Valley of the Pharaohs

[SolCannibal]

Recently i received a pdf copy of the book as a gift from a friend - and much to our bafflement (he hadn't checked beforehand ) it doesn't use the Palladium system! It was quite a surprise, as based on Weapons, Armor & Castles of the Orient we expected it to!
That and speaking of other lands in the "Landmarks of Palladium" thread inspired me to start this thread.

Since i have a mostly superficial familiarity with rules & setting of PF, i decided to start this thread for any input from other people in how "portable" might it be to Palladium - setting-wise should be a cakewalk. The Gods of Light & Darkness are pretty much the egyptian pantheon, so i can just insert "the Black Land" in some region like the Yin-Sloth jungles or a made up island or subcontinent depending on my preference.

The magic is where i would like help from people familiar with both games - how similar or divergent are their mechanics, could it fit one or more OCCs or would adapt VotP's magic system as a custom OCC, RCC or whatever be a better way to mix while keeping the book's particular flavor? Has anyone experimented with that?

[kiralon]

Just like the crystal castle valley is hidden in the old kingdom mountains, the valley of the pharoahs could be in the deep desert of the baalgor wastelands

[SolCannibal]

Just like the crystal castle valley is hidden in the old kingdom mountains, the valley of the pharoahs could be in the deep desert of the baalgor wastelands

Well, that depends on how "to scale" one sticks to the map in VotP, that follows a pretty hefty chunk of the Nile's course.
That one might be a little too large to hide in the Baalgor Wastelands, not sure yet.

But tempting considering the minotaurs and possibly other less well-known "beastfolk" races in the region.

[Kraynic]

I would be tempted to have it be someplace reached through a "random" dimensional rift circle somewhere. Possibly have it fairly self contained by ripping off the pyramid effect from the Pyramids Discworld novel by Pratchett.

[kiralon]

or just underground with an alternative light source

[SolCannibal]

I would be tempted to have it be someplace reached through a "random" dimensional rift circle somewhere. Possibly have it fairly self contained by ripping off the pyramid effect from the Pyramids Discworld novel by Pratchett.

or just underground with an alternative light source

Can't deny, pretty convenient alternatives too. I guess the matter of how well can the two magic systems go together should be the casting vote on that.

[kiralon]

I would use a magical valley and mountains of sand that only appear at certain times so if you go in (Ahem, 2 jeweled scarab halves that when joined fly off and open the entrance cough), you cannot return immediately and make it a side effect of the circle of elemental magic that blew away baalgor city and replaced it with a wasteland. Id probably have some original elf survivors in it as well that have descended into something like the elven version of killer cannibal pygmies that ride tuskers . . . or a tyrannosaur or 2, just to see the expression on the players faces.

[SolCannibal]

I would use a magical valley and mountains of sand that only appear at certain times so if you go in (Ahem, 2 jeweled scarab halves that when joined fly off and open the entrance cough), you cannot return immediately and make it a side effect of the circle of elemental magic that blew away baalgor city and replaced it with a wasteland. Id probably have some original elf survivors in it as well that have descended into something like the elven version of killer cannibal pygmies that ride tuskers . . . or a tyrannosaur or 2, just to see the expression on the players faces.

Utterly unrelated but damn, now i'm starting to think of the Baalgor Wastelands as a fantasy version of Lone Star/Pecos, a wasteland of transformed animal people spawned by the misuse past & present of the esoteric lore hidden in the buried remnants of the greatests of the centers of dark sciences & arts of lost golden ages.

[Warshield73]

I would use a magical valley and mountains of sand that only appear at certain times so if you go in (Ahem, 2 jeweled scarab halves that when joined fly off and open the entrance cough), you cannot return immediately and make it a side effect of the circle of elemental magic that blew away baalgor city and replaced it with a wasteland. Id probably have some original elf survivors in it as well that have descended into something like the elven version of killer cannibal pygmies that ride tuskers . . . or a tyrannosaur or 2, just to see the expression on the players faces.

I like this, I am thinking it is a pocket dimension that can only be accessed from a spot in Baalgor on a particular day with the proper incantation. Maybe the portal stays open for X number of hours or days and if you don't get out by then it is closed for a full year.

I was trying to think of something like this for a Rifts game actually and this helped so thanks.

[kiralon]

and to follow up i'd make the incantation to open it part of the original words used in the making of the circle (Meyon! Te'trah! Glaash!) and then make the entrance only visible if you get sand from the baalgor inner desert, melt it and pour it into a flat cast and let it cool in the wind of baalgor but while it is still hot pour water from baalgor on it, and the cracks in the glass would make a current map to the entrance as the landmarks tend to move.