From: utzoo!decvax!duke!unc!tim Newsgroups: net.games.frp Title: Re: frp opinions Article-I.D.: unc.4779 Posted: Tue Mar 15 14:16:23 1983 Received: Tue Mar 22 08:57:40 1983 References: hou2a.6 TSR stinks! Avoid it entirely! Their games are written without the least concern for organization, modularity, realism, ease of learning, or consistency of worldview. The only reason for their edge on the market is a few years' head start. The best examples are the rotten AD&D and Top Secret games. AD&D is topheavy beyond belief. Instead of modifying the rules of D&D to support the new system, Gygax just added page upon page of arbitrary rules and tables to the ad hoc rules of D&D, creating a vast, lumbering, and unpleasant game. (To be fair, it should be mentioned that the spells available to magic-users in AD&D are much more powerful than those available in other systems, and many people feel that this is a great advantage of the system.) Top Secret has an interesting framework, but the unarmed combat rules are unplayable, and you can survive a shotgun blast to the head at short range. It, like Star Frontiers, is a good example of a game with great potential ruined by an incompetent design staff. I strongly suspect the person who said that D&D was the best FRP game on the market has never tried The Fantasy Trip or Runequest. Play these first; I've known people whose attitudes towards FRP were ruined forever by D&D and AD&D. Remember, the games are about ROLE-PLAYING, and are not like war games! Tim