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General Kong

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  1. General Kong

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    2. Julich1610

      Julich1610

      Thanks and the same to you, Thorsten - though somewhat belated on the Christmas wishes!

      To my chagrin, it appears now The Köln Machinations will not be published until the end of January.  Things seem a bit bottle-necked at the moment; hopefully production issues will be resolved shortly.

      I have been getting more into the Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane.  Really like the Savage Worlds game system, particularly the support of Hero Labs and Fantasy Grounds.  Have you ever run a game using Fantasy Grounds?  I am purchasing an Alienware Aurora to better host games; was due for a new computer anyway.  Since time and space are not issues online, perhaps even you and I might play a game together some day.  

      I have an opportunity with Pinnacle Entertainment Group to work up a Solomon Kane Explorer adventure which will be based on the Lost Colony of Roanoke. They like the idea.  It will be set in the year 1610, at the beginning of the Path of Kane.   It will be rather short piece, but a start.  I am hoping when they see my approach - uncanny explanations involving actual historical events - they will want more.  History is much deeper and more interesting than fantasy if you can use the facts properly, without a boring, insipid compulsion to tell the truth with them!

      On Fantasy Grounds, I have started a Weird Wars: Rome campaign using Nox Germanica which deals with the Limes in the Rhine Valley.  Right up our alley so to speak.  I am thinking I may work out a Roman background to Early Modern events in The Mad Duke's Tomb, sort of presenting results of my gaming in that environment as the relics of the past the Emissaries discover.  Right now, I am just trying to learn how to play Savage Worlds in Fantasy Grounds.

      All of this while waiting for C&W to get their act together.

      Best to you, Thorsten,  and Bemi in the New Year!

      Jeff & Sheri 

       

    3. General Kong

      General Kong

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    4. Julich1610

      Julich1610

      Hey, Thorsten - sorry not to have written back sooner.  My mother-in-law passed away in early February and then my last surviving step-mother at the end of the month.  Though the weather has been relatively mild, it has been a bleak winter, all told.

      From a gaming perspective, C&W continues to work on TKM (The Koln Machinations) at a snail's pace.  I hope it sees the light of day sometime soon, but there seems to be little I can do to move it along other than ask about it.

      I was working the Roanoke adventure with Pinnacle, but I didn't like working with the editor assigned to the project; his approach was rather aggravatingly commercial, you know?  It's not like I am in this for the money.  I already have a day job that pays better, thank you very much!  Like, "I need this by the beginning of February" and "can you change what you've already written because another writer working for us had a similar idea."  So, I dropped working with Pinnacle.

      From an SK perspective, I am planning to meet my old gaming group in Jamestown this June to play a scenario I am devising that uses the rather fascinating history of that time period, basically a treasure hunt in the Tidewater for the hidden accursed Aztec gold (you know how I am about Mesoamerica!) taken from a pirated Spanish ship in 1585. 

      So, how's your mother doing, how's your Solomon Kane campaign progressing?  I would commend the paintings of John White, the governor of the lost colony, to your gaming imagination also.  I am working on Jamestown, but with June a few months hence, lingering over the written accounts of the colony.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_White_(colonist_and_artist)

      Take care, Thorsten!

         

       

