What happened to Gygax's Lejendary Adventures?

[ColonelHardisson]

OD&D and AD&D-- a GM type person who makes rules and interprets a rules light framework in order to make play work.

AD&D wasn't rules-light by any stretch.

 

[Treebore]

I didn't find LA to be like DnD. That would be like comparing White Wolf's Vampire the Masquerade with a GURPS gothic horror game. They might both be roleplaying games with similar niches, but they play much differently.

Totally agree. Very different in how they played. Especially with regards to magic. I don't think you can call LA magic "Vancian". Even with my Knight, yeah there were similarities to the Cavalier I played (Dugall Mcduff, 14th level) from the 1E UA, but the mechanics and skills were handled VERY differently.

 

[JohnRTroy]

Totally agree. Very different in how they played. Especially with regards to magic. I don't think you can call LA magic "Vancian". Even with my Knight, yeah there were similarities to the Cavalier I played (Dugall Mcduff, 14th level) from the 1E UA, but the mechanics and skills were handled VERY differently.

I think the Vancian part comes from the Memory Tablets required which hold your ExIT (Extraordinary Activations = Spells/Castings). You need to be attuned to them to invoke them (even if it's theurgic power). It's also more like Vance in that you collect spells and while spells are ranks, you don't gain them in a linear fashion.

 

[nnms]

My comparison or recommendation of just going with D&D was more about how basic D&D and LA were just system-lite DM fiat games. Where you have some rules and then the DM just fills in as needed. In the end, all traditional RPG rules are basically about whether or not you succeed and if so, how well and if not, how badly. They're all going to feel somewhat different, but in the end, LA is just another rules lite game with heavy DM focus for resolving things.

I'm sure it has some interesting particulars. It just never struck me as doing anything well enough to keep playing past our trial session.

 

[jdrakeh]

I bet [MENTION=13892]jdrakeh[/MENTION] has played Lejendary Adventure. I'll summon him here and we'll find out. If not, he has played a lot of Risus.

I have not played Lejendary Adventures (I have, however, read it long ago). Also, yes, I have played a lot of Risus!

 

[froth]

...that's what I was thinking, too.

Never actually looked at Lejendary Adventures to the best of my knowledge.

Brad

i know this is an old thread but i happened on it and wanted to point out that dangerous journeys has a basic and advanced version in the same book, you can pick up the rules in a few minutes and it is quite cool, pc creation is sort of like call of cthulhu and the epic of aerth book is classic

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Arise forgotten thread! From the depths of the grave I command ye to haunt this site once more...

Oh and yes, Lejendary Adventures is a wonderful RPG poorly edited and poorly marketed. Once you get through character creation the rest of the game flows quite well. Don't try to figure out character creation on your own, but instead take it piece by piece and you'll soon see how simple of a system it really is for all the complexity it allows.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I remember looking at it, seeing all the 'weird' jargon (no weirder than D&D, but I was used to that), and deciding not to bother with it. So he lost at least one potential sale by changing things just to change them. Familiarity may breed contempt in some, but in most of us its comfortable. Especially in the marketplace, but he never was the greatest businessman. (I think he'd have agreed with that?)

I could be wrong but I believe part of the reason behind his changes was TSR looking for en the smallest excuse to sue/grief him to death.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I could be wrong but I believe part of the reason behind his changes was TSR looking for en the smallest excuse to sue/grief him to death.

Well, that's certainly true too. I was just remembering him bouncing back and forth between 'rules as guidlines' and 'one true wayism' during the later TSR years. Which pretty much depended on how much control he had at the moment, I guess.