Colin McComb issues apology for the Complete Book of Elves

[Remathilis]

I do expect an apology for the Doctor Who episode "Love & Monsters", though. Well, no I don't. But I think it was a poor episode. No apology required.

I don't need an apology for L&M, but I'm still waiting for an apology for Fear Her.

(And the End of Time, and 42, and the Idiot Lanturn, and Journey's End, and.. well you get the idea.)

 

[Nagol]

It's not an apology. It's a joke about a 20-yr old book. You're allowed to not find jokes funny.

So that means we're still expecting them to complete their commitment to the stretch goal? I don't think so.

The thing is this response is part of the marketing for a product that is essentially vapourware. The only thing I can base an impressionon on the product and the team creating it is how seriously and respectfully they work to complete their offered obligations.

Based on how this response to a stretch goal was handled, I's going to assume any other goal will be treated less than seriously and I don't like the light it casts to whole project in. Was it funny? Subjectively, yes. Was I impressed with the response? Absolutely not. Am I less likely to buy the end product now as I was before watching the video? Yep.

 

[Morrus]

Based on how this response to a stretch goal was handled, I's going to assume any other goal will be treated less than seriously

You certainly have the right to make any assumptions you wish. That's not an assumption that I share.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It wasn't the product that lost me as a TSR customer (that would have been Haunted Halls of Evenstar),

I'd like to hear more about this -- what was it about the product that turned you off? I really don't remember it; I think I cribbed the map from it for something once but that was the extent of my experience.

 

[Celebrim]

I'd like to hear more about this -- what was it about the product that turned you off? I really don't remember it; I think I cribbed the map from it for something once but that was the extent of my experience.

It was probably one of the worst products I'd ever bought. I won't say it was the worst product I've ever seen, because I've seen a lot of bad RPG products, but it was really really bad.

1) Supposedly being for 1st level PC's. The local village contained a fairly large number of 10th level NPC's occupying minor jobs like bartender and town gaurd. This raised the issue for me of what any one in the town wouldn't bother to go collect the very significant treasures from the local dungeon despite challenges which to them were trivial and represented little danger. It was typical Ed Greenwood DM PC's infesting every little corner of the world. Every spot required NPC's to outshine the PC's by an order of magnitude.
2) The Haunted Halls themselves represented very little content. Thirty-two pages gives us fewer than 32 encounter areas and perhaps a session or two of gaming.
3) The encounter design was primitive in the extreme. The dungeons was just a random collection of randomly connected rooms with contents unconnected to anything really. The 1e DMG random dungeon generator with only the mildest of guidance could have produced the equal of it. There was nothing here really that was above the level of quality I would expect from a 15 year old DM. There was nothing here I would have considered as an editor remotely publishable, except that there was a big name attached to it. I bought a product and got something that was not only below my standards, but would have been considered below my own standards 4 or 5 years prior. That to me was a complete waste of money.
4) Beyond the complete lack of refinement and skill on display, the encounters themselves where Monte Haul and munchkiny. I seem to remember that the 1st level of the dungeon for 1st level characters contained as a treasure a morningstar +4 (or something of the sort) and provided as a foe a Mummy. Challenge level and reward was all over the place.
5) The best thing that can be said about the whole book was 'Winged Housecats', and if that is your best selling point, then something is really wrong.

 

[Frostmarrow]

We loved this book. We had an all elf party. One bladesinger, I was the cleric archer and a third dude played a high elf wizard. Good times!

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

5) The best thing that can be said about the whole book was 'Winged Housecats', and if that is your best selling point, then something is really wrong.

LOL. If that's the distinguishing feature I see your point!

 

[Nagol]

The treasure is much worse than you're letting on. The mummy is wearing a necklace of 14 matched rubies worth 6,000 gp each; there's a luck blade with a wish; there's a magical painting worth "a small keep or 4 resurrections" if the party can get it to an appropriate buyer, there's a manual of stealthy pilfering (+1 level for a Thief -- worth tonnes of cash) and a libram of silver magic ( +1 level for a good magic-user ditto ) and much more besides.

 

[Celebrim]

The treasure is much worse than you're letting on. The mummy is wearing a necklace of 14 matched rubies worth 6,000 gp each; there's a luck blade with a wish; there's a magical painting worth "a small keep or 4 resurrections" if the party can get it to an appropriate buyer, there's a manual of stealthy pilfering (+1 level for a Thief -- worth tonnes of cash) and a libram of silver magic ( +1 level for a good magic-user ditto ) and much more besides.

Yes, all that crap. Seriously, I don't want to discuss it though. Whenever I discuss it, I make the mods mad.

 

[the Jester]

Yes, all that crap. Seriously, I don't want to discuss it though. Whenever I discuss it, I make the mods mad.

BACK AWAY FROM THE THREAD, CITIZEN!