More Monsters, Please.

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Eisenmann
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More Monsters, Please.

Post by Eisenmann »

IMO, what ERP needs is a monster manual.

While I absolutely love toolkit type games I've been so short on spare time that it's tough to come up with the adventure and the creatures for when I do get to run a game.

Something like the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book would be absolutely perfect.
dancross
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by dancross »

Eisenmann wrote:IMO, what ERP needs is a monster manual.

While I absolutely love toolkit type games I've been so short on spare time that it's tough to come up with the adventure and the creatures for when I do get to run a game.

Something like the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book would be absolutely perfect.
I certainly understand the short on spare time! I'd very much like to see a monster manual, complete with art and cool seeds for adventure. The campaign setting also has some unique creatures and lots and lots of ideas for things to do...

I'll have a better idea of a production schedule after we get an idea of initial sales. The Quickstart ought to kickstart this machine again too...
StormPatriarch
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by StormPatriarch »

Eisenmann wrote:IMO, what ERP needs is a monster manual.

While I absolutely love toolkit type games I've been so short on spare time that it's tough to come up with the adventure and the creatures for when I do get to run a game.

Something like the Castles & Crusades Monsters & Treasure book would be absolutely perfect.
I agree mostly at first with this but I sat down and created a fodder footpad in 1 min and an exceptional creature in about 5. I would guess that this time is reduced significantly when you are used to the system.
Last edited by StormPatriarch on Wed Jun 11, 2008 7:39 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I am the soul of honor, kindness, mercy, and goodness. Trust me in all things." Corwin to Dara, The Guns of Avalon

"...I was the lesser evil." --Bleys to Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber
mythfish
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by mythfish »

StormPatriarch wrote:I agree mostly at first with this but I sat down and created a fodder footpad in 1 min and an exceptional creature in about 5. I would guess that this time is reduced signifigantly when you are used to the system.
If everyone who bought the game took 15 minutes to make 2 or 3 monsters and posted them on the wiki, we'd have more than enough monsters to get us through until there's an official monster supplement. :)
Dieter Zimmerman
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StormPatriarch
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by StormPatriarch »

mythfish wrote:
StormPatriarch wrote:I agree mostly at first with this but I sat down and created a fodder footpad in 1 min and an exceptional creature in about 5. I would guess that this time is reduced signifigantly when you are used to the system.
If everyone who bought the game took 15 minutes to make 2 or 3 monsters and posted them on the wiki, we'd have more than enough monsters to get us through until there's an official monster supplement. :)
Agreed. I need to put them in the correct format w/better descriptions before I can submit mine.
"I am the soul of honor, kindness, mercy, and goodness. Trust me in all things." Corwin to Dara, The Guns of Avalon

"...I was the lesser evil." --Bleys to Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber
Ze Groupe
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by Ze Groupe »

Yeh i agree, it needs a monster manual and or adventure...hell it just needs more....

What do i mean by that? Well the core system is sound and fun, but i have no idea why a company would release a new game system when:

1. The author wouldn't have regular/reliable access to the net for the first 2 months after its release,

2. The entire system has "official" stats for one monster,

3. It hasn't seen a single piece of downloadable "extra's" since launch,

4. It is obvious that the system/book wasn't viewed/playtested thoroughly by a wide variety of gaming groups as became very apparent in our first session. Yeh the game was fun but there were so many times when we had to stop and go, "so yeh, what happens now/here?".

5. Such a large errata for such a small book is confirmation of point 4 i think... :(

I'm not trying to sound harsh, but as the expression goes, strike while the iron is hot, and i think that almost 6 weeks of inactivity since the systems launch certainly hasn't helped to maximise the potential of ERPS. Truth be told i checked the web page almost daily for about 3 weeks, but after it became apparent not a lot was happening i stopped. :(

I really do hope ERS does well for GG and Dan, but i think we will be waiting for ERPS Revised Ed, which hopefully will see some of the issues that have been raised on the boards here fixed, and some more immediately usable content for GM's.

Over and out,

Ze Groupe.
dancross
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by dancross »

Ze Groupe wrote:Yeh i agree, it needs a monster manual and or adventure...hell it just needs more....

