[RPG]: Wraeththu: From Enchantment to Fulfillment, reviewed by Darren MacLennan (2/1) [Archive]

RPGnet Reviews

06-26-2009, 01:00 AM

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14347.phtml

Darren MacLennan's Summary:

Wraeththu is a colossal misfire of an adaptation, mixing inaccurate information with a bad system and a number of really creepy assumptions. Plus, I figured out how to use HTML, which is kind of like giving a small child a howitzer and an unlimited supply of shells.

Go to the full review (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/14/14347.phtml) for more information.

Gregor Hutton

06-26-2009, 05:15 AM

Awesome review, Darren. Thanks for taking one for the team!

Mr Jack

06-26-2009, 07:06 AM

Honestly, Darren, I'm really disappointed in you. A capsule review tells us nothing. Couldn't you have playtested the thing? :eek:

g026r

06-26-2009, 07:50 AM

unodiablo

06-26-2009, 08:00 AM

I made it to 'Foom'. From what I remember of a childhood of reading comics, FOOM = Friends of Ole' Marvel. So I think your soul goes to Stan Lee when you go 'Foom'.

You are a brave man. Now take 2d10 SAN loss. Reading the entire review is enough for 1d6 SAN loss.

Darren MacLennan

06-26-2009, 08:02 AM

A quick search seems to tell me that "Trait Ziggurat Barley" (real name: Spulturatorah! (http://forum.rpg.net/showpost.php?p=2426637&postcount=99)) was connected to The Window (http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=4782), not Wraeththu.

Anybody got a link to or recall what the Wraeththu game was?

Oh, no - it was written in the margins of the Wraeththu game, rather than being its own product. Last I remember. (Edit: I remember this being connected to Wraeththu - maybe I'm wrong. I could have sworn that it was written as a parody of Wraeththu's enormous margins.)

And yes, the game was called Spluturatorah, which I forgot to change in the review. In fairness, HTML is harder than it looks.

-Darren MacLennan

Nalanod

06-26-2009, 08:10 AM

While I didn't get some of the "in jokes" and I still have no clue as to what this game is supposed to be (which, I guess, is kind of the point), I found the review to be an enjoyable read.

I'm sorry it was only through your suffering that I found delight.

Darren MacLennan

06-26-2009, 08:23 AM

While I didn't get some of the "in jokes"

Which ones? I can expand on 'em.

-Darren MacLennan

Darren MacLennan

06-26-2009, 08:33 AM

I was right! While Andy K. doesn't actually have the GIFs up, he did, at one point, put Splutatorah into the margins of Wraeththu.

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?p=3294288#post3294288

-Darren MacLennan

Destriarch

06-26-2009, 08:36 AM

While I didn't get some of the "in jokes" and I still have no clue as to what this game is supposed to be (which, I guess, is kind of the point), I found the review to be an enjoyable read.
Yeah, welcome return of old favourite :)

Incidentally, as a connoisseur of bad RPGs and fellow reader of Wraeththu: FETF let me summarise. The game is supposed to be a post-apocalyptic fantasy, where the main protagonists are hermaphroditic creatures who are taking over the world. Its system is extremely typical of the fantasy heartbreaker genre, being an uncomfortable mish-mash of old D&D, Elric and Mage. The novels on the other hand are pseudo-homoerotic political / romantic fantasy.

Incidentally, the image of the knife on the cover IS attributed, there's a brief note on the credits page telling the reader it's a photograph of a knife made by United Cutlery. However I knew the author for a brief time and he did once mention to me that he had asked for permission to use the image but had never received a reply to the email he sent, so on that basis he was assuming acceptance and using it anyway. I cannot be wholly certain that he didn't later receive permission to use the image as this comment was made a month or so before the book's final publication, so I wouldn't like to point any legal fingers. However this kind of attitude strikes me as somewhat discourteous to say the least.

I continue to maintain that Wraeththu could make a good RPG for the right audience (read: fans of the novels) and more importantly using rules designed for romance and political intrigue. Trying to play it as a fantasy heartbreaker just isn't in the spirit of the novels, from what I've been able to ascertain.

Remind me to dig out and repost my old calculations that prove all humans die when they trip over. And, with a nod toward dear Belphanor, let's not forget that a chainmail vest offers 100% protection from flamethrowers.

