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Shadow World Channelers Guide v2.0

I recently posted up an updated version of my “Channelers Guide” over at the RM Forums and thoughts I’d make a few comments.

  1. Book title. I’m still not sure what to call this! I use “Guide”, “Handbook”, “Religions” interchangeably at different points. Is this work about Channeling, religions, Priests?
  2. Analog approach. Despite efforts to improve my work efficiency, I’m still using an old school approach to updates. I’ll jot down an idea, write a quick note or send myself an email and then put those scraps in a folder. Then when it accumulates I’ll add it to the master doc, add copy and then edit/page setup.
  3. Now that I have a group again the new material is piling up! I have 2 channelers in the group and I wanted to flesh out a few more religion details as part of their character backgrounds. I’m already thinking about v3.0 but want to finish up the Book of Essaence first.
  4. As Micael pointed out on the RM Forums, I left out 6 spell lists for some of the Gods of Charon. Most of those had some treatment already in Powers so I didn’t focus on either adding too, or creating a new religious organization. For now. I’ll be adding those in the next version.
  5. Other adds for v3.0. Summary of any significant religions in the various books. Artifacts, maybe some common temple floorplans or designs. With the spell lists and new material it’s going to push to 100-120 page count.
  6. Editing. I have no skills as an editor or in page layout. I wish I could put out a more professional product, but the last 10% just takes too much time.

Here are the links to the spell lists not included in the guide.

Andaras: https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=3787
Scalu: https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=3799
Nynaku: https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=3804
Kesh’ta’kai: https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=3782
Moralis: https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=3802
Klysus: https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?action=dlattach;attach=3803

Book of Essaence (BoE). This project has been a lingering goal of mine for quite some time. In fact I should have written this first, before BASiL, to help guide the design of spell lists. There are pieces of the BoE throughout this blog: powers and spells of the Earthwardens, Dragonlords, Xiosians, Essaence flows, magical languages. BoE is tying all of these pieces together into a cohesive whole, with a history starting in the 1st Era and following the origins of spells through to “present day”. The outline is currently at a dozen or so pages, but spell lists will inflate that for the final product. With the baseline finished I’ve come to the conclusion that early magic had to have 2 stages: Proto-Magic and then Arcane magic. That solved a lot of issues I kept encountering.

So why do the BoE? Much of it is academic and would have little if any impact on gameplay. Perhaps it’s my nature, but Terry left many gaps in the Shadow World setting, particularly in the underpinnings of the magic system. We have the “results” (Spell Law) but we never had a clear idea how it got there. Kulthea is not in a fantasy universe of magic; it’s in our “real” universe with a special circumstance that allows for magic. For me, this needed better road rules!

Anyway, I’m moving along quite nicely with my writing goals for 2026. Will I hit all of my benchmarks? Probably not, especially as my RL gets hectic again in a few months. Either way, I’m no longer waiting for any real opportunity from ICE to expand the Shadow World product line. If I have ideas in my head that need writing down I’ll keep on going.

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Adventuring in Post-Apocalyptic Shadow World

Back in 2016 I wrote about the Many Flavors of Shadow World; how SW has a variety of setting styles that could work with any gaming group or desired game setting. But one obvious genre/style I completely overlooked: the post-apocalyptic! Well of course the whole of Kulthea is by definition a post-apocalyptic setting, but I’m referring to a region to adventure with the P-A vibe. Basically wastelands. For a fantasy setting there isn’t really much wasteland on the Shadow World, but one certainly stands out: the Zor Wastes.

While mentions of the Zor wastelands go back to early SW products, most of the content can be found in the updated Jaiman book and the small supplement Aalk Vaalg. Despite the description as a wasteland, with miles of slagged surface, there is life and society: although mostly mutant and half mutant tribes of cannibals. But from such adventures are made! Terry’s focus on the Priest Arnak and their Messengers there could a be a number of adventure possibilities; one’s which I’ll be exploring with my group.

Adventure Hooks

Rare Herbs. There are a number of rare and useful herbs (Furk, Kylan, Shaub, Siri, Shumaran), with the “W” locale code (waste). Given the dangers of the Zor wastes, it’s unlikely that a herbalist, healer or similar would venture there themselves. So hire a group!