  2. General Kong
    Oh, so you are in the Colonies! thought you were from Blighty. I live at the Ruhr - so that is a mere 50-60 km (Cologne is 80) from the campaign setting. Nice to adventure close at home.
  3. General Kong
    Nice picture. Only one thing: The Double Eagle is the Coat of Arms of the Reich and the Kaiser as its representative, not in that sense of the "Habsburg Emperors". It does not matter if the Kaiser is from the noble house of the Habsburg, any other Kaiser would bear the same coat of arms. It just "happened" that most of the time a candidate of the House of Habsburg got elected as Kaiser (often he then made sure that his son and heir was elected "King in Germany" - the Kaiser was "elected Roman Emperor" - thus keeping the right to the august crown within the family). The Coat of Arms of Habsburg / House of Austria is a red rampant lion with a blue crown walking/ looking left on a yellow/ golden shield. And on the crown feathers of a peacock. The Arch-Duchy of Austria has the colors red-white-red, sometimes combined with some elemnts of the Habsburg Coat of Arms since House Habsburg - Austrian Side ruled Austria (the other branch ruled Spain, sometimes both were connected - see: Karl V). Another side-note to the "Arch-Dukes" of Austria: Actually, originally there wasn't such a title like arch-duke. The Duke of Austria usurped/ invented it for himself hi elevate his standing because he felt miffed because of his lower status in comparison to the Electors. By "becoming" Arch-Duke, he was more than any other noble in the Reich but almost on par with the Electors. And when elected Kaiser FAR MORE than they were. All rather simple, neh? But as the German expert in constitutional law akob Moser said so aptly in the 18th century: "Germany is governed in the German way, and in such a way that no scholastic word or very few words or the way of governing of other states can really make understand our way of ruling." A little bit like the European Union, but waaaay cooler. And it worked for about 900 years through all kinds of crisises, catastrophies and wars. Hope to see the sencond part of the triology real soon, Jülich!
  4. General Kong
    The thing that makes it so bewildering and maybe less approachable for writers and story-weavers (be that for books, TV-series or game adventures) than for example British or French history is the fact that the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation has no capital or center as such. Even the head of the whole affair, the Kaiser, has nowhere as muc influence as the English or French king - although he has formally a much higher noble rank as emperor and "heir" to the Roman title Ceasar! He is not a heritary lord of the realm - he is voted into office by the electors who are dukes, margraves and bischophs in title but actually really like kings of their territories. The "realm" itself is like the EU-border - defendable against outside aggression but flexible when it comes to getting occupied by foreign powers. Thus parts where actually (at some point) ruled by the Danish, French or Swedish kings but were still (not just as a make-believe-exercise) part of the Reich and the mentioned kings part of the nobility as princes of the Reich - and just "happened" to be also kings of some other territory. When they tried to connect their territories in the Reich with their state outside it the Emperor as keeper of the Reich would declare war against the offending prince and would gather troops (with the help of other nobles, the electors in the front-line) and defend the integrity of the Reich. Did not always work out that way (see: Netherlands; see: Switzerland) but even the Deutsche Bund did exactly that to Denmark in 1866 (even after the dissolution of the Reich) when Denmark wanted to integrate Holstein and Schleswig to form a compact state. So, you have hundreds of great and small noble houses, a weak or not so weak Kaiser (e.g. Karl V. was Kaiser of the Reich, holding Austria as Arch-Duke, Burgundy, Belgium and the Netherlands as Duke,was King of Castille and Aragon, and King of (respectively) Sardinia, Naples, Navarra and Sicily - and lord over the Spanish territories in America) , a realm that consists of 683 (!) territories, counties, sovereignities, Free Cities, clerical dominions etc. - each with different laws and sovereigns. Plus: They were also interconnected multiple times and organized in different estades of the Empire with a voice in the Reichstag, the parliamnet of the Empire. In contrast, the conspiracies in "Game of Thrones" are "Realm-Making 101" for absolute beginners in regard to everyday affairs in the Reich! That was the Real "Game of (the Kaiser's) Throne"!
  5. General Kong
    Yes, know about it. And as soon as it hits the store-shelves in dead-tree I will most certainly throw my hard-earned €uros Kaiser Karls's way! Looks great and I always liked the Pendragon system! BTW: TSR published a Charlemagne sourceboo for AD&D 2nd Edition back in the 90s, as they did A Mighty Fortress for the 16th and 17th century ans several others (Romans, Celts, Greeks, Vikings). I did also hear that there are plans for The Devils Playground for All for One (Ubiquity), featuring the Thirty Years War. I just wanted to inform you all that German topics in rpg are usually dealt with by people outside Germany. Maybe because Das Schwarze Auge and Cthulhu dominate the considerably smaller German-speaking market - and/or historical settings don't sell that well. But dunno for sure, really.
