Land of the Damned 3 Raw Edition!

[Hotrod]

I did not see this one coming!

To be sure, having a raw edition is not the same thing as having a finished product out, but it's a very encouraging sign, as raw edition books tend to go into production pretty soon after release.

[Library Ogre]

Wonder if they're gonna raw edition the rest of MoM.

[kiralon]

and its still pre-order
Ill celebrate when I can actually buy it.

[Warshield73]

and its still pre-order
Ill celebrate when I can actually buy it.

Isn't that the Palladium Books motto.

[Hell knight]

It makes me a lii happy and finally well see some books we been waiting on for so long . Now if only a RAW book for something for heroes and i be even happier.

[Captain_Nibbz]

Or either of the books for BtS . . .

That being said, this is a very encouraging turn of events. Can't wait to see the results!

[Reagren Wright]

I'm as surprise as all of you. No idea Matt was helping Kevin work on this Fantasy project. Yes a very good sign indeed.

[drewkitty ~..~]

I'm Glad that it didn't go as long a Lamuria in the writing phase.
As with all PB books, it is best to only start anticipaing when it said that the book is 'at the printers'.

Hopefuly this preveiw stage is not too long.

[Warshield73]

I'm Glad that it didn't go as long a Lamuria in the writing phase.
As with all PB books, it is best to only start anticipaing when it said that the book is 'at the printers'.

Hopefuly this preveiw stage is not too long.

I think I disagree with this a little. What I would love is if they started releasing RPEs for books that are the farthest out or least likely to see any work anytime soon. If a book is years away from release but they have the unedited manuscript sitting on a pile I wouldn't mind seeing it.

[Veknironth]

Well, this is a great sign for the Old Kingdom Mountains books.

-Vek
"RIP Randi Cartier."

[Jimbo]

This is good news. I cant wait to see it. And as for the Old Kingdom books, that would be phenomenal. A query however, what happened to the Lopan book they were touting a while ago?

[Jimbo]

You may celebrate, Kiralon. I have just ordered my copy! Huzzah!

[Reagren Wright]

This is good news. I cant wait to see it. And as for the Old Kingdom books, that would be phenomenal. A query however, what happened to the Lopan book they were touting a while ago?

Garden of the Gods takes place in Lopan. So Lopan has to wait for this book to come out first so
they are both compatible and consistent. Kevin and I are trying to stay on the same page. The Phi
sourcebook is done, but not submitted until Lopan comes out, in case things in Lopan don't become
official. That way if I need to do some revisions, they take place at the early stage. Put it this way
Lopan has gone through 3 revisions since the first submitted back in 2016.

[kiralon]

Oh my goodness, a fantasy product proclaimed and released in the same C̶e̶n̶t̶u̶r̶y D̶e̶c̶a̶d̶e Year.
What did they do to Kevin and where did they hide the body.
Ill order next week when I can afford the postage and packaging, pity its not a pdf as well.
Sweet. Time to gear a party for lotd

[Jimbo]

Thanks Reagren, i am looking forward to seeing it. So happy to see new fantasy materials coming out.

[Reagren Wright]

Book arrive today. Read it in about hour and half . That my review. If your buy it will wet your appetite of more.

[Jimbo]

Thanks A LOT, Reagren! That was just a HUGE help. Lol! Mine should be Friday.

[Jimbo]

It actually got here yesterday! Can't wait to see the finished product! Now to wait for Garden of the Gods and Rifter 84.

[stormlordrising]

As soon as I read that they were selling the Raw version of the book I have waited for decades to come out, I ordered it. It came in. I glanced through it read the parts I wanted too. Now like the Garden of the Gods I cant wait to get my hands on the completed versions. Reading that more fantasy is coming I look forward to reading them. I just hope they dont have released soon it makes the wait even longer.

[stormlordrising]

for only 200 copies there seem to be a lot of copies out there. didnt need the push the product we have waited 2 decades for it at least.

[Reagren Wright]

It's new product so it needs to be pushed. Get it out of the warehouse and into the hands of
readers and gamers. It's a tough choice. Limit the content to get the product out regularly or make the book simply stellar with material, but in doing so drags it out and delays the release.

[Hotrod]

So my wife got a copy of the raw preview for Christmas, and I've had some time to read through it and let it stew.

Overall, it's a good draft, with none of the glaring writing errors I was expecting. The content is mostly good, with only a few head-scratchers. The book focuses on a three-way struggle between the Minotaur tribes of Broken Horn, the Citadel, and a new faction of dwarves. These factions take up most of the raw edition.

