rif@looking.UUCP (Robert Ferguson) (02/04/85)
Wandering through a local games store today, I was interested to find
the Choasium's "Ringworld" frp system. It is, of course, based on the
Larry Niven novel of the same name, and seems (from a five minute
glance-through) to be very true to the novel. The owner of the store
(himself an long time gamer) told me that he had a very good impression
of the game, but couldn't testify to it's "playablity", since he had
never actually run in it. Has anybody on the net got the game, or
played it?
I'm facinated by the *idea* of a Ringworld frp, but I'm interested in
comments on the implementation. The game is sufficently expensive
($35.00) that I don't want to just buy it and find out for myself; any
comments either pro or con would be appreciated.
Either post to the net, or mail to me; if there is interest and I get
a sufficent number of responses, I'll post a summary.
Thanks!
---
Rob Ferguson {allegra, ihnp4, clyde, ...}!watmath!looking!rif
Snail: 62 Euclid St, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 1Z3
"Same as it ever was..." Talking Headstim@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (Tim Maroney) (02/20/85)
I haven't played the game (I can't get our local group to play anything except AD&D -- so what else is new?), but I do have a copy. Ringworld seems consistent with the rest of Chaosium's products, meaning very good. The different gizmos are very interesting and apparently very well-developed. Like most of Chaosium's RPGs, Ringworld is skill-driven, meaning that instead of the terribly dumb "character classes" of AD&D (in which, for instance, a thief who never climbs walls is just as good at it as someone who does it every day), each character gets good at those things he or she actually does. This leads to much more individualized characters and better role-playing. Most everything from Known Space that is relevant to play is included, including luck. Bad points: The game is more restricted in scope than I would necessarily like. That is, it is geared very much towards adventuring parties exploring the Ringworld, and you may encounter gaps when you try to play scenarios set elsewhere in Known Space (or outside). The referee should be able to fill in most of the gaps on the fly in such situations, but it's still a bother. -=- Tim Maroney, Carnegie-Mellon University Computation Center ARPA: Tim.Maroney@CMU-CS-K uucp: seismo!cmu-cs-k!tim CompuServe: 74176,1360 audio: shout "Hey, Tim!" "Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains." Liber AL, II:9.