What's the big stink about Rappan Athuk Reloaded?

[Nightfall]

Tree,

Thanks for your support.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Why is it a great module? Simply because I like it. Thats all it needs to be a great module, for me.

See, that's the disconnect though. It can be a great module without being famous.

 

[Treebore]

OK, Shem, here are SOME reasons why I like it. It has Orcus and priests of Orcus. It can easily be tied into Tomb of Abysthor and now Bard's Gate because of this. There are several cool other evil NPC/monsters within the dungeons as well. There is a lot of "room" for the DM to add, to tie things together, to "customize", on top of just all the challenges Priests of Orcus can create and present. It, for me, is this really cool stew pot for me to mix to my tastes.

Don't run it as written. Take what is there and then just "imagine" what all those priests and creatures are doing with their time and resources. The vile evil of RA just grows from there. Tie it in with Tomb of Abysthor and Bard's Gate and other Necromancer goodies you got one big cohesive Orcus conspiracy going on, plus a whole bunch of other conspiracies, any of which can cause a lot of damage if not dealt with in time. It just takes on a life of its own very easily, which I like because for me those have been the best campaigns to run.

If your an old timer and liked Lost Caverns and the Tharizdun module I'm pretty sure you will like Rappan Athuk. It reminds me as kind of a combination of those two modules, plus there is no reason why you couldn't add those modules on to RA if you like how easy it is to update to 3E. Of course the odds of your PC's living will drop dramatically.

 

[Nightfall]

Well true but it can also be famous with out being great too.

Tree,

Thanks for the assist.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Voc,

Yeah but it also comes down to if you like to kill off a number of parties at time. Rappan Athuk isn't designed to be a "campaign". It's designed with the express purpose of challenging your players to think outside the D&D box.

If I wanted to kill parties, it's not hard. I simply run any party of first level characters through Bastion of Broken Souls or the like. It's easy to kill them. RA is random death in lots of places, at least from what I remember of the first module, and has more in common with video games where you find a trap by dying, and reload from save to work around it.

Others see it differently of course.

Barak,

And I'm not too fond of guys that think just because they don't know something, that it's propoganda. Propoganda is the belief that just because WotC stamped it, it's godlike. Propoganda is the idea that WotC can and does no wrong. That some how, they are immune to prosection for grammatic and statistical errors. Just ask John Cooper about things like Tome of Magic, Races of Dragon, or Fields of Ruin. It's spelled: R-A-P-P-E-N (SPACE) A-T-H-U-K. Thank you. <snip hyperbole>

Seriously, who said WotC had a lock on Famous DUngeons? If people say Undermountain, Greyhawk or Temple of Elemental Evil, that's TSR from way back (2nd edition, 1st and 1st, as it were.) The strawman attack on WotC's quality has no bearing on whether Orcus got a little over excited when he said famous.

I mean, it's not a huge deal, until folks come out to defend it as being "famous", by attacking other products.

 

[Treebore]

Tree,

Thanks for your support.

Hmmm. Don't take it personal. Its just a bunch of opinions on a messageboard. IF your feeling a need for support you need to go take some deep breathes before coming back. We both know we are fan boys, and thats all we need to be happy Necromancer gamers!

I mean think about it. Why do we keep posting? Because you and I really like Rappan Athuk and Necromancer in general. So we want to convince others to check out these products we think are so great.

However everyone doesn't have the same tastes, right? So we will only be able to convince those who are open to being convinced. The rest are no different than beating our heads against brick walls.

The only time I get upset is when someone tries to tell me to shut up, like about Castles and Crusades. They think (some people have) because they don't like the game that I have no business talking about it here on ENWorld. C&C is just as much a D&D game as D&D itself is, only better for what I want in a game.


So we just have to stay "even keel", say our piece, and not let anyone get to us to the point where we become offensive. That is why I just quit that thread the other week about Facilitative or adversarial DMing. I was letting it "get to me".

So just take a breather, buddy. Sounds like your in need of one. Be

 

[Nightfall]

Voc,

To each his own. I honestly felt the difference between Bastion of Broken Soul and Rappan Athuk is the fact that Bastion has little to do with enjoyment in my mind. Rappan Athuk is enjoyable but then again that's the difference between the two of us.

Tree,

I much cooler than I appear about my postings. Especially since that I got what I want in my life. Well most of it.

 

[Treebore]

If I wanted to kill parties, it's not hard. I simply run any party of first level characters through Bastion of Broken Souls or the like. It's easy to kill them. RA is random death in lots of places, at least from what I remember of the first module, and has more in common with video games where you find a trap by dying, and reload from save to work around it.

Others see it differently of course.

Seriously, who said WotC had a lock on Famous DUngeons? If people say Undermountain, Greyhawk or Temple of Elemental Evil, that's TSR from way back (2nd edition, 1st and 1st, as it were.) The strawman attack on WotC's quality has no bearing on whether Orcus got a little over excited when he said famous.

I mean, it's not a huge deal, until folks come out to defend it as being "famous", by attacking other products.

Talk about intentional disconnect! TSR is WOTC. Bought and paid for. Next your going to say WOTC isn't WOTC because Hasbro bought them.

Anyways, you don't want to see Rappan Athuk as famous. Thats fine. In 10, 15, 20 years we'll see if your right.

Irregardless, I own it, I own several copies of it, and I love it. That is all that matters to me. It would be nice if you felt the same way, but you don't. We'll both live just fine.

 

[Nightfall]

Agreed Tree. Live and let live. And enjoy Rappan Athuk by us.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Talk about intentional disconnect! TSR is WOTC. Bought and paid for. Next your going to say WOTC isn't WOTC because Hasbro bought them.

The arguement was that people liked current products because it's WotC. That doesn't really hold to TSR back in the early days though. If you want to say "people like Tomb of Horrors because there was nothing else to compare it to" or "Temple of Elemental Evil is only good because of nostalgia", that's different than someone pointing out that there are typo's in Fields of Ruin.

Anyways, you don't want to see Rappan Athuk as famous. Thats fine. In 10, 15, 20 years we'll see if your right.

It may be long lasting, but since the world will end in 2011, we'll never know!

Irregardless, I own it, I own several copies of it, and I love it. That is all that matters to me. It would be nice if you felt the same way, but you don't. We'll both live just fine.

Righteo. That was my point really, opinions vary about quality, but fame seems a bit different.

It'd be neat if the old PDF of RA1 was available for free for a limited time, so folks could sort of "preview" RAR. I guess with the print run of 1000 though, it isn't needed.