End-of-Week Lofgren and Poag (2/12/17): White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game

Yeah, this is a late Sunday edition of my EoW post (usually on Fridays). But it's worth it, because I ordered two copies of a little retroclone heartbreaker called *inhales deeply* White Box Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game.

Yeah, that's a mouthful!

Anyone who has watched/read my blog for a while knows I've cut way down on gaming and game blogging over the last couple years. This has mainly been due to my kids getting older and the accompanying increase in their extracurriculars, as well as the slow-and-steady implementation of plans to make a career change.

But damn, gaming is a part of my soul, man! I can't stay away! I have to dip back into the RPG well now and then, or I go MAD!

So, this past week I dipped back in...and caught wind of White Box: FMAG!

Now, I've acquired a lot of gaming goodness lately that I've been meaning to blog about: the 4th printing Kickstarter delivery (long delayed) of Dungeon Crawl Classics AS WELL AS the huge Kickstarter delivery (very long delayed) of the Conan board game that raised millions of dollars.

But thanks to my gamer ADD, White Box has gained pride-of-place (for now) in my fevered gamer's mind! I went online, did a quick bit of digging, and found out the game is currently on sale AT COST.

WHAT? Oh yeah! For about $10 I got two copies off Amazon! The image at the top of the post shows two of the three possible covers, with art by OSR darling Stefan Poag and a gent named Eric Lofgren.

As other OSR bloggers have pointed out, WB:FMAG contains sort of a "greatest hits" mishmash of aspects from other clones and puts them into a well-organized, tight layout. A welcome thing for this particular part-time gamer who doesn't have time to whip up his own heartbreaker, or to be a scholar of the intricacies of how the original clones and DIY gaming blogs have created subsequent waves of new clones...

(Note that Tenkar's Tavern called WB:FMAG an "excellent houserules/rewrite of Swords & Wizardry White Box," and who am I to argue with Erik?)

So, I read on the blog of WB:FMAG creator Charlie Mason that the current version of his game (which is Mr. Mason's riff on Swords & Wizardry) is only available until February 22nd. A new version is coming out this year, and will apparently be a complete overhaul. This includes a new name for the game.

I'm not sure why even the name is changing, but I'm sure there's good reason (perhaps legal?).

At any rate, I think it was well worth it to get under the wire before this current version goes away.
I've had an ambivalent relationship with original D&D and its clones. It has some appeal, but I've always preferred the Basic D&D versions of Moldvay and Mentzer.

And yet...there's a part of me that still plans on someday running a good old, gritty campaign using some variant of OD&D! When that happens, I have White Box as part of my arsenal! I really dig this little compact package that Mr. Mason has pulled together! Well done, sir! You have a fan in me!

Blog Spotlight: A Return to the Keep

I haven't prominently featured someone else's blog here for a while. It was back in October 2012 when I featured the Dicechucker blog. I did it, partially, as part of a "bandwagon jumping" effort: Tim at The Other Side was posting a series about "The Best Blog You Are Not Reading" (TBBYANR) at the time, and I thought it was a great idea. However, I didn't keep up with that endeavor (come to think of it, I'm not sure if Tim did either).

 

Anyway, that was the past. I'd like to tell you about a new blog called A Return to the Keep (not to be confused with Back to the Keep) that I think shows a lot of promise. Blogger Blackwarden has a lot of enthusiasm that I've been missing in the blogosphere. Of particular note is a re-reading of Moldvay Basic.

I know some of you might groan at that prospect of yet another someone posting about a rule set read-through; I for one really like getting an in-depth view of what another gamer thinks about the rules. It gives me a new perspective, and the potential for new insight.

So check out A Return to the Keep! I think you won't be disappointed!

My New Blog: Ethereal Jaunt

So, I created a new blog, called Ethereal Jaunt. Yes, I've become one of those people who has more than one blog. On the same topic, no less. I'm not sure what you think of those kind of multiple-blog people, but my hope is that you'll look upon this with favor! ;-)

 

Seriously, though, this is something of an experiment for me, among other things. The intro post at Ethereal Jaunt will, hopefully, explain my motivations and intent. The bottom line is, Once More Unto the Breach isn't going to go away anytime soon (does that cause you relief or chagrin, I wonder). Again, please read the first post over at Ethereal Jaunt for details. My hope is that you will feel a desire to follow my efforts there as well!

 

Suggestions of any and all kinds are welcome!

