On Sun, 28 Jun 2009 00:41:36 +0900, Guillermo <gparedes76@...>
wrote:


>> But it's a rolegame not a gamebook, which was why I didn't mention it
>> specifically (I think a link used to be in my sig, though).
>
> Come on. You know that as a gamebook author we are bound to swoon over
> everything you do (well, maybe not if you start selling your autographed
> pants on Ebay or things like that).

I rather hold to the view that that you are honour bound as members of
this list to subject anything that any gamebook author produces to honest
critical assessment, and if necessary to savage it mercilessly. It's what
I do (and I'm happy to do it to my own work, too).

> Anyway, that day I had finally watched Zu Warriors from the Mountain
> after waiting many years to see it, and I thought: "let me see if I can
> find an updated version of Paul's game" (out of curiosity: do you happen
> to find the association insulting in some way?).

I really liked Zu. The original, that is. The remake has Zhang Ziyi in, so
I haven't bothered watching it. The odd thing about it is that there's a
section in the middle when they basically just repeat a part of the plot
they've already done, but with a different character. All the same, it is
fun, if not as good as A Chinese Ghost Story.

Have you seen Mr Vampire? The first time I saw that was at an all-day
Chinese movie fest somewhere up in North London. They got the reels in the
wrong order, which made it a very confusing experience ("When did he
become a vampire?" and 30 minutes later "How did he get cured of
vampirism?").

> As a result I found the website gone but the game files over there.
>
> I downloaded another version ages ago but I don't remember it being this
> elaborate. What you have up there could very well be sold as a complete
> game.

Couldn't be sold.

It was certainly played, for several years.

> Besides the introductory solo, what else would you have included with a
> full release?

Talking here about the 'old' version, I think it's easy to see where there
was stuff to be added, as the rules tend to include titles only. Details
of gods, for example, are very sketchy. The history and cultural
background needed tidying up. The organisations section of the Society
chapter needed to be written. And there was a list of the costs of things
that needed to be done. Most importantly, the China chapter needed to be
fleshed out from the set of notes it was. I think additional character
templates needed to be written.

I think that would pretty well have been it.

Given the research I've done for my novels, I probably could write much of
this now. But I wouldn't, for a number of reasons: firstly, the motivation
for the game was to play it myself. Since I don't have the chance to play
RPGs any more, that motivation is gone. Secondly, I have no real interest
in _selling_ the game. James Wallis rejected the game because in his
judgment it wasn't commercial. I have no reason to doubt his analysis. I
think he felt that such a game could be _made_ commercial. But I was not
prepared to produce that sort of game. There was already _Feng Shui_ for
people who were more interested in the kewl 'Fu Schticks' than in history.

Another reason for me not proceeding with the game is that I had a number
of problems with my rules. They were satisfactory for my games, but they
had holes. And they wouldn't suit other groups of players, I don't think,
because in practice the game depended on my judgment. I started rejigging
the rules to reflect the way I thought they should go, and that produced a
new set (the 'New Outlaws' files which I think may also be up on the
site). But I'm wary of writing rules when I don't play.

Although I still passionately believe in role-playing games, and I even
seem to be contributing to Alarums & Excursions again, I can't proceed
with this game. Instead, I'm devoting my energies and enthusiasm for this
period into my Judge Bao books. These are probably equally unsellable (too
much history!), but at least people will be able to read them rather
easier than the effort involved in playing Outlaws.

Hope this answers your question satisfactorily.

--

Best wishes

Paul Mason