Post originally by Phil at 2005-03-02 00:16:14
Converted from Phorums BB System

Bill wrote:
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O.k. Subtlety will not work with you Phil. Here goes:

1. This IS a fantasy game.
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Yes, even I managed to grasp that. Thanks for clearing up something that didn't need clearing up.
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2. I did the interior maps. Clayton Bunce did the endsheets. We missed the British errors.
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Now, was that so hard? I've fucked up in game design from time to time, too ...
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Yes, the endsheets are incorrect. "Wildly inaccurate" is not how I would characterize these errors on a map of this scale. You are,
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Well, yes, showing the Thamesis and Londinium several hundred miles north of where they actually are could, depending on your personal preference, be characterised as other than "wildly inaccurate" ... but I beg leave to doubt that many people would agree with such an assessment.

They might well, as you say, not care. All too likely. Doesn't change the fact that the whole of the British section of the endpaper map is not only wildly inaccurate but blindingly obviously so.

Will it (or should it) stop people from buying RI? Dunno. I wouldn't think so.

Will it be something that will annoy people, to some greater or lesser degree, undoubtedly.

You obviously have a problem with this. I can't see why, personally.
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3. As with the forward in the book, if you are using the maps to navigate Earth, write your graduate thesis or plot your conquest of Roman Europe, you really need to review your sources. We have never made the claim Roma Imperious is a historic resource.
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Methinks thou dost protest do much. The above statement is meaningless and self-justificatory.

Even for alternate histories the way the world is set up should have some resemblance to historical reality as it existed before the PoD. Yours does in many (most) areas, some are debatable, and I said so, and some make no sense whatsoever, and I said *that*.

Placing major kingdoms the equal of (or at least able to compete with and survive) the Imperium Romanum as it exists in your alternate in the Scandinavian area and the tundra wastelands of northwestern Russia ... fine, if people can stomach that, great for them. Doesn't make sense for me because, well, it doesn't make any sense based on the objective reality of that part of the world.

Its not that the societies they possess are necessarily unbelievable, its where they are physically placed.

The fact that your playtesters didn't suss this out is interesting, and probably more a comment on their lack of basic geographical knowledge than any resounding vote of confidence. But will it stop people from buying the game? No. Should it? No.

Is it worthy of mention? Yes.
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4. It is still a beautiful map. We got great feedback from attendees of cons, GENCon, retailers, playtesters and fans in general. It was originally going to be a promotional item. Our fans asked us to sell them so they could get access.
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And it is a map that is flawed. Badly flawed. Wildly inaccurate.
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5. And this is important Phil, precisely how does it affect game play? If it truly destroys the game for you, you should not hav
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Well, sadly, I didn't notice it till after I had bought it.

Would it have prevented me from buying the game. Not at all.

I've said, repeatedly, that the production quialities of RI are amazingly high. Higher than any other product on the market. Even Tales of Gaea.

The background is largely OK, with the caveats that I have raised, which is neither here nor there.

The rules are ho-hum. So what? I doubt too many of the people who bought RI will end up using the rules exactly as they are if they even use them at all. That's more or less expected, I would have thought ... they'll use d20, probably (more fool them, there's no accounting for taste ... d20 is far worse than Iridium!) or GURPS or Tristat or something other generic, I guess. Neither here nor there. The background is fine, though with flaws that most people will not even have a clue *are* flaws ... so I wish you luck and hope it *continues* to sell well, and that it sells well enough for adventures and other supplements for it to appear ... which I will probably buy.

Which doesn't change the comments I have made in any way. And I cannot understand why you are so overly defensive about them.

Phil