Major(?) errors in Coming of Shadows

[Cthulhu]

Hello everyone. I don't know if anyone else has noticed this or not, if they have, I haven't seen anything on here about it.

The dates in the Coming of Shadows sourcebook are wrong. Starting with "Hunter, Prey" they all have the date as 2258. Before that, they are fine, 2259.

I didnt even notice until "And Now For a Word" Which has the date listed as August 6th 2258, but the first line of text is "The date was September 16, 2259" I can excuse the date, as it was an ISN recorded broadcast, but not the year, espically since the margin title is "Galaxy of 2259".

Looks like Mongoose needs some proofreaders

C

 

[Greg Smith]

The back cover says the book includes 'A complete guide on creating characters...', 'Full rules for engaging in combat...' and '...all the vehicles present in the galaxy'

 

[hassanisabbah]

Not actually major errors then? Just the wrong year. I think most people are aware that this book would cover that period, and think, hmm Typo ok move along, nothing to see here.

Regarding the back of the book, presumably within the context of that book.

 

[Greg Smith]

Nope several descriptions on the back of the book are the same as the Core rulebook, word for word.

But yes, no major errors. I am being a little anal, and will shut up now.

 

[hassanisabbah]

Could be worse, they could have forgotten to put the index references in all their product, as one well known publisher did.....

Mention no XX's..... :roll:

 

[Cthulhu]

Thats why I put the -?- in the title. Some people might think it is major, others not.

But it is not a typo, considering 1/2 the season is wrong. Not that I care one way or the other.

 

[hassanisabbah]

Thats why I put the -?- in the title. Some people might think it is major, others not.

But it is not a typo, considering 1/2 the season is wrong. Not that I care one way or the other.

Thats the magic - not to care but enjoy the pleasure of discovery

 

[Cthulhu]

I certinly wont let it stop me from reading and enjoying the books, or buying them.

Playin them, I dont know...that depends on my "friends".

 

[hassanisabbah]

Yeah I reckon its a pretty hot game personally.

 

[Greg Smith]

Well I wasn't going to buy it 'cos it was D20. But then I looked through the book and I was hooked. I've bought everything available so far. And then Season 1 and 2 on DVD.

We point out mistakes because we love the game and want it to be as good as humanly possible.

Keep 'em coming.

 

[hassanisabbah]

ah bless you. Its is good, sure it could be better, but then what couldn't. Its very easy to point at failings after the event, without considering the amount of work that must have gone in.

RPGs are not a business people go into soley to make money - even publishing poetry has a bigger turnover - and thats saying something.

For example Chaosium have been around since 1982(?) and published Call Of Cthulhu in 6 different editions. Each one has sold around 2500 copies in The English Language. It has printed off some 82 suppliments since then, each of which sells between 25-80% of those figures (with 2-3 books per year).

Games Workshop on the otherhand is worth about 4 times the entire roleplaying business as a whole. And they are still quite small on a publishing scale.

 

[Greg Smith]

ah bless you. Its is good, sure it could be better, but then what couldn't. Its very easy to point at failings after the event, without considering the amount of work that must have gone in.

RPGs are not a business people go into soley to make money - even publishing poetry has a bigger turnover - and thats saying something.

I know how much work, care and attention goes into writting RPGs, as I've co-written a supplement. And that was for free distribution on the net.

 

[hassanisabbah]

Well I wasn't going to buy it 'cos it was D20. But then I looked through the book and I was hooked. I've bought everything available so far. And then Season 1 and 2 on DVD.

Keep 'em coming.

Normally I'd agree on the d20 thing, but Mongoose do an exceptionally good take on d20. The d&d side doesn't appeal (I still prefer AD&D instead). But I think its a good and adaptable system in exactly the way that GURPS wasn't.

So far I have most the the Mongoose systems for d20 (Slaine, Dredd, B5, and will be getting Cyberpunk and MWWG) and they are all very well done. One of the reasons I like d20 is that my main campaign is Dredd, and I have found that a lot of material from other d20 games systems can be incorporated without too much hassle.

Though I have no intention of ever running 3.5 Edition D&D or buying the books outside of the PHB. Other games systems are fine, but all the stick d20 gets, is largely the same that White Wolfs Storyteller system got when it was dominant - And d20 is a much more flexible approch than the Shi*e Puppy....

 

[Anonymous]

I tend to agree with Cthulhu(the post writer). Typo errors really throw me off. When I purchased Armagedon, mongoose' mecha setting, it was awesome, and I found very few typos. I bought all the B5 books at once, and have discovered lots of typos, and I mean lots. This isnt the same quality as Armageddon(I am spelling it wrong?).
I also dont believe that it can be discounted and made acceptable simply because "its a labor of love" etc. These games are not inexpensive, and if they dont sell, the game will die. Now I could understand lots of typos if its an issue of meeting a dealine set to soon by someone in an office who isnt in touch with the creator, but lets face it, if a product suffers from too much errata, people will stop buying it, and it will die. "Coming of the Shadows" is full of errata. The Fiery Trial" was very well done. The main rule book had some bizaare bits of errata, notice page 196, first paragraph, describing Kirons marriage. I assume it means Kiron is to marry an old and extremely unattractive noble woman, but I am not sure.
For a game to survive in a market flooded with competition, I feel CONTENT and EDITING are absolutely essential. GOOD EDITING is noticed as well as BAD EDITING. EDITING shows another level of attention to detail, and enhances the CONTENT.
So as to a labor of love etc., shouldnt the editor love it too? :twisted:

 

[hassanisabbah]

If you look, you'll find and at the end of the day you should all be very pleased, look how much extra entertainment and fun you have got out of pointing out the errors. Think of it that way, and you'll be happier, why be unhappy when you can be happy. Its not that bigger deal.

Besides given the amount of time you'll spend gaming its cheap entertainment. I bought the entire dredd line, say for around £100 (ebay gods were kind to me), and GM'd it on average once per week for 10 hours, that 320 hours in total. Which is about 32p per hour, and for the other players it was free, but if we'd bought it between us, it would have been a staggering 8p per hour.

Not to mention the nights I stayed in at the weekend (Friday is an easy £30-50 and a little less on a Saturday) - And all I have to show for that is a sore head, hazy memory and occassional fumble with some equally wasted woman who'll probably not remember much the next day.

Even renting a video works out more expensive.

If anyone knows of a cheaper hobby then I'd be glad to know what it is



Generally RPGs aren't really that expensive its just they have small print runs, so need to charge more to make a profit. Its not a popular hobby after all (ok it was when I was a school, but since my 20's I haven't met a single roleplayer outside of a roleplaying event...) - Even at Uni (though I did give up for the duration, something to do with access to cheap drugs, drunken girls and all sudden popularity).

 

[hassanisabbah]

A much missed problem with Coming of the Shadows, is that its not actually all that good (imho) but rather is little more than a glorified (if detailed) episode guide. Which was not what I expected....

Not actually rubbish, but its very long winded, overly wordy and seriously boring in places. Its just a blow by blow account of each episode in minute detail and screen sequence. Ideal if you haven't seen the series or don't want to.....

The additional game material is very good, but if you own an episode guide, or would rather watch the series, then theres not a lot to recommend it. More of a TV Series suppliment, than a role-playing book

 

[El Cid]

It's exactly what I expected and wanted.

A great reference source to keep things straight along with role playing hooks.

I'd recommend it for GMs and players who are playing a historical campaign.

Sidney

 

[hassanisabbah]

Prehaps more might have been made to move the to the events occuring outside of B5 rather than reiterate what was shown on the series.