I am intrigued by Aquelarre (rpg from Spain)

[Mercator]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

I've been thinking on that, and it'd probably require a revision of pdf contracts so that translators would get nothing, or next to nothing upon finishing the work and would only get paid a small subset of the royalties...

I'm afraid you're right. Translators get an smaller slice of an already small pie than authors. A project like that would be almost like volunteering pro bono.

M.

[Mercator]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Maybe I should buy a copy while I am in Spain this summer?

If you think it may fit your style of play, go for it. And if you can read Spanish, of course; I am not aware of any translations.

I'm visiting multiple European countries, in fact. Perhaps I ought to pick up a few foriegn RPGs?(

As I said, I find European RPGs quite different from US ones; even if you prefer the latter, the fact that the difference is noticeable might be of interest to you.

M.

[Mercator]

Originally Posted by Azel

Thanks Mercator for clearing things up!

No problem!

Yes, Rationality and Irrationality definitely sounds like the paired (as in, as one goes up, the other must go down) coupling of Sanity and Mythos Knowledge in Call of Cthulhu.

Exactly, with the nifty difference that, while Mythos is important but not crucial for any PC concept, high IRR is the defining characteristic for mystics and magic wielders, so they have to thread an ever finer line between having enough to be powerful and a sudden increase sending them over the edge. It's very entertaining to watch ;-)

Dexterity being divided into what sounds like Precision (fine hand coordination) and Agility/Reflexes... interesting. I do know AD&D 2e Player Option had a way to split all 6 attributes into paired sub-attributes. Dexterity ended up with Aim (top half of body) and Balance (bottom half of body) -- I'm sure a house ruling where Aim covers (or is replaced) by Precision-based functions could work.

I think it's better to have separate chars for whole-body coordination and fine motor control, rather than for upper and lower body, but I see the reasoning there. Interesting.

Glad to know the part about setting grittiness -- it sounds more accessible to this market now (and a lot more tame than from what I'm hearing in 2nd or 3rd edition. But who knows what's being lost from translation in those other reviews).

All my comments are about the 1st Edition (and those from memory, so I can't assure you that there is no dead-baby stuff, but if there is, it's quite minor and forgettable; I'll try to dig up the core book, wherever it is). I don't know what they did later, but if anything, they most likely sanitized it more, not less.

Sadly I fear perhaps even the menstrual blood, brutal living conditions, and setting appropriate bigotry is far too much for our delicate American sensibilities. It's a market with its own confusing expectations, isn't it?

Yup. I can't answer that for sure because it depends a lot on American cultural taboos and fears, which I am not an expert on. But very likely this stuff will not be a huge hit.

On the other hand, George R. R. Martin is selling books like crazy and getting them filmed by HBO, so maybe we are underestimating you guys... :-)

M.