Milking the Old Ca$h Cow

So I went back to Gary's Games in Greenwood, and took a long, hard look at the new Tomb of Horrors. Like I said I would. This time withOUT laughing out loud.

Okay, so let's get some stuff out of the way. Despite the name, this is NOT the Tomb of Horrors. It is NOT a 4th edition conversion of the classic module or even a re-imagining of it. The book says so right up front, explaining that would be a disservice to both the original adventure module AND to 4th edition D&D (I infer this to mean, the potential for slam-bang 4E action).

No, WotC is simply cannibalizing the name of a classic adventure in order to launch something better called Die, Acererak, Die! or something like that. Or Acererak's Revenge. Or Return to Return to the Tomb of Horrors.

And I suppose that if one is going to milk the creative cash cow of yesteryear...by recycling classic villains (Acererack, Vecna), monsters (the 4-armed gargoyle, the floating skull), and iconography (the "green devil face" features prominently), you might as well recycle the original name, right? Easy identification in the reader's mind with the legendary classic.

But, hey, all disgust aside I have a much higher opinion of the work knowing it's NOT an attempt to re-do the original S1, "4E Style." It really is its own thing. So here's the skinny:

The book is 160 pages, but is actually 4 full adventures...a mini-campaign, really. 40 pages per adventure is still a lot, but whatever...that's just how 4E rolls.

There are several double page illustrations, so it's not just 160 pages of text. As with all WotC stuff, the production value is high (though actually I find the art less cool than some of the 3E/Pathfinder stuff)...but I generally don't buy books based on artwork/production value alone.

The mini-campaign is designed to take characters from 10th level to 22nd. The Animated Campfire Logs (yes, this is a "new monster," not a spell), along with its companion, The Animated Canvass Tent (yes, really) is a 10th level encounter within the 1st of the four adventures. Personally, I think 10th level characters have more dangerous fish to fry than that, but I play a different edition. By the final adventure characters are playing against "Aspects of Demogorgon and Orcus" (whatever that means), so there appears to be quite a range of critters.

[I find it amusing the campfire logs have a perception stat...I just picture a cartoon log looking around for a thief hiding behind a tree]

There are sidebar rules for making things more "challenge the player," suggesting things like making the game harder by not giving the characters "intelligence checks" to figure out riddles and such, as well as ways of making the instant death more permanent. Um...this is pleasing to me(?) I think...at least an acknowledgement that there may be more to showcase here than how to best stack one's deck of character stats. I mean, it's hard to imagine people playing 4E that way (if they wanted a game like that, wouldn't they play something different?) but it's cool that they present the option.

Regarding the adventures themselves...eh. It's a bunch of linked "set piece" encounters. It seems just fine. Really.

I honestly can't judge if it's a "good 4th edition adventure" or not. The stat blocks with their little symbols and such are mostly gibberish and it's not a priority for me to learn that particular game system. But several people devoted a lot of time to making the book, and it has a lot of pretty colors, and I respect the artistic effort that went into its production. While I'm not a good judge of 4E material, it certainly appears as though it might be a good buy for players of that edition.

[See? I can acknowledge that people play something I don't and may want to put money into accessories for their game of choice...and even that THIS might be a "good accessory" for the particular game called 4th edition D&D]

But in a lot of ways, it's yet another example of how and why 4th edition and Wizards of the Coast are a major source of irritation to me.

NOT because they want to design an RPG that plays like a video game. I think game designers should be able to design whatever they want, however they want, and I've seen plenty of poorly designed games out there, even some that I like (for example, Heroes Unlimited).

And definitely NOT because they want to make money...it takes money to keep those production values high and if their plan to deconstruct and reconstruct editions keeps 'em in business, I suppose that's fine and dandy. Eventually people get tired of it (I personally stopped purchasing Warhammer 40,000 products with the 4th edition and Games Workshop can go F themselves...). They're allowed to run their capitalist enterprise however they like and the market will either bear it or not.

What I DO object to is the use of the Dungeons & Dragons name and the use of its IP. Yes, they bought it, they own it. They can wipe their ass with it or set it on fire or make Saturday Morning Cartoons with it or whatever they want. But it really, really chaps my hide to see them pushing a game system that is so, so, SO obviously NOT Dungeons & Dragons. And acting as if it is. And pushing it on people who have heard good things about D&D and who want to try it out and then get saddled with this shit.

AD&D was not OD&D, but it was a complex version of it. AD&D2 was not AD&D, but it was a steam-lined, "kid-ified" version of it. D20 was an attempt to take AD&D into the 21st century, adding things found in the skill-based games of the 90's, adding back some of the flavor of 1st edition AD&D, and giving the thing a cooler/sleeker image...while still keeping a lot of the core and base assumptions and expectations of the RPG first published in the '70's.

4th edition is a different game. It is a DIFFERENT GAME. If I play Palladium Fantasy and have an elven warrior and fight dragons and cast spells, I am NOT playing a different edition of Dungeons & Dragons...I am playing a different game that bears a LOT of similarities to it, that obviously rips-off or draws inspiration from it, but is definitely, most certainly NOT it. It's a game called Palladium Fantasy and it functions much, much differently from the game originally created by Gygax and Arneson.

"4th edition" is superficially similar to D&D...yes, you can play an elven warrior, fighting dragons and casting spells. It obviously rips-off and draws inspiration from D&D, but it most certainly is its own game and plays much, much differently from the game created by Gygax and Arneson.

Calling this game system "Dungeons & Dragons" is disingenuous. It is calling a cow a horse. It is not a new edition...it is a different game. Just like Palladium. Just like BRP. Just like Burning Wheel or Death Dealers or Exalted or any other fantasy-style RPG published by a different company.

Yes, it has elves and fighters and wizards and monsters...so, too, does a shit-load of other RPGs. I salute game designers designing other games...I like to PLAY other games, or at least try them out.

But don't sell labradors and call 'em beagles. Don't try to pass off a minivan as a muscle car. Don't pretend that one is carrying on some grand tradition when what you're doing is using the IP you purchased to sell a completely different product. Like China calling some book Harry Potter in order to sell a book that is most definitely NOT written by J.K. Rowling.

There are new editions of a game and there is designing new games from the ground up. What WotC has for sale is a new game design. I don't know if it's any good or not, 'cause I haven't got around to buying it or playing it. But I can say for sure that it is NOT "Dungeons & Dragons."

The book called "Tomb of Horrors" looks nice. It appears it might be a good adventure for this fantasy game known as 4th edition. But it is definitely NOT Tomb of Horrors, and calling it such equates to false advertising, in my opinion.