Role Aids

[Eye of Boccob]

Given the approaching arrival of the Planscape setting, I have
recently become more interested in the Outer Planes. I was wondering if
anyone has come across a series of supplements for AD&D by Mayfair Games:

Apocalypse
Arch Magic
Demons
Demons II

There are others, but I'm not sure of the titles...

They claim to replace the denizens of the outer planes in the AD&D
game, and provide rules for extra-planar campaigning.

Any comments, particularly a description of the contents, would be
helpful.

Thanks in advance...

EYE OF BOCCOB
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[michael thomas fassbender]

In article <2n7r7a$d...@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU> glho...@athena.mit.edu (Eye of Boccob) writes:
> Given the approaching arrival of the Planscape setting, I have
>recently become more interested in the Outer Planes. I was wondering if
>anyone has come across a series of supplements for AD&D by Mayfair Games:
>
> Apocalypse
> Arch Magic
> Demons
> Demons II

Well, I can't say anything about the first two supplements, but
I was rather impressed by the Demons supplements (which included four
Monstrous Compendium-style appendices, as well). The series treats
Demons more as Role-playing foes than as mindless hordes of super-powerful
warriors. Altogether, there are literally hundreds of individual demons
described, each with an independent personality (except for one or two
that don't have a personality, but that's part of their uniqueness....).
The gist of the series is, the Demons are responsible for creating evil
in the world, and are constantly out there trying to tempt people into
choosing evil. Most Demons are far more dangerous for this trait than
for their (not inconsiderable in most cases) combat abilities.

Demons: contains basic information establishing the Demons campaign
universe (it really should be considered a "game world" like Greyhawk,
FR, Dragonlance, etc., since it's basis is so specific, but it does not
detail the world itself, only the first causes that underlie it),
and the first Demons MC descriptions. These include the Infernal Court,
the Five Princes (one for each order of the Demons, the Heart, the Mind,
the Soul, the Flesh and the Blood), the twenty Dukes (four for each
Prince, marking the relation of each order with the others -- i.e.,
a Duke of the Heart and the Mind, or the Soul and the Flesh), as well
as the more generic lesser demons. A good way to begin the set.

Demons II: more campaign information for the DM -- use of half-demon
characters, the Inquisition, etc. Two scenarios, and a few new spells.
Less material to work with than Demons, but good if you intend to run
such a campaign.

Denizens of Vecheron: Details the subordinate Demons of the Heart --
the Marshals who serve Grand Anthraxus, the Generals who serve those
Marshals, and the Governors who serve the Dukes.

Denizens of Verekna: As above, only for the Demons of the Mind.

Denizens of Og: Demons of the Soul.

Denizens of Diannor: Demons of the Blood. The artwork begins to get
shoddy by this supplement (the one most recently released to the best
of my knowledge) but the material is still good.

(Unreleased) Denizens of Thanis: the Demons of the Flesh.

All in all, I am personally quite impressed with this series,
and intend to use it somewhere along the line in a campaign. It will
require a bit of work on the DM's part (it seems as if it works best
in a home-brew world, as it won't fit very well within any of the
standard TSR worlds) but can be very enjoyable if he places a higher
value on Role-playing than on hack'n'slash. I should probably add that
the tenor of this campaign would most likely be rather dark, which is
a matter of taste. If you like dark campaigns, it can be very well-
suited to your taste.
By the way, I have a question as well regarding this series.
Denizens of Thanis was scheduled to be released in January, according
to a local hobby store. It has not yet arrived. According to Dragon
magazine, Mayfair Games is letting it's RPG staff go, in order to
concentrate on board games (a real shame, as Mike Nystul has put a lot
of creativity into the Demons series). Does anybody know if RoleAids
will release Denizens of Thanis before closing up shop in the RPG field?

Adelheyde

[Kevin G Serafini]

i bought a role aids product a couple of months ago called "to hell and
back". it was basically a description of hell and four other "places".
(i'm not sure if extra-planar is the right word) anyway, the hell is
very much like dante's inferno, but it does include some mildly interesting
places and monsters. then there is atlantis, which is basically what you
would think (the atlanteans are a race of evil humans) from the classic
legends. the third "place" is avalon, basically taken from the arthur
legends (note, this isn't the camelot thing, it is the place where a
group of priestesses hang out, i think they're called wiccans).
there's a place called faerie, where everyone is an elf/pixie/goblin, etc.
quaint, but not incredibly creative. the final place is one that i
actually liked the most, a place called selene. selene is located on
some other plane, and it is basically a city of vampires. they all have
their servants (both living and un-dead), and it is kindof a neet place.
i think it is taken from a book called la ville vampire by paul ferval.

i would give the package about 5 on a scale of 1 to 10. the stuff that
they include is midly interesting, but there is very little detail. if
you have ever read the inferno, or arthurian legends, etc., you could
create the same descriptions in a short amount of time. kindof neat,
but i'm not sure it was worth the $20.

just my humble opinion.

kevin serafini