Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask, Jim Ward and Chistopher Clarke form Eldritch Enterprises

[jdrakeh]

I never saw his FFE stuff, but one bad thing that came out (if it was bad, I didn't see it) doesn't make a bad designer.

It wasn't one bad thing. It was a whole product line of them. FFE products were panned almost universally. I personally thought that they had some neat ideas, but the mechanics showed a clear lack of understanding when it came to the d20 system, the production values tended toward the low end, and the OGL was not followed by FFE for many of the products.

 

[Maggan]

I think those early discussions about capitalization and sales were the starting-point, and have been revised since.

I think that's a wise decision, should it be true. But on the other hand it would have been interesting to see what they could have done with a company capitalised to the extent that was mentioned then.

I wish them the same luck that I wish anyone starting a new business. Because Frank Mentzer is involved, I will take an extra look at their offerings.

So good luck to them, and I hope they wow me with high quality stuff.

/M

 

[Vigilance]

I love how Red Box D&D, Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World and Temple of Elemental Evil are dismissed by people as "no significant design credits".

No wait, I hate that.

Whether this venture flies or not, these guys definitely have shown chops. Just because they never churned out 1,000,000 words in a year like writers do these days, doesn't diminish the great stuff they did write.

 

[Vigilance]

This post really blew me away, I just have to address it.

Of the four names forming the company, none of them have a good list of old-school design credits at TSR.James Ward has Metamorphosis Alpha and Gamma World, but little besides.

You forgot Gods, Demigods and Heroes and its AD&D descendant, Deities and Demigods.

So, "all" Jim Ward did as a writer was Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World and Deities and Demigods.

Books I own, run and reference today, 30 some odd years after they were written.

I know its been the new hotness to bag on him since Fast Forward but since we're specifically talking about "old school design credits" here, I think if your name isn't Gygax, Arneson, Perrin or Miller that Jim Ward might be the next most significant designer of old-school games.

Certainly not worthy of being summarily dismissed.

Frank Mentzer is particularly notable for expanding the BX books to BECMI and for producing the "Red Box" Basic set, but I'm not particularly impressed by Needle, Egg of the Phoenix or his completion of the Temple of Elemental Evil.

So, if we ignore Red Box, BECMI and Temple of Elemental Evil, he's not really that significant.

Got it.

Tim Kask is... ahem... a design nonentity, who is particularly notable for his hatred of Dave Arneson.

Leaving aside his status as "first full-time employee of TSR", which Kask was, and I'd be willing to guess he wasn't making Gary's coffee...

Kask isn't a writer, he's a developer and editor.

Specifically, he was a developer/editor of Basic D&D and AD&D, and first editor of Dragon Magazine, running the most significant gaming publication in history for its first three years.

A) I call those very significant credits on their own and B) given the state of most books editing, I think having an honest to god editor in the company is a PLUS, not a MINUS.

 

[jaerdaph]

What's the Matter with Kids Today?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wCXr_6wgns]YouTube - Bye Bye Birdie - What's the Matter With Kids Today[/ame]

 

[Forgemeister]

Well said, Vigilance. By the same token, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and any opinion on published rpg material is by its very nature, subjective. (IOW, there are no wrong answers when it comes to opinions).

Tim is actually a fairly gifted writer, although there is no vast quantity of his work that the average rpg fan will have had access to (pardon the grammar). I have been priviledged to read a fair helping of his unpublished material, and I think I would qualify as a fan of his work.

Frank's writing is mind-bendingly different and inciteful. I love running his adventures.

...and I am a huge fan of Jim's work as well.

I have written some good stuff... and some bad. Wiriting gaming material is a learning process. (Considering strictly rpg work) Go back to my early work, like the Inner City rpg, and its pretty attrocious (fun, but badly written). On the other hand, I am pretty proud of the adventures and sourcebooks I wrote working with Gary on the Lejendary Adventure material (A Problem of Manors, Terekaptra, Enclave, the Lejendary Earth sourcebooks, etc), and the early adventures I wrote with Gary (A Challenge of Arm's and the Ritual of the Golden Eyes) were pretty good, although perhaps poorly presented.

Will Eldritch Ent. material absolutely "be your cup of tea" no matter what your rpg proclivity? I doubt that... but I do believe that the products we are planning will be unique, and innovative, in the current market (although they should remind gaming grognards of a bygone era in role playing, IMO.)

ALL FOUR OF US are certainly grateful to anyone that has taken the time to read and play our previous works. I guarantee you all, however, that the best work any of us will do is that which we have yet to publish under the Eldritc banner.

In short, "Our best work will be our next work."

...and that's how it should always be, IMO.

XXOOCC

Christopher Clark
Eldritch Ent.
(and Inner City Games Designs at Untitled Document)

 

[MerricB]

Chris, if I might ask: what sort of products are you planning on?

Adventures?
Rules?
Campaign Settings?
Supplemental? (by which I mean things like books of magic items or spells, which don't change the rules of the game or are tied to a setting, but add to the options available).

Cheers!

 

[Vigilance]

Well said, Vigilance. By the same token, everyone is entitled to their opinion, and any opinion on published rpg material is by its very nature, subjective. (IOW, there are no wrong answers when it comes to opinions).

I guess my only response to this would be that if someone still cares about a game book thirty years after it's written, I think we can begin to speak objectively to its quality.

I mean, there has never been a 10 year span without some major game company, either TSR, WOTC or a third party wanting to do something with Gamma World.

We can't say that about games such as Boot Hill or Top Secret (also fine games for the record).

And Temple of Elemental Evil has been revisited in module form several times, including Monte Cook's "Return", and has been turned into a video game.

Any video game companies clamoring to convert a Paladin in Hell? Rary the Traitor?

 

[Grayscale]

Looking forward to fruitful productivity!

D&D and a lot of other cultural folk arts develop alongside real people's lives and depend on a certain level of respect, that I think has been worked out fairly well through posts on various forums, blogs, etc., and I'm really just looking forward to what everybody is up to creatively. There are many formats that media can take, publishing is a business, I'd like to hear more from EE.

 

[prosfilaes]

We can't say that about games such as Boot Hill or Top Secret (also fine games for the record).

That's comparing apples and oranges; except for D&D, and some FGU RPGs that are eternally in print, no setting-free games survive from the early era of RPGs. The elements that 21st century editions of Gamma World copy from the original and the same elements that GURPS Old West "copied" from Boot Hill.