Lords of Creation (1984)

[wulfgar]

Hi all,

I just got my copy of this game in the mail yesterday and boy am I impressed. Lords of Creation is a kitchen sink style game from Avalon Hill. Time Travel, Alternate Universes, Androids, Dragons, Aliens, Commandos- they're all there in the game and you can choose to use any, all or none of them in a campaign. The rules are clear and simple. Combat is a roll to hit and then a roll for damage. Skill resolution is a neat system which seems tailor maid for play by post- basically the GM just decides if the player automatically succeeds or not. If not, the GM decides the odds of success and some dice are rolled.

I know this game is towards the later end of the time frame most here consider "old school" but to me, it definitley captures the old school feel- simple but extremely open rules and a kitchen sink, anything is possible bizzaro campaign world.

So is anybody up for playing in a play by post game? I'm pumped to GM one.

[coffee]

I had the game once upon a time (loaned it to an old DM, if I recall correctly, and never got it back).

It wasn't something I ever felt confident to run, but I'd be game to play it.

[wulfgar]

Here's a little more information for anybody interested in the game.

Lords of Creation was written by the late Tom Moldvay who also wrote a highly acclaimed version of Basic D&D along with lots of other stuff. A character easily fits onto one piece of paper and can be written up pretty quick and easy. The rules allow for a wide variety of campaigns- fantasy, sci-fi, horror, sci-fantasy, to name a few, but it really seems geared toward the mixing and matching of multiple genres. A first level PC is pretty normal fellow for whom getting shot can be very fatal, but as characters gain in experience they can access a wide array of psychic, magical, and futuristic powers.

As far as the campaign I'd like to run goes, I picked up the series of published modules as well as the game, and what I've read so far is very good- so I lean towards running one of them. However, if some people are interested in playing who are familiar with the modules, I'm happy to come up with something original so you don't have to play dumb and miss out on much of the fun.

Here's some of my sources of inspiration for my campaign:

Mighty Max
Terminator
John Carter of Mars
the D&D Cartoon
Bill and Ted
Chronicles of Narnia
Lost
Heroes
X-Files
Mr. Peabody and Sherman

[calithena]

Lords of Creation is an absolutely wonderful RPG, one of my favorites. It's mechanically odd which causes a lot of gaming cognoscenti to overlook it, but the core game itself is very solid. Moldvay is one of the underappreciated geniuses of our hobby.

I'm not sure it's appropriate for a forum game here just because the pub date is so late, but I'd love to see it being run somewhere.

Also Horn of Roland is a very good module IMO.

[doc]

I own LoC. It's a very fun and very simple game, and just might have been the very first universal rpg. The best module was one that saw a very limited print run, but can be found often on Ebay: the players get a character choice between Nostradamus, Doc Holliday, Cyrano De Bergerac, and Bruce Lee!

I played Bruce Lee

Doc

[Finarvyn]

calithena said:

I'm not sure it's appropriate for a forum game here just because the pub date is so late, but I'd love to see it being run somewhere.

Yeah, I had some doubts myself. It's nice to see others confirm that I wasn't the only one. I see this forum as mostly catering to (1) OD&D as a major emphasis, and (2) other TSR classic games as a lesser emphasis.

EPT is borderline enough and it was an early TSR product, but I bent the rules to include an EPT online game because demand seemed so high. I'm just not sure I can justify a game as far from our primary focus as LoC, no matter how cool that game may be.

Just me thinking out loud.

[wulfgar]

Hey Doc, Calithena, and Coffee- any of you guys have a suggestion on someplace else to run a pbp game? How about the pbp forum over on the rpgsite.com?

[calithena]

That's a good call, Wulfgar - Doc Rotwang and JReints are both fans of the game. You could also post a call for players at other boards - I think you could advertise it at Dragonsfoot frex.

[wulfgar]

Very well then, it's a bit of a busy week for work, but I shall have this thing started up shortly.

[jrients]

Yeah, therpgsite.com should be able to host your game. I'd love to play some LoC, I ran it as a one shot last year and had a blast. I'm huge fan of Moldvay's work in general. But I learned several years ago that I'm a terribly impolite online player. The lack of face-to-face contact makes it very hard for me to stay interested in a game. So rather than drag your game down I wish you luck from the sidelines. And should you encounter any obstacles running your game on therpgsite.com just send me a PM. I'm an admin over there, though I do basically no technical work. My main duties are to be the good cop to Pundit's bad cop and to act as the voice of reason when he gets wound up.

[wulfgar]

I've started a thread over at therpgsite. If you want in the game please go check it out.

[wulfgar]

Here's the link to the thread on the rpg site

www.therpgsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9109

[danhem]

I am starting a Lords of Creation play-by-post game over at rpol if anyone is interested. Here is the link. Otherwise go to the rpol site and check the Players Wanted thread.

rpol.net/display.cgi?gi=4&ti=21193&date=1246294928

[Deleted]

danhem,

I'm currently trying to get registered on rpol to join in, but can't seem to get my activation email. Hope there will still be a place for me, I've been wanting to play Lords of Creation for a while.

[danhem]

Yes there is still room, I'm glad to hear you're interested. Things are just getting started so you have time. Do you have the rules available? Right now the group consists of a commando, an engineer, and a scientist and could really use someone with some espionage and/or criminal skills.

[Deleted]

Yes, I have the rules though I've never played. I wanted to make a Modesty Blaise type international criminal.