Felipe Pepe's ambitious book project, with reviews and images from more than 400 RPGs, was released today. Read about it on his blog. You'll find a review of Disciples of Steel (1991) by yours truly and plenty of other fantastic reviews of your favorite titles in superb layout. Unfortunately, there are no concrete plans for a printed edition yet.
Monday, February 5, 2018
20 comments:
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I really liked the work in progress version, but I never finished it... Ha... hi! CA =^,.《¡°_°》.,^=
ReplyDeleteGood. I had a lot of problems with the book (low-quality reviews, reviews for non-RPGs and so on) and have been waiting for the full release so I can rip it apart and rebuild it in a proper form. Such a shame it had to be released in this state :(
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a bit harsh for a crowd sourced project that's given away for free.
DeleteIt might not be Shakespeare, but it's a very informative & entertaining book, which is more than I can say for so many commercial outputs.
My suggestion is that you create your own CRPG book so we can appreciate how much better your work would be...
At least he contributes with low quality posts on this blog.
Delete"rip it apart and rebuild it in a proper form" was probably too negative and somewhat inaccurate, as I think its "form" looks great. It's just some of the reviews I have a problem with, and I want to clean it up to make it, in my opinion, more appealing and consistent throughout. Felipe did a great job, and I see no problem freely improving a free book. Those who like the original would still have it, so it's a win-win :)
DeleteIndeed, if you contribute to make the book more consistent, more power to you, it is a crowd sourced project after all, but make sure your contributions are living up to your statements.
DeleteI find it too easy to criticize something you did not contribute to in the first place. I guess this is today's society in a nutshell...
It seems everybody on forums is a nobel prize, knows better than everybody else and ironically disappears as soon as it is time to act...
Me, I suck at writing and don't have the patience to undertake public projects, so I'm grateful for freebies, warts & all.
Yeah, my problem was just that, because it's crowdsourced, the quality of writing naturally varies. And because it's so huge, Felipe couldn't have been reasonably expected (especially as non-native English speaker) to proofread and edit it all. I still think the formatting is spot-on!
DeleteI just found it weird that each Ultima game got its own review, when the first three could have shared a two-page spread IMO. And then there were a few games that were so clearly not CRPGs that even one review admitted so! It's a lot of minor quibbles and mostly personal taste, but I'm glad he released it under Creative Commons so anyone is free to do whatever they want with it. That's why I don't think it'd be wrong of me to edit it myself.
I don't mind criticism and you're free to edit it if you wish (as long as you credit the authors & don't sell it), but I think it would be much more useful to everyone if you shared your criticism instead of just creating a "branch" of the book for yourself. :/
DeleteCongratulations, Felipe. I´m from Brazil as well and I also live abroad. As I´m writing my master thesis now, I cannot promess, but I would love to proofread it (and help to improve it), if possible. Many thanks, cause I will sure use it from now on.
DeleteWow, it's like an offline version of this site! Looking forward to reading it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post Chester, and for the review you wrote. I saw people commenting that they check my book for games then come to your website to read a detailed analysis and I think that's a great combo. :)
ReplyDeleteI think the greatest combo ever :)
DeleteThanks to the both of you for all your passion, work and sharing it all with us.
Thank you also for helping us discover CRPGs, most especially the unloved, unknown and downright bizarre.
I was born in 76, paging through this was the best kind of nostalgia. Thanks Felipe!
ReplyDeleteGood lord, the introduction is just riddled with usage and grammatical errors. I understand English isn't the editor's first language, I'm not faulting him for that - but in 4 years, with 100 collaborators, he couldn't find ONE native speaker to proofread a 1200 word essay? Even a single pass would have made it ten times more readable. If this is supposed to be the polished final product, those 2 pages being a reader's first impression is incredibly off-putting. It does not fill me with confidence that the rest of the book will evidence any sort of editorial quality control whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteGood grief!
DeleteAre people simply unable to discuss in a positive & civilized way anymore?
Rather than complain, why not simply offer your help to proofread the book?
Do people now have to criticize everything to feel they have a purpose in life?
I am not expecting people to kiss ass, but at least maintain some semblance of courtesy...
Finding someone to proofread a 1,200 word essay is easy. Now try proofreading a 310,000 word book for free... :/
DeleteDamn, I guess I wasn't paying enough attention or I might have volunteered. I'm an editor for a living and I spend a lot of down time at work reading about frivolous things like video games, so it would have barely counted as work for me :)
DeleteReally the introduction isn't that bad. Yes, it has errors but I've seen worse. Congratulations, Felipe. You write in English better than many American lawyers and judges, and probably our national lawmakers as well.
@Andy: Ahah, yes, you're right about that :) Having spent 9 years in the US, I can confirm that.
Delete@Felipe Pepe: At any rate, you should feel proud of having completed such a huge undertaking, whatever naysayers may say.
And if you can edit and add to it, all the better. If not, I am enjoying your book greatly.
It's not so much for the style I read your book, but for the memories & discoveries.
As such, I think your book achieves precisely what you set out to do and that is quite the achievement.
Thank you so much for your passion & sharing it with all of us.
The contributor vignettes are scrumptious little hors d'oeuvres the provide a micro-glimpse into the lives of each contributor. Nice work -- thanks!
ReplyDeleteFelipe Pepe has released an extended and revised version of the CRPG book coordinated by him:
ReplyDeletehttps://crpgbook.wordpress.com/2022/02/07/update-29-the-expanded-edition-is-released/.
According to the post, it contains "152 extra pages, 56 new game reviews, several new articles, a lot of revised content and a glorious cover art gallery". You can download it as a PDF for free, but also donate an amount of your choice to a Brazilian NGO.
A printed version will again be produced (the limited edition of the previous version sold out, raising almost £21.000 for charity), though only available in 2023.