In reference to http://www.montecook.com/lineos.html, all I can say is "Yeah! Right on!".
Dave Hargrave was one of my greatest influences as a newbie gamer, back in 1980 or so. Not so much the exact mechanics, but the entire "Do it if it's COOL!" attitude, and the fact that the world was not so much detailed as *implied*. The listing of cults and religions of Arduin, for example, gave one (short) sentence to each one -- and that gave you amazing freedom to take that one sentence and build on it. He didn't provide a setting, he provided, basically, a list of keywords and phrases which could set your mind going.
Modern gamers will probably not grok the appeal, but, if you can accept them for what they are, the Arduin books are incredibly inspirational. (Ignore "The Arduin Adventure" and "The Compleat Arduin" -- stick to the Hargrave originals. Trust me.)
Dave Hargrave was one of my greatest influences as a newbie gamer, back in 1980 or so. Not so much the exact mechanics, but the entire "Do it if it's COOL!" attitude, and the fact that the world was not so much detailed as *implied*. The listing of cults and religions of Arduin, for example, gave one (short) sentence to each one -- and that gave you amazing freedom to take that one sentence and build on it. He didn't provide a setting, he provided, basically, a list of keywords and phrases which could set your mind going.
Modern gamers will probably not grok the appeal, but, if you can accept them for what they are, the Arduin books are incredibly inspirational. (Ignore "The Arduin Adventure" and "The Compleat Arduin" -- stick to the Hargrave originals. Trust me.)
