The past is the future

Complaining about the costs of our hobby is common among us gamers, and always has been, as the letter below illustrates. What's interesting is that prices haven't changed all that much in the past 12 years (using his figures). RPGs and minis tend to be higher (though not by a whole lot, and you can still get some RPGs for $30), but supplements in the $15-$30 range are still common.

I am concerned with the ever-rising prices in the gaming industry. I understand that prices rise due to inflation and such, but some of the prices I’ve seen recently have driven me to write this letter. A little over a year ago, a pack of lead miniatures with four figures cost $4.00. Now, a pack of two or three miniatures made from lead-free metal costs anywhere from $6.95-$8.95 or higher. There also is a need for more common monsters and such to be produced in a wider variety of poses. Games also have been affected. The average price of an RPG now is close to $30.00! And supplements for them average from $15.00 to $30.00 also. I know that the companies making these products are in business to make money, but how can you get people involved in a hobby that keeps getting more and more expensive every day?

- Dragon #213, Jan 1995 (Forum letter)

Your wish came true, Dale

From Dragon #210 (October 1994), in response to a letter:

The MAGIC game also has exposed many new people to the gaming industry and the industry only can benefit from such an influx of new gamers in the long run. I wish WotC luck, and I hope to see new WotC products for a long time (especially since WotC picked up one of my favorite FRPGs, the ARS MAGICA* game).

- Dale Donovan, Dragon editor

Mythosa Design Notes III: Religion

The previous incarnation of Mythosa took a cue from White Wolf's Scarred Lands and had a religious system based on the nine alignments. At one time I liked this but I eventually found it somewhat limiting. As such, I wanted to open things up a bit. I was also reading Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories and thought that it might be cool to have a world dominated by dark powers (evil gods, demon lords, etc.), with very few, if any, good religions. Interesting but ultimately a little too dark for my tastes. On the other hand, I still liked the idea of a limited following for the "good" deities - it's a built-in plot device for clerics and paladins, giving them a reason to proselytize and crusade for their religion.

I also liked the idea (hardly original) of a dichotomy between the "primitive" nature religion ("Faith of the Old Mother") and the "civilized" religions (the "New Gods"). Often the nature god/goddess and druids are simply relegated to the "neutral" square of a campaign matrix. They have some unique traits but everything tends to fit together in a nice package. I liked the idea instead to have a genuine philosophical conflict between the two, particularly since it's not the standard "good versus evil". George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice has something like this (RuneQuest comes to mind as well, though they take RPG religion to an entirely different level).

Mythosa Design Notes II: The Overall Theme

The primary theme of Mythosa is that the world is a dangerous, chaotic place, with small bastions of civilization scattered here and there. Travel is perilous and humanity clings to a handful of city-states and walled towns that dot the countryside. This, again, sounds like it was taken from 4E with its assumption of "points of light" campaigns. It is essentially the same concept, but I had the idea for this long before we learned about that part of 4E. Inspiration came from a variety of sources, including but not limited to:

• Robert E. Howard's Hyboria (the world of Conan)
• Fritz Leiber's Nehwon (Lankhmar, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser)
• Jack Vance's Dying Earth books
• Michael Moorcock's Young Kingdoms (Elric)
• Edgar Rice Burroughs's Mars books (John Carter)
• Bob Bledsaw's Wilderlands of High Fantasy (D&D campaign setting from Judges Guild)
• Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique stories
• Ancient Greece (Sparta, Athens, etc.)
• Renaissance Italy (Venice, Florence, Genoa, etc.)

In another sense, Mythosa is meant to be post-apocalyptic, in a fantasy sense. That doesn't mean that the world was once technological and has "reverted" to medieval fantasy after a global nuclear war, or even something along those lines (like Shannara or the world of Wheel of Time). Rather, it's more like Europe during the Dark Ages, after the collapse of the Roman Empire - if the collapse of the empire occurred over the course of five years or so.

In any case, the above settings and the overall theme that emerges from them make for a world that reasonably justifies the degree of violence in a typical D&D campaign. Not that there's not room for other elements (politics, trade, etc.), but it's nice to have a milieu where all the killing and looting are at least somwhat rationalized.

Mythosa Design Notes I: Introduction

The new Mythosa wiki (ready to be uploaded after the proofreading is finished) contains the latest incarnation of my world. Some people like to create new worlds; I tend to remake the same one, carrying on the best elements of the previous version. Fortunately, the time between recreations has been lengthening as time goes on; this may be the last, final version. But...we'll see.

So, what spurred the change this time? Well, the previous version had gone in a direction I wasn't particularly happy with. I have a tendency to create for creation's sake without considering whether what I'm doing is necessary (or just cool enough it needs to be added). Much of the old Mythosa was like that. In the end, a lot of that detail was wasted. The other impetus was actually 4th Edition. I didn't change Mythosa for 4E. But I'd been thinking about doing it for quite some time. When 4E and its release date were announced, it seemed as good a reason as any to do something I'd been thinking about doing in the first place. It would have happened regardless of the 4E announcement, probably just at a later date.

In any case, I've decided to post design notes about the world. I've never included them in the past but I thought it might be useful to help convey a better feel for what Mythosa is supposed to be like. I try to refrain from real world comparisons within the content as much as possible but here I'll be listing inspirations and models that I used in the new design (though some are no doubt obvious).

My notes, in no particular order, will follow.