Lost Cities. The three largest cities were Tezra, Azodor and the capital Verzor. While destroyed, and Verzor described as a crater surrounded by glassy slag, it’s possible that the underground or lower levels of the city might still exist! I imagine something similar to the Morlock caves, The Underdwellers in the Dead city or even cooler, the underground ruins in The Mutant Chronicles. Creepy underground cities filled with mutants or a lost sect or civilization. Okay!

Rescue. The mutants are cannibals, but perhaps they also need “breeding stock” and kidnap nearby Jameri’s from the plains tribes. Whose going to save them?

Travel. Sometimes you have to get from here to there and the quickest way is going through the Zor wastes to get to the Vezarian Pass or the Otoni Gap into Tanara.

Challenges

“Radiation”. There are many allusions to the nuclear style device, a technology from the Ancients, that was activated to destroy Zor and the subsequent sicknesses and mutations. Of course the obvious analog is radiation.

Essaence Disruptions or Dead spots. I like using differing levels of Essaence to add challenges to the group. It’s possible that the cataclysm that destroyed Zor also created dead spots; areas with no Essaence to draw from or perhaps deadens all Essaence effects and spells. Better bring the fighters.

Aids

Tribes. The plains tribes to the West could be a great resource for the group.

Gryphon College. A great resource for the group in Jaiman is of course Gryphon College.

If you like your fantasy with blasted lands, mutants, dark Priests, rabid dogs and lost tech, then the Zor Wastes are for you! For some reason, my past player groups have never explored this area but now with my new gaming group I’m sending them in!

Have you used the Zor wastes in your game?

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Essaence Barriers in Shadow World

I’ve written a few blogs referencing Essaence Flows and Barriers over the years, but my current writing has me circling back to the subject. I’m not sure what our readership is here now, but I thought I would throw it out.

The issue. Excluding the inception of the Great Barrier, when did Essaence Flows begin to manifest into physical barriers on Kulthea?

While I still suspect that many SW groups don’t use Essaence Flow barriers as originally devised and envisioned by Terry, they are part of the setting and would necessarily direct societal interaction, commerce and trade. So when did they become “a thing”?

Essaence was detected on Kulthea during the 1st Era and was present during the technological evolution of the Althans and the rise of the Essaence Users, the Ka’ta’viir. So while the Essaence permeated Kulthea, it couldn’t have to the extent that it does in the current Era. We know the Essaence interferes with standard tech and the presence of invisible energy walls and even Flow Storms would have had an impact on the Althans. There is no indication of Essaence working like that in the 1st Era. That leaves us with a few basic conclusions:

  1. Essaence energy became more ubiquitous and powerful after the end of the 1st Era.
  2. While this coincides with the placement of the Northern and Southern Eyes, it could also be the result of time. The Interregnum lasted 100,000 years, so perhaps the Essaence was always growing and expanding on Kulthea.
  3. Alternatively, something about the installation of the Eyes and the creation of the Great Barrier created offshoots: smaller, less powerful, and perhaps temporary versions of the Great Barrier that ebb and flow around the hemisphere.
  4. Counter intuitively, weren’t the Eyes meant to stabilize the Essaence? You would think that Essaence would be more consistent and less volatile with the Eyes, but for a many reasons that seems the opposite.
  5. Another theory might be that the wars and cataclysms at the end of the 1st Era, damaged the Essaence permeation into the universe. The Essaence was out of control and the Eyes calmed it down, but not to the degree of pre-interregnum. So all of these could be partially true.

Is this academic? Perhaps not. While I’m working out the ontology of magic using, it’s equally important to define the what/how of the Essaence over time. Simply put, if the Essaence ebbs and flows, so to perhaps the power and scope of spells. That would dictate spell design for early primal magic, arcane magic and the contemporary magic realms.

Anyone have any thoughts?