  6. General Kong
    Unfortunately, the German role-playing scene isn't very good at exploiting my home-country's rich history either. Example: This adventure by an Englishman, Warhammer RPG - THE German background Fantasy RPG - by English authors. There is supposed to be HeXXen 1733 by Ulisses in the works (since 2015 ...) which is based on a Thirty Years War that simply went on and on and on but that's about it. Here an there a scenario, a lot of VERY historically accurate researched material for Cthulhu but nothing that really takes German history and uses it as a background. A pity - because I could easily give you a list of very interesting periods and topics: 1. The Legend of Arminius - fight the Romans in the Teutoburg Forest and adventure in free Germania 2. Siegfried - Norse mythology German style with larger-than-life-heroes, including the barbarian migration period 3. The Reign of Charlemagne - as mythic or realistic as you wish 4. Kurland - a campaign/ game set in the Baltics based on the explots of the Deutsche Orden (crusaders of the East) 5. A Mighty Fortress - a game set in the Reformation, Peasant's War and the Kingdom of the Anabaptistes in Münster - or defending Vienna against the Turks 6. Überall ist Krieg - a Thirty Years War campaign 7. At the King's Service - a "musketeer" campaign in service of Frederick the Great 8. Blood is red, powder is black, golden shines the light of FREEDOM! - a rather diverse setting starting with the fight for liberty against the occupying Napoleonic French and getting a mystery/ espiongae setting after the reactionary restauration leadng to the Vormärz Revolution in 1848 for a united and democratic Germany. Maybe more tha one setting 9. Berlin 1880 - a "Victorian" setting. Just in this case it is "Wilmeninean"! Can also include adventure set in the Wild West and the Near and Far East, emulation the greta stories of Karl May, a period pulp author still quite popular and well known in Germany (there are dozens of German movies from the 1960s, all Christmas classics!). 10. The Great War - fighting and espionage from the german perspective 11. The Golden 20s - were not so Golden in Berlin but there you have all and everything (street fighting, organized crime of te Ringvereine, canibal killers etc) for a Pulp campaign 12. Spaniens Himmel The Thälmann Battaillon was the biggest of the International Brigades fighting for the Spanish Republic 13. Das unsichtbare Visier - actually the title of an East German Espionage TV-series ("The invisible visor") but the cold war is of course part of German history. Take teh part of the Bundesnachrichtendienst or the Stasi and fight the good fight for Democracy - or Socialism! 14. Tatort - "crime scene" is the title of the most popular crime/ detective TV-series in Germany running since 1970 every Sunday! Alas! We have NONE of it. Why? I don't know.
  7. General Kong
    And I thought it was a clever invention! Each day you learn one new thing - so, done that: Back to mindless soaps! But really, syncretism isn't really that new in the European development of Christianity. It is just surprising (for me at least) that they could also do that with a sometimes invisible, sometimes black as obsidian, sometimes jaguar-deity that took young men as sacrifices that were ritually eaten after being killed. Then again, according to the Catholic doctrine of transubstation, bread and wine really turns into the blood and body of Christ and is drunk and eaten by the faithful ... almost same difference - you just skip the part were you transform stuff into something else. (Priest) "Hey, folks, wine is out and my mum doesn't feel like baking today. Let's just kill and eat Jack!" (Congregation - except Jack) "Great idea!" (Jack) "WHOT?!?"
  8. General Kong
    Very good news! As a history teacher (and even if I weren't) I can tell that a lot of research went into the adventure. Like the different factions! And another thing I do like about the campaign is the fact that you give an outline of the other parts following. By doing that it allows the gm to know what is going on and how the whole thing is going to develop. Other campaigns offered in different part published one after another often don't do that and I as the gm find that rather irritating since I then don't know how the story is suposed to continue. The players should be surprised by plot twists, not the gm.
  9. General Kong
    Ordered it right yesterday - GREAT! One little question: The Cult of the Black Christ is inspired by an episode of a series in which a lot of blokes shoot sharpe, innit? Just rifling around to see if I got it right - loving it anyway! Oh, and please don't bean me over the head if you find any mistakes in this post or if I am wrong with my guess - I am a damn foreigner and haven't sean the show for quite a while. And if this post seems all Spanish to you, then you know what I am talking about. P.S.: Now all I want to see ist the last part of the C&C Omnibus - and a healthy pace of publishing the other parts of a Clockwork in Orange - and you'll make me one Happy Hun.
  10. General Kong
    GREAT NEWS! Keep us posted for the print version - I prefer dead trees to put on my shelves to impress my friends and neighbours (their moaning must be a sign of envy and delight, innit?).
  11. General Kong
