What is in The Gothic Earth Gazetteer?

[Big Mac]

Does anyone have The Gothic Earth Gazetteer?

How similar is Gothic Earth to the real world? What is similar and what is different?

How much of the world is covered by the book? And how much detail is there on each area? Does it focus more on specific areas?

Is this just a companion book to MotRD or is there any way to use Gothic Earth without the Ravenloft/horror theme?

Is there any way to use this anything in this book with another D&D campaign setting?

[agathokles]

It's real world with gothic horror monsters in it. It is primarily useful as a supplement for motrd, although one could arguably use it with Cthulhu by Gaslight or other period book.

In theory, it could also be used as the future of Laterre, the pseudo-real world that is featured in Mystara.

GP

[Big Mac]

It's real world with gothic horror monsters in it. It is primarily useful as a supplement for motrd, although one could arguably use it with Cthulhu by Gaslight or other period book.

Thanks GP.

I was figuring that a lot of products based on the real-world would work with each other and that it would be a matter of how much "otherness" each setting creates and how compatible (or removable) the "otherness" of each setting is.

In theory, it could also be used as the future of Laterre, the pseudo-real world that is featured in Mystara.

I don't know much about Laterre (I've heard the name before).

There is a Spelljammer world that is supposedly turning it's back on sages and embracing "science"*. It's called Thesaylis and is in Greatspace. I wonder if Gothic Earth could serve as inspiration for how that world might change if the story in SJA3 Crystal Spheres goes the wrong way.

* = In D&D, scientific methodology would "prove" the existence of magic, so "science" would take a different path, to follow observable facts.

Is there any sort of magic in MotRD that is built into the Gothic Earth?

[agathokles]

To be more precise, the Gazetteer covers:

1. a timeline of RW Earth in the 1890s.
2. a few specific events and trends in more detail.
3. a gallery of NPCs: mostly are real people (like Mark Twain, Edison, etc.), some are literary characters (Van Helsing, for example), and some have an expanded (fictional) background connecting them with the occult and/or the Red Death.
4. a number of cabals and secret societies dealing with the occult.

Item 1 is not that useful, obviously (a look at Wikipedia is more informative). Item 2 is essentially a small set of adventure hooks. Useful, but obviously tied to the specific events of the RW in the 1890s. Item 3 is partially interesting -- generic information about RW people are fairly obvious, only the "Forbidden Lore" information is actually useful. Item 4 is the best part, as the secret societies are interesting and provide a framework for building adventures. They could be useful in other games, as some historical background is provided that could be adapted to other eras.

If you were thinking of the historical series for AD&D, of course the information in GEG is pretty much useless, except for the secret societies to some extent. Even then, it would be useful mostly for Glory of Rome, as the other settings are IMO too different in terms of themes and mood.

Back to Laterre, it is the Mystaran container for Clark Ashton Smith's Averoigne.

GP

[Big Mac]

Thanks GP. I might give this book a pass, for now, as it sounds like I would only get a limited amount of use from it.

But it's been great to learn more about it. Now, if I see a cheap copy, I should hopefully be able to decide if I should buy it.

[Dartamian]

Thanks GP. I might give this book a pass, for now, as it sounds like I would only get a limited amount of use from it.

But it's been great to learn more about it. Now, if I see a cheap copy, I should hopefully be able to decide if I should buy it.

You can pick it up at DriveThruRPG (pdf or print) for a reasonable price.