Topic: Changes to Shadow World

[jolt]

My only copy of Shadow World is the old RM2 boxed set.  I saw the newer SW material when I worked the booth at GenCon but had no time to peruse it.  How much has changed from that boxed set?  Does the boxed set still have good playbility value or do I really need the newer stuff?  Thanks.

jolt

[Walt]

I would say the boxed set is just fine. But for sure their were developments, and more details in the later on versions.

[munchy]

I'd say it is an excellent starting point for playing. We started with Jaiman and to be honest haven't really moved that far concerning the official timeline which is interesting considering that our campaigns have lasted about 15 years in game time. We never really cared about the official events that took place after the timeline presented in Jaiman. This was our starting point and we took it into our own hands from there. And it worked pretty well so far.
So, I say, excellent playability and in fact all you need (to get started).

[Guillaume]

I agree too, the original boxed set still retain much of its value... especially for the full sized uncut map... and a few things that cannot be found elsewere.

The other Atlases are as follow :
- SWMA 2 : it's mostly just a reprint of the World Book and the Inhabitant Book bunched together with a glued spine.
- SWMA 3 : There's a lot of new stuff, but if you have the Emer Box to go along the SWMA 1 box there's not that much new except the master timeline... and that part is available just ask Vroomfogle to point you towards the right direction  [ I'm too lazy to dig out the link ]
- SWMA 4 : now that start to be interesting, as there's a lot of stuff that have greatly evolved... and it is a real atlas, it contains descriptions of places more detailed than any previous atlases... including some stuff about the East.
All in all, if you play in Jaiman or Emer, with players that don't need to know what the big guys are up to, and what is happening in the grand scheme of things you don't need the SWMA4... if you want to send your players to various places on Kulthea, it might be useful to have it.

[vroomfogle]

Jolt,

The Master Atlas you have will grant you access to the master compiled timeline (though it doesn't include the Xa-ar events yet) located at :
http://nomikos.vroomfogle.com

If you haven't registered already, you'll just need to answer a question when you register to validate your ownership of one of the atlases.

Guillaume - if I'm not mistaken MA4 doesn't really contain anything new that isn't it MA3 (although it does include some info on Bay of Izar that was lifted from Emer I).

[Terry K. Amthor]

Guillaume - if I'm not mistaken MA4 doesn't really contain anything new that isn't it MA3 (although it does include some info on Bay of Izar that was lifted from Emer I).

That's my recollection; in fact we took some lower-priority stuff out of MA4 to make room for RMSS stats. MA3 is where a lot of additional information about the other continents was added.

[Guillaume]

well, my memory is getting rusty then... *grab the atlases from the shelves and put them in the to read pile near the bed*