Re: [HOE] Some announcements

[Theo McGuckin <tsm@jlab.org>]

> Well, maybe not for the two established lines, but there's Lost Colonyto
> consider as well.  A lot of this really hinges on if Lost Colony follows the
> same format as the last two games in the Deadlands trilogy.  The Weird West
> and Hell on Earth both had, among other thing, at least five "splatbooks"
> (four arcane backgrounds and a book on harrowed types), a bestiary, and at
> least one important placebook (the Weird West actually had several of these,
> none of which was arguably more important than the other).  That's seven
> books right there...ASSUMING Lost Colony follows the same pattern.

Well one thing to consider is that Sykers are already covered, and they're
going to be a big arcane. I can't see there being another deaders book
(everythings been covered in the two). So those two right there bring the
number down to the range that pinnacle annouced (3-5 books, IIRC).
 
> Junker rules in the main HOE rulebook.  I seriously wouldn't give Junkers a
> second glance without The Junkman Cometh by my side.  The section in the
> main book was, in my opinion, inadequate and ill-equipped to give a
> potential player the full scope of just what exactly Junkers were all about.
> Yes, there are space concerns.  I'm aware of that, and it's why I'm
> concerned about the move away from dedicated sourcebooks to general ones.  I
> can't imagine someone doing as good a job with TJC in only 20 or 30 pages.

I'd argue that junkers might have been better if they compressed the rules
down into 30 pages. But that's another thread.

> Well, the quality/style is STILL going to vary no matter WHAT they're
> working on.  You're right in that it's better to split the load for a
> compliation book, but you still might encounter these problems when working
> on the Epitaph.

Right, but if two authors have two different styles for two separate
articles in an epitath it's no big deal. But if they do in a sourcebook
it's going to show ("On this page he uses first-person, but then he
switches to third-person in this next section...")

> Well, I always thought that was what the old Epitaph was for; ideas
> that couldn't quite fit in the rest of the source material being
> published, but too good to throw away.

So you want sourcebooks AND an epitath? That goes back to a manpower
issue.

> I wholeheartedly agree with the idea for the new Epitaph with regards to the
> Wasted West and Hell on Earth, since we really have reached the point where
> PEG'd be reaching too much to publish new sourcebooks.  It's with Lost
> Colony that I'm apprehensive.

I'm just sad because purple's my favorite color and those 4-odd purple
books are gonna look pretty lonely against all that green and orange.
Kudos for Pinnacle for having the most striking looking books by the way.

Theo McGuckin - SysAdmin, JLab, Safety Warden (Bldg. 85)


	"Powerful like a gorilla, yet soft and yielding like a nerf-ball." 
	  						- Homer Simpson