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Originally posted by jamesewelch

Congrats! It looks great. I've added it to my wish list and will pick it up soon.

I didn't see a credits page in the sample. Is that at the end of the doc?

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Originally posted by jamesewelch

Hahaha. 2016....

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Originally posted by jamesewelch

I started my book in Dec 2018, and I feel like it's taking forever (currently 100+ pages, and I'm doing another good size overhaul after some gameplay mechanics feedback that sparked a new idea or two on how to do things better).

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Originally posted by jamesewelch

Also, if you're not already a member of the Facebook "DMG Creator's Circle" (if you use FB, you can search for that group name to find it), I'd highly recommend joining. There's a ton of great writers there and its a good forum for DMG creators to talk about stuff (not product selling/advertising, but about the process of creating, helping each other out, giving writer-to-writer feedback, etc.)

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Originally posted by jamesewelch
Also, you should make a few 'Bundles' of your related products as well. That's a new feature they just added. You can bundle all of your Maztica books into a 'Maztica Bundle'. So you can just direct people to the bundle to get all of the books in one download.

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Originally posted by jamesewelch

My book is based on the god represented by my forum icon. :)

I've procrastinated too much as well. Since I've asked a few people to review and provide feedback, I've gotten my second wind and I'm spending hours every night working on it again.

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Originally posted by jamesewelch

Are you the same Bryan Holmes from DMG discord? (the copyright says Bryan Holmes (c) 2018 in it, if not you might want to update the legalize before you forget)

Looks good. Lots of good artworks. That cover is awesome.

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Originally posted by Seethyr

Put up a singular creature just on a whim. Had availability for the artwork so I thought I’d have some fun with it.

https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/285666

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Originally posted by jamesewelch

The other book images aren't loading for me, just the [x] missing image link. It's because you're linking to google.drive. They only allow linking to imgur.

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Originally posted by sleyvas

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Originally posted by Seethyr

Put up a singular creature just on a whim. Had availability for the artwork so I thought I’d have some fun with it.

https://www.dmsguild.com/m/product/285666

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I love the artwork and idea... a snail dragon... reminds me of the old order of the stick joke of some kind of snail with a bunch of templates, but more interesting. That being said, the artwork makes this believable. I also love this because from what you're describing in it, it sounds like some of what I've talked about doing with Katashaka, you may be looking to do up in Anchorome. By that I mean that in GHotR, it mentions nyama-nummo in Katashaka, and we've debated "what" a nyama-nummo is. I finally settle on the idea that its something akin to a primordial and a kaiju (i.e. Godzilla, king kong, Mothra, etc...). I was planning to have a section of Katashaka known as "Manu-Ni-Maloa, Land of the Nyama-Nummo", and fill it with these beings and have "tribes" of beings that surround them, protect them, and worship them. Having many of the "great spirits" of Anchorome being similar beasts that don't copy "Faerunian great beasts" is a wonderful idea.


I planned to then open up to interpretation... are these avatars of gods in some way, the original forms of the gods, etc... So, there might be a giant "bat" that corresponds to Camazotz, worshipped by surface bainligor living in a jungle, werebats, and a tribe of daemonfey who somehow ended up in Katashaka


http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=21770

http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=21638

I also had an idea I was using for the "Wakanari Highlands" and the "Council of the Reborn Phoenix" that features powerful beings ruling over a group of bird folk, cat folk, mouse folk, and flower folk that live and work together. They're ruled by some sphinxes, but above the sphinxes are unique "entities". It also involves earth motes. It COULD fit in with the aearee actually (though the cat motif is more "african"), though I hadn't thought about that until now.

http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=22380

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Originally posted by sleyvas

Hmm, and looking at your earlier post, it seems you're headed down the road that I was thinking. Developing large beasts that fit "north American" myths to a degree (giant skunks creatures, a "dinosaur" kinda similar to the creature rumored to be in Lake Champlain,

