Funded DCC Lankhmar

[Crowley]

A DCC RPG boxed setting for Lankhmar, officially licensed by the estate of Fritz Leiber. Adventure with Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser!

 

There are three basic pledge levels:

• The PDF pledge level includes an electronic edition of the final boxed set. (Obviously there will be no box!) This level does not include any physical rewards, add-ons or stretch goals.
• The boxed set includes the core boxed set as described above. All electronic stretch goals (PDFs) will apply to this level. Some of the physical stretch goals will apply to this level, generally those that fit in the box.
• The final level includes the boxed set as well as the "print pack." All electronic stretch goals (PDFs) will apply to this level. All of the physical stretch goals will apply, as well. Those that do not fit in the box will be shipped in a separate "print pack." See below for more information on these stretch goals.

 

Stretch Goals

DCC Lankhmar continues a long tradition in RPG gaming, and we want to do right by the estate of Fritz Leiber. The stretch goals associated with this Kickstarter will help create an even more amazing tribute to the world of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

Stretch goals fall into three categories:

• PDF stretch goals that all backers receive
• Print stretch goals that can fit into the boxed set, which will be included with any pledge that has the physical boxed set
• The "Print Pack," which is a printed collection of the stretch goals which don't fit in the boxed set

Here is a rough outline of possible stretch goals, which may evolve as the Kickstarter continues.

At $40,000: Cleared! We will add a new Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)

At $60,000: We will print the poster map larger (included in boxed set)

At $80,000: We will add a second Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)

At $100,000: We will add a supplement called "A Dozen Lankhmar Locations," which will provide information, maps, and floorplans on setting adventures in a dozen famous Lankhmar locales (including the Silver Eel!) (PDF for all backers; print copy in the boxed set)

At $120,000: We will add a third Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)

At $140,000: We will add a supplement called "Random NPCs in Lankhmar," which will provide tables and information for generating random NPCs that your PCs can encounter in Lankhmar (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)

At $160,000: We will add a fourth Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)

At $180,000: We will add a Lankhmar-themed three-panel Judges Screen (PDF for all backers; print copy in the boxed set)

At $200,000: We will add a fifth Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)

At $220,000: We will add a cloth map in the boxed set (print copy in the boxed set)

At $240,000: We will add a sixth Lankhmar adventure module (PDF for all backers; print copy in the Print Pack)

At $250,000: We will add send Michael Curtis to Houston for a week to research the Fritz Leiber archives in the University of Houston. We anticipate this may result in a new product of some kind to be delivered to backers of this Kickstarter, but exactly what we'll discover in the archives - and what product may result from it - can't be determined until Michael sets foot in the archives!

[Grumpy Cave Bear]

I think that DCC might be one of the best RPG fits for the Lankhmar setting!  Old school rules for an old school setting!

[ced1106]

Curious. I have the Savage Worlds Lankhmar setting and PEG still has it on their website. Did PEG lose the license or not have an exclusivity?

[Glitterwolf]

I loved the books, and I would love some models.

I don't game though..

Looking at the box art...Fafhrd should be missing a hand.

[Lidless Eye]

I loved the Free RPG Day adventure they put out as a preview for the book.

[Crowley]

7 hours ago, ced1106 said:

Curious. I have the Savage Worlds Lankhmar setting and PEG still has it on their website. Did PEG lose the license or not have an exclusivity?

No idea...

6 hours ago, Xherman1964 said:

I loved the books, and I would love some models.

I don't game though..

Looking at the box art...Fafhrd should be missing a hand.

Depends on when in the series it takes place, right?

[Glitterwolf]

4 minutes ago, David Brawley said:

No idea...

Depends on when in the series it takes place, right?

 

True!

 

Now I want a Ningauble mini!

[skippen]

I know it's their style, but I wish they had "better" art for this release.  I am fine with it for DCC and MCC, but it would be nice for Lankmhar to have a modern style.

Edited March 29, 2017 by skippen

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm. I always liked Lankhmar.

 

DCC... is okay, better for my tastes than SW, at any rate.

