A
Anonymous
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Hooray! My groups been playing Conan as pirates since July waiting patiently for the Pirate Isles sourcebook to make it's way over the equator.
Now it's here I'm in two minds about it: Mongoose has done great things with Conan, some production values are great, the best I've seen in 25 years of roleplaying, and then there is the proof-reading. They reach so high and get so close. Some are stupid but forgivable, as they do not affect play, eg pg30 "Cargoes fall into one of four categories of rarity: common, uncommon and exotic." There is a "unique" catagory mentioned somewhere completely different in the book.
<edit> I originally wrote this as a rant about clarity and layout, but I cannot, in good faith, put that first. I must say again, I really like Mongoose's Conan. I have yet to try the narrative combat but it looks great, backgound on places, cargo, NPCs, feats, all good. This sourcebook is worthwhile to new and experienced gamers alike.<edit end>
Then there are the ones that affect the rules, like mutiny checks, pg12 "Whenever an event occurs (see Stuff of Legends section below)...."
the Stuff of Legends section lists many random things that could happen, is every one of these things, whether good or ill, an 'event' that triggers a mutiny check? Or is it only the 'Complications and omens' section - 'human originated conflict involved' D4 resut of 3 "Crew may mutiny"? Or is it necessary to cross reference every result in the stuff of legends tables with the Mutiny table on pg 13? Now wait a minute, the 'events' that trigger a mutiny aren't listed in Stuff of legends at all, they are listed on the mutiny table, under the title "Event", but there is no cross-referencing between these two, why not "Violent storms - may cause mutiny" Or is it if you roll "violent storms" and then roll "crew may mutiny" later on in stuff of legends that you refer to the mutiny table?
Why not say that in the section that deals with mutiny? It's endemic throughout the book, it gets halfway through telling you something then refers to another section, it's no wonder there is no index, it would have to refer each entry to multiple pages. But! you say, Stuff of legends is not meant to be a definitive list of things, it's meant for games on-the-fly, or tales to awe landlubbers. Let's go right back to the start of this rant, mutiny checks, pg12 "Whenever an event occurs (see Stuff of Legends section below)...." Why reference Stuff of Legends at all when there is no obvious reference to an 'event' that triggers a mutiny? The Mutiny table lists the events, simple.
Some parts of the book have logical progression and layout, others go completely to pieces.
My 2c
Steve
Now it's here I'm in two minds about it: Mongoose has done great things with Conan, some production values are great, the best I've seen in 25 years of roleplaying, and then there is the proof-reading. They reach so high and get so close. Some are stupid but forgivable, as they do not affect play, eg pg30 "Cargoes fall into one of four categories of rarity: common, uncommon and exotic." There is a "unique" catagory mentioned somewhere completely different in the book.
<edit> I originally wrote this as a rant about clarity and layout, but I cannot, in good faith, put that first. I must say again, I really like Mongoose's Conan. I have yet to try the narrative combat but it looks great, backgound on places, cargo, NPCs, feats, all good. This sourcebook is worthwhile to new and experienced gamers alike.<edit end>
Then there are the ones that affect the rules, like mutiny checks, pg12 "Whenever an event occurs (see Stuff of Legends section below)...."
the Stuff of Legends section lists many random things that could happen, is every one of these things, whether good or ill, an 'event' that triggers a mutiny check? Or is it only the 'Complications and omens' section - 'human originated conflict involved' D4 resut of 3 "Crew may mutiny"? Or is it necessary to cross reference every result in the stuff of legends tables with the Mutiny table on pg 13? Now wait a minute, the 'events' that trigger a mutiny aren't listed in Stuff of legends at all, they are listed on the mutiny table, under the title "Event", but there is no cross-referencing between these two, why not "Violent storms - may cause mutiny" Or is it if you roll "violent storms" and then roll "crew may mutiny" later on in stuff of legends that you refer to the mutiny table?
Why not say that in the section that deals with mutiny? It's endemic throughout the book, it gets halfway through telling you something then refers to another section, it's no wonder there is no index, it would have to refer each entry to multiple pages. But! you say, Stuff of legends is not meant to be a definitive list of things, it's meant for games on-the-fly, or tales to awe landlubbers. Let's go right back to the start of this rant, mutiny checks, pg12 "Whenever an event occurs (see Stuff of Legends section below)...." Why reference Stuff of Legends at all when there is no obvious reference to an 'event' that triggers a mutiny? The Mutiny table lists the events, simple.
Some parts of the book have logical progression and layout, others go completely to pieces.
My 2c
Steve
