I just recently spent the better part of a week in the Poconos, and the only in print gaming material I brought was some DCC RPG stuff and the Arduin Grimoire Vol II.
I'm not sure why I grabbed AG Vol 2 - I just saw it in my room on the top of other gaming material waiting to return to a shelf or a box and grabbed it. Over the vacation I read it in bits and pieces, enjoying it even as the horribly small font tortured my 46 year old eyes. Time travel does that to me ;)
Imagine my surprise when OneBookShelf notified me of new Arduin releases in PDF. They are popping up like wildflowers (or fires). I'm going to grab Arduin Adventures for 4 bucks and maybe kick the tires in the near future.
I've been a huge fan of Arduin since the year dot - I actually had the first Arduin Grimoire before I even owned a copy of D&D, right at the start of my roleplaying life in about 1980/81. I absolutely love the original Trilogy to bits - really recommended for its boundless chaotic creativity, every page brimming with ideas and enthusiasm.
ReplyDeleteIMHO the successor to the Arduin Trilogy is the Compleat Arduin - again focussing on the crazy awesome savagery of the rules. There's almost something Moorcock-Vancian about Arduin - wonderfully bloody, inventive, eclectic, exciting, a game that dials everything up to 11 and still succeeds.
For me, Arduin has never been about the setting. I have the World of Khaas worldbook and the Arduin map, and while they're fun, I've never felt compelled to run a "canon" Arduin game. In fact, I'm not sure such a thing even exists - the beauty of Arduin is its broad applicability, the fact that you can graft it in whole or in part onto your own campaign or game world.
I'm curious about Arduin Eternal - it's a huge tome, but ferociously priced for now. I'm hoping they'll bring out an affordable PDF so I can get a look. Right now, though, I use the original Arduin trilogy almost whole cloth with Monsters & Magic - as an original White Box add-on / clone, it fits in with the effect engine seamlessly. :)
Ah, Arduin Bloody Arduin - perhaps one of the most influential RPGs in RPG history, it really does deserve to be *much* more widely known. :)