Tainted Lands

[R. Scott Kimsey]

From what I gather on the forum, this setting will be coming out in
the near future. It sounds like it is quite deadly. I've never run a
fantasy campaign in a horror-type setting. I've run some people
through the first Ravenloft module (back in the day), but nothing
ongoing. All of the Call of Cthulhu games I've played have been set in
the 1920s.

You guys like fantasy/horror settings? I'm going to check out the
Tainted Lands material when it comes out. Sounds cool.

[Mangus]

As noted in another thread the fantasy/horror genre is my bread and
butter right now. I am very interested to see what Tainted Lands has
to offer rules wise. Does anyone have any idea if there are additional
rules for handling fear and sanity with this release? I would love to
see how Troll Lords would handle mental health officially. The rules I
have presented on my blog for handling mental health is kind of my own
simplified spin on what was presented in d20 Ravenloft. I still think
there is a better way of handling mental health though, so I am
working on an update. I was disappointed in the sanity rules found in
C&C Freeport. It did not seem to mesh with the Siege Engine like I has
envisioned.

[R. Scott Kimsey]

Have you looked at how the Conan RPG handles insanity? That would be
fairly easy to apply to C&C, I think. That said, I'd be interested to
see if there is an actual mechanic included in Tainted Lands.

[Mangus]

You know, I can't believe I forgot that the Conan rules have a
mechanic that handles insanity. I need to look them over tomorrow to
refresh my memory on how they work. Conan was one of the only d20
products I really loved. Before I started my current campaign I
considered running a C&C powered Hyborian Age game. The main reason I
did not was because my group was not thrilled about playing in a low
magic setting.

[Breakdaddy]

I've run a Tainted Lands session for my group and everyone had fun.
There are two new stats that will appear on the character sheet, one
of them measuring psychic ability and the other measuring the PCs
ability to discern undead just by being in their presence. TL by
default is fairly deadly but can be scaled however you like. As
written, TL has an emphasis on Role Playing the horror elements in
detail with a focus on the surreal nature of exploring the foreign
soil of the Tainted Lands. Reality becomes bent and twisted around the
TL portals and within the land itself, whether as a byproduct of "The
7" and their influence over all things TL or a natural side effect of
the warped demi-planar nature of the skull-continent is a question
that remains unanswered by canon. In my game, I played up the ability
for lines of salt, garlic buds, and etched runic circles to help stave
off the horrors that issue forth from the maw of the gates, but this
was strictly my interpretation and had nothing whatsoever to do with
TL canon. The whole setting is open to a great deal of GM tinkering as
usual with a C&C product. Make it your own and have fun with it.