Who will weep for lost Grognardia?

Okay, perhaps the title of this post strays into the territory of histrionics, but bear with me. It's been about eight months since James Maliszewski made his last post on his blog, Grognardia. And I'm feeling nostalgic for the days when James' posts were a regular part of my RPG blog-reading experience.

Perhaps the very damp summer we've experienced here on the East Coast of the US has me in more of a maudlin mood than usual. For whatever reason, I find myself once again missing the "old days" of Grognardia. By old days, I personally mean the two years between mid-2010 and mid-2012 (i.e. when I was reading it). As it was for many folks, Grognardia was one of the first OSR blogs that I came across, when I decided to search the web for the current state of roleplaying affairs in the world.

Look, I wouldn't describe myself as being someone who worshipped the man. It was more his content that kept me reading, rather than any deep interest in James as an "OSR superstar." I didn't return to the hobby in order to join a cult of personality. I was looking for kindred spirits. I was looking for those who, like me, were either coming back to gaming as adults, or those who had never left the hobby (the latter being sources of extreme inspiration for me, and perhaps some jealousy!).

Above all, I miss the enthusiasm and flow of interesting ideas that used to emanate from Grognardia. When James used to put out tidbits about his home campaign, before Dwimmermount became a commodity, I used to eat up the details eagerly. I really liked the creativity that James was showing, and it was an inspiration for me, as someone who was coming back to the hobby. There was a genuine feeling of dynamism to what James was doing back in the day.

But I think that some bloggers don't survive these attempts to become game designers/publishers. Some are cut out for it, some aren't. There's ample evidence of the "failing or failed amateur game designer," as outlined in regularly-scheduled detail at Tenkar's Tavern and other blogs. I blame those failures mostly on the dreaded stretch goals, but that's another blog post...

I'm thinking that James might have been able to handle the game designer burden, but it seems his life circumstances got in the way. Or perhaps, even if he didn't have issues with his father's health or whatever, he might not have been able to deliver on his projects. Who knows? I don't fault him for being emotional over his life issues, but in this digital age there are plenty of ways to reach out to the world at large, especially when it comes to business associates, even from the depths of grief. But, who am I to judge?

At any rate, I suppose my feelings are part of a normal "grieving" process, right? I mean, I don't claim to know the future, and it's very possible that James will return someday to the blog. However, that doesn't alleviate the memories of the Grognardia-that-was.

Anyone out there want to share their own memories of Grognardia? 

Five Ancient Kingdoms in my hands!

A thousand thanks to Jonathan Becker for sending me a copy of his new game, Five Ancient Kingdoms! All praise to you, effendi! Congrats again to you for your accomplishment! It's a nice little package, with three books and those cool dice! Feast your eyes!

 

 

In the near future I hope to write up a more detailed exploration/review of the game. Hopefully it won't take me a thousand and one nights ;-)

...in which I create a Young Woodsman for Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures

OK, here goes (a note to my fellow “BtW experiment” bloggers: I hope you don’t mind that I pulled some intro content from some of your BtW blog posts. I’ve been uber-busy with my new job, so I needed a bit of help in getting this post together. Apologies for taking so long to get around to this):

 

Rob Barrett over at the Vargold: The Wolf Time blog asked for volunteers to roll up characters for the really cool Beyond the Wall andOther Adventures (BtW) RPG by Flatland Games. If you haven't heard of BtW, go check it out right now, I say! Oh wait, maybe check it out AFTER you read this blog post...

Now, BtW is what I suppose could be called a "neoclone" or a "second generation retroclone." It was created with the premise that it can be used to simulate the adventures of Young Adult fantasy such as the Prydain Chronicles, The Earthsea Cycle, etc. I loved the premise of the game, and the previews I saw, so I went and bought the hardcover/PDF bundle from RPGNow.

Back to Rob Barrett's request for volunteers. BtW has a unique cooperative character creation process that includes setting creation: as the players generate their fantasy heroes, they simultaneously build and populate the heroes' home village. Rob said he “thought it would be interesting to go through this process publicly, and…asked for some partners-in-crime over at the Google+ OSR community.”

Our premise is that the participants' blogs are actually players sitting at a table and going through Beyond the Wall character creation. Each blog is "seated" to the right of another blog, so the character it creates will take part in another character's backstory, per the BtW character creation process. In addition, the locations and NPCs generated by the process will be combined into a single village map and NPC key.

