chronological error in Encounter Critical's map

[geoffrey]

On p. 14 of the pdf of Encounter Critical is a map of the Mighty Land of Vanth. What on the map is NOT consistent with the game having been published in 1979? I noticed it right away, and I'm wondering if anyone else notices it too. It shows that the game most probably was written within the last decade or so.

Here's the page for Encounter Critical:
www222.pair.com/sjohn/encounter-critical.htm

In all fairness, this slip is the only thing in the game book that takes me out of 1979. Everything else is convincing. The game is so cool that I'm seriously considering shelving my Gamma World campaign in favor of an Encounter Critical campaign.

[coffee]

Ya got me. I just went back and looked it over again (and again), and I'm not seeing it.

I hope somebody spots it soon, because that's gonna bug me...

[Max]

Jun 7, 2008 21:05:49 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

On p. 14 of the pdf of Encounter Critical is a map of the Mighty Land of Vanth. What on the map is NOT consistent with the game having been published in 1979?...In all fairness, this slip is the only thing in the game book that takes me out of 1979.

While I do hope you'll share your 'gotcha,' it's worth mentioning that the map, and the rest of the game, is loaded with intentional hints as to the game's author and to the era of its (real-life) writing.

The game is so cool that I'm seriously considering shelving my Gamma World campaign in favor of an Encounter Critical campaign.

Awesome! Hope you'll join the EC mailing list if you haven't already. Lots of homebrew stuff and houserules, kick butt illustrated 'monster manual,' great fan art, terrible fan art (i.e. the stuff I drew!). It's a fun group.

[geoffrey]

I'll keep quiet on this for a couple days. Then I'll let my special brand of geekery shine by pointing out what only a certain sort of geek would notice as "off" by a couple of decades. The one hint I'll give in this post is that a certain name on the map screams 1999 (or later) rather than 1979.

Jun 7, 2008 22:09:06 GMT -6 Max said:

kick butt illustrated 'monster manual

I'm not finding that in the files. Can you help a blind man out?

[busman]

Jun 7, 2008 23:28:56 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

I'm not finding that in the files. Can you help a blind man out?

I was thinking the same thing about your original post. I can't find any PDF with a map on page 14.

EDIT: nm, found it. pg 19.

[jrients]

Please tell me you're not talking about Darth Viraxis. In 1979 Darth was a first name, not a title.

[geoffrey]

Jun 8, 2008 8:08:48 GMT -6 jrients said:

Please tell me you're not talking about Darth Viraxis. In 1979 Darth was a first name, not a title.

Sorry, Jeff, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. (How about a No-Prize!) It wasn't until The Phantom Menace (Boo! Hiss!) in 1999 that there were Darth This's and Darth That's. Before that there was only one...Darth Vader. (And like you said, it was a NAME and not a TITLE.)

Of course, it's theoretically possible that someone in 1979 could have coined the name "Darth Viraxis", but I've never seen anyone pre-The Phantom Menace use "Darth" as anything other than Darth Vader's first name. It's a shame, but ever since 1999 there has been a proliferation of Darth _______'s to the point of nausea. That's why a Darth Anything (other than Vader) is an almost (but not quite) certain indication that a Mr. or Mrs. Darth Anything is a post-1999 creation.

;D

[Max]

Jun 8, 2008 8:14:13 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Jun 8, 2008 8:08:48 GMT -6 jrients said:

Please tell me you're not talking about Darth Viraxis. In 1979 Darth was a first name, not a title.

Sorry, Jeff, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. (How about a No-Prize!) It wasn't until The Phantom Menace (Boo! Hiss!) in 1999 that there were Darth This's and Darth That's. Before that there was only one...Darth Vader. (And like you said, it was a NAME and not a TITLE.)

Of course, it's theoretically possible that someone in 1979 could have coined the name "Darth Viraxis", but I've never seen anyone pre-The Phantom Menace use "Darth" as anything other than Darth Vader's first name. It's a shame, but ever since 1999 there has been a proliferation of Darth _______'s to the point of nausea. That's why a Darth Anything (other than Vader) is an almost (but not quite) certain indication that a Mr. or Mrs. Darth Anything is a post-1999 creation.
;D

Interesting, Geoffrey, but I dunno. A game which includes klengons, vulkins and "a galactic order of psychic knights that are exclusively male" is one that could include a dude named Darth Viraxis without it being a title. I bet Hank Riley just thought calling him Darth Vander was too derivative.

The canonical EC monsters were fully written up and many of them illustrated by Christian Conkle. The write-ups are in the Game Aids & Resources folder, in the file "Encounter Critical Opponent Opuscule." I've put out a holler for the illustrations, which seem to have disappeared from the files unless I am just extra stupid today.

[busman]

Yeah, I don't think it's an error. There's the Amazon and the Wooky Freeholds, I took it as a ripoff of Darth Vader misspelling to avoid being exactly Darth Vader. If they were using it as Darth whatever then they wouldn't have stuck with the same letter probably.

I think it's just your post 1999 brain interpreting it that way.

[bigjackbrass]

I'm with the "not an error" side on this one, I'm afraid. It seems entirely consistent with the game EC pretends to be for it to include such a rip-off name, rather than it being applied as a title.

Of course, some games do betray a later mindset: Hollow Earth Expedition, set in 1936, features a big game hunter who has travelled to Zimbabwe, quite a feat considering that the Empire of Great Zimbabwe disappeared in the seventeenth century and the modern country of that name was not founded until 1980.

