Degenisis RPG First Impressions, What are your thoughts? Options

[Zhan Shi]

Took a gander at the quickstart pdf. Good art. The mechanics seem sound. One neat innovation: having Africa be the citadel of civilasation, whilst the rest of the globe wallows in darkness. But I've never been partial to post apocalypse games. This reminded me of Gamma World with asteroids instead of nuclear war, and alien spores instead of radiation. Nothing wrong really; just sort of a "been there, done that" reaction. But the Catalyst team have done OK by Shadowrun, so I'll buy the book and give it a go when it's released.

[Platinum]

I have been looking at that for the last few weeks. Some of the german artwork looks cool. Much better than the shadowrun books. I don't understand german so I am not sure how good the content is.

From that book there isn't much of an indication of how the rules work or mechanics. It seems to be a d10 based mad max game set in Africa. I wonder what explanation they will offer for magic.

The book actually seems decently laid out, and seems gritty.

[BishopMcQ]

I had a brief introduction to the world, tribes and trivia at GenCon. I've been waiting for the translation for awhile now.

Two GMs on the ConTeam--Tim and Ranee, are probably the most familiar with the setting outside of official Catalyst staff-members. Sadly I don't know their Dumpshock handles.

[Fortune]

Linkage to the Degenesis Quick Start rules in English.

[Nostalgic Jester]

The art is awesome, coherent and closely tied to the game aesthetics. I wish I could say the same about Shadowrun´s art but actually I think the opposite to be true (it sucks and is incoherent both to the game and to itself).

I didn´t like Degenesis´s setting nor its rules, I think Shadowrun is way better in both fields.

By the way, I don´t blame Shadowrun´s artists for its poor art as they are not (usually) the ones in charge of said part of the game.

[Platinum]

[Nostalgic Jester]

Platinum: do you really think every artist should be familiar with every possible customer´s needs? Well, I don´t: it´s just impossible.

So, you receive instructions and send drafts based on those and through said drafts you receive additional input and so on, until you finally get what your customer needs: crappy direction leads (practically unerringly) to crappy performance. That is true for every art form (and extensive to most of its applications) in which more than just one person gets involved.

[Platinum]

Yes, I expect that. Imagine that, giving a client what they paid for. Doing a job you you are contracted to do. Taking pride in your work so you don't hand over crap.

I have intimate knowledge of the design process. And that's part of the problem, people think it's divine inspiration and not a solid process that will give you great results.

I am a graphic artist that went to art school, so I expect that of others, that are getting paid.

[Nostalgic Jester]

If that´s supposed to be an answer to my previous post, I wonder how did you get to art school without knowing how to read...

Only someone who has no idea of how creative endeavors really work could say that inspiration overrides preparation and training and I have no idea of how did you conclude I was saying that, because actually I said the opposite: the "solid process" you mention is just what I was describing in my post.

So, if you really have ANY experience as a professional graphic artist you SHOULD know that your work can only be what your customer desires only as long as his instructions are precise and concise and he is the one who says when your work is finished.

Maybe now you can understand what i said before and realize that I said just the opposite of what you (I have no idea how) misunderstood from my previous post.

[Platinum]

Maybe you need to read a little more. What I am saying is ... that even if you don't know the client's needs, that creating a piece of crap and handing it in is still not acceptable.

And as a graphic designer, what I know is 9 times of of 10 the client doesn't know what they want ... they only know what they don't want. It is your job as a designer to use the process to come up with something they do want. Is that clear enough for you?

[redwulfe]

Hello My name is Tim. I ran DGNS at the last two gencons. If you wish to know anything about it just let me know. I will try to stop by to check for questions in the next day or two I tend to be rather busy but I like the game and hope to help it do well.

Thanks,

Tim

[Nyxll]

Thanks for popping in Tim.... most of the questions I have are completely related to the machanics of the game. I don't attend cons, that must geek in one place scares me. (and my nose)

I looked over the quickstart, but that was mainly background info on the setting and nothing to do with what technology is in the game or any idea of how combat runs. Are there any short stories in english yet?

[Nostalgic Jester]

Platinum: I have no intention of derailing this thread and I don´t think we´ll get to any kind of agreement, so I´ll just quit at this point.

Have a nice day.