Comments on: Capsule Review Week: Swords & Wizardry

By: Dirk R.

Dirk R. — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:53:15 +0000

Colmarr, your eyes don’t betray you. The cover is a little goofy with those funny hats and helmets and awkward stick-figury anatomy.

BUT…

It’s also very much in line with the goofy style old artists like Erol Otus worked in. And Peter Mullen is extremely talented in that he is capable of evoking that kind of association while having his very own, distinctive style.

This is probably my favourite cover illustration of any RPG I’ve ever seen (and as a former game store owner I have seen them all…)

By: Colmarr

Colmarr — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:25:17 +0000

My eyes are playing tricks on me. Is that cover image as goofy as I think it is? It almost makes the game look like a parody. .-= Colmarr´s last blog ..DMG2 Experience =-.

By: Wyatt

Wyatt — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:30:28 +0000

Of all the retroclones, S&W is really the only one I can stomach to play. It's just dead easy to roll up a character and get in there and the presentation of the rules (aside from the nagging voice telling you why everything's the way it is) is remarkably un-intimidating. That said I still wouldn't play it if I can help it. I'm pretty much the sheer opposite of old school. .-= Wyatt´s last blog ..I wrote poetry as a Dungeon Master. =-.

By: ChattyDM

ChattyDM — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:39:54 +0000

Thanks… however, I don’t plan to touch a 3.5 system for quite some time yet. Not that I dislike it, I just don’t plan to play any of them… although I must confess, that the noise for it is getting louder.

By: The Last Rogue

The Last Rogue — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:37:59 +0000

Loving the capsule reviews, am hoping to see one on Fantasycraft . . .

By: ChattyDM

ChattyDM — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:45:03 +0000

@TLE: You might be right, maybe I’m not the target audience for these parts of the text but I really don’t like seeing editorial content in my gaming rules. That’s the exact same reason why the Planescape Campaign Setting irritated me so much with it’s “you shouldn’t play it like that” tone.

I think that there is good reasons to write about S&W in the way that Matt did, but like the 1e books, I would put all of this in a preface, acting as a solid introduction to Old School Gaming, leaving the rest of the book to be 100% pure game.

@Will: As a free product it’s very hard to beat! And I agree that people who went to the trouble to downloading and reading it are already 80% converted.

@Taichara: So even old schoolers have noticed, I thought I was overly sensitive about the whole thing but it seems I’m not alone. Regardless, I think we all agree how good a game this is and the editorials are just annoying once, after I can focus on the rest and enjoy it immensely.

By: taichara

taichara — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:58:12 +0000

Amen and amen on the “author’s voice” in this book and the bad taste thereof.

I already play “old school” games and went to some considerable lengths to acquire a copy of S&W that wouldn’t burn a hole in my pocket (damn you Lulu and your international shipping, and blessings to the wonderful gent who helped me out!) to tinker and play with alongside my RC, LL and Red Box. The lecturing, almost-but-not-quite patronizing tone sours an otherwise lovely book, and I can only imagine what someone new to the older editions would feel when reading it.

Hopefully, indeed, a new edition might fix that up a bit.
.-= taichara´s last blog ..A Shout-Out and Heads-Up =-.

By: Will

Will — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:16:40 +0000

I have the same problem with the editorial tone, but I do like the rules system. Those reading Swords & Wizardry are already open to retro gaming and the lecturing tone is more a turn-off than anything else. The rules are well done, though, and a lot of fun to play around with. I also like the free PDF option. .-= Will´s last blog ..The Hershey Auto Show =-.

By: The Lord of Excess

The Lord of Excess — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:44:15 +0000

Good call man … good article and hopefully folks will partake of the free PDF of an awesome game!! I hear what your saying about the game being preachy about the virtues of “old school” games vs. “new school.” What I will say in response though is I think your the exception and not the rule. Clearly your a well read very intelligent gamer who thinks things out, reads and understands the designs of games. From my experience so many new gamers and/or younger gamers are verging on incapable of coming up with their own rules or modifications to games. Look at the ranting and raving raging across the internet between the 4E fans vs. the 3.5/Pathfinder fans … half of the comments are reguarding “well this isn’t in the rules or that isn’t” … so what if it isn’t in the rules, if you know its not in the rules and feel the need … go ahead and mod them up … sheesh. I don’t really care for $50 dollar rule books that are 500 pages due to DM/GMs being incapable of running a game in situations without rules. My reply to you aside … a second edition would be cool … especially if it came in a boxed set with old school dice and a white crayon that you need to use to color the numbers in … then I’d be in retro heaven