The Land of Promise Options

[Fatum]

I have no general opinion on them, but the quoted bit does sound horrendously nonobjective (and very far from what I think to be true, too).

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

I have no general opinion on them, but the quoted bit does sound horrendously nonobjective (and very far from what I think to be true, too).

PoTAYto, PoTAHto (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I say congratulations Critias... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Patrick Goodman]

FWIW, he gave Another Rainy Night a nice review that still, IMO, called into question some of the shortcomings, real and perceived, of the product, so I don't have a problem with his objectivity. Mine might be questionable, in this case, but I don't think Alex's is.

[Critias]

Gotta love it.

That'll teach me to think I can just wander the internet, being excited about getting a good review.

[Fatum]

Pah. Minding how every flaw real or perceived is met with massive bitching around here, and the general lack of it when it comes to The Land of Promise, I'd say it's obvious already it's a good book :ь

[hermit]

That'll teach me to think I can just wander the internet, being excited about getting a good review.

FWIW, the review got me to poke a GM to run this for me and my guys. A lot. Because it sounds great, and because I actually liked the way Land of Promise dealt with the Tir mess. Since this is by the same author, written in the same vein, I guess it'll be rather good, too. *shrugs* ymmv.

[Critias]

FWIW, the review got me to poke a GM to run this for me and my guys. A lot. Because it sounds great, and because I actually liked the way Land of Promise dealt with the Tir mess. Since this is by the same author, written in the same vein, I guess it'll be rather good, too. *shrugs* ymmv.

It's appreciated.

I almost said "It's appreciated, herm," as like a shorthand "I'll use just the first syllable of your name to be casual and friendly" thing, but then it occurred to me I was calling you a hermaphrodite. That seemed likely to bleed away any lingering goodwill about the quality of the product(s) in question. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[hermit]

*laughs* Well, it's appreciated anyway. ^^ Can you lobby for a more detailed writeup of Portland though? The Tir Taingire book one is a bit old.

[CanRay]

Portland 2074? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[hermit]

Well, I'd be happy if it's a 20 pager in an upcoming themed book. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Abstruse]

Here's my review:

I didn't feel like punching kittens when I finished reading the book. That's actually high praise considering my reactions to Clutch of Dragons and Shadowrun 2050. This is the first Shadowrun book I've read in a while that doesn't feel like it was rushed or under-researched. What was stated in the books makes logical sense based on the progression of the timeline with only a couple of exceptions (namely the members of the Council of Princes who managed to stay on board post-coup). It felt too short though, and I really would've liked more information on what the hell actually happened during the coup, how the government's changed in functionality, and why they kept all the former Tir Tairngire trappings in a representative republic. I'd also really would've liked to have known what the former Princes are doing now that they've been deposed since there's absolutely no way they could be happy about that. And considering we're talking about a handful of IEs that survived the Horrors and ruled kingdoms in the Fourth World, those are some people you want to keep happy.

Now granted, that would be horribly out of the scope of what this book is trying to do - update Tir Tairngire to the mid 2070s and bring back some of the fun of the country from previous editions without going all the way back to the borderline Mary Sue levels it was presented at in 2054 (and frankly, I find Manhattan more imposing in 4A than I did Tir Tairngire in 1st-3rd). Going into that much detail would've doubled or tripled the page count and probably pushed this product into the levels of "quality" from the books I mentioned before that got me foaming-at-the-mouth angry. There's no way CGL would've scheduled enough time or assigned enough writers to do it properly.

So for what it is - just an update showing the country as it currently is - it's actually a good product. It's not what I wanted and it's not that useful to me as a player (since I'm running a 3rd Ed game set in 2055), but it's definitely far better than any of the products I've seen recently from CGL.

[Critias]

Thanks! Considering the source, I'm counting that whole thing as high praise. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

And if it helps any on the size front, the book wasn't a big product that was cut down, it was "we need some Tir intro info for Elven Blood" that kept growing until it turned into a separate product. I wanted to cram as much information in as I could, make the setting as playable as I could, and I still kind of wanted it to fly under the radar so that I could -- selfishly, I guess? -- maintain major control over it, so that it could stay very similar in feel to Elven Blood, and so I had to justify and argue and negotiate as little as possible (with a co-author or something). I was very carefully shooting for As Big A Product As They'll Let Me Still Keeping It A Solo Product ™, not because I hate working with other people, but because I felt like keeping it a one-man gig would be the best way to keep it focused and get it kicked out the door and into players' hands as soon as possible.

What was stated in the books makes logical sense based on the progression of the timeline with only a couple of exceptions (namely the members of the Council of Princes who managed to stay on board post-coup).

FWIW, those were outta my hands. They'd been posted as still being around in previous publications, so I didn't quite have free reign to completely stock up a new Council -- I had to build one around Zincan and Rex.

[Abstruse]

Thanks! Considering the source, I'm counting that whole thing as high praise. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

You should. I haven't liked a single product coming out of CGL in quite a while (Sixth World Almanac is the most recent product I've had positive thoughts about). Considering my main complaint is that it's not long enough, that should be considered incredibly high praise indeed.

[ggodo]

Haven't read Land of Promise yet, But I love Elven Blood and lost the thread for it. I figure I'll say that here instead.

[hermit]

Thread for Elven Blood is over in Missions discussion.

[Critias]

Yeah, but it never really took off, and this puppy's got 100+ replies, so...meh. Either way, really. And the comment's much appreciated, ggodo! I'm glad EB was a good buy for ya!

[ravensmuse]

You should. I haven't liked a single product coming out of CGL in quite a while (Sixth World Almanac is the most recent product I've had positive thoughts about). Considering my main complaint is that it's not long enough, that should be considered incredibly high praise indeed.

Have you read Clutch yet, Abstruse? I was in the same boat as you until I read that.

[Abstruse]

Have you read Clutch yet, Abstruse? I was in the same boat as you until I read that.

Friend has the PDF, I started reading it, got maybe four or five pages in and I had to stop or I would've gone into full rant mode. The one that ruined it for me was a random Jackpointer talking about Lofwyr being Loremaster as though that's common knowledge. As far as I know, that's not something that was talked about in Dragons of the Sixth World very much and what it specifically is was only mentioned in Survival of the Fittest. So there's NO reason for anyone to know.

[Grinder]

The books has some lows (the mentioned Loremaster-problem; the entry about Harlequin), but most of it is well-written, good stuff.

[ravensmuse]

Definitely. Read Perianwyr's chapter, and Damon's. Those are really the chapters that got me excited to read further into the book.

[Sengir]

I very personally know staff at Diehard GameFAN. I'll vouch for their validity (and lucidity) all day and night.

I didn't say they were crooked or stoned, just far off the general perception of quality. And reading the review of Romero and Juliette (without heaving read the book) did little to change that, the reviewer seems to lump Infected, Shedim, and the average Romero zombie together...

[Abstruse]

Definitely. Read Perianwyr's chapter, and Damon's. Those are really the chapters that got me excited to read further into the book.

I would probably avoid those two's chapters like the plague. I've actually got a storyline involving both of them I've been fiddling with for about 7 years now, sort of a Harlequin-style super-adventure. Anything I read won't be nearly as awesome as the story I've got going in my head.

[CanRay]

I would probably avoid those two's chapters like the plague. I've actually got a storyline involving both of them I've been fiddling with for about 7 years now, sort of a Harlequin-style super-adventure. Anything I read won't be nearly as awesome as the story I've got going in my head.

Won't know until you try. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)