What's this about a plagiarized map in Conan: City of Shadizar?

[Fate Lawson]

Well Dennis Kauth is listed as the cartographer in the Spellbound book where the original original map first appeared. I believe he was the principle staff cartographer for TSR at the time.

 

[Piratecat]

I thought the original map was drawn by Anthony Pryor (original sketch) and Dennis Kauth (finished map).

If that's true, I'm wrong about it being his own work -- and we need to be even more careful about how we phrase things. Too much uncertainty, and I'd hate for someone innocent to get blamed because we jumped to conclusions.

 

[King_Stannis]

A quick Google search on Mr. Bunce shows him to be very prolific. Assuming this is what it is, and he (allegedly ) did this deed, it would be a shame indeed. This doesn't appear to be some guy out for a quick buck in the illustration/cartography aspect of D&D. He seems to have a wide body of work.

I am not that upset, even though I bought Shadizar. I know Mongoose will make amends. It's just a shame that a lapse of reason will lead to a guy not getting any work. Then again, maybe some folks will start to compare past illustrations and maps to see if they too are fakes.

One quickie - I keep hearing about the absolute mess the original printing of Conan was. I bought it last year but we haven't played it yet. I have to ask - is it really that bad? I don't care about typos. they are annoying, but I can live with them. But are there mechanical rules mistakes that were made?

 

[InzeladunMaster]

One quickie - I keep hearing about the absolute mess the original printing of Conan was. I bought it last year but we haven't played it yet. I have to ask - is it really that bad? I don't care about typos. they are annoying, but I can live with them. But are there mechanical rules mistakes that were made?

The mistakes are almost all typos. The game is VERY playable with the original printing. The Atlantean Edition is better organised, as well (for example, all the Corruption rules are gathered into one location instead of spread throughout the book as in the original printing). The map for the Atlantean edition is more accurate, also (it uses the Road of Kings map). The Atlantean edition clarifies a few rules, but I don't recall offhand any actual rule changes. The typos really did not affect playability in my games.

On a side note, the binding in the new edition seems to be better also. My original edition of the rules is essentially falling apart, but my Atlantean edition, which has seen much more use/abuse, is holding together nicely. I don't know if poor binding is common to the original printing, but this is an observation I have about the two versions I have.

 

[arkham618]

I think it’s great that Mongoose has promised to fix this problem, just like they fixed the problem with the original Conan book. But personally, I thought the problems with the original book were completely unacceptable. As I said above, I am floored by how nice and understanding so many of Mongoose’s customers are. You all are probably much better people than I am, and certainly much better customers than Mongoose deserves.

Absolutely. Mongoose has dropped the ball so many times, only a hardcore apologist could find merit in their products anymore. I've bought Mongoose products sight-unseen and had to give them away subsequently, knowing that I'd never be able to sell them to recoup my losses. The whole Babylon 5 line is trash, Armageddon 2089 is interesting but horribly executed, Conan was DOA (thank you Paradox Entertainment for not giving the RPG license to Steve Jackson Games this time around :\ ). Unfortunately, Mongoose has a knack for snagging cool licenses and then botching them, killing interest in the properties as RPG settings and denying other companies a chance to do them right. Sigh.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

Absolutely. Mongoose has dropped the ball so many times, only a hardcore apologist could find merit in their products anymore. I've bought Mongoose products sight-unseen and had to give them away subsequently, knowing that I'd never be able to sell them to recoup my losses. The whole Babylon 5 line is trash, Armageddon 2089 is interesting but horribly executed, Conan was DOA (thank you Paradox Entertainment for not giving the RPG license to Steve Jackson Games this time around :\ ). Unfortunately, Mongoose has a knack for snagging cool licenses and then botching them, killing interest in the properties as RPG settings and denying other companies a chance to do them right. Sigh.

Shame you're not reading the same books as I am, B5 is really good, Conan looks well done (don't own any Conan, but I own most of B5) and I don't see merit in your statement. Give it SJG?? There's a quick death in RPG-land (and I own and use GURPS time-to-time).

 

[Buttercup]

The whole Babylon 5 line is trash, Armageddon 2089 is interesting but horribly executed, Conan was DOA (thank you Paradox Entertainment for not giving the RPG license to Steve Jackson Games this time around :\ ). Unfortunately, Mongoose has a knack for snagging cool licenses and then botching them, killing interest in the properties as RPG settings and denying other companies a chance to do them right. Sigh.

I guess I think you should have included IMHO in this comment, because that's exactly what it is.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I guess I think you should have included IMHO in this comment, because that's exactly what it is.

No, no "humble" there...just IMO.

 

[Jonny Nexus]

The whole Babylon 5 line is trash

<PassiveAggressive>I'm a bit confused by that statement. See, if you'd said, "I bought the Babylon 5 main rulebook and it was such trash that I gave up on the entire line" then it would make sense as a comment, albeit one that was clearly an opinion. But your statement indicates that you've studied each and every book (of which I believe there are quite a few) which seems a curious thing for you to do - given the amount of time and money this would involve - if you really feel the material is that poor.</PassiveAggressive>

 

[freebfrost]

Though then again, now that I read in the thread that the map doesn't seem to be of a city like Shadizar, so maybe it should have been caught, for not fitting the author's description.

Just FYI, but Howard's original works never really described the city of Shadizar. The Mongoose team has done a great job creating something out of a few descriptive phrases and suggestions by REH, and literally made a city out of nothing.

I own the entire Conan line from Mongoose and recently wrapped up a campaign just to start a Conan campaign, so I've been very impressed with their work. Other than the few typos (and yes, I even have the original edition of the rulebook), their work is solid.