Pyramid magazine review

[teh bunneh]

There's a fairly positive review of Fantasy Hero in this week's (October 18-October 25) Pyramid Magazine. Written by Ross Winn, it essentially says that there are genuine positives and real negatives, but the positives seem to win out. A brief quote from the review:

 

"Even with its flaws, Fantasy Hero is an amazing book. Let us be completely clear on this point. Not only does the book attempt a task no other RPG book has ever accomplished, it clearly succeeds on several levels. Unfortunately, the encyclopedic nature of the finished product is its most disappointing aspect. There is both so much here, and so clearly much more to be covered."

 

Bill.

[Robert Harrison]

I read this review, too. It struck me as being, on balance, a negative review. One statement near the end struck me as being particularly unfair:

 

"It is my opinion that Fantasy RPGs are the primary driving force behind the growth of the hobby -- but Fantasy Hero will never bring new players to the hobby."

 

This sentiment - that some games do a better job than others at bringing new players into RPGing - has also been expressed over at the RPG.net boards, and is sometimes used to bash HERO and other "rules-heavy" RPGs. It seems ridiculous to me - I wasn't brought into RPGing by any particular game; I was brought in by other players.

[Chuk]

Originally posted by Robert Harrison

I read this review, too. It struck me as being, on balance, a negative review. One statement near the end struck me as being particularly unfair:

 

"It is my opinion that Fantasy RPGs are the primary driving force behind the growth of the hobby -- but Fantasy Hero will never bring new players to the hobby."

 

This sentiment - that some games do a better job than others at bringing new players into RPGing - has also been expressed over at the RPG.net boards, and is sometimes used to bash HERO and other "rules-heavy" RPGs. It seems ridiculous to me - I wasn't brought into RPGing by any particular game; I was brought in by other players.

 

I read that review (and nitpicked it a bit on the Pyramid boards -- the author made a few factual errors, like saying Star Hero was for 4th edition!). I wouldn't say that that part was ridiculous, though -- there are games that are more newbie friendly than others, and Fantasy Hero, at, what, over 750 pages (counting the core rules) and probably $60 US, is not exactly the kind of thing your average ten-year-old is going to pick up on his own.

 

I would agree that more people are probably brought in by others than by just seeing the games, but you can't discount that factor completely.

 

(The review also seemed to be complaining that there weren't enough monsters or magic spells in FH, too. I think Hero's already got the answer to that criticism...)