-Ash

g026r

06-26-2009, 08:36 AM

I was right! While Andy K. doesn't actually have the GIFs up, he did, at one point, put Splutatorah into the margins of Wraeththu.

Ha! Shows what I know. :)

Darren MacLennan

06-26-2009, 09:01 AM

Ha! Shows what I know. :)

I was almost dead sure that I'd gotten it wrong too until I did a search for "Wraeththu Trait Ziggurat Barley". It took a little detective work, though.

Also, one thing that I forgot to work into my review: Glitter ejaculate. Although I still love the concept of a ham and priest sandwich.

-Darren MacLennan

smascrns

06-26-2009, 09:18 AM

Destriarch

06-26-2009, 09:58 AM

Paraphrasing the forums of the DD4 review pulished last Wednesday, this review seems to have been written long ago and by now it is wildly outdated. Furthermore back then it could make sense to publish a capsule review but today that's unexcusable.
Oh I dunno, I'd rather it was here in the reviews section where someone searching for it can more easily find it. Its original home in the forums wasn't really suitable. It's just a shame we still haven't seen Sartin's comments. I'd think of this more as a long-overdue relocation than a 'new' review.

-Ash

Bailywolf

06-26-2009, 10:51 AM

I have no mouth, but I must scream... with pictures.

http://www.bookcaseangel.com/images/octodog.jpg

-B

Brandi

06-26-2009, 11:19 AM

"Mikey" reminds me entirely too much of Starblade (http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/Starblade) (Encyclopedia Dramatica link, so NSFW language-- and while this page has no NSFW images, I'd recommend turning images off when browsing that place in general!).

Seriously, can't you just see that guy mumbling "Fuck you, I'm a dragon!" through wet sniffling?

CaffeineBoy

06-26-2009, 11:21 AM

I have no mouth, but I must scream... with pictures.

http://www.bookcaseangel.com/images/octodog.jpg

-B

Oh. My. God...

In the context of Wraeththu, that's just unremittingly horrible. Had the review not already pureed my brain, that image surely would have.

Emprint

06-26-2009, 11:29 AM

James Gillen

06-26-2009, 11:57 AM

"PSYCHLOS have better military strategy, dammit. PSYCHLOS."

:D :D

Craig Oxbrow

06-26-2009, 01:26 PM

I think I've gone blind.

By the by, you could have gotten a copy from the Dangerous Game Containment Facility at my FLGS, a glass cabinet that also contains Synnabar.

Motorskills

06-26-2009, 02:31 PM

Darren, for all those shitty Mod calls you've been accused of over the years...I think this must go some way to completing your penance.

Awesome, frightening, painful reading.

:)

trechriron

06-26-2009, 02:32 PM

Wonderful review, comedy gold, loved it.

Thank you!

Oh, and I hate you. You know, for everything IN the RPG.

But besides that.

Thank you!

Cultist of Sooty

06-26-2009, 05:57 PM

I have a copy of the omnibus edition of the Wraeththu books - if I'd known you needed it for the review, I'd have let you have it. It's signed by the author, too, in ink that is purple (but not quite as purple as the prose). I've never managed to read more than a chapter or two, though I did keep it around because me and my friends found it amusing to get very drunk and then try to read random passages out without laughing.

A friend of mine bought it for me as a Christmas present and told me that it had made him think of me. I worry about that friend, I really do.

In the context of Wraeththu, that's just unremittingly horrible. Had the review not already pureed my brain, that image surely would have.
Do a search for Octodog and you'll find the kitchen gadget that makes them. The product demonstration video is eye-watering.

adamsmith

06-26-2009, 06:27 PM

Superb review...it takes reviewing perilously close to art.

Pete Whalley

06-26-2009, 06:44 PM

Fuck.

I'd almost forgotten all about Wraeththththtuooo, the amusing suicide-by-post of Strange being well in the past by now.

And now my copies of Synnibar and SenZar are smiling smugly from the shelf with that 'See, not as bad as you thought are we cockrag?' look in their eyes.

Erifnogard

06-26-2009, 06:49 PM

I alternated between hysterical laughter and psychotic breaks while reading your review. I can only imagine what damage you have done to your sanity while researching this review! :eek:

Armchair Gamer

06-26-2009, 07:00 PM

One of the frightening things is that Wraeththu made it into bookstore distribution somehow. Several folks (myself included) spotted it on the shelves of Barnes & Noble . . .