BTW, I love the base idea of the Chenoo. I recommend they have an ability to corrupt food and drink, such that they do so in order to "procreate" their race. Maybe a minor ability to extinguish small fires (like a campfire that a group is using to keep warm). I like the idea that the Metahel are familiar with these creatures and know them as "Rime Giants" and maybe they fill the role of frost giants in Anchorome. Maybe they even act like the fey stories of old and steal individuals to conduct a "ritual" with them and turn them into Chenoo. Thus, they may wander in small "tribes". It might be interesting if there is a link to Toril's ancient ice age and the disappearance of the sun. Maybe a race of dying creatures created "Chenoo the primal hunger" as a collective of their spirit as they lay dying and freezing (or some primordial drew upon their suffering and they had worshipped him). Since then, when a new, lesser "Chenoo" is created, its "linked" to this greater spirit, and anyone saved remembers this link vaguely. Thus, the metahel near the Azuposi may have stories of these creatures, though noone in their current generations has ever seen one. There may be a belief that if "Chenoo the Primal Hunger" can be destroyed that all the other Chenoo would be freed. He might also be a warlock patron. Just some ideas to throw out.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Cipelahq are cute... love it.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Deer Woman... yes, very well done... a swan may with an attitude. I was thinking an "owl woman", but this one fits well too. Both could exist with differing backgrounds or reasons for existing and acting.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Hisshishtawia ... love the idea of this hag. Recommend changing some of her spells to make the "twisted wand" seem to fit the idea that they have some power with plants. Acid splash, change that to Thorn Whip, with the hags using the Thorn Whip to drag people closer to them. Change Hold Person to entangle, and the Thorn Whip drags people into the entangle area (or spike growth area). Give them tree stride, sleet storm, and spike growth 1/day.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Jipijka'm ... downplay the strength of its horn if recovered. Its not a major deal, but making it say +2 instead of +3, since +3 is so strong in 5e. I do like the indestructible part, but perhaps magic can destroy it (disintegrate for instance)... or perhaps someone using the weapon "dishonorably" in some way makes it decay rapidly.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Mitchehant - good use of another "great beast". The story is a bit weird though.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Piasa Bird - love the picture... move the text to make it easier to read the myth.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Uktena - again, love the picture. I'd like to have these creatures be in Metahel lore as creatures they had to fight "in their homeland", but they haven't seen them down in the Pasocada basin. Their horns and scaled skin might have uses. From that reference you say Uktena is a dragon-like horned serpent of Cherokee legend.
The first Uktena was said to be transformed from a human
man in a failed assassination attempt on the sun..... I'd change this and reference that the Uktena have some kind of link to the Norse "dragon" that nibbled on the world tree Nidhogg... or to change the spelling some Naedhagg for the metahel... and then possibly linked to Dendar the Night Serpent). Basically do something to link it more to the realms and less to our world's myth.

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Originally posted by sleyvas

Ok, so I'm looking into the anchorome product in more detail from the perspective of "find location listed in text, find it on map" and I'm comparing your map in the product and the map pack that was released by the guy that you were working with. In some instances, it looks like the map pack is correct, and in others, its looking like the stuff in the anchorome product is correct, and I'm noting that there's discrepancies between the two on the general shapes of things. Is there a newer update? To give clearer examples, here's the two issues I've noted up so far:


From the Anchorome guide
Aarakocra patrol the northern wilds from their eyrie on Amoyeli Island

It took me a bit to find this, because I was looking at the map pack that the person you were working with for the map released. On it he's showing Amoyeli in the mountains off to the east of the Unole Ama. Just to note, he modified the Unole Ama Lake basin and entirely got rid of this island in his version that you show in the Anchorome product.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Sesnaajiini mountains
From the text of the Anchorome work
snowcapped, high, river runs to fort flame. Poscadari elves along river. desert dwarves roam the base of the mountain.
From the MAP of the Anchorome work
These mountains are shown as the mountains that are between the Pasocada Basin and the land of the insect men. So the text and the map in the same work don't seem to agree
From the map pack that the guy you were working with put out
These mountains are shown to the EAST of the Pasocada Basin not the north and on the other side of the desert and the mountains where the short ones live. Note, this would seem to match the description of text.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
The Adusgi Forest
In your anchorome product you're showing this forest pretty far north of Fort Flame, but the guy's map pack is showing this as much smaller and almost directly east of fort flame.