[wulfgar]

I don't think this qualifies as an anacronism at all. Just a play on Darth Vader, who was certainly around at the time. If Darth Viraxis has a spikey head and a double end light sabre bo-staff thing, then you'd have a point. But just the name? Nah, certainly plausible within the game's supposed time of origins.

[geoffrey]

Consider:

Klengon = Klingon

Vulkin = Vulcan

Wooky = Wookiee

All those are very, very close. Now look at this:

Vader...Viraxis

Well, they both start with a V...

What about:
Darth Vador
Darth Vadar
Darth Vaydor
Darth Vay-Dor
Etc.

Any of those latter would strike me as a play on Darth Vader. But Viraxis? It doesn't work for me.

But I'm not complaining. This has all given me ideas for my upcoming Encounter Critical campaign. ;D

[busman]

Jun 9, 2008 10:42:10 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Consider:

Klengon = Klingon

Vulkin = Vulcan

Wooky = Wookiee

All those are very, very close. Now look at this:

Vader...Viraxis

Well, they both start with a V...

What about:
Darth Vador
Darth Vadar
Darth Vaydor
Darth Vay-Dor
Etc.

Any of those latter would strike me as a play on Darth Vader. But Viraxis? It doesn't work for me.

But I'm not complaining. This has all given me ideas for my upcoming Encounter Critical campaign. ;D

It's a reasonable point. But, I can tell you as someone who loved the original movies, then saw Epi 1 and has since sworn off all Lucas Films since (I never saw Ep 2 or 3 or the new Indy), I have no real exposure to all of this new Darth stuff. I wouldn't have been able to tell you before this thread that Darth was supposed to be a title instead of a name. As that guy, it didn't stand out to me. It was the only word I googled and looked up, but that was after going over the whole map and by process of elimination selecting that as the only possible offender, just because I knew nothing about all the new Star Wars stuff.

[Max]

Jun 9, 2008 10:42:10 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Consider:

Klengon = Klingon

Vulkin = Vulcan

Wooky = Wookiee

All those are very, very close. Now look at this:

Vader...Viraxis

*snip*

Given your evident attention to True Scientific Realism and your bent for close textual analysis, Geoffrey, I think you should turn your attention to solving the mystery of the Rusty Sighing Panther in the sample adventure.

The EC monster illustrations have been located. Check the Rules Expansions & Variants folder for the file stealthily named "PDF_Docu.pdf." And don't miss the homebrewed Howling Hook Troll, lurking in the Fissure of Death folder.

[geoffrey]

Thanks to all and especially to Max. I'm going to start working on my Encounter Critical campaign centered upon the Empire of Darth Vadar. And I'm also going to therein explain how the map got maliciously changed from Vadar to Viraxis. Lots of good, silly fun!

Did I mention that I think that 1-2 Godzillas and telephone poles are great? ;D

[Max]

Jun 9, 2008 18:13:58 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

I'm going to start working on my Encounter Critical campaign centered upon the Empire of Darth Vadar. And I'm also going to therein explain how the map got maliciously changed from Vadar to Viraxis. Lots of good, silly fun!

That sounds aces! Got another file you may want to check out: Jeff Rient's map of the Viraxian Empire (Game Aids & Resources - viraxia.jpg).

Or post your own map, if you're of a mind to -- I can't find the word 'canon' in my Vanthian dictionary!

[blackbarn]

Jun 8, 2008 8:14:13 GMT -6 geoffrey said:

Jun 8, 2008 8:08:48 GMT -6 jrients said:

Please tell me you're not talking about Darth Viraxis. In 1979 Darth was a first name, not a title.

Sorry, Jeff, but that's exactly what I'm talking about. (How about a No-Prize!) It wasn't until The Phantom Menace (Boo! Hiss!) in 1999 that there were Darth This's and Darth That's. Before that there was only one...Darth Vader. (And like you said, it was a NAME and not a TITLE.)

Of course, it's theoretically possible that someone in 1979 could have coined the name "Darth Viraxis", but I've never seen anyone pre-The Phantom Menace use "Darth" as anything other than Darth Vader's first name. It's a shame, but ever since 1999 there has been a proliferation of Darth _______'s to the point of nausea. That's why a Darth Anything (other than Vader) is an almost (but not quite) certain indication that a Mr. or Mrs. Darth Anything is a post-1999 creation.

;D

Well, I for one suspected Darth was a Sith title years before the Phantom Menace, to the point that I used it as such in our Star Wars RPG games. I also used Padawan as a title for Jedi-in-training, simply because it made sense, if you've read early drafts of the original Star Wars script, etc. I based both guesses on information that was around when the original Star Wars was released and from subsequent years, but then I am a Star Wars uber-fan (or rather, was) who always delved into behind-the-scenes info, Lucas interviews and the like.

Saying it absolutely must be from post 1999 is off, in my opinion, but everyone is going to react to such things in their own way, naturally. I will say this: it was not uncommon to see parody names along the lines of Darth Viraxis even in the late 70's. Although it was seen as a name, not a title. I do see where you're coming from, I just can't agree it is a mistake, chronology-wise.

[geoffrey]

Interesting stuff, blackbarn!

Here's a picture that I find inspiring for Encounter Critical:



(Click the link if you can't see it: www.flickr.com/photos/arne/385897658/ )

;D

[abecross]

I never thought of Darth Viraxis as being a name and I've never seen or have any knowledge of the films after the real FIRST THREE. In fact I never thought of "Darth" as being anything other than Vader's title (since they call him "Lord Vader" I always assumed that "Darth=Evil Lord").
Still, great game I have yet to play, but have about half a notebook's worth of ideas for.