First Inferno Line Product available: Codicil of Maladies

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geoff dale
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First Inferno Line Product available: Codicil of Maladies

Post by geoff dale »

Spellbook Games has released the first product in our Inferno Line, the 'Codicil of Maladies,' which is now available on the Product's page of our website, (www)spellbookgames(com) . We have also upgraded the Products page with improved product descriptions and expandable thumbnails of the product covers.

The Codicil gives details about the illnesses, maladies, and conditions that Adventurers are subjected to as they cross the Malebolge wilderness. The Codicil provides rules for diagnosing maladies, acquiring medicinal plants, and for preparing curative poultices and tonics. This product presents important background information about the maladies that are specifically mentioned in Inferno: Journey to Malebolge, information not repeated in the module text. The Codicil can also be used easily by Game Masters in other settings as an alternative to generic RPG diseases.

Look for the next Inferno product, Inferno 1980 (the complete text of the original Inferno Module), this coming June !!

Geoff

Arazmus
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Post by Arazmus »

um, is this useful? Not trying to be mean but am genuinely trying to think if I could have any use for this.

Cure disease is a pretty low level spell (relatively speaking) and plagues of death and pestilence should be carefully crafted as a plot point by the CC.

Nope, dinna think I need this one, but kudos to whoever made it.
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serleran
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Post by serleran »

Perhaps the most useful portion is the section on obtaining herbal remedies, depending on how detailed it is, as it may make the druid and ranger abilities more thematically useful without just saying "well, umm, you find some green stuff that, umm, stings but heals for 1 damage." I mean, either way works, but some people like the fluffy filler.
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Arazmus
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Post by Arazmus »

Very true. I do have a list of herbs and their uses both from the original DMG and from MERPS that I use for rangers and druids. Of course right now my druid is dead and the Ranger is sporadically showing but it's still a valid point.
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geoff dale
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Why is the Codicil Useful?

Post by geoff dale »

Gents:

In large part the material in the Codicil was developed as part of the background rules for Hell. The material just didn't have a ready home in the structure of the revised Inferno as we envision it being put together. So we put it out as a separate short product.

The physical terrain of Hell is varied and challenging, and rampant diseases are a part of the challenge for mortals. Since the text of Inferno mentions several diseases by name, there has to be a description of them published somewhere, otherwise some DM, somewhere, is going to complain when s/he wants to use them.

As for the viewpoint that diseases are always unimportant to describe because of the existence of cure disease magic, I offer, (1) the rules of magic in Hell are different from those on the Material Plane and prayers are even less reliable than magic because Priests are somewhat cut off from their Deity, so that cure disease prayer just might not work, and (2) Priests in Hell may have enough other concerns that they may not select cure disease as a Prayer to have at the ready - cure disease may be a much lower priority compared to some of the other things they have to deal with in Hell. In either case, the result is characters that actually contract and express a disease, and have to deal with the effects and possible lethality.

The Codicil doesn't list specific herbs to be used against specific disease, although it discusses finding medicinal herbs. I do have background information about the specific plants of Gehenna/Inferno, so maybe the Herbal data will show up in some future product.

Geoff

geoff dale
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We have posted Inferno Cover Art

Post by geoff dale »

We have just posted the cover art for Inferno: Beastiary, and Inferno: Treasury on our website, go to spellbookgames com website and look at the updates page to see them. These products, along with Codicil of Maladies, are the first new Inferno-related products to be published since 1980. Beastiary and Treasury will be available as PDF's in July, and probably as POD's in August. Maladies, Beastiary, and Treasury all provide supporting information and details for Inferno: Journey through Malebolge, to be published in September. Journey through Malebolge expands and completes the original JG module, Inferno, taking the adventurer through all 10 Cirlces of Hell, and beyond.

After you take a look at the covers, please stop by our forums (link from the updates page) and let us know what you think of them.

Speaking of the JG Inferno, we have an artist working hard on the cover for 'Inferno 1980', the rerelease of the original module. We will post the cover in a couple weeks after we get it. Look for Inferno 1980 to be released as a PDF in June, and as POD in late July or early August.

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