i've fought the urge to buy these suckers again myself.  
(one of those sad mom-throws-out-all-of-your-gaming-stuff-when-you-join-the-Army stories...)

i remember picking up the first book, Arduin Grimoire right after getting my first blue-box D&D Basic set. (cause i assumed the recently released 'Advanced' version might be too uhh advanced...)  holy crap, that thing blew my mind.  i was all "wtf Phraints are like Bug from Micronauts!!1"  then "omfg look at the critical table, weeeeeeee!".

needless to day i ran back the next weekend and bought Welcome to Skull Tower, and thus began my salad days of Dungeons & Dragons with cybernetic Manticores and Phraint Mercanary Companies.  fucking golden, man.  i later got the monster cards and a weapons card pack, i think.

shit, now i want them again.

Quote from: WarthurArduin is the only game where you might get attacked by a tribe of orcs riding on flying sharks.

FLYING SHARKS.

Quote from: WarthurArduin is the only game where you might get attacked by a tribe of orcs riding on flying sharks.

FLYING SHARKS.

And the sharks are most honest than the orcs.

I have the three original booklets (reprints from Emperor's Choice). Hargrave seems to have benefited from not really having to worry about making a game that is coherent and balanced. He simply generated a ton of odd ideas and some really interesting imagery. The books are really well worth looking at as idea mines for other games. They have a distinct old school feel to them, and are almost eerie in how they evoke a time in RPG history when the creativity of the hobby was still largely fan-driven.

As an example of how deadly it could be, here's the overland travel random encounter mechanics from The Arduin Grimoire p1:

Frequency: Once an Hour

Chance, Daytime

•Open Terrain: 1 in 6
•Wood, Marsh, or Jungle: 2 in 6

Chance, Night

•Open Terrain: 2 in 6
•Wood, March, or Jungle: 4 in 6

Encounter Distance, Daytime

•Open Terrain: 2d12 x 10 feet
•Semi-Covered or Hilly: 1d12 x 10
•Forest, or Other Restricted Vision: 1d6 x 10

Encounter Distance, Night

•Open Terrain: 2d12 x 5
•Semi-Covered or Hilly: 1d12 x 5
•Forest or Other Restricted Vision: 1d6 x 5

Reaction (d12)

•Unintelligent Creatures

•01-03: Frightened off
•04-06: Hesitant and nervous
•07-09: Warily approach
•10-12: Unhesitating attack

•Intelligent Creatures

•01-04: Flee
•05-08: Stand around indecisively and debate
•09-12: Unhesitating attack

Surprise: Creature(s) within 30 feet and charging party is surprised.

Getting Lost (optional): 1 in 6 chance, roll once an hour

There's more on what is encountered and how many are encountered, but those rules are sketchy at best. Plus initiative rules (by dexterity).

Yes, the place was dangerous. No, it wasn't realistic. Except where reactions were concerned. Yes, there was a chance that adult red dragon would see your first level party, and run off in panic. None of this, "Adventurers coming. let's charge and waste our lives uselessly on their swords!" crap. As others have noted, very much old school, and sometimes old school was actually better than the so-called advancement.

Quote from: Dr Rotwang!

Neat image, Doc.  How did you come up with that?

Thanks!  Photsoshop 5, vivid memories of 1980s cosumer electronics and an Elmo DVD for my daughter to watch while I made the thing.