Best Supplements

[mal]

Revisiting the world of Elric for the first time since high school (1976-1980) YIKES!

Anyhow thinking of trying a game of Stormbringer or Elric with my gang. We're big CoC players and occasional RuneQuestors...

I've picked up Stormbringer (1st or 2nd edition - it's a slim box with 2101-X) but it hasn't arrived in the mail yet. Looking through the list of supplements I'm wonder what folks suggest are the best options to try to pick up (wow these guys are rare - very few on ebay and quite pricey...) Here's the complete list below. Any suggestions on the best bets would be appreciated. Already have the companion and Hawkmoon on there way as well.

 

 

[Marcus Bone]

My advice is that you can't go wrong with anything published after 4th edition (although you'd have to do a bit of conversion work depending on what edition you are running the adventures for). For scenarios alone, Perils of the Young Kingdom is a personal favourite, while The Unknown East is an excellent supplement for opening up the setting.

Marcus

 

 

[rsanford]

As a person who has read everything put out by Chaosium and Mongooes about Stormbringer, I found Sea Kings of the Purple Towns to be, by far, the most useful book as it creates a base of operations that my current party has been playing in for 5 years. Myy second choice would be the Sorcerers of Pan Tang.

[NickMiddleton]

Sea King's of the Purple Towns; Perils of the Young Kingdoms; Unknown East. That’s what I picked instinctively as the three to recommend, but as Marcus says, pretty much everything published for 4th edition onward is really good.

[mal]

Thanks for the advice guys! Keep it coming...

any thoughts on the two part adventure: The Stealer of Souls, and Black Sword.

[Chaot]

The two part adventure is pretty dire. It is good for stealing things from though.

[smiorgan]

On 5/11/2021 at 12:49 AM, Chaot said:

The two part adventure is pretty dire. It is good for stealing things from though.

Personally, I like it. I have run part of it (the whole first book and sections of the second, integrated in a broader campaign).  It has an interesting premise and lots of intriguing ideas.  I would still run the whole campaign *almost* as is. It requires preparation and judgement from the GM, though, and willingness to run with the unexpected turns the story might take. In this respect some of the GM advice in it is pretty bad and railroady.

Spoilerous content ahead...

Spoiler

Characters need stronger motivation that should be woven into the story. They need to hate Elric and/or love Freyda or be compelled by pacts with supernatural patrons. And in the final chapter I would let the players characters kill Elric if so they wish and manage to succeed. If that was their purpose and they were ingenuous enough, why rob them of the success? The history of the world and the balance of the multiverse will be changed. But that's a fitting end of the campaign. 

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by smiorgan

[smiorgan]

I'd say almost everything is worth having, except perhaps 2108 White Wolf, especially if you have the later and better Sailing on the Seas of Fate.

Demon Magic is abslolutely worth having if only for the Velvet Circle adventure, which is great. 

Stormbringer 4th edition had, all in all, the strongest lineup of supplements:

Rogue Mistress, Sorcerers of Pan Tang, Sea Kings of the Purple Towns and Perils of the Young Kingdoms are all very good. Perhaps I'd just tone down the excesses of Pan Tang, which can verge on the silly.

I'm less of a fan of Elric! supplements, but they're not by any means bad.

 

Edited June 7, 2021 by smiorgan

[Agentorange]

If you have the magic world books you don't really need The Bronze Grimoire.....I think pretty much all the content was ported over, though there might be the odd spell that wasn't.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Agentorange
typo

[Tentacled Whisperer]

Campaign wise, rogue mistress is ace. I'm about half way through running it atm. Scenario wise I really like perils of the young kingdoms. Game wise I'm using the mongoose elric of melnibone rules based on mrq. But I probably prefer stormbringer plus corum as the default rules set. 

[smiorgan]

On 10/21/2021 at 5:50 PM, Gaynor the Damned said:

Campaign wise, rogue mistress is ace. I'm about half way through running it atm. Scenario wise I really like perils of the young kingdoms. Game wise I'm using the mongoose elric of melnibone rules based on mrq. But I probably prefer stormbringer plus corum as the default rules set. 

