A
Anonymous
Guest
Anyone got it yet?
What's in it?
What's in it?
HD,
I got a copy of CE. Here's what's in it. keep in mind this is coming from an american not familiar with the source material, core book, and no interest in Traveller system.
Life in the Cursed Earth 9 pages about 5 1/2 pages are charts of mutations. basically an overview of what life is like. there is also 3 new skills listed.
places of interest 30 pages gives places three of them have drawings of them, wouldn't call them maps per say, to give you an idea of what is where. Also stats of people/etc. given associated with each place.
cults,gangs and other groups 14 pages basically what it sounds like
encounters and hazards 11 pages tabes to create settlements(3 1/2 pages) hazards, creature stats and rounded out with some personalities that could be encountered.
equipment 13 pages
beyond megacity one 4 pages of ideas to get out of mega city one and into CE.
Finally Cartell conection 13 page scenerio.
Art is sparse but is at least by the credits coming from the comic/progs. There is no map for the CE. This could be a plus or a minus depending on your point of view.
Overall I like it. It gave an idea of what CE is like but didn't give me needlessly or hindering detail and I feel I will be able to use parts of it even if I decide not to run CE as a whole. I image for those looking to run CE with Traveller it would suffice, especially for those willing or liking to create and make up communities and settings. The book gives you some, but gives me the impression that I could create things without necessarily messing up the setting. However again I've never seen a Judge Dredd comic/prog. I do have the assumption that there is only a little bit to a moderate bit of the CE detailed in the comic/progs.
Hope that helps.
I got a copy of CE. Here's what's in it. keep in mind this is coming from an american not familiar with the source material, core book, and no interest in Traveller system.
Life in the Cursed Earth 9 pages about 5 1/2 pages are charts of mutations. basically an overview of what life is like. there is also 3 new skills listed.
places of interest 30 pages gives places three of them have drawings of them, wouldn't call them maps per say, to give you an idea of what is where. Also stats of people/etc. given associated with each place.
cults,gangs and other groups 14 pages basically what it sounds like
encounters and hazards 11 pages tabes to create settlements(3 1/2 pages) hazards, creature stats and rounded out with some personalities that could be encountered.
equipment 13 pages
beyond megacity one 4 pages of ideas to get out of mega city one and into CE.
Finally Cartell conection 13 page scenerio.
Art is sparse but is at least by the credits coming from the comic/progs. There is no map for the CE. This could be a plus or a minus depending on your point of view.
Overall I like it. It gave an idea of what CE is like but didn't give me needlessly or hindering detail and I feel I will be able to use parts of it even if I decide not to run CE as a whole. I image for those looking to run CE with Traveller it would suffice, especially for those willing or liking to create and make up communities and settings. The book gives you some, but gives me the impression that I could create things without necessarily messing up the setting. However again I've never seen a Judge Dredd comic/prog. I do have the assumption that there is only a little bit to a moderate bit of the CE detailed in the comic/progs.
Hope that helps.
Nuclear Fridge Magnet
Mongoose
There is a fair bit going on at present with 2000 AD regards the Cursed Earth; Judge Dredd has been exiled there by a petty, vicious little scumbag who has blackmailed his way to be Chief Judge...
Basically, take Terminator Salvation, any John Ford Western, and a Mad Max film. Put in a blender and stir. The resulting smoothie should be Cursed Earth territory - just add a scabrous mutant or three.
Basically, take Terminator Salvation, any John Ford Western, and a Mad Max film. Put in a blender and stir. The resulting smoothie should be Cursed Earth territory - just add a scabrous mutant or three.
havercake lad
Banded Mongoose
Plus some dinosaurs.Nuclear Fridge Magnet said:
Nuclear Fridge Magnet
Mongoose
Dinosaurs are cool. Not counting Jurassic Park, which, if I recall, came out some time after the Cursed Earth epic established 'Sauron Valley' and recreating dinosaurs from fossil tissue...
A
Anonymous
Guest
Tal said:
That is very helpful, thanks.
havercake lad
Banded Mongoose
Got my copy Thursday.
Book is big on settlements and gangs, most created by author, with maps which is useful. All useful material.
Some of settlements and characters are 'retro' if GM is planning on a strict canon setting from 2032.
Felt book light on other material. Many creatures missing and nothing much at all on the circuit Judge , Long walker stations, labour camps, experiment stations and T-Towns of the Justice Department. Texas City and the Missionary Man source material is also unused.
Further details on weather, radiation, chronology would have been useful.
Re weapons~
No flame throwers or napalm throwers damitt, even with Slay Riders appearing !
Re 20thC bolt-action rifles, one shot weapons are more 19th. A typical US 20th bolt-action would be a Springfield with 5 round box, and I think one round to reload is more feasable than the 2 rounds in the table provided.
Judge White-Archives Dept.
