OgreDonjon

[Jürgen Mayer]

I've seen that the guys over at http://www.ogrecave.com have put Donjon on their 2002 christmas gift buyer's guide:

http://www.ogrecave.com/features/12xmas_2002_1.shtml

OgreCave's 2002 Christmas List - part 1

Donjon
anvilwerks.com, $10

Of all the downloadable RPGs I've seen in the last year, this one stands head and shoulders above the rest. It's just a dungeon crawl... with mechanics that bounce narrative control back and forth between players and the GM like magic missiles off a drunk barbarian's breastplate. You'll laugh, you'll die, you'll hurl, and you just might glimpse the real future of roleplaying games.

Well, what better kudos could you get?

[Mike Holmes]

LMFAO

(I dunno, it just struck me as funny)

That is some high praise. And well deserved.

Mike

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Man, that r0x0rs my b0x0rs.

[Jürgen Mayer]

Now they've also posted a Donjon review:
http://www.ogrecave.com/reviews/donjon.shtml

[Clinton R. Nixon]

That review cracks me up. I am looking forward to a serious game of Donjon, though.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Here's what struck me as interesting about the review itself.

1) Projection - he sees the game lending itself to breaking down into plain humor or parody, but overlooks the fact that his group, itself, defined their play as such at the outset. What if they had set the dial to blood and rust? Would he have seen the game then as lending itself to "breaking down into blood and rust"?

2) Why is player-input "dangerous"? Dangerous to what? GM control of outcomes? If so, then I wonder just what the GM controls a dungeon-crawl fantasy game for. If it's a final confrontation with a villain, then the rules regarding the Big Bad provide more structure for overall-outcomes than nearly any game out there.

3) I find these two sentences completely contradictory: Donjon is not a tactical game. It relies on creative use of the abilities you've given your character, and the spontaneity of both players and GMs when interpreting dice roll outcomes. The second sentence sounds exactly like "tactics" to me.

Best,
Ron

[Valamir]

To address your point #3, "tactics" as applied to RPGs has taken on a specific definition involving resource management, combined arms, and various either or decisions.  This view of "tactical" role playing is probably best summed up by Brian Gliechman's article on RPG.net.  It is in that sense that Donjon is no way a tactical game.

Congrats Clinton.