Kris

I'd like to, but unfortunately I don't have much free time at the moment (plus the time difference would probably be a bit of an issue for me). However, if you do get more interest, let me know and I'll set up a special discount on the campaign guide for the rest of the group (that is, if any of them become interested in picking it up).

That would be fantastic (and indeed very kind of you).

Hello all Seeing as how there was some interest in this a while back , I thought I would de-lurk to say that the Age of Shadow RPG (based on OpenQuest) and the Age of Shadow Campaign Guide are now available in print via lulu. =Kristian+Richards&fSearchData[lang_code]=all&fSort=salesRankEver_asc&showingSubPanels=advancedSearchPanel_title_creator]LINK (note that the game is still available through RPGNow etc. as a free download)

Apologies if anyone was trying to download the book over the last few days, but it was taken off-line while I updated it to v1.01. Anyway, it's back up now (should anyone still be interested ). Kris

An interesting concept, though as you say, it's a tough call to get the mechanics right for something like that in any system (and a lot of what the rings could actually do would be open to much debate I'm sure ).

With regard to the setting booklet I'm working on... ...so far, the first half of the campaign guide is pretty much system neutral, and I believe the second half would be usable, or easily converted to OQ/BRP/RQ or similar. However, the NPCs will obviously be built with the AoS rules ...but HERE's a look at some orc variants so that you can judge how useful (or not) they'd be for yourself The campaign guide is still a bit of a WIP however, but I'm getting there slowly (it's also only going to be a basic overview, and not a fully fledged campaign setting).

Thanks for the kind words Anyway... Character generation is slightly different (with humans, elves, and dwarves being the playable races) ...though it would probably be best just to skim through the condensed character generation rules to get a taste of how it works (though it's still very similar to OQ). There are also lots of little changes here and there (actions in combat have been grouped into Combat Actions, Movement actions, and Reactions, for example), but the main difference is how magic works (it's also not so prevalent). In AoS, magic is split into 'innate magic' and 'sorcery.' Innate magic is only really available to elvish characters (or humans with some elvish ancestry), and is derived from the inherent power contained within the individual. Sorcery, on the other hand, draws upon the fabric of the world itself (which unfortunately, has been tainted by the 'dark powers'), and as such, can be corrupting. Though they are, in essence, still 'battle magic' and 'sorcery' - but with some tweaks. The monster section is new too, though OQ has been used for a baseline from which to work. Anyway, the motivation behind these changes was to make a system with more of a 'Middle Earth' feel to it, and a 'First Age' one at that (and not because I thought OQ was itself lacking). It's really as simple as that (oh and because I'm rather fond of OQ too).

Yeah - sorry - I should really have said 'any IP you don't own or have permission to use' ...so thanks for clearing that up (I guess I was just being a little to brief with my explanation). In the end though, I think that it worked out better that way

Hello all! First of all - thanks jarulf for the e-mail To be honest I originally put the book together just for myself really (just as a personal project) as I've always been tempted to try my hand at running a Middle Earth First Age (or First Age style) game. But since Newt made the entire text portion of the OpenQuest book open content (which is an awesome idea BTW), I figured that rather than having a few loose pages of notes/house rules/etc., I would simply alter what I wanted, or cut/paste bits here and there, and attempt to make my own version of the rules (with everything all in one place) to better suit my own needs and ideas (however good or bad they may seem ). As I say, at first the plan was to create a basic First Age game that the players could pick up and get to grips with quickly (for which OQ seemed ideal) ...though as I started to tidy my notes up (and went a little overboard drawing a cover etc.) I thought I might as well share it - just in case anyone else ever thought of doing something similar. But when I contacted Newt (of d101 games) he pointed out that even though it was going to be a free fan project, you can't use any IP* in conjunction with the OGL ...and so I changed the title (and various names and things), and The Age of Shadow was the result. Since then I've been leaning more toward s First Age style of game (rather than an actual First Age game - as it would give me a lot more freedom as a GM), and have put together the Age of Shadow website with some of my ideas for the campaign world itself (though admittedly there is not much there at the moment). And that's pretty much where I'm at right now. I still have to go back and alter some of the flavour text here and there to better suit some of the 'world' ideas I have, and it's still not really been play-tested - but all in all it's not that different to OQ. Anyway ...I appear to have rambled on a bit so I'll end there (for now) with a bit thanks to anyone who has taken a look at it!