Book is big on settlements and gangs, most created by author, with maps which is useful. All useful material.
Some of settlements and characters are 'retro' if GM is planning on a strict canon setting from 2032.
Felt book light on other material. Many creatures missing and nothing much at all on the circuit Judge , Long walker stations, labour camps, experiment stations and T-Towns of the Justice Department. Texas City and the Missionary Man source material is also unused.
Further details on weather, radiation, chronology would have been useful.
Re weapons~
No flame throwers or napalm throwers damitt, even with Slay Riders appearing !
Re 20thC bolt-action rifles, one shot weapons are more 19th. A typical US 20th bolt-action would be a Springfield with 5 round box, and I think one round to reload is more feasable than the 2 rounds in the table provided.
Judge White-Archives Dept.
Dredd Times
Administrator
I picked my copy up last week and will be putting a review up on Dredd Times as soon as I come back from the states.
In a nutshell though, its got a lot of gaming information as already mentioned and a full adventure thrown into the mix too. Some really great ideas and a couple that I didn't feel worked to well and some stuff I would have loved to have seen covered wasn't, but it is well worth picking up.
Marc
In a nutshell though, its got a lot of gaming information as already mentioned and a full adventure thrown into the mix too. Some really great ideas and a couple that I didn't feel worked to well and some stuff I would have loved to have seen covered wasn't, but it is well worth picking up.
Marc
Nuclear Fridge Magnet
Mongoose
Tie it in with Democracy Falls and your Judges could be out in the 'Wasted West' for quite some time.
Good thing there are still five K2001 Land Raiders in the Justice Dept. vehicle pool. :twisted:
Good thing there are still five K2001 Land Raiders in the Justice Dept. vehicle pool. :twisted:
Picked up my copy yesterday. Had a brief scan through and it looks to be a very good supplement full of plot hooks and places of interest. Well done Mongoose!
Now I know us Dreddheads have got all those lovely Archives to look forward too but what's going to be the next JDRPG specific publication? I'd like to see more adventures published personally - what do you guys think?
Now I know us Dreddheads have got all those lovely Archives to look forward too but what's going to be the next JDRPG specific publication? I'd like to see more adventures published personally - what do you guys think?
A
Anonymous
Guest
Yes, more adventures of the quality of bad moon please.
But even more than that a big book of one shots like the S+P ones..
But even more than that a big book of one shots like the S+P ones..
I was asked to run a Judge Dredd one shot on monday, ordered Cursed Earth on Tuesday, got it Wednesday, by Sunday I've written the scenario up ( as well as going to work and getting on with real life 
) and just need to spend a bit of time fleshing out the encounters and the locations and NPCs.
In short there's plenty of resources in there to enable you to write scenarios and campaigns - it's all fairly simply written and laid out, and I'd wholeheartedly recommend it as an essential source book for GMs interested in running anything in the Cursed Earth.
I'd also recommend reading the Cursed Earth strip from 2000AD again (it's published in the yellow comilation (#2 I think) as a lot of the book draws from this and it sometimes feels like you are expected to know some things - it certainly does help to flesh out the content.
What more could mongoose produce - the original Titan adventure was cool, maybe some space resources - see the Judge Child strip. Also Brit Cit, and the Black Atlantic might be pretty cool. As well as the other MegaCities around the globe.. things could run and run...
) and just need to spend a bit of time fleshing out the encounters and the locations and NPCs.In short there's plenty of resources in there to enable you to write scenarios and campaigns - it's all fairly simply written and laid out, and I'd wholeheartedly recommend it as an essential source book for GMs interested in running anything in the Cursed Earth.
I'd also recommend reading the Cursed Earth strip from 2000AD again (it's published in the yellow comilation (#2 I think) as a lot of the book draws from this and it sometimes feels like you are expected to know some things - it certainly does help to flesh out the content.
What more could mongoose produce - the original Titan adventure was cool, maybe some space resources - see the Judge Child strip. Also Brit Cit, and the Black Atlantic might be pretty cool. As well as the other MegaCities around the globe.. things could run and run...
Nuclear Fridge Magnet
Mongoose
There was one episode of the Judge Child epic -- set in the asteroid belt -- I think it was called "The Ghost of Echo Bravo 4". Basically the computer running a space mining platform goes all HAL-9000 on its crew. Dredd & co. get suspicious and check things out...
You could adapt the mining station from Traveller: Beltstrike, if you have it. But use those High-Ex and Armour-Piercer rounds with care -- explosive decompression can ruin your whole day! :twisted:
You could adapt the mining station from Traveller: Beltstrike, if you have it. But use those High-Ex and Armour-Piercer rounds with care -- explosive decompression can ruin your whole day! :twisted:
Ragnar Fisher
Mongoose
Massively disappointing, and hardly complete. Placing of named locations is still pretty vague, and canonical information is mostly very out of date (up to thirty years and more in some cases). None of the recent Cursed Earth material (from Origins and Tour of Duty is covered, so no Fargoville, no New Mutant Army, no Mutant Townships, no Eco Cities). No mention of MC 1's other Cursed Earth facilities.