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Winter Thoughts, Random Musings and Updates

First off, Happy New Year to all! Last year was fairly active for ICE and the finalization of the RMU product line. This blog has been fairly slow the last few years as the conversations have shifted to new platforms like Discord, but I still prefer the more deliberative blog format to memorialize work or organize my thoughts.

In that spirit I thought I would post up some random musings!

  1. Where have I been? With all he noise around RMU I decided to step back and let that process run it’s course. Instead I focused on writing AND I’ve been able to reconstitute a playing group to start testing new ideas, adventures and Shadow World in general. Having a semi-regular game creates a fantastic feedback loop that also drives my writing and new content. My players know and understand that their might be significant changes to the game rules, spells and even the adventure path from session to session so I can “move fast and break things” for faster game testing.
  2. Nomikos Library. A longstanding goal was to get Matt’s “Nomikos Library” back up and running. Not only has Matt got it back up and running, it’s now AI enabled to add functionality with more features forthcoming. I think this is a fantastic tool for the setting.
  3. Terms of Art. I’ve written about this before, but I’m constantly thinking about our word usage in Rolemaster. Specifically, whether it makes sense to mechanistically define words for the ruleset or to use them interchangeably. An example would be “illusions”, “glamours” “mirage”, “visions” “phantasm” or “summoning” vs “calling”. FRPG’s will often use these terms loosely, or as just spell name differentiators among casters. To some extent this has been done, and perhaps it’s moved further along with RMU, but it’s not quite there. By defining these terms we also create established guidelines around their use that fits into the setting, the ruleset or as coherent short hand for communicating ideas. This topic requires a lengthier treatment, but it’s been on my mind, especially in terms of written magic: runes, glyphs, sigils, marks, symbols etc.
  4. Re-writing. From a review of my work product so far, everything needs a re-write! I’ve always relied on the 80% rule, with the understanding that no work is every finished and/or that the final polishing could be done if ICE decided to move ahead with an official publication. But final edits are time-consuming and I’d rather push out 100 new pages than final edit an existing work with 10% new material for the same amount of time.
  5. 2026 Goals. My goals for this year are…ambitious. Of course I’m cheating a bit since some of my 2026 product is the result of work I did last year. My goal is 600 pages of material.
    • Chronicles Chapter 1: Kuor. I put out the first section of this a few years back but now I’ve been able to expand upon it with the new gaming group. For me, the Gods are the entry point into Shadow World. Religions create impetus, reasons and conflicts for adventure. That is not to say that I would lean on religions and gods if I were to create my own setting, but I use Shadow World and that’s that! I have a few other Chapters outlined so there is lots of material to plumb!
    • Shadow World: Book of Things. Tech, magic items, materials, trade goods, alchemical stuff, drugs, equipment etc.
    • Nontataku. I’ve been picking away at this for years. Barring maps, it’s almost there.
    • Empire of the Black Dragon. This has always been 80% complete and was expected to go into editing for official publication. Since that’s unlikely to occur it’s time to put it out there to finish off the Agyra Series.
    • Shadow World: Book of Essence. This has been my primary project for the last year. History and chronology of Shadow World magic: arcane, realms, languages, sources and history of lists, and re-writes of the BASiL lists for Shadow World (my version of it anyway). Lots of side info including expanded info on Ka’ta’viir families and merchant houses, Dragon lineages, Orhan/Charon cycles and influences etc.
    • Book of Channeling Addendum. I’ve added some inferred powers to the various Priests based on their aspects. I’ve shied away from level based powers–very D&D but I’ve warmed to it as my views have changed on Channeling.

Final thoughts. I’ve toyed with putting out my SWARM ruleset (Shadow World Alternate RoleMaster). I pullled a 30 page summary together for my players so they could make characters–and yes, they did character creation in 15-20 minutes! But after monitoring the endless rule debates online I’m going to stay away from it. Matt and I want to focus on narrative and setting, regardless of rules. Shadow World needs a d20 version!

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The Nomikos Library

Vroomfogle has awoken

After more than a decade in the shadows, Vroomfogle & Company is back.

