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The Black Company Campaign Setting
Since 1984, readers the world over have followed the exploits of Glen Cook's black Company. Croaker, Lady, Murgen, One-Eye, Goblin, and a cast of thousands have lived and died as the fierce mercenaries of the Black Compnay have fought, tricked, and - when necessary, fled from - vast armies, powerful wizards, and twisted creatures from other worlds. The Black Company have toppled nations and dynasties, battled the horrific Dominator and his Ten Who Were Taken, faced the insidious Shadowmasters, and more. all this as they traversed the world, searching inexorably for their point of Khatovar, the mysterious birthplace of all the Free Companies. Now, for the first time, the world of the Black Company is yours to explore. The Black Company Campaign Setting provides everything you need to walk in the Black Company's footsteps, detailing the world, characters, threats, and all the d20 game mechanics needed to bring it to life! Inside this massive time you'll A complete overview of the novels, detailing the Black Company's history under the leadership of the Captain, Lieutenant, Croaker, Lady, Murgen, Sleepy and Suvrin. A geographical overview, highlighting and detailing vital setting information. All new rules for defining character backgrounds from priests to harlots. New classes like the Academician, Scout, and Zealot, with adapted classes from the d20 system like the berserker, thief, and wizard, modified to take advantage of the special rules presented in this book and fully supporting the epic level rules. Brand new Skills like Command, Magic Use, and Research. Dozens of new Feats, such as Bushwhack, Vicious, and the Ritual of Taking. Complete combat systems for fights at the characters scale, mass combat between units, and quick resolution army-scale combat. An all-new freeform magic system to recreate the world-shaking spells used by the Ten Who Were Taken or the more modest arcane efforts of the Black Company wizards. New Prestige Classes, like the Oracle, Topkick and Great General. Variant rules for building and maintaining your own mercenary companies, sanity, and magic. Tons of campaign models and campaign sparks to build your own Black Company stories. a complete bestiary of the monsters from the books, including the awe-inspiring windwhales, the horrific shadows from the Plain of Glittering Stone, and the guardian dragon sleeping before the Barrowlands. Game stats for all of you favorite characters, covering everyone from Wheezer and Pawnbroker to Soulcatcher and the Dominator! A complete index of the Black Company members mentioned in the books. Whether you're a fan of the novels or a gamer hungry for a real taste of blood and guts in your d20 games, The Black Company Campaign Setting gives you everything you need to kick start a unique and exciting saga - one unlike anything you've experienced before. You better get ready, 'cause the Black Compnay's recruiting - and they're looking for YOU! Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. This product utilizes updated material from the v. 3.5 revision.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published November 15, 2004
1 person is currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Robert J. Schwalb
123 books40 followersRobert J. Schwalb, a writer and award-winning game designer best known for his work on Dungeons & Dragons, got his start in 2002 and has never looked back. He has designed or developed almost two hundred gaming books in both print and digital formats for Wizards of the Coast, Green Ronin Publishing, Black Industries, Fantasy Flight Games, and several other companies. Some of his best-known books include the Dark Sun Campaign Setting, Player’s Handbook 3, A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying, Grimm, and Tome of Corruption. Look for Robert’s first novel in late 2011.
What does Rob have to say?
Fresh from my second go at college, all flushed and giddy for having graduated Magna cum Laude with special honors, I was ready to start writing fiction for a living. Reality didn’t waste any time intruding on my grandiose dream. The need for a steady job—beyond peddling liquor at the now closed Esquire Discount Liquors—became evident when the student loans clamored for repayment. Carpet, tile, and hardwood sales would be my future for a time. A friend ran a store in town and offered me a job. My previous careers had been selling men’s clothes, fast food, and then extended warranties. Flooring was none of these things so I jumped at the chance.
I was terrible. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I had a degree in English and Philosophy. Flooring customers don’t quite get pre-Socratics humor. I stuck it out though and supplemented my income by selling liquor a few days a week. I got to chat up the regulars at the liquor store who happened by for their thrice-daily pints of Kessler/Skol/Wild Irish Rose. It seemed my fate was to join many other Philosophy majors and do nothing with my training.
However, one night, I ran across Mongoose Publishing’s open call for book proposals. I thought about it for all of 3 seconds before working up my first pitch. A little under a year later, my first book, The Quintessential Witch, hit the shelves. When I wrote the Witch, 3rd edition rules for Dungeons & Dragons were still new and fresh. The d20 system was gathering steam and gaming entered something of a renaissance as companies were created just to feed the insatiable appetite for all things D&D. There were probably more companies than there were writers and thus it proved a perfect time to break into the industry.