Waffle Zombie

06-26-2009, 07:15 PM

g026r

06-26-2009, 07:30 PM

Question for those who have seen it: hardcover or softcover? The Index entry says hardcover, yet the Amazon page says paperback (and some of the second-hand sellers suggest it may actually be a POD paperback).

Craig Oxbrow

06-26-2009, 07:51 PM

g026r

06-26-2009, 08:02 PM

The one in the containment facility is a paperback.

Thanks. The Index appears to be the only place claiming it's hardcover, so I'm going to submit a change request for it.

fnord3125

06-26-2009, 09:23 PM

Ya know, when the review kept saying things like "So, anyone want to play this?" I kept thinking, "Ehh... I'd give it a shot." I mean, I'll try any game at least once. But I changed my mind. It really bugs me when people misuse "ambivalent."

Darren MacLennan

06-26-2009, 11:13 PM

Darren, for all those shitty Mod calls you've been accused of over the years...I think this must go some way to completing your penance.

I appreciate your praise, but - I don't do penance for stuff that I haven't done wrong. It's a bit of a backhanded compliment.

-Darren MacLennan

Darren MacLennan

06-27-2009, 12:02 AM

Also, thanks to everybody else who's posted very kind compliments and well-wishings for my sanity. :)

-Darren MacLennan

maybecca

06-27-2009, 01:22 AM

Spulturatorah, anyone?

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/3318/wr1u.jpg (http://img14.imageshack.us/i/wr1u.jpg/)
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/8050/wr2o.jpg (http://img35.imageshack.us/i/wr2o.jpg/)
http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/2972/wr3.jpg (http://img36.imageshack.us/i/wr3.jpg/)

If these images shouldn't be posted, I'll take them down, of course.

Wields-Rulebook-Heavily

06-27-2009, 01:53 AM

I dunno, reading the novels probably wouldn't have improved your impression of the Wraeththu much. For example, a giant sentient crystal made from Wraeththu jizz is used not entirely unlike a nuclear bomb in... I want to say the sixth book, though I could be misremembering. And that's not me exaggarating for effect, that's literally what takes place. In excruciating detail.

Also, there's some crap about aliens who kickstarted the whole Wraeththu thing (but this is never really expanded upon, it's just another because) and the one lone rebel type character became a fan favorite so he got to sit around and be an asshole for several more books as a form of pandering. He's the guy with that "the beer has just run out" quote.

Hilarious review, though.

Evan Waters

06-27-2009, 02:37 AM

Wasn't "Boline" a Dolly Parton song?

DigitalRaven

06-27-2009, 02:45 AM

Dear god, I remember the original thread now. This brings it all flooding back.

Well done, sir. Rather you than me.

Destriarch

06-27-2009, 02:47 AM

Wasn't "Boline" a Dolly Parton song?
I don't know but it is a Wiccan term for a White-handled knife, usually curved, used in the preparation of herbs and other mundane things. It's the partner to the athame, the black-handled knife used during actual rituals.

-Ash

thirdkingdom

06-27-2009, 04:54 AM

So what about the system the game uses (great review, by the way)?

Todd

Sebmojo

06-27-2009, 06:10 AM

Spulturatorah, anyone?

[snip]

If these images shouldn't be posted, I'll take them down, of course.

That's entirely awesome. As was the review, thanks Darren :)

Marius B

06-27-2009, 08:05 AM

Wasn't "Boline" a Dolly Parton song?

Boline, Boline, Boline, Boliiiinee
I'm begging of you please don't take my ham*...

*... and priest sammich

Darren MacLennan

06-27-2009, 08:15 AM

and the one lone rebel type character became a fan favorite so he got to sit around and be an asshole for several more books as a form of pandering. He's the guy with that "the beer has just run out" quote.

Hilarious review, though.

He's real? Zap Hamstring, the guy who, if you look closely enough at the quotes surrounding Splutatorah, the guy who's actually grading his own farts is a real thing that Storm Constanine came up with?

I'm guessing that Strange messed up the characterization on that one, or that Constantine was more enamored with idiot asshole alcoholic party frat boys than one would think.

-Darren MacLennan

Darren MacLennan

06-27-2009, 08:16 AM

So what about the system the game uses (great review, by the way)?

Todd

Now, see, this is where a system block from Jason Sartin would go, but circumstances have gotten in the way and Jason's not going to be able to do it. Suffice to say that the rules system has a bunch of holes in it and is not good, but since I don't have the rules on me - and since I'm not that real good with rules anyways - we'll just leave it at that.

