He is right about the dice conventions, though; those are not a good piece of system design.
And an OT question: I notice you are stocking a bunch of Frog God Games products. Do you intend to have The Black Monastery ( http://www.talesofthefroggod.com/index.php/products/the-black-monastery ) available? If you do, I'd prefer to order it via the webstore; shipping rates from FGG can be pretty high.
It just goes to show that you can't please everyone. If you and Geoffery gave Carcosa a fully fleshed out background, someone would be bound to complain that the setting was "too complex to be playable."
"What we end up with are dinosaur-riding sorcerous cavemen exploring ancient ruins and pursuing the Greys for their nifty rocket launchers while being pursued in turn by Nyarlathotep and some undead mummies."
Is this supposed to be a negative thing? Because honestly it sounds pretty damn awesome.
While there are parts of Carcosa I'm not keen on either, that review is kind of a hack job. If nobody else replies to it within a few days I'll write one. I was the first one to call out the Stars Without Number reviewer last week, under my other screen name, but then as now I'll wait for someone who actually played Carcosa to go first.
So, again, there's no real way to plan or shape a character around psionics
Clearly this is someone who likes the idea of character builds rather than development of character through play. It's too bad the reviewer didn't explore some of the old school/new school assumptions behind some of his stances.
1. Given the reviewer's dislike of Judges Guild/Wilderlands terseness, he also wouldn't like Isle of the Unknown. I sincerely hope he didn't also purchase Isle of the Unknown, because it is similar to Carcosa in its terseness. It always makes me feel bad when someone doesn't feel he got his money's worth out of one of my books.
2. I myself do not like what the Paladin in Citadel felicitously calls "word-walls". I strongly prefer RPG products to simply give me ideas, and then I run with them. All too many times, an RPG book will have a cool concept, then spend several pages developing that concept in a way that I don't like. For example, I like: "The druids of the Forbidden Valley are not attuned to wood and wolf and hawk. Instead, their powers involve dinosaurs and volcanoes." Jurassic druids? I can run with that! As Gary wrote in 1974, "Why have us do any more of your imagining for you?" But if someone where to develop those two sentences into several thousand words, it would (for me) probably just muck things up.
3. The dice conventions in Carcosa are contained in a 5 or 6-page section of the nearly 300-page book. The conventions are labelled as optional in the first sentence of the section. Admittedly, the dice conventions are gonzo and kind of crazy, but I think they are a lot of fun. I'd hate for anyone to not buy Carcosa because he thought the dice conventions were necessary. Far from it. The dice conventions are included only as a sort of "from me to you" section telling the reader how I like to roll the dice.
I liked the review and thought that it did a very good job of telling the reader what the product was like. It has been seriously considering buying a copy (best possible advertising). Most of what is holding me back is buyer's regret at not jumping in on the earlier deals.
If you don't like the style of the product then you won't buy it and be disappointed.
Everybody wins. After all, good art involves taste. My wife is amazing but doesn't like metal as a musical genre. So a strong but truthful review helps everyone.
"What we end up with are dinosaur-riding sorcerous cavemen exploring ancient ruins and pursuing the Greys for their nifty rocket launchers while being pursued in turn by Nyarlathotep and some undead mummies."
He says that like it's a bad thing. Can someone honestly think that's a bad thing? Seriously? I'm with Wayne R. on this one: the mental image of that alone rocks.
I mean, do we really need another vanilla-flavored, pseudo-medieval Tolkien rip-off? We've had so many, and even those that settings that stray from from it usually do it so poorly that they may as well have never tried.
Give me my dinosaur-riding sorcerous cavemen, dammit!
"Why? Fuck you, that's why." really kind of works for me as an explanation for what the hell is going on down on Carcosa.
ReplyDeleteHe is right about the dice conventions, though; those are not a good piece of system design.
ReplyDeleteAnd an OT question: I notice you are stocking a bunch of Frog God Games products. Do you intend to have The Black Monastery ( http://www.talesofthefroggod.com/index.php/products/the-black-monastery ) available? If you do, I'd prefer to order it via the webstore; shipping rates from FGG can be pretty high.