What do i mean by that? Well the core system is sound and fun, but i have no idea why a company would release a new game system when:

1. The author wouldn't have regular/reliable access to the net for the first 2 months after its release,
I had a personal emergency situation which forced me out of my home, and we are only now recovering. I had to live in a relative's home who had no internet...that is why I didn't have access to the net. I agree it was bad timing. My wife is pregnant with my second child due in July, I am a full time student, I work full time, and I have a two-year old running around. I think I did pretty well responding here all things considered.
I'm not trying to sound harsh, but as the expression goes, strike while the iron is hot, and i think that almost 6 weeks of inactivity since the systems launch certainly hasn't helped to maximise the potential of ERPS. Truth be told i checked the web page almost daily for about 3 weeks, but after it became apparent not a lot was happening i stopped. :(
I don't want to say anything negative. You seemed to enjoy the game. I apologize for the errata and the lack of material. What else can I say? I do have some people writing new material in the background right now, which is good, since I don't have the time. We'll have an article on traps, and we're working on a monster book, but I have no idea how long those things will take. I have no funding (I never did in fact), and now I'm broke, so what I can throw together must be from volunteer sources (which has always been the case).
I really do hope ERS does well for GG and Dan, but i think we will be waiting for ERPS Revised Ed, which hopefully will see some of the issues that have been raised on the boards here fixed, and some more immediately usable content for GM's.
(GG? Do you mean Randy?) What is it that you need that prevents you from playing the game right now? I've been religiously answering questions here. Is is just for lack of pregenerated monsters? Is the errata so much that the game can't be played (I can't imagine that's the case?).
Ze Groupe
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by Ze Groupe »

Heya Dan, i really think you may have misunderstood the intention of my post, so i'll clarify in the hope of causing less offense:
dancross wrote: I had a personal emergency situation which forced me out of my home, and we are only now recovering. I had to live in a relative's home who had no internet...that is why I didn't have access to the net. I agree it was bad timing. My wife is pregnant with my second child due in July, I am a full time student, I work full time, and I have a two-year old running around. I think I did pretty well responding here all things considered.
I agree, you did a fantastic job of answering all our questions, i really didn't mean to infer you hadn't, i was more referring to the lack of post release goodies, if that makes sense. You know, a few monsters, a little adventure, the little things that help seal the deal on new rpg systems. Now after reading your reply it is perfectly clear why none of these things happened, but as a gaming group we were completely unaware of any of the aforementioned things. :(
dancross wrote: I don't want to say anything negative. You seemed to enjoy the game. I apologize for the errata and the lack of material. What else can I say? I do have some people writing new material in the background right now, which is good, since I don't have the time. We'll have an article on traps, and we're working on a monster book, but I have no idea how long those things will take. I have no funding (I never did in fact), and now I'm broke, so what I can throw together must be from volunteer sources (which has always been the case).
We did enjoy our games...thoroughly, but that doesn't change the fact that there were a lot of bits we needed to "work through" or "wing" or "gloss over" which made it evident that the system needed a few more playtest sessions before it was released. I honestly don't mind the errata, it happens, it's more the fact that ERPS feels like an amazing system that wasn't quite fine tuned enough before it hit the shelves. I have no doubt we will revisit the system when it has a beasties book and some of the kinks/quirks ironed out . :)
dancross wrote: (GG? Do you mean Randy?) What is it that you need that prevents you from playing the game right now? I've been religiously answering questions here. Is is just for lack of pregenerated monsters? Is the errata so much that the game can't be played (I can't imagine that's the case?).
Randy? I just meant Goodman Games.

There is absolutely nothing that makes ERPS unplayable as written.

That however can be said of many rpg systems, and for us a system needs to be more than just "playable". We are a group of working, older guys (and a gal) who just want to sit down and play, we don't want to have to create every monster we want to use from scratch, and currently we can't even work out a way to use traps and other damage dealing devices (among other things) with the system as written (ie. utilising the DP's but not making skill check obsolete).

ERPS is great fun, i've said it before and i'm not afraid to say it again. Unfortunately as it stands there simply isn't enough information on a bunch of stuff that is important for us as a group for us to keep using it as our "go to" fantasy system.

So i do appologise if i came across as being rude or harsh Dan, because that wasn't my intent, i was simply trying to be open and honest regarding the game system.

