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Shadow World: Works in Progress

While I’m working on the Shadow World: Book of Essaence, I dropped a quick Shadow World Combat companion book of alternate combat notes from my S.W.A.R.M. ruleset. For those that read this blog regularly, a lot of the material was posting on this blog over a decade ago and has been consistently used in my Shadow World campaign.

Optional Initiative was one of my earlier posts back in 2016!

Optional Encumbrance and Armor Rules

Individual Weapon Modifiers

Shadow World Armor

Matt’s Shadow World Combat Styles

I updated some items, added my own Combat Styles and put it together in a more comprehensive package for my group to use. Like the Book of Channeling, this is a slow but steady process of consolidation of my Shadow World material. Much of it is in our “red book”, a monster Master Atlas that’s now at 476 pages!

The Shadow World: Book of Essaence is putting together a ton of my material that can found on this blog and the the Rolemaster Forums: history and development of magic, Ka’ta’viir, Earthwardens, Dragonlords, Gods, Primal Magic, Arcane Magic, Elven Magic, Dark Magic, Magic development by the Eras, new spell lists, magical languages and spell list assignments by language and a few key artifacts. It’s turning out to be a much bigger project than I anticipated! I had hoped to have it up by now, but life keeps interrupting and these smaller projects like Book of Channeling and Combat Companion was needed for my gaming group.

Thanks for reading!

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Shadow World. Player Backgrounds and Challenges.

My previous post on the Grand Campaign had me thinking about player backgrounds. Most of Terry’s campaign narratives found in his writings: Sea Drake, Grand Campaign and the Loremaster Legacy all include pre-gen PC’s with specific backgrounds needed to advance the narrative, access certain abilities, or utilize key items. That’s not unusual in fantasy fiction, less common in RPG modules, but very common in Terry’s work. Again, Terry was more a story teller and world builder than a nut and bolts GM/DM so the “railroady” bits didn’t seem to be an issue.

Matt and I also embrace extensive player backgrounds in our Shadow World campaigns. There so much material in the timeline and cultural backgrounds that you sort of need to include that for the players! But detailed backgrounds come with their own challenges since they direct PC goals and behaviors. Let’s discuss a challenge I have with one of my new players, Iyrdrut. Iyrdrut is of the Udahir and has the opportunity to become one of the Thyfuriak. In my SW campaign, a young Udahir warrior will spend the first few levels building skills and preparing for their Vision Quest which will allow them to bond with a Thyfur. I’m excited for the player but this background creates to challenges for me, one general and one specific.

  1. General Challenge. There is always an implied tension when players are members of a special, private or elite organization also need to go out and adventure. Why would any organization allow privileged members to wander off arbitrarily to find fame and fortune? The easy answer is that they are pursuing their organizations agenda, but that becomes a burden upon the whole party. Terry dealt with this very problem with the Changramai and the Navigators by making them a commercial endeavor. You pay them for services. An easy solution. For Iyrdrut, the problem arises once he officially becomes a Thyfuriak. Is he really going to have his freedom to hang with the group and chase adventures? Isn’t he needed to guard and defend Uda Tyygk? I have an answer for this of course, but given that the players read this blog I’ll leave it there.
  2. Specific Challenge. What do you do with a Thyfur? I’ve blogged about some of the cool mounts in Shadow World and it could be argued that having a flying mount gives a huge and perhaps unfair advantage to the player and/or the group. But my GM philosophy is that there is a trade off for everything (also an underlying principal to Rolemaster). Sure, having a powerful flying mount creates all sorts of opportunities, but it comes with it’s own considerable draw backs. A simple solution would be to just require Iyrdrut to leave his Thyfur with the Udahir–but that’s not very interesting. Instead I’ll take a cue from the “Unhewn Throne” books and lean into the Thyrfuriak and it’s enhancement to the player group.

I’m curious about other GM’s decisions on player backgrounds, unique heritages or even legacy benefits like artifacts, familiars or memberships to unique organizations.

