Re: Flexible fantasy game engine entering testing: Overlord

From: "Bob McLain" <mclain@tightbeam.com>

Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 00:00:00 +0000

David desJardins wrote (regarding the new fantasy game 'Overlord'):

>> I realize that all fantasy games are likely to share some basic
>> concepts, but surely there are other ways to represent horses, wheat,
>> coins, etc., than to use "[hrse]", "[whea]", "[coin]", etc.!  I think a
>> little bit of originality is called for.

I have no trouble with people 'building' new concepts and new games from
old ideas, but in the case of Overlord the 'designer', Vincent Archer, has
taken sentences verbatim from the Eldritch rulebook and put them in his
Overlord rulebook. And, of course, Archer was a playtester in Eldritch, as
well as a participant on the Eldritch design list, and some of the concepts
in Overlord, e.g., control points, which will be used in the commercial
version of Eldritch, had their origin on that list.

Eldritch has been through many hundreds of playtest turns; Overlord is
being programmed 'just in time' for the next turn deadline, according to
Archer.

That's one 'innovation' I'm glad to say Archer didn't copy from Eldritch!

Bob McLain

References

Re: Flexible fantasy game engine entering testing: Overlord
David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>
Fri, 22 May 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Flexible fantasy game engine entering testing: Overlord
"Steve Pritchard" <steve@spelbind.demon.co.uk>
Tue, 26 May 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Flexible fantasy game engine entering testing: Overlord
archer@hsc.fr (Vincent Archer)
Fri, 15 May 1998 00:00:00 +0000