Monte Cook's Blog, page 142
June 23, 2010
Top Secret
Top Secret
Top Secret was a game I really wanted to like. First off, it was made my TSR, and in the early 80s, I expected everything they produced to be pure gold. Second, I loved the genre (or what I knew of it at 13 years old). Third, I thought Top Secret would be as far from D&D as could be, and I loved the idea of role-playing games spanning a huge spectrum of possibilities.
Mostly, however, I was disappointed. Not because it was a terrible game, necessarily. (Frankly, I hardly remember the...
Top Secret was a game I really wanted to like. First off, it was made my TSR, and in the early 80s, I expected everything they produced to be pure gold. Second, I loved the genre (or what I knew of it at 13 years old). Third, I thought Top Secret would be as far from D&D as could be, and I loved the idea of role-playing games spanning a huge spectrum of possibilities.
Mostly, however, I was disappointed. Not because it was a terrible game, necessarily. (Frankly, I hardly remember the...
June 17, 2010
Aftermath
Aftermath
For me, writing about Aftermath is more than just writing about a game I once played. It's an exploration of my path through the hobby. Like most rpgers, I started with D&D. And like many young, precocious gamers, I wanted to delve deeper into simulation. I wanted the game to be more realistic, not despite the increase in complexity, but because of it. Because I was smart enough to handle it. I didn't want anything simplified, generalized, or in any way dumbed down or glossed over. ...
For me, writing about Aftermath is more than just writing about a game I once played. It's an exploration of my path through the hobby. Like most rpgers, I started with D&D. And like many young, precocious gamers, I wanted to delve deeper into simulation. I wanted the game to be more realistic, not despite the increase in complexity, but because of it. Because I was smart enough to handle it. I didn't want anything simplified, generalized, or in any way dumbed down or glossed over. ...
June 15, 2010
V&V Follow-Up
V&V Follow-Up
I should have included the following link in yesterday's post: http://www.fantasygamesunlimited.net/
I discovered a few months ago that, to my surprise, you can still get most of the V&V product line-up directly from FGU. After putting it off, today I made a big order. See, when I was playing V&V, I was just a kid and didn't have much money to spend on games. (Remember what I wrote about my friends pooling our money to get the basic rules?) So, a lot of those products were unreac...
I should have included the following link in yesterday's post: http://www.fantasygamesunlimited.net/
I discovered a few months ago that, to my surprise, you can still get most of the V&V product line-up directly from FGU. After putting it off, today I made a big order. See, when I was playing V&V, I was just a kid and didn't have much money to spend on games. (Remember what I wrote about my friends pooling our money to get the basic rules?) So, a lot of those products were unreac...
June 14, 2010
Villains and Vigilantes
Villains and Vigilantes
When I was young, the conduit of all gamer information was Dragon Magazine*. Certainly for my group, there was simply no way we would find out about a new game unless it had an ad in Dragon. So, while we played only D&D to begin with, we saw ads for lots of other games. Many of which we would eventually try. I remember that around 1980 or so we started seeing ads for Superhero rpgs, but only one really stood out, because of the fabulous Jeff Dee artwork: Villains and...
When I was young, the conduit of all gamer information was Dragon Magazine*. Certainly for my group, there was simply no way we would find out about a new game unless it had an ad in Dragon. So, while we played only D&D to begin with, we saw ads for lots of other games. Many of which we would eventually try. I remember that around 1980 or so we started seeing ads for Superhero rpgs, but only one really stood out, because of the fabulous Jeff Dee artwork: Villains and...
June 9, 2010
Praemal
Praemal
I was reading Jeff Rient's description of his new campaign and it really reminded me a bit of a game I ran more than 10 years back.
It was the only long-term 2nd Edition campaign that I ran (not counting playtesting of stuff I worked on like Planescape or Labyrinth of Madness) and it started with this premise: You know how in every campaign world, the god of the dwarves created the race whole cloth out of stone, and the elven gods created the elven race all at once, etc.? Well, that jus...
I was reading Jeff Rient's description of his new campaign and it really reminded me a bit of a game I ran more than 10 years back.
It was the only long-term 2nd Edition campaign that I ran (not counting playtesting of stuff I worked on like Planescape or Labyrinth of Madness) and it started with this premise: You know how in every campaign world, the god of the dwarves created the race whole cloth out of stone, and the elven gods created the elven race all at once, etc.? Well, that jus...