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Revisiting the Grand Campaign. Book One.

It’s possible that Terry’s Shadow World opus magnum is the “unfinished” Grand Campaign (GC). Even a short review of the material shows the connective tissue between early Shadow World books, material introduced in Emer: The Great Continent, the online journals of Kalen Avanir and his novel the Loremaster Legacy. Whether the GC guided Terry’s future work, or his writing directec the GC will never be known, but the meta plot was there early on in 1989-1990 when the box Emer Set introduced Schrek.

As an adventure path the GC could seem daunting. Three sections lead the PC’s from a lowly beginning to a finale that allows them to save the world–or at least postpone it! Is this really a campaign that can realistically take players from 1st level to 20th level or higher? Terry was always more interested in the story and seemed less concerned with Rolemaster RAW or the actual mechanics of roleplaying. Is there enough material, encounters and challenges to level the players up? Is the GC too “railroady”? Can the material survive a significant plot pivot forced by the group? Finally, can the players actually triumph at the end? Do they have the power and skills or will the GM need to provide assistance or a deux a machina to force the victory. Lets explore this a bit.

But before I dive into particulars I would ask this: is the Grand Campaign really unfinished? Sure, there is material that could be updated to align it with narrative changes that Terry made, but despite the lack of Emer IV, most of the missing material in the TGC is now readily available. What was once alluring references found in the Master Atlas and Emer are now fully fleshed out in updated version of Cloudlords and newer Shadow World books: Xa’ar, Haalkitaine, Eidolon and Emer I-III. I would suggest that by using the existing outline in the GC and grabbing content from those mentioned books, then there the majority of the material is ready to use. Let’s take a deeper look at the Grand Campaign.

FOREWORD

Right out of the gate, Terry tackles the issues around defined plotlines and extended campaigns. By the late 90’s there was already pushback against “extended narrations” like the Dragonlance modules. Players wanted to experience the material found in books through the gaming medium but that necessitated a strict storyline without much variation. ICE already grappled with this with their early work in Middle Earth. Rather than embracing the material adjacent to the LOTR storyline, ICE expanded the setting, plumbed the depth of obscure lore and/or added their own spin on Middle Earth (Court of Ardor). Terry cautions the GM that while side adventures and subplots can exist, the main narrative is paramount. I find this awareness refreshing, and despite his attempts to address the railroading, I believe most Shadow World users have shied away from using the Grand Campaign.

PART 1: OVERVIEW

The overview is a collapsed outline of the major chapters of Part I–with fleshed out chapters later in the work. These adventures take the group from Lethys to the Mur Fostisyr and is basically the Grand Tour of Jaiman. Given that both Jaiman and Emer are the most detailed continents of Kulthea, and represent the majority of Terry’s writings, there is considerable material to fill in any missing parts of the Grand Campaign as well as insert smaller side adventures and subplots. Well explore these sections in the later chapters of Part I.

PART 2: PLAYER-CHARACTERS

The Grand Campaign follows in a similar vein as the Journals of Kalen Avanir (the Loremaster Legacy novel). A lowly group of adventures, with mysterious heritages and heirloom objects, stumbles upon, and is central to, world changing events. The Heroes Journey.

Terry has built a roster of 10 PC’s, each with a unique and useful history, racial background and powers. He also suggests that the initial group should be around 6 or even 7, so some of the PCs will be unneeded. Does this create plot holes? Are some PC’s more critical than others? I think they are all pretty cool and illustrates Terry’s gift for flavor and descriptive writing. Each character is compelling with interesting roleplaying hooks. They also represent a variety of races and cultures that makes Shadow World such a great setting. Terry’s writing brings it alive.

PART III: TIMELINE

This section is just a few pages highlighting some major historical events from the 1st to Third Era. It provides some meta data for the Grand Campaign narrative. Notably, the timeline ends at or around 6051 Third Era, an important inflection date for Shadow World material. (fyi MA 4 goes to 6054.)

