A Murder Most Foul (Jeff Simpson)
An "experiment" for Seven Voyages of Zylarthen
I am reviewing these in the order they were submitted. For my review criteria, please check out this post. All reviews will (probably) contain *SPOILERS*; you have been warned! Because these are short (two page) adventures, it is my intention to keep the reviews brief.
This year’s submission is worse.
This year’s submission isn’t even an adventure. Instead, Mr. Simpson has offered us a moral quandary situation to insert into our campaign as we see fit.
No. This is not what D&D is.
Even if the adventure was not already disqualified for a number of assorted violations (no maps, fewer than 8 encounters, written for a fantasy heartbreaker that is NOT “very close” to one of the listed systems), it would STILL fail as actionable content. It is a thought exercise, nor an adventure.
Zero stars. Some might call this “tea party D&D.” Jeff himself suggests his submission may be “moronic.” For me, it’s simply a waste of my time.
I'm a bit surprised at you dismissing Seven Voyages of Zylarthen - Melan gave it a comprehensive review several years ago and gave it a rare five star rating. He went as far to say that it is an "excellent old school game", "intelligent in its reimagination of the LBB rules" and lets the original game shine with a new polish", all quite a distance from a fantasy heartbreaking.
ReplyDelete"Fantasy heartbreaker" is a term coined by Ron Edwards to describe any number of fantasy RPGs clearly derived from the D&D ruleset but altered by the author to make the game "better." The "heartbreak" aspect of the term comes from the fact that no matter how good the final product is, it will never live up to or compete with the original because the original is such a household term.
Deletehttp://indie-rpgs.com/articles/9/
I reviewed 7VZ myself back in 2015, along with a slew of other fantasy heartbreakers. I thought it was decent system, fairly well done, with similarities to my own (2013) heartbreaker "Five Ancient Kingdoms." However, I would NOT consider 7VZ "very close" or "compatible" with TSR-era D&D systems (nor would I consider 5AK to be at all compatible) because, despite thematic similarities, there are SYSTEM differences that make it its own game.
Of course, I'm not judging by the most recent version of 7VZ...looking at DriveThru it appears Oakes did an overhaul in 2017, which I have not bothered to purchase or read. So maybe it's closer to OD&D now? It's hard to judge actual systemic parts of the game given what Jeff has produced here, but there is (I think) another 7VZ submission, and perhaps I'll have a different opinion when I get to it.
Regardless, this particular entry does not meet the requirements for consideration.