Topic: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

This looks to be a very cool toolbox, but I really haven't seen any detailed reviews. I was wondering if anyone can sell me on this?

Re: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

I can sell you on it.

It's a Lamentations of the Flame Princess product.

You're welcome!

Re: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

Slightly less facetious: I haven't spent a lot of time with it yet, but from my perusals thus far, it looks to be a very complete toolkit for making a classier kind of wizard's tower. Includes three premade 'seclusiums' in varying stages of completion. (each of them has tables for customizing many of the details). Also includes a section for making your own from scratch, by random rolls if you so desire!

Re: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

I like it, but it does seem the least value for money of any LotFP product I've bought. The it is a toolbox with tables for generating ideas. The only problem, the tables and unique ideas get repeated. In some sections from one page to the next.

I've bought it, both in print & pdf. The printing is lovely and it does work with giving background to use seclusiums in your world and as a jumping off point for giving even one liner motivations to NPC's. I would have appreciated more variety in the one liners.

Re: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

There are a bunch of reviews online. I linked to several in my review of the product. Reviews are mixed to say the least.

Re: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

I have to say it is not my favorite of the LotFP stuff.  It is a beautiful book and well-written, but for me it sits at an awkward spot between coming up with my own thing from scratch and having a pre-made module to run.

So far I have only went through the creation process for the first seclusium (most developed, least amount of work for me) and was left feeling like I had an underdeveloped module, but had spent a lot of time working on something that wasn't my own.

I wish there was a complete seclusium in this book, along with maybe 1 half-finished one (like how all three of them are) and then the charts and tables for creating one from scratch.

Your mileage may vary: I think many might just use parts of it as inspiration, or use the tables and charts.  However, I really enjoy the LotFP modules and wanted more of those out of it.

Re: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

Yeah, I think the book would be vastly better if the actual Seclusium of Orphone was complete.

Re: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

I like what I have seen of the book so far but I am not an avid LotFP purchaser nor have I used it in a game yet. I do like how Vincent added some of the moves from his Apocalypse World game to Lamentations as an option for Perception tests.

My plan is to use Seclusium along with Isle of the Unknown as I want to add a long past wizard's war between two or more magic users as the rational for the statues and monsters who reside on that fell island. :-)

Re: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

Crunk Posby wrote:

I have to say it is not my favorite of the LotFP stuff.

I'm your huckleberry.

You do a disservice to others when you hedge like this. Raggi is a big boy and can your criticism, in spite of the cutter in Adventure Number Ten.

Adventure Reviews, include LotFP: www.tenfootpole.org

Re: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

Agreed on the product feeling padded and lacking in some key ways. Then again, the writing is pretty solid and the Vancian-romantic-mysterious-plasmic style of it all presents, in my mind, the first truly distinct approach to weird fantasy that has been presented under the LotFP label.

Raggi's adventures and settings are what they are. The other big name books, like Qelong (amazing) and Carcosa (neat but shallow) feel like extensions of this central theme of "the Weird is going to kill you and it's not going to be pretty". Vornheim too, though I haven't read it all the way through so don't take my word on it.

Orphone, though, feels properly different. The magic items examples, though cursed, don't kill. The dungeons are filled with butlers and quests and hostages, not monsters. Instead of fearing for your life you're going to be wandering around, having absurd conversations with hunchbacks and making note of the shiny magic sparkle that's gotten all over the place.

So I think it was worth the money. Got a number of good ideas out of it and it reminded me of how good a change of pace every once in a while can be.

Last edited by Sword Lake (2014-01-28 18:54:49)

Re: Info. on Seclusium of Orphone

I love the book.  Mostly because it does something a lot of other roleplaying books don't do and that is make me think.  If you extrapolate the thoughts presented in the book to other areas it makes sense as a world building tool.  The book focuses basically on the construction of a wizards tower, but play that out to how does that affect the nearest civilization?  Use the same construction theory for a dungeon (even your trope monster filled one).  Who built it? Why was it built? What was its purpose?  Of course it may just be that I got the right product at the right time as I was thinking about a lot of these questions while building a campaign.  Honestly, if I hadn't spent the money on the .pdf already I'd go back and buy the hardcover.