BtW gives you “playbooks” that establish a character’s class, and includes tables that one uses to generate your stats, background/life events, etc.

Here's the list of participants, blogs, and playbook choices in the order in which they're seated at the virtual table:

• Rob Barrett of Vargold: The Wolf-Time is creating a Dwarven Adventurer.
• Brett Slocum of The Eye of Joyful Sitting Amongst Friends is creating a Would-Be Knight.
• Henry Wong of The Campaign Expanse is creating a Self-Taught Mage.
• Pearce Shea of games with others is creating a Witch's Prentice.
• Anthony Simeone (me) of Once More Unto the Breach is creating a Young Woodsman.
• Mike Lizardi of Fear No Darkness is creating a Halfling Outrider.

This post will go through the initial die rolls in my selected playbook, the Young Woodsman character archetype. Then the other players will comment on each other's posts. Later posts will flesh out the characters, village, and NPCs. In particular, Pearce Shea’s character creation affects mine, and my creation process will affect Mike Lizardi’s character in some way.

 

So, with all that introductory stuff out of the way, here’s my Young Woodsman:

The playbook intro text says “it takes a brave soul to wander the woods. You go where few in your village would dare, and, moreover, you feel at home in those places. You are agile and insightful. Your Dexterity and Wisdom begin at 10, and all of your other ability scores begin at 8.”

Next, there’s a table that establishes what my childhood was like. I roll a d12 and come up with…5. Which means my father was the local smith and taught me both the hammer and the bellows. This gives me +2 STR, +1 DEX, +1 CHA, and the Smithing skill. In addition, there's a map symbol on this table, which means I get to add a location to our group's home village. I guess this means that my character adds a smithy to the village!

 

Next, I roll on the “how did you distinguish yourself as a child” table (d8). I roll an 8: everyone has something to teach, and you learned a little from them all. This gives a +1 DEX, +1 INT, and +1 WIS.

 

The next table states that the other player characters were my best friends, and asks who else in the village befriended me growing up. I roll d8 and get a 4: the village elders taught me the ancient game of chess. This gives me +2 INT and +1 DEX. Also, there's a hand symbol on this table, which I believe means that the "village elders" become NPCs...I think.

 

OK, next is some text that tells me “the woods called to you, and you spend most of your time away from the village now. You become a level 1 Rogue (the other two classes in the game are Warrior and Mage). You gain the class abilities Fortune’s Favor and Highly Skilled, and the skill Survival. The tables below will give you all your bonus skills from your class abilities.”

 

So, the next table asks “what sort of woodsman are you?” I roll d6 and get 5, which means I am a “tireless tracker,” and this gives me +3 CON and the Tracking skill.

 

Next table asks “what is your hidden talent?” Roll d6 and…1, “a soulful voice.” +2 CHA and Singing skill. There's a map symbol on this table...but the table doesn't give any pointers on how results pan out into a new village location...unless I'm missing something. I think I remember the rules saying the roll result doesn't necessarily have to be connected to a new village location...

 

The table after that asks how I make myself useful to the village. This table states that the player to my right (in this case, Mike Lizardi) often helps my character. So, I roll d6 and get 4: “sometimes armies from the south move on distant roads. Unseen, you watch them when they do. I get +2 DEX and the Stealth skill. Mike’s character “stayed with you last summer, watching just such a movement of troops, and gains +1 DEX.”

 

OK, one more table, this one asking “what did you find in the woods that no one knows about?” Roll d6 and…2: a deep cave complex with many entrances hidden in a vine-covered stretch of rocky riverside. I get +2 INT and my own “little cave”! This table also indicates NPC creation, but gives no real input as to the nature of said NPC. Since this is out in the woods beyond the village, I guess this could be some sort of hermit...or something more sinister?

 

So, my young woodsman who became a rogue has the following:

 

INT 14

WIS 11

DEX 15

STR 10

CON 11

CHA 11

(UPDATE: my INT was 13 at the end of my creation process, but during Pearce Shea's creation process, I received an additional +1 to INT!)
 

Skills: Smithing, Tracking, Stealth, Singing

 

His own little cave!

 

That’s it for now. The next step is for me to read my fellow participant’s posts and start collaborating with them on the nature of our home village, the NPCs therein, etc! I hope you continue to read about our little experiment on our blogs, and check out Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures for yourself.

Get in on the Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day action!

Hey you! Yeah, you!

