stu 2000 mentioned on the thread ridiculous hypothetical, about a game called duel by crunchy frog. So I wanted to check it. So I checked around and On Team Frogs website I saw Vampire Hunter$. It looked interesting. They have a couple supplements too. Is anyone familiar with the system (Cinematic Adventure Game System) it uses? Can any of yall tell me about the system and or game? It looks intersting but I really hate to plunk down green backs on a loser.

The system is simple and fast, though mathematically quirky (it was widely criticized for this and I assume that this is why Crunchy Frog eventually abandoned the system in favor of Paradigm Shift). The game is of the action-horror variety with a neat back story and light humor in the core book. As supplements were released, it (IMHO) transitioned into a comedy RPG with light horror. The core book as a standalone game is great fun. Unless you like slapstick comedic horror, skip the supplements.

Paradigm Shift is an update of Duel. Duel used d5s and d10s, which I guess people thought was mathematically quirky as well, so they basically rewrote everything, using d10s and d20s. I think that was unneccessary, but really, it's essentially the same, so I can't complain.

Vampire Hunters is pretty cool. If you liked the book or the movie, and like the idea of sorta low-rent monster hunters, it serves the genre well. Similar to the show Supernatural currently, I guess. It's definately corny in places, and feels thrown together. But it's imminently playable. I've ran a number of sessions in the 90s.

The worst problem I had with the game was the layout. Normally, I'm colossally un-picky about such concerns, but VH could be difficult to read in places. If that turns you off, be prepared. CR released some miniatures for the game, and at least one sourcebook.

Quote from: stu2000Paradigm Shift is an update of Duel. Duel used d5s and d10s, which I guess people thought was mathematically quirky as well, so they basically rewrote everything, using d10s and d20s. I think that was unneccessary, but really, it's essentially the same, so I can't complain.

The issue was with diffuclty numbers, as I recall. . . ah, yes. . .

Quote from: Patrick ClarkThe difficulty numbers are broken, too. According to the Mechanic talent, putting gas in a car has a difficulty of 10. That means someone with no dice in Mechanic has almost a 5 in 6 chance of failing a simple fill-up. Having the Mechanic Knack improves your chances, but you still have a better than half chance of failing.

Granted, this is from a review of Hidden Invasion (the other RPG that uses the system) but the problem held true in Vapire Hunter$, as well. It's easy to ignore, of course but gives you some idea of what overall quality control was like (which also accounts for the printing issues that you mentioned, and which I had completely forgotten about).

Yeah. I just never called for rolls I thought were silly. One thing about the doubling the dice for the revision--you double the target numbers, and if you have something just mildly hinky in your design, you just doubled the effect of it.

Personally, I keep using Duel, despite having the Paradigm Shift, because I have a bunch of d10s numbered 1-5 twice, and if I lose those, I'll roll d6s and ignore the sixes. I have no problem with the dice or the math. Further, Wooden Suits and Iron Men is written for Duel, so it's easy to keep. I don't think they ever revised it for Paradigm Shift.

I mean--these games were part of the tiny, cheap wave of little games that came out before the full proliferation of the internet. I think I paid $7.00 for Mega-Duel, new, and $4.00 for WSIM. Maybe the best value for the money apart from the old, little CORPS. There was also Quags, Pocket Universe, TWERPS--all these little quarto editions that came in little baggies. All very fun for the money.

Quote from: stu2000There was also Quags, Pocket Universe, TWERPS--all these little quarto editions that came in little baggies. All very fun for the money.

On a slight tangent. . . unknown to many people, there are still crates full of original TWERPS material laying about unsold. Mr. Zocchi has not made any push to market it online (his exact words to me were, I think, "Why would I ever invest money in selling it online when I can't sell the warehouse full of product that I have printed?").

I often think of making an offer on the lot in an attempt to revive widespread interest in the game -- though I'm pretty certain that I could never do it alone. Still, I toy with the thought every now and again. The only two things that have kept me from making an offer are:

1. There are too many publishers, as is. I think that I'd be better off distributing it through an established publisher and I'd be very surprised if any of them had an interest in TWERPS.

2. Finances. It's not that I don't have money, it's that I don't have a 'real' bank account, so I tend to spend my money as soon as it comes in. I'm horrible when it comes to financial management.

Have you caught Lou's magic show? It's a trip.

I imagine a storage shed in Biloxi with hundreds of thirty-gallon drums of Razor-Edge dice. I hope the storm didn't wash it out to sea . . .  Those are still my favorite dice, sprue marks notwithstanding. Those d5s I mentioned earlier? Zocchi dice. He sold a lot of the kind of very useful utilities that people pretty much put up for free on the net now. I particularly valued the Astrogator's Handbook. TWERPS was cute and fun--an excellent advertisment, if nothing else, for the micro d20s.

Paul Lidberg at Crunchy Frog and Rick Loomis at Flying Buffalo Ken Whitman and Greg Porter and all those old guys must have some very interesting garages and basements.

Quote from: stu2000Have you caught Lou's magic show? It's a trip.

Alas, I've only corresponded with him via email, most recently when he was trying to file a patent claim a year or so back (he needed me to serve as a witness but due to numerous moves across the country and subsequent numerous changes of email address, he didn't track me down in time).

I'd buy a buncha TWERPS stuff whynot.  Hell, my daughter's gotta start gaming SOMEtime...

Lou Zocchi: possibly the mostest awesomerest personality in gaming:

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1386782

We mentioned Lost Worlds books in a concurrent thread. Here's Lou's working, playable Lost World book!

http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/zocchi.htm

That's how you know when you're a freakin' legend . . .

Quote from: stu2000We mentioned Lost Worlds books in a concurrent thread. Here's Lou's working, playable Lost World book!

http://www.flyingbuffalo.com/zocchi.htm

That's how you know when you're a freakin' legend . . .

Priceless!