Dungeonaday.com Update
Dungeonaday.com Update
Things over at dungeonaday.com are going very well. I've recently started detailing Level 9, which is known as Crystal Falls due to the large
waterfall at the center that just might hide some very interesting secrets.
Haven't heard of dungeonaday.com? It's my subscription-based website where I'm building a hyperlinked, extremely detailed campaign, one encounter at a time.
Dragon's Delve is a challenging old-school megadungeon with a vast history and extensive backgrou...
Things over at dungeonaday.com are going very well. I've recently started detailing Level 9, which is known as Crystal Falls due to the large
waterfall at the center that just might hide some very interesting secrets. Haven't heard of dungeonaday.com? It's my subscription-based website where I'm building a hyperlinked, extremely detailed campaign, one encounter at a time.
Dragon's Delve is a challenging old-school megadungeon with a vast history and extensive backgrou...
June 6, 2010
Why Does Everything Break at Once?
Why Does Everything Break at Once?
In the last couple weeks, I've fixed two toilets, the dishwasher, and the clothes dryer. Great that I (and my old pal, the Internet) could deal with all the issues, but man, I hope that's it for a while. It's like everything in the house decided to fall apart all at once. All this, in addition to the process of replacing an old window with a more energy efficient one, catching up from our trip, and Memorial Day, made for a busy short week.
The window replaceme...
In the last couple weeks, I've fixed two toilets, the dishwasher, and the clothes dryer. Great that I (and my old pal, the Internet) could deal with all the issues, but man, I hope that's it for a while. It's like everything in the house decided to fall apart all at once. All this, in addition to the process of replacing an old window with a more energy efficient one, catching up from our trip, and Memorial Day, made for a busy short week.
The window replaceme...
June 4, 2010
Three Simple Rules
Three Simple Rules
There's three simple rules that I'm going to try to implement in my own personal interactions. In my own arrogance, I think they can improve 99% of all human interactions, including customer service, public relations, interpersonal relationships, marriage, and friendship.
They are:
1. Take responsibility for your actions.
2. If someone is harmed by a mistake that you made, apologize to them. (Even if it happened a long time ago.)
2a. Obviously, if you do intentional harm, apolo...
There's three simple rules that I'm going to try to implement in my own personal interactions. In my own arrogance, I think they can improve 99% of all human interactions, including customer service, public relations, interpersonal relationships, marriage, and friendship.
They are:
1. Take responsibility for your actions.
2. If someone is harmed by a mistake that you made, apologize to them. (Even if it happened a long time ago.)
2a. Obviously, if you do intentional harm, apolo...
June 3, 2010
Back From England
Back From England
Sue and I returned from England a few days ago. We had a great trip with shockingly good weather. And perhaps best of all, no volcano interventions.
We visited our friends Charles and Tammie and hung out with them and these two very cute British kids that inexplicably live in their house. They took us around to various cool sites and we got some insight as to what it was like to live there. We also got to meet and game with some of their friends, which was fun.
Our per-usual t...
Sue and I returned from England a few days ago. We had a great trip with shockingly good weather. And perhaps best of all, no volcano interventions.
We visited our friends Charles and Tammie and hung out with them and these two very cute British kids that inexplicably live in their house. They took us around to various cool sites and we got some insight as to what it was like to live there. We also got to meet and game with some of their friends, which was fun.
Our per-usual t...
May 21, 2010
Happy 9th Birthday, Malhavoc Press!
Happy 9th Birthday, Malhavoc Press!
Time to celebrate Malhavoc's birthday and save!
It's been NINE years since we released The Book of Eldritch Might as a PDF. To celebrate, we're discounting all of our eBooks 30% off or more for one week only, May 21 to 28, 2010. This is a great time to check out a book you passed on earlier or grab up the ones you've been meaning to get anyway - including big ticket titles like Ptolus or Arcana Evolved!
Time to stock up on those PDFs - for this we...
Time to celebrate Malhavoc's birthday and save!
It's been NINE years since we released The Book of Eldritch Might as a PDF. To celebrate, we're discounting all of our eBooks 30% off or more for one week only, May 21 to 28, 2010. This is a great time to check out a book you passed on earlier or grab up the ones you've been meaning to get anyway - including big ticket titles like Ptolus or Arcana Evolved!
Time to stock up on those PDFs - for this we...
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