Troll Lord Games

[Troll Lord]

Tainted Lands
A Castles & Crusades Game
Product Type/Format & Price: Box, 3 booklets, inserts; $29.99 (est.)
Written By: James M. Ward
Ordering Info: TLG 7651

Tainted Lands

“But this madness is no longer contained in the Tainted Lands. It spreads, filling the empty places around it with the dread of horror, polluting the world one small step at a time.” Maegrin the Sage

Upon the far slopes of the Turmberg Mountains, where the northern shores of Lake Vanhir lap the Plains of Cos lie the fog-enshrouded Tainted Lands. In the Days before Days hosts of dark hearted Val-Ehrakun settled here even before the sun and moon rose in the heavens. They shaped the earth, molding it with hysterical delusions. In their delirium they befouling the land, polluted the waters and staining the very air with madness. The land itself, filled with this poison became twisted, a living embodiment of the horror of nightmare. But as with all things, this too passed and the Tainted Lands became a wasteland of forgotten dreams and misspent sorcery. For eons it lay dormant, suffering under the yoke of time.

But now, the shroud of its winter has given way and the Tainted Lands have come alive again. The earth groans and spits its necromantic horror in the air. Monsters, dread and foul rise from the muck of corruption and stalk the wastes. And the dreams of gods rise as nightmares from the blasted heath.

Nothing good is born in the mists of the Tainted Lands. Those who enter can survive there, some even thrive there, using the nightmare landscape to hide in. But as often as not the very magics that corrupt the lands consume them, they are twisted and driven mad, turning on all those and anything that stand before them. Still others fall into the oblivion and never rise again, their bones soaked into the earth and forgotten by history.

It’s not enough to leave such things alone and hope for the best. If the festering dread isn’t rooted out and destroyed, it will continue to grow and consume the world at large. Only true heroes, or perhaps fools, go through the growing Tainted Portals, knowing if they don’t act their people and lands are soon doomed by the corruption.

It isn’t enough to know that creatures, plants, the land itself is twisted and filled with dread, the wise must learn to control their panic, resisting the staining touch of evil as they explore to find the pools of horrific power. Those who survive their journey into the Tainted Lands come back a little twisted themselves, tainted with the evil of those blasted wastes. Their hair white, and for the observant the look to their eyes that wasn’t there before.

Come play in the tainted lands and survive the horrors that walk behind you, spring at you from the fogs all around, and grow from minor things into alarming corrupted creatures of awesome power; always hungry for those who accidentally become pulled into a nightmare of creatures and lands filled with horrific death.

A Siege Engine Box Set
Played with Castles & Crusades
Included within:

Castles & Crusades Rules of Play
Horror Rules for the Abomination Lord with new monsters and variant rules
Supernatural Rule Book for the Players with new attributes, classes, magic and more
Introductory Adventure
Six Playing Dice
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The High Lord, Coburg the Undying
He who sits on the elephants back
Castle and Crusade Society
troll@trolllord.com

[serleran]

This sounds like fun. I'll take three.
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Serl's Corner

[James M. Ward]

People, People, People, I'm so happy Steve has set up this page in the forum. Steve and I talk about important product that Troll Lords could make and I could design. I'm just finishing up the GODS AND MONSTERS hardbound book that's coming out in a few months. I've always wanted to do a Horror product. I welcome all of your positive comments about the idea and I will drop a few notes on what I have in mind in the next set of postings.

The idea behind this box set is to have the TAINTED LANDS grab C&C players and in the process scare those characters (and their players) with a good bit of horror they will never understand, but hopefully survive.

There are lots of tricks to role-playing horror and it's my hope the Castle Keeper and players all have great and scary fun with this product. Please feel free to add your suggestions to this posting.

James M. Ward

[MacLeod]

Sounds great!

New attributes? Are we talking about measuring sanity here?
I'm interested either way.

[gideon_thorne]

[serleran]

Please include various subgenre systems, such as your obvious talent at radioactivity (a la Cold War era scare flicks) and so forth. Obviously, gore is easiest, but real guidelines to suspense would be killer.
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Serl's Corner

[Omote]

Sounds very interesting. I hope it's in the fantasy genre (even though it sounds like it probably is). Looking forward to yet another TLG release.

-O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

[MacLeod]

[James M. Ward]

At the present time it is set squarely in the historical middle ages on a nice piece of fantasy ground with all the tainted wizards, tainted dragons, and tainted new things you could ask for. If the set is popular at all, we can always move it up the line with rules for modern day and science fiction.

I have three short stories written in the horror area with a middle ages feel to them and I want to present the stories and adventure modules to go with them on line so that people can get a flavor for the game. We'll see how that works in the spring.

Naturally, CRUSADER magazine will get a large article or two on the topic of the Tainted Lands. If you don't have a subscription, you should seriously consider getting one.

James M. Ward

[MacLeod]

I hope it is a resounding success.
I'll pick up a subscription as soon as I can. Buying the PH and M&T is my first priority. If only I could find a bundle.

[Lord Dynel]

Awesome.

Is this the previously limited setting that was available at GenCon last year? Or am I thinking of someone else? Even if I am, it still sounds fantastic!
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LD's C&C creations - the witch, a half-ogre, skill and 0-level rules

[gideon_thorne]

Just a thought Jim, you might consider making some of the more common staples of horror available as player character race types. Lycanthropes and Vampires in particular.


...............................................

Yes, I can see the whiny posts coming about VLARP from the peanut gallery, but I think it would be appropriate to such a setting.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

[cinderblock]

Sounds pretty fun. I'm intrigued.

[James M. Ward]

I haven't started it yet, but currently I'm thinking about having the player characters gain supernatural and physic ability traits. As time in the Tainted Lands lengthens those traits change. The supernatural number gets smaller and smaller and the physic one gets larger and larger. When those numbers equal each other you can never leave the tainted lands again. Those who have left the tainted lands still have those attributes and they help them in their every day life, but never change.

James M. "Tainted" Ward

[Lord Dynel]