Review the..reviewer

[Crothian]

And May sets a new record, even though I still have a few days left in the month I receved more books to review in May then any other single month since I started keeping track. Wow, busy June ahead......

 

[Crothian]

Back in the saddle again.

Okay, lots of catching up on reviews and that also means the skipping over of some books. I have a two and a half page backlog (I keep track of all my up coming reviews in a notebook) and there is no way I can really get through this all fairly. So, I have to go with the unfair way. That means not reviewing some of the books that don't interest me and not reviewing some of the books for companies I do a lot of reviews for.

Good news though I've started finding people to do reviews. You may have dseen the gerneating review thread in this forum or the PDF review prodject in the Main RPG Discussion forum. I've got quite a few people (more then I though) helping with reviews. They are not reviewing things from what I need to do in place of me. They are ghenerating reviews from comapnies that don't mind me giving away their stuff for reviews. My goal is simple: get more people doing PDF reviews. Hopefully, it will also serve to generate you money or new fans. I have no idea how reviews and sales gotogether. It is one piece of information I've never asked nor do I really want to know. I hope it helps you all out, but I can't be doing reviews thinking its going to generate money for someone. I perfer being ignorate and writing just to inform people how the book is.

As always, any questions, complaints, comments...post here or drop me a PM or an e-mail. Publisher reviewer communication I think is important and maybe we need more of it then what happens. But that's all up to you, I just review things....

 

[arwink]

I'll join the chorus of folks thanking you for organising your review project - the recent reviews of CGW products produced a spike in our sales for the month, particularly among the lost books line. For we small-time folk, that's a boon

 

[Crothian]

Thanks Peter.

 

[Rasyr]

Your HARP review, while informative, was less detailed than usual?

(I looked at this because I was once extremely fond of the I.C.E. tabless and used them extensively, but thought that based upon the free download it was rather clunky in terms of mechanics. Your review didn't confirm or deny that for me. Not that it has to. I appreciate the effort you go to reviewing.)

The basic mechanics in HARP are the same as in Rolemaster. A lot has actually been streamlined, and here on EN World, a number of folks who have tried HARP have said that they felt that it does play better than it reads.

Of course, at this point I would also like to point out the esteemed Teflon Billy even used HARP to teach rpgs to his daughter and her friends, so it has to have something going for it. (and yes, I am just a wee bit biased towards it).

While here, I would like to thank Crothian for the 5 star rating on his review of Cyradon (recently released setting for HARP). While I could wish it were a bit more detailed, I cannot really argue with the 5 stars, hehe. And no, I wasn't reading your mind about the adventure seeds and hooks, I just purposely made sure that there were plenty of places for a GM to hook into things (like the mysterious ship that attacked the Nagaral, the inhabitants of Selant, the mystery behind how effective the Ritual of Estrousal was, etc..).

BTW Crothian, don't you read the credits page? You missed the two EN Worlders listed as playtesters (only one has his EN World name listed though).....

 

[Crothian]

BTW Crothian, don't you read the credits page? You missed the two EN Worlders listed as playtesters (only one has his EN World name listed though).....

I don't really read playtesters.....Rich and Curtis, good guys

It was a tough review for me. Obviously I planned on getting it done like 5 days earlier then I did but I could not come up with sentances or something. The same thing with HARP, the books are good and I like them but for some unknown reason I have a tough time reviewing them.

 

[Rasyr]

Ace's review of Cyradon was good as well. He gave it 4 out 5, and then in the second paragraph states that it should be 5 out of 5 if using Cyradon with HARP! ROFLMAO!

That has got to be a first or something. He apparently reviewed with the thought in mind of it being used with another system, and then inside the review says it deserves a higher score if used for the system it was designed to be used with... Gotta love it!

But again, thanks for the reviews! And I am eagerly waiting on reviews of the other HARP products. Hopefully you have somebody already working on them.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

The basic mechanics in HARP are the same as in Rolemaster. A lot has actually been streamlined, and here on EN World, a number of folks who have tried HARP have said that they felt that it does play better than it reads.

Of course, at this point I would also like to point out the esteemed Teflon Billy even used HARP to teach rpgs to his daughter and her friends, so it has to have something going for it. (and yes, I am just a wee bit biased towards it).

That's very cool that TB is playing it and gave it a good review.

However, I think you missed my point and question as the consumer. I liked ICE/Rolemaster for the critical tables and the fumble tables. Looking backward, I remember that the rest of the system was clunky 20 years ago. If you're telling me now that the mechanics haven't substantially changed*, yet those fabulous funny "trip over an unseen imaginary deceased turtle" charts aren't even in the book - since no one has said that they are and they weren't even suggested at in the download - then I've learned nothing new. I still have no interest in the product.

*If you define "streamlining" as eliminating some of the mechanics that's good. But when I looked at the download, I still found a lot of independant processes and game mechanics that aren't integrated in the way 3.5 is. I *might* go look for TB's story hour if he has one, but that's probably not going to happen for a while since I know none of my friends want to even take a look at this 20 years later.

 

[Rasyr]

That's very cool that TB is playing it and gave it a good review.

However, I think you missed my point and question as the consumer. I liked ICE/Rolemaster for the critical tables and the fumble tables. Looking backward, I remember that the rest of the system was clunky 20 years ago.

Ahh... I thought you were saying that you thought HARP was clunky. Rolemaster (especially from 20 years ago) was very clunky. It got better over time, but not a whole lot.

If you're telling me now that the mechanics haven't substantially changed*, yet those fabulous funny "trip over an unseen imaginary deceased turtle" charts aren't even in the book - since no one has said that they are and they weren't even suggested at in the download - then I've learned nothing new. I still have no interest in the product.

*If you define "streamlining" as eliminating some of the mechanics that's good. But when I looked at the download, I still found a lot of independant processes and game mechanics that aren't integrated in the way 3.5 is. I *might* go look for TB's story hour if he has one, but that's probably not going to happen for a while since I know none of my friends want to even take a look at this 20 years later.

Makes me wish that I still had links to the threads where I went into depth about the HARP system.

I have tried twice now to answer your question/concerns, but both times, my answer has come out sounding like I am insulting D&D, and that is not what I am wanting to do. Could you possibly rephrase your question, or split it into several questions so that I can give you clear, concise answers without accidently offending somebody by coming across as insulting to D&D when I do not mean to be. (This is a problem anytime you try to compare 2 systems).

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Could you possibly rephrase your question, or split it into several questions so that I can give you clear, concise answers without accidently offending somebody by coming across as insulting to D&D when I do not mean to be. (This is a problem anytime you try to compare 2 systems).

Sure. Does the current HARP game have extensive, detailed critical hit and fumble charts like the original Arms Law and Claw Law? Specifically, are they funny? This sort of system purchase stands heavily on my personal nostalgia for something, and those were the best parts of the old system.