[RPG]: Fantasy Imperium, reviewed by William (4/4)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12528.phtml

William's Summary:

Fantasy Imperium is a grand attempt at providing the ability to do anything to both the player and storyteller. It is a world of Knights and Merchants, of clergy and pagans. If you want a game that takes historical Europe and throws in magic and myth than Fantasy Imperium is a good choice.

Go to the full review for more information.

[smascrns]

Let me state my bias (if you want to call it so) upfront: I'm always suspicious of reviews of obscure new games looking for a place under the sun when these reviews are by a first-time reviewer. Specially if the said game has a previous negative review. It usually smells of an "inside trade" maneuver (in other words, of a friend-to-friend job).

Now, this may not be the case with your review but it justifies the questions: Why did you choose this game in particular for your first review? Are you planning to write some more reviews? If yes, of which games?

Don't take it personaly, it's just my smell at work.

[Lizard]

Originally Posted by smascrns

Let me state my bias (if you want to call it so) upfront: I'm always suspicious of reviews of obscure new games looking for a place under the sun when these reviews are by a first-time reviewer. Specially if the said game has a previous negative review. It usually smells of an "inside trade" maneuver (in other words, of a friend-to-friend job).

Now, this may not be the case with your review but it justifies the questions: Why did you choose this game in particular for your first review? Are you planning to write some more reviews? If yes, of which games?

Don't take it personaly, it's just my smell at work.

I was going to say much the same thing, especially since this review follows on a much more negative review, and since the 'review' is surprisingly close in tone to the spiel the authors used at GenCon this year. (I feel very sorry for them; they were at GenCon and DragonCon, which probably cost them a bundle they very likely did not recoup. FI is a canonical fantasy heartbreaker...)

[Wdunderwood]

Originally Posted by smascrns

Let me state my bias (if you want to call it so) upfront: I'm always suspicious of reviews of obscure new games looking for a place under the sun when these reviews are by a first-time reviewer. Specially if the said game has a previous negative review. It usually smells of an "inside trade" maneuver (in other words, of a friend-to-friend job).

Now, this may not be the case with your review but it justifies the questions: Why did you choose this game in particular for your first review? Are you planning to write some more reviews? If yes, of which games?

Don't take it personaly, it's just my smell at work.

I chose this game in particular because it was new and relatively unheard of. Also because I disagree with the previous review. I may or may not write more reviews, it depends if I play any new games to review. I bought Fantasy Imperium on a whim at Dragoncon, something I don't normally do. I usually play much wider known games such as D&D, Whitewolf, and Gurps. These have plenty of reviews and don't really need my input.

And I don't take it personally, I understand where you are coming from.

[anarchy]

Odd. There is a 3rd review as well. It looks like it meant to be posted on Oct. 13th:

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12537.phtml

The link for that came from the Shadowstar website because a search here on RPG.net will not find that review.

EDIT: Retracted some suspicion about the Oct. 13th after further research.

[C.W.Richeson]

anarchy,

That's a review which has been submitted to the database, queued for release, but has not been released yet. It's currently a "members only" review. It was submitted on Friday, October 13th. However, there does seem to be some sort of bug with it as it gives a discussion option and apparently can be viewed by non-members.

Edit: I anticipate the review will be officially posted on Friday and the whole matter fixed.

Originally Posted by anarchy

Odd. There is a 3rd review as well. It looks like it meant to be posted on Oct. 13th:

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12537.phtml

The link for that came from the Shadowstar website because a search here on RPG.net will not find that review.

EDIT: Retracted some suspicion about the Oct. 13th after further research.

[smascrns]

Originally Posted by Wdunderwood

I chose this game in particular because it was new and relatively unheard of. Also because I disagree with the previous review. I may or may not write more reviews, it depends if I play any new games to review. I bought Fantasy Imperium on a whim at Dragoncon, something I don't normally do. I usually play much wider known games such as D&D, Whitewolf, and Gurps. These have plenty of reviews and don't really need my input.

And I don't take it personally, I understand where you are coming from.

Excellent. I can only encourage you to write more reviews, even of games that have been amply covered by previous reviews. Since you play them you may write playtest reviews instead of the capsule variety. The former apear a lot less often so there's plenty of scope for you to provide your personal insights on your games of choice.

[Wdunderwood]

Thanks for the encouragement to write reviews. I might write more as time allows. In that vain, do any of you have any suggestions to improve my writing style or how I describe the game? Any helpful criticism is greatly appreciated.

*edited for spelling*

[VaticanT]

Originally Posted by Wdunderwood

Thanks for the encouragement to write reviews. I might write more as time allows. In that vain, do any of you have any suggestions to improve my writing style or how I describe the game? Any helpful criticism is greatly appreciated.

*edited for spelling*

I have a question. How do the mechanics encourage "narrative storytelling"? I noted this at the start of the review but I couldn't find any mention in the mechanics section.

[C.W.Richeson]

Welcome to RPG.net, Wdunderwood. I think it's cool that your first post is a contribution to the site!