City State of the Invincble Overlord

[Harry von Fleischmann]

Idly thinking of making a CSIO inspired build based on the Perry agincourt French. Pike, pole arm, crossbows and maybe some sword and buckler types. A few with OTT Italian soft hats for the Constables. A few French knights for a mounted contingent.

I was wondering though if anyone has an idea for an appropriate banner?

A Pegasus seems one option based on the JG logo. The Greyjoy kraken seems another given there was a honking great sea monster in the Roglaroon estuary.

[Dilettante Gamer]

  Mind blown. I have not thought about CSotIO in over three decades! You just just teleported me to my early teens with this post. 

[Samnite308]

My first thought was the Pegasus based on the JG logo - as you mentioned.  I wish I knew what I did with my copy of the City-state . . .

[Vermis]

What's City State of the Invincible Overlord? Sounds interesting, just from the name.

[fastolfrus]

One of the books had a ship with a (sail or flag?) two-headed dragon design?

Might look heraldic enough - similar in style to the two headed eagle that is fairly common on flags

[Dilettante Gamer]

What's City State of the Invincible Overlord? Sounds interesting, just from the name.

It was one of the earliest campaign supplements for D&D in the mid-70's. Way back in the mists of time...

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_DSs2bX13hVc/SckpI_oIeLI/AAAAAAAAA2g/mcKs9HDl41w/s400/CSIO.jpg

[PhilB]

It was a ground-breaking product, first of its kind when I snapped it up in '76 at GenCon. First thing I did was go out and have the maps plastic-coated, and then we played that city to death. Anything from heists, to investigations, to dungeon crawls where much of the "dungeon" was back alleys and crumbling tenements. We even borrowed counters from White Bear, Red Moon (Greg Stafford's ground-breaking Runequest precursor) to play out seiges and mass battles in the streets.

FWIW, it's still available in pdf form at Drive-though RPG.

[Sunjester]

 City State of the Invincible Overlord and White Bear, Red Moon in one thread. Wow! this really transports me back to my teens in the 70s!

[3 fingers]

Never heard of it before,had quick google, sounds fun though.whats in your scenario Harry,is it just humans? And what are they looking for treasure hoards? Payment for monsters that are  slain?

[Harry von Fleischmann]

It's nostalgia really. The CSIO was the stomping ground for a lot of our D&D games in school. We used the SPI gondor and sauron counters for a huge siege game too.

I'm looking at Dragon Rampant armies. I've roughed up a "Riding of the Bannered Mare" army to use my GW Rohan figures in a not-Rohan/Skyrim crossover and am thinking up an army based around adventurers, a wizard, some thieves and a walking statue for a Waterdeep army. Never played forgotten realms, but I liked the lords of Waterdeep game.

I have huge nostalgia for the CSIO and remember notes about its army , which iiirc seemed pretty much medeival with added wizards. So the agincourt French seem a natural start.

They can take on pretty much the wilderlands can throw at them.......

But, yes, in terms of skirmish, the CSIO gives you a lot to play with. At the time, it didn't register just what an evil place it is, we just treated it as a city. All sorts of internal factions -evil cultists, Pirates, thieves guild, assassins guild, Constables....and outside Orcs of the Purple Claw, Rangers, more pirates. I'd say it's a good pitch for the Otherworld skirmish rules. 

Glad my idle query has triggered some happy memories. I'm going to:
1 see if I can use a JG logo
2 look at fantasy banners for a double eagle
3 use the Greyjoy kraken (which has the beauty of simplicity)

Cheers!

Harry

[3 fingers]

Just reading that last post ,remind me of krondor in Raymond feists novels,densely populated, expansive sewers ,basements you had wreckers guild,thieves with their mockers the strong men who enforced its laws,and assassins ,different worshipping cults and the nighthawk cult which reminded me of dark elf assassins.
I thought about trying to game it once,decided it was to much hard work,

[Harry von Fleischmann]

Depends how much detail you want.

Using many of the warband level games you only need 6-10 per side for say 6 factions.

The CSIO includes a daily events table which can give a kind of background to a game or even a trigger.

But, yes, if you want to play a full on campaign going into the detail of life and violence in a fantasy city, you have a bit of a job on.

I don't know what the various versions of rpg lankmhar included though?

[Metternich]

Wow.  That takes me back some.  Three of us regularly played D&D in that world back in the late 70's.