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sakusha
2007-07-24, 04:07 PM
I wanted to bring everyone's attention to a new campaign that is just getting off the ground: Fellowship of the White Star. I am a part of the development team and one of the authors, so I can answer questions. :smallbiggrin:

http://www.fellowshipwhitestar.com/

http://www.fellowshipwhitestar.com/sitebuilder/images/FWS-Cover_1_-193x250.jpg (http://www.fellowshipwhitestar.com/images/FWS-Cover_1_.jpg)
http://www.fellowshipwhitestar.com/sitebuilder/images/FWScover72dpi-193x250.png (http://www.fellowshipwhitestar.com/images/FWScover72dpi.png)

The Campaign

The game uses d20 rpg rules and is set in semi-historic
earth 1905-1914 with a horror atmosphere that is hidden
from the view of the common people. In our version of
earth, magic still exists in a limited form and the players
will create heroes to investigate suspicious events and
battle evil supernatural beings. We envision western
cowboy heroes battling zombies in mines, archaeologist
heroes investigating tombs in Egypt, British soldier
heroes weeding out voodoo cults in Jamaica, Arctic
explorer and Eskimo guide heroes seeking the Yeti, City
detective heroes investigating strange crimes, etc... It is
an ongoing campaign that we plan to have run until 1914
(each real year, we will roll the clock forward and have
modules set in that year and base part of them off
historic events) and certain missions can change "real"
world history events. This game will allow the players to
continue to build up their character within our campaign.
Our game has an exciting set of unique skills and feats
and is certain to please anyone who finds adventuring in
the early 20th century intriguing. The book also includes
unique artwork from artists we have recruited.

Inyssius Tor
2007-07-24, 10:02 PM
Ooh, I'll take a look at it.

Just a quick question; why is 1914 the stopping-point?

ClericofPhwarrr
2007-07-24, 11:05 PM
Just a quick question; why is 1914 the stopping-point?

The first World War, I presume?

sakusha
2007-07-25, 01:01 AM
The first World War, I presume?

Actually, this is Pre-WWI and post Russo-Japanese War -- right smack dab inbetween 'em. :smallbiggrin:

sakusha
2007-07-25, 01:36 AM
Ooh, I'll take a look at it.

Just a quick question; why is 1914 the stopping-point?

We're looking at a 10-year campaign and from 1905-1914 is 10 years.

Kizara
2007-07-25, 04:22 AM
So, you are advertising a new RPG book/system that you have created? Or an ongoing PbP campaign you are running?
Or both?

Your OP is not clear on this matter.


Finally, any relation to Babylon 5? (white star referance)

sakusha
2007-07-25, 01:06 PM
So, you are advertising a new RPG book/system that you have created? Or an ongoing PbP campaign you are running?
Or both?

Your OP is not clear on this matter.


Finally, any relation to Babylon 5? (white star referance)

Yes, I'm advertising a new RPG campaign (uses d20 Open Gaming License), though I can't take credit for creating it.

And no there's no relation to Babylon 5.

Neon Knight
2007-07-25, 02:21 PM
...

I don't mean to be rude, but I need to ask a few questions.

If I read your website correctly, you'll be using basic DnD 3.5 base classes, and will just be adding feat, PrCs, items, etc.?

If the above is correct, I gotta level with ya: this doesn't exactly catch my interest. It's not because I don't like the setting .(I love this sort of setting) It's because this sort of setting has been done before, and I'm reluctant to drop $25 for another book, particularly since you the website and your post are vague on what it exactly is.

D20 Modern and D20 Past cover this sort of thing already. The basic DnD 3.5 classes aren't designed for modern times. They represent pseudo medieval (and not so medieval) fantasy archetypes, and aren't all that appropriate for modern campaign in my opinion.

Add in the fact that this kind of campaign has been done before (d20 Past, although D20 Modern and Spycraft can do this time period as well. You just need new items/weapons/maybe a couple of feat revisions), and I'm afraid I don't see much reason to purchase this book.