I'm mainly bringing this up in case there's some easy discrepancy where some newer map version needs to be updated. That being said, I bought his map pack on the hopes that I could use it to update things and reference it and keep us all on the same page. Its looking like sorting out the discrepancies are going to make this more of a problem than its worth.

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Originally posted by sleyvas

On the map updates, remember how I said I was trying to make a large scale map that would include your stuff, but also try to cover Anchorome/Maztica/Lopango/Katashaka/Osse and other areas previously unnoted? I'm still doing that. I got a lot more done yesterday for the anchorome area, and I will be deliberately putting statements directly on the map stating that the map is the work of the Cartographer's Guild of the Tharch of Luneira and that the map is say 3 or so years old and that the world is still changing. Thus, I'll be following the rough shapes you have as best I can, but also not having to worry overmuch if its wrong. Also, given that Luneira is a tharch dominated with the worship of Leira…. well, the map may be deliberately false for purposes of misinformation (a tactic the Thayans were long known for, as they didn't allow mapping of any of their cities... not just Eltabbar… by outsiders).

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Originally posted by sleyvas
When I have it done, I'm going to go through anchorome and put some general notes for areas where I'd like some other races to be (I'm picturing 3 separate groupings of bear folk and some other things we've discussed), and I'll pass it back your way. Again, my hopes are to make both our campaigns "true", so I'm trying to work around where you're placing things. I know that I'm slow (I know you feel your slow too, but you are still faster than me), but hopefully throwing out ideas along the way helps. BTW, this is very enjoyable, and I appreciate these lessons on real world myth.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Oh, and see in that other thread about the lammasu... I am seriously considering some links(possibly in the past only) between Mystara and Toril via anchorome. In particular the ee'aar and the avariel are both winged elves and both sound a bit like Aearee (so they may have been experiments). I also note that Mystara has a LOT of cat folk, so I'm wondering about using that. Then there's also the northmen of Mystara from GAZ7 (the Northern Reaches). Now, which direction things went (i.e. Toril to Mystara or Mystara to Toril... or even at one time one way and then a later return)… open to research.

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Originally posted by sleyvas

Still mapping place to where its at and reading through anchorome guide. I'm noting the plumed dragonborn (Tanarvraki as the Anchorome dragonborn refer to themselves) that we had talked about that are based on the mirage dragon rather than other dragons, and I know they're involved with Fort Flame. Do you have any particular placement for them? I say this because I can see them possibly trying to setup a place to live of their own. I was thinking it might make sense if they start up a small village on the other side of the river sesnaa on those mountains on the coastline, and maybe they name their settlement Tanarvrak. Their initial village might be actually caves built into the mountainside? Also, perhaps a feat for these dragonborn might be the ability to grow feathered wings.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
I noted just now as well that you're hinting to a Mirage Dragon existing in the Adusgi Forest here
When Anchôromé arrived in Abeir, the dragons of that savage world were quick to rampage through the new territories they might conquer. Not all dragons are as rapacious, and perhaps dragons still remain in the True World even beyond the time of the Sundering. Such is actually the hope of the tanarvraki dragonborn of Fort Flame. The dragonborn have always held great respect for the rare dragon species known as the mirage dragons, whom they believe to be their progenitors. Rumors abound that one such dragon lives deep within the Adusgi Forest. The dragonborn would certainly be willing to support an expedition into the forest should a group of brave individuals desire to do so.

I know the mirage dragon was first introduced in 4e in draconomicon - chromatic dragons, but its believed to be a corrupted version of green dragon that's not necessarily evil. Its also only size large in that product, but its got a ton of hit points and is a level 15 encounter. However, I'm noting I didn't see it in your anchorome product release for monsters, and it would make a great addition. That being said, if you don't mind, why not discuss ways to make this dragon BETTER than what WotC did?


