Showing posts with label Greg Kostikyan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Greg Kostikyan. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

But how will I know the good side from the bad?

Over several months of contemplating Star Wars and the two older RPGs thereof (don't have anything like the money to even touch the FFG trilogy of tomes), I've continued to find my mind split right down the middle. I own the core books for both the West End Games D6 version (the original one), and the Wizards of the Coast d20 version (revised). My miniatures habit has continued to swell like Val Kilmer's ego once did, and I'll briefly put some notes in bullet points.

  • The Star Wars Miniatures game based on the d20 rules is pretty good. Relatively fast to play, and the abundance of characters in the Fringe faction means that I might be able to adapt the rules for three sides instead of just two (living with two other nerds, one wants to include them when possible). The very small number of New Republic minis that aren't Luke or Han's kids is a bit disappointing, but there are still some gems out there.
  • Thirdly, as much as I like the core of the d20 System for combat skirmishes, the roleplaying games based on it are just too much. Not running Star Wars d20 unless at least one of my potential players makes a massive commitment to mastering the rules - in exchange for which, I might be persuaded to make a similar effort for her Starfinder campaign. Quid Go Pro, and all that.
  • Next, the D6 version has some peculiarities. Part of this is my own unfamiliarity with things that aren't D&D or D&D-based, but some of the rules are a bit confusingly worded and structured. Perhaps the 2nd edition resolves some of these issues, but I'm reluctant to drop more cash on that core book without trying this one in more detail.
  • Sixth and lastly, this White Star game that everyone's been talking about (or was a few years ago, back before the Renaissance turned into the Old School Ragnarok). It's pretty cool! Rules-lite enough for me, but maybe a bit too rules-lite in places - especially where starships are concerned. Still might pick it up at some point, though.
  • And in conclusion, I nabbed the Star Munchkin RPG at my game store. Might actually be persuaded to give this a shot if I find the right group - who I might have to sew together from HackMaster 4e and Halberd players.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

Michael and the Magic Man

Not strictly a gaming-related post, but I found this in an old issue of Ares Magazine (Issue #3, July 1980). It's a short "capsule review" by Greg Kostikyan of a little-known novel: Kathleen M. Sidney's Michael and the Magic Man.

I found the novel by chance at a local used bookstore, and I'm surprised and dismayed to find that there's basically nothing about it online; few have heard of it, and it looks like the author hasn't gotten any other books published. I'm posting the review here for two reasons. First, to make it available in searchable text; the PDF scan of the magazine from the Internet Archive, while of great visual clarity, hasn't been run through an OCR program. Second, to spread the word on the book in my own small way; while it's not perfect, I did enjoy it and would like to see it in print again some day.

Without further ado, the review (after the jump):