I don't mean to be rude. I'm not saying the setting and campaign aren't worthwhile. I'm just saying that, right now, I don't see anything that clearly sets you apart from competitors like D20 Past. (Or heavily modified and home brewed Spycraft/d20 Modern campaigns/settings)

If you elaborate, perhaps my interest and the interest of others could be peaked.

sakusha
2007-07-26, 10:49 AM
If you elaborate, perhaps my interest and the interest of others could be peaked.

The FWS campaign isn't for everyone and I understand that. My goal was to help get the word out about this new campaign. The sourcebook can be used for home material, but I'm more of an RPGA-style person myself. A note on the sourcebook: it's 300 pages; there aren't that many sourcebooks that big you can find for that price.

However, I will try to elaborate about the campaign. The biggest difference (for me) between FWS and Shadowrun or d20 Modern is that in FWS the goal is to keep the fact that magic (and magical creatures) are still around a secret. This is not alternate history, it *is* history. Now, during the course of the campaign, historical events might be changed, but as of the campaign start in 1905 things are as they happened on Earth.

So, for example, heroes can only be humans, but there is a myriad of ethnicities to choose from after all. Also, one of the Big Three (founders of Thenodrin Presents LLC) is an Engineer and gun enthusiast - he worked very hard on our Explosives rules and the gun section of weaponry. Think League of Extraordinary Gentleman, The Mummy, Indiana Jones - this is a world where "Ordinary" people are doing Extraordinary things on their days off (or maybe this is their day-job :smallbiggrin: ).

Also, by using the classes out of the PHB (Druid, Fighter, Bard, Monk etc.) the choice of class becomes more a choice of skills-set than a profession. One player chose to be an Sicilian Opera singer with the Bard class, but another chose to be a British Noblewoman who is trained with all manner of hunting rifles and has the Fighter class. My own character is an Irish Farmgirl with the ability to Track, but also some knowledge of the Fantastic (folk-tales and such) as well as the ability to notice the things around her (Sixth Sense) - she has one of our new classes, the Everyman.

We did choose to change some of the skills - Hide & Move Silent are Sneak and Spot & Listen are Notice. We've added Forbidden Knowledge skills as well as a slew of feats for gunslingers and skills-monkeys alike.

We also have the goal to make this a very worldly campaign. I'm starting a plot-thread in Japan, another is beginning in Russia and South America, and of course there will be ones in Europe and the USA.

Matthew
2007-07-27, 08:20 PM
I have to agree that this strikes me as something that would have been much better suited to the D20 system than actual D&D.

SasseyFrass
2007-07-28, 02:41 PM
The first World War, I presume?

I am one of the co-writers of the White Star campagin book (I had a great time researching the time period). There are secret plotlines that will be revealed in the modules over the next ten years. I can't fully answer this question without spoiling some of those plotlines, but yes, the end of the campaign purposefully coincides with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the start of WWI. Of course, heroes in modules can alter historic events...

We have three modules out, two being playtested in a coupel weeks and 11 more in development. Modules played at Origins (15 tables), Dexcon and are scheduled for Dragon Con, Penta Con and U-Con. We also have several gaming clubs planning on playing the modules as they get released (we plan on about two a month). If your interested, check out our website at http://fellowshipwhitestar.com/

/cheers

-Dave...

SasseyFrass
2007-07-28, 03:03 PM
...

If I read your website correctly, you'll be using basic DnD 3.5 base classes, and will just be adding feat, PrCs, items, etc.?

If you elaborate, perhaps my interest and the interest of others could be peaked.

Hola,

Dave, one of the authors, here again. I can expound on this a bit.

