Buy Dangerous Journeys?

[johnsemlak]

I've noticed the Mythus Dangerous Journeys by E.Gary Gygax rulebook is available in ESD format. I'm thinking of buying it.

Any advice on it--did people like it?

I've looked seriously at very few Non-D&D fantasy RPGs, and I thought this might be worth picking up to broaden my mind, so to speak.

I've noticed that unfortunately the Aerth Sourcebook ESD is not available.

BTW, of note, Dangerous Journeys was published by Game Designers Workshop, which were based in my home town, Normal, Illinois(they closed a few years ago)

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I've noticed the Mythus Dangerous Journeys by E.Gary Gygax rulebook is available in ESD format. I'm thinking of buying it.

Buying it as an ESD is a bad idea. Try to buy it used, or from the bargain bin at an FLGS - it shouldn't be too hard to find.

Having it in book form is great - you can hit any of your players over the head with it when they get too uppity. It is nice and heavy, and will keep the player stunned for a few minutes.

Buying it as an ESD would defeat this use - the only use I could honestly recommend for it.

And I've actually played this game...

 

[johnsemlak]

LOL

That bad, eh?

 

[pogre]

Nope

One of my favorite review of DJ said it was the best game of 1980. Of course, it came out in the late 80s/ early 90s. The DJ books are OK, but I sure got sick of reading "Gentle reader".

 

[northrundicandus]

I actually enjoy complex games like Rolemaster, but DJ was ridiculous. Stay away. FAR AWAY.

 

[Felon]

What's NOT cool about a game that has 38 different ability scores (that's exaggerating, but not by much)?

And how about an elaborate character generation system that has you rolling up how many siblings you have, how many siblings your father has, and how many siblings his father had? You do want to find out if your the seventh son of a seventh son of a seventh son, don't you?

 

[Henry]

I own all three of the basic Dangerous Journeys books (Mythus, Mythus Magic, and Epic of Aerth). I fortunately got them for free from a friend at a book exchange program.

If you love and devour Gygaxian prose with a passion, Dangeorus Journeys is definitely for you. If you want an inhumanly flexible game for fantasy play, this product is for you.

If you want a game that is simple to learn and play, this is not for you.

As a general gaming resource, with thousands of useful concepts to drop into a game, this book is useful. The third volume, Epic of Aerth, makes one HECK of a fantastic campaign setting for fantasy adventure. (It covers everything, above, below, and even dimensions next door.) Aerth is in concept a heavily mythologically-influenced version of Earth, and rich in campaign content.

Gary, in a convention chat I had with him several years ago, said that DJ was designed to take all the work off of the GM, and put it squarely on the players. A player will have somewhere between 50 and 100 stats to keep track of, and sometimes some of those stats will have unfamiliar names and multiple permutations of the stat in question. Skill scores are called STEEPs, I believe, and a task's difficulty modifies your chance of success by a multiplier or divider of that score - the score is a percentage number.

Each character has a body, mind, and spirit score, and each of these scores has a subscore. I believe that, when all is counted up, a PC has something like 21 ability scores. It can be very difficult to keep track of.

That said, I wouldn't trade my books for all the world. The little pieces of ideas I gain here and there for other games are invaluable to me.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

character gen was a bear. and so was keeping track of all your spells if you were a dedicated spellcaster. But I think it was a good system once you got to playing it. I actually really liked it back when I played it. I'm more in favor of quick streamlined games now so I don't know if I'd still have the same impression.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

What's NOT cool about a game that has 38 different ability scores (that's exaggerating, but not by much)?

Well, the abbreviations for all those stats remind me too much of all the variable names I'm currently using for a computer simulation of human heart cells. They all make a sense of sorts if you look them up, but they are nothing you have an easy time memorizing.

Oh, and did anyone figure out how to calculate the mana points... sorry, heka points of a dweomercrafter (I can't figure out how to display these weird "ae" mix letters...)? I calculated something in excess of 1000 for mine, and I am sure I left a few out...

After playing DJ, I have vowed one thing:

I will only buy another book by Gary Gygax if someone hires a competent editor for him.

Preferably one with a big club. With a nail in it.

 

[thalmin]

I played in a demo game of DJ, and had a great time. Then I bought and tried to read the rules. Gary was (typically) quite verbose. I would read 3 or 4 pages and know that I have just read a rule, I just couldn't find it in a 1-sentence format. Or even a 1-paragraph format. I gave up.
There were a lot of good ideas in there, much that later ended up in 3rd Edition. Just too much to wade through, especially for someone with failing eyesight.