Graphical Discussion

[rob_donoghue]

Graphics are a fantastic way to make arguments. Not only do they express information in an interesting, digestible way, they are also hard to argue with because you end up engaging the graphic rather than the underlying argument. This becomes doubly problematic when the graphic is particularly clever, and the point of disagreement is strongly open

Comments

[chaosclockwork]

I've always seen the original Dragonlance adventure series as being - or, at least, having the potential to be - the best model of an epic, world-spanning, Tolkienesque (okay, maybe just Brooksian) fantasy story that a group of people can take part in interactively*. True, some of the modules in the series were just 'go through da dungeon to fight da new-colored dragon at da end', but several of them involved pretty interesting (and, for the time, innovative) ideas. Best of all, the climax had a good amount of customization to it, with several different Macguffins that could end up being the Important One, depending on how the campaign's gone.

Despite that, I hate everything else that's been done with the world. Attempts to further define later events or far-off continents made the world feel like a poor-man's version of Greyhawk or the Realms. Plus, the various novelizations managed to take everything good about the adventures and beat the life out of them - Fizban goes from 'Maybe I'm a God, Maybe I'm Crazy' to 'Watch Me Make Sure the Plot Happens'.

*Granted, this observation applies only to DnD. There might be a better one for a system I haven't interacted with (HeroQuest/Glorantha looking to be the most likely candidate), but most other games haven't quite hit the mark - Exalted, especially, likes to let me down.