We have three new classes which can be used to tailor a heroe to your liking (everyman, scholar and laborer). The core dnd class were kept as useable, but mainly for purposes of balance. Yes, we could have made a policeman class, but honestly, they number of feats, HPs, etc... would have so paralleled a fighter, that it wouldn't be useful (and we didn't want to sell regurgitated information). There are changes for some classes though, For instance, armor cannot be worn in the campaign. There are also new unique skills and feats in the book.

We have new gun rules that we think are relatively simple yet true to the danger of firearms. Explosive rules are also expounded upon. The gentleman that wrote the rules is a gun enthusiast (and military history minor) that spent months researching period gun data including ballistic tests to come up with these rules.

We have tons of module ideas and NPCs (some historical, some fictional) in the campaign book for anyone that wants to make it into a home campaign instead of playing the modules we write (or combine the two). There are multiple module ideas and hooks in most Countries described.

There are fourty artworks by ten artists that fit the time period and feel of the campaign as well as many vintage photographs from the time period.

The book details the campaign setting and feel. Your heroes belong to a secret society, the fellowship of the rose, who secretly root out evil and exterminate it. The book details the levels fo the organization and how the heroes operate in the world. It also details other organizations that exist in the world. Some of which are allied with you and others that oppose you.

I hope some of this peals your interest. We have been havign a blast playing the game already.

I think the 350 page book, packed with great module ideas, new character classes-skills and feats, stories, artwork, and history is well worth the $25 price tag. We actually priced it simply to break even. This is a campaign by players for players. We are playing in the campaign and want to have a ton of fun. We hope a lot of you will join us.

If you have a local gaming group that would like to try out a module to see if it is for you, just drop us a line.

-Dave

YPU
2007-07-28, 03:49 PM
It indeed seems interesting, I would probably pick it up if it came by at the local game store.
I, two, really like the time and sort of setting. (I, myself being fascinated by the idea of illuminati/free masons) and I hope that your campaign setting will fit my vision of the sort of campaign.

Edit: That is, if you ship to Holland, actually if you do I would probably order it.

SasseyFrass
2007-07-28, 07:02 PM
That is, if you ship to Holland, actually if you do I would probably order it.

We will ship anywhere, but it gets a little pricey shipping overseas. I sent one to Portugal last week, it was $23.20 shipping. If you can send your address to the email on the website at http://fellowshipwhitestar.com/, we can get you an exact shipping amount. It might be less, I'll see if there is a cheaper shipping method.

I'd really love to see players in many countries playing and enjoying the game. The secret society the heroes belong to in the game is international as are the modules.

It's funny you mentioned the Illuminati and Masons, they are two of the real world secret societies that are described in the book (Qabals/Organizations chapter).

/cheers

-Dave...

YPU
2007-07-29, 06:30 AM
Another thing I was wondering about, could you give is a brief impression of how firearms are handled. Is there one or more feats for proficiency, are there base classes that are proficient with them, or do they all need to take a feat? How many different fire arms are described in the book? Are those specific brand/names (brown smoothbore, etz) or general models (long rife, small pistol) and finally, are there any new spells that interact with the technology of that time?
EDIT: and if you are not using armor, does this game use class defense bonus? or something entirely different?

And another question that might interest people who are a bit shaken by the shipping cost to other country’s: will there be a PDF for sale, such as seen at site such as drive trough rpg.

Fuum Bango
2007-07-29, 07:01 AM
All I can add is make a even more missions within different countries and this could be a perfect setting.
How about mages awakening a ancient dragon in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh?
Or the goverment making zombies office workers in Japan, Tokyo?
Or a missing person detective story in England, Manchester, where the missing person is a ghost that usually haunts the local hotel?

Ha, sorry, I get carried away.:smallsmile:

SasseyFrass
2007-07-29, 08:11 AM
brief impression of how firearms are handled. one or more feats for proficiency, base classes that are proficient with them, or do they all need to take a feat? How many different fire arms are described in the book? Are those specific brand/names (brown smoothbore, etz) or general models (long rife, small pistol) and finally, are there any new spells that interact with the technology of that time?

