Dark Albion Overview
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- Опубліковано 4 вер 2024
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Monotheism, sumptuary laws, social hierarchy, sex roles... What modern gamers balk at but what I have come to crave in RPGs, namely, restriction. True creativity happens within established boundaries. If I'm ever going to get to play this game it will be with fellow gamers over 40, or with the youngest generation which always rebels against the establishment.
EXACTLY!
Awesome product Pundit! And kudos to the publisher who really did a terrific job with the selection of artworks for the book to complement the text. The vast majority of modern RPG publishers (even the major ones to be perfectly honest) lack a coherent and consistent artistic vision for their products, and to me, that is really a huge letdown. The art should be a window to ''see'' the fictional world, something that players and GM can rely upon to have a low-resolution (but intelligible) shared vision of what the lands, people, and beasts their characters interact with look like. Most of the time instead, the artistic direction in these products is completely absent. By looking and their final products, you can tell that the commissioner is often clueless about a general aesthetic to go for, and each artist was given no clear reference/mood boards (and was probably hired without thinking if their individual styles could fit together in the same book). I'm going to assume that 95% of the artworks in Dark Albion was not commissioned but taken from public domain/copyright-free sources, and that really played in your favour (in terms of both art and budget) since you could really count on an extensive library of talented artists from the past (due to the historically accurate look you were aiming for), but even with that in mind, you simply don't come out with a book that looks as good as this one without excellent taste and vision. Again, fantastic work here to both of you. In my opinion, if this volume was easily available in game shops across Europe, it would put up a good fight against the ones sold by WotC, and many other big names in the industry.
TLDR quite impressive how a few talented individuals with sheer competence, talent, low budget, and no political agenda, can create a product that is, in so many ways, quite superior to what big game companies release nowadays. Well done! Looking forward to the Silk Road's book.
PS you can really tell that Meatball's feline ego has been boosted since the 3K subscribers goal was reached, clearly, she thinks of herself as the one and only star of the show, and that your contribution to the channel is mostly irrelevant ^^
I think Meatball was trying to express support and approval by sitting on your book.
I just bought the Old School Companion. Looking forward to reading it.
I trust you'll really like it and find it full of useful stuff to add to your OSR game!
It's a smorgasbord. The rules for events and so on for powerful families is great, you could use it in a Mafia game etc., with only a bit of modification.
@@RPGPundit
Managed to read my way through it. I really want a second, with even more stuff like monsters and even adventures. (Maybe the premade adventures might end up as their own separate thing?)
Been waiting for this video since you mentioned it on that livestream.
Can't believe I never heard about this. More of a 100 yrs war fan, but might pick this up just for all the great research.
I think you'll like it!
I'd also be pretty interested in a Dark Rome made along the same lines with so much amazing history and cultural insights but also with rules for polytheism. Maybe a lot more work to do something like that but it could be great
It would be, wouldn't it? Maybe someday I'll write it. I ran an epic long Roman historical campaign once.
@@RPGPundit I forget a lot of the historical details about the settings. What I have preoccupying me sometimes these days is the brewing of a campaign setting where a region similar to Albion experiences a culture clash with a region which would be more like the Roman Empire. The process of making that an immersive experience would really benefit from guidebooks like Dark Albion and the Roman version.
“Dark Arcadia” could work as a name.
I really love Dark Albion. I'm also a huge fan of the 14th century and would love to do some hundred years war stuff but I am having trouble figuring out how the Frogmen play into the hundred years war itself. Any help would be appreciated.
Well first, carefully read up the section on Frogland in Dark Albion. There's a lot of context there.
Very interesting. Man do I ever wish that I could actually make a game like that happen.
Picked mine up but haven't had a chance to read it yet. After seeing this I think I will dig it out of the book pile and indulge myself.
My cat, Whatchadoin, will most assuredly enjoy it as much as Meatball seems to.
I love your kitty's name, it's very original.
Man, this looks great. I've been thinking of running either a medieval/fantasy game or a space opera next. Either way, this (and Pundit Presents #100) are in the shopping cart.
Thanks!
Excellent! Just got my copies of both Dark Albion expansions and the OSC -- looking forward to playing in your sandbox.
Thank you very much!
Came for the review... Stayed for the needy cat.
FYI tried Dark Albion with Conrad's Fantasy and it worked really well. Was very happy with the game.
Glad to hear it!
I’m sold. Picked up L&D as well. 👍🏻
Awesome! Thank you! Spread the word.
Pundit, I found one of the Lindybeige videos I mentioned you should cover, during the 3000 sub stream
Its called "The coming revolution in role-play games?"
If I find others, I'll let you know
Also, I just want to say, I only send you to lindy purely to get you insight on the man's position, I do not encourage harassment, or bullying, in fact I'm a fan of lindybeige, and the he seems to be a good sport when it comes to people who critique/ disagree with him
Thanks pundit, in advance, if you responde to him
the art is really amazing. i don't play osrs but i may buy your book just because of its production quality.
The production on all of Dom's books are astounding!
Hmm do I spy an equipment upgrade? Video seems crisper, audio higher quality.
