advice [Buyng Advice Needed] What Mongoose Legend supplements are good additions to Mythras for historical roleplaying?

[ApoApostolov]

I can buy almost all Mongoose Legend supplements but want to optimize shelf space to only those that would be very useful for my Mythras collection for historical non-fantasy or low-fantasy roleplay. Currently, I am focusing on these books but unsure about their authenticity and quality of historic material.

• Vikings of Legend (black cover)
• Pirates of Legend (black cover)
• Samurai of Legend (black cover)

Need advice on the usability of the following supplements:

• Arms of Legend (black cover) - how directly usable the information on weapons is for Mythras (being RQ2 vs RQ6)
• Monsters of Legend I and II (black cover) - how compatible these monsters are for use with Mythras, what would be their balance (too easy, too hard)
• Gladiators of Legend (black cover) - I noticed that it is heavily fantasy oriented, but wondered if anyone finds it useful for standard campaigns (esp. with Mythic Rome).
• Arcania of Legend: Blood Magic and Elementalism - are these compatible with Mythras, and what is the quality/balance of these systems in comparison with Mythras magic systems.

Finally, what are the differences between the black cover editions and the actual color cover editions called "revised", is there a reason to hold off on buying the black cover editions? Mongoose seems to only sell them on their PDF store.

[Raleel]

I can speak to Vikings and blood magic. Both are excellent and by the same author, who is one of the authors of Mythras. Blood magic is highly compatible, requiring only changes in the names of the resistances. Vikings is also highly compatible, though the career and culture structure is a little different. I’ve used blood magic in game, and have a game planned based on Vikings, though I’ve not gotten to run it yet. 
 

there is a gladiators article downloadable off of the design mechanism’s website that might be useful to you. 

[soltakss]

On 3/8/2023 at 9:43 AM, ApoApostolov said:

Arms of Legend (black cover) - how directly usable the information on weapons is for Mythras (being RQ2 vs RQ6)

Arms of Legend is based Legend, which was based on MRQ2, which is effectively RQ5, so it is similar enough. The weapons would work OK in Mythra, also Pete Nash has something against dual-wielding, which I think is covered in Arms of Legend.

On 3/8/2023 at 9:43 AM, ApoApostolov said:

Monsters of Legend I and II (black cover) - how compatible these monsters are for use with Mythras, what would be their balance (too easy, too hard)

They are pretty compatible, I think. You would have to change the Legendary Abilities to something Mythrasy, but I'd keep them as special powers of the monsters.

On 3/8/2023 at 9:43 AM, ApoApostolov said:

Gladiators of Legend (black cover) - I noticed that it is heavily fantasy oriented, but wondered if anyone finds it useful for standard campaigns (esp. with Mythic Rome).

It would probably fit in well with Mythic Rome, at least it would be easy to use with that, or even with Dark Age Cthulhu or Cthulhu Invictus. 

On 3/8/2023 at 9:43 AM, ApoApostolov said:

Arcania of Legend: Blood Magic and Elementalism - are these compatible with Mythras, and what is the quality/balance of these systems in comparison with Mythras magic systems.

They are pretty well-balanced. I used Blood Magic in a Revolutionish game and it worked well. The magic systems are reasonable and could easily be adapted to Mythras.

On 3/8/2023 at 9:43 AM, ApoApostolov said:

Finally, what are the differences between the black cover editions and the actual color cover editions called "revised", is there a reason to hold off on buying the black cover editions? Mongoose seems to only sell them on their PDF store.

I didn't know there were colour versions.

Also, have you seen my Land of Ice and Stone? Old Stone Age roleplaying, in a setting similar to the Earth's children series of books (Clan of the cave Bear).

[kilgs]

Vikings is a great book. Agreed.

 

Not sure about Core Mythras but I did mod the Elementalism book for Mythras Classic Fantasy and the Manipulation/Control tables appear to slot in fairly seamlessly.

Edited March 11, 2023 by kilgs

[pachristian]

All of the books you mentioned will translate to Mythras easily. As for historical accuracy - they're close enough for gaming work.

[pachristian]

And because my answer wasn't very helpful: I use Vikings of Legend and Pirates of Legend regularly. I'm outlining a Viking campaign, in Mythras, and will be using the magic from Vikings of Legend in it. I've used Gladiators of Legend in a Roman Era game, also Mythras, and it plugged in very nicely.

[Mjollnir]

I have pdfs of all items listed, and have printed out all but Gladiators and Elementalism (which I haven't looked into too closely as they don't appeal to me personally). From what I can tell the only noticeable difference between black cover and "revised" is the cover and a watermark on the pages of the black cover version. 

Vikings, Pirates, and Samurai are all good and useful guides to their respective settings.

Arms is good and useful, mostly for things that weren't included in Mythras core (I give precedence to Mythras over Arms when they conflict). Also I really like how Alchemy is presented in this book. 

Monsters is also good and useful, has some things that Mythras lacks, and stats some monsters differently. 

Blood Magic is good, I like it and draw from it when appropriate. As for balance, it fits within the wide, GM-adjusted parameters of magic in Mythras.

Note a human's Base Move in Legend is 8, in Mythras it is 6. 

[DamonJynx]

On 3/12/2023 at 2:39 AM, kilgs said:

Vikings is a great book. Agreed.

 

Not sure about Core Mythras but I did mod the Elementalism book for Mythras Classic Fantasy and the Manipulation/Control tables appear to slot in fairly seamlessly.

As the developer of Elementalism, it’s good to see someone getting value from it!