Welcome to Telrhin. A world setting for dice & paper rolepaying games. Home to my campaigns since 1984.

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The Site Blog: thoughts and stray comments on developing an FRPG world as well as the odd story from the campaigns.

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Field Guide to the Lowlands

At long last I've finished the new Field Guide to the Lowlands, a player's guide to the main campaign region of the world. The old Field Guides, written over the years, had covered the whole world. And covered it poorly. So as I got about developing the re-imagined 'mark iv' I thought I'd keep it focused on one area. This also lets me keep a steady perspective and point-of-view based on the culture of the Lowlands.

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Stabmaster 8

Thought I'd tinker with rules again.  Not ambitious, mind you -- our in-house rules, affectionately called 'stabmaster', aren't meant to re-invent the wheel.  A happy blend of old-school nostalgia and story-focused simplicity. 

v7 was a cobbled re-imagining of the old broken house rules, band-aided and patched more than anything.  It did manage to simplify a little, which was a good start.  But it's time to re-work it all into something more congruous.  Well, as congruous as an AD&D inspired set of house rules can be. 

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Origins

Origins starts today (well, last night really) and we all get to game and geek out.  Playing an indie narrative game tonight by Bully Pulpit Games called Fiasco. 

But that is all an aside.  The development on Telrhin moves forward.  Encyclopaedia is two-thirds complete.  The Lowlands Field Guide is 80%.  Sifting through the long years worth of notes, ideas and differing directions has been daunting.  It would have been easier to start fresh, but I wanted to reshape the world and keep its wealth of detail and story.  

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A Central Story

This is a write-up of the story at the center of the world, the flavor and theme inside the structure. The Tale of the Ember Queens:

The Two Queens, first among the Old Ones (the Ethrings) and last vessels of the creation song. They are the soft silk of an ancient truth, a long thread of purpose in the tapestry of the world, shaped by the unfolding of years, the choices of man and the dreams of the Embrings as they slide into forgetfulness.

In their unfinished tale lie the secrets of the world.

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Re-Designing an FRPG World

The older incarnations of Telrhin were a rehash of the Tolkien story: once mighty civilizations, tarnished and diluted over time from change and the emergence of "man", battling an ancient evil in the form of the Black King, Talon.  There were gods and a cosmic struggle layered into this, and later in 'mark iii' the idea of a crossroads of fate emerged, determining the future paradigm.

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