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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Doug McCrae" data-source="post: 9751976" data-attributes="member: 21169">Lew Pulsipher reviewed the rpg Tunnels & Trolls, unfavourably, in White Dwarf #2 (Aug/Sep 1977). His views are consistent with those he expressed in the "D&D Campaigns" series. T&T is too silly:The rules suggest that the referee include as much humour in the 'tunnels' as possible and that 'anything goes'. Humour is fine, but in a wargame it should come from the people playing the game, not from the game itself. Who can believe some of the idiotic jokes and messes one finds in a silly dungeon? Some don't mind, but others are bored out of their minds.There are no magic items and seemingly no standard monsters which Pulsipher considered to be a drawback.Another disadvantage is that when a player enters a world he must slough off all his ideas about the previous worlds he played in because they won't apply in the new. There are no standard monsters or magic items, so everyone must learn everything anew. This can be tedious at best, and at worst reduces the element of skill.Both of these criticisms are in line with Pulsipher's complaints about "anything goes" campaigns in "D&D Campaigns". In such games "player skill counts for little… players have no foundation to base decisions on; never knowing what to expect they cannot plan a rational response".The objection to the unpredictability of monsters and magic items is also in accordance with Pulsipher's points about the importance of information gathering spells:These rules enable players to have some control of the game. The most basic of all D&D player decisions is the decision to fight or avoid a fight. If there is no way to avoid a fight, for lack of information, players are hamstrung.Personally, I like the idea of there being no standard monsters or magic items in an rpg. In White Dwarf #37 there was an article called "Bloodsuckers" which I found appealing. It randomised every aspect of vampires, such as powers, vulnerabilities, and death modes. For me, getting to see the GM's creativity, in terms of content created before play begins, is very important and I enjoy exploring "strange new worlds". These are both aesthetic desires, I think. I also enjoy challenge-oriented play based on hidden information, such as the Dream Game Campaign. In this homebrew game, where dreams were treated somewhat like Gygaxian dungeons, we only learned that magic was real about halfway through the campaign.</blockquote>

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