A Return to Kulthea

More than a decade ago, I stepped away from Rolemaster and Shadow World. Back then, I ran vroomfogle.com and the Nomikos library as resources for our gaming community. Life moved on, domains lapsed, and those sites faded into memory.

Around the same time, I also stepped away from the development of RMU. It was great to see it finally published, and I’m proud of the work I contributed. These days, though, I’m less interested in rules and mechanics and more interested in the setting and stories.

Shadow World never truly left me. Terry Amthor’s creation — with its deep history, powerful magic, and richly detailed cultures — deserves to live on. I’ve always loved Shadow World because it’s detailed, mysterious, and alive and even with all that canon there are still blank spaces that invite you to step in and make something of your own. Every line in the timeline feels like a story waiting to happen.

I still play RM occasionally with old friends — we’ve been playing for years, maybe about once a year on average — and it’s always a good reminder of why the setting mattered more to me than the rules ever did.

Part of this reboot is simply because I like building things. It was a good excuse to learn some new technologies and to explore what it looks like to integrate LLMs with RAG (vector embeddings and semantic search) for a fun hobby application.

Another reason is simple: I want to encourage people to play Shadow World. If this helps existing fans go deeper (and maybe pulls a few new folks in) that’s a win.

This is me rebuilding a small corner of the old internet: a place to preserve canon lore, explore it deeply, and build upon it in ways that respect the source material while enabling new stories.

For me, the Y’kin were one of those places where the story felt unfinished. Rather than leaving them frozen as villains, this campaign gives them a narrative—and lets them matter in one small, consequential part of the Shadow World.

What is Vroomfogle & Company?

Vroomfogle & Company is my interactive archive for Kulthea: AI-powered exploration tools, a growing library index, and campaign notes written as a living chronicle.

On the site you’ll find Nomikos (source-grounded Q&A over an indexed Shadow World library), Ask Andraax (the same underlying retrieval with a more cryptic voice for hooks), and a living campaign archive for Legacy of the Y’kin.

Nomikos is a great tool for reflecting canon, but it’s not a replacement for the books. The canon books have maps, adventures, statistics, and they’re browseable in a way an AI summary isn’t. Nomikos is ultimately a summary and rephrasing of those texts — and it can (and does) get things wrong.

If you’re interested in the retrieval/indexing side of this (RAG, vector embeddings, semantic search), the core library is athenaeum, available on GitHub.

The AI personas and retrieval behavior are very likely to need ongoing tweaking (prompting, guardrails, retrieval parameters, and UI details) as real-world usage reveals edge cases. If something feels off—tone, refusal behavior, citations/context, or missing answers—please file an issue.

I’ll keep adding to the site over time as the library grows and the rough edges get sanded down. 

vroomfogle.com

Questions or feedback? Please file an issue on GitHub.

— Matt

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High Level Rolemaster

Another Discord discussion caught my attention and I wanted to provide a few additional thoughts on high level Rolemaster. I’ve blogged about this a few times and the following posts might be worth reviewing:

Rolemaster High Level Play. Pt 1.
50th Level Adventures. Deconstruction & Design of Chapter 1: Legends of Shadow World.

I’ve now run my “Legends of Shadow World” roughly 11 times. That’s the average of all 5 chapters but I’ve run Chapter 1 twice that and the last chapter only half a dozen times. (although that’s my favorite).

MY overall impression is that Rolemaster holds up VERY well at high levels and its FUN! At the risk of repeating a few notes from previous blogs I’d offer the following:

