world
- local gods and/or spirits

Basically I always had problems with the "stand-alone" decreptions of Ulor, Ly-Aran and Xa-ar. (" Xa-Ar was the second large country that fell to the powers of the white lord early during the second era. Since then not much is known about the country..." or "A land not much known about, Ly-Aran was a peaceful land that fell under the power of the white lord in 3750 S.E.I. [...], and not much has been heard from the original population since then."

So in my mind there are more the questions of linking this stand-alone solution Xa-ar more to the overall picture. For example what?s about all this ship trade entering the bay of Ulor heading for example towards Cynar.
What are the goods coming out of Xa-ar? Something special? Probably, even if there is some kind of bane, there are smuggling activities.
And hopefully there are some links to the pretty good stuff of Jonas Cedher. Who did a lot of impresive work about Saralis!

Hi Walt,

I think maybe I wasn't clear about the PDF features... I just meant technical things in the PDF, like you can create bookmarks and links in the file to make navigation through it easier, and you can put in web links.

That said, I think you'll be pleased with the content of Xa-ar; there is most of what you've requested included!

Terry

[Walt]

Ohh..sorry, didn?t understood it right. I?m far more concerned with the contents and really looking forward to scan through it!