EDIT: if you are not using armor, does this game use class defense bonus?


Sorry for the long answer that follows.I'm not great at summarizing:

I will try my best to summarize the weapons firearms (the gun expert who wrote the rules is climbing Mount Kilimanjaro for the next two weeks) as well as answer your other questions:

1. Spells/technology. There are two new prestige classes that interact with technology: mad scientists and tinkerers.

2. Armor provides no defense bonus in our campaign, but we do have defense bonuses (by class) to partially make up for this.

3. RE Weapons:
First there are three categories for determining the training needed to use firearms: simple, martial and exotic. Anybody but a druid, monk, rogue, or wizard is proficient with all simple weapons. Barbarians and fighters are proficient with all simple and all martial weapons. Characters of other classes are proficient with an assortment of mainly simple weapons and possibly also some martial or even exotic weapons. A character who uses a weapon with which he or she is not proficient takes a –4 penalty on attack rolls. There are other ways for classes to get a martial weapon (use a feat, or a cleric can take the war domain to access a martial favored diety weapon "and fire and damnation shall rain down upon you sinners! Eat lead!", etc...)

Next there are Light, One-Handed, and Two-Handed Weapons: This designation is a measure of how much effort it takes to wield a weapon in combat. It indicates whether a weapon is considered a light weapon, a one-handed weapon, or a two-handed weapon.

Weapons are divided into 14 classes:
Derringers (simple and light)
Light Revolvers: simple and light (simple and light)
Light Automatics (simple and light)
Medium Revolvers (simple and one handed)
Medium Automatics (simple and one handed)
Heavy Revolvers (martial and one handed)
Heavy Automatics (martial and one handed)
Repeating Rifle (martial and two handed)
Service Rifle (martial and two handed)
Sporting Rifle (exotic and two handed)
Shotgun (simple and two handed)
Sawed off Shotgun (martial and two handed)

Each of those classes has multiple examples of specific models of weapons that fit in the category. The examples were chosen based on models of weapons that had a very large production runs by 1905 and thus were commonly available and ones that were reliable. It also meant that the bullets would be more readily available to purchase. Some obscure models would have odd caliber bullets that would have to be procured in a certain area. As the campaign moves on in years (from 1905-1914), we will add some more weapons that fit into the above criteria given the new year.

We have also told fans on the fansites that we will stat out any other weapon that they would like to provide the research for and post those to the website. Weapons will be fit into one of those categories, but might then have a different ammo capacity, range, bonus/penalty to hit, damage increase/reduction, size, weight, cost, etc…

There are many firearms feats. Many use base core feats (weapon focus and such), others are new. All of the new ones can be taken by any class, but some have prerequisites. Some of the new ones include: fan the hammer, get in close, quick draw, speed loader and trick shot.

We have a bunch of new prestige classes and some of them have their own specific gun related abilities plus bonus gun related feats (core and some of our unique ones). Those include the Gunslinger and the Sharpshooter.

-Dave...

SasseyFrass
2007-07-29, 08:20 AM
All I can add is make a even more missions within different countries and this could be a perfect setting.
How about mages awakening a ancient dragon in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh?
Or the goverment making zombies office workers in Japan, Tokyo?
Or a missing person detective story in England, Manchester, where the missing person is a ghost that usually haunts the local hotel?

Ha, sorry, I get carried away.:smallsmile:

Not at all. Those are very good examples of the types of missions we expect the heroes to undertake (although we emphasize the investigation portion of the modules, combat seems to follow in many cases). The campaign book lists module ideas like those in dozens of countries. For the modules we are writing for the campaign, they are located all over the world. The ones written so far are in USA (2), England (1), Russia (1), and Japan (1). There are 11 or so more in development and they are likewise located all over. One of the writers will be doing modules in Bolivia, one really likes Ayers rock in Central Australia, and another has chosen Antartica. Over time I'd like to see a module (or more) in every country as each has a unique flavor to partake of.

