Q is for Quest of the Ancients, an RPG I discovered back in the days when I was getting "out of" D&D and looking for something else.Quest of the Ancients can be described as a D&D clone, a D&D add on or as a collection of someone's house rules. The author, Vince Garcia, had some publications before QotA came out including some material for AD&D2 and White Wolf magazine. So he was not a noob to this.
QotA fills that same slot of near-D&D that you will sometimes find other games living in. Similar to the Atlantean series from Bard Games. Lejendary Adventures is one that comes to mind as well.
Why did I pick it up? Simple, it was advertised as having the most complete Witch class ever made. I forget where I read that, but I knew I had to pick up a copy. So I did. I was a bit underwhelmed, but there were some good bits.
While the game certainly has it's impressive moments, it never struck me as bringing anything new to my table. I liked the Gypsy class, the Witch class was interesting, but everything else seemed like a poor-man's copy of AD&D. There were a ton of classes in this book, something like 15 or more, and a bunch of spells.
I want to talk about the witch class for a bit. Now in general I liked the witch. Garcia was obviously pulling from some of the same books I was when he wrote up his witch. Also (and you can tell by looking at the cover) this was a thinly-veiled attempt to have a "Stevie Nicks" character class. I can't say I disapprove of that. There was also a gypsy class which was divided into Male and Female gypsy. I kinda made sense, kinda didn't. I see what the author was trying to do, but I don't think it worked out as well as he liked.
I have always wanted to pick up the second edition. I don't know if much has changed in it, but the cover art is much better (featuring the same characters).
I like this cover to be honest. The Witch looks more like Stevie Nicks than ever and the wizard looks like he has gained a few levels.
I have wanted to get this, but can't actually bring myself to buy it until I see what some of the differences are between the editions. I am hoping that there is something here above and beyond the first edition, but I am fairly sure there is not. In the beginning of the 90's this might have been a cool game to play, but today it looks a little a dated. A+ for effort though.
Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest_of_the_Ancients
http://index.rpg.net/display-entry.phtml?mainid=8756
Buy
Noble Knight Games (best place to get it really)
ETA: And check out Jeff Grubb, also doing QotA for his Q post. http://grubbstreet.blogspot.com/2011/04/q-is-for.html
I almost went with that for the Q item but could not remember enough about it to warrant putting it up there.
ReplyDeleteI had not seen the newer version and do like that cover better. I personally think the Witch as put forth in Dragons #43 and #114 were some of the best repersentations and of those I liiked the one in #43 best.
The differences between #43 and #114 are mostly minor editing and bringing her more in line with the current rules.
ReplyDeleteThe OotA witch is a bit over powered and from what I recall seems to draw from the Dragon #43 witch a bit.
If only there WAS a Stevie Nicks class...
ReplyDelete; )
Can you tell us a little bit about the gypsy class? You mentioned you liked it. What's it like?
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing this as my copy isn't here yet.
ReplyDeleteBTW, thanks to you I have obtained a Stevie Nicks discography to play while reading this and creating a game.
Yes, I plan on playing it thanks to you.
Also, thanks for the pointer to Jeff Grubb's post on it, although I'm torn on how to read the last line. I do think his point that these games are built from the same spirit we're bringing to the table is true.
The male gypsy was kinda like a bard/rogue character and the female one was kinda like a seer.
ReplyDeleteI'll have go over the book again and maybe do a proper deep-dive into it.