The "I Didn't Comment in Another Thread" Thread

[Mannahnin]

My only complaint about the Rules Cyclopedia is the artwork. I really, really wish they had included the original artwork from Elmore and Easley, because those images are so iconic and nostalgic for me.

Agreed. The only reason I still don't own a copy of the RC (after nearly 15 years in the OSR) is that the interior art is atrocious.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I don't think people (on the Internet or in real life) aren't able to understand that their experience isn't universal. If you come to a different conclusion than them, it's either that you're too dumb to make the same reasoning OR that you didn't enjoy their experience so the best way to make them agree with you is to educate you about their experience, enabling you to understand their undisputable point of view. They are trying to help.

Haven't you heard people trying to push change in a company (or country)? "You're against the change? I'll EXPLAIN IT to you". What they can't grasp is that you can very well understand the experience and yet disagree.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Agreed. The only reason I still don't own a copy of the RC (after nearly 15 years in the OSR) is that the art is atrocious.

Snarf's Inarguable Ranking of Basics

1. Moldvay

2. Holmes

3.
10 PRINT Bargle Was Framed
20 GOTO 10

4. Mentzer

5. Basic, with Samuel L. Jackson.

6. Black Box

7. Rules Cyclopedia

8.

9. That stuff I drank to counteract the acid of Taco Bell.

10. Retroclones.

 

[RealAlHazred]

Sure, but it's far likely to be Robot-Russian

I don't know where you get your information, but it is wrong, comrade.

 

[Mannahnin]

Counterpoint:

OSRIC doesn't have a harlot table.

Touche!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I mean, I am trying to develop plot seeds that Hite hasn't covered. It involves a lot of digging.

I find reading Tim Powers helps with that. He and Hite are in some sort of crazy arms race for smashing together the wildest ideas to create plot hooks.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'd much rather learn how to play from OSRIC as well as using it as a rules reference.

Good luck handing a player in the Year of our Lord 2023 a copy of the AD&D 1E PHB and getting them to read and retain that info. Three pages in and the High Gygaxian made them put it down.

You can always use the "real" books for flavor, stats etc.

Yeah, I have the WotC 1E commemorative reprints, after foolishly giving away my originals years ago, but they're nothing but inspirational texts for me now, beyond occasionally going "I really should figure out some way to update Chariot of Sustarre," since that spell wasn't brought forward into WotC editions. (It works better as a magic item, I've decided.)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

If WotC would make B/X available POD, that would certainly cut into OSE's sales. That being said, have you perused the OSE books? They're beautifully laid out and designed. The control panel layout, the use of the endpapers for reference tables, the clear and concise explanatory language... They're just great.

It is super-weird to me that WotC, which I guarantee has seen 99% of other publishers' D&D-flavored work, has never said "huh, ribbon bookmarks and useful stuff printed on endpages and book navigation systems in the style of travel guides -- maybe we could do this too!"

I mean, I have hard time backing a Kickstarter project without one or more of those features. Why would I be publishing a MSRP $50 flagship rulebook without them?

 

[Mannahnin]

Yeah, I have the WotC 1E commemorative reprints, after foolishly giving away my originals years ago, but they're nothing but inspirational texts for me now, beyond occasionally going "I really should figure out some way to update Chariot of Sustarre," since that spell wasn't brought forward into WotC editions. (It works better as a magic item, I've decided.)

Just mentioning the spell gave me a flashback to the awfulness of the 1E spell stat blocks. All those spells which were present in the lists for multiple different kinds of casters, would only be printed in full in one list, but would have a partial spell listing with arbitrary differences in casting time, area of effect, duration, or other particulars for no discernable reason.

I do still love my 1E hardcovers for inspiration, and have multiple copies of most of them. I think at least three DMGs and PHs, including a first printing of each, with the yellow endpapers.

 

[Mannahnin]

10. Retroclones.

Have you read any of the zine module series Through Ultan's Door?