a huge number of gibbering evil creatures

[incandescens]

Gah. After meetings for most of yesterday, a quite busy day today, and I'm tired and have very little spare brain matter.

Have also resolved to diet somewhat. Expect future whining on this subject.

Astonishing how listening to an ill-natured whining session can persuade you to support the opposite point of view, whatever it is. No matter what it is. There was a thread on rpg.net about the Wraeththu game, which started off with a rather aggressive and vicious review and descended rapidly into back-patting and jokes. I've got no idea what the game's actually like, and suspect it may actually be a bad system and poor conversion, but just reading some of the discussion made me want to stand up and defend it on general unspecified principles. Sigh.

---

Signs of a turning battle include: a huge number of gibbering evil creatures charging down the hallway, the loss of party members at the front of the group and a continuing trend towards the rear, and the disappearance of any allied rogues.

-- Shadows of Undrentide Official Strategy Guide

Comments

[woodburner.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about conventional RPing really, but the Wraeththu game SOUNDS really interesting from what I read about it. I enjoyed the books, so.

[incandescens]

Indeed. I personally have nothing against it, and have enjoyed parts of the books, but have never actually _seen_ this rpg. The words "easy target for those who like to be wittily mocking" do come to mind.

(Of course, it quite possibly does have a bad system of mechanics for gameplay, but that's something which has happened to many good settings before now.)

[shiny-monkey.livejournal.com]

Wishing you much luck on the dieting. She says, as she resolves to do much of the same (sigh).

Interesting that they've decided to make Wraeththu into an RPG; I'd be interested to know what the gameplay is like, at the very least, and how well the world transits.

Stress-relieving vibes being sent your way. And some spare paladins. =D

[incandescens]

Indeed, sigh.

If I come across a copy of the RPG (well, at a reasonable price, anyhow) I'll let you know my opinion of it.

Thanks for the spare paladins. You can never have too many meat shields virtuous henchmen!

[shiny-monkey.livejournal.com]

Good thing about paladins is that they don't spontaneously vanish in the face of gibbering evil, the way rogues do =D

[incandescens]

Indeed! Their heroism is something which can be relied upon. (Fortunately for those of us skulking at the back and trying to get off a few spells, or circling round for a bit of sneak attacking at the back.)

[shiny-monkey.livejournal.com]

Or fleeing, depending on alignment and various other tendencies, yes.

[incandescens]

"Just hold them off for a few minutes while I, ah, regroup a bit further down the corridor . . ."

[shiny-monkey.livejournal.com]

"I promise to come back with a Resurrection scroll if anything happens to you, really I do."

[incandescens]

"Or duct tape. I know this really good cleric . . . er, no offence, Linu . . ."

[shiny-monkey.livejournal.com]

::waha:: Piffany rocks. Duct tape rules the world!

[incandescens]

Now if only I could borrow Artax's spellbook...

[incandescens]

Oh, and among my favourites - http://archive.gamespy.com/comics/nodwick/gamespyarchive/gspynod145.html

[nagaina-ryuuoh.livejournal.com]

Ehn. As badly as I felt for Gabriel Strange when he showed up on RPG.net Open and promptly got eaten like a baby zebra savaged by a pack of hyenas, I have to say that there was some legitimate criticism in the review, once you scraped off the snark. One of the friendly not so local gaming stores got the Wraeththu book in for the pure WTF value and I perused it, albeit briefly. It does not do its source material any favors in the setting department, nor does it do a particularly good job of making the Wraeththu themselves intriguing from a player character perspective. Granted, I didn't think the novels were actually overflowing with genuinely sympathetic characters, either, so that may have been the point -- but it's nonetheless kind of a deal-breaker for the average gamer in the street when the basic premise ("You're an androgynous flower-genitaliaed superhuman psychic mutant in a post-Apocalyptic setting! Oh, and as an added bonus, you get to be an utter bastard, as well!") doesn't really come across as all that encouraging to begin with.

[incandescens]

I do accept that there may have been some legitimate criticism in there, and indeed that the book deserved some. I just felt . . . well, 11 pages worth of critical postings in increasing tones of sneer would make me feel sorry even for some ff.net authors.

[nagaina-ryuuoh.livejournal.com]

True. The dogpiling was entirely unnecessary -- but telling that to Open is an exercise in futility of the highest order. There is, however, a fairly decent rebuttal thread up there now, where the snark does not lie quite so thick.

[incandescens]

I shall have a look at it later, when I do not have my boss in dangerously close proximity. ;)

[copperbird.livejournal.com]

I kind of liked the books. They appealed to my (very recently) post adolescent imagination, at the time!

I even had a crush on Thiede.

[incandescens]

I quite liked them too.