Unfortunately, Jason wasn't able to do the rules section of the review.

-Darren MacLennan

Darren MacLennan

06-27-2009, 08:33 AM

Spulturatorah, anyone?

YAY!

-Darren MacLennan

Wields-Rulebook-Heavily

06-27-2009, 09:06 AM

He's real? Zap Hamstring, the guy who, if you look closely enough at the quotes surrounding Splutatorah, the guy who's actually grading his own farts is a real thing that Storm Constanine came up with?

I'm guessing that Strange messed up the characterization on that one, or that Constantine was more enamored with idiot asshole alcoholic party frat boys than one would think.

-Darren MacLennan

Here's the curious thing-the character in the novels is named Cal, not Zap, but that quote clearly belongs to him, right down to the monkey-banging crack whore. The quote is outright misattributed.

And Cal is totally the asshole drug-and-alcohol Wraeththu of the books. He pops up here and there until finally he gets his own book.

octal_black

06-27-2009, 09:32 AM

I was drinking a soda when I stumbled upon this review. Upon reading the review, the difficulty of drinking a soda went from 1 to somewhere around 25. Breathing, also, became quite difficult.

Thanks for the great laugh Darren. It always sucks having to read a bad review of someone's product, but this product just sounds like it attempted to jump on a ship that had left the harbor and had been out to see for 3 days.

goeticgeek

06-27-2009, 10:43 AM

I was drinking a soda when I stumbled upon this review. Upon reading the review, the difficulty of drinking a soda went from 1 to somewhere around 25. Breathing, also, became quite difficult.

Yeah, I have liquid sprayed all over my screen too.

I mean from the Iced Tea I was trying to drink at the time. Not what you were thinking you sick monkey-banging crack whore. While we're on the subject, nuclear glitter acid jizz inaccurately sprayed from a tentacled member, can an Overfiend RPG be far behind. Who wants to adapt Cthulhutech to the purpose?

ED

remial

06-27-2009, 11:55 AM

I dunno, reading the novels probably wouldn't have improved your impression of the Wraeththu much. For example, a giant sentient crystal made from Wraeththu jizz is used not entirely unlike a nuclear bomb in... I want to say the sixth book, though I could be misremembering. And that's not me exaggarating for effect, that's literally what takes place. In excruciating detail.

I can not imagine a character that is more literally begging the author to let it die.

"I'm what? you have got to be fucking kidding me! Screw it I'm taking you fuckers with me!"

and strangely enough I spent most of the time I spent reading the review trying to laugh and scream at the same time.

GrimGent

06-27-2009, 12:12 PM

Here's the curious thing-the character in the novels is named Cal, not Zap, but that quote clearly belongs to him, right down to the monkey-banging crack whore. The quote is outright misattributed.

And Cal is totally the asshole drug-and-alcohol Wraeththu of the books. He pops up here and there until finally he gets his own book.
Well, Calanthe is basically the Lestat of the series. Are you sure about that quote, though? It sounds a little out of place, especially considering that Cal is a whore, or at least has no qualms about working as one in a brothel when money is hard to come by. For that matter, I didn't remember that crack even exists in the setting anymore.

Wields-Rulebook-Heavily

06-27-2009, 12:18 PM

Well, Calanthe is basically the Lestat of the series. Are you sure about that quote, though? It sounds a little out of place, especially considering that Cal is a whore, or at least has no qualms about working as one in a brothel when money is hard to come by. For that matter, I didn't remember that crack even exists in the setting anymore.

I could be misremembering as I haven't even looked at the books for years (at least since the original Wraeththu RPG review), but it doesn't look out of character for Cal as far as I can tell and I distinctly recall something at least very similar.

Also, here's the thing; He worked as a prostitute to a species that treats sex as a form of greeting. He was either really good at catering to some very specific fetishes (can you imagine a Wraeththu fetish? I sure can't) or he was the equivalent of the greeter at Costco from Idiocracy. Just saying. :p

GrimGent

06-27-2009, 12:27 PM

He was either really good at catering to some very specific fetishes (can you imagine a Wraeththu fetish? I sure can't) or he was the equivalent of the greeter at Costco from Idiocracy.
Hey, by all accounts he was really good at it... As for fetishes, the book hinted that the brothel in question also catered to perverts who wished to indulge in simulated rape fantasies, which the more respectable Wraeththu would regard as just plain sick.