 

Do you have a blog? Do you like old-school roleplaying? Do you like the chance to win prizes just for blogging?

 

And now, for the BIG question: DO YOU LIKE SWORDS & WIZARDRY?!

 

If you answered yes to any of these burning questions, then head on over to Tenkar's Tavern and sign up for Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day! You'll be glad you did! This ain't no April Fool's crap (besides, that was yesterday)!

 

No need to thank me. Now go away, I need to work on my own S&WAD post!

The GMing Never Stops

As you probably know by now, I'm taking a hiatus from GMing for an indefinite amount of time this year. I discussed my reasons in detail in my 2013 reflection post, but it boils down to this: I needed to take a break because I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by my constant, all-or-nothing, full-speed-ahead approach to GMing. Basically, I'm GMing all the time. It never stops.

 

What do I mean? Well, when I'm not at the table actually running a session, I'm usually doing something pertaining to GMing in my head. All the time.

 

This can be great...a real joy to have my imagination churning...the creative spark aflame! Or, it can burn the hell out of your brain, and exhaust you utterly, because (at least for me) it's hard to shut off. And the line between awesome-ness and crispiness is razor-thin most of the time.

 

If I'm reading a novel or even non-fiction, I'm mining for plot hooks, ideas for NPCs, etc. I've been doing this for decades, even during the very long periods of time I wasn't roleplaying...as if my subconscious mind knew that someday I would return to the table-top, even if my conscious mind wasn't even considering a return to roleplaying.

 

If I'm watching a movie or a TV show, I'm doing the same thing as when I'm reading a book.

 

Then there's the reading of actual RPG materials, be it game systems, campaign settings, GMing advice, modules, etc. This often conflicts with novel/non-fiction reading time, which can be something of an internal dilemma. I've got a huge library of books that I own (some for years now) but I haven't yet read. But when I go to the library with my kids I can't seem to leave without a book or three, which distracts me from my own personal library. So, I'm way behind on reading, in general.

 

And don't even get me started about all the blogs I want to read...

 

But, it seems I'm not alone in my affliction. This here post was really inspired by a post at Gnome Stew the other day called "The Constant GM." I, of course, can relate in spades. Then there's the Rather Gamey post (from another GM on hiatus) about always having GMing on the brain. And then there's the great post on Not the Singularity that is basically an ode to GMing, and a pretty good read...an sort of pep talk for GMs. I needed that.

 

It's good to not be alone. This is one of the reasons I enjoy being part of the blogosphere: the reminders that there are like-minded souls out there with the same challenges.

 

So, I'm sure there are others of you out there who are constantly GMing, either at the actual table or in the table of the mind. Please, if you are also so afflicted, share with us!

 

In the meantime, I'm holding on to this hope: that this hiatus will culminate in a glorious return to the helm, and will result in one of my best campaigns yet!

Basic Fantasy Role Playing Blog Appreciation Day

 

I decided I wanted to join some of my fellow RPG bloggers and help Eric Tenkar with his Basic Fantasy Role Playing Blog Appreciation Day event. This is despite my lack of time to do much in the way of a thorough study and review...but when has that ever stopped me?! ;-)

 

I can't speak competently yet about the ins and outs of the system, not until I have time to read through it. Instead, I wanted to give some stream-of-consciousness impressions of the game from my perspective. I have composed a short ode. Ahem...

 

Oh Basic Fantasy Role Playing Game (BFRPG), thou art a hidden gem amidst the sea of OSR offerings! You are among the games that inflict me with bouts of the dreaded Gamer ADD. Thy many tomes and other wonders are available for free download!

 

Ahem, harrumph...ahem. Ok, enough of that. Here are the serious facts of my opinion (heh): I consider BFRPG to be the only true collaborative effort in the OSR movement. What do I mean? Look at the homepage of the game's site. Look under the header "How Can I Contribute?" That's right. Send them your BFRPG submissions and they will be added to the ever-increasing list of free materials. The game depends on the RPG community to help it grow, and to spread the word. That's the way it should be.

 

The person behind the game has started a blog, and I'm glad for that, since it's given some backstory for the game's development. I say "person" because, honestly, I can't easily discover the identity of the person posting (I believe it's Chris Gonnerman, who's name appears on the site as part of the copyright language). That, to me, speaks volumes. It says to me that the person or persons behind BFRPG are not doing what they're doing for recognition. They're doing it for love of the game.

