Heroic Worlds a disappointment

Posts: 2938 · Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 5:47 am

Hi all---

My wife's wonderful family got me a copy of Heroic Worlds for my birthday recently, and I have to say, compared to the Acaeum I'm rather disappointed in the book. The level of detail is pretty light, there aren't any useful pictures, and there's very little apocryphal/lost lore info worth mining from it.

Are most of the other hard-core "about rpg" books like J. Eric Holmes' _Fantasy Role Playing Games_ (Hippocrene Books, New York 1981) similarly not-so hot after you finally get copies in your hands?? (I've got a copy of that on my wish list for Christmas, so if it's not-so-hot, I'd like to consider pulling it off before it's too late).

Anyway, anyone else experience this? Is there a difference between the pb version of HW vs. the hc??? Am I just a cad? Wink

Posts: 195 · Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:43 am

I have my copy of Heroic Worlds sitting on my desk by the computer. I can't say I have really read it, but it is a great reference tool. It is an invaluable resource when I am perusing eBay and see a title I cannot quite place.

Posts: 1007 · Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 4:45 pm

I have the book beside my bed;) Its a great reference tool, as McDuff says, great for finding out what an item is when you don't know. Also its great to find items that aren't listed, prob have at least 10? or so now, considering how many items listed thats not many out there that Schicks missed...

Brette:)

Posts: 1193 · Posted: Sat Nov 22, 2003 4:44 pm

It's a good reference manual and checklist for pre-1990 items.
I also have a copy on my computer table.
Some of the short interviews with designers are pretty funny.
My personal fave is from Steve Jackson about how games educate us:
Monopoly teaches basic economics, Scrabble teaches how to spell, and D&D teaches us to always remember to loot the bodies.
Gotta love it... Wink