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My Recent Posts · (06/13/09

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I was finally able to pick up a copy of the Zayene series. I opened the Prisoners and I just could not put it down. What a great read. I cannot wait to use this stuff. I hope to have a few good questions for you (if not covered in other threads) soon. Fantastic work.

My Recent Posts · (06/13/09

I wholeheartedly agree. This is an excellent series, and one that I always wanted to play but didn't find the opportunity yet. Soon, hopefully...

My Recent Posts · (06/13/09

Cool. Actually, out off all of my design work (excepting my Original ms for City of Brass, which was really a setting with sporadic adventuring tidbits scattered here or there) MoZ is still my favorite. It's the ultimate "Switch" as the players discover that they have to save the King rather than assassinate him; and thus are caught up in reconfiguring their own designs and strategies in the resulting chaos they are swept along in. I have often believed that it would make a good novel.

My Recent Posts · (06/13/09

Rob, do you have plans to redo this series?

My Recent Posts · (06/14/09

Actually, L, yes. It's been on my mind. Clean up the mistakes, expand Enots' abode as an add on, and add in extra material like alternate gallery pictures and a prelude map to The Iron Tower, or actually add that in. I'd want to combine the four, though, and not make them standalone purchases, and that would make it over a 128 page printed book without the additional material, and that would run quite high in costs in our limited prining scheme. So, this might end up as a PDF with the extras and then I could add on
the Iron Tower as a print product. PPP can't always afford to spend thousands as it did with ERKAT to get these bigger books out, so they would either have to come in parts or smaller, etc. Same difficulty I am having trying to bring Castle El Raja Key to print (somebody asked me about this at NTRPGCon). It's just too big for anything but perhaps 3-Level installment series (24-32page booklets each), and too big to dedicate designing all at once while ignoring the other products which keep us going. So I try to do a little here and there with these bigger ones as I put out smaller to medium sized products.

My Recent Posts · (06/14/09

Very neat. Count me in!

My Recent Posts · (06/15/09

Hey Rob,

I had a question percolate to the surface as I continued through your work. I know you`re busy, so no problem if you don`t have time to respond.

I`ve had the chance to peruse a fair amount (although by no means all) of your stuff and I`m kind of interested in some patterns that emerge in general. I found Prisoners of the Maze really engrossing (as I said above) but (and I mean this in a good way) I also found it exhausting. The level of detail, the layers built in to the encounters, etc. I could just imagine the demands that adventure would put on the DM and especially the players -- they`d miss much of it, probably, but would really, really need to be on their toes to experience even a fraction of the Maze`s potential. The reading experience I had was similar to what I felt when looking through Dark Chateau -- detail loaded on detail: it`s like eating triple chocolate dark fudge brownie cheese cake. I`m really interested in how this style contrasts with adventures like Bottle City and The Stalk. Those (associated with the original campaign) are intentionally skeletal, requiring more fleshing out. All of your work can be adapted, but there does seem to be a marked difference between these two stylistic types. I`m really just wondering if you have any comments about the reasons behind this style contrast. Is it purely practical (DC is part of a setting that demands that kind of detail), artistic (the Greyhawk adventures are intended to recapture the open endedness and impromptu innovation of that campaign) or is it something else entirely.

In short -- do you think there`s a style contrast between these two ``groups`` of adventures, is it intentional (in some sense) and, if so, what are some of the practical, aesthetic or philosophical reasons behind the contrast.

Thanks for reading.

My Recent Posts · (06/16/09

It's more of the latter, as you noted, with BC and Stalk being open-ended examples requiring a lot more (but not in all cases with BC,obviously) input. So, the subject matter
is also a limitation. The Stalk, for example, is very limited in scope--more of a one-off; BC grows what with the inclusion of the Gods and the art gallery (proto for the Prinoner's
one, btw). It expands with MoZ to its fullest, and somewhat moreso, but not quite as much with DC. MoZ's scope is huge, it intertwines about itself, there are nuances which point here then there. It is, in essence, chaos in motion, as instigated by Zayene with his dulicity, and the dulpicity of what the PCs are caught up in. The level of play, the many different araes throughout all four adventures, only compound the action over a larger spread, too, something which an author can expand upon in detail of 128 pages of printed matter as compared to 40 with DC, 32 with BC an 10 with The Stalk.

My Recent Posts · (06/19/09

Endymion: I'm interested in your final take on reading all of the adventures in the series, as I believe, to date, no one has properly reviewed same.

My Recent Posts · (06/19/09

Endymion: I'm interested in your final take on reading all of the adventures in the series, as I believe, to date, no one has properly reviewed same.

I'll definitely give you my thoughts. I'm a pretty slow reader, though (I try not to move my lips when I read any more), so it may be a week or two.