Take comfort that the rpg.net reviewer posits himself a terrible writer with the very first sentence.
ReplyDeleteI'll be looking to make a new Frog God order sometime in Q1 2012.
ReplyDeleteIt just goes to show that you can't please everyone. If you and Geoffery gave Carcosa a fully fleshed out background, someone would be bound to complain that the setting was "too complex to be playable."
ReplyDelete"What we end up with are dinosaur-riding sorcerous cavemen exploring ancient ruins and pursuing the Greys for their nifty rocket launchers while being pursued in turn by Nyarlathotep and some undead mummies."
ReplyDeleteIs this supposed to be a negative thing? Because honestly it sounds pretty damn awesome.
While there are parts of Carcosa I'm not keen on either, that review is kind of a hack job. If nobody else replies to it within a few days I'll write one. I was the first one to call out the Stars Without Number reviewer last week, under my other screen name, but then as now I'll wait for someone who actually played Carcosa to go first.
ReplyDelete@Wayne: Ha ha... You're damned right :)
ReplyDeleteFrom the review:
ReplyDeleteSo, again, there's no real way to plan or shape a character around psionics
Clearly this is someone who likes the idea of character builds rather than development of character through play. It's too bad the reviewer didn't explore some of the old school/new school assumptions behind some of his stances.
1. Given the reviewer's dislike of Judges Guild/Wilderlands terseness, he also wouldn't like Isle of the Unknown. I sincerely hope he didn't also purchase Isle of the Unknown, because it is similar to Carcosa in its terseness. It always makes me feel bad when someone doesn't feel he got his money's worth out of one of my books.
ReplyDelete2. I myself do not like what the Paladin in Citadel felicitously calls "word-walls". I strongly prefer RPG products to simply give me ideas, and then I run with them. All too many times, an RPG book will have a cool concept, then spend several pages developing that concept in a way that I don't like. For example, I like: "The druids of the Forbidden Valley are not attuned to wood and wolf and hawk. Instead, their powers involve dinosaurs and volcanoes." Jurassic druids? I can run with that! As Gary wrote in 1974, "Why have us do any more of your imagining for you?" But if someone where to develop those two sentences into several thousand words, it would (for me) probably just muck things up.
3. The dice conventions in Carcosa are contained in a 5 or 6-page section of the nearly 300-page book. The conventions are labelled as optional in the first sentence of the section. Admittedly, the dice conventions are gonzo and kind of crazy, but I think they are a lot of fun. I'd hate for anyone to not buy Carcosa because he thought the dice conventions were necessary. Far from it. The dice conventions are included only as a sort of "from me to you" section telling the reader how I like to roll the dice.
@Geoffrey
ReplyDelete"The setting is horrible, and there's not enough of it."
Actually, I think what he meant to say was:
ReplyDelete"The setting is deliciously horrific, and I just can't get enough of it." ;)
What Messrs. Rients and Wayne R said.
ReplyDeleteDistilled awesome.
I liked the review and thought that it did a very good job of telling the reader what the product was like. It has been seriously considering buying a copy (best possible advertising). Most of what is holding me back is buyer's regret at not jumping in on the earlier deals.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't like the style of the product then you won't buy it and be disappointed.
Everybody wins. After all, good art involves taste. My wife is amazing but doesn't like metal as a musical genre. So a strong but truthful review helps everyone.
"What we end up with are dinosaur-riding sorcerous cavemen exploring ancient ruins and pursuing the Greys for their nifty rocket launchers while being pursued in turn by Nyarlathotep and some undead mummies."
ReplyDeleteHe says that like it's a bad thing. Can someone honestly think that's a bad thing? Seriously? I'm with Wayne R. on this one: the mental image of that alone rocks.
I mean, do we really need another vanilla-flavored, pseudo-medieval Tolkien rip-off? We've had so many, and even those that settings that stray from from it usually do it so poorly that they may as well have never tried.
Give me my dinosaur-riding sorcerous cavemen, dammit!