Pete Whalley

06-27-2009, 03:23 PM

By the way, there are hardcover versions of this abomination.

One of the FLGS' (Travelling Man in Manchester) had one a while back.

J Harper

06-27-2009, 08:44 PM

Hey, by all accounts he was really good at it... As for fetishes, the book hinted that the brothel in question also catered to perverts who wished to indulge in simulated rape fantasies, which the more respectable Wraeththu would regard as just plain sick.

Now that's irony. Or something.

Cheers,

Jeremy Harper

wraithform

06-27-2009, 09:34 PM

ACÓNITO

06-28-2009, 01:42 AM

This really did it, for me:

"The last level allows you to be as graphic as you like. You can now bring in elements such as pelki (killing humans with the Wraeththu sexual organ) and all the darker sides of sex and aruna. This need not be restricted to the NPCs either.Players should feel free to create quite nasty or sexually predatory characters, (Emphasis mine.) if they so desire. The storyteller is also now able to bring in NPCs designed purely for sexual storylines and adventures. Such NPCs can act as sexual foils for characters, forming jealousies and love triangles in established relationships. Don’t mistake this level for an excuse to make everything dark and paint sex as evil. The point here is that there are no more limits to the sexual choices and descriptions you can use."

How can people who write that exist in society?
Are you sure he didn't escape from a mental institution? Maybe he wrote the whole thing from within one!

Woe Constantine! Someone OK'd the publishing... Someone reeeally evil, or mad, or both!

Ä
(Doing Ren* impression):
C-can never get it off now... dirty!

*From Ren & Stimpy

Kinetic

06-28-2009, 02:01 AM

I saw in a Hastings in the RPing section. Not knowing what it was I flipped through it in the store and quickly put it back on the shelf, thinking that someone had snuck their game in and left it on the shelf.

I realize now that I was sadly mistaken.

Since you and I are in the same town I think I saw the same book... and had exactly the same reaction. It has since been pulled from the shelves and shipped off somewhere else. At least, that's what I hope. I'd hate to think someone actually bought it and that it will be making an appearance at MisCon sometime in the future.

I did manage to dig up a sample of Wraeththu (http://www.inception-magazine.com/fall04/docs/WfEtF-samp.pdf)for all of you, as well as an interview with Gabriel Strange (http://www.inception-magazine.com/fall04/ae_gabrielstrange.htm) where we are treated to the knowledge that two additional books they were working on never came out.

I'm sorry. Really.

Barghest

06-28-2009, 03:05 AM

DM, you read the whole book, and DIDN'T go into a 48-hour fugue state where you built an altar in the back yard to Cthulhu so you could entreat him to come and wipe out humankind? Crikey. That's cortical fortitude of the first order.

Just one question. All the other stuff I can somehow handle (that is to say, repress), but I just have to tempt the gaping chasms of black ineffable insanity to ask:

What is the deal with the reference to "dildo bonfires"?

La Maupin

06-28-2009, 04:48 AM

Wasn't "Boline" a Dolly Parton song?
I keep thinking it's a town in Illinois, but that's Moline.

GrimGent

06-28-2009, 06:36 AM

How can people who write that exist in society?
Eh, that frankly sounds like an excerpt from some section that deals with levels of player comfort and what should be acceptable for a specific group or during a given campaign: the "play contract" as Nobilis calls it.

Mascodagama

06-28-2009, 08:02 AM

This made me snort:

Most of our time in the real world is taken up with the pursuit of love and sex, so how can our characters be ambivalent towards such issues?

We are privileged indeed that Mr Strange self-sacrificingly took a break from his otherwise constant pursuit of love and sex for just long enough to write us a 410 page RPG manual.

As for gender-ambiguous sex-talking with your buddies across the gaming table, I'm not yet totally convinced. I mean if I was going to let an overweight guy with an unkempt beard and a Red Dwarf T-shirt get me off with some hot sex talk, I'd hope to use the medium of cyberspace so we could both decently pretend that he was called Mitzi and 19 and totally hot.

ACÓNITO

06-28-2009, 09:38 AM

YAY!

-Darren MacLennan

Thanks to the revue, we've been playing a highly successful campaign of Spulturatorah! Something's right from all the wrongs.

