Quote from: Broken-Serenity;623822Who gives a fuck what those entitled mouthbreathing wankers at SA think? not a single one of those basement dwellers has managed to put pen to paper and create anything of relevance, the very fact they are making a fuss about this game is a sign that yet again they've realised how pointless they're collective existances are and how little they have achived in life beyond pissing into the void and expecting to be showered with riches as a result.

Damn good blog post btw pretty much covered everything needed to shut them down and also gave me insight into how much work was done researching indian history and culture.

Thank you. You know one of them gave a fairly detailed response that (unlike the rest of these morons) actually showed a modicum of knowledge on the subject; I would love to have him come here and talk about that so I could offer a rebuttal, but I'm guessing he doesn't have the balls.

Also, I like how the rest of them are desperately trying to ignore the point that I caught them up on their ignorant attempt to claim that I was the one uneducated on Indian history and myth.   I guess that's what happens when you keep living in a little bubble of people telling each other how "stupid and ignorant" the "Grogs" are; one of the "grogs" with an education is inevitably going to expose you all as the comparative know-nothings you are.  Just glad it got to be me.

RPGPundit

I want to play one of those monkey-dudes. They look awesome.

I have not been folllowing along, but I'm mildly interested. So, mechanically is it closer to d&d or t&t? And if it is d&d, which one? I wasn't sold on the art based on that one pic, honestly.
Please don't sue me. That would suck.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;623770Where I get a bit irritated is when people suggest something like racism was behind any of the images because they look too light skinned, etc. I was very conscious (as was Pundit I think) of the effect art can have and one of the downside of black and white interiors is skin tone can be very hard to convery with any degree of subtlety. This is why you can clearly see the skin tone of the characters on the cover (which is in color) but not on the inside images so much. Because shading the black and white images would like have looked quite exagerated, I made the call that the artist should approach that ith caution.

I think at this point in the culture, large swathes of people are walking around with "racism!!!" as their default response to pretty much everything. It's automatic and you shouldn't read anything much into it. Seriously, many people would not have anything to say online if that option was taken from them. You would literally hear the gears grinding as they struggled to formulate an original thought.

Quote from: Benoist;624021I want to play one of those monkey-dudes. They look awesome.

Vanara are pretty awesome; they're more socially-neutral too.  Gandharvas and Yaksha are very highly regarded because of their closeness to the gods, while Rakshasa are distrusted because of their demonic natures. Vanara are just talking monkeys; so how people see them depends on what they do: some are greatly respected as warriors, some are looked at as troublesome rogues.  They tend to be kind of blunt in language and social situations, which can often lead to some scandals.
Geography plays a part too; the further north you get the less likely anyone has ever seen a Vanara in this age.  

If they're not talking or wearing clothes, they're pretty well indistinguishable from normal non-intelligent monkeys.  They can also talk with their monkey-cousins.  Both of these were traits that one of our playtesters used to really awesome effect in actual play.

RPGPundit

The racism thing is kind of silly; besides the fact that, as bedrock pointed out, we're talking about black and white images here, there's also the point that there's a huge range and disparity in skin tones when you're talking about Epic India (or modern India, for that matter). And again, the dress, armor and weapons are all based on real (historical) examples of cultural accoutrements.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Gib;624029I have not been folllowing along, but I'm mildly interested. So, mechanically is it closer to d&d or t&t? And if it is d&d, which one? I wasn't sold on the art based on that one pic, honestly.
Please don't sue me. That would suck.

Its an OGL game. Its got some important mechanical differences from all editions, but if you were to compare, the closest match up would probably be with 1e.

RPGPundit

Quote from: Benoist;624021I want to play one of those monkey-dudes. They look awesome.

I have to agree, especially in armor, like some of those old lithographs of the Monkey-King.

How much do you need to know about Indian mythology to get the best out of the game?

Is there a 'primer' included for those of us who are ignorant?

So... yeah, I'm the guy who drew those. Hi.

I'm perfectly ok with people not liking the art, that's fine... I'd really like to be given a chance by taking a look at the rest of it, since I do think that there are some way nicer ones, but no problem.

But hey, please, at least know that yes, I did research the whole thing, a lot.

Secondly, yes, I did get paid. Bedrock paid well and in time.

And finally, it's really not my fault if the markings on the cobras' backs look like a cock and balls.



Edit: Hey, check that out, 666 posts. He.

Quote from: Novastar;624053I have to agree, especially in armor, like some of those old lithographs of the Monkey-King.

There's some very interesting studies on the relationship between Hanuman in India and the Monkey-King legends in east asia.

RPGPundit

Quote from: SunBoy;624162So... yeah, I'm the guy who drew those. Hi.

I'm perfectly ok with people not liking the art, that's fine... I'd really like to be given a chance by taking a look at the rest of it, since I do think that there are some way nicer ones, but no problem.

But hey, please, at least know that yes, I did research the whole thing, a lot.

Secondly, yes, I did get paid. Bedrock paid well and in time.

And finally, it's really not my fault if the markings on the cobras' backs look like a cock and balls.



Edit: Hey, check that out, 666 posts. He.

Thanks for posting!

And don't get discouraged; I'm sure your style won't be for everyone, but do keep in mind that a significant percentage of the criticism here has nothing to do with you, your artistic ability, or any kind of legitimate questioning of your research; its just knee-jerk reactions to a book with "RPGPundit" on the cover.  Bedrock games could have hired Alec Ross to do the art, and a lot of the arguments would have been the same.

RPGPundit

Quote from: One Horse Town;624088How much do you need to know about Indian mythology to get the best out of the game?

Is there a 'primer' included for those of us who are ignorant?

There's a lot of basic information in the book, all from the point of view of playability: how caste works, how clan works, information about the cultures of the bharata kingdoms, the climate, traditions, views on family, marriage, the legal code of the time, even stuff like taxation, a full chapter on religion, and of course the gazetteer of the kingdoms themselves, and more flavor text in the sections on the Patala Underworld, the magic items, and the Monster section.  There's also an appendix which details how future events COULD transpire if you are loosely following the chronology of the mahabharata.

One thing I did was try to make all of it fit the needs of a gaming group. You won't find five-page essays on the cloth-dyeing methods of vedic civilization or elaborate polemics about linguistics or pronunciation. The setting material is made to be used in play.

I have tried to write the book in such a way that the reader needs NO prior study (or future study) of Indian mythology in order to play and enjoy Arrows of Indra.  Of course, I don't discourage such study, I just don't want gamers to feel like they have to take an anthropology class just to play.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;624169Thanks for posting!

NP

Quote from: RPGPundit;624169And don't get discouraged; I'm sure your style won't be for everyone, but do keep in mind that a significant percentage of the criticism here has nothing to do with you, your artistic ability, or any kind of legitimate questioning of your research; its just knee-jerk reactions to a book with "RPGPundit" on the cover.  Bedrock games could have hired Alec Ross to do the art, and a lot of the arguments would have been the same.

RPGPundit

That's OK, as I said, I'm perfectly fine with people not liking my work, I tried to answer only to the relevant parts. Also, any kind of legitimate questions about my research would be oh-so-much-fun to address (as long as Brendan is OK with it). Wait until they see what a real leather armor looked like.

Quote from: CRKrueger;623671like the guy who doesn't like Shakespeare because there are too many cliches.

That one made me do a spit take. Reminds me of "if English was good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for our kids".