 

The Auld Grump

[Egg of Coot]

Hmmmm . . .  I don't game anymore, but anything Lankhmar is tempting . . .  And Lankhmar done old school is even more tempting . . .

 

The Egg

[Crowley]

 

 

Update #7

Next stretch goal surpassed! Another free adventure module! And design diary #3

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all the great new support today - especially for the folks who helped push us over the $80k mark! Everyone now gets a second free adventure module! (In addition to the larger printed map!) Awesome. We are already brainstorming on ideas for these adventures, and we'll be telling you more about "what you're getting" in the coming weeks.

And now here is the third installment in Michael Curtis' designer diaries. We have been working on DCC Lankhmar for two years. The design and playtesting phases have covered a lot of ground. Mike's previous design diaries (here and here) were intended to give you some insight into the process. Today, we go into more detail...

Design Note #3: Lankhmar is a Way of Life

By Michael Curtis

With our stated goal of “get Lankhmar right” in mind for DCC Lankhmar, I knew an in-depth revisit to the source material was in order. I’ve read the series four or five times over the years prior to the start of the project, but this time I was approaching the stories like a historian, sifting through the fictional events for the finest grains of information.

I started by reading the entire series in publication order, beginning with “The Jewels in the Forest” and culminating with Swords against the Shadowlands, a novel not by Leiber, but written with his permission. I tracked down a few interviews with Fritz, seeking further nuggets of Nehwon lore, and purchased a small run copy of “Adept’s Gambit” as originally written by Leiber and submitted to H.P. Lovecraft for commentary. Details from each story were jotted down in a pair of composition notebooks and then cross-referenced and highlighted for ease of use. I talked to James M. Ward about his original work on Deities & Demigods, where he first converted Leiber’s writings into gameable material. I even proposed a week-long trip down to Texas to spend time pursuing the Fritz Leiber Collection at the University of Huston archives. (Publisher's note: This is the ultimate stretch goal of this project!)

And then, after I finished that, I went back and read the entire series again in chronological order, starting with Swords against Deviltry and ending on The Knight and Knave of Swords. I would later re-read the stories set in Lankhmar when I was working on the Lankhmar citybook for the boxed set. Suffice to say, I’m a self-taught Srith of the Scrolls these days.

The scholarship proved frustrating at times. As I’ve previously mentioned, Fritz wrote the Fafhrd and Mouser stories over a fifty year period and with an eye towards entertaining the reader, not making the job of subsequent game designers an easy one. Contradictions, continuity errors, outright typos, and similar obstacles all reared their ugly heads from time to time. Sheelba is masculine, for example, until that one time when “he” is a “she.” Fafhrd suddenly hails from “Cloud Corner” instead of “Cold Corner” in another story. Was that a typesetting error or was it Fritz’s memories slipping as he got older? All this had to be dealt with or danced around when writing DCC Lankhmar.

In the end, I believe all this research made DCC Lankhmar the finest treatment of Leiber’s works to date. We had the advantage going into the project of converting it to DCC RPG rules, a system that was purposely designed to replicate the sword & sorcery genre Leiber helped create. Being able to combine such a solid base set of rules with the Leiber’s creations put us one step ahead of other company’s conversions and we made the best of that head start. Rather than be forced to redesign the existing rules to conform to Lankhmar, we simply made minor tweaks to allow the source material to shine. Leiber’s Lankhmar is the diamond set in the exquisite gold band of DCC RPG. I’m confident the fans are going to enjoy this treasure once it resides in their hands.

Next: Healing without clerics...

[Crowley]

Currently at $87,990, next stretch goal at $100,000

 

At $100,000: We will add a supplement called "A Dozen Lankhmar Locations," which will provide information, maps, and floorplans on setting adventures in a dozen famous Lankhmar locales (including the Silver Eel!) (PDF for all backers; print copy in the boxed set)

 

 

And here's today's update:

 

Hi everyone,

Greetings to all the new (and existing) backers!

