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LORDS OF TARSA - A Heroic Fantasy Setting for Basic Roleplaying


Trifletraxor

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lords-of-tarsa.jpgThe year is 1092 in the Age of Itania. King Girart of Mirensa, villified as the killer of children, schemes to bring the Nine Kingdoms under his crown while Safiro of Tivonna engages magi and spies to thwart Girart's ambition. Mad King Bertrant of Ossirenza bears the burden to defend the lands of Men against marauding Krek even as his galleys war on Tivonnan ships to satisfy his raging temperament.

In the wild North the rangers, always outnumbered, battle the depredations of ruthless Kyaksa tribesmen who strike from mountain strongholds. In the steppes to the east the Solok tribes battle each other to satisfy the blood-lust of their gods and raid the West for its riches. The Vashaniin, an ancient and prideful people, spurn involvement in the affairs of Men while they prepare for the coming of a threat more dire than any of the petty squabbles of the West - an enemy that even now may be probing the defenses of the gray walls of the mountains of the Eastern Divide.

By James Brian King. 136 pages. Published November 2010 by Chaosium.

TarsaPreview.pdf

Edited by Trifletraxor

Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub!
b1.gif 116/420. High Priest.

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Hello USAFguy,

When I first began work on Lords of Tarsa I surprised myself as I don't tend to care for fantasy games or settings--other than being a fan of Lord of the Rings. In fact, my original work was to prepare an alterate world setting to use with Decipher's Lord of the Rings RPG. Then I purchased BRP and changed direction.

Character generation includes choosing a race from three sub-races of human, half-breed Krek-kakor, or Vashaniin. The Krek and Vashaniin are specifically designed to be similar to orcs and elves to allow the use of existing miniatures.

Lords of Tarsa uses the Magic system from BRP, but modified to be more subdued and restricted. There is no spell book, there are no arcane words or gestures. Instead, magic can only be cast by those who "have the talent." A magic user can master a number of spells equal to INT. Many spells from BRP Magic system are omitted, such as Invisibility and Conjure Elemental; new spells more in line with the magic of Tarsa are presented.

The cultures of Tarsa are rich and varied. Religions are only briefly touched upon, sufficient to allow the presentation of unique cultures and religious motivations. The lands of Tarsa are rife with conflict and potential conflict; opportunities for adventure abound in every direction and destination. Technology in general is late Roman Empire; there is no plate or partial plate armor, chain dominates the battle field, and leather is most commonly the armor to be found, and is actually the armor of choice due to the artistic canvas leather offers. Medicine is quite advanced, at least in areas under the influence of the Vashaniin.

Hope that works as a teaser!

--James

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I picked up a copy this morning. Have only been able to give it the briefest skim, but it looks very nice. Maps and illustrations are very well done, and the layout/design is clear and easy to navigate. I look forward to reading it in-depth.

Please don't contact me with Chaosium questions. I'm no longer associated with the company, and have no idea what the new management is doing.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi there,

First time-poster (Hi everyone *waves* ). I saw this and it sounds interesting. Any chance we can see a preview? And, as a map-addict, I have to ask for the map...pretty please? ;D

Thanks in advance.

Karna

Oh, Creator! Why have I been tormented like this, to learn the truth about my birth? The Sun is still the source of light to the world! My mother is still a respected queen! Yet I, the result of their union, am a wanderer... But I will never give up Duryodhana!

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No one? Or are there no previews around. If not, Chaosium should make some.

Maybe some of you who read/played it can comment on it? Tell me more about the setting and its plot hooks...

Oh, Creator! Why have I been tormented like this, to learn the truth about my birth? The Sun is still the source of light to the world! My mother is still a respected queen! Yet I, the result of their union, am a wanderer... But I will never give up Duryodhana!

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Happy New Year everyone!

So, I received this as part of my Chaosium Christmas haul and have been doing a slow read of it. I was going to hold off on commenting on it until I had a chance to do a thorough reading but this is my opinion so far.

The lands of Tarsa are rife with conflict and potential conflict; opportunities for adventure abound in every direction and destination.

If anything, this is an understatement. The lands of Itania are surprisingly well developed for a sixty page gazetteer and the kingdoms that comprise Itania have all sorts of interconnections, strengths, weaknesses, dependencies and alliances that make for great hooks for interesting campaigns. A quick look at some areas:

Breganza - Wealthy and the heart of a slave trade network. Very poor resource wise though and rely on trade with other countries. The land is littered with arenas but also with some of the finest arts and music schools in Itania. Many slaves are cultivated through specialized slave schools as well. The queen is a former concubine who ascended to her position after the king's wife tragically passed away. Some have observed that those who criticize the queen have a tendency of dying or disappearing.

Mirensa - Neighbors Breganza to the north. They're ruled by an expansionist tyrant named Girart who spends as much time scheming to keep the petty kings under his rule in line as he does against foreign powers. For an example of Girart's intrigues one can look to Persa, who is loosely allied with two other nations, Tivonna and Tirenza, both enemies of Mirensa. Due to an external threat, the king of Persa allowed a regiment of the White Regiment of Tivonna's Royal Archers to be stationed within the royal palace. When the king and the royal family of Persa were slaughtered, prominent nobles in the Persan government pointed to Tivonna and turned to Mirensa to restore order. One of Girart's sons now sits on the throne of Persa until such a time that a new regent can be appointed by the citizens of Persa...

