Glen Cook's Black Company Licensed by Arc Dream

Best Selling RPGs - Available Now @ DriveThruRPG.com
Fenris-77 said:
Swords of the Serpentine. It was mentioned upthread and it's a game I'm quite fond of.
Click to expand...
Doh, ok gotcha. Yeah, I can see it being used and done well with that, SotS was the first Gumshoe based rpg that I actually liked, definitely see why you'd say that.

At times my mind kinda breaks with acronyms. Ever see the DoD books, books with an "s" for sure that they fucking use just for acronyms? I'm so over acronyms and abbreviations, my old brain can't handle them anymore.

Heck, I raise hell about Brits being lazy fuckers and starting the abbreviation "traditional" with "trad". Listening to numerous podcast episodes where they kept using the term. I hope those who wandered by me while I was listening to the podcasts didn't think I was some dementated old guy because I was muttering and swearing off an on.

::raises fist at clouds::
 
Last edited:
Malckuss said:
Glen Cook mentioned, briefly, with no details, that Arc Dream Publishing has acquired the license for a Black Company TTRPG in a recent interview. No really, very briefly. No details. The interview is mostly about the Garrett, PI Files. If you like Glen Cook's writing, it's a great read.

Years ago, in a thread I started on TBP, Shane Ivey discussed a few ideas regarding how he would adapt ORE - Reign, specifically - to run a Black Company-style campaign. Reign got a new edition relatively recently and I'm excited to see how they approach the Black Company.

Green Ronin did an amazing job with The Black Company Campaign Setting for d20, which is still a great resource. I would have been interested to see how they might have adapted Fantasy AGE 2E, but alas, 'twas not to be.

Pelgrane Press' Sword's of the Serpentine lists the Black Company novels as an inspiration and it also fits the style of the Garrett files.

How does this news strike you? Discuss!
Click to expand...
Really love this news. I'd rather have used SotS as I did basically a mini-black company series in that for the playtest. Band of Blades also gives a good approximation. But ORE would be good too. Still have the d20 and really like it.
 
Fenris-77 said:
Well, outside of FitD and PbtA I only rlly use the abbrvs for SotS and OSR stuff. Well, also LotR, TOR, LotFP, DnD, GnR and a couple of other things.
Click to expand...
Yeah, yeah, just babble out a bunch of acronyms and abbreviations to force my mind to go into mental translation mode. Making me have to go get another cup of coffee to jolt my mind, you Evil Arctic Dwelling Individual, you.


Folks... the real Fenris-77!

1712781406406.png
 
Last edited:
The Black Company series pretty much reads exactly like a GURPS Fantasy campaign. Still, it's a good series, and I'm definitely curious to check out both the treatment of the source material in the new game and the new game system.
 
Acmegamer said:
Lesson learned by me and they definitely helped curb my FOMO and spending upwards of 12k a year on this hobby. So I guess there's that. lol
Click to expand...

I honestly didn't even know there was that much stuff out there to buy.

105119-thats-impressive-gif-bradley-c-jvqw-300x209.gif
 
lgm said:
I'm a big fan of Black Company and would prefer a system neutral campaign setting. Is the d20 version heavy with stats and character creation or is the campaign material most of the book? I could get that now or wait to see how well the new one is.
Click to expand...
It's a great compilation of the the notes from the various unreliable narrators in the setting and it has an attempt at a map which might be worth it, though it's obviously a best guess (and I'm pretty sure the world was very loosely based in our world's geography). Of note, there is a very spoilery primer in it that covers more or less all the important bits. I felt it was worth it at the time. I'm not even sure where you would get a copy now that didn't involve a black flag.
 
saskganesh said:
It's not very good.

Amnesia is actually a plot device. Thematically speaking, you'd be better off forgetting all about it.
Click to expand...

T. Foster said:
Unfortunately that’s consistent with what I’ve heard elsewhere, which is why I haven’t been in any hurry to read it.
Click to expand...


I enjoyed it, but at least as much because it highlights that the unreliable narrators can't even trust themselves. Their accounts aren't just personal recollections colored by their own perceptions they are also subject to enemy action.
 
T. Foster said:
The later books are written in a different style in the voices of several different first-person narrators and the characters are also closer to the center of the action rather than being, effectively, pawns with no real idea what’s going on at the higher levels of power except what they witness and can surmise, so the feel is definitely different. The setting of the later books is also very different from the original trilogy - more south Asian-flavored. The later books are also longer.

Around books 7-8 my interest was flagging pretty badly and I wasn’t sure I was going to bother to continue, but the last two turned it around for me and I ended up feeling satisfied with the series as a whole and glad I stuck with it. [Note: Cook has fairly recently published an 11th book set early in the timeline which I haven’t read and can’t vouch either for or against.]
Click to expand...

Thanks very much for this! I think I stopped reading after the 7th or 8th book, so perhaps I quit before the series recovered. I'll keep this in mind when considering returning to the series in the future.
 
