Some Stuffs I Bought at GC
Aug. 15th, 2006 11:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebitterguyMy two big purchases at GC were Damnation Decade and Helios Rising. Big is literal in the case of that second book. 540 pages.
Damnation Decade is a d20 Modern supplement based around roleplaying in the world of dystopian SF films of the '70s, or at least the world that leads to those worlds. It's nearly perfect (the cybernetics rules? Called "Bionics". Schwing!) except for it fails the Justin Test. What is that test? Have something going on north of the 49th Parallel.
I mean, not only does it ignore it, it actually says that the melting of the ice caps caused all of Canada to turn into a large marshland. The Fuck?
Okay, yes, hard to have a dystopia when there's Canada, right? We always go and fuck things up by being 'a good place'. But what a cop-out.
Feh. Other than that (Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?) the book is very good.
Helios Rising is a Dawning Star sourcebook (the third release, although it was scheduled for later in the series). I've yet to penetrate very deep into, but since I liked Operation Quick Launch so much, it should be good.
Also got Operation Dead Drop, which showed how Otherworlds Creations killed d20 Modern.
Damnation Decade is a d20 Modern supplement based around roleplaying in the world of dystopian SF films of the '70s, or at least the world that leads to those worlds. It's nearly perfect (the cybernetics rules? Called "Bionics". Schwing!) except for it fails the Justin Test. What is that test? Have something going on north of the 49th Parallel.
I mean, not only does it ignore it, it actually says that the melting of the ice caps caused all of Canada to turn into a large marshland. The Fuck?
Okay, yes, hard to have a dystopia when there's Canada, right? We always go and fuck things up by being 'a good place'. But what a cop-out.
Feh. Other than that (Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?) the book is very good.
Helios Rising is a Dawning Star sourcebook (the third release, although it was scheduled for later in the series). I've yet to penetrate very deep into, but since I liked Operation Quick Launch so much, it should be good.
Also got Operation Dead Drop, which showed how Otherworlds Creations killed d20 Modern.
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Date: 2006-08-16 03:42 am (UTC)The Great Pendragon Campaign and Burning Empires both rank in over 700 pages.
I've had my eye on Damnation Decade since Origins ... my Game I'd Like To ... for Mother, Jugs, and Speed (http://waiwode.livejournal.com/380105.html) was largely inspired by DD. I don't know if/when I'll ever get a change to play it though.
Doug.
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Date: 2006-08-16 04:22 am (UTC)::B::
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Date: 2006-08-16 02:13 pm (UTC)The writing is confusing, one of the combat examples is wrong.
For "small package RPGs" HARP does it much better.
On first glance Qin is pretty good. It's the middle of my reading queue, so I haven't had a chance to give it the more detailed go over. In fact I won't get a chance to read it until September, due to military training for the next week and a half.
Doug.
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Date: 2006-08-16 12:03 pm (UTC)Not, you know, that I'll be able to get it till October... but still....
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Date: 2006-08-16 01:51 pm (UTC)Running this sucker without putting on a set of train conductor's overalls and cap, and laying out the railroad, is going to be a challenge, and Greg doesn't help with his "if the knights do this they're out of the game" sentences.
However it is still an awesome tome, and approximately two years of weekly gaming.
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Date: 2006-08-16 01:57 pm (UTC)Great Pendragon Campaign?!
Burning Empires!?!
Pirko, you bastard -- you mean you got your copy of BE before I, who pre-ordered, did? Grrrr... 8)
::writhe writhe::
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Date: 2006-08-16 02:20 pm (UTC)Doug.
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Date: 2006-08-16 03:11 pm (UTC)Burning Empires tempted me, but I couldn't justify it in the face of the stuff I was there to buy. I couldn't even get the module for Dawning Star.
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Date: 2006-08-16 04:16 am (UTC)'splain please! I'm most curious as I've found no on-line reviews.
::B::
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Date: 2006-08-16 03:04 pm (UTC)They also released an overpriced GM's screen and Solid!, the worst RPG book ever.
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Date: 2006-08-16 03:46 pm (UTC)Don't like something, great. But blaming it for killing d20 Modern is, well, stupid.
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Date: 2006-08-16 04:07 pm (UTC)B) It's a joke. Three shitty products won't kill d20 Modern, they will, however, suck.
I never had high expectations for FATAL, Synnibar, or Senzar. Hell, Senzar does a better job doing Heavy Metal roleplaying than SOLID did Blaxploitation.
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Date: 2006-08-16 04:16 pm (UTC)B) What's your problem with Solid!, anyway?
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Date: 2006-08-16 04:51 pm (UTC)I love Blaxploitation. I was really, really looking forward to Solid. What I got was not the book I wanted.
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Date: 2006-08-16 05:49 pm (UTC)Me rambling: I don't remember who posted the idea first, but I think one of the neatest ideas for using the Blaxploitation genre had to be Call of Cthulhu: Harlem '72.
First, it gives you some of the noir hooks ... for instance in noir and in early 70s Harlem many men are veterans of a "great war" and are suitably disenfranchised with the system. The Man, if you will.
Second, and unlike most CoC games -- the thing you're saving isn't vast and barely comprehensible like the world or mankind. It's your neighbourhood. Your street.
Third. The Man is definitely trying to put you down. For the count. Their evil goes way beyond rent control. The Man is playing for your Soul, and baby, if you don't got Soul, what do you got?
I've never done anything with it, but it's always been bubbling away in the crock-pot I call my brain.
Doug.
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Date: 2006-08-16 08:07 am (UTC)I'm stealing this. So you know.
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Date: 2006-08-16 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-16 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-24 03:30 am (UTC)Rob Toth here, the Damnation Decade guy. I just spotted your comment on my blog (apologies if you posted it a while ago). At any rate, you can find my explanation for the names in one of the GR design diaries:
http://greenronin.com/damnation_decade_devlog_entry.php?id=352_0_21_0
There's also a thread in the d20 Modern forum on ENWorld:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=169060
Thanks for picking up the game! Please drop me a line or start a thread someplace if you have any other questions.
Sorry for drowning Canada; I just couldn't have done the country justice. (Although...Trudeau-bots...hmmmm....)
Take care,
Rob