Saturday, 14 November 2020

[MODULE] Baklin: Jewel of the Seas (NOW AVAILABLE!)

UVG dice not included

I am pleased to announce the publication of
Baklin: Jewel of the Seas, a supplement describing the eponymous merchant city, including its rulers, criminal underworld, establishments, and three-level Undercity.

Illustrated by Denis McCarthy (who also did the cover art), Stefan Poag, Graphite Prime, and Jerry Boucher, Baklin is more than twice the size of the average module – 72 pages’ worth of adventure-ready material, a players’ map of the city (with a players’ map of Erillion on the back side), and a GM’s map including the labelled city map, and three dungeon maps describing the Undercity’s storerooms, forgotten shrines, and weirdo inhabitants. This is two identical-length modules in one: a city guide with 39 major locations and a dungeon setting with 112 keyed areas, connected and bound together via multiple secret entrances, plot threads, and NPC agendas.

Baklin is meant as both a campaign hub a party can depart from and return to (with numerous hooks for wilderness adventures), and as a complex adventure location of its own. It can be used along with the materials published for the Isle of Erillion mini-setting (Echoes #02–05), or it can double as almost any neutral-aligned port town in your own setting. In any case, Baklin is meant to be played: it is focused on city intrigue, exploration, and dungeon crawling. Go shopping for great deals in port or at the stores of the reclusive Masters’ Guild; be careful not to fall afoul of the Sea Laws or anger the Knights of Yolanthus Kar; discover what lurks in the Tower of Gulls; and brave the Shrine of Roxana and the Thrones of Judgement!


Baklin: Jewel of the Seas
"Oh Baklin, Jewel of the Seas, great gateway of Erillion! Minstrels sing of its wealth and marine power; and of the refinement and taste of its magnates and nobility. Minstrels of all kinds, of course, are prone to grandiloquence; and perhaps Baklin is neither as mighty nor as fair as the ballads claim. And yet, there is reason the minstrels sing so, for Baklin has wealthy patrons, its fleet is not inconsiderable – and are its streets not the loveliest within so many weeks of travel? Indeed, those who brave the high seas often believe so… and they will gladly pay for a song to remember their visit. This booklet presents a complete city supplements describing the streets, personalities, and conflicts of a bustling port town, from the heights of power to the deepest undercellars. In Baklin, all streets lead to adventure – and a single life would not be enough to complete all of them.”

The print version of the modules is now available from my Bigcartel store, while the PDF edition will be published through DriveThruRPG with three months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.

12 comments:

  1. Will this be going to Exalted Funeral eventually?

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    1. Indeed it will, I am mailing them a bunch of copies this week.

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    2. I hope that you will also be sending them the rest of your 'modules', like Barbarian King, which they have been out of stock of.

      I love Echos - its a beautiful zine.

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    3. They will have everything except The Barbarian King and The Lost Valley of Kishar. Both of those got reprinted recently, though, so they will continue to be available.

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  2. This looks like the ultimate city supplement!

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  3. He Gabor Lux,

    I’m doing an Erillion campaign. You have conventions for leveling. That’s cool I’ll follow them with your supplements. But what about monster treasure tables? Do o reduce the gold available? Or did you take those vast hoards in mind when deciding that payers can waste gold to get five times XP? Like if they get 20k gold from a table... do I reduce it by five or what? Thank you.

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  4. That's correct. I simply divide monetary treasure coinage/value to 1/5 (while leaving equipment prices alone). If you are using the default rules, multiply by five, and you will be set.

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  5. Just got this in the mail today and had a chance to sit down and give it a once-over; a full review will follow on my blog after I get a chance to read it in full and chew it over a bit, but...

    As with Castle Xyntillan, Baklin is a modern treasure inspired by classic old-school sensibilities. It is a fascinating, gorgeous, ingenious piece of work. A veritable smorgasbord of classic fantasy city tropes perfectly executed.

    This small booklet has enough campaign material to last for years, decades even; it has a level of radiant brilliance and utility rivaling that of the original City State of the Invincible Overlord.

    Gabor Lux is able, in a few brief sentences, to paint vast canvases in fabulous fluorescent technicolor. Every locale and denizen has potential as a jumping-off point to adventure and intrigue.

    With Xyntillan and Baklin, Gabor Lux has proven beyond any doubt that he is the spiritual creative heir of Robert Bledsaw.

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    Replies
    1. That's high praise indeed! Much appreciated!

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    2. Wow, Kent, you are still alive? I thought you would have drowned in your own bile by now. Tsk.

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    3. Mr. Kent has been escorted off the premises.

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  6. I just picked this up, and it's pretty spectacular stuff. So many interesting denizens and ready-made hooks. There's a tremendous amount of play packed into it.

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