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Dungeon Crawl Classics #1: Idylls of the Rat King
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<blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010643" data-attributes="member: 18387"><p>Some products perk your interest simply based on the cover. Usually, it's the nature or quality of the illustration. In the case of The Idylls of the Rat King, it is the cover's layout. Indeed, the product tries to imitate the first edition modules in every way imaginable. </p><p></p><p>When you open the book, you see that the multi-level dungeon's maps are printed on the inside cover. I like this. Not only is it reminiscent of "old school",but it's convenient! The interior illustrations also seem somewhat first edition in "feel". In fact, The Idylls of the Rat King oozes with this attempt to get this original look. The graphic designer does give credit where due saying on the first page the layout is done with "all due respect to the early-80s modules that inspired it". There are indeed many pieces that make up this product that seems to be like these "early-80s modules". </p><p></p><p>Let's take a look at this piece-by-piece then.</p><p></p><p>The cover: It is simply not good. In fact, I would say it is bad. I don't even understand it. Why is one side colored all gold and the other side purple? It's apparent that the illustrator tried to catch the glow of the coal(?) in the pit located in the lower right corner, but he does a very poor job. It does not even have a unique look to it. It doesn't even look old school at all. It is just bad art. </p><p></p><p>The interior art: The interior art is better than the cover art. The pieces do seem to succeed in having an old school look. It's not spectacular, but not bad either. I'd say from a purely artistic perspective, it is below-average. The problem is that there is VERY little of it. I counted exactly FIVE interior art pieces. And they are all very small. That is simply not acceptable.</p><p></p><p>The layout: The font size is huge. This is a 32-page adventure, but could easily fit into 16 pages if it had to. I really felt like I was reading one of those large print books for the elderly. It's apparent that there was just not enough material for 32 pages and the text was thus stretched out accordingly. Why didn't the author spend more time on the background? Why not talk about more adventure possibilities? It's just not there. Also, a lot of the stat blocks are repeated over and over almost exactly. Do we really need the same Medium Zombie stat blocks again and again, just because the hit points happen to be different? This could have been easily solved by listing "Medium Zombies, hp: 10, 11, 12."</p><p></p><p>The text: The writing is decent and the story itself is okay. It is not anything special though. This is really something most anyone could come up within a few hours. After reading this adventure or module or whatever you want to call it, I don't think I'd remember anything from it. It is mostly going into an abandoned mine and hacking and slashing through goblins and wererats and zombies. Nothing more there, really. </p><p></p><p>So, The Idylls of the Rat King is not bad, but it's just not good either. At a price of $11, it is very expensive especially when you take into consideration the text density, the poor cover art, the lack of interior art pieces, and the very average writing. D+</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Messageboard Golem, post: 2010643, member: 18387"] Some products perk your interest simply based on the cover. Usually, it's the nature or quality of the illustration. In the case of The Idylls of the Rat King, it is the cover's layout. Indeed, the product tries to imitate the first edition modules in every way imaginable. When you open the book, you see that the multi-level dungeon's maps are printed on the inside cover. I like this. Not only is it reminiscent of "old school",but it's convenient! The interior illustrations also seem somewhat first edition in "feel". In fact, The Idylls of the Rat King oozes with this attempt to get this original look. The graphic designer does give credit where due saying on the first page the layout is done with "all due respect to the early-80s modules that inspired it". There are indeed many pieces that make up this product that seems to be like these "early-80s modules". Let's take a look at this piece-by-piece then. The cover: It is simply not good. In fact, I would say it is bad. I don't even understand it. Why is one side colored all gold and the other side purple? It's apparent that the illustrator tried to catch the glow of the coal(?) in the pit located in the lower right corner, but he does a very poor job. It does not even have a unique look to it. It doesn't even look old school at all. It is just bad art. The interior art: The interior art is better than the cover art. The pieces do seem to succeed in having an old school look. It's not spectacular, but not bad either. I'd say from a purely artistic perspective, it is below-average. The problem is that there is VERY little of it. I counted exactly FIVE interior art pieces. And they are all very small. That is simply not acceptable. The layout: The font size is huge. This is a 32-page adventure, but could easily fit into 16 pages if it had to. I really felt like I was reading one of those large print books for the elderly. It's apparent that there was just not enough material for 32 pages and the text was thus stretched out accordingly. Why didn't the author spend more time on the background? Why not talk about more adventure possibilities? It's just not there. Also, a lot of the stat blocks are repeated over and over almost exactly. Do we really need the same Medium Zombie stat blocks again and again, just because the hit points happen to be different? This could have been easily solved by listing "Medium Zombies, hp: 10, 11, 12." The text: The writing is decent and the story itself is okay. It is not anything special though. This is really something most anyone could come up within a few hours. After reading this adventure or module or whatever you want to call it, I don't think I'd remember anything from it. It is mostly going into an abandoned mine and hacking and slashing through goblins and wererats and zombies. Nothing more there, really. So, The Idylls of the Rat King is not bad, but it's just not good either. At a price of $11, it is very expensive especially when you take into consideration the text density, the poor cover art, the lack of interior art pieces, and the very average writing. D+ [/QUOTE]
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