I love when games have a solitaire adventure for learning the system. That is always a plus for me, I'm obsessed with the idea of a game being able to teach the game only through game play.
Can you say Elric of Melnibone without the excessive fornication, torture, and existing as a pawn of cosmic whimsy? Or possibly Anderson's "The Broken Sword"...... That's obviously not an entirely accurate take given the content, but they were the first influences that sprang to mind on my initial glance.........I certainly appreciate that angle, and it seems that I'm not alone. Old persons unite! RealRealm is an interesting concept, the fact that you can deal with mature story and character arcs is to be applauded, so this moves to the the top 3 on my "Should buy as soon as I get some cash together" Category.
That is a fascinating take on elves, and arguably jives quite well with the bit about elves often being ancestors who were venerated as elves in Germanic folklore.
Enjoy your reviews as always. Your insight into the publishing of rpgs is helpful. I agree on you with the use of AI. As I have returned to the hobby it coincided with ChatGPT 3.5 release and I used it to teach me 5th edition D&D. I find it a useful tool for my neurodivergent brain. Most of the art I generated is just for concept art, not for publication, but if push comes to shove, a small publisher (ie. a single creator) should be applauded for using the technologies available to put product out. The goal is to have the funding to be able to commission pieces from admired artists, but that can't always happen, so what's the real debate? Artists major complaint seem to be that the programs were trained on their original creations and they aren't earning royalties or any compensation from the original use. The old standby, I am not a lawyer, is appropriate. What is fair use of a painting. I go to major museums and see art students sitting in front of the "masters" drawing away furiously to figure out how to recreate what they see before them. How is that different that scanning a picture to draw later, or taking a picture of a piece of art and selling that? Does it feel like the original artists are being shafted, yes it does. But how exactly they are being harmed seems to elude me.
I have zero issues with AI art. More so with smaller creators, if its a big company then less so. Its a great tool for small creators who cant get to much art without it being very expensive, many books end up having all rasied money go to art and the creator ends up with nothing for their work. I think a mix is good for most small creators. spend money on the cover and a couple small bits in the book. Covers really draw people in at the end of the day.
Thank you for mentioning font size and readability. I have binned what might be great games because I could not read them comfortably. Nothing in a rule book is more important than readability and many reviewers won't even mention it.
Some cool original ideas on running a game where elves feel fantastical. Eyes get wonky after 40 years or so, layout folks take note and just give the old guys black text on a white background. Function over form on this topic, if it's hard to read I'm likely to skip that info or your book entirely.
disruptive technologies always get everyone's knickers in a bunch. The past few decades have seen such rapid changes, our little brains always have trouble keeping up, and our collective society is even slower.
Wow, haven't seen an RPG on this setting since stormbringer. However, I'll pass on this. I'm really getting sick of RPG books becoming art books because usually the content is lacking. If I want an art book, I'll buy the graphic novels based on this setting. Otherwise, this is a great review. thanks
This art could have been done by an actual artist and not by HAL Art is more expensive now *because* of AI. It was one thing when you had other (actual) artists to compete with. Now you have Skynet taking yer jerb. I'm surprised that they were able to publish it with AI art, since the courts are still up in the air about AI art vs copyright. OT: The game and it's system sounds rather fun. I do like the elves being *elves* and not pointy eared humans. I think that gets lost with the new age writers. That maybe the problem with making everything *relatable.* everything becomes "like humans but different".
AI art is a bad thing because it kills off creators. So eventually the pool of real original art that the AI can steal, sorry learn, from will diminish.
Here's my remarkably uninformed and opinionated take on AI art. It's a tool, and like any tool it can be misused to create a shoddy product. But in the hands of a person that understands its capabilities and limitations it can create something useful or otherwise pleasing. I think the problem is when it is used as a shortcut to create something that is 'good enough'. With this game in particular I get the impression that it has helped in creating a game that is on the threshold of being ignorable shovelware if only for the fact that the art, which I like, created the space to pay attention to other issues which then did not receive attention, layout being the thing Jim called out. So it's a matter of focus, maybe. If you're going to cut corners in one area (art) makes sure all your other areas are tight, otherwise you're misusing your entire toolkit. PS: Jim, love the Odin look at the top of the vid
I love when games have a solitaire adventure for learning the system. That is always a plus for me, I'm obsessed with the idea of a game being able to teach the game only through game play.
Can you say Elric of Melnibone without the excessive fornication, torture, and existing as a pawn of cosmic whimsy? Or possibly Anderson's "The Broken Sword"......
