Aerth: Unfinished Site

[El Borak]

Nov 10, 2015 8:45:27 GMT -5 prespos said:

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/22333214/1/aerth/aerth.htm



Something that I began working on many years ago, just kept here for archive purposes.

Of note is the template approach that is used for each region.



Note that some of this involves entries from The Dictionary of Mythology, by JA Coleman -- I was making an index for this as well, but only got up to about page 400 out of 1300.



Note that the first page contains cut-and-paste content from Dragondex ( www.aeolia.net/dragondex/ ).



Pres

[El Borak]

Jul 29, 2016 9:34:23 GMT -5 prespos said:

Basically, Gary left TSR in 1987.



By 1992, he had a new RPG, called Dangerous Journeys.

DJ was intended to be a multi-genre system, but they only did 5 books (fantasy), before the whole thing was quashed by lawyers.

I will list the books for you, here:



* Mythus (main fantasy system)

* Mythus Magick (spells and magick)

* Epic of Aerth (campaign setting, basically, fantasy Earth)

* Necropolis (Egyptian megadungeon)

* Mythus Bestiary (like a Monster Manual, with a focus on real-world animals)



Mythus & Dangerous Journeys deserve a thread of their own, so I will just focus on Epic of Aerth, here.



Rumor has it that Gary spent more time on Epic of Aerth than on any other book (3 years, I have heard).



Basically, Aerth = fantasy Earth.



Although it is written for Mythus, the Aerth setting is great for all forms of D&D, from OD&D to 5e.



I think that Gary really 'nailed it' with this one, as the common saying goes.

I believe that he had a plan, stuck with it, and achieved his vision, there.



Epic of Aerth, the majority of it, is really just like an Encyclopedia, most of it. I don't recommend reading it, from cover to cover, but it is an excellent reference work.

With Epic of Aerth, we see an approach similar to that taken by Gary with his 1983 World of Greyhawk box set: things are left really open, to encourage and enhance DM creativity.



My Aerth threads do not represent Gary's canon: I really do diverge from Gary's original vision, in many ways. No worries: that was part of his intent, that people would take the setting, and make it their own thing.



For example, in the "Prespos version" of Aerth:



* Adolf Hitler is the ruler of Tuetonia

* Julius Caesar (a literal demi-god) is the ruler of Rome

* Napoleon is the ruler of Francia

* Fat Bastard is the ruler of Caledonia (Scotland)

* Cleopatra Ptolemy Philopater VII is the ruler of Aegypt

etc.



The above are examples of how one could customize the Aerth setting (and, Yes, I don't take things too seriously, sometimes).



Here, I will make a controversial statement: technically, Epic of Aerth was the best thing Gary ever did.







Thanks, Gary!

Prespos