Or maybe I'm just listening with headphones on a higher resolution. Lol
Nope, still using the exact same phone I've always used..
@@RPGPundit Regardless, goddangit, you reminded me that I need to get my Dark Albion game going again.
Just discovered your YT and most of all just discovered Dark Albion and L&D. I personnally play BFRPG but Dark Albion is definitely my next purchase. Can't wait to dig into it. Thanks and keep the good work.
Thank you very much! I trust you'll really enjoy it!
Awesome setting. I've used a lot of info from this book and the OSR companion for my games.
Dark Albion, Meatball approved!
I hate when people touch my rectory without my consent. Rude more than anything.
Pundit, during your Innappropriate character stream, I had asked you some questions for a Lion & Dragon / Dark Albion campaign I wanna run (it's a Cult of Chaos game, where the players run around Albion and Europe)
1. How were the clerics of Frankland treated during the time period of the Trials of the templars (1313). Were the frogman corrupting the crown that far back in time?
2. Have you any advice on how to deal with the PCs running around an alternate timeliness France, as I can't look to history, as France wasn't run by evil demonic frogmen (at least I don't think so)
3. Do you have any books I could read to better understand Wallachia (politics, religion, economics, war, locations etc.) during the time period, so that I could run a Dracula adventure
Thanks for all the quality content, and for standing up to the Puritans infiltrating the hobby
1. Yes. The Frankish aristocracy had already been compromised/corrupted by the Frogmen
2. Well, depending on how you're running it, if it's early enough the PCs might not know about the Frogmen. They kept themselves secret until taking power; so the PCs should just think that the aristocracy in Frankland is especially decadent.
3. Offhand, I can't think of any books on that subject. But I know there are some historical (non-sensationalist or monster-based) biographies of Vlad Tepes which would by default have to include a lot of history about the region and its conflicts in his lifetime. So you could try to look for one of those.
@@RPGPundit with regards to the Frankland campaign, I imagine that once they reach a certain level of recognition (3rd to 6th lvl) they would be summoned by the archbishop of Canterbury (under orders from the pontifex) to join the clerical order on a crusade to reclaim Frankland, with the aid of Burgandy
Is that a smart way to go about this, I only ask as ive only run a single one year dnd 5e homebrew campaign, and moving to this system ( LnD, Cults, and albion) makes me nervous
Thanks for the help and the reply
@@RPGPundit also pundit, I would be interested in Playtesting The Invisible College, if you would allow me
Of all your products, Dark Albion is my favorite! There are so many great ideas expressed in DA and it includes plenty of material to keep a group busy through years of play.
The only thing I change is that I use the Catholic church (and add in Cults of Chaos material). I do understand the choice you made regarding religion and the reasons that you give, but it just works better for me to call a Christian by name. I also use the rule system suggestions in DA with my own version of original D&D. (I have your L&D and consider it a very good game in it's own right, but have yet to bring it to the table as a system. I keep thinking about an earlier setting era for L&D - Stephen and Matilda perhaps.)
Love your take on elves, faeries and the supernatural!
Good stuff!
Thanks
well yes, switching back to catholicism is as easy as changing the deity's name. That's the only difference.
I appreciate your sensitivity around using the Catholic church in your game setting. Well I am not a Catholic myself, it would bother me to put a real world faith into a fantasy setting. As you point out, renaming it and changing it just a little is more than sufficient for some reason to make it okay. To paraphrase Mr Spock, well that is not logical I think you will find it is true. You have neatly avoided controversy without sacrificing very similitude. To me that is the true sensitivity to diversity that the left continually misses. Thank you.
I love it. It’s great. The Iron Cross gives it a thumbs up.
Nice. I also have this and the cults book and L&D on the way. So, coffee's on me tomorrow, Pundit. 🤣 Glad I found you. A voice of reason and sanity in a sea of lunacy. Question .. do you happen to have a single video or blog article you would recommend explaining what OSR is? What makes a game actually OSR, I suppose. Thanks in advance!
Thanks! Spread the word!
And yes, on this channel, the 7th video I ever posted, called "The OSR is cutting edge and will change how you play D&D"
I didn’t like the AD&D Battlesystem, so I used the BECMI War Machine.
Well, the mass combat system in Albion is closer to the war machine mechanics.
Excellent review , looks like a great setting ! Hail Chungus and Meatball !
There is a Portuguese flag on the cover! 🎉
4:58 you addressed my first question immediately! I personally, as a Christian, though I dislike the Roman Catholics, would have preferred it named accurately but completely understand why it was changed. I take it then I could just make it Christian in my campaign and it would all line up easily?
It would line up almost identically. And in my later products I had a change of perspective; I felt that a lot of gamers would not be able to deal fairly with a literal Catholic church, bringing in their own postmodern prejudices, but now it's become obvious that the fans of my games have no such problems. So you'll see for example in Sword and Caravan that I just directly use all the terms of the religion as they are without any compromise.
@@RPGPundit that’s awesome!
This looks awesome! I know I can’t afford it right now, but........
The softcover is only like $22.
Own it. It’s good.
Thanks!
