So, in the spirit of reconstructing covers of TFT supplements (see previous post here) I decided to take a stab at a product that, strangely, never appeared to have been considered, even though it would have been a logical adventure supplement to produce, based on the MicroQuests "Treasure of the Silver Dragon" and "Treasure of the Unicorn Gold" - to wit, "The World of the Silver Dragon."
This supplement would heavily expand upon the parallel Earth glimpsed ever so fleetingly in the aforementioned MicroQuests, which were focused on a North America that had just come out of a glacial period, which has some basic similarities, such as mountain ranges, but many differences (for example, the Great Lakes would not exist, instead being covered by the glacial lake Agassiz, and different climate ranges, etc.). It was a fascinating concept that was never brought to the fruition it deserved.
As a point of fact, I actually developed some text for this, which was shared on the TFT Forums some time ago. I am currently reworking and expanding this; if I get anywhere, I'll share it.
Basically this campaign world supplement would cover the following:
1) Maps of this alternate Earth (Dragonodonia?) based on what is known of our Earth about 12,000 YBP. While many basic outlines would be the same, there would be many other differences, such as the Baltic Sea being an inland lake, England and Ireland part of the Continent, and so forth
2) Discussion of the various cultures to be found, not just the Toltec Empire, or the Mounders from North America, but also various European, African and Far Eastern peoples as well. Mostly in broad outlines.
3) Monster list including many now extinct fauna from this Earth in the Pleistocene, and a few such as dinosaurs that didn't make it in our world. In addition, I've been using GURPS Fantasy Monsters to gin up some Native American/Aztec monsters that would be a good fit for this game world.
4) Special magic for the New World, such as Mounders and Toltecs using their elaborate structures to harness and enhance certain magical effects. Similar might be contemplated for the Egyptians as well
5) Some basic character and NPC templates (Toltec Brujos, etc.)
6) Special rules for Stone Age weapons and technology, such as maquahuilts and similar Meso-American obsidian edged weapons, and the like.
7) Adventure seeds
8) Actual Nahuatl vocabulary, to lend some authenticity to Toltec names.
I think this would have been a real hit, had Howard Thompson pursued it. Too bad he didn't - but perhaps I'll get something useful out that will show what TFT could have been...
And here are the draft front and back covers for this purely hypothetical work. Comments and criticisms welcome!
Coming soon - what if TFT had done Robert Adam's post-holocaust world described in his Horseclans novels? Stay tuned to find out!
