There is an intersection between two topics I’ve discussed here on the blog: “originalism” and “retconning HERE and HERE” of Terry’s Shadow World material. Over the 30 years of Shadow World publications, the setting material has evolved, expanded and perhaps even matured. It’s easy to just adopt any and all material by Terry as canon, but some of his work was contradictory or vague. Other material was a moment in time, but when viewed through the entirety of his work product just didn’t fit well. Other material was seemingly forgotten or de-emphasized.
Perhaps no better examples are found in the Master Atlas 1st Ed., material that then originally defined the Shadow World tone and feel. It was the next step of the Loremaster series and “set the table” for all future Shadow World products. I recall when those first few books for Shadow World came out in the late 80s. We were already 7 years into playing Rolemaster (mostly repurposed MERP, Court of Ardor) but by then had graduated high school and our core group had gone off to college. Time was more critical so I embraced the Rolemaster specific setting as a valuable GM aid to save time.
Reading through the Master Atlas I saw the many similarities to the Tolkien world: an expansive timeline that spanned thousands of years, Elves, an epic high level feel etc. Looking back, that first Atlas seems almost quaint compared to the depth of books we have now, but these elements seemed important to the story of Kulthea:
The Ilarsiri. The Access Stones seemed ripped right out of the LOTR but nonetheless seemed a key bit of lore for Shadow World. Where were they located? Who had them? Were they the pinnacle of artifacts in this setting and drive a major narrative? The third party book “Norek” incorporated one of the Master Stones into the material and the Nameless One is rumored to have one. In those early days of Shadow World, the Ilarsiri seemed to be building a foundation for SW power and lore. But they sort of fell off the map. The Emer supplement took things in a new direction: the Ark of World, Shadowstone, Soulsword, etc. Perhaps this ended up being too derivative? The Master Atlas 4th Ed. only has 3 or 4 mentions of the Ilarsiri, so it certainly was minimized. To me, this is a good example of Terry discarding material in favor of his new ideas and writing.
Heralds of Night, While the Unlife was an omni present enemy going back to the Loremaster books, the Heralds of Night became the new baddie with the Master Atlas. There is some confusing and contradictory information about the Heralds. Are they a product of the Unlife, a remnant of the 1st Era, something else? I always felt these were the SW version of the Black Reaper. Subsequent books have introuced high level antagonists, evil cults and dark demi-gods that serve the same purpose. The Heralds, while still a entry in later editions of the MA feel minimized.
Implementors. Many fantasy settings had famous weapons, and Shadow World had the Implementors. First found in the Clourdlords of Tanara (the tomb of Ezra?), the Implementors were expanded in the Emer supplement book with both regular Implementors and Lord Implementors (wielded by Lorgalis). I think they are great, and I’m a fan of having a small number of major artifacts to drive story lines. The artifact of the week seems banal and perhaps reduces any awe/fear/wonder that such items should invoke. Nonetheless the Implementors haven’t been prominent since the early years of Shadow World.
Looking back, the Seeing Stones, Heralds and Implementors seemed like a test run, an early framework of artifacts and opponents that were mostly set aside. Rather than being bad ideas for the setting, I think Terry’s vision of Shadow World matured, or changed, as he wrote new material and these elements felt too generic?
I’d be curious how many people have used these elements in their shadow world campaign?