PART IV: GREATER POWERS

While there is nothing new in the Grand Campaign, much of these “Greater Powers” have been fleshed out in more detail in later works, specifically “Powers of Light & Darkness“. Notable to me, and one that I discuss often on the blog is the lack of traditional fantasy monsters: orcs, trolls, ogres, giants etc. Shadow World has a unique fauna, once that adds to the setting, not dilutes it. The PC’s are up against great evil and terrible foes, but not reduced to common RPG tropes.

PART V: LETHYS

This city is probably one of the lost opportunities in Shadow World material. As the largest city in Rhakhaan, a Lethys book would have been a great addition to Shadow World material. Jaiman provides about 1/2 a page to Lethys and the this chapter gives it 3-4 pages. However, Martin Jaobsson did quite a bit of work on this as an unofficial product, which can be found HERE so anyone that wanted a detailed, building level description of Lethys, then Martins work is fantastic. With Martin’s work a GM could dramatically expand the start of the Grand Campaign and perhaps add some more flavor to the “party build”.

This chapter also pulls together motivations for the party build: why and/or how does this group connect? Of course the answer is always “in a tavern” (Flask & Mug) but honestly, the reasons for a party build of a diverse group of strangers has always felt a bit contrived in any gaming group. Terry provides the barebones of motivation so the group can begin the journey. Perhaps using Martin’s Lethys material, a more layered approach could be developed. Perhaps a series of mini-adventures or encounters that build the group one by one. Less involved is to have two smaller groups that eventual join up and collaborate. One reason to cooperate between 2 groups is an easier pull than having multiple reasons for 6 to join forces?

PART VI: NOMIKOS LIBRARY.

The second stop is Ormian and the famed library of Nomikos. The Jaiman source book has detailed information on the library so there is ample floorplans and background for a GM to guide the adventure. There is a subplot involving the Changramai and some contrived exposition via research to provide info on the Crowns and the more expansive story line around the Secret Circle. I would note that this would be a perfect entry point into the extended Sea Drake Legacy campaign found in Jaiman. This would allow a more extended adventure, build character experience and levels and uses a lot of great material.

Also, the segue from PART VI to VII is awkward at best and uses a Essaence Storm to redirect the group. The extended Sea Drake Legacy would make the eventual trip to the Zorian Wastes much more organic.

PART VII: THE ZORIAN WASTES

I recently blogged about the Zorian Wastes and the inclusion in the Grand Campaign is fantastic for a post-apocalyptic adventure. Clearly Terry repurposed much of this chapter into the Aalk Vaalg adventure on Drivethrurpg so while there is not much in new material, there is enough to make this chapter into 2 or more gaming sessions.

PART VIII: HAALKITAINE

I don’t believe Haalkitaine was published when the Grand Campaign came out, but now with that book a GM could add a number of side plots or expand the scope of the campaign. One note is the lack of Uthgool in the Haalkitaine book. Also there is some changes when it comes to the Phoenix “items”. If the Seadrake Legacy was inserted after the Nomikos Library, then the PC’s will already have built some experiences in Haalkitaine. Another adventure in the sewers and catacombs would be the segue into 3-Return to Underearth. Rather than search for the “sword”, the group could merely be fleeing a foe or utilizing a mysterious underground tunnel to access Tanara. Note that there is a Major Essaence Flow barrier between Haalkitaine and Tanara following the Gray Mountains.

PART IX: TANARA

Tanara. In the GC, Terry cautions the use of the Cloudlord books due to changes in material and a differing timeline; but with the update of Cloudlords of Tanara we once again have a fully fleshed out region that can complement the Grand Campaign story line. The Tanara plot is fairly basic, so this is a good chance to introduce the Cloudlords or even the Narselkin. Depending on the group, acquiring powerful weapons and artifacts will be critical for their ultimate success. Plus the players love themselves some cool kit!!