I love the product, however I have wanted to find something a bit more High Medieval. Something like the First Barons War. Is there something that I could use? I ask as there is a lot of research to do and it's hard to decide what is and is not useful for D&D.
I don't know of any setting that covers that. Eventually I'm planning to do a campaign book about The Anarchy, which would be a lot closer in time period to the Barons War...
24:00 or help a vampire fight the ottomans
The lesser of two evils.
@RPGPundit as a romanian, I kinda disagree. Vlad is a far more complex character. His impaling practices weren't an original trademark or patent, but a practice he just popularized. How frequent it happened can also be brought to question because the rumours were spread by foreign merchants that didn't particularly like Vlad because he would be pretty hard with swindlers. As to why he chose this as an execution method, some historians believe that he and Radu (his brother) were sexually abused when being held as hostages at the Sultan's court. As a tangent Radu the Fair (as in "beautiful") was called that way to mock him for being figuratively a bottom for the ottoman overlords and literally a bottom for Mehmed the Second.
Add to that that the Wallachian noble courts were a Chaotic Neutral nightmare. Since Wallachia was a vassal region, there wasn't really a hereditary stability. The rulers were chosen based on how subservient they were to The Crescent Moon, based on the bribes they brought to the sultan and how much they promised they can squeeze from the populace for the tribute. Maiming, backstabbing (figuratively and literally), double crossing were common practices among the boyars and rest of the high nobility. The Voievod had many internal enemies just waiting for a mistake so that they could take his place.
Then there's the external intrigues that had an interest in maintaining Wallachia a semi-rebelious buffer between the islamic and catholic world, just as Moldavia was a buffer against the Golden Hoards from the east and the turks from the south. Transylvania's situation was different do to the hungarian occupation, but romanians were second class citizens unless they converted to catholicism. Germans had a higher social status than romanians; they even had the teutonic knights come and build a fortress in the 13th century. The relationship soured, but I digress. The ideea is that catholic kingdoms tried to puppeteer Wallachia politics and even got some anti-ottoman rulers on the throne, but those lands and people were just pawns on a chessboard.
The point is that Vlad was a force of evil from the perspective of the Ottoman Empire that needed a puppet state, cynically opportunistic nobles (that killed his father and his older brother Mircea), dishonest merchants and the like.
In a Dark Albion kind of setting, he'd be the type of individual that could keep the darkest impulses brought on by vampirism away so that he would not lose control and become a dark parody of his former self, at least until he sees his purpose fulfilled. I don't think he'd be the type to turn others into vampires because he would see it as creating powerful future enemies. His biggest enemy would be the paranoia of betrayal, not the thirst for power and control that's so frequently seen in popular media with vampires. He'd be one angry dude with a thirst for vengeance and a dream for independence. Once this mission is fulfilled, he'd probably have to be killed because vampirism would take hold and his paranoia would make him a danger for the common folk and his actual loyal allies. I also don't think he'd be able to get independence without the support of western kingdoms, I don't think western kingdoms would help a vampire, so Wallachia would probably be in a constant state of guerilla war with the turks.
PS: I haven't yet bought Dark Albion. Was checking it out to make up my mind. I know you go deep when it comes to historical analysis and authenticity, so I bet you already have some references of what I said in the book.
@@Iulian111 I didn't say which one was the lesser of two evils. That said, from a medieval perspective the living dead were always a representation of evil. Vampires were dead who held on to some great drive, like for revenge. That's how I portray Tepes once he becomes a Vampire in Dark Albion.
@@RPGPundit I agree he'd ultimately become an agent of evil in such a scenario, especially if he sees his plans fulfilled, but I also believe that his hate for the ottomans and double faced boyars would be strong enough to keep him connected to parts of his humanity to not end up from the get go as a traditional representation of a vampire. The man had an iron will; he's the Punisher-like archetype, but combined with a slow descent into darkness and chaos do to supernatural influences. Nothing can stop him to deliver his justice, not even himself. What happens after that is up to some adventures to deal with.
The whole OSR thing is a bit confusing from my standpoint as an end consumer. There are a ton of different OSR rules sets with little indication of what differentiates them or whether this rule set from this publisher will be compatible with that expansion from that publisher. It's sometimes hard to tell what is and isn't supposed to be a core rule book. One thing I saw was labelled as core but it clearly wasn't when you read the details. It required a different set of rules from a different publisher to use. Publishers will have older versions alongside newer, expanded versions on Drivethrurpg. The whole business is rather confusing.
Well, I agree that presenting a sourcebook as a core-book is confusing and a bad practice. However, even though individual rule-sets of OSR games have differences, the similarity between OSR games is meant to be sufficiently close that you can port them over with only minor glossing past the differences in individual mechanics, essentially choosing which you want to apply.
This is like Ysgarth but better.
Thank you.
good products
Thank you, spread the video!
I love everything about the book, but the only thing I find very silly is the Frogmen and the Frogland, I would have liked to see a bit more of french folklore in there.
Well, the publisher of Dark Albion was French, and so he was delighted with the idea that the ruling class in France were monsters.
@@RPGPundit oh don't getting me wrong it's a creative idea, I just don't think frog monsters are intimidating personally, but I'm willing to give it a shot.