The Nocturnal Sea FoS Report is now out!!!

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Shadowlands Cluster. Please, please, I beg you on my hands and knees to give us a comprehensive, coherent history and contemporary look at Nidala, the Phantasmal Forest, and Shadowborn Manor.

Hey, if you're that interested, why not start a thread to recruit writers for such a project? We moderators may have our hands full for the foreseeable future, but we'd be happy to offer advice and constructive criticism on material that the whole community comes up with.

[Desertrising]

Saying someone did want to start a project such as a GAZ on the showlands cluster, Could we all it a GAZ or because it was a user project and not a fraternity sponsored project would it have to be called something else?

Also would it be called an FOS book or would it be called a FAN of FOS book? Not that it really matters I suppose, but I am curios.

[Jan Cantor]

My first post in this forum and it´s a congratulation because your work is wonderful.

"The Nocturnal Sea Gazetteer" is a excellent book and it´s a significant assistance to DM.

Congratulations on the book, guys!


P.S.: Sorry for my english language. I'm studying English and did not write very well.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Saying someone did want to start a project such as a GAZ on the showlands cluster, Could we all it a GAZ or because it was a user project and not a fraternity sponsored project would it have to be called something else?

Also would it be called an FOS book or would it be called a FAN of FOS book? Not that it really matters I suppose, but I am curios.

It would be subtitled "A Ravenloft Community Netbook", like the Z-Gaz. Pamela and Undead Cabbage organized that project, not us, so she might be able to tell you what you'll be in for, if you try it.

But we'd be happy to lend our name, editorial assistance, and Library-space to such a netbook, assuming it's of decent quality and isn't too rooted in someone's home campaign (***cough... Champions of Dorkness ... cough cough*** ) for general use.

Certainly, we were thrilled to include Pam and Cabby's work in the FoS metaplot (i.e. the hunt for Van Rijn), and we consider their netbook as much of a true Gazetteer as the others. Besides, it'd be fun to read a netbook that surprises us, for a change.

[kourkenko]

i have only read the Liffe chapter and i'm really impresse by the fluff. I was wondering how you can merge the scenari of Book of crypt and the result is beyond of my hope...

I'll continue my reading now ^^

[DasSoviet]

Sped through the book last night before I hit the hay, and I must say I am thoroughly impressed. Though I'm not big on naval campaigns, I can definitely see using Grabben and Liffe in future campaigns I'll run. Props all around to the entire FOS crew for the excellent netbook here! Well done all of you!

Now, for the all important second read through, after sleep and coffee!

[Pamela]

Congratulations, guys, and well done! I haven't had a chance to properly read it but from what I've seen it looks like it will be excellent as always.

EDIT: Sorry I've got a cold and can't think or write properly - I have read some of it, but but made it sound as if I hadn't.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Saying someone did want to start a project such as a GAZ on the showlands cluster, Could we all it a GAZ or because it was a user project and not a fraternity sponsored project would it have to be called something else?

Also would it be called an FOS book or would it be called a FAN of FOS book? Not that it really matters I suppose, but I am curios.

It would be subtitled "A Ravenloft Community Netbook", like the Z-Gaz. Pamela and Undead Cabbage organized that project, not us, so she might be able to tell you what you'll be in for, if you try it.

But we'd be happy to lend our name, editorial assistance, and Library-space to such a netbook, assuming it's of decent quality and isn't too rooted in someone's home campaign (***cough... Champions of Dorkness ... cough cough*** ) for general use.

Certainly, we were thrilled to include Pam and Cabby's work in the FoS metaplot (i.e. the hunt for Van Rijn), and we consider their netbook as much of a true Gazetteer as the others. Besides, it'd be fun to read a netbook that surprises us, for a change.

I'd do it right away, but exams go first...

If the following doesn't sound too arrogant, I'd be willing to help as a "special consultant", if that's okay.

My plan would be to treat the Shadowlands cluster completely separated from the core - no mistways, no outlanders. With its dynamics, it could well serve as a base for an unofficial RL 4e. - I can't see Strahd in 4e, but with the Shadowlands, it could work.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Psst don't forget the Doppleganger pdf Roti and her gang worked real hard on!

It is already out?!!

That's the problem with online pdfs and no page limits, word counters, or editorial restrictions. Everything balloons. Instead of the print Gazetteers where it's "you have 35 pages to do all of Barovia" and you only do the really, really important bits and make every sentence count it's "you have, oh, a 100 pages to do Liffe. But, you know, we won't care if you go over."

