In the History Channel show I discussed yesterday here are some interesting bits of flotsam and jetsam:
The most recent crisis event illustrative of a collapse event in the U.S. was Hurricane Katrina and its effect on new Orleans. From that disaster we saw:
* Most households ran out of food after 3 days
* Unprotected stores were looted and emptied of all items (including toys, clothes, basically anything that could be carried out) within 5 days
* Rioting, looting, and the break down of law & order occurred within 4 days after Katrina.
* The sound (and thus use)of weapons being fired was commonplace as a background noise within 4 days of the event.
I guess I was shocked that within 4 days of some sort of catastrophic event, we revert back to the wild west or worse, our basest survival mode instincts kick in. I know that help was very slow in coming, but the resources of a nation were able to be mobilized to help. Suppose there was no help coming...ever again?
Apparently the thin veneer of civilization is quite a bit thinner than I had expected.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Coincidence?
Blame it on…well no one really, quirk of fate possibly? Turns out the History *cough* channel is airing some sort of Doom & Gloom week dealing what happens if (insert an earth shaking apocalypse scenario here). What a great way to start a happy fraking New Year!
Anyway, they had a 2 hour “what if” civilization breaks down scenario last night illustrating the entire breakdown through the eyes of a 3 person family from suburban L.A. I watched it with my wife, and needless to say she thought it was scarier than any horror movie she’s ever seen. Part of it was because it focused on dramatic crisis points and then illustrated them: Looters break down of food supply, sanitation, law and order, and the reversions from get along to going it alone. I recorded and took copious notes while watching because it was quite intriguing. They even had a show after that where a “survival expert” (akin to Man vs. Wild’s Bear Grylls) gave tips on how and what you would have to do to survive. While I have not seen it yet, that too is recorded as grist for the gaming mill.
So given the current rich resource to draw from, it looks like Roguish is on the back burner while I listen to this darker gaming muse for a bit
Anyway, they had a 2 hour “what if” civilization breaks down scenario last night illustrating the entire breakdown through the eyes of a 3 person family from suburban L.A. I watched it with my wife, and needless to say she thought it was scarier than any horror movie she’s ever seen. Part of it was because it focused on dramatic crisis points and then illustrated them: Looters break down of food supply, sanitation, law and order, and the reversions from get along to going it alone. I recorded and took copious notes while watching because it was quite intriguing. They even had a show after that where a “survival expert” (akin to Man vs. Wild’s Bear Grylls) gave tips on how and what you would have to do to survive. While I have not seen it yet, that too is recorded as grist for the gaming mill.
So given the current rich resource to draw from, it looks like Roguish is on the back burner while I listen to this darker gaming muse for a bit
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The Collapse...
Below is the intro to my Post-Apoc game world...
Sometimes a debt has to be paid in blood. As the global financial system continued to spiral downwards, riots flared up all over the world. Governments printing and spending with abandon caused a reckoning in which money became worthless. As one government after another collapsed it took down faith in the financial system globally. Attempts to create a global currency also failed as it stalled in endless debates over exchange rates for each country. Even more divisive, debate and threats swirled over which countries could be a part of this currency and which would be left out. These endless debates, accusations, and threats between nations combined with the average citizens of any country no longer having any belief in printed currency any longer led to the collapse. In the end, the global economic system failed, and with it entire nations collapsed.
In this turmoil as neighboring countries, regions, and even cities destabilized, some attempted to take advantage of the collapse through force of arms. Man descended back to his natural, self interested state of pure survival. Order fractured globally as armies were left to defend themselves and some create pockets of civilization wherever they were based. Those were the lucky areas; many army groups went rogue becoming regional warlords. People used to the “on demand” lifestyle of the West were shocked at how rapid the collapse came and were swept away in the rising tide of violence. Unable to defend themselves, fend for themselves, or to offer anything more than tie-dyed platitudes of peace, they were the first wave of population lost to the collapse. Then plagues broke out as sanitation failed, bodies piled up, and use of biological weapons took place. No one knows where or who dropped the first bombs but mushroom clouds were reported intermittently all over the globe.
In the midst of this chaos and destruction something unexpected happened. At first it was thought to be rumor or simply the panicked stories of some traumatized survivors until more and more people reported seeing the same thing: shambling husks of humanity risen from the dead and hungry for living flesh. Whether it is divine judgment, Mother Nature’s revenge, or the product of some combination of radiation and disease is unknown. Pockets of civilization still exist but they are bought and paid for with blood, sweat, and tears. Most survive by a combination of wits, barter, and force. This is the brave new world you now inhabit. You are one light in a growing darkness as humanity tries to survive the collapse.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Alive and kickin'
Nope I have not dropped off the face of the earth! Winding up the day to day job year end stuff and planning for 2010 conquests meant a lot of work and no play.
Of note for zombie fans I highly recommend a new "survival guide" from our cousins across the pond. Entitled ZOMPOC How to survive a Zombie Apocalypse, it is a bit more "serious" in tackling the subject and a bit less tongue in cheek than the Max Brooks survival guide. A good read and for any gamer, a huge idea generator 5000.
