I have been taking snipes at some Role Aids items.  I recently got Throne of Evil and Monsters of Myth and Legend II for cheap.  I have been trying to find a reasonably priced copy of Throne of Evil since the late 80's.  

I sometimes wake up and remember to kick myself for not purchasing an original print of Demons at Goodwill for $0.25 back in the early 90's, but the topic scared me  8O  at the time.    

Mark  

mordrin wrote:I was always scornful of non-TSR product in my youth.  Now I'm more willing to consider other sources.  But the only Mayfair module I ever got a hold of and read was FEZ II(?).  Timetraveling anachronistic crap, so I never got another.

   Well, as a Judges Guild collector, it is hard for me to criticize the overall quality of Mayfair's Role Aids line.

    The thing is...and this is the thing...a lot, lot, lot, lot of TSR products were either useless, worthless or both useless and worthless...bigtime.

    I find it hard to get excited about most TSR modules because they so often fall short of the promises on the cover.

    So...and this is what I mean...the suckage of some Mayfair products was and is matched by the eternal suckmonsteritudity of some TSR products.  But with Mayfair you at least have something different to love or hate.

   Probably the most brutal suck-a-tudinal Mayfair module is The Keep.  (Time travel, movie tie-in, worthless maps, Nazis, no real adventure, almost nothing to fight, you name it...) It is also one of my favorites from Mayfair.  Go figure...I liked the movie back when and I really like the book.

    Then again, one man's sucktastic wasteland is another man's happy hunting/killing ground.  Giants is kinda cool.  So is Dark Folk.

    Some of the Mayfair products do not suck because of the sheer amount of adventure crammed into any given book....such as Dwarves, Elves, Dragons and Wizards.

Weill im totally unimpressed by the Mayfair range.

Ok, i'll I buy them cheap so Ive something new to read on the crapper?

But are any of them in the same league as the best other non-tsr stuff (the best JG, the Companions, Thieves Guild, Starstone, etc.) ?

Hell no.

So whats Mayfair's "Dark Tower"?

I mean, Judges Guild was so playful, and so ambitious in scope.

  Consider the first TSR module, B1 In Search of the Unknown, where  the adventurers explore a....dungeon.  Apparently Zeligar and Rogan decided to dig a very deep hole and then leave.  OK, fun, but....  

   Your first encounter with Judges Guild was likely to be a "module" involving the map of a sub-continental region where lust-crazed, towering amazons were likely to chase you to add you to their collection.  (Or so I remember it, anyway.)   

    Consider a game company whose first product turns out to be a huge city map featuring The Park of Obscene Statues.  This appeared in 1976.  Ponder this....    

(Consider also that the most recent re-issue of the City State was printed in 2004!  Talk about your meat and potatoes modules!)

    Mayfair didn't set their creations in a specific world.  They are more the dessert section of the RPG buffet....kind of like the angel food cake with chocolate syrup, or the Jello graham cracker crust instant cheesecake....or maybe the cinnamon rolls.  Hmmmmm.  

     You weren't supposed to chow down on Mayfair modules...they weren't slices of roast beef, or mashed potatoes with brown gravy mixed on your plate with sweet and sour meatballs.   You were supposed to add them to your tray like extra glasses of Mountain Dew or a huge bowl of soft-serve vanilla icecream.   

    That's what made the Mayfair boxed set of City State of the Invincible Overlord (complete with a one-sheet forward from Gary Gygax...which is never included when you buy it on Ebay ) such a nasty RPG surprise.  You put it on your plate quite innocently, and end up with a shock...much like the buffet consumer who takes a helping of lasagna only to discover he's accidentally bitten into a forkful of eggplant parmesian.  More like, City State of the Inedible Celery Stalk....or Bank Account of the Unexpected Overdraft.  

    But I digress...and grow strangely hungry....

    In The Days Before Internet, Mayfair was the source for those little adventuring extras and unorthodox monstrosities that are now available as free downloads online.  Once in a while you find a really clever and useable gem, even if you do have to bite into a number of creamy mint fillings to get to the one with nuts.

   OK...hot dog time.  

   I shall go, but....anyone with a Mayfair Dark Tower suggestion?

Mark  

Deadlord39 wrote:On second thought, maybe you have a point. No one would want to use their stuff nowadays, it's far too realistic. I don't recall them ever having a +27 flaming holy vorpal dancing sword of allslaying in any of their works.

  Ah, yes, but where else can you time travel to help and evil god fight a slightly less evil god in the midst of a pack of highly confused Nazis?  

As far as I know, they are the same company, but I do not know about the personnel.

    Interesting...no 3.0 or 3.5 materials.  

Mark  

Now, why would anyone start a new game company by giving it the name of an old game company?

   Sort of like naming my new country:  Prussia...just because I liked it when it was still around and I cannot think of my own name.     Or, naming my new island kingdom "The Soviet Union" because no one was using the name right then and I figured...well...it's got recognition!  

Mark  

mbassoc2003 wrote:A quick question....

Does Beastmaker Mountain come with pregenerated characters?
If so, are they meant to be in the book?

Is it just the book and the coloured folder? Nothing else (except possibly a flyer)?

I'll check both mine when I get back home ( bout an 2 hours ), unless someone finds out before I do.