From: Philip Benz <100575.2061@CompuServe.COM>
Subject: The French Hawkmoon
System: Hawkmoon

    Hawkmoon: France in the Tragic Millennium

        Copyright Philip Benz, 1996

Although Hawkmoon's quests reach from Asia to America, France -- and the Kamarg -- is the central location from which he sets out and to which he always returns. France is central to the ambitions of the scheming Granbretan conquerors and provides the most appropriate setting for Hawkmoon role-playing adventures.

But what will players find in France? Mike gives us details of a few locations, especially the Kamarg, but most of the rest is left to the imagination. Fortunately -- at least for those who speak French -- the French licensee of Chaosium's Eternal Champion games, Oriflam, has filled this need admirably.

Here is a brief list of their publications. Most of this material was done by or under the direction of Eric Simon, for the original Hawkmoon game. The new version of Hawkmoon was released in France in October, with significant changes from the US edition.

* _La France_ is a 223-page hardcover sourcebook featuring 15 detailed
chapters on different regions of France. Each chapter includes notes
on geography, special events, population, politics, religion, science,
armies, important characters, interesting locations, history, travel,
and adventure seeds. There are also short sections on creating French
characters, on a new science (psychology), on special combat rules and
on mental health -- sanity as in Call of Cthulhu (which Oriflam also
incorporated into their Elric! releases). This book is worth its
weight in gold to anyone running Hawkmoon campaigns.

* _La Kamarg_ is an 80-page campaign sourcebook containing all the
information necessary to run a long-term campaign over three periods
in Kamarg history: the Bulgarian sorcerer, peace before the storm, and
the great war. This book is an excellent example of how role-playing
adventures can be incorporated within the narrative framework of
Mike's novels.

* _L'Empire tenebreux_ is a 130-page sourcebook on the Dark Empire,
including sections on the Granbretan countryside, Londra, Granbretan
science, the military orders, and three scenarios. These guys make the
sorcerers of Pan-Tang look like a pack of pre-adolescent public-school
pranksters. Gassner outdoes himself with the gruesome artwork.

* _Les Portes du Paradis_ is a 130-page adventure book including a
4-part campaign by Eric Simon and two shorter scenarios, one really a
30-page mini-campaign that flirts with time travel and the multiverse
(my contribution).

* _Chair et Metal_ is an 80-page sourcebook/adventure book set in Sicily
and Malta. It was the last sourcebook released for the original Hawkmoon
rules.

* The revised French edition of _Hawkmoon_ was released in October,
along with a game-master's screen (including a short scenario) and
they plan to release another Hawkmoon adventure book in March 1997.

* _L'Ile brisee_ is a 120-page adaptation of a Chaosium adventure
book. I wouldn't have listed it here, but I understand it includes
some additional material by Eric Simon -- exactly what, I'm not sure,
never having seen the US edition.

* _Tatou_ is Oriflam's in-house magazine, with articles for Hawkmoon,
Stormbringer/Elric, Runequest, Pendragon and a few other games. It now
appears more or less bimonthly, and they are up to number 27. Some
30-odd scenarios and articles have now appeared for Hawkmoon, and
about the same number for Stormbringer/Elric. I contributed some ten
pieces, mostly for Stormbringer/Elric, including a lengthy review of
the changes in the new Elric rules.

It is unfortunate, for Americans, that all of this fine material is available only in French. At one point Chaosium was discussing the possibility of translating and adapting some of these books, but the practical obstacles are considerable. In the meantime, it is possible to exploit these fine sources without detailed knowledge of the French language, but you are liable to remain just as frustrated as the French gamers who have been struggling along with US games and their limited knowledge of English for years.

Oriflam can be contacted at:

Oriflam
132 rue de Marly
57158 Montigny-les-Metz, France

Tel: (33) 03.87.63.96.69
Fax: (33) 03.87.56.04.43

Cheers, --- Phil

[also see V5.9 and V10.3 for short reviews of _Le Portes du Paradis_ and _Chair et Metail_ -sda]