Also light on geographical and climatic information. So no acid or flaming rain, no rad smogs (The Slough of St Louis, for example). None of the material from Helltreckers or Missionary Man is given any consideration. I appreciate that canon is tricky here, but there is great colour in these strips, and interesting geographical features such as the Omaha Rift, Sauron Valley, Bruner's Warplands, the Terre Haute Ridge and New Orleans and beyond. Helltreckers also introduces the New Territories in the Black Hills of Dakota - sadly also omitted along with other Cursed Earth stories like Wilderlands and others I've forgotten (including at least one Anderson story).
Now I realise I may be a sad pedant, but I like firm detail, and there's little sign of an attempt to codify the disparate information accumulated in thirty plus years of strip. And after thirty years of waiting, I really wanted to see a map. If this is what YOU want from the book, then you're not going to find it.
Fifteen quid down the drain, I'm afraid.
Also light on geographical and climatic information. So no acid or flaming rain, no rad smogs (The Slough of St Louis, for example). None of the material from Helltreckers or Missionary Man is given any consideration. I appreciate that canon is tricky here, but there is great colour in these strips, and interesting geographical features such as the Omaha Rift, Sauron Valley, Bruner's Warplands, the Terre Haute Ridge and New Orleans and beyond. Helltreckers also introduces the New Territories in the Black Hills of Dakota - sadly also omitted along with other Cursed Earth stories like Wilderlands and others I've forgotten (including at least one Anderson story).
Now I realise I may be a sad pedant, but I like firm detail, and there's little sign of an attempt to codify the disparate information accumulated in thirty plus years of strip. And after thirty years of waiting, I really wanted to see a map. If this is what YOU want from the book, then you're not going to find it.
Fifteen quid down the drain, I'm afraid.
Nuclear Fridge Magnet
Mongoose
Hmm. The problem with Dredd as a source of information is that it's an ongoing story. Things change -- usually without warning and in a cataclysmic fashion (Mega City 2, anyone?).
I can make the same arguments about the recent 'Tour of Duty' tales and how they relate to the slow reclamation of parts of the Cursed Earth... Which is why I've decided my upcoming Dredd campaign will be set in 2114. My Judges will have all the fun of trying to survive the zombie hordes of Sabbat -- on foot, and stranded in the middle of the Cursed Earth after their H-wagon makes a forced landing...
A map of the Cursed Earth? I don't know if such a thing is even do-able. Las Vegas caught a nuke fired by Judge Death. Mount Rushmore got moved so it could be a bigger tourist attraction. By the 2130s, the interior of North America is a hopeless mess!
I can make the same arguments about the recent 'Tour of Duty' tales and how they relate to the slow reclamation of parts of the Cursed Earth... Which is why I've decided my upcoming Dredd campaign will be set in 2114. My Judges will have all the fun of trying to survive the zombie hordes of Sabbat -- on foot, and stranded in the middle of the Cursed Earth after their H-wagon makes a forced landing...
A map of the Cursed Earth? I don't know if such a thing is even do-able. Las Vegas caught a nuke fired by Judge Death. Mount Rushmore got moved so it could be a bigger tourist attraction. By the 2130s, the interior of North America is a hopeless mess!
Ragnar Fisher
Mongoose
Nuclear Fridge Magnet said:
Why should the ongoing nature of the story prevent good source material being produced? There is (or was) plenty of scope for a chronology based sourcebook, where information carried the caveat 'last recorded data'.
Nuclear Fridge Magnet said:
Likewise, the war was sixty years ago. Reclamation should be taking place. Improving and changing conditions in the The Cursed Earth make the place more interesting and present a challenge to the authorities of MC-1. Why should that be a barrier to the GM? After all, the opening up of the Cursed Earth has provided meat for stories ever since it was introduced.
Nuclear Fridge Magnet said:
Then why attempt the thing in the first place? It doesn't have to be one map. Again a chronological approach might be the answer. The Tolkien Atlas manages to map a land which changes from a flat disc to a spheroid planet during the course of the narrative. I've got the bones of a map culled from my reading (and rereading) of the source material. It's time consuming, sure, but on the other hand, I don't do it for a living or have a the resources of a publishing company behind me.
I just think the whole project needed more effort to be put into it. Despite not actually playing the Traveller version, I bought a copy because I was impressed with it's quality, and by how up to date (in terms of canon) it was. I bought this book because I assumed it would be of the same quality. I won't be making that mistake again.
Ragnar Fisher
Mongoose
Shokker said:
Let's hope so. The three volumes so far have been very good.
