Monday, September 13, 2010

Cover to cover?

Would folks be interested in a multi-part section-by-section discussion of either the original Arduin Grimoire or Encounter Critical?  I'm thinking about something along the lines of Sham's forty part OD&D overview or Jamie Mal's look at the Holmes Basic rulebook in seventeen installments.  Though maybe I wouldn't need 17 posts for either book.  (On the other hand, I could probably talk about Encounter Critical for a lot longer than 40 posts if I wanted to.  I'm just not sure I want to in a systemized, page by page way.)

Anyway, let me know what you think about this idea in the comments, please.

35 comments:

  1. Personally, I'd love to hear your detailed thoughts on Arduin Grimoire - always one of my favourite sets of gaming books.

    I never thought Encounter Critical was a serious game anyway, but perhaps I've misunderstood what little I've read of it.

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  2. Your always insightful (or at least interesting) and fun to read. I'd love to hear your thoughts on either game, but especially Arduin, since it's something I don't have.

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  3. Another vote for Arduin here. Encounter Critical would probably be good, too, considering your obvious love of the game.

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  4. I'd be interested in either one. Encounter Critical captivates me, but info on Arduin would be of more practical use.

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  5. It'd be great to hear your take on Arduin.

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  6. Anonymous9:59 AM

    Jeff, you are honor- and duty-bound to complete a cover-to-cover analysis of Encounter Critical before 2010 is over. Remember that you declared 2010 to be The International Encounter Critical Year.

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  7. The other day I had a dream about acquiring many new volumes of the Arduin Grimoire. (In fact, I only have the 3 main volumes.)

    Seriously, I did! That is one nerdy-ass dream.

    Clearly this dream was a sign that you should review Arduin.

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  8. I vote for Arduin! I'm not as familiar with that game and would like to know more about it.

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  9. My vote is for Arduin Grimoire; I'd love to see a 'cover to cover' series of posts on this.

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  10. Anonymous10:11 AM

    I have never read one of those "cover to cover" series for very long, they always seem to drag. But somehow I think with a shorter book and your wit, I would enjoy something like that on the Gameblog.

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  11. My vote is for EC as a shorter warm-up CtC. Only when this hillock has been scaled should an attempt be made on the mountain of inspired lunacy that is Arduin (time, energy, enthusiasm, sherpas, etc. permitting).

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  12. Another vote for EC.

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  13. Love to see Arduin. Slightly less interested in EC, not because it's not cool, but because it's such a meta- thing. Arduin is worth looking over as a thing in itself, not a reference/commentary on a particular time/place/culture.

    Is that making any sense?

    EC reminds me a lot of "1963" or "Supreme" -- both readable as comics in their own right, but much better understood also as homages/commentaries on other works.

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  14. Do it. DOOOOOO EHHHHHHHHT!!!

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  15. Another vote for Arduin here.

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  16. Arduin please. EC is easy enough to get hold of & read through on our own; Arduin might take some doing.

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  17. I know next to nothing about Arduin, so a cover-to-cover examination would be interesting to me, but I have to say that the idea of an Encounter Critical series of articles is fascinating.

    So yeah, both please!

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  18. EC dude. You're the man for the job.

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  19. Anonymous2:09 PM

    The cover-to-cover pieces are my favorite things in the grognardoshpere, so I'd love to read one on both Arduin and Encounter Critical--but since I don't have Arduin, I will vote for EC.

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  20. Both make for some hella entertaining blogging, but I'm leaning more toward wanting to hear your blow-by-blow on that wacky pile of mess put out by Hargrave.

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  21. Arduin! Arduin! ARDUIN!!!

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  23. I like to see Arduin just because EC is way easier to get your hands on.

    Plus if you do Arduin then--if you do feel like doing EC afterwards--it'll seem really easy since it's so short.

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  24. If you do cover Arduin, you should defiantly cover ALL his Grimoire's as most people don't know how really great they are. There less about game mechanics and more about Hargrave's actual world. I'd even think about maybe even covering the Arduin Adventure ( which was sort of Arduin's version of a Redbox) and maybe even his Dungeon Modules. Even his two Call of Cthulhu scenarios have a very Arduinish feel to them.

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  25. ARDUIN!

    "Even his two Call of Cthulhu scenarios have a very Arduinish feel to them."

    Whoah...?!?!?! They have to be amazing!

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  26. Do both! You're not gonna stop blogging anytime soon, are you?

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  27. Whoah...?!?!?! They have to be amazing!

    Yeah, their pretty good. Both kinda have a dungeon crawl element to them. I once talked to someone who played with Hargrave and he said his CoC scenarios
    reminded him of the tournament dungeons that Hargrave created for the Arduin con's he hosted back in the 70's/early 80's.

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  28. I'm on the Arduin list. Loved what they added to the old school & hate what the "new" version ended up as... perhaps with your essays an "Old School Arduin" renaissance could occur as well...

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  29. I vote Encounter Critical as I imagine it will be much more entertaining.

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  30. I vote for Arduin too, but heck I'd love a Kitchen sink comparative lit type thing of Arduin/EC/Synnibarr.

    But I'd settle for Arduin.

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  31. YES YES YES YES YES YES YES

    Both.

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  32. Jeff, I vote for Arduin. I have those books handy and I could follow along... :)

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  33. I'm voting for the Arduin Grimoire as I've never been exposed to it and I've always been curious about it.

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  34. Arduin...I vote Arduin which is the original "encounter critical" of the D&D family!

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