This is a fantasy world
designed by Jonathan; Caroline's brother. This world has a strong,
determined feel to it, none of the little people running around singing
or dancing, no picturesque Telly-Tubby land this one! Here the rabbits
would bite! It is hard working folk who till this land, nasty Barons
rule the feudal setting, Kings are talked about of course but do not
get to mingle with the general populace. This world is far more hard
hitting and tough than Tera Ease. Magic exists and Magic users' have
some prominence. This is however only my opinion of it thus far, as I
have only personally played a Varrannian twice before. I know there are
some very nasty hot spots on this world, and Good has its work cut out
trying to control it'self, let alone any Evil races.
Jonathan is a person for tables, and this world is his own system.
Jonathan loves detailed tables and charts, and does great amounts of
work in the areas needed for play to run smoothly. I have only one
gripe however, Jonathan is a good DM, in his justness, and ability to
make sure the players do not take advantage or go astray, but I tend to
feel the actual 'Role' playing a bit strained, this is a problem of
mine rather than Jonathan's. I am just too picky and find it hard to
realise that some people just do not like putting on voices or acting
in character, and just explaining what the characters do. I know many
people enjoy Jonathan's games, so I must be the minority here! Overall
it is a well thought out setting with many good qualities. Many facets
of the fantasy setting are highly realistic and work well. Well done
Jonathan.
This is Dave's world! It,
like Linda's below uses elements from AD&D, Rolemaster, and The
Systemless System, all rolled into one, all that along with a large
degree of ad-libbing. It again is a fantasy setting, in a medi-eval
style. Monsters and creatures abound. Goblins, Dwarfs, Elves, Humans,
Orcs etc, they are all here. The World of Raglan is a slayer's
paradise, a necromancer's playground and dragon's dinner plate. You can
never be sure just what is going to happen next. This is mainly due to
Dave's DM'ing technique, which to be honest, was not as good as it used
to be. I think the trouble is both Dave and Linda, have designed their
worlds in a good fashion, created a hotch-potch of rules to make it
flow but either have revised them constantly or not learnt them all
yet. Dave can generate a good setting and feel for the world only to
loose it by not being rational. All that aside, its a good world for a
novice player, or players who like a good dungeon bash, which is okay,
if you want that sort of thing. The other difficulty with Dave's return
game, was the player's (me once again included!). Far too many of them
for one thing, there were periods when some of the players just sat
around and got bored. This led to them chatting, joking about, and
generally loosing interest; once the thread of the game was lost, it
was difficult for us players to rekindle the essence of the game.
Still, we all did remain to the end and Dave's last game became the
reigning champion for longest running game at SELWG; 8 months no less.
This must of taught Dave a fair few things about large groups of
players and DM'ing skills?
Keep at it Dave, just do not let players get out of hand.
Linda's world alike
to Dave's in rules, style, and influence, is subtly different. It
appears less gung ho, but also less frightening than Dave's. Due to the
similarity in style and technique of Linda's and Dave's worlds, it is
difficult to find many differences between them other than setting and
place names etc. Both have the Orcs, Minotaur, Dragons etc. as well as
Elves, Dwarfs and so on, although Linda had Kender! Linda had her debut
at
SELWG in DM'ing and did very well indeed to maintain any semblance of
continuity, and there it is again, consistency is Linda's downfall. I
am sure with time (and after she has beaten me up for this review?) she
will overcome this problem; damage from arrows was widely varied,
magical fireballs altered their destructive capabilities often. Perhaps
that's how magic works; but this was not made clear. Her world is nice.
The towns and villages feel like typical fantasy AD&D style towns
and villages, the people she role played well, they had character if
not voice. So far I have only played on one island Kingdom, so my
knowledge of her world is limited. During the adventure there was
mention of other intriguing places, such as the Kingdom of the
Minotaur's, this does make me want to adventure to these places, but
only if my character can be sure as to how the physics of the world
work. Linda, kill more people when they act stupid, they will not thank
you but you will gain their respect! Many DM's when they start
DM'ing reluctantly, if ever, hurt badly or kill-off a player's
character. If this becomes
too common however, the players become senseless to danger, and Evil
creatures stop becoming feared and instead turn into experience-point
fodder. Nice try Linda, good effort but be more strong or the
characters become immune to your challenges. Use less players as well;
it creates a far better atmosphere.
This is Dude's world! Again it is fantasy, originally AD&D based it has gone
under a bit of a transformation recently. The AD&D system was dropped and
the Forgotten Futures system implemented instead. Dude is one for simplicity (as
well as drawing lots of diagrams etc.) and Forgotten futures is just that,
especially compared with AD&D. The Lands of Dual is a framework world, the
lands are drawn, magic realised, but many of the towns, cities, areas of
interest or trouble, even the religions are not. this is because Dude likes to
work Dual as a player orientated world (maybe he's just too lazy, maybe its a
clever idea?). As a player creates a new character or defines their history they
need to come up with, in minimum, an A4 side of history and notes and any places
created, any religions mentioned, family members etc. all can be implemented
into The Lands Of Dual. Personally I think without Dude's careful inspection
this could get out of hand. Of course you can ask to have your character come
from one of the many precreated places or worship a current religion. The feel
of Dual is the AD&D source material and scenarioes, but as Dude creates more
and players define more of the world then the feeling will change. This worlds
strength is its originality, but dude needs to get away from magazine orientated
scenarios and create his own, but to do that he has to get a better job with
more money and more time free...if you know of one tell ME! I still don't like
the idea of a man named Keybab and his twin sister Donna!
I am sorry if any of the above offend. If you would like to retort in any way,
review my DM'ing technique or any other matter, please let me know and I'll
stick it right here (or a suitable area like here) for all to see.
Readers should remember that all comments on these
pages, unless specified, are my own (David) and therefore are in my
opinion only. Should anything within these pages or on this site cause
offence please
let me know and I will endeavour to correct the situation to the best
of my ability.
The games, systems and backgrounds found herein are copyright to the
creator and
author, all rights reserved. Should any copywrite or trade mark be
broken, intruded upon or otherwise cause discomfort, I will after being
duly informed of such a
contravention be unhappy, but willing, to remove any item, image or
sound.
I wish to please!