 

Look, I'm not saying that the other OSR game offerings are peddled by glory hounds out to make a name for themselves in the hobby. What I'm saying is that there's something to be said for a quiet and humble approach. It's refreshing, and clearly a labor of love.

 

Do yourself a favor, and be sure to keep BFRPG in the loop when you're looking for your next old-school-flavored game. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Remember the Heroes (& Other Worlds)!

Hey there, folks. Been getting my ass handed to me by work, but I wanted to check in. So, I read that the Sword & Shield blog is going on hiatus. I hope it's not a long one, and I wish the good man called "Fenway5" the best, and hope to hear more from that amiable chap soon! Our RPG blog community is like a slow-to-reproduce race of beings: every loss is a big one. 

 

He has other blogs, however...especially one dedicated to his Heroes & Other Worlds (HOW) game. I'm a customer, by the way! I bought HOW, which is based on The Fantasy Trip RPG and inspired by B/X D&D.

 

I haven't had time to really read it and give it a proper review, but I wanted to share some "inspirational photos" of the game. I think the book is gorgeous and oozes with old-school flavor! What I've read of the rules intrigues me. The style of art and layout makes me think of British RPGs like Advanced Fighting Fantasy or Dragon Warriors, games that I've had a hankering to play one day.

 

So take a look at the photos below, and do yourself a favor and grab a copy for yourself!

 

Finally got around to becoming a member...

...of the RPG Blog Alliance! I'm not sure what took me so long. I'm a bit slow on the uptake sometimes, folks. I just sort of ignored this particular group. But that oversight has been rectified! If you have a blog and haven't joined as of yet, I encourage you to do so!

End-of-Week Elmore (1/11/13)

Why have I decided to show a scene of death crafted by the Great Elmore? Because I am ruminating on the subject of demise today, fellow gamers. 

The demise of who, you ask? Not who, but "what." That "what" is blogging. Is blogging an endangered activity? Or rather, let's be more specific, shall we? Is the RPG blogosphere dying?

Is Google letting Blogger die in favor of Google+, folks? Are more and more RPG bloggers migrating over to Google+?

Why do I ask? Because I look at my blogroll and I see that many long-standing blogs have not been updated for some time now. Familiar names such as Beyond the Black Gate, Dreams of Mythic Fantasy, Jeff's Gameblog, and others have been dormant. Even Grognardia has not seen a new post in weeks. 

Now I know that some of these blogs have owners who have been working on OSR products, and therefore have less time to post. But I wonder: am I missing a party that's raging on Google+? I've been loathe to delve into the use of Google+, because I'm quite comfortable with blogging, thank you very much. But is my stubborn clinging to Blogger keeping me from something awesome?

And of course I know that the whims of adult life can pull us away from the hobby. But there's always the fear that we will lose members of the community, you know. I am saddened by the thought of the older blogs, those that introduced me to the OSR, disappearing. But such is the circle of life, eh?

The OSR Version of the "Story Game"

This post, over at Carjacked Seraphim, got me thinking again about something that's a regular topic across the RPG blogosphere...a topic that I might not have commented on before. That's about to be remedied.

I'm going to try to make sense. Since I have such little time for RPG musings these days, I feel like I don't have enough time to write in as cogent a manner as I would like. Therefore, I'm never quite satisfied with my treatment of topics I want to discuss...never satisfied that I clearly communicated what was bouncing around my brain. Oh well, enough caveatting. Here goes:

One of the sacred cows of the OSR is the "sandbox" style of roleplaying, where (in my definition) the GM creates an open world for players to wander hither and yon as they see fit. I am a believer in this style of play, and even wrote one of my rare substantive posts (damned lack of free time!) about a pitfall that unwary GMs can encounter when running sandbox campaigns (i.e., sometimes GMs can forget the value of consequences stemming from players' actions).

The topic I want to focus on is a widely-perceived division between sandbox campaigns and "story-driven campaigns," in which (my definition) GMs create a "predetermined" overarching plot that the characters react to/interact with. Many gamers equate story games with railroading, but I'm not sure it's that simple. Sure, in the hands of a careless GM, a story-driven campaign can devolve into players living out a frustrated novelist's unpublished opus. But I think that fate is not inevitable.

There's a tangent in here about how some RPG systems lend themselves to sandbox play and others to story-game play (I suppose the White Wolf World of Darkness games are the paragons of the latter style), but I won't get into that here.

