Secret Master
Jul 30th, '06, 09:14 PM
It’s no particular secret that Tom Rafalski is a clever guy. If it were a secret before the release of his last product - Rescue at Karadonna - it certainly isn’t now. Yet cleverness is a trait that, while often praised in politicians, is seldom rewarded in poets; and Tom has chosen a particularly hard row to hoe (as my grandfather would say). He’s an author-artist-editor-layout meister with an ambitious business model that may yet prove to be ahead of its time. You see, Tom has been carefully reading this board in search of your complaints… not that one has to search particularly hard. After some negotiating with Those Who Must Be Obeyed, he has embarked on a one-man crusade to create adventures for Hero’s less popular (though often critically acclaimed) settings. While Steve Long & Co. may be able to produce text at a rate somewhat greater than the total creative output of every monastery in medieval Europe, they (ok, disclaimer: we) can’t get to everything. Which is where Tom comes in.
In his last product Tom took a crack at Allen Thomas’ criminally underutilized Alien Wars with a bloody space marine adventure that would have brought a tear to old R. Heinlein’s psychotic left eye. This time he is taking a swing at Allen’s tribute to all things Conan, Grey Mouser, and Cugel by making an adventure for The Valdorian Age. While I don’t want to go into too much detail lest I ruin the fun of the product, Chasing A Golden Buck is an enjoyable romp through the thief-saturated city of Elweir. Its light-hearted yet cynical tone reminds me in particular of Fritz Leiber’s short story Lean Times In Lankhmar; and even thinking about THAT story gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling in the place where they say my heart is. Much like a good Leiber story, the plot is based around a series of celestial manipulations, double entendre, misdirection, and outright lies. It also has a mildly moral message, as Tom playfully sports with organized religion in a manner that is doubtful to antagonize anyone.
On a more brass tacks level, Chasing A Golden Buck is a “hook” adventure designed to kick off a campaign set in The Valdorian Age. Tom includes five rather entertaining sample PCs, some NPCs, and two basic but perfectly serviceable maps. Actually, it’s one map from two perspectives - one for the players and one for the GM – a feature that I find to be particularly clever. The text of the actual adventure is about five pages long, and Tom does a good job of giving you all the facts with just enough Valdorian “feel” to not make it overly distracting. My only real gripe with Chasing a Golden Buck is that there are a couple of typos. Then again, there are RPG companies with five or more employees that can’t seem to fix basic typos, so I guess we should cut Tom some slack.
I can think of several reasons for buying this product. The first is that some of you asked for it. If you ever griped publicly about Hero’s lack of support for The Valdorian Age, time to open up that virtual wallet and spend some money (it should be for sale here shortly). The second is that you won’t spend a lot of money. Tom’s products are notoriously inexpensive. You probably spent more on lunch today than you’ll spend on Chasing a Golden Buck and enjoyed the lunch a lot less. Finally, it would take a smart GM less than a half-hour to port this module into D20 and use it as part of a Lankhmar, City of Adventure game. Or better yet buy brand spanking new a copy of The Valdorian Age to go along with your module and port Lankhmar, City of Adventure into the Hero System. You’re friends will know that you’re a scholar and a gentleman if you do.
In his last product Tom took a crack at Allen Thomas’ criminally underutilized Alien Wars with a bloody space marine adventure that would have brought a tear to old R. Heinlein’s psychotic left eye. This time he is taking a swing at Allen’s tribute to all things Conan, Grey Mouser, and Cugel by making an adventure for The Valdorian Age. While I don’t want to go into too much detail lest I ruin the fun of the product, Chasing A Golden Buck is an enjoyable romp through the thief-saturated city of Elweir. Its light-hearted yet cynical tone reminds me in particular of Fritz Leiber’s short story Lean Times In Lankhmar; and even thinking about THAT story gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling in the place where they say my heart is. Much like a good Leiber story, the plot is based around a series of celestial manipulations, double entendre, misdirection, and outright lies. It also has a mildly moral message, as Tom playfully sports with organized religion in a manner that is doubtful to antagonize anyone.
On a more brass tacks level, Chasing A Golden Buck is a “hook” adventure designed to kick off a campaign set in The Valdorian Age. Tom includes five rather entertaining sample PCs, some NPCs, and two basic but perfectly serviceable maps. Actually, it’s one map from two perspectives - one for the players and one for the GM – a feature that I find to be particularly clever. The text of the actual adventure is about five pages long, and Tom does a good job of giving you all the facts with just enough Valdorian “feel” to not make it overly distracting. My only real gripe with Chasing a Golden Buck is that there are a couple of typos. Then again, there are RPG companies with five or more employees that can’t seem to fix basic typos, so I guess we should cut Tom some slack.
I can think of several reasons for buying this product. The first is that some of you asked for it. If you ever griped publicly about Hero’s lack of support for The Valdorian Age, time to open up that virtual wallet and spend some money (it should be for sale here shortly). The second is that you won’t spend a lot of money. Tom’s products are notoriously inexpensive. You probably spent more on lunch today than you’ll spend on Chasing a Golden Buck and enjoyed the lunch a lot less. Finally, it would take a smart GM less than a half-hour to port this module into D20 and use it as part of a Lankhmar, City of Adventure game. Or better yet buy brand spanking new a copy of The Valdorian Age to go along with your module and port Lankhmar, City of Adventure into the Hero System. You’re friends will know that you’re a scholar and a gentleman if you do.