Mike Myler, RPG creator and a columnist at EN World where I write, has a new RPG project campaigning on Kickstarter, Veranthea Codex: Grethadnis. As the first campaign setting for Level Up: Advanced Fifth Edition, this project offers something new including new player options. I’ve interviewed Mike about other projects (here and here), so I was glad he offered to talk about this campaign.
EGG EMBRY (EGG): Thanks for talking with me, Mike. You have a new RPG Kickstarter, what is the pitch for Veranthea Codex: Grethadnis?
MIKE MYLER (MIKE): Big BIG BIIIIIG. This was my first campaign setting (and Kickstarter project some 8 years ago) and it feels like it. Unsurprisingly it feels like it—inside are a plethora of high-octane design pieces for fighting island-sized enemies and contending with the gods themselves. If you’re looking for nuance and subtlety I’m not telling you that it can’t happen on Grethadnis, but you’re scribing in the stone with a greataxe instead of a chisel. Anyone who fondly remembers their first halcyon gaming days (or who may be enjoying them now) will thoroughly enjoy adventuring across the Fair Continent.
EGG: This is a campaign setting with many lands, gods, ancestries, and NPCs. What’s the inspiration that brought this world into existence?
MIKE: Veranthea was conceived in a ramshackle and rundown house (which I now suspect my friends may have been squatting inside of?) in the not-so-great Uptown area of Pittsburgh. After a hiatus in tabletop gaming during college I got hooked back in and joined a group there—and was aghast to find that they weren’t keeping track of anything! No maps of places their adventurers had visited, no notes on important NPCs, no list of acquired treasures. What began as a simple regional map eventually grew into a much larger continent: Grethadnis. Some of the characters in this book (like Boris) are actually PCs from that original game brought back to live anew! This is also where my career started. Milady (Stephanie, who you see there with the lute) suggested I see if anyone would pay for all this gaming material I was making for my group (I became the de facto GM as soon as I dared record things), and after I found somebody who would I made it my business to find more. After that more of Veranthea came into being and got developed until coming to Kickstarter, and then got way more detailed in a series of a dozen books following that.
EGG: Talk about the 26 nations and regions, can you tease what some of these locations are like?
MIKE: When developing the Veranthea Codex our North Star was “radical”. Everything should evoke that kind of response from a gamer (whether a GM reading about it for prep or a PC in the middle of a game) and though the Grethadnis is the most typical of the realms of Veranthea, radical is still in ample supply.
First and foremost on that front are the Jungles of Iniplixetz, predominantly inhabited by dwarves that worship wild magic (which is in abundance there) and above all the powerful Polydracte, a twenty-sided stone of incredible power that blesses—and sometimes curses—those granted the honor of rolling it. There’s also the Black Mountains (home to fiends aplenty) or the Doonfist Territory where a massing army of firearm-wielding goblins, orcs, pirates, and mercenaries prepare to engage in a massive war with the nations of so-called Kind Folk to the east. My favorite is Trianestra but to be fair, that’s because Boris the sorcerer half-dragon rules those lands of draconic zealots and a long, long time ago he was my adventurer in Grethadnis. The Dry Walkabout probably deserves a mention; if you like Attack on Titan, we have a sizable desert for your halfling or gnome to zip about through the air slashing away at giants.
All that said there’s still classical, traditional medieval fantasy elements in Grethadnis—just turned up to 11. The dwarves of the Duranteen Mountains are about as dwarf-y as dwarves get, the port metropolis of Lethis is filled to the brim with urban fun and NPCs, all the dark elves are the result of the momentous Elven Eclipse (which also created feylves, their whimsical dreamlike cousins), royal succession plagues the half-aquatic coastal nation of Srendthav, and of course there’s Yawvil (the nigh-immortal hat-wearing staff-carrying wizard who records all of the information about his world in the tomes we’re talking about).
EGG: You’re creating new heritages, what can players expect?