Thanks Andy!:D

Ä

Evan Waters

06-28-2009, 10:11 AM

This made me snort:

We are privileged indeed that Mr Strange self-sacrificingly took a break from his otherwise constant pursuit of love and sex for just long enough to write us a 410 page RPG manual.

As for gender-ambiguous sex-talking with your buddies across the gaming table, I'm not yet totally convinced. I mean if I was going to let an overweight guy with an unkempt beard and a Red Dwarf T-shirt get me off with some hot sex talk, I'd hope to use the medium of cyberspace so we could both decently pretend that he was called Mitzi and 19 and totally hot.

See, I'm having a hard time seeing this working among a group of attractive, open-minded bisexuals. I'm not really sure I want to know about the group that would actually get into this.

Destriarch

06-28-2009, 10:58 AM

What is the deal with the reference to "dildo bonfires"?
I've never been sure about that one myself, but I always assumed that the author was making a running joke out of his earlier quote about the Wraeththu hero Manticker the Seventy, who got his name when he killed 70 humans in a rage. Y'know, the one where the reviewer posited an alternative reason, that he rode a motorbike over a flaming pile of dildos, 'cause that makes so much sense? :) It may have been obfuscated slightly because there seem to be two or three extra flaming dildo jokes in the new version of the review that weren't in the original.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong there, D.

Darren MacLennan

06-28-2009, 11:12 AM

What is the deal with the reference to "dildo bonfires"?

That was my invention, mostly because it just seems like such a perfect summary of Wraeththu - an artifact of normal, sane human sexuality being destroyed in a celebratory fire by something that exists as the expression of inadvertent self-loathing by the author of Wraeththu.

-Darren MacLennan

muriwo

06-28-2009, 01:19 PM

Hilarious review! Never was likely to buy this of all games anyway but now certainly will not. Laughed so hard my wife asked me what the joke was. Not sure how I'll explain it.... ;-)

ACÓNITO

06-28-2009, 03:23 PM

Eh, that frankly sounds like an excerpt from some section that deals with levels of player comfort and what should be acceptable for a specific group or during a given campaign: the "play contract" as Nobilis calls it.

Humanity's play contract with Mr Strange should stipulate that he'll always be veiled or curtains suddenly close whenever he exists.

Ä

DannyK

06-28-2009, 04:54 PM

That was my invention, mostly because it just seems like such a perfect summary of Wraeththu - an artifact of normal, sane human sexuality being destroyed in a celebratory fire by something that exists as the expression of inadvertent self-loathing by the author of Wraeththu.

I thought "Dildo Bonfire" was the name of Bilbo's older brother. The one who never left the basement, that the Bagginses didn't like to talk about.

It would be a good name for an Abyssal Exalted, too. Or a pro wrestler. "In this corner... Diiiiildo BONFIRE!"

khazakant

06-28-2009, 08:20 PM

I wonder if anybody in the entire world has ever played this game.

I mean, I can't even wrap my brain around sixteen-year-old yaoi fangirls getting together and actually, seriously, sitting down and playing something like this.

And I definitely cannot imagine an actual gay guy wanting this game. I'm gay and everything but shit, this just makes me want to take about sixteen showers and throw weedkiller on the houseplants.

Destriarch

06-29-2009, 04:23 AM

I wonder if anybody in the entire world has ever played this game.
I heard a few vague rumours about the playtests, but never any actual details. Thank goodness.

-Ash

wljohnso

06-29-2009, 09:54 AM

One humdinger of a review. Maybe one of the best on rpg.net.

Senzar had the decency to be short... this seems awful... awful enough to see if it is in the discount boxes at the next game-con here in Denver.

wljohnso

06-29-2009, 09:55 AM

I wonder if anybody in the entire world has ever played this game.

They would have to admit it first.

Darren MacLennan

06-29-2009, 10:01 AM

One humdinger of a review. Maybe one of the best on rpg.net.

Thanks! And pretty soon, I'm going to see if I can get the FATAL review up.

-Darren MacLennan

Liryel

06-29-2009, 10:14 PM

Thanks! And pretty soon, I'm going to see if I can get the FATAL review up.

-Darren MacLennan

Will you do HYBRID after that? Cause if anyone can I think it's you.

Darren MacLennan

06-29-2009, 10:23 PM

Will you do HYBRID after that? Cause if anyone can I think it's you.