-Dave...

YPU
2007-07-29, 08:34 AM
2. Armor provides no defense bonus in our campaign, but we do have defense bonuses (by class) to partially make up for this.


Long answers tend to be more complete then short once, however, I do have another follow up question. this game uses a class defense bonus, that’s nice, but do you have rules for incorporating other classes, for instance, an devil blooded warlock would fit in nicely as bad guy I think. Does the book have rules for assigning such a class a defense bonus, and perhaps even assigning a group of firearms. As you ad the guns to the existing three groups, have you, for instance added a simple gun to the weapon list of the wizard and druid? (well, perhaps not druid)

SasseyFrass
2007-07-29, 10:05 AM
do you have rules for incorporating other classes, for instance, an devil blooded warlock would fit in nicely as bad guy I think. Does the book have rules for assigning such a class a defense bonus, and perhaps even assigning a group of firearms. As you ad the guns to the existing three groups, have you, for instance added a simple gun to the weapon list of the wizard and druid? (well, perhaps not druid)

Druids and Wizards don't get easy access to firearm proficiencies. We thought this made sense as they are not focusing on firearms use in combat and for game balance purposes, spells are pretty powerful tools in a world where they are not the norm. They can of course use those weapons at a penalty (Marvin the magic user, an elderly rare book dealer pulls a pistol from his desk and waves it, hands shaking, at the dark form that has entered his shop). Of the people that I have seen play those classes so far, they bought a gun for the hero, but didn't use it in combat anyway. They were busy casting. Now if a player wants to tailor their wizard or druid into a proficient gun toting wizard, they can do that by using one of their feats or wizards can cast tensers transformation at high levels (Marvin the magic user, an elderly rare book dealer pulls a pistol from his desk, the weapon his father had taught him to use as a boy, spending many sunny saturday afternoons target practicing in the nearby meadow, the only time he spent away from his studies, and pointed it steadily, dead at the center of the forehead of the dark form that entered his shop).

We have defined the defense bonuses in the book by class and mentioned under various useable prestige classes which table they use for the bonus. If we allow further classes that we might not have considered initially, we will certainly assign them a table or make a new one for them. We'd also consider weapon proficiencies for them at that time, and balance it with the other class skills.

-Dave...

puppyavenger
2007-07-29, 12:01 PM
two things
1. isn't this time period more suited to D20 modern than D&D?
2. Why no Sorcerer?

YPU
2007-07-29, 01:08 PM
two things
1. isn't this time period more suited to D20 modern than D&D?
2. Why no Sorcerer?
2: Hey, what did I miss, where does it say that. (in the actual book would be a good option I guess.)
And my answer to 1, using the DnD classes just has a special feel to it. I discovered this; some time ago I ran a improvised modern game, using the modern stats for guns, just a good gun per person and just build a dnd character, improvise what the armor would be in modern times. That game was a vampire hunter game, ht was great fun. More recently, when trying to do this gain with the full d20 modern rules it had lost something, if your characters moves trough such a fantastic setting, with magic and vampires you feel left behind when using modern. the feeling of being somebody of the old type (or a more modern version of it) just has much more feel to it.

puppyavenger
2007-07-29, 01:20 PM
2: Hey, what did I miss, where does it say that. (in the actual book would be a good option I guess.)


Website actualy in About us under charecters

"
The following classes from the PHB will be allowed:
Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Rogue, and
Wizard."

YPU
2007-07-29, 01:25 PM
so, no ranger or paladin either, I suppose I would allow them in my campaign. but indeed i would like to know why you have decided not to use them.

Neon Knight
2007-07-29, 01:48 PM
...

Well, I'll say this: The mechanics you have set up don't appeal to me for this type of game.

I'll still take a look at the book if it shows up in my local game shop. If the fluff is really good, I might adapt it to something I find more suitable.