I argue that a sandbox campaign is a type of story-driven campaign. But instead of the story being fleshed out significantly by the GM at the beginning of the campaign, the story unfolds over the course of play. Indeed, if done right, the full "story" of a sandbox campaign isn't known until the end of a campaign.

I suppose my current point (others may resurface from the quagmire of my brain at a later date) is that gamers should see that play/campaign styles are not that different from each other, if one takes the time to look.
 

I guess that was a lot of build-up for a statement that was pretty short. I feel that there was something more I wanted to say but can't formulate the thoughts into words. Again, I'm having trouble finding time to focus and craft longer posts, but wanted to get the thoughts out there, to get some thoughts from the community. I hope I'm not just stating the most obvious facts in the world.

My 7 RPGs (meme response)

I heard about this latest RPG blogosphere meme at The Other Side blog and others.

So here are the RPGs that I've played the most, in roughly the order in which I played them (with some overlap, of course):

1. First Edition AD&D

The game that got me hooked, just like so many other roleplayers! I loved the arcane language of Gygax (as a kid I used to wonder, "who is this mysterious author with the strange name?!"), and the sometimes crude but always evocative illustrations. What times my companions and I had with those books!

2. Palladium RPGs (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ninjas & Superspies, Heroes Unlimited, Rifts)

Ah yes, Palladium! I may cringe a bit now at the thought, but back in my formative years Kevin Siembieda almost loomed as large in my mind as St. Gygax! We created many mutant animals, superheroes, master martial artists, and post-apocalyptic adventurers in those days. But eventually, especially when it came to Rifts, we nearly drowned in the sheer number of sourcebooks!

3. Second Edition AD&D

We "graduated" to Second Edition eventually, and I really liked the more "professional" color illustrations, the different presentation, and the various published worlds that came along with this edition. I don't remember being bothered that they removed/changed the names of the demons and devils, or that the monk and assassin were gone (no one in my teenaged group ever played them). But I hated the Monstrous Compendium (those pages always wore out and fell from the unwieldy binder! we just kept using the First Edition Monster Manual!).

4. Amber Diceless RPG

I moved to this game when D&D became too "childish" for me. It also helped that Erick Wujcik of Palladium fame was the creator. I considered the game more mature, due to the lack of dice and what I considered a subsequent focus on roleplaying. It also introduced me to Roger Zelazny's body of work. Besides 1E AD&D, I probably had the most fun playing this RPG during my first era of roleplaying.

5. Castles & Crusades

The game that brought me back to table-top RPGs! I owe the Trolls a debt of gratitude. The game is an incredible "reimagining" of 1E AD&D by way of 3E!

6. Savage Worlds

I've only played this RPG a few times, but so far I really love the mechanics.

7. Labyrinth Lord

The game that's made me regret that I never played Classic D&D back when I was a kid. I've only played LL a handful of times, but it's opened my eyes to the wonders of the era when races were classes!

Mr. Curtis Goes to South Jersey

The requisite table of various and sundry gaming goodies!

So I've finally found the time to get pics off my new phone and write this post! On Sunday November 4th, I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Curtis, the man behind the Society of Torch, Pole and Rope blog and the creator of OSR staples such as Stonehell Dungeon and the Dungeon Alphabet. Despite the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, he drove many hours from New York to New Jersey, South Jersey to be exact (we Jerseyites consider North and South Jersey to be almost separate realms, but that's a discussion for another time).

When I arrived at the incredible All Things Fun in West Berlin, I had a chance to talk to Michael about gaming, the OSR, and the havoc of Sandy before a couple other gamers arrived: Rich of Circle of Dar Janix fame, and Mike from Swords of Legend. Once these fine fellows joined us, we got down to the business of gaming!

The calm before the proverbial gaming storm...

Michael gave us the following choice: he could run us through his Emirikol was Framed! DCC RPG module, or he could run us through one of two unpublished modules. My fellows and I leaped at the chance to playtest something for him! So Michael handed out some 1st-level DCC characters (we decided to take two each) and gave us a quick overview of the system before starting the session. 

I think he's trying to scare me with his GM screen (the "evil" dice bag is mine)...

I thought it was rather hilarious that one of my character's Lucky Rolls (part of the DCC RPG character creation process) was "Conceived on Horseback." I thought such a feat of agility on the part of the character's parents would confer some sort of bonus for the offspring, but alas that is not the case.

