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Rogue Games Tabbloid - January 10, 2010 Edition
Rogue Games Tabbloid - January 10, 2010 Edition
Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net
ROGUE FEED reviewing in this post, is the “original” rules set and a corresponds to
OD&D in terms of its length (just 74 pages) and complexity. A 1987
REVIEW: Mazes & Minotaurs “revised” edition, which I will review in due course, corresponds roughly
to AD&D and other heftier fantasy RPGs and comprises many more
(1972 Edition) pages of text, divided into three volumes. Both versions of the game are
JAN 09, 2010 11:26P.M. presented as if they really are products of another world in which the
hobby began a little earlier and its influences were a little different. The
books, which are available only as free PDFs, include lots of commentary
by the authors on the origins, development, and controversies
surrounding the game’s imaginary history. Some of this imaginary
history cleaves a little too closely to the real history of the hobby, with
M&M standing in for D&D, albeit with little twists, while some of it
reasonably insightful and/or trenchant satire of that real history. I have
mixed feelings about this approach, in part because I think some of the
commentary perpetuates false (or at least mistaken) notions about old
school D&D, such as the nature and purpose of experience points, to cite
one example.
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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR riorio2@rogue-games.net 10 January 2010
complexities not found in games of the same supposed vintage. There xiphos, and forming a shield wall as you prepare to face down the Derros
are, however, explicit rules for disengaging and retreat, which I pouring out from their hidden citadels beneath the earth.
appreciated. There are also rules for a wide variety of physical actions,
which, while discussed separately, share similar mechanics, where high Presentation: 7 out of 10
rolls on 1D20 are always better. NPC reactions, henchmen, loyalty, and Creativity: 7 out of 10
morale are all given the treatment one would expect. Experience, as I Utility: 6 out of 10
noted, is more explicitly prescriptive than OD&D, with “fighting classes”
gaining XP through defeating enemies and “accomplishing great deeds” Get This If: You’re looking for a minimalist fantasy RPG that’s not
“magic classes” gaining them by defeating supernatural enemies and inspired by the European Middle Ages.
“exploring the unknown.” There’s enough wiggle room in these Don’t Get This If: You’re expecting a “realistic” treatment of the
categories for each referee to use them as he wishes, which recalls AD&D ancient world as the basis for a fantasy roleplaying game.
2e’s late, unlamented XP rules, not to mention other more recent games.
Whether one sees this as a boon or a bane is, I suppose, a matter of taste.
For myself, I’m not too keen on them.
All in all, Mazes & Minotaurs is a very impressive piece of work, all the
more so because it manages to include so much in so short a space. It’s a
game I’d very much like to play at some point, so you can take that as you
will. What M&M is not, however, is a particularly convincing old school
forgery, even if it supposedly originates in an alternate universe. Unlike,
say, Encounter Critical, whose anachronisms are better hidden, M&M,
in both its rules and its commentary, shows its hand. It’s a work of clear
homage to the old school, making many esthetic choices in imitation of
its forebears, but its foundations are a bit too rational to be a genuine
product of the early days of the hobby. That’s why I called it a “neo-old
school” game, more like Castles & Crusades than, say, Mutant Future.