SasseyFrass
2007-07-29, 02:02 PM
so, no ranger or paladin either, I suppose I would allow them in my campaign. but indeed i would like to know why you have decided not to use them.

We have two prestige classes that have the same feel as a ranger and paladin, our knight and hunter. We have changed them to make them more balanced, in our opinion, for the FWS camapign.

Of course, home campaigns will have home rules, so I can sure see folks allowing those classes in their home campaigns.

-Dave...

PS: This is a campaign where we listen to the players, if a majority fo the players want us to add sorcerers (ex) and we don't see it being a game balance problem, then sorcerers come to exist in our game.

SasseyFrass
2007-07-29, 02:17 PM
two things
1. isn't this time period more suited to D20 modern than D&D?
2. Why no Sorcerer?

Everyone will have their preferences, some folks like d20 modern. With the horror feel of our campaign and magic being kept in the shadows, we felt the feel of the dnd d20 ogl rules better reflects the atmosphere.

I guess the only other thing I can add is that the people that have played it so far all seem to love it (well 1 of the 75 people who played at Origins said they didn't care for it, but that was because they said one monster in a module was too tough, other groups thought that particular monster was a great challenge, if some mental power was used on tactics it was the appropriate APL. No negative feedback from other cons/game days and much postiive feedback).

No sorcerer. The way core sorcerers cast their spells do not work into the way magic exists in FWS. We could have ignored the dragon heritage, but sorcerers just didn't have the right feel for our campaign as a base class. Again, home campaigns could certainly allow them. We didn't think they were overpowered, just not the right feel.

BTW, anyone who is interested is welcome to join our fansite:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/FellowshipWhiteStar/

There is some more discussion and information there. One person posted a FWS character sheet to the files section, some of the art is in the file sections, etc...

-Dave...

SasseyFrass
2007-07-29, 02:48 PM
...

Well, I'll say this: The mechanics you have set up don't appeal to me for this type of game.

I'll still take a look at the book if it shows up in my local game shop. If the fluff is really good, I might adapt it to something I find more suitable.


Perfectly understandable, not every game is for everyone.

I will say that you won't see our book in your local game store (unless your from Columbus, Ohio).

We are a small group of gamers that have written the game (who are also playing the game and having a blast), organized an ongoing 10 year campaign, written modules and have scheduled it to play at lots of conventions and game days. We don't want to sell the game in a store unless we know the proprietor and the way they treat customers (which is why we are selling it at one of our local game stores, the GuardTower). We also didn't mark the book up a bunch so that distributors and stores could take a chunk of money from it. The $25 price tag pays for our expense and that is about it.

/cheers

-Dave...

YPU
2007-07-29, 04:05 PM
hey, looking at the character sheet makes me very curious about it. apparently if the book would fit into a special envelope it would cost me 11dolars mailing cost, and considering the current dollar euro exchange that’s quite expectable.
Anyway, another question, what exactly are forbidden lore’s? are those the magic versions of the skills where the normal ones are the mundane ones?

SasseyFrass
2007-07-29, 05:31 PM
Anyway, another question, what exactly are forbidden lore’s? are those the magic versions of the skills where the normal ones are the mundane ones?

Forbidden lore would be similar to a knowledge check except that it is used when there is a question about mythology, legends, social, political or scientific secrecy, secret societies, etc...

-Dave...

Thenodrin
2007-08-02, 07:57 PM
Hey there, another authour / designer of Fellowship here.

We made a conscious decision not to use the D20 Modern rules because I had personally seen many people who play D20 Modern go to great lengths to create monks, druids, wizards, and fighters out of the D20 Modern class selections.

So, I saw no advantage outside of the name "Modern" in the rules set. And, even that is a potential marketing disadvantage. There are a significantly larger number of people who already know the D20 rules than people who already know the D20 Modern rules (according to sales figures.)

We wanted a game where the player already knew the rules, and just needed to learn the setting and a few extra options. The game is entirely playable using just the PHB and our setting book.

Theno