  1. Melee. Offense v Defense Player Mindset. 1st Edition Rolemaster explicitly built in the OB/DB mechanism as a core mechanic that modelled a combatants defensive posture and added some tactical complexity to simple “roll for results” of D&D. However, my experience is that few players want to dedicate much, if any, OB to parrying and that does lead to a disconnect in the remaining game mechanics: criticals, damage types etc. Simply put, players are looking to maximize their changes of hitting and getting a critical. Every swing is an attempt at a home run. But RM’s famed lethality is meant to temper player aggression and utilize the parrying mechanic. Unlike lower leves with low OB’s, every attack roll result is random with unknown results. However, when using high level characters with OB of 150 to 200, you basically need to roll over the defendants DB to automatically hit and max out the attack table and critical result. The first attack becomes essential to disable, stun or incapacitate the foe. My experience is that players behaviors don’t change, and they still rarely use significant OB allocation to parrying even though at higher levels it’s even more essential to parry to avoid a killing blow directed at them.
  2. Magic. Spell Types. A quick perusal of spells show a considerable bias towards attack and damage spells. I did a deep analysis for BASiL year ago, but I think it was a 6 to 1 ratio of attack vs defense/protection spells. From a player engagement attack spells were more varied, more fun and more engaging than the handful of protection spells. Furthermore, while attack spells allowed for significant damage (tactical importance to gameplay) while defensive spells were generally weak, 1 dimensional, boring or to specific to use effectively in gameplay.

It’s my belief that the weighting of attack importance to defense contributes to problems encountered or perceived in high level play. While player behaviors towards OB/DB split can be trained into players, ell Law has structural issues that can’t be addressed through player choice. That was one of the mandates of BASiL–nuance and complexity in spell use and choice. That’s not to say that I solved all problems, or my solutions are better than anyone else; I constantly tinker with BASiL based on player feedback, game results and playtesting. But I stongly believe that Spell Law design should be weighted towards defensive/protection spells and not the other way around. It might be a subtle difference, but it would impact gameplay and could avoid the Fireball/Fly/Invisible Mage that outperforms Fighters fairly early on the level curve.

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Updated 4-5-2025: Shadow World File List

I was recently asked about several of my upload files and thought this would be a good time to update my master Shadow World file list with the working forum links.

Please note that some of these files may be here on the Rolemasterblog, but to access these links to the RM Forums will require a Forum account–otherwise you cannot see or access.

Here we go:

  1. SW Healing Chart. This was a quick reference chart for cinematic healing, but taking into account cultural access to healing skills. I use it between adventures to quickly establish healing times & costs without a lot of more complicated calculations. It was included in my Master Atlas, but probably needs to fleshed out.
  2. RM/RMU Class Comparison. Another chart from my Master Atlas, this was a quick guide to mapping RMU professions to classic RM professions with notes specific to SW.
  3. SW Research Chart. Small chart to generate research results.
  4. Invoke Chart. I’ve blogged and written about invocation quite a bit. This chart allows PCs to call/pray for their gods intervention. This is a common mechanism in my SW campaign and brings the gods into gameplay in a less abstract way.
  5. SW Lore Table. Incomplete, but the start of summarizing skill levels/competence level and knowledge of various skills and lores.
  6. SW Metal Chart. Summary of SW metals and alloys with a unifying “breakage” number that use for material RRs and enchantments/imbedding.
  7. Master Herb Chart. Collated list of all herbs, plants, and poisons found in all RM books. May need some updates to include Terry’s more recent books.
  8. SW Crystal Summary. Crystals play a key role in SW, but Terry never really fleshed out a full system for the. This chart assumes that all “Essence Crystals” are basically the same–even if know as Zirix Crystals, or Essaence Crystals or Jewel Slime etc. It needs some work, but I use crystals as PP storage devices that can be drawn upon or recharged with channeling skill.
  9. Cantrips. Really this is part of BASiL, but in the thread.
  10. God Invocation Summary. This chart is used with the Invocation chart. Summarizes modifiers to SW’s gods responses and specific things they may do.
  11. SW Encounter Chart. This is a comprehensive chart for random encounters by region. Includes weather and Essence effects. Inspired by the encounter tables in the AD&D DM’s guide. Needs a little updating but I think a very useful tool!
  12. Void Knight Base List. Spell list for a organization I use in my SW campaign and features in “Priest-King of Shade”. It needs some touch up.
  13. Soulless. Update Pending. This is my effort to consolidate the concept of the Unlife, traditional fantasy Undead, corruption and possession. In my SW campaign, the Unlife possesses or inhabits creatures to various degrees.
  14. Hierax Guard. Organization dedicated to fighting Demon’s. Uses the Void Knight base list.
  15. Xiosians. My interpretation of the Xio Warriors mentioned in a few places and a way to integrate them into the larger SW story.
  16. History of the Earthwardens. I went through every single SW book and collated all the references to the Earthwardens. This is my conclusions.
  17. Notes on Tech & Languages. Quick excerpt from my Master Atlas.
  18. Elves. Again, this is my fleshing out of Elves: how they came to be and their place in the larger story. Plus a Shadow World explanation of the various types of Elves beyond the Tolkien archetypes.
  19. Alchemy Notes. I use alchemy skill a lot in my game. This is my simplified but flexible rules on alchemy. I plan on expanding on it at some point.
  20. SW Trade Goods. Treasure is more than gems, jewelry and gold!
  21. SW Civilization Summary. Chart from my Master Atlas with overview of the various ancient civilizations.
  22. Cult of Hraask. I wanted a “spider/insect” spell list grounded in SW.
  23. SW Cultural Skills. This is part of SWARM rules (Shadow World Alternate Role Master) and my “build a character in 10 minutes. Includes specific SW cultures rather than the broader types in RMU.
  24. SW Professions. List of vocations and skill packages for quick character generation.
  25. SW Background Table. Random background table, SW specific.
  26. SW Material Strength. Unifying method for breakage, VS RR’s and imbedding, enchanting and weapon runes.
  27. Weapon Modifier Chart. Combat modifiers and stats for specific weapons rather than general modifiers used in RM.
  28. SW Racial Chart. Conversion of bonuses to RMU. Probably will need a re-edit after RMU publication.
  29. Orhanian Base Spells Lists. God specific lists for Clerics and Followers. See “Religions & Channeling Handbook” below in #49
  30. Charon Base Lists. See “Religions & Channeling Handbook” below in #49
  31. Religious Organizations. Orhan. See “Religions & Channeling Handbook” below in #49
  32. Religious Organizations. Charon. See “Religions & Channeling Handbook” below in #49
  33. History of SW in narrative form. My Master Atlas version.
  34. SW Languages. My notes, needs some work.
  35. SW Special Armor. Cool armors.
  36. SW Archaeology. Notes on ancient SW civilizations.
  37. SW Antiquities. Price chart for REALLY ancient, “priceless” stuff!
  38. Jaiman Tradegoods. More trade items specific to Jaiman cities and cultures.
  39. Iron Wind Base Lists. Lyak. Yarthraak. Gaath. Athimurl. Dansart. Thargondaak.
  40. SW Notes on Currency. Summary of various coins and currencies.
  41. Shrapnel & Swarm Crit Chart. I use for explosions or insect swarms.
  42. SW Trade Goods: Drugs & Alcohol. Small file that needs more work!
  43. BASIL: Essence Lists.
  44. BASIL: Channeling Lists.
  45. BASIL: Mentalism Lists. Still working on these.
  46. For links to the spell lists above.
  47. Legends of Shadow World. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5. Alternate all Priest PCs.
  48. Priest-King of Shade. Priest King Charts. Small module that takes place in SW Agyra.
  49. The Book of Pales. Summary and overview of the Pales.
  50. SW Religions and Channeling Handbook.
  51. Book of Herbs. White background version. Illustrated guide to all of the herbs found in the Shadow World books.
  52. SW Channeling Canticles. (Adventure Paths). Kuor. Phaon. Teris. Shaal. Updates Pending.
  53. Shadow World Suggested Patrons. Suggestions for patron Gods (Orhan and Charon) based on Professions.
  54. SW Transport Costs.
  55. Earthwarden Base Lists. Updates in Progress. Creations. Essaence Master, Dimension Mastery, Shapechanging & Life Mastery, Time Mastery, Mana Fires, Earthworks, Sound Mastery, Words of Power, Warding.
  56. Matt (Vroomfogle) Hanson Files. Languages of Kulthea, SW Combat Styles, Vroomfogles Magic Treasures, Compass Rules. Legacy of the Y’Kin.
  57. Misc Files & Maps. Esov Inquirer, Esov Inquirer 2, Meluria Map, Rhakhaan South Map
  58. Martin’s “Lethys” file.
  59. Jengada’s Files. Scorpion Attack, Rip/Tear Critical Strikes.
  60. Ultimate Shadow World Trivia Test.
  61. Empire of the Black Dragon. PENDING. Companion supplement to Priest-King covering the realms of Uyla Shek.

