Thot

Vague references to "a world consumed by chaos" to not infringe anyone's copyright. That is the whole point. Of course. That's actually something I plan for my next campaign - but my current one is still in big swing, so that's a bit far out.

Yes, I am aware of Magic World. But why not use the exceedingly cool name of Stormbringer (which is a Chaosium property, am I right?) along with its established game mechanics, but make a new fantasy world for it that catches some of the feel? Maybe even hint at this world being some kind of refuge for some of the people that lived by the end of the Young Kingdoms without naming them explicitly. Make a map with a mediterranean-sizes sea navigable by galleys, a few islands, one of which being in the center of it... place "chaos elves" on one, even more evil chaotic humans on another, and lots of more or less neutral peoples (not necessarily all human) around that, add some mysterious places... wouldn't that work well for a new Stormbringer?

Actually I am rather disappointed that Magic World's Southern Marches are not this, with groups of refugees from a "world that was consumed by chaos", and other vague references to the old Stormbringer.

I just took two maps, synchronized their scale and laid them over one another. Maybe it's useful for someone to illustrate distances in the game.

Well, I like to have survivors in my campaigns. Further thought: Wouldn't it be nice to have a few Pan Tangians (who refused to fight for the lords of Chaos when it became apparent what that would do to themselves) use the same route? And possibly a few other groups, such as a small group of surviving Melnibonéans, a ragtag fleet of Purple Towns merchants, Vilmirian civilians, led by a priest of law... the players may even be the agency that spreads the knowledge of the required spell... in exchange for some of the required ingredients.

Almost a year after I first posted the idea here, it has sort of inspired me again recently. I believe it would be nice if the new world had some minor similarities to pre-collapse young kingdoms... not too much, of course, but a central sea with galley-friendly waters and a few island-empires would be a good start, with the occasional uninhabited island, maybe for the refugees to rebuild their own nations on a much smaller scale. Cosmologically, I'd imagine the destination world to be in a strategically unimportant multidimensional location. You can (relatively) easily get there, but it is very hard to leave, even for gods, and thus, they try to avoid it altogether. Consequently, control of this plane is just not important to the lords of law and chaos. As a result of all this, supernatural powers of various types do work here, chaos-tainted magic from the Young Kingdoms being only one of them, with the twist that summoned demons , once called to this plane, cannot leave (which makes summoning them a lot more dangerous). Summoning Young-Kingdom-origin entities such as beast lords, plant lords and elementals would depend on how many the refugees brought with them. Using all kinds of BRP magic systems (and perhaps from other game systems as well), each from a different source world and with a limited number of disciples, could possibly give this world a lot more weirdness and mystery, I believe.

Well, they *could* just rename everything, make a new, slightly different map, and release it as a Magic World supplement. "Sorcerers of Tang Pan!"

Question is, how would one translate that into a game mechanic. By a game mechanic that increases damage based on how much you rolled under the effective skill percentage, perhaps?

So the magic system is sort of an intermediate between SB1-3 and Elric?

Isn't SB4 still with the old magic system? INT+POW requirements for advancing as a sorcerer and such?

That's why I say use something that is a bit more like the original. You'd have some kind of Dark Elves (who ride ancient and powerful flying steeds, but obviously not dragons), a Corrupted Human Sorcerer Island civilization, Winged Men, lots of seafaring (possibly involving ships that can travel to other planes). The three allegiances wouldn't be fantasy clichees like Light and Shadow, but something more similar to Chaos vs Law vs Balance, such as Extropy (symbolizing creation, but also creative destruction), Entropy (symbolizing natural laws that eventually freeze the universe), and Pendulum (symbolizing the eons-old swing between the two). Just a bit more imagination and uniqueness in the packaging, while clearly showing where the game is coming from, you know. Add a cool-sounding name to that, some nice epic cover art, and it should have a better chance at inspiring people to use it than the rather dull name of "Magic World".

