
Greg A. Vaughan Pathfinder Creative Director, Frog God Games |
Hi Greg!
I am curious to know if you have any plans to re-publish Morten Braten's Ancient Kingdoms: Mesopotamia? In a Pathfinder version (and maybe SW), maybe to be included in the Lost Lands setting?
Also, now that I'm here: I LOVE the Slumbering Tsar!! :)
Thanks, LordofMuck! Glad you like Tsar.
As for Morten Braten's AK: Mesopotamia, yes and no...it's complicated.
It's obviously an actual Earth setting (much like Khemit in Gary Gygax's Necropolis), and the Lost Lands is not Earth. So it can't just be a straight port-over. However, we will be porting it over in modified form to keep it intact and retain the same feel, but without any real-world references that are too jarring. I say "too jarring" because if you follow the Lost Lands you'll notice that there are tons of RW references, but they tend to be more obscure or esoteric in feel so as to not destroy the gamer's verisimilitude for the setting. Our goal for the Lost Lands design has always been to make it seem "new but familiar" by using select RW names and ideas to give it a depth of history and richness of texture but without having to go with straight imports of stuff whole-cloth or that will not convey the atmosphere we're looking for. I think this is something that most campaign settings have probably used to some extent or other, but it works particularly well for us because of components like Mesopotamia and Necropolis.
So for AK:Mesopotamia, look for Lost Lands to include the gazetteer type info with some modification and the adventures with changes to fit these modifications. For the cultural-related game rules, those will be included on a case-by-case basis as necessary to fit the campaign world and keep the original coolness as written without creating the same sort of jarring intrusions we're avoiding above.
So there won't just be a straight reprint/update of Morten's book, but most of it will appear in Lost Lands book or books as we are able.