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Earthwarden Spell Lists

With so many projects going on, some are just gestating while others I pick away at when I get an inspiration or idea. One small project, an intersection between my BASiL lists and Shadow World material was designing 10 proto/Arcane lists that would have been the underpinnings of the original magic system used by the Ka’ta’viir and later Earthwardens. You can read my previous posts on this HERE and HERE. Well, in fact, I actually did the first run through on these lists under the general guidelines:

  1. As archetype lists, they are less singular and specific as the later spells broken into the 3 Realms. That also means the spells are subject to broader interpretation in the application and effects.
  2. These lists are powered by raw unrefined Essaence. I still used the Spell Law level format, but I wouldn’t say that the spell level is analogous to Essence/Channeling/Mentalism spells or the basic power levels in RM or RMU.
  3. These are powerful spells, and I’ve built in the idea that they are physically demanding to focus and cast. It’s unlikely most contemporary mortal races on Shadow World could cast them unless they had some mix of Ka’ta’viir blood, offspring of a Major or Lesser or local Diety or similar.
  4. These were created by several inputs, creative and specific: some BASiL spell lists (Physics & Time Mastery), Companion I Arcane lists, Loremaster and Navigator lists and others. It’s difficult to credit sources (and impossible to remember) when they are so varied, but let’s just say it’s a group effort and not mine alone!

I arbitrarily chose to make 10 lists. This seemed to cover on the various magical aspects I thought best represented the foundation of magic and it was achievable! Here are the final categories:

Creations – Crafting magical artifacts, constructs, and living statues.

Essaence Mastery – Foci, Power Point flows, travel, and arcane energy control.

Dimension Mastery – Gates, teleportation, interdimensional travel.

Shapechanging & Life Mastery – Polymorphing, biological manipulation, and ascension.

Time Mastery – Mastery over time, including dilation, stasis, and time travel.

Mana-Fires – Plasma-based energy manipulation, precursor to Elemental Essence.

Earthworks – Megalithic construction, geoglyphs, stonework, and tectonic forces.

Sound Mastery – Vibration-based effects, levitation, disintegration.

Words of Power – Spoken arcane forces, immediate and reality-altering.

Warding – Protective proto-magic, runes, barriers, and mystical safeguards.

I’ll be posting these lists over at the RMForums for download over the next few days and turn the titles above into hyperlinks. Note that you have to have a RMForums account to see and download files there. Then I’ll be returning to Part II and Part III of my Agyra series: Empire of the Black Dragon and Nontataku: City of Sails. On the off chance that Priest-King actually get’s published I’ll have the rest of the trilogy in edit review mode for queueing up.

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The Book of Herbs: An Illustrated Guide to Magical & Medicinal Plants of Kulthea

I’ve finished up my first draft of a game aid I’ve been picking away at for a few years. This is a visual guide and expanded description of the 120+ Shadow World herbs/substances that is found in the Master Atlas.

In my campaign, players learn a new Herb for each skill rank of Herb Lore (they can do additional research of course) and I can just print out the appropriate page so they can add to their own “Lore folder”. There are some rule mechanics and modifiers in some of the text, but I wanted to make it more of a reference book that ideally could be used in RMU or any other setting without a lot of work.

This does not include poisons, but I’ve got notes for an expanded version of poisons, antidotes and nefarious substances from my Alchemy rules that I’ll put in a short primer: Book of Dark Arts. A few of the plants don’t have pictures, and I need to make some changes to those-too many “green leafy” herbs.

Now that I’ve finished this, I want to go back and really expand my “Book of Pales” to include a variety of summoning and protection circles, more creature and Demon pictures and powerful artifacts or cool devices found in the Pales.