The dwarf faction is the good-ish one, and it's got some great concepts. They're a grim, hardy, and dedicated group. They're jerks to and enemies of the Minotaurs, sworn enemies of the Citadel, and indifferent to events and people outside the Bleakness.
+Their story is that they heard about the elf-kingdom getting established in Darkest Heart, decided they should get in on that too, and 5000 years after the Land of the Damned prison got set up, they did a sneak attack on a holy Minotaur mountain where, ironically enough, the Minotaurs who had renounced the Old Ones and were working toward redemption would gather.
+Apparently, they are the only part of the Garrison that has survived and still does their mission.
+There's a lot of new player character-usable stuff in this faction. The dwarves use clockwork tech, some magic tattoo-ish skin decorations, performance-enhancing battle drugs, warrior priests, and elaborate tunnels/fortifications to fight the other two factions.
-There were a few things that I found a bit jarring about this faction. Their culture seemed quite distinct from that of the dwarves presented in 2nd Edition, (using magic, and possibly rune magic?) yet they get regular reinforcements from dwarves outside the Land of the Damned because they're famous among dwarves all over the world.

The minotaur tribes are a mixed bunch.
+Most of them hate and actively fight against the Citadel. They also fight the dwarves, but this gets portrayed as more of a response to dwarf aggression. They feature competing ideologies, outlooks, and leaders. Most have renounced the Old Ones.
+There is some good discussion of culture, direction, and leadership among the tribes.
+The only new standout player character content is a new O.C.C. that features minotaurs who get a Fantasy equivalent of cyber-armor grafted to their skin.
-Overall, this section felt less developed than the other two; I was hoping to see some more distinct capabilities and traits for each tribe.

The Citadel reads like a Catholic hell if Satan wasn't around and he had seven high demons who each specialized in one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
+The Citadel seriously messes up life in the region around it, to the point where, unless you really know what you're doing (or are moving with/closely following a Citadel force that does), it will mess you up in a lot of ways, from sucking up your magic energy to trapping you in time pockets. Oh, and nothing grows here at all.
+Just outside the Citadel is this massive crater-like city where life can (and does) thrive, and it's divided up into seven districts, each of which specializes in one particular type of sin. The bosses of each area are described in detail.
+Inside the Citadel is likewise divided up into seven palaces, along with this gigantic spherical orb of chaos magic that does weird things to people who get thrown in.
+In terms of the description of locations, regions, and key people, this was the most-developed and compelling section.
-This section struck me as very high on the "screw you, players" content, in that it's hard to see how a party could get into such a place, let alone do anything other than suffer and die. I also don't see much in the way of incentive/imperative to make players choose to go here. I'd rather have liked to see a section that provides some hooks or incentives to make this more than a background reading section, and/or some sort of "survival guide to the Land of the Damned" section with tips and discussions on how one might take a group through here. To be fair, I could level this criticism at the other Land of the Damned books, Hades, and Dyvall.

[Braden Campbell]

One does not simply march into Mord... I mean, the Land of the Damned. And no one has a need to visit Baradur... I mean, The Citidel.

[Hotrod]

One does not simply march into Mord... I mean, the Land of the Damned. And no one has a need to visit Baradur... I mean, The Citidel.

Before I read the Raw Preview, that was what I was expecting, but that's not really the vibe I got. Yes, there's a wasteland with a powerful tower-city-fortress in the middle ruled by evil, but the similarities seem to stop there. '

It's more like seven lords of sin ruling over seven districts within the Citadel itself. Each ruler and each ruler's dominion embody a specific deadly sin: lust, gluttony, sloth, anger, envy, greed, and pride. Imagine entire subcultures of evil dedicated to each of these sins, and you'll get the idea. These factions cooperate from time to time, especially when it comes to assembling and sending out raids and armies, but their rivalry is too strong for them to really get their act together; it would take the return of an Old One to do that.

There's certainly some creative room for a GM to put together some ultimate challenges for high-end parties. The overlord of the Greed faction, for example, has a vast collection of magic artifacts and treasures, which creates great potential for a "mother of all heists" adventure. Any of the other factions might keep a prisoner or artifact that could be a convenient McGuffin.

The thing that kind of bugged me about the Citadel section was the practical concern of how the Citadel could possibly sustain itself. As a city in the middle of the most bleak and lifeless desert imaginable, how does a city of sin incarnate survive, much less thrive the way the Citadel does? The manuscript speaks of huge amounts of food being consumed in the Gluttony section/palace; where would that food come from? The manuscript speaks of a lot of torture, death, et cetera, but how would it replace all the people who would be dying in droves? Mass slavery can account for some of this, but mass slavery alone isn't enough without some means of growing food and raising new generations of minions.

[Warshield73]

One does not simply march into Mord... I mean, the Land of the Damned. And no one has a need to visit Baradur... I mean, The Citidel.

Before I read the Raw Preview, that was what I was expecting, but that's not really the vibe I got. Yes, there's a wasteland with a powerful tower-city-fortress in the middle ruled by evil, but the similarities seem to stop there. '

To be fair it is hard to create a fantasy setting that doesn't feel at least a little like LoR.

It's more like seven lords of sin ruling over seven districts within the Citadel itself. Each ruler and each ruler's dominion embody a specific deadly sin: lust, gluttony, sloth, anger, envy, greed, and pride. Imagine entire subcultures of evil dedicated to each of these sins, and you'll get the idea. These factions cooperate from time to time, especially when it comes to assembling and sending out raids and armies, but their rivalry is too strong for them to really get their act together; it would take the return of an Old One to do that.

