World of Shaerdraeth (defunct) was: Code Monkey Publishing

[sheridan]

Surprisingly, you can still get to the Code Monkey Page as long as you don't try to get there from the main site. Try heading here:
http://www.codemonkeypublishing.biz/inde...ule=Dizkus

No more info on Shaedraeth, though.

[Havard]

Thanks Sheridan!

Interestingly, Trollmike is the only one who has posted since March, it seems. No word from Mynex or anyone else.

-Havard

[BlackmoorBob]

Not much on that site since March.

-Duncan

[Havard]

Surprisingly, you can still get to the Code Monkey Page as long as you don't try to get there from the main site. Try heading here:
http://www.codemonkeypublishing.biz/inde...ule=Dizkus

No more info on Shaedraeth, though.

What is the origin of the name Shaedraeth? What is known of this setting? Was it simply to be a poor copy & paste version of Blackmoor, or something more?

-Havard

[Havard]

Apparently the CMP forum is still up, but the company appears to be pretty much dead and buried at this point.

As to the setting of Shaedreth, here is what was planned back in 2010:

on the writing in gaining steam other than putting some and prettying it up a bit calendar for shaedraeth is complete an actual calendar year from for the start date of the campaign setting, 13mos of weather, events, moon phases, and holidays!)... The holiday's needing population are for the Deities...

There are 30 Deities for Shaedraeth, and all 30 are written up except for some mechanics (Rituals/Powers/Few Paths) and Some Myths/Rumors on a few of them. Getting them into electronic format is on my docket for this week, then getting the art into place and layout for them.

As part of the Deities information, is the cosmology of Shaedraeth. This is half written, the other half requiring me to sit for about 3 hours to focus on, then type it up an get in into the layout with the Deities info.

Why so long on Deities? Because I'm not using the abbreviated version that's in 4e, I'm using the old (sort of) method (1e/2e) with a ton of information on the deities, physical stats, preferences, relations, church/temple info, etc... Why? Because the Deities in Shaedraeth are very hands on with the Mortal population... for reasons that will be made clear.

The last section on deities will be the Religious Organizations themselves for each Deity. Structure, daily devotions, special/recurring holidays (or Rituals), followers, including stat blocks for the leaders, etc. This one I have only scribbled notes on, even though they're all in my head at the moment.

Sounds like a lot right? It is. Sounds like it is going to be a separate book right? It is.

But what about the Dungeons of the Lost Moorlands Book you ask? Glad you did! I've gotten 15 levels of it written up (sans stat blocks, which I'll explain in a moment) and 6 levels of it typed up. The remaining 6 levels I have 'pseudo-written', i.e. I've got all my notes, just need to put them in a logical, readable (to others) order.

Then I have to make the maps, which I'm leaning towards using Campaign Cartographer 3 for. First, I'm familiar with the ProFantasy Products. Second, since this is going to be a PDF product, I don't see the reason to limit the maps to 8 1/2 by 11 for book printing (They will of course be in that size for those who want to print the book out though), but I'm looking at it from the 4e mini's perspective, battlemaps.

Then it's stat blocks. Contrary to what many people may think about 4e, making stat blocks is easy. Adjusting stat blocks for Tiers and levels _can_ be difficult, but with the ATL Matrix™ I've come up with, that's easy as pie! Getting the presentation IN the text, after figuring out the first one, i.e. the best way, then that's also easy as pie!

Then it's layout and art.

I'm aiming for a christmas release for both the Deities and Dungeons book. That will depend a lot on my art people, but it's looking good at this point.

I'm aiming for the end of this month, beginning of next month to get the Calendar out (for free!)... That will depend on whether I decide to add a timeline of Shaedraeth onto it.


In other news;
I debated mentioning this, finally (obviously) decided to... I was negotiating with a large publisher to get their material into RPGF, and while the interest was their on both sides, the lawyers mucked it all up, as they're wont to do. *sigh* We may revisit them again next year, but we'll have to see where things are at that time.

No, it wasn't WotC, and no, I won't get into who it was or wasn't...

I simply wanted to let you know between everything else (Writing, Merton, Negotiations, and Real Life in general) the why/what of me being silent.

CMP Continues to trudge forward. At times we may be on life support, but, in the immortal words of Monty Python:

"I'm Not Dead Yet!"

Source: http://www.codemonkeypublishing.biz/ind ... c&topic=87

Some update info... Mechanics conversions are done for the Races/Classes of the "Lost Moorlands" and original into Pathfinder... Working on the flavor text for the Docrae at the moment...

