jasonw1239 wrote:Chaosium just posted an announcement for their latest foray into fantasy adventure for their BRP rules.In Search of the Trollslayer
I'll provide the same answer which I've provided to the Acaeum collector crowd (another vocal, highly critical site focused on our Dungeon Crawl Classics modules): if you don't actually play adventure modules, these adventures may not be meant for you. Please note that Pookie's review is not a playtest review.
jasonw1239 wrote:Goodman Games recently released their second scenario for Call of Cthulhu.(edit) Madness in LondontownIt was met with some bad reviews on yog-sothoth.com to which Joe Goodman replied.Joe Goodman's post.For some reason he used the Acaeum as an example in his post.Some thought that his reply had a bit of a dismissive tone.
jasonw1239 wrote:The eBay value of Secrets of New Orleans will also be going down.Dustin made the following announcement today about a reprint that has just been sent to the printer for a September release.http://www.chaosium.com/article.php?story_id=419
Badmike wrote: I wish Pagan would reprint a lot of their goodies.
JohnGaunt wrote:I never knew that Cthulhu is supposed to be pronounced KooLoo. According to S.T. Joshi, that is how Lovecraft wanted it pronounced.
FormCritic wrote:I followed the links and read Pookie's review. I also saw Goodman's first post that went with the review. I wouldn't call Pookie's review "bad." I would call it "nit-picky.".
jasonw1239 wrote:Link to poll on Yog-Sothoth about preference for elder sign.http://www.yog-sothoth.com/modules.php? ... opic&t=374At the moment:August Derleth's version = 42%H.P. Lovecraft's version = 48%Lin Carter's version = 7%I have always accepted Derleth's version, never having seen Lovecraft's version until I joined Yog-Sothoth.(The Lovecraft version had appear on the spine of a few Chaosium publications but I must admit that I did not know what it was supposed to represent).Pookie's review of the Goodman Game scenario was somewhat nit-picky.The one that Chad Bowser wrote on the Geekdo website was more informative since he actually ran it for his group.Some of the points that he brought up that provided actual gameplay information was:- The scenario apparently contains a large number of mythos monsters where most scenarios only have perhaps some cultists, a few minions and one baddie. One of Chad's comments was "It did in some ways seem like a Mythos hoe-down." - Gratuitous Sanity losses are built into the scenario including one for seeing yourself in a mirror.Despite the few flaws that Chad noted in his review he said that his players enjoyed the scenario. He mentioned that there were two character deaths out of five and that they got five hours of play out of it.
FormCritic wrote:I question the provenance for the Derleth and Lovecraft versions. Can someone document that those two men ever sketched out anything like that?
Have found peculiar soapstone fragment about six inches across and an inch and a half thick, wholly unlike any visible local formation--greenish, but no evidences to place its period. Has curious smoothness and regularity. Shaped like five-pointed star with tips broken off, and signs of other cleavage at inward angles and in center of surface. Small, smooth depression in center of unbroken surface.
Badmike wrote:However I do agree that Goodman's response seems to be overly sensitive. Totally understandable given the silly nature of the review, but still in bad form.Mike B.
red_bus wrote:I agree that Goodman's response was (surprisingly) sensitive. I would have thought that he would be responding from a position of confidence that can accept some player/reader criticism - especially considering the egregious fanboy grovelling you get on the Goodman games 'forum'. Maybe he just has a (paper) thin skin. I thought it was a bit of an embarrassing response for him.I disagree that Pookie's review was all about local geographical and cultural inaccuracies though. In fact he praises the module in a number of areas. To my mind, his most damning criticism of Madness in London Town is: a plot that is "linear in structure and superficial in nature". For those of you who play D&D and not Call of Cthulhu - the plot is pretty much everything in a Cthulhu scenario. The plot determines the atmosphere, the sense of horror, the pace of play etc.. I thought that Goodman Games' first Cthulhu adventure Death in Luxor also suffered from a poor and overly linear plot (amongst other problems).The first two Goodman Games Call of Cthulhu scenarios are not terrible. In fact, and so I am not mistaken for a one-sided reviewer, let me say that they make good if short pulpish one-nighters (after some tinkering and amendment from the DM). They remind me if anything of the thin Games Workshop and Chaosium scenarios published in the late 80s'/early 90s'. Part of the reason that they have got bad reviews is that call of Cthulhu adventure design has moved on from those earlier days. Much of the new stuff from Pagan and other publishers is sophisticated, surprising, complex, and imaginative. GG's first two adventures suffer a bit in comparison.These things are relative. The Cthulhu monograph adventures / sourcebooks are case in point, with some of the very highest quality and some of the lowest. I think that people were hoping for more from Goodman Games after the quality of much of their D&D stuff. Still, part of the purpose of criticism is to spur on greater quality next time. So this could be all for the good