That's obviously not an entirely accurate take given the content, but they were the first influences that sprang to mind on my initial glance.........I certainly appreciate that angle, and it seems that I'm not alone. Old persons unite!
RealRealm is an interesting concept, the fact that you can deal with mature story and character arcs is to be applauded, so this moves to the the top 3 on my "Should buy as soon as I get some cash together" Category.
That is a fascinating take on elves, and arguably jives quite well with the bit about elves often being ancestors who were venerated as elves in Germanic folklore.
Enjoy your reviews as always. Your insight into the publishing of rpgs is helpful. I agree on you with the use of AI. As I have returned to the hobby it coincided with ChatGPT 3.5 release and I used it to teach me 5th edition D&D. I find it a useful tool for my neurodivergent brain. Most of the art I generated is just for concept art, not for publication, but if push comes to shove, a small publisher (ie. a single creator) should be applauded for using the technologies available to put product out. The goal is to have the funding to be able to commission pieces from admired artists, but that can't always happen, so what's the real debate?
Artists major complaint seem to be that the programs were trained on their original creations and they aren't earning royalties or any compensation from the original use. The old standby, I am not a lawyer, is appropriate. What is fair use of a painting. I go to major museums and see art students sitting in front of the "masters" drawing away furiously to figure out how to recreate what they see before them. How is that different that scanning a picture to draw later, or taking a picture of a piece of art and selling that? Does it feel like the original artists are being shafted, yes it does. But how exactly they are being harmed seems to elude me.
As a big fan of Changeling this is a game I'm definitely interested in
I had not seen anyone comment on the quality of the print of demand from DT, but it fits the examples I've seen. I will keep that in mind.
I have zero issues with AI art. More so with smaller creators, if its a big company then less so. Its a great tool for small creators who cant get to much art without it being very expensive, many books end up having all rasied money go to art and the creator ends up with nothing for their work. I think a mix is good for most small creators. spend money on the cover and a couple small bits in the book. Covers really draw people in at the end of the day.
Thank you for mentioning font size and readability. I have binned what might be great games because I could not read them comfortably. Nothing in a rule book is more important than readability and many reviewers won't even mention it.
Some cool original ideas on running a game where elves feel fantastical. Eyes get wonky after 40 years or so, layout folks take note and just give the old guys black text on a white background. Function over form on this topic, if it's hard to read I'm likely to skip that info or your book entirely.
disruptive technologies always get everyone's knickers in a bunch. The past few decades have seen such rapid changes, our little brains always have trouble keeping up, and our collective society is even slower.
Wow, haven't seen an RPG on this setting since stormbringer. However, I'll pass on this. I'm really getting sick of RPG books becoming art books because usually the content is lacking. If I want an art book, I'll buy the graphic novels based on this setting. Otherwise, this is a great review. thanks
This art could have been done by an actual artist and not by HAL
Art is more expensive now *because* of AI.
It was one thing when you had other (actual) artists to compete with. Now you have Skynet taking yer jerb.
I'm surprised that they were able to publish it with AI art, since the courts are still up in the air about AI art vs copyright.
OT: The game and it's system sounds rather fun.
I do like the elves being *elves* and not pointy eared humans. I think that gets lost with the new age writers.
That maybe the problem with making everything *relatable.* everything becomes "like humans but different".
I found the artwork monotonous.
Everything should be one font size larger. We are old.
AI art is a bad thing because it kills off creators. So eventually the pool of real original art that the AI can steal, sorry learn, from will diminish.
By this standard all artists are thieves. This is part of why I keep swinging back and forth on how much I accept or don't accept it.
I am rabidly apathetic about the use of AI art, as long as it isn't stealing from real artists, but that's not really my call either.
Here's my remarkably uninformed and opinionated take on AI art.
It's a tool, and like any tool it can be misused to create a shoddy product. But in the hands of a person that understands its capabilities and limitations it can create something useful or otherwise pleasing. I think the problem is when it is used as a shortcut to create something that is 'good enough'. With this game in particular I get the impression that it has helped in creating a game that is on the threshold of being ignorable shovelware if only for the fact that the art, which I like, created the space to pay attention to other issues which then did not receive attention, layout being the thing Jim called out. So it's a matter of focus, maybe. If you're going to cut corners in one area (art) makes sure all your other areas are tight, otherwise you're misusing your entire toolkit.
PS: Jim, love the Odin look at the top of the vid