Author	Comment
Endymion	Could not put it down	Lead	[-]
Posts: 191 (06/13/09 03:12:39) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Tags : None I was finally able to pick up a copy of the Zayene series. I opened the Prisoners and I just could not put it down. What a great read. I cannot wait to use this stuff. I hope to have a few good questions for you (if not covered in other threads) soon. Fantastic work. "As though to breathe were life . . . ." -- Tennyson, "Ulysses"
Sir Clarence		#1	[-]
Posts: 134 (06/13/09 03:25:11) Baron of the Realm Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I wholeheartedly agree. This is an excellent series, and one that I always wanted to play but didn't find the opportunity yet. Soon, hopefully...
The Pied PiperRJK		#2	[-]
Posts: 6227 (06/13/09 07:12:17) Lord of Dimensions Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Cool. Actually, out off all of my design work (excepting my Original ms for City of Brass, which was really a setting with sporadic adventuring tidbits scattered here or there) MoZ is still my favorite. It's the ultimate "Switch" as the players discover that they have to save the King rather than assassinate him; and thus are caught up in reconfiguring their own designs and strategies in the resulting chaos they are swept along in. I have often believed that it would make a good novel. "How now, varlet!" said Ralibar Vooz... "Who are you that speak so churlishly to a magistrate of Commoriom and a cousin to King Homquat?" -- C.A. Smith's, The Seven Geases.
JediOre		#3	[-]
Posts: 289 (06/13/09 14:24:53) Earl of the Realm Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Rob, do you have plans to redo this series?
The Pied PiperRJK		#4	[-]
Posts: 6230 (06/14/09 11:13:50) Lord of Dimensions Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Actually, L, yes. It's been on my mind. Clean up the mistakes, expand Enots' abode as an add on, and add in extra material like alternate gallery pictures and a prelude map to The Iron Tower, or actually add that in. I'd want to combine the four, though, and not make them standalone purchases, and that would make it over a 128 page printed book without the additional material, and that would run quite high in costs in our limited prining scheme. So, this might end up as a PDF with the extras and then I could add on the Iron Tower as a print product. PPP can't always afford to spend thousands as it did with ERKAT to get these bigger books out, so they would either have to come in parts or smaller, etc. Same difficulty I am having trying to bring Castle El Raja Key to print (somebody asked me about this at NTRPGCon). It's just too big for anything but perhaps 3-Level installment series (24-32page booklets each), and too big to dedicate designing all at once while ignoring the other products which keep us going. So I try to do a little here and there with these bigger ones as I put out smaller to medium sized products. "How now, varlet!" said Ralibar Vooz... "Who are you that speak so churlishly to a magistrate of Commoriom and a cousin to King Homquat?" -- C.A. Smith's, The Seven Geases.
JediOre		#5	[-]
Posts: 290 (06/14/09 17:03:15) Earl of the Realm Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Very neat. Count me in!
Endymion		#6	[-]
Posts: 192 (06/15/09 15:39:09) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Hey Rob, I had a question percolate to the surface as I continued through your work. I know you`re busy, so no problem if you don`t have time to respond. I`ve had the chance to peruse a fair amount (although by no means all) of your stuff and I`m kind of interested in some patterns that emerge in general. I found Prisoners of the Maze really engrossing (as I said above) but (and I mean this in a good way) I also found it exhausting. The level of detail, the layers built in to the encounters, etc. I could just imagine the demands that adventure would put on the DM and especially the players -- they`d miss much of it, probably, but would really, really need to be on their toes to experience even a fraction of the Maze`s potential. The reading experience I had was similar to what I felt when looking through Dark Chateau -- detail loaded on detail: it`s like eating triple chocolate dark fudge brownie cheese cake. I`m really interested in how this style contrasts with adventures like Bottle City and The Stalk. Those (associated with the original campaign) are intentionally skeletal, requiring more fleshing out. All of your work can be adapted, but there does seem to be a marked difference between these two stylistic types. I`m really just wondering if you have any comments about the reasons behind this style contrast. Is it purely practical (DC is part of a setting that demands that kind of detail), artistic (the Greyhawk adventures are intended to recapture the open endedness and impromptu innovation of that campaign) or is it something else entirely. In short -- do you think there`s a style contrast between these two ``groups`` of adventures, is it intentional (in some sense) and, if so, what are some of the practical, aesthetic or philosophical reasons behind the contrast. Thanks for reading. "As though to breathe were life . . . ." -- Tennyson, "Ulysses"
The Pied PiperRJK		#7	[-]
Posts: 6233 (06/16/09 11:15:24) Lord of Dimensions Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	It's more of the latter, as you noted, with BC and Stalk being open-ended examples requiring a lot more (but not in all cases with BC,obviously) input. So, the subject matter is also a limitation. The Stalk, for example, is very limited in scope--more of a one-off; BC grows what with the inclusion of the Gods and the art gallery (proto for the Prinoner's one, btw). It expands with MoZ to its fullest, and somewhat moreso, but not quite as much with DC. MoZ's scope is huge, it intertwines about itself, there are nuances which point here then there. It is, in essence, chaos in motion, as instigated by Zayene with his dulicity, and the dulpicity of what the PCs are caught up in. The level of play, the many different araes throughout all four adventures, only compound the action over a larger spread, too, something which an author can expand upon in detail of 128 pages of printed matter as compared to 40 with DC, 32 with BC an 10 with The Stalk. "How now, varlet!" said Ralibar Vooz... "Who are you that speak so churlishly to a magistrate of Commoriom and a cousin to King Homquat?" -- C.A. Smith's, The Seven Geases.
The Pied PiperRJK		#8	[-]
Posts: 6235 (06/19/09 07:20:05) Lord of Dimensions Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Endymion: I'm interested in your final take on reading all of the adventures in the series, as I believe, to date, no one has properly reviewed same. "How now, varlet!" said Ralibar Vooz... "Who are you that speak so churlishly to a magistrate of Commoriom and a cousin to King Homquat?" -- C.A. Smith's, The Seven Geases.
Endymion		#9	[-]
Posts: 194 (06/19/09 08:17:16) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Endymion: I'm interested in your final take on reading all of the adventures in the series, as I believe, to date, no one has properly reviewed same. I'll definitely give you my thoughts. I'm a pretty slow reader, though (I try not to move my lips when I read any more), so it may be a week or two. "As though to breathe were life . . . ." -- Tennyson, "Ulysses"

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