Mankcam
Hallowed Be Thy Swo
- Joined
- Sep 24, 2017
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I know that I am late to this, but this Swordfish Islands setting looks really cool.
It's from an indie publisher (Jacob Hurst), so it may not be on the radar for many people.
The first book in the Swordfish Islands setting is called 'Hot Springs Island', and it's a hexcrawl sandbox setting, probably the most sandboxy setting that I have seen published for a long time
The premise is that it is a dark fantasy lost-world style setting full of savagery and weirdness, and the player-characters have embarked on a expedition full of peril, in game mechanics played out in a classic hexcrawl exploration situation.
It is set in it's own fantasy world, although this is only eluded to in snippets and no hard facts are explained about the rest of the world setting. It has been designed this way on purpose, so it can be easily plugged into a pre-existing world that a GM has already been running, or even potentially stretched to be set here on earth if you want to explain it away like a lost realm land with weird races and critters etc.
I think it works best in a fantasy world however, but not a vanilla kid-friendly fantasy; more of a setting for a mature audience, one with some dark themes around the edges.
The player-characters hearken from a civilised culture, and are basically playing a strangers-in-a-strange-land situation.
It is up to the GM to describe the player-characters cultural origins; it could be anything from an Antiquity-styled culture through to a Middle Ages influenced or a Renaissance-style culture, or even a Black Powder or Imperial Era / Age of Sail culture. The main thing is that the player-charactes are apart from their land of origin, and they are relying on their own wits to survive and prosper.
There could be any number of reasons for player-characters to make the long journey to Hot Springs Island, with the most likely reason being to loot it's ancient wonders of a fallen civilisation. Although it seems likely to be a costly exercise for freebooters to make their way to the island, so the island itself must be located some way away from the mainland setting in the world.
The island itself is quite tropical but very exotic and alien, as well as dangerous. Think of something along the lines of Madagascar, with hot and steamy jungles, exotic plants and animals, we're-not-in-Kansas-anymore kinda vibe. Then throw in the city ruins of an ancient Elven culture (kinda a cross between ancient Vedic India and fictional Melinbone). Overlay this with numerous savage beasts and non-human ethnic Races, each faction with their own motivations, and that is sort of the situation happening on the island.
The author suggests using his fictional Martel Company as a background. The Martel Company is described as a very politically powerful merchant league or guild, much like the historical Hanseatic League, or the East India Company, probably more the later.
One suggestion is that the PCs are privateers in the employ of The Martel. The company has outfitted you and paid your way to the island, and you owe them 20% of any loot you find.
Another suggestion is that you are indebted prisoners working off your penal sentence, and The Martel have purchased your sentence and transfered your indebture to them, with the time of this indebture being reduced quicker the more loot you return to the Martel Quartermasters.
In fact on the author's webpage he goes one-step further by suggesting that The Martel has physically branded you, burning a magical curse into your flesh. This curse is a magical timer which counts down your life, and this timer is extended every time loot gets taken back to a Martel Quartermaster, with the hope that eventually the tattoo-curse fades away before it consumes you.
I think that's a great way to kick off a classic hexcrawl like this, it's akin to the cool start-ups in Elder Scrolls or something along those lines.
This Hot Springs Island product is completely generic, it has no system or stats, but lots of narrative content and heaps of random tables and such.
Obiviously aimed more towards the D20 OSR crowd, but it can work with any ruleset, which I think is a feature, not a flaw, and I would be happy if more independent publishers went down a similar path.
I'm just wondering if anyone has had experiences using the Hot Springs Island setting?
It's from an indie publisher (Jacob Hurst), so it may not be on the radar for many people.
The first book in the Swordfish Islands setting is called 'Hot Springs Island', and it's a hexcrawl sandbox setting, probably the most sandboxy setting that I have seen published for a long time
The premise is that it is a dark fantasy lost-world style setting full of savagery and weirdness, and the player-characters have embarked on a expedition full of peril, in game mechanics played out in a classic hexcrawl exploration situation.
It is set in it's own fantasy world, although this is only eluded to in snippets and no hard facts are explained about the rest of the world setting. It has been designed this way on purpose, so it can be easily plugged into a pre-existing world that a GM has already been running, or even potentially stretched to be set here on earth if you want to explain it away like a lost realm land with weird races and critters etc.
I think it works best in a fantasy world however, but not a vanilla kid-friendly fantasy; more of a setting for a mature audience, one with some dark themes around the edges.
The player-characters hearken from a civilised culture, and are basically playing a strangers-in-a-strange-land situation.
It is up to the GM to describe the player-characters cultural origins; it could be anything from an Antiquity-styled culture through to a Middle Ages influenced or a Renaissance-style culture, or even a Black Powder or Imperial Era / Age of Sail culture. The main thing is that the player-charactes are apart from their land of origin, and they are relying on their own wits to survive and prosper.
There could be any number of reasons for player-characters to make the long journey to Hot Springs Island, with the most likely reason being to loot it's ancient wonders of a fallen civilisation. Although it seems likely to be a costly exercise for freebooters to make their way to the island, so the island itself must be located some way away from the mainland setting in the world.
The island itself is quite tropical but very exotic and alien, as well as dangerous. Think of something along the lines of Madagascar, with hot and steamy jungles, exotic plants and animals, we're-not-in-Kansas-anymore kinda vibe. Then throw in the city ruins of an ancient Elven culture (kinda a cross between ancient Vedic India and fictional Melinbone). Overlay this with numerous savage beasts and non-human ethnic Races, each faction with their own motivations, and that is sort of the situation happening on the island.
The author suggests using his fictional Martel Company as a background. The Martel Company is described as a very politically powerful merchant league or guild, much like the historical Hanseatic League, or the East India Company, probably more the later.
One suggestion is that the PCs are privateers in the employ of The Martel. The company has outfitted you and paid your way to the island, and you owe them 20% of any loot you find.
Another suggestion is that you are indebted prisoners working off your penal sentence, and The Martel have purchased your sentence and transfered your indebture to them, with the time of this indebture being reduced quicker the more loot you return to the Martel Quartermasters.
In fact on the author's webpage he goes one-step further by suggesting that The Martel has physically branded you, burning a magical curse into your flesh. This curse is a magical timer which counts down your life, and this timer is extended every time loot gets taken back to a Martel Quartermaster, with the hope that eventually the tattoo-curse fades away before it consumes you.
I think that's a great way to kick off a classic hexcrawl like this, it's akin to the cool start-ups in Elder Scrolls or something along those lines.
This Hot Springs Island product is completely generic, it has no system or stats, but lots of narrative content and heaps of random tables and such.
Obiviously aimed more towards the D20 OSR crowd, but it can work with any ruleset, which I think is a feature, not a flaw, and I would be happy if more independent publishers went down a similar path.
I'm just wondering if anyone has had experiences using the Hot Springs Island setting?
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