There is so much SW material that can be expanded upon–it’s endless! You can download the Book of Herbs over at the Rolemaster Forums, but you need an account to see and access it here:

https://ironcrown.co.uk/ICEforums/index.php?topic=15879.msg247765#msg247765

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Resetting Shadow World post Terry Amthor

There has been a lot of discussion around the future of Shadow World since Terry passed away, generally around 2 basic topics:

  1. Finishing up Terry’s projects that were in the works: Emer IV, Loremaster Legacy 2, Wurilis etc.
  2. Creating new SW material. What would that look like and who would do it?

Putting aside #1, I think much of the hesitancy around bringing in new authors is concerns around the quality and consistency of new material. But I also think there is a secondary reason: Shadow World is not just a static setting for roleplaying, it’s an ongoing story that is left partially untold. That story arc is ostensibly the “Grand Campaign” but includes earlier campaigns like the “Legacy of the Seakdrake” found in Jaiman, various adventures in Emer books and the meta plot around the Secret Circle. It felt like this was slowly unfolding in each successive SW book, but the Loremaster Legacy novel basically packaged it up in fiction rather than gaming material. This was Terry’s story to tell and it basically drives a large part of the Kulthean timeline and major events in the Second and Third Era.

It feels like a lot of loose threads, even if we know where the story might eventual go–the destruction of the Shadow Stone and/or the return of the Northern Eye. How can a new writer come in and wrap this all up? It’s hard to imagine–a bit of Brandon Sanderson finishing up the Wheel of Time. At the same time, we know where and how it ends, so does it really need to be mapped out?

But I have an idea to “reset” the Shadow World setting: start the Fourth Era. For those that listened to my podcast with Max, he mentioned that his campaign ventured into the Fourth Era and I’ve spoken to a couple other GMs that also took the group into the future Era. I originally thought that the Fourth Era boundary would be the loss of the Northern Eye, but in hindsight, it now seems obvious that the Fourth Era should start with the return of the Northern Eye.

What would Kulthea look like in the Fourth Era? Several people I’ve talked to have gamed out their version of the Grand Campaign and given me some ideas. For the gaming group, this would be an epic quest, but would also involve notable NPCs, some major battles and probably some type of geographic damage caused by severe Essaence fluctuations and tertiary events (tidal waves, earthquakes etc). Key people would be killed! As a thought experiment, the possibilities are endless:

  1. Tarania emerges again from the sea due to shifts in the planets crust. The island, long submerged, reveals it’s secrets…
  2. Arriving in the nick of time to confront XXX, Andraax helps win the day but is killed or is missing.
  3. With the defeat of the Secret Circle, the Dragonlords being a campaign of conquest over various lands.
  4. Eidolon is destroyed and crashes to the earth. It’s ruins are guarded by the Prince of Sel-Kai, but adventurers sneak in anyway!
  5. Essaence flows are permanently shifted into new locations and pathways. The Navigators obelisk network is disrupted and needs to be recalibrated. In the meantime, Navigator Jump services are unreliable.
  6. The massive Essaence surges that preceded the Eye’s return, opened large portals to the Pales and hordes of Demons poured into Kulthea.
  7. Earthquakes, tidal waves and severe storms destroy coastal cities.
  8. The balance of power shifts and the Alliance grows in influence throughout Kulthea.

I’ve discussed previously about adventuring in Kulthea during the Interregnum but remaking Kulthea and starting the Fourth Era is a clean slate that closes out the plot(s) that Terry established and builds for the a new future. It would be logical to map out massive changes to Kulthea that would occur on a near global cataclysm and give Kulthea a “refresher”. Perhaps one that better incorporates the RMU ruleset.

RMU: Shadow World. Adventures in the 4th Era. “The Age of Woe”.

Kulthea is saved! The return of the Northern Eye rebalanced the erratic Flows of Essaence but at what cost? Gods battled Gods, Heroes fell and catastrophic storms left scars across the planet. New powers are emerging from the ashes of the Great Battle and vying for dominance in the Shadow World. The Unlife is unchecked and Demons run amok among the lands. Will the new world order be for good or evil?

This feels like a clean break from the unfinished past and a start with the new RMU ruleset. What do you think?