Timewaster's Guide Archive
Games => Role-Playing Games => Topic started by: Slant on February 08, 2004, 08:07:42 PM
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Hello boys and girls out there in TV land
I know I have been scarce for over a month now (what do you mean you hadn't noticed???). I had been in hospital following a bad auto accident that fractured four discs in my back and nearly killed my wife. We are both on the mend, but between rehab and the pain, I have not been gaming a whole lot, nor have I gotten much of a chance to post anything.
Being the lil' rpg addict that I am, I have been using this time to catch upon several games that I have been sent these past few months but never got around to reading, let alone playing. I was sent the three books comprising the Marvel Universe RPG. it is actually a cool system (diceless, though, the horror!) that is designed to be fast and versitile. It succeeds, although a lot of the actual nuts and bolts are nebulous and needs the GM and players to describe the outcomes of their own actions, as well as exactly how their skill specialties work. The only difficulty was in the rules for creating new characters, which seem a little tough for a game that is aimed at newbies. The adventures provided in the books tend to be a bit overwhelming (in the main rulesbook, the bad guys in the initial adventure include the Brotherhood of Mutants, Bullseye, AND the Green Goblin!). Still, it is a solid and fun game that gives you tons of stats, maps, histories, and essays concerning all aspects of the Marvel Universe.
I also got to leaf through Oathbound. Although it has been out for a couple of years already, I never got to read it before. It is a LOT of fun. Highly original fantasy with more new races than you can shake a staff of the Magi at. If you ever wanted to play a housecat who is also a 6th level necromancer, check this game out.
Finally, the folks at my local games shop sent me a free copy of the brand new CONAN RPG!!! This game is so authentic that it even SMELLS barbaric!! (no, wait, that's just me. nevermind) It is a complete game system in and of itself, not tied to D&D and not requiring the d20 corebooks for use. I have just started to read it and so far I have been very impressed with the genuine feel that the writers have for the works of R.E. Howard. I will talk more about it after I have read it through a bit. In the meantime, all I can say is that it is making me want to strap on my hauberk, sharpen my khopeh, and go out and slay the infidels! A really cool read.
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THat the mongoose one? That's what I plan on asking them for next. Which I should do. Since they just asked what I wanted next.
Sorry to hear about your accident. That sucks. Glad you're (relatively) ok now.
Do you happen to know Case Yorke?
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Slant!
Wow, glad to hear that you and your wife came through (relatively) okay and are healing. Your lack of presence was missed and brought up on some thread a while back...
As for Conan, I've been following its development for a while and really enjoyed what they did with the combat system and magic (a lucky git with a review copy posted some sample combats at rpg.net) and had it on pre-order at Amazon for a while (Mongoose is charging $50 for the book...it was at Amazon for $30). Eventually I cancelled it as I already have too many cool games that I'll never play. Hope to borrow it from a friend though. Most who've seen it say it is one of the most amazing core books to come out for a while.
I'd seen a bit about the Marvel universe RPG and was sad to hear that it's already been sunk. Marvel fired all the designers. At least there's a few supplements out for it already!
Get well soon, man!
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glad to heard you're doing better Slant.
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Wow. Slant, you really should have posted something about your accident up in the "everything else" section. I almost didn't see this.
Anyway, hope you're feeling better!
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Woah, are you ok? That sounds pretty bad. i myself was wondering where you had been, although may I say that this is a really good excuse. All I can really say though is, glad you and your wife survived it.
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Good to know you and your other half are on the mend. Yet another foiled attempt by the forces of efficiency to dominate TWG!
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Hey all
Thank you for your well wishes for Cait and myself. I appreciate it. And Mr. P, if you can get a copy of Conan for $30, it really IS cool enough to add to an already exhaustive list of uber cool games. It is an etire game in one book, no other d20 books required. Plus, it is the only game officially endorsed by Crom.
They cancelled the Marvel Universe game? So now I'll never have the stats for Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy? Curses! CUR-SES!!
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Hey Slant, hope you get feeling better soon. If there's anything we Time-Waster's can do for you, just let us know.
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Apart from giving money or RPGs out of course! *Hugs copy of gurps possessively*
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Well, they officially told me they're sending this to me today. YAY! i love it. Expect a prompt review, because Mongoose promises to link to us in their newsletters. Conan has proved popular for this.
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Conan Came
It's very pretty. I shall read it soon and review.
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see the problem with the game/book as I see it, is there are no pictures of Arnold as Conan. And that just ruins the setting for me.
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feh. Plebian.
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do you mean "plebeian" or is that something from the conan setting? Been a while since I've seen the movies, and have never read the books.
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the next time you correct my spelling I"m killing myself.
anyway, basing your impressions of Conan on Arnold is a tragedy. It would be better, actually, to even base it on a reading of Cerebus.
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Today I finished reading the Conan RPG, and lo, 'twas pretty freaking great! Quite possibly the second best RPG on the market today. It is based on D20, but the differences give it a very distinct flavor. Combat is faster and more bone-crunching. Magic plays in a much more realistic fashion than your standard D20 mainstay. I could go on and on, but I will keep it brief. Suffice it to say, the next game I run will prolly be a Conan one. I am already putting together ideas in my mind: images of a long-abandoned iron city on an uncharted island, a temple to a religion declared heretical since the dawn of time, and a woman who's unearthly beauty has cursed her from ever leading a normal life. Oh, and there will be man-apes. LOTS of man-apes.
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It's the man-apes that always get to me. Somehow, it seems so Lovecraftian...
I've finished reading the mechanics myself, and I either need to re-read or I missed somethings. I don't see that combat is that much faster. If anything, it's more complicated, what with two defense values and then damage reduction that forces you to figure out how much damage your damage roll really did.
Also, sorcery has thrown me for a loop. OK, so you learn styles, but does that give you access to all the spells? Apparently not, because you can also learn greater spells. Which I don't see distinguished from regular spells. I mean, I like the feel of it, but there are some issues to work through.
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The way I read it, sorcery works like this: When you gain a potential sorcery feat you can either (1) learn a form of sorcery you don't already know and get the basic spell in that list, or (2) gain an advanced spell in a form of sorcery that you already know. Since magic is so much more rare and dangerous in the Conan world, a sorcerer with 8-9 spells in a smattering of styles can really be a major threat.
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well, i have no objection at all to slow advancement, but I went through the Scholar class description AND the magic section again last night, and while your description seems like a logical explanation, it also appears to be a leap of logic. It never expressly says what spells you get (or don't get) when you gain a sorcery style. I praised Mongoose a lot for B5, and while I mostly like Conan, I'm going to have to hti them a couple times int he review in the category of too many races (all of them human, incidentally, which is a *cool* think about it at least) and not enough explanation on magic.
One thing I really liked was the blood on all the weapon illustrations