An RPG Update and the House of the Wise
It's a little late (it almost always is) but Issue 53 of RPG Review has been released. This is a special issue on the games and settings of Iron Crown Enterprises and in memory of Terry K Amthor and Shadow World. My own contributions, apart from the editorial, of course, includes a memorial for Terry, an interview with ICE founder Pete Fenlon, and reviews of the original Rolemaster books (Arms Law, Claw Law, Spell Law, Character Law, Campaign Law), and a good part of the Cyberspace-Stalkers campaign article. As the issue was nearing conclusion I realised how much more could have been included. ICE, despite their reputation for crunchy game systems, produced a lot of quality and detailed content especially for Middle-earth Role Playing, which was barely touched upon, and I still haven't really done a thorough review of Shadow World myself - despite having run several years' worth of stories in that setting. The corpus opus of Rolemaster and its subsidiary products is simply enormous, perhaps even in the same ballpark as that of Dungeons & Dragons.
And on that note I must mention attending, in virtual form, Jo Griffith's funeral on Tuesday, As is my fashion, I watched it multiple times; the lakeside setting was quite beautiful, just as she would have wanted, and the presentations ranged from the joyful memories to the solemn present, and as they should for "the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning". That evening I made my way to Edinburgh Gardens where a group of us who had known Jo from here Melbourne days gathered with positive banter which, if I read the group properly, pretty every person present had engaged in some RPG activity with our departed friend. To quote David W. "The first time I met Jo was at an Infinite Images meeting. I asked her what she was playing. She replied she was playing Shadowrun on Monday nights, Mage on Tuesday nights, Amber on Wednesday nights, Call of Cthulhu on Thursday nights and Vampire on Friday. She made one of her faces, utterly confident in her decision. 'I like roleplaying,' she said."
And on that note I must mention attending, in virtual form, Jo Griffith's funeral on Tuesday, As is my fashion, I watched it multiple times; the lakeside setting was quite beautiful, just as she would have wanted, and the presentations ranged from the joyful memories to the solemn present, and as they should for "the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning". That evening I made my way to Edinburgh Gardens where a group of us who had known Jo from here Melbourne days gathered with positive banter which, if I read the group properly, pretty every person present had engaged in some RPG activity with our departed friend. To quote David W. "The first time I met Jo was at an Infinite Images meeting. I asked her what she was playing. She replied she was playing Shadowrun on Monday nights, Mage on Tuesday nights, Amber on Wednesday nights, Call of Cthulhu on Thursday nights and Vampire on Friday. She made one of her faces, utterly confident in her decision. 'I like roleplaying,' she said."