Crumbs and Misconceptions

If you've read even a few of my posts, you'll be aware that I am a stream-of-consciousness writer. Well, it isn't just writing. Much of my life is spent following the whims of my free-wheeling right brain. The specific whim I am referring to in this post is downloading. Sometimes when I start reading reviews or forums, or pretty much anything game-related, I'll start following a winding path of references and comparisons. For example, if a review of ACKS happened to mention that there was a new printing of Swords & Wizardry Core, I would immediately go download it. That might, in turn, lead me to something else, and so on. I may not even pay any particular attention to those downloads at the time.

Sometimes, though, I will pay attention to one of these "tangent downloads". Many times when this happens I'll be a little more critical of it. I think it is because I'm skimming it in the midst of a serious lack of focus, and also because it may actually bear very little relation to whatever led me to it in the first place. If I'm on the trail of old school rules and download something that ends up looking more d20-ish, I'm likely to be unkind. Not necessarily because it is bad, but because it isn't what I thought it was going to be. Unfair, I know, but who said life was fair? Where is that written?

One such download was Dungeon Crawl Classics.I was motoring around the internet some 8 months ago and noticed that the free beta was only available for a short time longer. So, I zipped on over and downloaded that puppy. I was in no particular mood for it at the time, I just wanted it. I started skimming it, and initially like what I saw. Then, my mood started to sour. I made a couple of posts about it. My specific point of souring was with the "voice" in the section on the funnel.

Well, I'm not saying that my opinion has changed. What I am saying is that I recently rediscovered that download and I feel like I am ready to examine it in a more objective light. So, my opinion might change. At any rate, I'll be giving it another go, because it really does look like a fun system. I'll let you know how it goes.