Ask me about Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra

[Mouseferatu]

Hey, folks.

Hamunaptra is off to press, and I'm told that the gloves are off in regards to talking about the product. I'm not prepared to go into too many specific details regarding the book, but I'm now happy to answer any* general questions you might have.

*Assuming I have the answers. I was only one of three writers, and not the project developer, so I don't know everything about it. I'll give it my best, though.

 

[RodneyThompson]

Any Egyptian vampire mice in the setting?

 

[Akrasia]

It looks cool Mouseferatu!

Some questions:

(1.) Any adventures included in the set?

(2.) How much of it is 3.x-specific? That is, if I wanted to play this campaign setting with another version of D&D or FRPG, would it still be worth getting? (I loathe the term "crunch", but feel free to use it if it helps...)

(3.) How easy would it be to insert Hamunaptra into another world-setting (e.g. homebrew, or Conan's Hyboria)?

(4.) Does it have a "real" map? (I.e. a fold-out colour map!)

Thanks.

 

[Crothian]

Okay, this is high on my list to buy. How fantasy is it and how realistic is it? Does it use people and events from history or is it more a new place that is just heavily based on Egypt?

 

[Mouseferatu]

Any Egyptian vampire mice in the setting?

Only the author. Except for the Egyptian part.

 

[Mouseferatu]

It looks cool Mouseferatu!

Some questions:

(1.) Any adventures included in the set?

I'm afraid not. I wish we could have done so, but we had so much other stuff we wanted to include that space considerations prevented it. There are an awful lot of adventure hooks, however, and C.A. Suleiman and I have an idea for a Hamunaptra-based (but usable without it) mega-adventure we'd love to do for Green Ronin in the future, if sales warrant it.

(2.) How much of it is 3.x-specific? That is, if I wanted to play this campaign setting with another version of D&D or FRPG, would it still be worth getting? (I loathe the term "crunch", but feel free to use it if it helps...)

Well, obviously the "crunch" is all 3.5-based. However, I don't imagine it'd be too difficult to convert. A lot of the set talks about the culture and mythology, and that's all applicable to any system. The new monsters/spells/classes/races/feats would require some work, but I think it could be done.

As to whether it's "worth it" if you're planning to run a different styem? Well, I think it is, but I'm obviously biased.

(3.) How easy would it be to insert Hamunaptra into another world-setting (e.g. homebrew, or Conan's Hyboria)?

Easy as pie. Just use it as a "distant land," much as Egypt itself would have been to anyone from Western Europe. It's the same way TSR worked Kara-Tur and Zakhara "into" the Forgotten Realms--by placing them elsewhere on the globe.

(4.) Does it have a "real" map? (I.e. a fold-out colour map!)

Thanks.

I can't swear to it with 100% certainty, but I believe the boxed set does indeed include a fold-out map.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Okay, this is high on my list to buy. How fantasy is it and how realistic is it? Does it use people and events from history or is it more a new place that is just heavily based on Egypt?

Hamunaptra is culturally accurate (well, with the addition of nonhuman races, of course), but not "historical." It's Egyptian D&D, as opposed to Ancient Egypt D20.

Let me put it this way. Hamunaptra is to Egypt what Al-Qadim is to Arabia, Nyambe is to Africa, and Oriental Adventures is to Japan.

So I guess you could call it a "new place heavily based on Egypt," but emphasis on the "heavily." A substantial amount of research went into this, and--except where gameplay and our mission to remain D&D-compatible demanded otherwise--the culture is recognizably Egyptian, not just Egypt-like.

 

[Crothian]

Hamunaptra is culturally accurate (well, with the addition of nonhuman races, of course), but not "historical." It's Egyptian D&D, as opposed to Ancient Egypt D20.

Where things like cats are sacred kept? How about information on heirglyphics? Does it include gods and are these based on the Egyptian ones? Does it discuss any other cultures or is it completely seperate? Is the country set up like Egypt meaning on a big river that empties out into a sea with lots of desert?

And it really sounds great. I cannot wait to see this!!

 

[Mouseferatu]

Where things like cats are sacred kept? How about information on heirglyphics? Does it include gods and are these based on the Egyptian ones? Does it discuss any other cultures or is it completely seperate? Is the country set up like Egypt meaning on a big river that empties out into a sea with lots of desert?

And it really sounds great. I cannot wait to see this!!

Can't say about the cats, to be honest. I didn't work directly on that section.

The setting does indeed include the equivalent of hieroglyphics and hieratic languages, and discusses their use in the culture.

The pantheon is, in fact, the patheon of Ancient Egypt--though it's been pared down a bit, at least as far as major gods go, since we didn't really have room to include thousands of them. The set includes info on (I believe) 27 primary gods of Khemti, 11 greater and 16 lesser.

The set does not go into detail on other cultures specifically, but it definitely implies their existance. Read between the lines, you'll find hints of the existance of Greece and Africa analogues. (In fact, while we didn't set out to do this deliberately, Khemti could easily exist in the same world as Nyambe, from Atlas Games.)

And Khemti was designed heavily off the actual map of Egypt, so yes, you've got the major river (with most of the region's primary settlements/kingdoms located along its bank), surrounded by vast stretches of desert. In fact, the shrinking of the "Black Lands"--the remaining areas of fertility, as opposed to the "Red Lands" of the desert--is a major plot hook of the setting.

 

[Crothian]

In fact, the shrinking of the "Black Lands"--the remaining areas of fertility, as opposed to the "Red Lands" of the desert--is a major plot hook of the setting.

What do you mean by "Major Plot Hook"? With out their being any adventures are you just presenting the country with some major things that are in motion?

Lets talk rules. I imagine there awill be new prestige classes and feats, but are their also new core classes? If so are these replacements for the current ones or add ons? Does it discuss in any way the current classes and what would be appropriate to the setting? For instance I don't see Druids and Paladins as they are really fitting, but I could be wrong. Anything new with clerics since you include a basically the egyption gods and their relationship with mortals was very different then we see in a tradiitonal D&D game.

Is the history of the country and the gods discusses?