Korgoth said:
Doe she fancy herself in the role of 'The Lady' ?


.
Click to expand...

In my head-canon The Lady is played by Olivia Wilde (and so is someone else of course).

Karl Urban as Croaker

Samuel Jackson as One-Eye and Danny Devito as Goblin (Peter Dinklage is too handsome for the role)

Viggo Mortensen as Silent.

Walton Goggins as Raven.

Chris Hemsworth as Elmo.

Anyone else use famous people in their head-canon? I know I didn't start out with those people in my minds-eye, but as time has gone on, they have morphed into those roles for me (and some are subject to change as time goes on)
 
Brander said:
Anyone else use famous people in their head-canon? I know I didn't start out with those people in my minds-eye, but as time has gone on, they have morphed into those roles for me (and some are subject to change as time goes on)
Click to expand...

This only happens for me with books that have movie adaptions. For example, if I read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings now all the characters looks like they do in the movies. The movie characters override whatever my previous image of them were. But otherwise the answer is no.
 
The Mad Hatter said:
This only happens for me with books that have movie adaptions. For example, if I read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings now all the characters looks like they do in the movies. The movie characters override whatever my previous image of them were. But otherwise the answer is no.
Click to expand...
Funny, it happens the other way around for me - I'm pretty sure if I try to picture the hobbits from the movie, or a scene from it, I'm likely to remember how they were dressed in my head, and how it looked in my head when I read the book::honkhonk:!
 
Brander said:
In my head-canon The Lady is played by Olivia Wilde (and so is someone else of course).

Karl Urban as Croaker

Samuel Jackson as One-Eye and Danny Devito as Goblin (Peter Dinklage is too handsome for the role)

Viggo Mortensen as Silent.

Walton Goggins as Raven.

Chris Hemsworth as Elmo.

Anyone else use famous people in their head-canon? I know I didn't start out with those people in my minds-eye, but as time has gone on, they have morphed into those roles for me (and some are subject to change as time goes on)
Click to expand...

I like it, who would you head-cast as 'The Limper (my fav character)

.
 
Korgoth said:
I like it, who would you head-cast as 'The Limper (my fav character)
Click to expand...

I was going to say Ryan Reynolds and then....

Edit to add: Because of his backstory I thought he needed to be someone like this, and Reynolds is used to the makeup. I was wrong.

Fenris-77 said:
Doug Jones
Click to expand...

This just works and is now my answer
 
SJB said:
Doug Jones - 63

Is is a story about an OAP stomach battalion?
Click to expand...
Most of those actors seem younger than they are (plus our mental image of them is probably from about 10-15 years ago). But if you’ve read the books it absolutely makes sense for both Goblin and One-Eye to be played by old actors - even at the beginning of the series they’re both already unspeakably ancient and have been part of the Company for decades.
 
SJB said:
Doug Jones - 63

Is is a story about an OAP stomach battalion?
Click to expand...
To add to T. Foster's comment, this series puts the treachery in old age.

Character ages after the slash

The Lady is played by Olivia Wilde - 40 / ~500
and Eliza Dushku is 43 who planned to play her (though she was closer to 35 when she optioned it I think)

Karl Urban as Croaker - 51 / ~40

Samuel Jackson as One-Eye -75 /~150

Danny Devito as Goblin - 79 / ~150

Viggo Mortensen as Silent. - 65 / ~ "middle aged"

Walton Goggins as Raven. - 52 / 25-35 though I'd lean older

Chris Hemsworth as Elmo. - 40 / Slightly older than Croaker probably

Doug Jones as Limper - 63 / ~500
[/QUOTE]
 
chuckdee said:
Considering the fact that he played Tyrion, I think he'd be fine as Goblin, honestly. That's what prosthetics are for, and I think his mannerisms and such are better than Devito.
Click to expand...
I'd be fine with either. He got mentioned because he came up very close 2nd for me.
 
T. Foster said:
Most of those actors seem younger than they are (plus our mental image of them is probably from about 10-15 years ago). But if you’ve read the books it absolutely makes sense for both Goblin and One-Eye to be played by old actors - even at the beginning of the series they’re both already unspeakably ancient and have been part of the Company for decades.
Click to expand...
Nope, I was just curious as to whether they were OAPs or if the actor choices were trending a bit Boomer.
 
SJB said:
Nope, I was just curious as to whether they were OAPs or if the actor choices were trending a bit Boomer.
Click to expand...
Ah, nope. At the start of the series only the wizards are already old (and Lady at least uses magic to hide her actual age). That said, the series covers decades of time and by the end the characters who’ve survived since the beginning are all well into late middle-age (which is to say the suggested actors are probably more suitable for the later books than the first one).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Banner: The best cosmic horror & Cthulhu Mythos @ DriveThruRPG.com
Back
Top