There's certainly some creative room for a GM to put together some ultimate challenges for high-end parties. The overlord of the Greed faction, for example, has a vast collection of magic artifacts and treasures, which creates great potential for a "mother of all heists" adventure. Any of the other factions might keep a prisoner or artifact that could be a convenient McGuffin.

If it continues what we saw in the first two books it needs to be a very high end party. LoD is a death trap. An incredibly interesting death trap with lots cool places and ideas that I have enjoyed reading immensely but still a death trap.

[zyanitevp]

So my wife got a copy of the raw preview for Christmas, and I've had some time to read through it and let it stew.

Overall, it's a good draft, with none of the glaring writing errors I was expecting. The content is mostly good, with only a few head-scratchers. The book focuses on a three-way struggle between the Minotaur tribes of Broken Horn, the Citadel, and a new faction of dwarves. These factions take up most of the raw edition.

The dwarf faction is the good-ish one, and it's got some great concepts. They're a grim, hardy, and dedicated group. They're jerks to and enemies of the Minotaurs, sworn enemies of the Citadel, and indifferent to events and people outside the Bleakness.
+Their story is that they heard about the elf-kingdom getting established in Darkest Heart, decided they should get in on that too, and 5000 years after the Land of the Damned prison got set up, they did a sneak attack on a holy Minotaur mountain where, ironically enough, the Minotaurs who had renounced the Old Ones and were working toward redemption would gather.
+Apparently, they are the only part of the Garrison that has survived and still does their mission.
+There's a lot of new player character-usable stuff in this faction. The dwarves use clockwork tech, some magic tattoo-ish skin decorations, performance-enhancing battle drugs, warrior priests, and elaborate tunnels/fortifications to fight the other two factions.
-There were a few things that I found a bit jarring about this faction. Their culture seemed quite distinct from that of the dwarves presented in 2nd Edition, (using magic, and possibly rune magic?) yet they get regular reinforcements from dwarves outside the Land of the Damned because they're famous among dwarves all over the world.

The minotaur tribes are a mixed bunch.
+Most of them hate and actively fight against the Citadel. They also fight the dwarves, but this gets portrayed as more of a response to dwarf aggression. They feature competing ideologies, outlooks, and leaders. Most have renounced the Old Ones.
+There is some good discussion of culture, direction, and leadership among the tribes.
+The only new standout player character content is a new O.C.C. that features minotaurs who get a Fantasy equivalent of cyber-armor grafted to their skin.
-Overall, this section felt less developed than the other two; I was hoping to see some more distinct capabilities and traits for each tribe.

The Citadel reads like a Catholic hell if Satan wasn't around and he had seven high demons who each specialized in one of the Seven Deadly Sins.
+The Citadel seriously messes up life in the region around it, to the point where, unless you really know what you're doing (or are moving with/closely following a Citadel force that does), it will mess you up in a lot of ways, from sucking up your magic energy to trapping you in time pockets. Oh, and nothing grows here at all.
+Just outside the Citadel is this massive crater-like city where life can (and does) thrive, and it's divided up into seven districts, each of which specializes in one particular type of sin. The bosses of each area are described in detail.
+Inside the Citadel is likewise divided up into seven palaces, along with this gigantic spherical orb of chaos magic that does weird things to people who get thrown in.
+In terms of the description of locations, regions, and key people, this was the most-developed and compelling section.
-This section struck me as very high on the "screw you, players" content, in that it's hard to see how a party could get into such a place, let alone do anything other than suffer and die. I also don't see much in the way of incentive/imperative to make players choose to go here. I'd rather have liked to see a section that provides some hooks or incentives to make this more than a background reading section, and/or some sort of "survival guide to the Land of the Damned" section with tips and discussions on how one might take a group through here. To be fair, I could level this criticism at the other Land of the Damned books, Hades, and Dyvall.

Thanks for the review! Looking forward to getting my copy (it is on its way)

[gaby]

What do you think would come out after LoD3?

I hope ther will be Timiro kingdom adding the info from Rifter 63 and Eastern territories 2 with info on Rifter 84.

What do you think?

[Hotrod]

What do you think would come out after LoD3?

I hope there will be Timiro kingdom adding the info from Rifter 63 and Eastern territories 2 with info on Rifter 84.

What do you think?

My best guesses:

In terms of world books, Lopan, and then maybe Phi and the Land of South Winds? The only other areas that haven't gotten some focus have been the Great Ice Shelf, the Old Kingdom, and whatever lies beyond the Edge of the World. I'm not sure if any of those have gotten any attention.

In terms of Sourcebooks, we might see an adventure sourcebook or a second Mysteries of Magic book.

In terms of any Palladium Fantasy product we should hopefully see some of my maps published within the next few months. Kevin announced them last fall, but we put them on the back burner for a while while we worked through the editing on the upcoming Rifts Novel. My part in that editing process is all done now, so I'm putting extra work into these to make them better and more canon-accurate than the versions I previously released. These maps will include some pretty awesome features that fans like you should like.

[kiralon]

sweet, looking forward to em