The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I first picked up ELRIC! up here in Canada at my local bookshop. They were clearing their shelves of "lesser-known" publishers to make room for more White Wolf and TSR stuff (Sigh, I know. But it's Canada), so I bought this wonderful game for a grand total of 9.95.

My first (and almost only) problem with this game was, quite simply, the book itself. The cover artwork is possibly one of the worst pictures I've ever seen on an RPG (rivaled only, I hate to say, by some of the interior art). I realize that the picture is supposed to be Michael Moorcock's haunted Gothic king Elric, but there is a very distinct line between "haunted" and "cadaverous".

My second problem with this book is the title. Maybe the authors thought that we wouldn't have noticed the name "Elric" (and with that cover art, they weren't so crazy to think that...), but the title ELRIC! simply makes the game seem trivial and childish. The capital letters I can understand; he is a king, after all, but why the exclamation point?

If you think I'm making too big a deal out of this and that it's only a title and cover art, then think about this: Take your favorite RPG and do the same thing to it. What if "Blue Planet" had been called "WATER WORLD!", or what if Star Wars had been called "LUKE!". Would you have purchased it so readily? First impressions make a hell of a difference. This great game sat on my desk for a month because of it's bad first impression, and I only bought it because it was $9.95.

The only other problem with the game are the constant, constant references to the writings of Michael Moorcock. Certainly, he may have been an innovator, but there is just a bit too much hero-worship on the part of the authors in some sections of this book. For instance, after the fourth time I read that Elric (or is that "ELRIC!") was "not your typical hero, he doomed all those he loved, yadda yadda", I started to not care exactly who or what Elric was.

In fact, this game sometimes felt like an Moorcock "info-mercial", sublty telling me to buy his books (and from the excerpts, they aren't even that great... "The blade gleamed black radiance...", how do you gleam black radiance?

But once I was able to escape the bonds of Moorcock's writing and concentrate on the gameplay, everything fell into metaphorical place. The game itself is a wonder of role-playing engineering (role-engineering?), character creation is swift (30 min or less) and very open-ended. There are no classes and no definite personalities - everything the character is and does is based entirely on the player's wants and actions. You can literally make anything you want, but your characters will be mostly human. And if, like me, you have the desire to escape from Moorcock's gothic fantasy, it's easy! Just make your own world and tailor characters to fit. You can make new skills, new spells, new weapons as quickly and easily as you can think them up. FANTASTIC!

The battles are fast and furious, based on a percentile rolling system and an attack/defense chart. It's attacker vs. defender in an impale/hit vs parry/dodge duel, and since there is already a review that deals with game mechanics much better than I could, I'll leave it alone. But take it from me that it's one of the simplest and best combat systems I've ever played. In fact, every system in this book is a simple, and well-constructed bit of RPG brilliance. Even the most complicated (like Demon summoning and bonding) can be mastered with an hour's reading and effort.

However, here are my GM tips. If you do use Moorcock's world of gothic law vs. chaos, you may find that it is simply too black and white for you (even though it has the potential for a million million shades of grey). Tell your players to remember that the characters are real people, and though they may "follow law", they are not judicial robots, wandering through the country punishing pickpockets with swift and painful methods (I had some trouble with this). If you have to, MAKE them slip up.

Buy this game, despite the cover art and bad packaging. Buy this game, despite the terrible interior art. Buy this game for the simple justice of supporting one of the best systems of game mechanics ever made, because we all know those are few and very far between.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

ELRIC!
Author: Lynn Willis, Richard Watts, Mark Morrison, Jimmie W. Pursell Jr., Sam Shirley, Joshua Shaw Category: game Company/Publisher: Chaosium Cost: 19.95 Page count: 160 ISBN: 0-933635-98-2 Capsule Review by Jeremy Mesiano-Crookston on 11/18/98. Genre tags: Fantasy Gothic	I first picked up ELRIC! up here in Canada at my local bookshop. They were clearing their shelves of "lesser-known" publishers to make room for more White Wolf and TSR stuff (Sigh, I know. But it's Canada), so I bought this wonderful game for a grand total of 9.95. My first (and almost only) problem with this game was, quite simply, the book itself. The cover artwork is possibly one of the worst pictures I've ever seen on an RPG (rivaled only, I hate to say, by some of the interior art). I realize that the picture is supposed to be Michael Moorcock's haunted Gothic king Elric, but there is a very distinct line between "haunted" and "cadaverous". My second problem with this book is the title. Maybe the authors thought that we wouldn't have noticed the name "Elric" (and with that cover art, they weren't so crazy to think that...), but the title ELRIC! simply makes the game seem trivial and childish. The capital letters I can understand; he is a king, after all, but why the exclamation point? If you think I'm making too big a deal out of this and that it's only a title and cover art, then think about this: Take your favorite RPG and do the same thing to it. What if "Blue Planet" had been called "WATER WORLD!", or what if Star Wars had been called "LUKE!". Would you have purchased it so readily? First impressions make a hell of a difference. This great game sat on my desk for a month because of it's bad first impression, and I only bought it because it was $9.95. The only other problem with the game are the constant, constant references to the writings of Michael Moorcock. Certainly, he may have been an innovator, but there is just a bit too much hero-worship on the part of the authors in some sections of this book. For instance, after the fourth time I read that Elric (or is that "ELRIC!") was "not your typical hero, he doomed all those he loved, yadda yadda", I started to not care exactly who or what Elric was. In fact, this game sometimes felt like an Moorcock "info-mercial", sublty telling me to buy his books (and from the excerpts, they aren't even that great... "The blade gleamed black radiance...", how do you gleam black radiance? But once I was able to escape the bonds of Moorcock's writing and concentrate on the gameplay, everything fell into metaphorical place. The game itself is a wonder of role-playing engineering (role-engineering?), character creation is swift (30 min or less) and very open-ended. There are no classes and no definite personalities - everything the character is and does is based entirely on the player's wants and actions. You can literally make anything you want, but your characters will be mostly human. And if, like me, you have the desire to escape from Moorcock's gothic fantasy, it's easy! Just make your own world and tailor characters to fit. You can make new skills, new spells, new weapons as quickly and easily as you can think them up. FANTASTIC! The battles are fast and furious, based on a percentile rolling system and an attack/defense chart. It's attacker vs. defender in an impale/hit vs parry/dodge duel, and since there is already a review that deals with game mechanics much better than I could, I'll leave it alone. But take it from me that it's one of the simplest and best combat systems I've ever played. In fact, every system in this book is a simple, and well-constructed bit of RPG brilliance. Even the most complicated (like Demon summoning and bonding) can be mastered with an hour's reading and effort. However, here are my GM tips. If you do use Moorcock's world of gothic law vs. chaos, you may find that it is simply too black and white for you (even though it has the potential for a million million shades of grey). Tell your players to remember that the characters are real people, and though they may "follow law", they are not judicial robots, wandering through the country punishing pickpockets with swift and painful methods (I had some trouble with this). If you have to, MAKE them slip up. Buy this game, despite the cover art and bad packaging. Buy this game, despite the terrible interior art. Buy this game for the simple justice of supporting one of the best systems of game mechanics ever made, because we all know those are few and very far between. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)