I did my best to crack the editorial whip and keep it svelte (and cut swaths from the reports), savaging Rotipher's amazing work, but with this many authors...

Please, understand me right - I liked the parts where some details got extended a lot; in fact, I always thought the TSR material on the Nocturnal Sea to lack exactly that detail you now provide.
Problem is, of course, too much story can tire a reader that looks for usable info.
- As a DM, however, I remember I used every information I found in the Souragne Gaz to provide my players with new fluff. Although the game ended in a spectacular TPK, and although it was my first Gothic Earth campaign, I think it was among the best games I ever DMed - mainly thanks to your help.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

In my defense, I'll say that part of why the Nebligtode text is so in-depth is because I meant for those chapters to appeal to Mystara fans as well as to Ravenlofters. I knew for a fact that the Mystara-buffs have been puzzled by Meredoth and his history for years, and that setting's fans are used to entire Gazetteers devoted to one nation, not books on three to five countries at a time.

Besides, TwiceBorn's text on Viktor's visit to Meerdorf was so fantastic, I didn't have the heart to trim it down by much, and it set the tone for the rest of my two chapters, where level of detail is concerned.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Again, I didn't mean that as a real drawback for the book, all to the contrary. It reads more like a novel than a gaming book to me, which is sometimes tiresome, but on the other hand gives a very intense look at the setting. I can absolutely live with it, though my poor printer will suffer...

Oh, and, hell, I am doing it:

http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/foru ... hp?p=97374

[DocBeard]

Hey, I'm having serious trouble downloading a copy of this. It's not my edition of acrobat, because I downloaded another PDF just fine.

Is there a chance we could get a direct download link? Like, rapidshare or something?

[brothersale]

Ok, finally finished reading it, and on the whole it was another cracking good read, but that said i do have a couple of queries, nit-picks and comments:

On Page 47 the Sidebar just breaks off at the end with ‘For sleepers, the’. I assume that the last sentence was hidden by the text box during editing by error, so how does the sentence end?

On Page 97 a rather odd item shows up ....... A Cavitus Ship? From a landlocked domain (albeit one surrounded by mist on three sides) with no rivers, streams or any bodies of water. How on earth was it even made? let alone get into a body of water, for that matter why would it have even been made?

On Page 339 and this it just my perosnal opinion mind you, but I always have believed that the mage that cause the tragedy in The Scholar of Decay was none other than the main protagonist, Aurek Nuikin. If you read the description of the wild mage attempting to steal the spell book and Aurek at the end of the book they are very similar. This has always lead me to believe that at some future point in a effort to change thing he uses magic to travel back in time, unwittingly setting in motion the very tragedy he hoped to stop. very tragic and Ravenloftian

My final quaetion is about the Demilords of Liffe. Are they able to enter each other presence, and are they stuck in their respective baronies/territories?

[Rotipher of the FoS]

On Page 97 a rather odd item shows up ....... A Cavitus Ship? From a landlocked domain (albeit one surrounded by mist on three sides) with no rivers, streams or any bodies of water. How on earth was it even made? let alone get into a body of water, for that matter why would it have even been made?

The description never said it was created in Cavitius, only that it was crafted by Vecna's priests on his orders. It was probably built to sail the seas in other domains. As to why Vecna thought a ship would be useful for his purposes, chalk that up to one of the Lord of Secrets' many, many enigmas.

OOC, it was one of the submissions Joel received online. The description was captivating, yet so over-the-top gruesome that it didn't really fit with anyone other than Vecna: neither Azalin nor Meredoth is quite that sick, and Tsien has even less reason to build a ship than Vecna does.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

On Page 339 and this it just my perosnal opinion mind you, but I always have believed that the mage that cause the tragedy in The Scholar of Decay was none other than the main protagonist, Aurek Nuikin. If you read the description of the wild mage attempting to steal the spell book and Aurek at the end of the book they are very similar. This has always lead me to believe that at some future point in a effort to change thing he uses magic to travel back in time, unwittingly setting in motion the very tragedy he hoped to stop. very tragic and Ravenloftian

I'll admit, that's an interesting interpretation. Still, the novel never came out and said that ... and the facial features of the magic-thief really do resemble Meredoth's pic in Domains of Dread. And there just can't be that many wizards on the loose in Ravenloft with the oomph to cast Crushing Fist, so adding a connection to one of the (very) few NPCs we know is capable of that seemed like a good idea. Particularly since magic-theft was already a part of his background, and the runaway-clone idea seemed like a natural excuse to get that old grump on Todstein -- or, rather, his copy -- to poke his nose out of the lab once in a while.

But hey, nice catch on the reference!