PART X: THE GRYPHON

Gryphon College. The Gryphon College in the Grand Campaign isn’t quite fleshed out as in Jaiman and for the GC, the purpose of the visit is for exposition/information dump via Visions and guidance from Zaris. There is no mention of the Gryphons, or the Ilarsir but they could meet Kalen and Jad! The floorplans in the Jaiman book will be useful. If the group ran the Sea Drake campaign, then they will have a better understanding of the Crowns and this visit to Gryphon College could be more purposeful beyond R&R.

PART XI: THE SARALIS FRONTIER & PART XII: A CHILL WIND IN LU’NAK

These sections of the GC was great in 1990 when there was little know about the NW of Jaiman. However, this whole section could be replaced by using the Xa’ar Source book. Encounters with Shards, Elor and learning more about the Earthwardens would be useful to the overall campaign. A journey through Saralis and the Blue Forest would be an epic overland journey–so far there hasn’t been much for wilderness adventuring in the the Grand Campaign.

PART XIII: THE MUR FOSTISYR

The region where it all began. The Iron Wind. Perhaps my favorite roleplaying supplement, the Iron Wind would be a rich environment for an extended series in the Grand Campaign. For the Grand Campaign, the plot centers around one of the PC’s a Ky’taari, but the Iron Wind provides ample adventure opportunities that could add to the campaign: the White Dragon, the Demonlord, the Udahir and the Syrkakar.

PART XIV: Urulan

For me, this was an intriguing section of the Grand Campaign. What was going on in Urulan? Over time I think Terry changed some of his thoughts on Urulan, but I based a lot of Empire of the Black Dragon on his material in the Grand Campaign: the Steel Rain, the Iron Warriors and the mechanical mining devices. This is the entry point in my Empire of the Black Dragon module and takes the characters to Emer, then to Agyra and includes further interactions with the Sisters of the Steel Rain, Jenkyna and Ulya Shek. That material segues into Priest-King of Shade and then the group returns to Sel-Kai for an interlude…

Because Terry fleshed out Jaiman, Book One of the Grand Campaign is a intensive and ready to use adventure series. The Grand Campaign itself is less important as a narrative, but more useful as sign posts using existing Shadow World material.

Martin’s Lethys — Jaiman/Nomikos — Jaiman/Sea Drake Legacy — Aalk Vaalg –Haalkitaine — Cloudlords of Tanara — Jaiman/Gryphon College –Xa’ar — The Iron Wind –Empire of the Black Dragon–Priest King of Shade –Eidolon.

Book One is likely years of adventuring if a GM were to utilize a majority of the adventures, encounters and subplots. These would include interacting with most of the notable organizations and forces of Jaiman and build a knowledge base for the group. In short, the Grand Campaign is a full tour of Jaiman!

The meta plot, (Secret Circle etc) is really a side issue for Book One. This first part is for leveling up, skill building and group strategy. I think the group can realistically reach 8th to 10th level, which is probably a good level to be for Book Two!

Stay tuned for Books Two and Three. These were only outlined by Terry but once again the material is there for use.

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Shadow World Thought Experiment: Magical Realms

Between my work with BASiL and my current project, Shadow World: Book of Essaence, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the rolemaster magic system and the Shadow World setting. Perhaps an unhealthy amount of time!

For those that follow my BASiL musings, my final conclusions and work product are driven by the setting. What does Shadow World imply about the hows and whys of the magic system? This is contrast to forcing RM Spell Law RAW into the setting. Both approaches have merit, but I made my choice. Certainly Terry was not wholly interested in RM RAW; Shadow World takes many liberties with professions, skills and other RM mechanics. In short, BASiL also attempted to create mechanical differences in how different realms and magics were utilized and cast. Essence, Channeling and Mentalism all used different mechanics than just the standard RM SCR.

I was either reading or watching something and I had a thought. Probably not one I’ll test out in my current campaign/testing game but I wanted to think it through here on the blog. Given that Essaence is manifest and present throughout Kulthea, why couldn’t it just be tapped to use it (Channeling skill) rather than holding Power Points in a personal reservoir?