MIKE: As a medieval fantasy realm Grethadnis tries to focus in on the classic heritages (dwarves, elves, humans, goblins, etc.) but a few new heritages did make it into the mix. There’s the aforementioned feylves (Small-sized elves that live a life of awakened dreams), shadetouched (with ancestors from the Plane of Shadow), motleyfolk (a much better name for mongrelfolk, derived from the old school gaming monster mongrelmen), and pantako (rock-like people anyone who plays Zelda will recognize right quick).
EGG: This contains wizards and technology. What level of tech should players expect?
MIKE: Roundabouts the early 1800s. Elsewhere in Veranthea (specifically Trectoyri where the monstrous peoples rule from the capital of Goblinvania) there’s technology from within the last century, but only a few slick revolvers have made it across the oceans to the shores of Grethadnis. Most of the guns in the Fair Continent are manufactured by and in the hands of the Doonfists, and folks keen to wield firearms should strongly consider the Doonfist Pistolero fighter archetype or Scientific Innovator artificer archetype to avoid having their weapon explode in their hands.
EGG: This is for 5e and A5E, correct? What’s your connection with Level Up: Advanced Fifth Edition?
MIKE: I managed the Level Up project and edited most of it (props to William Fischer who did that for the Monstrous Menagerie). Helped hire folks, figure out design assignments, wrote some things myself (a lot of Chapter 9: Combat Maneuvers), and a lot besides. Even got a graphic in there I made!
EGG: This is the first third party Level Up: Advanced Fifth Edition campaign setting, correct?
MIKE: As far as I know, yes! It’s not the first official campaign setting (that’s Elissar) but it’s the first one with a book all about it. Next year the To Save A Kingdom Adventure Path will take the throne; it is jam-packed with enough setting information to count as a campaign setting in itself I think, and while I’m crazy about Veranthea not everyone is trying to play at MAXIMUM VOLUME.
EGG: You’re working with Rogue Genius Games. Why are they the right partner for this project?
MIKE: They were the first partner when the original Kickstarter launched, and they have been wonderful partners ever since. They also own the rights to a lot of the artwork you see in Veranthea (not the specific IP pieces like the chaos dwarves, but other illustrations) so it’d have been a more complex endeavor to take it elsewhere, but really they’re just great. ☺
EGG: Beyond Veranthea Codex: Grethadnis, what else are you working on?
MIKE: Many things!
1) Planning for the 500th issue of EN5ider began in May when we surveyed patrons about what they wanted to see in a megadungeon. Since then I’ve been wrangling and working alongside a pack of a dozen of our best designers to craft the Vault of Broken/Shattered/Splintered Souls (we’re still arguing about the title). This is part of the Elissar campaign setting and shaping up to be *amazing*, with every table having a dungeon delving experience unique to them. That’s coming out in February 2023.
2) Can’t give details about it, but there’s another Level Up: Advanced Fifth Edition project I’ve been working on with some of the core designers from the main books. It’s coming along wonderfully, also set in Elissar, and should be available Q1 2023.
3) Watching the MASSIVE To Save A Kingdom book go through its paces with the layout artist. It’s looking great and coming along well, and folks can back it on Kickstarter early next year. It includes To Slay A Dragon, To Stake A Vampire, and To Smite A Fiend and all of them have been considerably revamped. I’ll be terribly surprised if it comes in under 400 pages.
4) The gears are working to bring more of Veranthea to O5E and A5E, but my next book is going to be a very fun collection of dragons. Planning on January 2023!
5) I’ve got a bi-weekly column on ENWorld with a brand new dimension or planet posting every 2 weeks: ENterplanetary DimENsions. These are designed for Level Up but are backwards compatible with O5E, and each is super fun. We’re up to 8 locales so far and I can tell you that the next post (October 31st: Halloween!) is going to be HUGE.
EGG: Thanks for talking with me. Where can fans learn more about your campaign?
MIKE: [This link] will take you right to it!
Veranthea Codex: Grethadnis (for D&D 5E and Level Up: A5E) from Mike Myler
End Date: Fri, October 28 2022 11:59 PM EDT.
“100 NPCs and more in a medieval fantasy realm where war looms amidst a technological renaissance and the shadows of tyrants!”
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