My two characters' sheets and associated spell page print-outs.

I don't want to give away anything about the module we playtested, but suffice to say it definitely had a strong old-school feel, with what I thought was a nod to at least one Basic D&D module from back in the day. I'll leave it at that.

I picked up a copy of the revised Dungeon Alphabet signed by the author himself, as well as some other swag that Michael brought along. Bottom line: it was cool to finally meet a prominent member of the old-school RPG community to talk about gaming and get down to some actual play!

This should have at least given me a Dex bonus, thanks to very agile parents...

'Nuff said.

A (Character) Fate Worse Than Death?

This post is a loooong time coming for me. It's a testament to how behind I am with things I want to blog about. Anyway, Tim at Gothridge Manor wrote a post about character creation a while back. In particular, the following struck a cord with me:

 

"Unlike the current trend of character funneling in DCC [RPG], we put a lot of planning into the creation of characters. It's fun and makes you really invest a bit more. Nothing wrong with funneling and it can be a ton of fun, but so is sculpting a character you want to play for a while."

So, of course, this being the OSR blogosphere, the above statement begs the question: does this investment of time in "sculpting a character" mean there's an associated lessening in character mortality? I'm not asking to be a d-bag, I'm just asking in order to preempt the more hardcore OSR types from getting their grognard comments in ;-)

Seriously, I'm all about style of play, but campaigns that encourage character building/design/ whatever-you-want-to-call-it often get the stink-eye from hardline OSR folks. I'm not one of those folks.

 

I am asking because I'm just curious. As for me, I enjoy letting characters be a little more hardy if the campaign is one of those types that might be called "character" or "story-driven." However, in those types of games, the characters CAN STILL DIE, but it usually means they did something really rash.

 

However, I'm getting more and more interested these days in a "traditional" old school D&D game, with the assumption that it is deadlier due to lower hit points, lack of balance concerns, the "letting the dice fall where they may/no dice fudging" attitude/expectation, etc.

ALSO however, I think the OSR worships character death way too much. Come on, folks. There are other fates in the game that can be worse than death: level drain, maiming, imprisonment, becoming outlaws, making powerful enemies, etc. What makes these worse than death? Players characters need to LIVE with these results of their actions. The onus is on the DM to impose these consequences on PCs in order to give characters hazards other than death. I think having threats other than death makes a campaign more of a living, breathing place, not to mention a more fulfilling experience.

Indeed, I would go so far as to say that a DM who focuses heavily on character death as a consequence is an unimaginative DM. A character living with consequences seems, to me, much more interesting.

 

Please let me know your thoughts on the matter of fates worse than death in RPGs, especially with regard to D&D (of course).

Where are Matt and Jeff?

Within the last few months, there have been those in the gaming blogosphere who have wondered if the OSR is losing steam...at least, the blogging end of the OSR. I've tended heavily toward disagreement with that assessment. Things seem alive and well to me. Yes, perhaps posting for many bloggers has slowed (Grognardia being one of those, which has caused no shortage of nervousness), but I don't think that heralds an impending doom. Popular opinion also states that the rise of Google+ has drawn folks away from the blog format. I'm sure there's some truth to that, but still, I don't see a Grim Reaper headed toward the RPG blogosphere.

 

However, of late something has grown more disturbing to me: the long silence at Jeff's Gameblog and Mythmere's Blog. Does anyone know how things are going for Jeff Rients and Matt Finch these days? I'm sure both of them are working on OSR projects, but still...when two pillars of the movement are so quiet, it's not hard for some to come to bad conclusions about the health of said movement. Anyway, any updates on how things are going for both of them would be appreciated. Thanks, all.

TBBYANR: Dicechucker

Tim over at The Other Side posted recently about "The Best Blog You Are Not Reading" (TBBYANR), which is apparently a series of posts that he has featured on his blog. He likes to profile blogs with 40 or less readers to give them some "air time" and get the word out about them.

 

Tim has asked that others take up the cause, so I'm doing my part to help!

 

So, I would like to tell you about DICECHUCKER! This blog is authored by Joel Rojas, and he seems to be a fine fellow! While just a few posts into his OSR blogging career, he's diving right into the subject matter. How, you ask? Well, he decided to run the good old S1: Tomb of Horrors! That's the spirit!

So, I recommend that you do like I do, and keep a keen eye on what unfolds at Dicechucker!

Michael Curtis coming to my neck of the proverbial woods...