How did you run the hook of the campaign? Because I think the start is the only real weak point in an otherwise stellar campaign.

[Tentacled Whisperer]

They'd recently escaped pan tangs slave pits and needed money so the offer of employment was jumped on. Don't want to say too much in case of spoilers but not sure what you mean? 

[smiorgan]

15 minutes ago, Gaynor the Damned said:

They'd recently escaped pan tangs slave pits and needed money so the offer of employment was jumped on. Don't want to say too much in case of spoilers but not sure what you mean? 

Makes sense.

[Tentacled Whisperer]

Prior to rogue mistress we'd played through Whisperers harvest and on fleeing the melnibonean battle barge ghost ship they'd been picked up by pan tang slavers. 

[smiorgan]

4 hours ago, Gaynor the Damned said:

Prior to rogue mistress we'd played through Whisperers harvest and on fleeing the melnibonean battle barge ghost ship they'd been picked up by pan tang slavers. 

Nice. So, Pyaray already hates them.

[rsanford]

On 10/21/2021 at 10:50 AM, Gaynor the Damned said:

Campaign wise, rogue mistress is ace. I'm about half way through running it atm. Scenario wise I really like perils of the young kingdoms. Game wise I'm using the mongoose elric of melnibone rules based on mrq. But I probably prefer stormbringer plus corum as the default rules set. 

I have heard Rogue Mistress is a huge railroad... Is that true? Did you do anything to make it less linear?

[smiorgan]

2 hours ago, rsanford said:

I have heard Rogue Mistress is a huge railroad... Is that true? Did you do anything to make it less linear?

Yes, it's a railroad. No doubts about that. But it's one of the best rollercoaster railroads I've ever seen. It's a railroad just like it's a railroad when Elric boards the Black Ship and sails on the seas of Fate.  It's a mystical hero-quest where the characters find themselves as the agents of Fate and of the Balance.

Each episode is rich enough and provides hard battles, problem solving and memorable characters to interact with. And the player characters will be very busy just surviving. But going from an episode to another is rigid linear sequence.

I don't think you can really fix it and give it more meaningful branching. 

I'd rather embrace the railroad intradiegetically (within the fictional world 😁). It's not a railroad because the master is an asshole, it's a railroad because they are the Slaves of Fate. I think one can focus on how the PC develop their relationships with Maria and the other crew members of the Rogue Mistress as they all gradually realize that they are embroiled in a cosmic conflict. 

I'd also work on the possibility of bringing people on the Rogue Mistress, from the various worlds as companion characters or secondary PCs. And bringing stuff onboard. And perhaps trading it in other worlds.       

 

Edited October 29, 2021 by smiorgan

[rsanford]

2 hours ago, smiorgan said:

Yes, it's a railroad. No doubts about that. But it's one of the best rollercoaster railroads I've ever seen. It's a railroad just like it's a railroad when Elric boards the Black Ship and sails on the seas of Fate.  It's a mystical hero-quest where the characters find themselves as the agents of Fate and of the Balance.

Each episode is rich enough and provides hard battles, problem solving and memorable characters to interact with. And the player characters will be very busy just surviving. But going from an episode to another is rigid linear sequence.

I don't think you can really fix it and give it more meaningful branching. 

I'd rather embrace the railroad intradiegetically (within the fictional world 😁). It's not a railroad because the master is an asshole, it's a railroad because they are the Slaves of Fate. I think one can focus on how the PC develop their relationships with Maria and the other crew members of the Rogue Mistress as they all gradually realize that they are embroiled in a cosmic conflict. 

I'd also work on the possibility of bringing people on the Rogue Mistress, from the various worlds as companion characters or secondary PCs. And bringing stuff onboard. And perhaps trading it in other worlds.       

 

Great answer! Thanks!