Even though the product(s) are meant for PDF, it's still hard to determine exactly how much 'fluff' is appropriate for any given item... so much to be said about what's gone on with the Docrae... but it's all 'ancient history'... so a small mention in the race write up I suppose... more about the 'history' in other sections and other books eh? Keep you all guessing!

Once I get through with the site updates, and hopefully the one software will work correctly with it's latest version, I'll get up the 'rough final' I think for you all to look over on the Docrae.

Whatya thunk?

http://www.codemonkeypublishing.biz/ind ... &topic=165


Preserving this here for historical reasons.



PS: This is not an invitation to post negative comments on CMP and why they failed. If such discussions are needed then those are better reserved for PMs or other arenas.

-Havard

[finarvyn]

Maybe it would be useful to rename the thread "Shaedraeth setting (defunct)" or something like that.

It would draw attention to the setting (which is mostly the focus of the thread) and away from the publisher (and any discussion thereof).

[Rafael]

Do we know anything about this setting, except for the title?

As in, if there was a finished manuscript floating around, I would not mind bidding for it (via my own, new, shiny company, Palmerín).
However, I was under this impression that this, or, rather, the "New Lands" setting was planned, but never quite finished, due to some sort of dispute.

Anyway, I am serious about this - if there's anybody out who has more info, feel free to contact me via PM or mail.

[Havard]

Maybe it would be useful to rename the thread "Shaedraeth setting (defunct)" or something like that.

It would draw attention to the setting (which is mostly the focus of the thread) and away from the publisher (and any discussion thereof).

Good idea. Done

-Havard

[Havard]

Do we know anything about this setting, except for the title?

First of all, Shaerdreath should not be confused with Age of the Wolf. Age of the Wolf was a future era in the Blackmoor setting. Shaerdraeth is a separate world. While many well known freelancers were involved in Age of the Wolf, Shaerdraeth seems to have been mainly the work of CMP's Robert Reed. How much was actually written on the Shaerdraeth project is hard to say. However, we do know a few things about what was planned:

Sheardraeth was originally planned for D&D4E, but later switched to Pathfinder. At least three products were planned:

• Shaerdrath World Book (Book, not official title), a separate book containing information on cosmology, deities, Calendar etc.
  
• Dungeons of the Lost Moorlands: This book clearly inspired by Dungeons of Castle Blackmoor would contain 21 dungeon levels of newly designed dungeons. (PDF)
  
• Sheardrath Calendar (PDF)

Shaerdraeth was originally titled simply The New Lands. Whether legally solid or not, the idea was that the elements of Blackmoor that had been added during the ZGG Era could be separated from Blackmoor again and included in a brand new setting. This would include:

• New Blackmoor Classes
  
• New Blackmoor Prestige Classes
  
• Docrae Halflings
  
• Skelfer Ard, the Wizard of Legend
  
• Deities (Speculation).

To summarize, the setting would include the following:

• A complex cosmology featuring a world with multiple moons.
  
• 30 deities (Blackmoor has 44, but some such as Thanatos, Terra, Ordana, Khoronus etc are WotC property).
  
• Religious organizations for each deity
  
• An inn called the WelcomeBack Inn (probably a nod to some other setting? ). There would be maps for the Inn, so possibly it could be used as an adventure location?
  
• Classes: Wokan, Elderkin, Arcane Warrior, Noble, Monks of the Fallen Star, Merchant, Shaman, Idolater
  
• Prestige Classes: Docrae Outlook, Fey Lord, Inquisitor, Spirit Warrior, Spiked Charger, Jester, Tusked Warrior, Sunsinger, Elven Elementalist
  
• Docrae Halflings
  
• Skelfer Ard, the Wizard of Legend (Perhaps also Kargas and others?)
  
• A Mega-Dungeon of 21 dungeon levels.
  
• 6 Plane Elemental Model (Speculation)
  
• Blackmoor Elemental Magic (Speculation)

Sources:

• Blackmoor Lisence: End of an Era (Blackmoor Blog)
  
• New Lands: Future of Blackmoor(Blackmoor Blog)
  
• Shaerdreath New Lands (Blackmoor Blog)
  
• CMP Press Releases from earlier in this thread.
  
• Code Monkey Press (Comeback Inn thread)

-Havard

[Rafael]

Thank you very much for that summary, man!

My personal first assumption is that, on a legal level, this was very much wishful thinking, also,
because the individual copyrights of different contributors would need to be considered.
However, if the material in fact exists (you don't write your 21-level-dungeon in a day), I'd be game to do a deal.

Now, not that I am not busy with my own stuff, but for Blackmoor, I'd always make time, one way, or another.