Steve Long Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Those of you interested in a chapter-by-chapter review of the contents of The Turakian Age might want to check out the review that was posted today on RPG.Net (I'm really surprised it went up so fast). The reviewer got a couple of minor facts wrong (and/or had a couple of Turakian names mangled by a word processing or HTML program), but he goes over the contents pretty thoroughly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest joen00b Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net Direct Link for our lazier readers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCUBA Hero Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net And a tip of the hat to Yamo for posting the review. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TechnoViking Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net A very good review, which I agree with for the most part. Style: In the Style part of the review, makes some very valid points on art. The art in TA is the first Hero product where the quality of the art was so poor in some areas (Races mostly ) that it reduced my opinion of the book. I can not complain about the lack of an index as much as the reviewer did, since it is a free download. In retrospect, I think I would have prefer to pay $31.99 for the book, and had a complete index within the book. The reviewer main flaw in the Style section is not mentioning the high quality maps in the book. Keith Curtis did a great job on the maps, and it is one of the high points of the book for me. Substance: Great chapter by chapter review. Can not anything I disagree with this part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanguard00 Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net Other than the index (which, while annoying, is still only a small complaint in the grand scheme of things), I like the book, and I agree with the overall tone of the review. I think it amusing that the reviewer uses D&D as a basis for comparison, but I suppose that's only to be expected (you have to set a standard SOMEwhere, for good or ill). I'd have preferred to see it reviewed entirely on it's own merits, but again, a small complaint. TA is good. How good? For my money, it's definitely the best overall high fantasy setting out there right now. I think that sums it up nicely. I was planning on running a Fantasy Hero game in the near future, but I was creating my own world to do so. TA is such a good read, though, that I might just forego all the work and get a TA campaign going. Thanks, Steve. Another quality product (style reviews be dam--er, darned!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeroGM Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net "God Awful poser-style art imagining programs" I take offense at that. Apprently the writer hasn't kept up with what Poser can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted May 14, 2004 Report Share Posted May 14, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net What Poser can do and what the artist can do with it are entirely different things, are they not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamo Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net Sorry, guys. My spell-checker did a real number on a couple sentences there. Also, I had a brain fart and stated that Turakian gnomes were the get of elves and halflings instead of dwarves and halflings. D'oh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lemming Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net Well, I noticed TA at the game store today. Lots of impulse buying today. Bought a couple CDs as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hierax Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Putting the "Turak" in the "Turakian Age"? Putting the "Turak" in the "Turakian Age"? Just picked mine up recently, got to Canada quite quickly. Anyway, another great Fantasy Hero book, Steve! One reservation though (either I'm just missing it or it's not there): Where's Kal-Turak's write-up(s)? I mean the age is named after him, he's the "big bad", campaigns are suggested about bringing him down, but where's his game stats? In Conquerors, Killers, and Crooks -- the eponymous Fantasy villain's write-up is in a Champions book instead of a Fantasy Hero book, and the CKC version is a weakened one. How about the real deal in his own age? It would have been great to see what the guy that a whole age is named after is like (preferably a few versions for the different periods in the age). How about a Digital Hero article with him? That serious omission aside, it really is a great book -- the first print published setting specifically designed for Fantasy Hero looks like a bright future for the line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Taylor Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net Other than the index (which' date=' while annoying, is still only a small complaint in the grand scheme of things), I like the book, and I agree with the overall tone of the review.[/quote'] I printed out the "Encyclopedia Turakiana" and put it in an 40 pocket display folder. Problem solved. I think that sums it up nicely. I was planning on running a Fantasy Hero game in the near future' date=' but I was creating my own world to do so. TA is such a good read, though, that I might just forego all the work and get a TA campaign going.