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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Look What Came in the Mail Today

I spent the better part of this afternoon poring over the "Grindhouse Edition" of Lamentations of the Flame Princess Weird Fantasy Role-Playing and Zak Smith's Vornheim, both of which I was quite happy to receive. I'll have lengthy and detailed reviews of later, but my initial reaction, based on an admittedly cursory reading, is very positive. While I still retain a number of reservations about the tack Jim Raggi has taken with this second edition of LotFP WFRPG, I also can't deny that it represents a clear improvement over what was already a very good game. Vornheim, meanwhile, demonstrates quite handily that innovation in presentation is probably worth more than almost any other type of innovation trotted out to "fix" some perceived flaw in our games. Vornheim isn't at all what I was expecting, which makes its virtues all the more noteworthy.

Expect more on both these releases once I've had the time to read them more carefully.
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10 comments:

  1. GrayPumpkinApril 28, 2011 at 1:43 AM

    Looks nice. Looking forward to reading the reviews. And hopefully this means I'll be getting my copies soon as well. I have to agree about Vornheim reading the PDF I've been very impressed with how Zak taught the old city supplement dog some very cool new tricks. Also looking forward to second edition of LotFP, as I missed out on the first, though I'm currently on a Runequest/BRP jag so that will go on the back burner for nonce.

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  2. AnonymousApril 28, 2011 at 2:17 AM

    Good for James Raggi for not cluttering-up his game's book covers with needless verbiage. By putting small titles in the corner, he allows the art to shine.

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  3. thekelvingreenApril 28, 2011 at 3:10 AM

    I just read -- and reviewed -- Vornheim myself, and I think it's a great book. It will prove to be quite revolutionary, if the gaming community adopts it as they should.

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  4. mordicaiApril 28, 2011 at 7:06 AM

    Oh good! Maybe my Vornheim will show up on my desk at work today.

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  5. Aaron E. SteeleApril 28, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    You lucky b******. Perhaps mine will show up in the mailbox today.

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  6. RussApril 28, 2011 at 4:30 PM

    Color me jealous. I hope mine arrive soon(ish). :-)

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  7. OsskorreiApril 29, 2011 at 3:26 PM

    James, you're probably already planning on including this in your reviews but, just in case, would it be possible for you to address how much setting vs. game system is in the new LotFP?

    I like Raggi's stuff but personally I'm more interested in his scenarios, ideas of what WF is, the atmosphere he creates, etc.

    Thanks.

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  8. James MaliszewskiApril 29, 2011 at 4:33 PM

    James, you're probably already planning on including this in your reviews but, just in case, would it be possible for you to address how much setting vs. game system is in the new LotFP?

    I can say right now that neither this new edition or the original includes much in the way of a "setting." The rules are quite generic, though the illustrations in both, particularly the Grindhouse Edition, convey a slightly more early modern (16th-17th century) feel to them than, say, the pseudo-medieval default of D&D.

    I will be talking about this in my review certainly, but I wanted to make it clear here that LotFP WFRP is still very much a "generic" fantasy RPG, no different than any edition of D&D.

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  9. OsskorreiApril 29, 2011 at 6:57 PM

    Thanks for the info James!

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  10. OsskorreiMay 3, 2011 at 11:31 AM

    I ended up getting the PDF copies of both (they're available on drivethrurpg now). I'm a sucker for supporting small press efforts like this... and I'm sure it'll be at least as all the other RPG systems I bought, read, and didn't intend to play. ;)

    I look forward to virtually cracking it open

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