First, its description... It has plumed frills around its head.... but make the wings feathered too. It kind of looks that way in the drawing they have. Also, Disney's "Pete's Dragon" has what appears to be fur, but could just as well be "green downy feathers". Maybe it is similar with soft feathers over green scales.

Second, rather oddly its listed as a size large encounter.. until I realized that 4e adult black dragons were also only size large. So, it should probably be "huge" as an adult. However, what if it really IS size large normally but it can cast enlarge/reduce (so that it can be size medium, large, or huge). This would fit with a dragon that has feywild influences I'm thinking. Maybe they often TRY to do things in their huge form, but then find it too hard, and clumsily wreck things, so they shrink so they can interact with things more easily (or to hide when they need to... see next section).

Third, while colorful as hell, what if it has a natural ability to camouflage itself, and thus finding these critters becomes an issue. They might have a bonus to an ability to hide, but they might ALSO have the ability to turn invisible (after all, look at Pete's Dragon).

Fourth, the WotC version gives them teleportation..... but maybe some abilities that are more nature oriented instead. I'm thinking meld into stone and tree stride. This is where the ability to shrink to size large would also come into play, because any stone or tree they use has to be big enough to contain them.

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Originally posted by sleyvas


I'm still interested in some Foxibou, but I'm thinking that would make a great addition for the island/small continent where the Metahel came from instead of having elves of any sort. I know my idea of the bear folk and your Alaghi both have a similar feel, but I think they make a good fit. Oh, and I'm thinking that forest on the other side of the continent should have hybsil in it.

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Originally posted by sleyvas
Oh, and btw.... I've been so skipping around the anchorome book that I just saw this, and I have to say... A - your welcome …. and B - I'm impressed, you followed through on a lot of things.

Sleyvas, I have to thank you for so many excellent ideas, I don't know where to start. Half of the Unole wouldn't be populated had you not thrown so many thoughts at me during our brainstorming sessions.

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Originally posted by sleyvas

Hmmm, and regarding those plumed dragonborn (Tanarvraki) DON'T get a breath weapon, but instead get some abilities which are similar to what I was describing for a mirage dragon. For instance, what if instead of the breath weapon and resistances, they instead gain a bonus to stealth skill (or ability to turn invisible) and maybe the ability to cast reduce/enlarge on themselves, and maybe a bonus +2 to dexterity. This might add some interesting descriptive things for them as well, as a dragonborn suddenly makes himself 12 to 14 foot tall to help in Fort Flame, or reduces himself to get into a cave entrance. It would also make these dragonborn a bit more inclined to roguishness or being something like a bard as well.

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Originally posted by sleyvas

Ah'Muzen'Cab placement? Its beneath a bog and its a new Abeil area. Where were you thinking of placing this?

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Originally posted by Seethyr

quote:

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Originally posted by sleyvas

Ah'Muzen'Cab placement? Its beneath a bog and its a new Abeil area. Where were you thinking of placing this?

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I intentionally left placement of the locations added to Anchorome in the Land of the Insect Men vague for a number of reasons.

1. It has been difficult to get my cartography to keep up with me (bad excuse I know, but I am not a pro and sometimes it is hard working with others).
2. I'd like to allow each individual area that gets a supplement to have a little leeway for independent campaigns. I have the greater continent map in the campaign guide and only included the additional Pasocada Basin one because it was already canonically established.

If I were to have to place his body it would have been in the south and west of the Land of the Insect Men close to the mountainous region located there. I want the abeil to have more contact with the aarakocra and thri-kreen than I do the minnenewah at this point.

As a side note, the map of Anchorome isn't meant to show every detail in the continent. In my vision, for example, the Unole is littered with smaller lakes (Native American myth has DOZENS of lake monsters and stories that involve them). There is a lot of blank area all over the map, and I actually asked the cartographer to do that. The old FR maps from early editions, from what I remember, were like that. It allowed you to build whatever you want in the vast regions the maps covered.

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