Auran Empire

General ACKS Forums Auran Empire
21

Which of the following is most important to you?
Gazeteer maps of playable adventure areas
Cultural information about the world
Encounter charts and sample encounters

How do you prefer your world information conveyed:
A mix of the above

22

Hello everyone! Things have been quiet on the Auran Empire forum for a while, but it's only because I've been hard at work on material.

Here's an update on what I presently expect to be included in the campaign setting:

  1. Annals - Timeline and calendar of the Auran Empire region
  2. Census - The ancestral tribes and current races of the region
  3. Atlas - 24-mile hex maps of the entire region (4 8x11 maps) with ACKs statistics for the 12 major realms, including military forces, land values, scaled to the duchal level (e.g. borders of empires, kingdoms, principalities, and duchies)
  4. Mythopedia - Deities of the Empyrean and Chthonic pantheon, cosmology, religious teachings
  5. Guidebook - Administration, legal code, culture, customs, and language of the Auran Empire
  6. Bestiary - 24 monsters, including the Children of Nasga, Dire Beastmen, Draugr, Hag, Leyak, Mummy Lord, Sphinx, and Yali
  7. Apocrypha - Secrets of the campaign world for the Judge's reference, including unique magical items and major NPCs
  8. Gazetteer - A starting campaign setting on the south-eastern borders of the Empire, adjacent to Old Zahar and the Waste

Progress is slow because it's a large volume of material but I expect that we'll Kickstart it in 2013. 

I'd like feedback on whether you prefer one-volume or two-volume presentation for campaign materials; and if two volume do you prefer "Player's Guide/Judge's Guide" or "Background Material/Game Statistics" type splits?

 

23

Good to hear!

If you divided the materials into two volumes, would the Player’s Guide be specifically geared towards what characters could reasonably know about the game world, with the Judge’s Guide containing the statistics, mechanics, secrets and so forth?

24

That would be the idea, more or less. I'm not sure if I like that general approach or not. My default tends to favor a single book.

25

Sounds great! And yes, a single book would be my preference, but if it had to be split, player/judge would be best.

26

I like the idea of a single book too, but I hope that it includes the same kind of division between “information players should read” and “information only the judge needs to read”.

Obviously some people, both players and judges, will read the whole book with interest, but I think many players just want to know the information that is relevant to their character. Could that lend itself to an index of races/classes/regional origins, such that any player could quickly look up some background to help with role-playing the template they just rolled?

I, for one, would like to know why my Eunuch Sorcerer has foregone “Restore Life and Limb”, and under what circumstances someone is likely to fall into such a, um, profession. :slight_smile:

27

I prefer 2 volume sets. However, a volume meant for players would be lost on my groups, as they’ve never taken much effort to delve into rules literature much beyond what they need to know for their character.

So, I think 1 volume with player-oriented excerpts the judge could easily extricate and present to players would work best all around.

28

This might be way more than what you’re looking to do, but have you considered making it a box set like Greyhawk, with a ‘catalog/players’ and ‘glossography/DM’s’ book and a big map to go along with it?

29

I would prefer a single volume for the same reason as Beragon.

30

Me too.

31

1 volume to make it useful for players. in my experience, players don’t buy or read much campaign stuff.

32

OK, that was pretty much universal acclaim for 1 volume. Duly noted!

33

I was just curious as to where the setting stands? When can we expect to see it? Thanks!!

34

one volume!

it’s GM material 2 volume are not needed unless you are going for more than 700 pages

35

I have a couple hundred pages drafted, but it's far from edited or complete. We're hoping to Kickstart it this year with a release date in 2014.

36

I think it would be better to kickstart it soon (leaving a 2014 release date) so we can read it :slight_smile:

37

This interview has lots of information about the Auran Empire:

http://www.bythisaxe.co/2013/04/designers-q-with-alexander-macris.html

 

38

time for some more info… ():slight_smile: