Confession: I'm liking DCC RPG more and more...

One of my measuring sticks for RPGs is not having to house rule them too much.

Upon reading into the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG, I find that, for me, it fits that "minimize house rules" bill for the most part.

I really am a "rules as written" guy deep down, I think. Games like Castles & Crusades and Labyrinth Lord only compel me to make minimal house rules. I currently have about one page of house rules for C&C (my preferred version of AD&D) and two pages for Labyrinth Lord (my preferred version of Basic D&D). The level of house ruling that I've done for those systems is ok by me. But any more than a couple pages and I'm not comfortable anymore.

However...from what I've read so far of DCC RPG (granted, I am not anywhere near reading the entire thing just yet), it might just become my preferred version of D&D, basic or advanced or otherwise.

Anyone who's read this blog knows that that's a huge confession from me and a big change of heart, due to the posts I written attacking Goodman Game's hype machine. But I'm man enough to admit that I was spouting off without seeing the final product. Now that I've seen it, does the game live up to the hype? For the most part yes, as far as I can tell. That doesn't mean that I like it when people mega-hype a product in a vainglorious manner. But I can understand someone trying to sell their product.

Anyway, I really like the gonzo nature of DCC RPG. I'm liking the twist on D&D spellcasting. I'm liking the "modernization" of the decades-old rule set. Heck, the game has even made me like alignment, which I've never really used in my gaming life. Because DCC makes alignment serve a purpose, makes it relevant.

All of this makes me think about gamer-me, and what I really want from my roleplaying and my roleplaying games. I'm not sure I was ever fully a member of the OSR. Many sacred cows of the movement I can do without, such as strict adherence to D&D's conception/version of Vancian magic (as I discussed in this post). I suppose this may be due to my gaming history and when I entered the hobby (around 1988).

When it comes to my interest in old school, it's not about maintaining adherence to a particular rules set's rules as written. Rather, old school for me means a style of play that includes rulings not rules, a focus on actually roleplaying, encouraging player creativity, and the other less tangible aspects of old school play.

Anyway, that's enough of my blather for now. Happy gaming, all!