@@TheLostAdventurer Yeah buddy! We need some more of your reviews....it's been too long. I've been into Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green pretty heavily the last year. Your vid wet my appetite for some good old D&D tho...and will plan on running B10 "Night's Dark Terror" for some OSR summer fun soon. (Substituting the Hutakaa with some Lovecraft creatures of course!) 😮
It is, though a wonky 90s sword and sandals setting. Why regret, you could always start back up! Run a game, you’d be surprised how many people would show up!
My favorite setting. Got all three books, 3maps and the two dm lore booklets.( which I still find a bit confusing). It's a great setting with a lot of neat tricks. An open sandbox that lets you add your own stuff as there is plenty of space. I've added dinos etc.. and added many islands around...such as neverland etc...I use Jakandor to this day. For many rpgs, even DCC... also I don't pronounce it as in Jackandor but more like Yak andor ;))but that's my thing i guess. I am happy to finally see a Jakandor video;) and I sure would love to see more... the setting just rocks !
The DM lore books came with each of the faction books, both of which were released before the final DM book "Land of Legends" so even if someone only got one of the books to play ad that civilization, the DM could set up something as an opposing force using the DM lore books. The Knoor book came with the Charonti DM lore book and the opposite was also true
@@TheLostAdventurer Tell that to TSR as they slumped into near-bankruptcy. Nothing but a decade of bad decisions and falling profits that got worse and worse as the end of the millennium approached. I was working in a game store during the back half of the era and we used to joke about how D&D stood for "Decline & Desperation" now.
Isle of War on what caught my attention. Not exactly my cup of tea, but it's manageable. I like my goblins and hobgoblins too much.... Though... having an invasion of viking hobgoblins would be kind of cool.
Question: Do you think the turmoil at TSR in 1997 actually helped the creators get Jakandor produced and into print? It seems so different from their other settings and very creative and adult even for TSR...and I never heard of Donovan, Mohan or Botula before. 🤔
I think, that at the time TSR was just throwing everything at a wall and seeing what would stick. The entire Odessey Line has some pretty oddball stuff in it (there's one involving a crashed spaceship I want to go over) and was a shot in the dark. And one that was not very successful. Donovan actually has some credentials with RPGs, not a really big name, but he wasn't a nobody. But yeah, before I looked them up, I had never heard of them either
For me, Jakandor failed to really hit the mark in no small part because the setting tries to present itself as this gray and grey morality struggle, but it undermines itself because the Knorr are clearly the bad guys. Seriously, ignoring that the Knorr may or may not have been the bad guys in their uprising, what you basically have are a bunch of literal vengeance-worshipping savages who fought a civil war, got their asses kicked, ran away from said asskicking, stumbled across the Charonti's homeland, and are now trying to genocide them under what is a thinly veiled manifest destiny manifesto. As bad as the Charonti's ancestors were, *they* didn't start this fight, and it's noted that even today, Charonti who believe the Knorr should be butchered instead of simply avoided are a minority. How are the Charonti the bad guys in this situation? Because they value wizardry over brawn and they practice necromancy as a religious devotion?
This did come out in the 90s. Necromancy is bad, zombies are bad, but the casters mean well.... so Gray. We are actually kind of in agreeance. We think the Knorr are supposed to come off as a native American, tribal, nature sort, but they are also the invaders of the island so..... gray? It missed the last for us because it's mono-specied. Sure, we'd be fine with it, but most players (especially now) aren't okay with it.
@@TheLostAdventurerIt'd be interesting to see the concept revisited with a broader selection and another crack at grey morality, maybe have an adventure about bringing peace to the Charonti and Knorr.
I do love a good “all human” setting where culture and tradition create the differences in scores and skills for a character.
Forgot about this place!
It was kind of a surprise for me just to find out about it. It was in a collection I got and I had never heard of it before
You've made your triumphant return! Huzzah!
Nice to see you to buddy! You're doing pretty well. I'm back for as long as work doesn't overwhelm me. So we will see how long that lasts
Wait whaaa?! I never heard of "Jakandor". Nice to put a spotlight on it...
Nice to see you again buddy!
@@TheLostAdventurer Yeah buddy! We need some more of your reviews....it's been too long. I've been into Call of Cthulhu and Delta Green pretty heavily the last year. Your vid wet my appetite for some good old D&D tho...and will plan on running B10 "Night's Dark Terror" for some OSR summer fun soon. (Substituting the Hutakaa with some Lovecraft creatures of course!) 😮
I regret not being able to play in this setting. It came up a while after i stopped playing. Looks like the quintessential sword-and-sandal setting.
It is, though a wonky 90s sword and sandals setting. Why regret, you could always start back up! Run a game, you’d be surprised how many people would show up!
