Post by geoffrey on Jan 25, 2012 12:19:48 GMT -6
Read the review here:
thealexandrian.net/wordpress/12031/roleplaying-games/review-carcosa
To me the single most significant part of the review is this:
"I recognize that many of these elements are historic qualities of classic hex-based supplements like the Wilderlands. But Carcosa is a particularly bland and repetitive instantiation of the form, and I also think 1976 was a long time ago. Similarly, while I may find Palace of the Vampire Queen a fascinating historical oddity and revolutionary for its time, anybody trying to sell me a dungeon designed like that today is not going to win my applause."
I myself prefer 1970s D&D design. What's more, I prefer OD&D style over AD&D style. I think that even G1 is too wordy. I prefer Tegel Manor's style, or Palace of the Vampire Queen's style. I am excited about One-Page Dungeon Levels and Two-Page Dungeon Levels. For me, what Aaron Steele calls "word walls" are one of the greatest banes of RPG products:
apaladinincitadel.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-word-walls-wont-work.html
I love Judges Guild's old Wilderness books. I think they are close to perfect. Of course, they are out-of-print and the monsters therein have become familiar. I try to write products that feel during game play like the Wilderlands products felt when we didn't know what a troll or a white dragon or etc. could do. In short, Carcosa and Isle of the Unknown try to replicate the structure of the old Wilderlands products, while replacing the now-familiar pieces (monsters, treasures, spells, etc.) with new and unfamiliar pieces.
thealexandrian.net/wordpress/12031/roleplaying-games/review-carcosa
To me the single most significant part of the review is this:
"I recognize that many of these elements are historic qualities of classic hex-based supplements like the Wilderlands. But Carcosa is a particularly bland and repetitive instantiation of the form, and I also think 1976 was a long time ago. Similarly, while I may find Palace of the Vampire Queen a fascinating historical oddity and revolutionary for its time, anybody trying to sell me a dungeon designed like that today is not going to win my applause."
I myself prefer 1970s D&D design. What's more, I prefer OD&D style over AD&D style. I think that even G1 is too wordy. I prefer Tegel Manor's style, or Palace of the Vampire Queen's style. I am excited about One-Page Dungeon Levels and Two-Page Dungeon Levels. For me, what Aaron Steele calls "word walls" are one of the greatest banes of RPG products:
apaladinincitadel.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-word-walls-wont-work.html
I love Judges Guild's old Wilderness books. I think they are close to perfect. Of course, they are out-of-print and the monsters therein have become familiar. I try to write products that feel during game play like the Wilderlands products felt when we didn't know what a troll or a white dragon or etc. could do. In short, Carcosa and Isle of the Unknown try to replicate the structure of the old Wilderlands products, while replacing the now-familiar pieces (monsters, treasures, spells, etc.) with new and unfamiliar pieces.
