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Brace Cormaeril
Learned Scribe
294 Posts |
 Posted - 15 Jul 2010 : 16:58:10
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quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
About a decade past, in the small fishing village of Cargoon on the coast of Sembia, the Mage Sraulthond built himself a keep. He hired the Dwarven engineering company of Moradin's Anvil for the project, and they in turn hired some of the locals to help with the manual labor. At first the villagers hated the idea that some spell-hurler was to live among them and ruin their community, but the influx of coin into the normally impoverished settlement was welcome, so they held their tongues. Once complete, The Mage kept a few of the locals on to help with the keep's day-to-day maintenance, gardening, and cooking. His Chamberlain, however, was a dark and dour fellow who hailed from somewhere 'to the west', and ran the household with an cold efficiency.
The villagers grew used to their new neighbor, mostly because Sraulthond kept to himself, but also because of the greater prosperity they enjoyed by the needs of the Keep. Some even began to feel the Mage helped to keep them safe from outside threats... until recently. In the past few weeks, dark and mysterious figures have been seen on the outskirts of town, and just two days past Ol' Skory, the town drunkard, swears he saw a shadow rise in an alley when there was no-one about.
Rumors abound now, about 'dark experiments' conducted at the keep, or that evil forces are out to steal Sraulthond's secrets. Some say it is old enemies of his, while others claim it is a group of assassins after the chamberlain, for abandoning whatever post he formerly held. Some of the more level-headed oldsters of Cargoon say it is nothing more then desperate wolves, who have come close because the harshness of last winter depleted their usual prey. Whatever these strange goings-on may be, the townsfolk are considering hiring a group of adventures to find their source.
quote:
Originally posted by Brace Cormaeril
...it is a wholly appropriate to ask what year is considered 'current', regarding a 'Current Clack' project.
Not really.
What year did the above happen in? 
There are no details in the above passages that definitively date the passage.
Do you mean to say that 'Current Clack' refers to a series of Adventure Hooks, wasichu?
Or does 'Current Clack' refer to something besides ambiguously designed adventure hooks? |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2010 : 19:44:11
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I see and concede your point.
'Current Clack', to me, was always a type of adventure-hook. I felt that as long as a location was provided, the rest could fit anyone's campaign (since no two FR campaigns take place at the exact same date, AFAIK). However, with canon Current Clack, we did indeed have a 'target date' for the entry, if only by the date in which the source itself fit into FR's continuity.
So the entry above is very much like some of those in the Old Grey box, with no specific date set, but unlike those entries, no target-date is implied by the tome in which it appears (which is none, for the above).
Depending on how you spin it, that could be pre-plague, post-plague, or 'new era'. And if I had said the chamberlain was from Athalanter, that would shift the time frame about a 1000 years into the past (and make the use of the word 'Sembia' anachronistic). I could also have began it "About a decade past, around the time of Elminster's death,..." - what period would it be then? 1480? 1592? 2365?
Ergo, my suggestion for the CKC tome is that we use a hybrid of clack and adventure-hooks. Clack is normally locale-specific and contains some background (like above), but adventure hooks are usually more free-form, so as to fit anywhere the DM finds them useful.
In an official source, that wouldn't be possible, since all things become canon, we need to know when they happened, but since our work is non-canon, the time-frame becomes irrelevant.
So yeah, there is a difference, and I see that now - I suppose instead of 'Current Clack', we could use a different term like "Goings-on". Leave 'Current Clack' for canon bits of lore. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 15 Jul 2010 19:47:29 |
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Mr_Miscellany
Senior Scribe
545 Posts |
Posted - 15 Jul 2010 : 20:56:05
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| I'd like to see actual years specified, since specific terms will already indicate what era the bit of clack we're writing is in. Doesn't seem to be much point in being vague about it. |
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