I didn't know about this at all.
Thats what this channel is all about!
My favorite setting. Got all three books, 3maps and the two dm lore booklets.( which I still find a bit confusing). It's a great setting with a lot of neat tricks. An open sandbox that lets you add your own stuff as there is plenty of space. I've added dinos etc.. and added many islands around...such as neverland etc...I use Jakandor to this day. For many rpgs, even DCC... also I don't pronounce it as in Jackandor but more like Yak andor ;))but that's my thing i guess. I am happy to finally see a Jakandor video;) and I sure would love to see more... the setting just rocks !
The DM lore books came with each of the faction books, both of which were released before the final DM book "Land of Legends" so even if someone only got one of the books to play ad that civilization, the DM could set up something as an opposing force using the DM lore books. The Knoor book came with the Charonti DM lore book and the opposite was also true
Love your channel. Thanks so much for the fresh video. For the love of Gygax, get some sleep
Sleep? Never heard of her
@@TheLostAdventurerI’ll sleep when my kids are grown
Native American wooden mecha vs Pharaoh bone monsters. Sounds like a normal 90's DnD setting.
The 90s was a good time in general
@@TheLostAdventurer Tell that to TSR as they slumped into near-bankruptcy. Nothing but a decade of bad decisions and falling profits that got worse and worse as the end of the millennium approached. I was working in a game store during the back half of the era and we used to joke about how D&D stood for "Decline & Desperation" now.
Return of the King! Welcome back. Looking forward to more.
Thanks buddy! Let's see how long I will keep this up this time.
Wow a Jakandor video! Nice!
I'll let the people at the Jakandor forum at The Piazza know about this.
Your content is great, you deserve better recognition!
This was an awesome video and I can't wait for the rest in the series! Thanks for putting this out there
I try and find some stuff no one else appears to cover, just takes time, I do this as a hobby almost
I looked right past it when it came out, but apparently I missed something! This sounds really cool.
Isle of War on what caught my attention. Not exactly my cup of tea, but it's manageable.
I like my goblins and hobgoblins too much....
Though... having an invasion of viking hobgoblins would be kind of cool.
Question: Do you think the turmoil at TSR in 1997 actually helped the creators get Jakandor produced and into print? It seems so different from their other settings and very creative and adult even for TSR...and I never heard of Donovan, Mohan or Botula before. 🤔
I think, that at the time TSR was just throwing everything at a wall and seeing what would stick. The entire Odessey Line has some pretty oddball stuff in it (there's one involving a crashed spaceship I want to go over) and was a shot in the dark. And one that was not very successful.
Donovan actually has some credentials with RPGs, not a really big name, but he wasn't a nobody. But yeah, before I looked them up, I had never heard of them either
Oh you silly youngsters. Kim Mohan was the editor of dragon magazine for a long time.
@danacoleman4007 and I learn new things everyday!
Just checked my collection. I have all 3 books on PDF.
There are also apparently mentions of the setting in Dragon Magazine 241-244, and 246-248.
That’s about time period they were coming out I think, it’s not a very well known setting
@@TheLostAdventurer - It's one of those ideas that never went anywhere. They didn't know what to do with it.
@@fleetcenturion I need to boot up my old CD of Dragon Magazine and take a look at those articles.
@@TheLostAdventurer - All those issues are available publically, if you know where to look.
@fleetcenturion lol, I am aware, no need to worry there
For me, Jakandor failed to really hit the mark in no small part because the setting tries to present itself as this gray and grey morality struggle, but it undermines itself because the Knorr are clearly the bad guys. Seriously, ignoring that the Knorr may or may not have been the bad guys in their uprising, what you basically have are a bunch of literal vengeance-worshipping savages who fought a civil war, got their asses kicked, ran away from said asskicking, stumbled across the Charonti's homeland, and are now trying to genocide them under what is a thinly veiled manifest destiny manifesto. As bad as the Charonti's ancestors were, *they* didn't start this fight, and it's noted that even today, Charonti who believe the Knorr should be butchered instead of simply avoided are a minority. How are the Charonti the bad guys in this situation? Because they value wizardry over brawn and they practice necromancy as a religious devotion?
This did come out in the 90s. Necromancy is bad, zombies are bad, but the casters mean well.... so Gray.
We are actually kind of in agreeance. We think the Knorr are supposed to come off as a native American, tribal, nature sort, but they are also the invaders of the island so..... gray?
It missed the last for us because it's mono-specied. Sure, we'd be fine with it, but most players (especially now) aren't okay with it.
@@TheLostAdventurerIt'd be interesting to see the concept revisited with a broader selection and another crack at grey morality, maybe have an adventure about bringing peace to the Charonti and Knorr.