HYBRID isn't a role-playing game; it's the unfortunate side-effect of mental illness, probably schizophrenia or something along those lines. Reviewing it would be pointless, unfortunately.

-Darren MacLennan

DixieCyanide

06-30-2009, 01:19 AM

For the record, that link/review got me back onto rpg.net forums for the first time in about a year. I had forgotten what I was missing. Kudos for the hilarity.

In short, excellent review, sir.

capnzapp

06-30-2009, 02:27 AM

I appreciate your praise, but - I don't do penance for stuff that I haven't done wrong.
I think he forgot the first rule: moderators can by definition not be wrong.

(un)reason

06-30-2009, 11:59 AM

I heard a few vague rumours about the playtests, but never any actual details. Thank goodness.

-Ash

What, are my sacrifices for you people chopped liver? (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=224117) I guess I'd almost completely forgotten about this. Can't be too surprised no-one else remembers either.

Darren MacLennan

06-30-2009, 12:46 PM

I think he forgot the first rule: moderators can by definition not be wrong.

Hm? No, we've admitted errors and fixed them - or tried to fix them - many a time. Trouble Tickets is there for a reason. But there's a difference between making a mistake and needing to do penance.

-Darren MacLennan

Brad Elliott

06-30-2009, 02:08 PM

What, are my sacrifices for you people chopped liver? (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=224117) I guess I'd almost completely forgotten about this. Can't be too surprised no-one else remembers either.

Good Lord! Me and Colin Chapman ended up loitering by the side of the road when Gabriel Strange did his long slow crash-and-burn, and I for sure don't remember seeing it.

On the other hand, it could well be that we were all just blocking out the memories so as to improve our quality of life...

mxyzplk

06-30-2009, 06:17 PM

Best review ever! Even if you *didn't* playtest it for months so that you can be truly qualified to write a review.

P.S. Oh but really, who *hasn't* killed someone with their sexual organ in a RPG? Don't play so innocent MacLennan!

Destriarch

07-01-2009, 03:52 AM

What, are my sacrifices for you people chopped liver? (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=224117) I guess I'd almost completely forgotten about this. Can't be too surprised no-one else remembers either.
I appologise sir, I think I missed that thread the first time around on account of it being in Roleplaying Open, a forum that I rarely if ever visit. I hope you recovered from the experience adequately and weren't driven to worship sweet Azathoth or perform a Wraeththu self-conversion using an Octodog Frankfurter Converter or any of the other reported symptoms? :D

-Ash

(un)reason

07-01-2009, 08:44 AM

I appologise sir, I think I missed that thread the first time around on account of it being in Roleplaying Open, a forum that I rarely if ever visit. I hope you recovered from the experience adequately and weren't driven to worship sweet Azathoth or perform a Wraeththu self-conversion using an Octodog Frankfurter Converter or any of the other reported symptoms? :D

-Ash
Nah. It was only one evening, and as I found, mechanically it's actually pretty banal. Doing the Dragon magazine reading thread for a year has done far more damage to my sanity than wraeththu managed.

Wulf Corbett

07-01-2009, 10:17 AM

Hmm... My FLGS had a copy of this book, a huge thick floppy paperback (make of that what you will). I actually flipped through it and found a couple of pages of mis-aligned text - text on top of tables, in fact (make of that... oh, you know...) I never actually read enough to get the idea of what the game was about - but I'd read about it on RPGnet, so I didn't consider that a loss!

As far as I know (and hope), he either returned it or left it to rot unsold. I must have a look next time I'm in.

moofrank

07-01-2009, 03:56 PM

A: Funny.
B: Darren writes like he speaks. It is an amazing talent.
C: The end result of the review reads like a soap label from a really pissed off Dr. Bronner.
D: Synnibarr is looking mighty fine about now.

Barghest

07-05-2009, 10:57 PM

>>>That was my invention, mostly because it just seems like such a perfect summary of Wraeththu - an artifact of normal, sane human sexuality being destroyed in a celebratory fire by something that exists as the expression of inadvertent self-loathing by the author of Wraeththu.<<<

Wow. That borders on poetic. *clap clap clap*

How endearingly absurd that such a well-put-together, lyrical little analogy should sprout from the moldering cow-flop that is Wraeththu.

Perhaps it was a coping mechanism on your part? "My brain is being molested by metaphorical octadogs of Strange's psychosexual self-loathing: must--wax--POETICAL!"