[/quote'] That's what I'm going to do. I'm still going to keep working on my own fantasy world, but TA will fill the gap in the meantime, enabling me to take much more time and care over my own world which should end up all the better for it in the long run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Re: Putting the "Turak" in the "Turakian Age"? Putting the "Turak" in the "Turakian Age"? Just picked mine up recently, got to Canada quite quickly. Anyway, another great Fantasy Hero book, Steve! One reservation though (either I'm just missing it or it's not there): Where's Kal-Turak's write-up(s)? I mean the age is named after him, he's the "big bad", campaigns are suggested about bringing him down, but where's his game stats? In Conquerors, Killers, and Crooks -- the eponymous Fantasy villain's write-up is in a Champions book instead of a Fantasy Hero book, and the CKC version is a weakened one. How about the real deal in his own age? It would have been great to see what the guy that a whole age is named after is like (preferably a few versions for the different periods in the age). How about a Digital Hero article with him? That serious omission aside, it really is a great book -- the first print published setting specifically designed for Fantasy Hero looks like a bright future for the line. I do agree that a writeup (or more than one) for the primordial Kal-Turak ought to appear somewhere, although I don't feel that The Turakian Age itself is the right place for it. For most of the age Kal-Turak is the great looming threat that none dare confront directly, like Sauron. Facing him should be the culmination of an epic campaign, since his final defeat essentially ends the Turakian Age. Digital HERO or a future Fantasy HERO supplement would work, especially if it were to depict Kal-Turak at different stages of his career. For my part, I do NOT want to see a version of the Archlich more powerful than the one in CKC, no matter what his history writeup says. That Takofanes can only be matched by whole teams of the most powerful superheroes; any mightier and it's hard to imagine any fantasy-world force short of the gods themselves who could stop his march of conquest. (OTOH strengthening his spells while reducing his Characteristics and lich-powers would not be unreasonable.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted May 15, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net If I were going to "stat out" Kal-Turak anywhere, it would be in next year's Nobles, Knights, And Necromancers -- but I doubt I'll even put him in there. It would be like writing up Sauron for a Middle-earth game: largely an exercise in futility. Kal-Turak's supposed to be a sort of plot device, in dramatic terms. Statting him out would just turn him into another monster to kill (much like the way Deities And Demigods used to become a "Monster Manual for high-level D&D games" ). One of the many good decisions the designers of Deadlands made was never to stat out their four major bad guys. It had the effect of keeping them mysterious and dangerous, not just another target for gunslingers, and I think it worked quite well. Like they did, I'll probably stat out Kal-Turak's major lieutenants; between them and Takofanes you can probably guesstimate Kal-Turak himself, if you really, really gotta know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted May 15, 2004 Report Share Posted May 15, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net If I were going to "stat out" Kal-Turak anywhere' date=' it would be in next year's [i']Nobles, Knights, And Necromancers[/i] -- but I doubt I'll even put him in there. It would be like writing up Sauron for a Middle-earth game: largely an exercise in futility. But that's the kind of challenge HERO gamers enjoy. Take for example Scott Nolan's noble effort to write up Sauron (and numerous other Rings characters) in the Character Archive from "Surbrook's Stuff": http://www.devermore.net/surbrook/lotr/lotrchar.html Steve, while I agree with your position in general as far as campaigns in a certain genre go, one of the joys of HERO is to be able to mix and match characters from different genres. It might be interesting for modern superheroes to have to travel back in time to the Turakian Age to confront Kal-Turak in his prime. You're right, though, in the case of Takofanes it would be easy to extrapolate his past self from his CKC writeup if you wanted that kind of crossover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamo Posted May 16, 2004 Report Share Posted May 16, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net Oh, I understand the rationale, Steve. I also agree with it. I would have just preferred a sidebar or something similar in the text explaining it to people expecting such stats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Gillen Posted May 21, 2004 Report Share Posted May 21, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net I was more interested in seeing what Kal-Turak looks like (pre-lich). I noticed that there weren't too many character portraits in the main section in the book. JG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mastermind Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net Haven't received my copy yet from an on-line gaming store, but I have been able to browse through a copy or two. What sold me was the maps! I love good cartography and I will now because of this book rank HERO/DOJ as #3 map-makers. 1. Columbia Games (publishers of Hârnworld) 2. Chaoisum (Cthulhu, Pendragon, Storimbringer) 3. HERO/DOJ!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net Haven't received my copy yet from an on-line gaming store, but I have been able to browse through a copy or two. What sold me was the maps! I love good cartography and I will now because of this book rank HERO/DOJ as #3 map-makers. 1. Columbia Games (publishers of Hârnworld) 2. Chaoisum (Cthulhu, Pendragon, Storimbringer) 3. HERO/DOJ!!! We're number three! We're number three! We're number three! Keith ":celebrate " Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSword Posted June 4, 2004 Report Share Posted June 4, 2004 Re: THE TURAKIAN AGE Reviewed On RPG.Net Another review is up: http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10354.phtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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