In fact its had me dust off my home brew post apocalypse rules and fret about putting that together into a useable game rule set rather than a hodge podge of scribbled notes. A lot of travel coming up so maybe all those hours on the plane can be put to good use. Hopefully I will have time to actually focus on writing and creating stuff instead of the on going daily grind. Lucky to have a good job I enjoy though so I guess I can't really complain at all.
Happy New Year to you and yours, I sincerely hope 2010 is your best year yet!
Of note for zombie fans I highly recommend a new "survival guide" from our cousins across the pond. Entitled ZOMPOC How to survive a Zombie Apocalypse, it is a bit more "serious" in tackling the subject and a bit less tongue in cheek than the Max Brooks survival guide. A good read and for any gamer, a huge idea generator 5000.
In fact its had me dust off my home brew post apocalypse rules and fret about putting that together into a useable game rule set rather than a hodge podge of scribbled notes. A lot of travel coming up so maybe all those hours on the plane can be put to good use. Hopefully I will have time to actually focus on writing and creating stuff instead of the on going daily grind. Lucky to have a good job I enjoy though so I guess I can't really complain at all.
Happy New Year to you and yours, I sincerely hope 2010 is your best year yet!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Roguish RPG sample PDF released!!
In 6 pages of rules you will get a feel for the basics of the system, and a short intro adventure is included and will let you try the game play out. I look forward to your feedback.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Exeprience System In Roguish RPG
When you reward an action, it will cause people to do that action more. Traditionally in the early years of "roll" playing, looting and slaying were the primary methods of leveling up your character. I like looting and slaying, in games mind you, quite a bit, the difficulty arises when these are the core ways one levels up their character, this becomes the paradigm for all adventure creation. So developing a story line and rewarding people for advancing plot elements with something other than a blade's edge are not tangible rewarding to players. I kill creature X, to get experience reward Y. I loot treasure A I get experience B. Basic, but honestly kind of boring and it can get quite convoluted in trying to compute it. Worse crunching numbers after a battle to reward XP can take players right of the game and slows adventure momentum as well as game play.
As gaming advanced the emphasis in many games shifted to "role" playing. Epic plots, intrigues, and multiple sessions where combat might never occur. Rewarding a player for good "role" playing though is somewhat subjective and in my own experience, can lead to internal party or group friction. This is also a difficult method of play for those who dislike theatrical pontification in strange not quite right accents. Does the showiest most theatrical person deserve a bigger award than the quiet guy who just wants some thing to slay and loot? If you reward "role" playing than those who dislike showmanship will be turned off from playing.
Lastly, I never like the XP division by class to artificially limit and make advancement more difficult for some and quicker for others. It is an artificial social leveling to insure some character classes who are seen as too powerful within the game are held back.
Okay, in that brief overview you know what I don't like and why. So how do I have it set up in Roguish?
At the end of an adventure you are awarded a combination of 1,2, or 3 XP. Any class needs 10 XP to raise to the next level. Maximum reward is 5XP at the end of any adventure.
You get 1 XP for surviving the adventure
You get 2 XP if you survived, and did something clever, tricky, or brave in the adventure.
You get 3 XP if you survived and were an instrumental participant in completing the adventure.
Yes it is a little vague on purpose. Generally most folks will get 3-5 pts. Some who helped, but were also a bit of a drag on the adventure will get a 2, and the participant award player who generally was a pain in the ass probably gets 1.
So it will take 2-3 adventures in general to raise a level for most players. I don't know about you, but finding time to complete 1 adventure a month is difficult. and this XP system I think will help foster return play because you can level up quickly. Second, the level grind issue goes away and the game becomes more concerned with participating in the adventure. Treasure is its own reward so is not counted in as an XP reward. This system should take advantage of any players particular ability without giving a specific reward for slaying the dragon, or out smarting the troll at the bridge. Both, in this system, are equally valuable.
The Referee and the players are ( I hope) freed by this reward system to focus on playing the game, not on tracking who killed what or who role played the best. It also mean stopping to figure out XP after a battle goes away, increasing immersion in the game and speeding play. It is simple and easy to pick up for new referees and expert referees can change and use what ever system they like.
As gaming advanced the emphasis in many games shifted to "role" playing. Epic plots, intrigues, and multiple sessions where combat might never occur. Rewarding a player for good "role" playing though is somewhat subjective and in my own experience, can lead to internal party or group friction. This is also a difficult method of play for those who dislike theatrical pontification in strange not quite right accents. Does the showiest most theatrical person deserve a bigger award than the quiet guy who just wants some thing to slay and loot? If you reward "role" playing than those who dislike showmanship will be turned off from playing.
Lastly, I never like the XP division by class to artificially limit and make advancement more difficult for some and quicker for others. It is an artificial social leveling to insure some character classes who are seen as too powerful within the game are held back.
Okay, in that brief overview you know what I don't like and why. So how do I have it set up in Roguish?
