[RPG]: Dragon Pass: Land of Thunder, reviewed by John Hughes (4/5)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/9/9965.phtml

John Hughes's Summary:

Dragon Pass comes alive! A detailed, richly textured exploration of a great roleplaying setting.

Go to the full review for more information.

Post originally by Wes Johnson at 2003-12-23 11:15:13
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Great review and vreakdown of the latest Issaries attempot to market the Glorantha setting.

I am just curious though how many times they are goign to repackage this to no avail. I got Hero Wars and thought it had an interesting enoguh setting, but hated they rpg mechanics inside of it.

How does this product compare? I hate to make broad statements as above but it is tough to see if this is original or just modification of stuff that has been seen.

--Wes

Post originally by Mark Adri-Soejoko at 2003-12-23 11:52:04
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This is a Gazeteer of the Dragon Pass area, written primarily for the HeroQuest ruleset.

HeroQuest being the revised default Gloranthan ruleset. Compared to HeroWars it is a lot better, being more streamlined while still using the same core mechanic, which I really like.

The other big plus for HeroQuest is the presentation, it looks a lot better than HeroWars did, explains things far more clearly and only needs the main rule book to allow people to play in Glorantha.

If however you don't like the HeroQuest rules there is nothing to stop you using whatever ruleset you like to play in Glorantha. This book is primarily background material and will be useful no matter what you use to play there.

Post originally by Loz at 2003-12-23 11:59:18
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As Mark said, this book is background material that's quite divorced from the ruleset. Use HW, HQ or even RQ. @!#$, go ahead and use d20 if you want - the quality of the background speaks for itself.

As to 'repackaging to no avail'; well. I've been around Glorantha for 20 years, like the reviewer, and I wish this book had been available back then. It is LONG overdue, but we shouldn't beat-up Issaries for that. We should celebrate it now its here and start to really enjoy Dragon Pass/Sartar as the rich environment we've always suspected it to be.

Post originally by Wes Johnson at 2003-12-23 19:08:59
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Even in Hero Wars the setting coupld be split easily enough from the mechanics.

The problem Issaries faces, in my opinion, is that it might be a vastly superior edition of the Glorantha setting...but it seems like there has been a bit of suffering on the reader's part to get there. But hey I am a Shadow World fan and they do the exact opposite...pretty much the same exact stuff edition after edition...

--Wes

Post originally by Nick Brooke at 2003-12-23 22:41:38
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Wes, there hasn't ever been a publication like this for the Glorantha / Dragon Pass / Sartar setting before. This isn't repackaged old stuff (with a few new bits): this is a marvellous new book. And it's completely system-independent, as far as I can see.

Cheers, Nick

Post originally by Voriof at 2003-12-24 10:01:25
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Pretty much. Its "ruleset free" so, if you wanted to, you could use it with anything. Even those guys playing Glorantha with Exalted could use it as readily as the HeroQuesters - or even d20.

The book's long, LONG overdue. I could have used this thing desperately a decade ago.

I'm pleasantly reminded of the old Pendragon gazeteers. The entries are often more adventure hook than a simple description. Very, very little of it is old material - at least by my reading of it.

BUT, I AM biased. Now, if you want something repackaged, I'm sure someone will write up the Kyger Litor cult for you if want...

Voriof

Post originally by Wes Johnson at 2003-12-24 12:51:34
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hrmmmm....okay I am now less cynicle and more intrigued. If I have a wad of cash burning a hole in my pocket after the holidays it may be bought.