    I think there is more than enough magic and the fantastic in C&C already - and with the Civil War background enough of misery and dread, too. I do like Lovecraft's stories (some more, some less) but it has become a bit of a fad to put Great Cthulhu and the rest of the Cosmic Chaps into each and every setting. Sells, seems like, but does not make the strory neccessarily a better one. For me, it is not so much as avoiding the fantastic or horrid but to avoid going for the same old loving crafted stories of Narly, Big C and the Gang. If I want that I'll play CoC.
  12. General Kong
    Yes, go a-nudging!
  13. General Kong
    I don't care about miniature rules but I would support more adventures - maybe an anthology with a mini-campaign (I am thinking soft-cover, less than 120 pages, 4-6 scenarios with a beginning and an ending). And stay historical - no more Cthulhu here and dark magic there. Even "werewolves" (if there would be a scenario hinting at one) should be strictly mundane - people in wolf-skins "feeling the wolf spirit" (= suffer from insanity). I am not against horror and magic in settings but it has been done to death and it seems that it is a short-cut: "Let's just throw in some werevolves/ deep ones/ witches/ black magic and we can make even the dullest adventure great." No, great ideas make great adventures! And I really like the fisrt two scenarios and their down-to-earth feeling!
  14. General Kong
    SEHR GUT, MEIN HERR! Der Baron salutes you and is looking forward to spending his hard earned money on the finished product. See, guys: All it needs is a little incentive (in the form of unleashing Good Old Teutonic Fury!) and voila! - we get adventures!
  15. General Kong
    Omnibus III? WHEN? IF? HOW? WHO (maybe The Doctor)? That uncertainty and the motor troubles of my triplane over the trenches of the Somme yesterday really make me cranky. Another year without the third part and I will get My Big Red Beauty some extra-high octane gasoline and come over to Old Blighty and give you a good strafing! A happy new year and - you have been warned!
  16. General Kong
    I have got the book and the pdf. They really did their homework and put quite some research in the book but I like the original setting better. Why? Because somehow the whole setting of the "Bowery Runners" seems arificial in comparison to the Bow Street Runners. While the Bow Street Runners are a real world forerunner of a police force and the whole mythos fighting develops out of the runners fighting ordinary crime and then kind of stumble into things man wasn't supposed to know, the Bowery Runners start out as a mythos fighting special force funded by Tammany Hall. In the original setting the characters can have almost any background to fight crime - and in the end the mythos. But who would join a force that is fighting the mythos in the slums of Manhattan? And then: If I were a mythos cultist - single or with a cult - I would not normally use the most crowded area of on eof the most crowded cities in North America to do what Cthulhu tells me. At least not every cultist would do that, especially since city wide-conspiracies need influence and money - but cultist aren't usually running for election, so why would I want the Forty Thieves (or - to make a gang up - Nyarlothotep's Chosen) to bully voters to vote for my new Elder Party? I would assume to look at the high society who in league with some scum from the slum work together (the later as providers of strong arms and sacrifices) to bring the end nearer. I am not bashing the setting - I am just saying that for me it does not quite do for the suspension of disbelieve. Playing it straight-forward as members of the Metropolitan Police, fighting crime and curruption (or furthering it to meet the characters' own ends) makes much more sense. I would love to see a mini-campaign for it, preferable without any mythos or with the option of leaving it out. It is a good enough product for Renaissance or Dark Streets fans to take a look at - 3 out of 5 street toughs agree.
  17. General Kong
    The cover does nothing for me - looks uninspiring. But I am waiting for the print + pdf option on Drive Thru and then it will be mine. Der Rote Baron does not judge a book by its vocer, ya know, and I really like the setting (hasn't been done to death). Hope they offer more real world scenarios and keep the Cthulhu angle low (while I like CoC, the mythos thing HAS been done to death and dreaming and undeath and still dreaming).
  18. General Kong
    When can we hope for the last Omnibus?
  19. General Kong
    More French & Indian War scenarios would be great. I would also like to see more Irish adventures.
  20. General Kong
    Just to get on your nerves - and to show that WE THE FAN (speaking here only for myself but in pluralis maiestatis) still eagerly await the fruits of thy labor! Shiny €uros await thee as a reward! So - get the damn thing out and published!
  21. General Kong
    Same here! Although I bought it already a couple of months ago and surely don't have any kind of receipt left. Is there any other way to proof that I do own a dead-tree copy?
  22. General Kong
    Ah, I see. Devious little machines, that!
  23. General Kong
    They added the option Der Geist des Akolythen (The Spirit of the Acolyth) which a PDF-only version of the rulebook. No adventure though.
  24. General Kong
    Curious rule, that.
  25. General Kong
    That should read "bundles". Can't edit the mistake for some strange reason (tried four times).
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