Today's update includes new trivia, and the next installment in the design diary.

Today's Lankhmar Trivia Question

Fafhrd was briefly an acolyte of what god?

We'll post the answer tomorrow! And the answer to yesterday's question is: iron tiks, brass agols, silver smerduks, gold rilks, and diamond in amber gulditches.

Designer Diary #5: Love of Lankhmar

By Michael Curtis

(You can read the previous three installments of Mike's designer diaries here, here, here, and here.)

As mentioned in another installment, I came to know of Leiber and Lankhmar through a roundabout route. Deities & Demigods gave me the first hint at the fabulous world of Nehwon and I spent more than my fair share of hours trying to imagine what that place was like based on the fragments of lore found in the book. Killer whales that walked on stubby legs? Spider Gods? Ghouls with invisible flesh? That’s all pretty heady stuff when you’re ten years old!

This introduction was not the best one to have, however, and I’m glad the world has changed enough that access to the original stories isn’t the hardship it once was. Lacking access to the source material, my imagination went into overdrive as I thought of the potential adventures one might have in Lankhmar. And as we’re all aware, sometime your own imagination produces something more exciting than the reality. This could have been catastrophic and prematurely ended my ability to enjoy Leiber’s work when it finally reached my hands. Luckily, that didn’t happen.

Instead, I discovered a copy of The Knight and Knave of Swords on a spinner rack at the local pharmacy sometime in 1988. The cover depicted two individuals who looked nothing like what I imagined (Mouser looks like Napoleon, for example), but according to the back cover blurb, this was indeed a Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser book. I quickly snapped it up and rushed home to read it. Finally! After all these years of imagining what Nehwon and—more importantly—Lankhmar was like, I’d find out for myself.

I somehow dodged another bullet that could have killed my enjoyment of Lankhmar.

I’m not being some bitter hipster when I say that Fritz’s later Fafhrd and Mouser stories don’t compare to those he penned in his prime. Somewhere, Leiber got fascinated by the idea of including a version of Iceland in Nehwon and relocating the Twain there for a number of stories. Fafhrd is also maimed and the two heroes are getting older and slowing down. The Knight and Knave of Swords is a pale shadow of Leiber’s previous work and could have easily soured me on Nehwon. Yet, despite the stories’ weaknesses, they still possessed a lure that I couldn’t shake.

My final initiation into the Lankhmar mysteries occurred in college when, for reasons I don’t quite remember, I discovered the university library had the entire run of the Gregg Press hardcover novels. With some hesitance, I checked out the first book and began reading…and haven’t stopped some twenty-odd years later.

Reading the early stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser entirely changed the way I approached designing fantasy RPG campaign. Gone were the faux-Tolkien-esque names. I abandoned high fantasy world-shaking quests for low fantasy blue collar jobs. Archmages were replace by hedge wizards. I gleefully stole from Leiber, adding the “Night Market” and a more bureaucratic Death to my own campaign world. It was as if I was undergoing an apprenticeship that is only now seeing its culmination as we bring DCC Lankhmar to fruition.

If you’ve never been introduced to Nehwon, I’m almost envious of you. A fantastic world awaits you, a place I love dearly and am honored to be a part of in my own small way. While I advocate that everyone reading this seeks out the original Leiber stories to usher them through Ningauble’s cave and into Nehwon, should that opportunity not present itself, I hope that the work we’ve done with Leiber’s creations and our love of Lankhmar instills the same sense of wonder and excitement that I experienced from Deities & Demigods at the age of ten. Just make sure you don’t start with The Knight and Knave of Swords, OK?

(Publisher's note: You can find our list of "essential reading" for Leiber's works in this previous update.)

[John Fiala]

I'm not sure copying updates to this forum is really needed.  

[Crowley]

48 minutes ago, John Fiala said:

I'm not sure copying updates to this forum is really needed.  

I'll... keep your opinion in mind going forward.

[John Fiala]

6 minutes ago, David Brawley said:

I'll... keep your opinion in mind going forward.

 

I can't ask for much more.