Just curious, i do find the original game by Phage Press quite interesting if demanding of the games participants(purple prose and a good heap of skullduggery sound fun but when it comes to delivering on the promises..) and i have read the semi-new collection of stories(Neil Gaiman and Roger R.Martin participated). What i want to know is have any of you played this or is it a game which style is not to old school players liking. It seemed quite narrativistic in its approach.
I do know there is a new DCC Dungeon Crawl Classics Dying Earth coming out eventually. Gotta read a bit to find out where this community stands in regards to that system..
Regardless, has anybody here some experience with Dying Earth?
I was, up until your post, unaware of the Phage Press version of Dying Earth but as a fan of DCC I have been eagerly awaiting Goodman Games version.
Edited: an unhelpful auto correct.
I played it exactly once...it was fun, but so damn hard to keep up with the atmosphere. Everyone tried to use as ridiculously pompous language as possible and we felt exhausted when it was over. Might be okay for politicians and lawyers, though.
Quote from: Brad on February 21, 2021, 09:12:46 PM
I played it exactly once...it was fun, but so damn hard to keep up with the atmosphere. Everyone tried to use as ridiculously pompous language as possible and we felt exhausted when it was over. Might be okay for politicians and lawyers, though.
Genuine LOL on that one.
Indeed, the game is overtly an homage to the hyper-articulate heroes and antiheroes, so much so that there is a *game* in there somewhere, but it's subservient to a degree. Our group enjoyed the Demon Princes game, The Gaean Reach, much more. It is a slim and ultra-focused revenge game in space.
Heres hoping the DCC version will have the chops to make a worthy adaptation. The story by Martin was devoid of really ridicules amounts of descriptive language, it was mostly heavy on the melancholy and treachery. The style of this setting is a doubleedged sword when it comes to tabletop gaming imho, nobody likes to feel obliged while having fun. And yet, some requirements mean the players have guidelines how to proceed. Could one consider this a meta railroad? Not sure. Still, i woudnt mind having the free rain to ramble my way through the session and others having to endure it xD Of course they would have to return the favor.
Regarding Gaean Reach, i read the novels. The revenge in them was so leaned on i forgot the main characters name, he was such a nemesis monomaniac. The villains were more memorable, which seems the point of the game. The weird setting seems less important, even if quite interesting in itself, its implied rather than explained or laid out. I will remember the scene where the ''hero'' strides along a beautiful pleasure island, all beautiful people in white eager to cater to his pleasure and hes all clad in darkness and excluding menace, aiming at revenge, his only meaning. Was good stuff.
Yes, Gaean Reach "boss" was Quandos Vorn to give the players a target. The novels feature our "hero," Kirth Gerson (who would track down the five demon princes in the novels). Yes, a monomaniac indeed. My take on the name of this Sherlock/Bond mashup is "kill evil criminals"...
Phage Press or Pelgrane Press? I thought that the original Robin Laws version was through Pelgrane, but maybe Phage did an earlier one?
Pelgrane is the only publisher.
Phage did Amber and the Amberzine. Never did a DE.