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| City of the Ape-Men |
I am pleased to announce the publication of City of the Ape-Men, a 56-page adventure module for levels 5–8, and the first new release of my new outfit, E.M.D.T. ULTRAREALITY PUBLISHING. As a “lost world” scenario, it revolves around a ruined city ruled by ape-men; as well as the surrounding tropical island. Yet there is more than meets the eye, and the island hides secrets which the ape-men are not aware of.
“Linquar the Eternal has fallen, its palaces and temples decaying in the teeming jungles. Few dare to head for the misty island plateau where the ruins stand, and even fewer have succeeded in claiming its treasures from the savage ape-men who now rule in its citizens’ stead. The great city is largely forgotten, and even its name only refers to a squalid pirates’ nest that had once been its trading outpost. What had been the capital of the isles is known as a cursed and abandoned place that’s better left undisturbed. But more often, it is simply known by its current inhabitants… as the City of the Ape-Men!”
The module includes the following materials:
- The town of New Linquar, a lawless place ruled over by gangs of pirates. (17 keyed areas)
- The Isle of the Dream-Spices, a mountainous tropical island inhabited by hostile megafauna (21 keyed areas).
- City of the Ape-Men, the ruins of Old Linquar, depopulated in a mysterious incident, and now ruled by hordes of ape-men. (33 keyed areas)
- Three mini-dungeons (36 keyed areas total).
- New monsters and magic-items.
- Two fold-out map sheets with player and GM maps.
- Way too many ape-men.
City of the Ape-Men features cover art by Cameron Hawkey, and interiors by Graphite Prime, Ferenc Fabian, Peter Mullen, and various Golden Age illustrators. The print version of the module is available from my Bigcartel store; the PDF edition will be published through DriveThruRPG with a few months’ delay. As always, customers who buy the print edition will receive the PDF version free of charge.
NOTE TO US CUSTOMERS: Unfortunately, US shipping is not yet available until the Post implements its system to process the new tariffs. If you would like to be notified when the seas are open again, please mail me at beyond.fomalhaut@gmail.com.
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| More Apes than Dream-Spices, TBH |
This confuses me. I'm based in the US, so if I purchase will I not get anything until the pdf is on DTRPG, or would I get the pdf now and maybe a physical copy sometime in the future?
ReplyDeleteCurrently, you would not be able able to check out at my store. I don't like to owe money (which I would, if I took US orders right now), so it's cleaner that way.
DeleteLooking forward to implement this module into my pirate setting.
ReplyDeleteThe whole ULTRAREALITY setting is fairly pirate-heavy, and this adventure would go well with it, so I think it'll work with some adjustments.
DeleteSet aside one for old Froth for when the US shipping comes back :(
ReplyDeleteStocks are abundant, and if they run out, there will be a new printing!
Delete[probably not relevant because of the ape-men ... however ... more generally ...]
ReplyDeleteTrying to capture the feeling of a historical city is difficult. I solved this by pushing the action out to surrounding villages and role playing cities abstractly or summarily in the way suggested by the assassin in 1e AD&D. The closer to Caesar the more abstract I get as DM which repulses players out of cities. I know from reading premier's reports that you handle city play wonderfully. Over the years I came to appreciate the CSIO more as I realised the difficulty of city play, though the CSIO is not how I would solve the problem, I think the DM should design cities hierarchically which means the visual static flat overall city-map shunned or suppressed because it is a lie, or pretends to useful information for gaming.
I have seen your city maps which are simple artistic patterns in design and they work because *you* know how to improvise the filling of them with the knowledge you have built up over the years.
if I were to start a AD&D campaign now it would have the French Revolution at its heart (because I have been reading so much about it and WW1) and the problem of managing a city comes front and centre. A city *map* is the least of the problems in recreating a city. I am reluctant to admit it but gemini on thinking mode at the end of this year of 2025 is the best encyclopedia a DM needs and there is no need now to pay for random tables or any low level AD&D material. As I type I believe that Tolkien and Hodgson are inimitable, not that their works can't be imitated but that AI can not originate at that level. If it can we need either to ''pack our own bags and depart the stage* or to *pack the bags of our elite masters*