Sincerely,

Ze Groupe.
dancross
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by dancross »

Ze Groupe wrote:Heya Dan, i really think you may have misunderstood the intention of my post, so i'll clarify in the hope of causing less offense... We did enjoy our games...thoroughly, but that doesn't change the fact that there were a lot of bits we needed to "work through" or "wing" or "gloss over" which made it evident that the system needed a few more playtest sessions before it was released. I honestly don't mind the errata, it happens, it's more the fact that ERPS feels like an amazing system that wasn't quite fine tuned enough before it hit the shelves. I have no doubt we will revisit the system when it has a beasties book and some of the kinks/quirks ironed out . :)
I'm curious...which bits did you need to work through or wing in your experience? I could address those things here.
dancross wrote:
(GG? Do you mean Randy?) What is it that you need that prevents you from playing the game right now? I've been religiously answering questions here. Is is just for lack of pregenerated monsters? Is the errata so much that the game can't be played (I can't imagine that's the case?).
Randy? I just meant Goodman Games.
Oh, LOL! I used to co-author some stuff with Gary Gygax, so the "GG" threw me off.
That however can be said of many rpg systems, and for us a system needs to be more than just "playable". We are a group of working, older guys (and a gal) who just want to sit down and play, we don't want to have to create every monster we want to use from scratch, and currently we can't even work out a way to use traps and other damage dealing devices (among other things) with the system as written (ie. utilising the DP's but not making skill check obsolete).
I can relate to that. A traps article in on the way. A beasties book is in the works!
ERPS is great fun, i've said it before and i'm not afraid to say it again. Unfortunately as it stands there simply isn't enough information on a bunch of stuff that is important for us as a group for us to keep using it as our "go to" fantasy system.
So you mentioned traps, monsters...what else?

So i do appologise if i came across as being rude or harsh Dan, because that wasn't my intent, i was simply trying to be open and honest regarding the game system.
It's okay, I started to feel defensive, but only because I've had a hard couple of months.

That darned Quickstart with the full adventure should be along any day now...(I'm waiting on the final layout)
Ze Groupe
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by Ze Groupe »

dancross wrote:So you mentioned traps, monsters...what else?
I think this thread ( http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/vie ... =35&t=4834 ) covers a lot of the issues we had in the first, second and third sessions.

Then this thread ( http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/vie ... =35&t=4839 ) details another core issue for us.

And finally a more "epic" way of dealing with Dual Wielding and Two Handed Weapons as discussed in this thread ( http://www.goodman-games.com/forums/vie ... =35&t=4830 ).

There were a few other little things, you know moments when players (or me) went, "hmm, that doesn't really work with that does it?", but i'd have to wait for the group to be here to remember exactly what they were.

Like i said above, the core is there, and it's fantastic, it just feels like it is going to need a lot of house rules/adjustments/playtesting to get it to a a more solid state. Then if you combine that with the content issues mentioned above (no published adventures, monster manual, or a way of dealing with traps), well as a group we feel that it is going to involve a LOT of work to play EFRPS in its current* state. I guess it doesn't help that as a group we've playtested 4-5 different commercially released rpg's over the years, so maybe we are a little more critical than most groups, non the less, i still feel some of our concerns are valid. :(

Sincerely,

Ze Groupe.

* hence the reason for the "we will come back to it when some of these issues have been rectified comment above. :)
StormPatriarch
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by StormPatriarch »

mythfish wrote:
If everyone who bought the game took 15 minutes to make 2 or 3 monsters and posted them on the wiki, we'd have more than enough monsters to get us through until there's an official monster supplement. :)
My first 1 is up.
"I am the soul of honor, kindness, mercy, and goodness. Trust me in all things." Corwin to Dara, The Guns of Avalon

"...I was the lesser evil." --Bleys to Corwin, Nine Princes in Amber
cjfodel
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Re: More Monsters, Please.

Post by cjfodel »

+
Making Monsters - I have no problem doing that. Been doing it sense the '80s playing Tunnels and Trolls. The people that I play with like that, because it is not the same old stock monsters.
The like of monsters didn't bother.

Traps- I make the like monsters, but the PCs use a disarm trap skill, with a number of roles to succeed. If they fail or don't detect it the trap gets only on attack roll.

Charles
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