Onesta - Onesta is a little land nested between Mirensa and Breganza that has hosted the King's Tournament of Gladiators for the past two hundred years. It is a huge event that draws entries from all of Itania. Until recently, Onesta had been ruled by a former slave and a champion of the Tournament, Colmazio. He came to power after a bloody succession battle after the previous king of Onesta, Erberto, was murdered. While there's a whole back story to that, the current situation is that Colmazio now lives in exile in Breganza. Onesta has been invaded by Mirensa and Colmazio conducts guerrilla raids with a small cadre of loyal troops.

This is just a very tiny glimpse of the stuff going on in this setting. I highly recommend it.

70/420

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Thanks a lot, Chaot :)

Sounds good! I really wish Chaosium would put up some previews of their products (or maybe I just didn't find them :? ). How's the map? Is it possible that this product is only available directly from Chaosium's page? I couldn't find it on any other online sources (for example Amazon).

If more comes to mind, Chaot, let us know ;)

Oh, Creator! Why have I been tormented like this, to learn the truth about my birth? The Sun is still the source of light to the world! My mother is still a respected queen! Yet I, the result of their union, am a wanderer... But I will never give up Duryodhana!

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The map is solid. There's the main map and a detailed one an area in Tivonnia and they scratch everything that I would want from a map. They are clear, well drawn and well labeled. There's a Character Sheet in the middle of the book as well, so it looks great but it's not easily useable. Perhaps the good Mr. jamesbrianking could be enticed to make a copy of the maps or the character sheet digitally available? :)

As for finding Lords of Tarsa, it's likely only available through Chaosium as it's one of the monograph lines.

If more comes to mind, Chaot, let us know ;)

Oh, I left out a lot. There are scattered ruins that people nearly universally avoid. The ruins are usually surrounded by twisted landscapes and their origin is largely a mystery and those who seek to penetrate their mystery are later observed mentally broken. Long ago, giant flying beasts called Drakon terrorized the skies. Rumor has it that they have returned to the Northern Barrens. There are secret magic schools and secret assassin brotherhoods and a bunch of other fun stuff.

Edit: And, there are something like nine kingdoms detailed in the gazetteer as well as tribes and city states, all interconnected, there's a generic character digest tweaked Magic rules as well as some new spells, a magic item section, etc.

Edited by Chaot

70/420

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This is just a very tiny glimpse of the stuff going on in this setting. I highly recommend it.

Rate it Chaot! ;t)

Is it possible that this product is only available directly from Chaosium's page?

Monographs are generally only available through Chaosium.

SGL.

Ef plest master, this mighty fine grub!
b1.gif 116/420. High Priest.

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I have been thinking about getting Lords of Tarsa. On the hunt for a good and long lived fantasy setting I can use as base for a new fantasy campaign: But I want one that is generic enough so it's easy to rework other adventures and material I like from other sources and implement them into the world.

So far the choice it's a choice between Classic Fantasy combined with my huge Forgotten Realms collection or this setting.

From what I have seen from the samples of Lords of Tarsa it seems like a very well made setting but I am a bit worried about the generic part.

Any feedback on this issue would be very welcome and help me make up my mind. :?

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I LOVE what Rod is doing with Classic Fantasy! You could do much worse than using CF as a game engine base.

So Tarsa versus the Realms? What sort of adventures do you want to rework? How comfortable are you with reworking bits of Tarsa to fit your gameworld?

70/420

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I have actually already decided to go with Classical Fantasy. Have started to write a conversion of The Spirit of the White Wyvern adventure from 0one Games that is based on their B&W map White Wyvern Inn. I still haven't decide if I wanna use that adventure to start of a Forgotten Realms campaign or start in one of my own creations that we expand as we play.

I do like the generic adventures from 0one Games since they are so easy to incorporate into a setting of you choice or just run as they are and use as basis for your own campaigns. The reason why I decided for Classic Fantasy is because all their adventures are Osric/D&D/Pathfinder based and Classic Fantasy seem to fit that type of adventures better and makes the conversions easier.

I plan on doing Classic conversions of all their adventures in the Master Adventures series when time allows. Have recently written a conversion of the Star Wars Saga adventure Traitor's Gambit to the BRP system and learned a lot during that and the conversion is very similar to converting to Classic Fantasy.

Despite this I might order a Lords of Tarsa pdf to see how much I can use of the setting. After all it does look like a good one and maybe some sort of hybrid between Classic Fantasy/Lords of Tarsa is possible.

I don't like big dungeon bashes (but I do use them now and then when they suit the adventure) but do like to keep the adventures very simple and loads of action. Slay the dragon and rescue the princess kind of adventures.

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Nice character sheet - perhaps a more scroll-like border would do it justice for 'flavour', and I would of prefered the Player Name up the top rather than the bottom.

I like how you included the Simple Fatigue rules on the sheet, it makes it much easier for players to comphrend.

Very nice

" Sure it's fun, but it is also well known that a D20 roll and an AC is no match against a hefty swing of a D100% and a D20 Hit Location Table!"

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