Now I was no stranger to gaming. My Dad introduced me to board games when I was very young with Wizard’s Quest by Avalon Hill. Then I discovered Conan, Dune, Gor, the Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and so on. My interest in fantasy kept growing so when my neighbor offered me Tracy and Laura Hickman’s Rahasia for a quarter, I happily paid. That little adventure changed my world forever. I didn’t have the rules and had no idea what I was doing. I was hungry and figured out enough from the adventure to design my first roleplaying game. “Passages” became popular in my class for a week or two. We’d play during study hall or recess.
My Dad noticed and when he went off to a publishing convention (he worked for a famous Bible publisher in Nashville), he talked with a TSR rep, who I imagine might have been Gary Gygax. My father told him that I was designing my own games, so the TSR fellow, in a deft and generous move, gave him a stack of books and adventures. I had everything but the rules of the game. Luckily, a trip to the bookstore and meeting my soon-to-be Dungeon Master Landon, put the Red Box in my hands and my first character in my imagination. Creating the character was far less interesting than talking about comics, yet when we broke out the dice the next week and played the first game, I was hooked for life.
This all happened at a time when conspiracy theories about Satanism gripped the nation. Certain members of my family bought into the hype and thought my soul was in peril. So I stepped into a much wider world of RPGs. I played everything I could. Top Secret, DC Superheroes, Gamma World,
What does Rob have to say?
Fresh from my second go at college, all flushed and giddy for having graduated Magna cum Laude with special honors, I was ready to start writing fiction for a living. Reality didn’t waste any time intruding on my grandiose dream. The need for a steady job—beyond peddling liquor at the now closed Esquire Discount Liquors—became evident when the student loans clamored for repayment. Carpet, tile, and hardwood sales would be my future for a time. A friend ran a store in town and offered me a job. My previous careers had been selling men’s clothes, fast food, and then extended warranties. Flooring was none of these things so I jumped at the chance.
I was terrible. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I had a degree in English and Philosophy. Flooring customers don’t quite get pre-Socratics humor. I stuck it out though and supplemented my income by selling liquor a few days a week. I got to chat up the regulars at the liquor store who happened by for their thrice-daily pints of Kessler/Skol/Wild Irish Rose. It seemed my fate was to join many other Philosophy majors and do nothing with my training.
However, one night, I ran across Mongoose Publishing’s open call for book proposals. I thought about it for all of 3 seconds before working up my first pitch. A little under a year later, my first book, The Quintessential Witch, hit the shelves. When I wrote the Witch, 3rd edition rules for Dungeons & Dragons were still new and fresh. The d20 system was gathering steam and gaming entered something of a renaissance as companies were created just to feed the insatiable appetite for all things D&D. There were probably more companies than there were writers and thus it proved a perfect time to break into the industry.
Now I was no stranger to gaming. My Dad introduced me to board games when I was very young with Wizard’s Quest by Avalon Hill. Then I discovered Conan, Dune, Gor, the Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and so on. My interest in fantasy kept growing so when my neighbor offered me Tracy and Laura Hickman’s Rahasia for a quarter, I happily paid. That little adventure changed my world forever. I didn’t have the rules and had no idea what I was doing. I was hungry and figured out enough from the adventure to design my first roleplaying game. “Passages” became popular in my class for a week or two. We’d play during study hall or recess.
My Dad noticed and when he went off to a publishing convention (he worked for a famous Bible publisher in Nashville), he talked with a TSR rep, who I imagine might have been Gary Gygax. My father told him that I was designing my own games, so the TSR fellow, in a deft and generous move, gave him a stack of books and adventures. I had everything but the rules of the game. Luckily, a trip to the bookstore and meeting my soon-to-be Dungeon Master Landon, put the Red Box in my hands and my first character in my imagination. Creating the character was far less interesting than talking about comics, yet when we broke out the dice the next week and played the first game, I was hooked for life.
This all happened at a time when conspiracy theories about Satanism gripped the nation. Certain members of my family bought into the hype and thought my soul was in peril. So I stepped into a much wider world of RPGs. I played everything I could. Top Secret, DC Superheroes, Gamma World,
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 26, 2008
I've been a fan of Cook's since I picked up a used copy of the SF Book Club's omnibus edition of The Black Company novels for $5.
A medium that brought together all of the novels was another "dream come true" and an irresistible lure. The designers also created a magic system that faithfully reproduces Cook's.
A medium that brought together all of the novels was another "dream come true" and an irresistible lure. The designers also created a magic system that faithfully reproduces Cook's.
April 23, 2014
Treat for RPGer fans of the novels.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews