If you can get the original Discovery Games version instead of the AH, do it.

And last GenCon Dave Wesley and Ross Maker were talking about rereleasing it.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1015338If you can get the original Discovery Games version instead of the AH, do it.

Why, what is the difference?

I'll have to look at mine and see which it is.

The original Discovery Games edition was published by the authors and is much less elaborately packaged.  I simply prefer it to the glitzier AH version.

Very true. The Discovery version looks like this.



and the Avalon version like this.



And if you can find them, Blue Moon's 15mm jungle explorer minis are great pawns for this.

As for Source of the Nile's system. Its actually fairly smooth. Draw a card, check the first number to see if it points to a mapped or blank space, then the second. If the first or second has been mapped then use it for the new space. If both numbers point to blanks then the new space is whatever the card indicates. So like 16 Lake would tell you to check direction 1 and 6 and if either was blank then place a lake here. Then additional rules for features in the hex and all the travel logistics. It can plug fairly easily into say a Call of Cthulhu campaign thats jungle explorer oriented.

Though I still prefer Gary's system from the AD&D DMG.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1015277Eight beers.

GaryCon is looking better and better.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1015383The original Discovery Games edition was published by the authors and is much less elaborately packaged.  I simply prefer it to the glitzier AH version.

So the recommendation is based solely on packaging, no rules differences?

Quote from: Dumarest;1015456So the recommendation is based solely on packaging, no rules differences?

I honestly don't know, I've never compared them.  The authors run their con games using the original system.  Ross Maker and Dave Wesley are both on Facebook, if you really care you can ask them.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1015466I honestly don't know, I've never compared them.  The authors run their con games using the original system.  Ross Maker and Dave Wesley are both on Facebook, if you really care you can ask them.

The Discovery version uses dice and tables. The AH version uses cards and some rules changed to accommodate that.

QuoteOriginally published by Discovery Games and re-published by Avalon Hill as a more card-based rather than dice-based system. A form of the original rules are preserved in the AH rules book under the rubric "Game II".

The rules to the AH version have a serious glitch in sections 12.61 - 12.63 where the die roll modifiers for guides and proceeding cautiously are reversed.

The AH section II states that the AH version is more focused on the rewards while the Discovery version is more focused on exploration and discovery. and notes that the dice method gives a totally random gameplay whereas the deck does not.

So really good of AH to include the original rules. Really just a conversion system to return it to a dice based system since otherwise the two seem to be the same game. The board didnt change much at all.

Wow.  Good on AH for including the original rules.

In Vance's "Dying Earth" volume "Rhialto the Marvelous," several high level wizards travel through space and time in a mansion encapsulated in a crystal globe.  I've been noodling around with a version of "Source of the Nile" where you are the minions of a high level wizard exploring a whole planet, not just a continent.  And then after that game is done, there's your D&D world.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1015466I honestly don't know, I've never compared them.  The authors run their con games using the original system.  Ross Maker and Dave Wesley are both on Facebook, if you really care you can ask them.

Someday if I ever go on Facebook...

Quote from: Omega;1015505The Discovery version uses dice and tables. The AH version uses cards and some rules changed to accommodate that.



The AH section II states that the AH version is more focused on the rewards while the Giscovery version is more focused on exploration and discovery. and notes that the dice method gives a totally random gameplay whereas the deck does not.

So really good of AH to include the original rules. Really just a conversion system to return it to a dice based system since otherwise the two seem to be the same game. The board didnt change much at all.

Cool, I don't think I ever noticed that. I have the Avalon Hill box.

I don't have Source of the Nile. I bought Outdoor Survival when I was twelve or something. It came up in conversation at Avalon Hill one day and I mentioned that I had it and Ben Knight and Don Greenwood both laughed out loud. "What a dog of a game!"

It definitely served better as a generic campaign world map than its original intent.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1015507Wow.  Good on AH for including the original rules.

In Vance's "Dying Earth" volume "Rhialto the Marvelous," several high level wizards travel through space and time in a mansion encapsulated in a crystal globe.  I've been noodling around with a version of "Source of the Nile" where you are the minions of a high level wizard exploring a whole planet, not just a continent.  And then after that game is done, there's your D&D world.

Tony dowlers "How to Host a Dungeon" had a similar idea. Except it generates an underworld with a history that develops over the course. Creates a side on map. Only a region but I thought of linking several together.

Source of the Nile or Gary's wilderness gen system certainly are viable for building a self generating map. I think there is also a planet map system in Universe that maps to an icosahedron. Something like this.

My DCC world has been growing organically as I just add in  a new chunk of it (on land, in the air, underground, or in other planes) when none of the existing places fit where the PCs are going or what they're doing.

Of course, that's easy in Gonzo, where things always must make sense, but can Make Sense Retroactively.

Also, it's easy with Last Sun because the world is absolutely gigantic. Just enormous, because its a Dyson Sphere.