Plans for Iron Heroes Review?

[GlassJaw]

WEll, now you need to decide against decding against it and write that review!!

That makes perfect sense! I think...

Well when IH came out, I made my opinions fairly well-known in the OGL board. Needless to say, they weren't very well-received by some of the more "enthusiastic" IH supporters. Also, since I'm a vocal and well-known fan of Grim Tales and Conan, I felt doing a review of IH could be construed by others as sour grapes on my part. *shrug* Since it is a Malhavoc product, I just wanted to stay clear of that altogether.

(Here's the short review: I'd probably give it a 2.8 out of 5, bumping it up to a 3.)

 

[Crothian]

Who cares about what the IH supporters have to say? Its only sour grapes if you make the review sound like sour grapes. Just write it.....

 

[Turjan]

I agree with Crothian, just write it .

I like to read dissenting reviews. If I see that the author bases his opinion on facts more than personal preferences, I can add these insights to the whole picture of the product. There is something to criticize in everything, even in good products. We're not dealing with holy cows here .

 

[ssampier]

GlassJaw, as long as you give constructive criticism (ie not just "it sucks", "it sucks big time"). Explain in detail why you think it missed the mark and give alternatives for similar type of gameplay (Conan or Grimtales).

 

[ThirdWizard]

Hmm... I would say that Conan and Grim Tales arn't the kind of game Iron Heroes was going for. Comparing the two might not be a totally accurate approach.

 

[tetsujin28]

Iron Heroes has a lot more in common with heroic mortals in Exalted than it does with either Grim Tales or Conan.

 

[ssampier]

I don't own any of the above. I was merely pointing out what the original person noted.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Wasn't singling you out. It's just fairly common for people to go low magic -> low power. And, Iron Heroes is most definately not low power, grim & gritty, or any of those things. Just thought I'd point it out. Here, I'll single out GlassJaw if you like.

Hey, GlassJaw. How's it going?
Now write a review.

 

[Turjan]

Iron Heroes has a lot more in common with heroic mortals in Exalted than it does with either Grim Tales or Conan.

I agree. Iron Heroes doesn't solve the "christmas tree" syndrome by just taking away magic and adjusting the spellcasting classes to the lower power level, but by ramping up the power level of non-casters without reliance on magic items. It's quite the opposite direction from typical "grim'n'gritty" games.

In a certain sense, I think that Mike Mearls fell for this fundamental misunderstanding himself, or else I cannot understand why he came up with the arcanist .

 

[ThirdWizard]

In a certain sense, I think that Mike Mearls fell for this fundamental misunderstanding himself, or else I cannot understand why he came up with the arcanist .

It was supposed to enforce the "magic is dangerous" aspect of IH which was part of why magical items are so rare. But, yeah. Not pretty. For more on that, see Mastering Iron Heroes, which has info on drawbacks to magical items. I don't have the book, though. I wanna check it out, too.