Well, even then, don't you think a name that is more catchy, with a setting that is worth talking about (instead of a fantasy kitchen sink), would have been a better marketing decision?

I wasn't aware of that series, and it doesn't sound too fascinating. But I am sure Chaosium could come up with some "Stormb******" name to make clear where it is coming from.

Honestly, I believe Magic World's most important mistake was the name. Nondescript. without imagination, and with no etymological relation to what it is, namely, license-free Stormbringer. Had they named it "Stormbearer", for instance, and had they slapped a setting on it that was more... multiversal in nature, everybody would have understood what it was, and that name would also have sounded a lot cooler. The more I think about this idea... the more I like it. They could still do that, should the Stormbringer license negotiations fail...

And having re-read the novel Stormbringer, one thing is striking: Straasha, the elemental lord of water, is described as resignative. However, the other three elements are unaccounted for and are thus available as magical support for the players' faction! Maybe they would even join the effort, or at least it could be tried to convince them. Hm. And the Beast Lords are unaccounted for, too.

Re-reading the novel "Stormbringer": The Northwestern continent is not a choice, because the war that ends the world starts there, when Pan Tang and Dharijor try to conquer this part of the world, following the Dead God Darnizhaan's return. Filkhar might be a good choice - it is far away from the initial war, and its biggest city of Raschil has a port by the Oldest Ocean. Given the purges that happen in Argimiliar after the Sack of Imryrr, it is conceivable that a sorcerer might have fled here.

But he does offer valid arguments. There is still hope.

Hm,. such a long time and no news probably means it's not happening. A pity.

Well, such a city should have a port - because that allows for a greater variety of people to conceivably look for shelter from Chaos there, and because it opens another way to leave the town. Which might be relevant, because: I imagine the players would be among those who the sorcerer sends out during the twilight of the Young Kingdoms to find a few artifacts, spellbooks and ingredients he will need for his great spell. Possible quests would thus include: Defense of The City. That would probably be adventure stuff mostly at the start (and end) of the campaign, where the players can make themselves known as useful people. Get The Stuff. A spellbook of The Sorcerers from The Sorcerer's Isle; an amulet of Law found deep in the south in the Island of Ashaneloon, where Myshella once hid it; the Crown Of the Myyrrhn, which is deemed lost but, according to a traveller's journal, might be found in the ruins of chaos-pillaged Menii; a talon of a dragon to help tear down the interdimensional barrier to the sorcerer's destination. Scout The New World. The Sorcerer might be able to open a portal big and durable enough to let everybody pass through. But is the destination a place where all could live?

Probably, but I don't believe Tanelorn would be open (or even known) to the regular Young Kingdom denizen. If the campaign runs smoothly, I might continue it in the new world they eventually escape to. BTW, I think a city would be a good place to have this take place, with all attempting to save all the city's inhabitants. But which one would be best? Any suggestions?

Well, the players certainly would, being Stormbringer players. The characters might deduce it from the prevalence of chaos forces, and the sheer overwhelming number of chaos-doped enemies. The important thing here is: They need to absolutely hold off the enemy from storming the fortress (or city?) so that the sorcerer has enough time to research the necessary magic for opening that gate to another world.

Then maybe the copyright owners might want to do that. Even little money is money, after all. Anyone knows who they are?

Hm. So, can anybody describe what makes its (non-setting-specific) content... unique?

You probably are on spot for that. But I wouldn't spend 100 dollars for a book anyway. Now, if you scanned it and offered me an OCR'ed PDF file, then I'd probably offer 20 bucks on that...

That's a campaign idea I have been nurturing for a few weeks now: At th end of the world, when Jagreen Lern's chaos hordes subjugate all of the Young Kingdoms to pave the way for the Lords Of Chaos, one rag-tag group of survivors from all over the Young Kingdoms, desperately fighting to stop the advance of the chaos forces, hold out in a fortress somewhere - with a sorcerer of some kind among them, who researches to try and open a portal to another world where the survivors can flee before the inevitable victory of chaos. Anyone ever done such a thing?