Jack Hooligan
Explorer
Wow, it just dawned on me he also worked on these two classics
D&D General An Appreciation of David "Zeb" Cook
Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
It's funny, because even though I only skimmed his tremendous and varied body of work, those were two things I specifically called out!
"Arguably the best, simplest ruleset for D&D was B/X. Everyone remembers Moldvay, but Zab wrote the "X." But that's not all; anywhere you look, from Star Frontiers (Alpha Dawn) to Conan you see Zeb credited."
Jack Hooligan
Explorer
It's true...you did! I guess I got wrapped up in the Taladas discussion in the following post....It's funny, because even though I only skimmed his tremendous and varied body of work, those were two things I specifically called out!
"Arguably the best, simplest ruleset for D&D was B/X. Everyone remembers Moldvay, but Zab wrote the "X." But that's not all; anywhere you look, from Star Frontiers (Alpha Dawn) to Conan you see Zeb credited."
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
The edition you first come to D&D has an enormous influence, no doubt. If someone said, "hey, do you want to run a BECMI campaign," I'd be all in.
The Bond I grew up with was Roger Moore, but my mom made sure that my brother and I knew that Sean Connery was the true one. I still think that, after the brooding brute of Daniel Craig, we need a return to the slick and charming, sometimes silly Roger Moore-style Bond.
The Bond I grew up with was Roger Moore, but my mom made sure that my brother and I knew that Sean Connery was the true one. I still think that, after the brooding brute of Daniel Craig, we need a return to the slick and charming, sometimes silly Roger Moore-style Bond.
Giltonio_Santos
Hero
Good to know! Where should I look for his design credits with KP? I own Creature Codex, Tome of Beasts, Midgard, Midgard Heroes, and DC&SS, but none of those lists him as a designer.
ZeshinX
Adventurer
My perspective, for what it's worth, is he managed to show the scope of what D&D can be if you put some imagination and even just a little effort into it. Granted, 2e has a LOT of warts in terms of mechanical design, it's very rough around the edges and it can seem contradictory at times...but it highlights, to me, the endless possibilities of imagination. That was always present in D&D, but Cook really helped to illustrate that.
It's not perfect, but it doesn't have to be. It's enough to show it's possible. He's not unique in that of course, but he certainly stands out given his body of work and how much variety exists within that body for a single ruleset.
Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
I don't think we can ever go back to a "camp" James Bond.
It's hardly a new theory, but it's been pointed out that after Austin Powers, you can't tread that line anymore. It's a shame. The harder part is that, TBH, it's really hard to deal with the ... more problematic aspects of Bond from the past. The things that differentiate him from just another Jason Bourne/Ethan Hunt character (the drinking, the womanizing, the gambling, etc.) .... haven't aged that well.
Kobold Avenger
Legend
2e is the edition I started on, so I know what it's like when the system doesn't completely work out mechanically. Still, I think it was certainly the best edition for campaign settings in general.
Not familiar with Star Frontiers, but I do know that a bunch of the Star Frontiers races eventually ended up in Spelljammer under different names.
Planescape which is still my favourite, did have some weird story/game issues over Rowan Darkwood (the Factol of the objectivist faction The Fated) being a Ranger in the questionable requirement that one had to be of a good alignment to be a Ranger. That character was very heavily tied into the metaplot of the setting later on.
Looking into Zeb's other credits it includes Amazing Engine, which is quite obscure for things by TSR. I'm unfamiliar with that system, but it looks like TSR did try to make a bunch of unique settings for RPGs using that system.
Not familiar with Star Frontiers, but I do know that a bunch of the Star Frontiers races eventually ended up in Spelljammer under different names.
Planescape which is still my favourite, did have some weird story/game issues over Rowan Darkwood (the Factol of the objectivist faction The Fated) being a Ranger in the questionable requirement that one had to be of a good alignment to be a Ranger. That character was very heavily tied into the metaplot of the setting later on.
Looking into Zeb's other credits it includes Amazing Engine, which is quite obscure for things by TSR. I'm unfamiliar with that system, but it looks like TSR did try to make a bunch of unique settings for RPGs using that system.
Jack Hooligan
Explorer
2nd edition is where the bulk of all the cool, unique settings were born. I think there's only been one since then...Eberrron?
Ralif Redhammer
Legend
Yeah, not entirely, but I think Bond could go to a less po-faced, more light-hearted tone. The thing that gets lost in the following Austin Powers films is that the first one was satire, not just plain comedy.
Totally agree that past Bond has some ultra-sketchy moments. You could probably find just about every negative film trope in the history of Bond films.
Anyway, Zeb Cook... Star Frontiers was a fun game, though I never gave it as much time as Top Secret or Gamma World. The Isle of Dread definitely deserves its praise. Looking at it, in 1981, that it was an almost completely open-ended, non-dungeon crawl island, was pretty ahead of its time.
Totally agree that past Bond has some ultra-sketchy moments. You could probably find just about every negative film trope in the history of Bond films.
Anyway, Zeb Cook... Star Frontiers was a fun game, though I never gave it as much time as Top Secret or Gamma World. The Isle of Dread definitely deserves its praise. Looking at it, in 1981, that it was an almost completely open-ended, non-dungeon crawl island, was pretty ahead of its time.
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