That's right, folks! Michael Curtis, of Stonehell Dungeon and Dungeon Alphabet fame, is coming to the awesome All Things Fun! store on Sunday, November 4th! Go here (Michael's blog) and here (the All Things Fun! event page) for more details.

I have to say I'm really excited for a number of reasons. Of course I'm probably preaching to the choir here, and I'm sure you know who he is already. But anyway, Michael is a prominent figure in the old-school gaming scene because of the body of work he's produced. It looks like he'll be running a game session to take players through one of his latest creations, the DCC RPG module "Emirikol Was Framed!"

I can't wait to meet one of the people behind the old-school movement, and maybe have time to chat about the OSR, his upcoming projects, etc. And I also cannot wait to finally play DCC RPG! You know what this means?! I GET TO USE THOSE FUNKY ZOCCHI DICE I BOUGHT! Nice!

This should really be a fun time. Ok, I'll stop with the gushing now. If you can make it, I would love to meet anyone who's been reading my blog. Thanks to the incredible proprietors of All Things Fun!, Ed and Dina Evans, for setting up this event! It should be a great time! I'm planning on taking some photos and blogging about the event afterwards.

The System Mastery Grail

I want to "master" a system. A roleplaying system, to be precise.

I read a certain post over at The RPG Corner a while back, and it's been on my mind ever since.

What do I personally mean when I talk about mastering a system? For me, the ultimate type of system mastery would be memorization of nearly all the core rules of a system. I have a strong desire to be an "encyclopedia" of a system, or should I say a living "core rulebook."

Now, this isn't because my ideal game system would have a rule for every situation, or that I think all players and GMs should strive to memorize a system. Memorization is NOT a prerequisite for good roleplaying. This is just a particular quirk of mine, I suppose. I have always been most comfortable at the table-top when I could rattle off rules without having to refer to a book or a referee screen.

Right now, I feel like I have a different, "lesser" type of system mastery when it comes to Castles & Crusades. I may not have every character class ability or racial ability memorized, for example, but I have a solid grasp of the core mechanics for ability checks, saving throws, combat, and the like. And this, to me, is perfectly fine and is more than enough for me to run a good game.

BUT I would REALLY love it if I could muster up the time and brain power these days in order to memorize character class abilities, racial abilities, poison creation rules, etc.

I am currently not what I would consider a "living core rulebook" for any system. Perhaps in my teenage years I was a near-master of AD&D or the Palladium RPG system. But this is just not possible for me at this point in my life, at least not when it comes to games like Castles & Crusades.

But of course, in typical "me" style, that darn system mastery urge won't go away.

So I've been looking at Basic D&D (B/X to be precise) as my most likely candidate for system mastery. I think the rules are short enough for me to have a good shot at memorizing most of them. And more importantly, it's D&D and I've got years of using that system under my belt.

But it seems that system mastery may come at a price: most likely, mastering a system takes all of one's mental and temporal gaming resources (or at least, this will be the case for ME). So forget about becoming similarly erudite in any other system. Unless you have unlimited free time (that's not me), have an eidetic memory (my memory is still pretty good, but not photographic by a long shot), or some combination of the two.

Now, combine all this with my sometime-desire to run games in genres other than fantasy, such as cyberpunk, post-apocalypse, Cthulhu mythos, etc. This makes me think it would behoove me to master a more "universal" game system that lends itself more readily to different genres of play. Yes, yes, you can of course remove the fantasy from the D&D engine if you tried, but that's just more work for which I don't have time.

The only universal game system with which I have current experience is Savage Worlds. I suppose the Palladium system is universal, but I've got a "been there, done that" relationship with Palladium from my teen years and I really have no interest in picking it back up. I've never played GURPS, but I've dabbled in the rule books and was never really drawn to it.

So would the solution for me be to dedicate myself to mastering a simple-enough universal system, so when I get the genre "switch itch" I wouldn't have to change game systems as well? That is appealing, not having to learn a new system all the time, as well as not having to ask players to learn new systems.

Anyway, here are some questions for you:

1. What would you define as system mastery?

2. How important is system mastery to you?

3. Is there a system (or systems) that you can confidently say you have mastered, or that you would like to master?

A final thought: all of this makes me wonder if the system mastery desire is part of the reason many OSR gamers, especially GMs, seek to create their own versions of the old D&D systems. A system that you tweak yourself may, by extension, become one that you know very well.

Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you all out there!