Taking it a step further for clarification of the current 3 realms:

Essence. Casters using the Essence Realm draw from area or surrounding sources to power their spells. That also means that the level of ambient Essaence would impact casting. Areas with low Essaence, or inhibited would stifle the caster. Areas of high Essaence (Flows or Foci) would enable more powerful casting. Instead of PP’s, the limitations would be around burnout and overcasting or perhaps just exhaustion based on channeled energy.

Mentalism. Mentalism would be more akin to the current system. The caster carries their own power points and replenishes PP’s as normal. Therefore Mentalists are independent of ambient Essaence levels; self-sufficient as it were.

Channeling. Channeling is basically a mix of the two, Channelers could either use their own stored PP’s or draw power from the Gods/patrons.

I always like tradeoffs in gaming mechanics, so clearer differentials on spellcasting mechanics in addition to spell power distinctions is of interest to me. As equally important, it still fits the Shadow World setting. Again, probably not something I’d test or flesh out, but when thinking about how to make Shadow World a unique setting or an updated one, it’s always helpful to think outside the box!

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Shadow World: Book of Essaence

“Master, I still do not understand. How can a language do anything? Words describe things. They do not ignite lamps, mend bone, or open gates.”

My old teacher smiled faintly. “Common words do not. Magical language is not ordinary speech.”

I collected my thoughts. “Then what is it?”

“A control architecture,” said the teacher. “A formal symbolic system that binds intention to the Essaence. Consider ordinary language. If I say fire, I have not created flame. I have only caused your mind to retrieve a concept or image. Heat, light, danger, color, memory. Yes?”

“Yes.”

“But when a trained caster speaks the correct arcane lexeme for fire, with the proper tonal contour, breath pressure, mental image, and energetic will, he is not merely invoking a concept. He is selecting and activating a pattern already latent within the Essaence.”

I studied the pages in front of me, a sheet of vellum covered in angular glyphs, breath-marks, and tonal notations. “And these symbols?”

The teacher tapped the spiral glyph.

“This establishes the transformation domain — thermal excitation.”

He tapped the hooked mark.

“This limits the area of effect.”

Another mark.

“This binds the effect to the designated target rather than the surrounding air.”

Another.

“This determines duration.”

“Then a spell is a sentence?”

“Similar, but no. In ordinary language, grammar clarifies meaning. In magical language, grammar clarifies causality. A spell is what happens when intention is encoded into valid symbolic form, supplied with energy, and resolved by the field into a realized effect.”

I was silent for a moment. “Then why can two mages speak the same words and produce different results?”

“A good question. Because the utterance alone is not the whole spell.” The teacher tapped his own temple. “Intent conditions execution. The spoken form provides explicit structure, but the mind provides hidden parameters; target image, desired intensity, exclusions, emotional coherence, even metaphysical alignment.”

I looked again at the glyphs. “Then magical languages were specifically designed for this?”

“Some were designed. Some were discovered. Some are remnants of older, denser systems. But yes, they are not optimized for ordinary conversation. They are optimized for semantic precision, low ambiguity, and resonant correspondence with the Essaence.”

“So common speech describes reality,” I said slowly, thinking it through, “but magical speech instructs it.”

The teacher’s expression sharpened with approval. “Exactly.”

“Why did the Earthwardens labor to devise spell languages for mortal use?”

“Because raw Arcane speech was too dense, too exact, too perilous for lesser minds.”

“And so?”

“And so they made structured paths: formulae, runic bindings, later lists and notations all to let mortals shape the Essaence without being consumed by it.”

“And the greatest spell-language?” he asked softly. “The oldest one…Iruaric?”

The teacher was silent for a long pause, as if considering what to reveal to the young student. “Iruaric does not merely refer to the structure of reality,” he said. “It was formulized close enough to first principles that speaking it correctly is less like making a request and more like issuing a lawful revision.”

Loremaster Remembrances. Vol I

Randae Terisonen

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Shadow World: Things Forgotten?

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?

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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!