At the end of an adventure you are awarded a combination of 1,2, or 3 XP. Any class needs 10 XP to raise to the next level. Maximum reward is 5XP at the end of any adventure.
You get 1 XP for surviving the adventure
You get 2 XP if you survived, and did something clever, tricky, or brave in the adventure.
You get 3 XP if you survived and were an instrumental participant in completing the adventure.
Yes it is a little vague on purpose. Generally most folks will get 3-5 pts. Some who helped, but were also a bit of a drag on the adventure will get a 2, and the participant award player who generally was a pain in the ass probably gets 1.
So it will take 2-3 adventures in general to raise a level for most players. I don't know about you, but finding time to complete 1 adventure a month is difficult. and this XP system I think will help foster return play because you can level up quickly. Second, the level grind issue goes away and the game becomes more concerned with participating in the adventure. Treasure is its own reward so is not counted in as an XP reward. This system should take advantage of any players particular ability without giving a specific reward for slaying the dragon, or out smarting the troll at the bridge. Both, in this system, are equally valuable.
The Referee and the players are ( I hope) freed by this reward system to focus on playing the game, not on tracking who killed what or who role played the best. It also mean stopping to figure out XP after a battle goes away, increasing immersion in the game and speeding play. It is simple and easy to pick up for new referees and expert referees can change and use what ever system they like.
Friday, November 13, 2009
CLASSIC!
Sure, but what does that have to do with gaming? A lot I say. I want my Roguish RPG to be Jeep like. Simple, solid, relaible, and flexible to get you wherever it is your imagination wants to go. The jeep isn't flashy, it won;t stop traffic, and it won't win any beauty contests. It does have thousnads of optional parts you can buy to customize it and make it your own. You get the base Jeep, and then you can jack it up, lower it, add fog lights, a hard top, safari top, roof rack, or do whatever you want to it. No matter how many options your throw into personalizing your Jeep, everyone still recognizes it instantly as a Jeep.
So with Roguish the RPG that's what I want to deliver, a Jeep of a fantasy game. Simple to start, easy to play, take you anywhere and room to make it the game you want it to be.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
No Clerics
So in expectation of an upcoming play test of Roguish, I have decided to make clerics in the game NPC's and not a playable class. Here are a few reasons for this:
1) I really dislike the over abundance and focus in RPG's on deities & demigods. I realize I may be alone in this but as a function of the game world it simply never interested nor entered into our game play. Creating weird pantheons or cults as a foil to the characters was fun but worrying about when the cleric is going to find time to sacrifice goats to Thor? Not so much...
2) Clerics as NPC's serve as excellent foils or hirelings for the referee to use to progress, start, or create plot twists in a story.
3) I never liked the cleric as spell caster. Any boon or miracle granted by a god I believe would have more to do with the faithfulness of the clerics service then simply, you are level 2 now you cure wounds twice daily sort of thing.
4) Clerics are traditionally more often stationary than wandering. Not strictly true in all cases of course, but more often than not, it is true. Why does a the priestess of Isis want to battle the Hill Giant in the caves of doom? Yeah I am not sure either. But the players hiring a priestess of Isis to transalte for them in a foreign land provides all sorts of interesting plot twists for a clever referee to use.
5) Lastly, I think breaking up traditional cleric type spells and abilities into different classes makes for more interesting options for players long term. So a healer as a separate class makes sense, as does a witch hunter with the secrets of vanquishing evil and turning the undead.
The good news as with any game, if you want to create a cleric class when playing Roguish, feel free!
1) I really dislike the over abundance and focus in RPG's on deities & demigods. I realize I may be alone in this but as a function of the game world it simply never interested nor entered into our game play. Creating weird pantheons or cults as a foil to the characters was fun but worrying about when the cleric is going to find time to sacrifice goats to Thor? Not so much...
2) Clerics as NPC's serve as excellent foils or hirelings for the referee to use to progress, start, or create plot twists in a story.
3) I never liked the cleric as spell caster. Any boon or miracle granted by a god I believe would have more to do with the faithfulness of the clerics service then simply, you are level 2 now you cure wounds twice daily sort of thing.
4) Clerics are traditionally more often stationary than wandering. Not strictly true in all cases of course, but more often than not, it is true. Why does a the priestess of Isis want to battle the Hill Giant in the caves of doom? Yeah I am not sure either. But the players hiring a priestess of Isis to transalte for them in a foreign land provides all sorts of interesting plot twists for a clever referee to use.
5) Lastly, I think breaking up traditional cleric type spells and abilities into different classes makes for more interesting options for players long term. So a healer as a separate class makes sense, as does a witch hunter with the secrets of vanquishing evil and turning the undead.
The good news as with any game, if you want to create a cleric class when playing Roguish, feel free!
New Art and a major hurdle ahead
A big test of my Roguish RPG is upcoming as two of the most brutally honest critics I have try out the latest version of the game this weekend. Those critics are my younger brothers. Although with my 40th approaching next week and my brothers and I within a few years of each other, I am unsure young fits anymore. It's fun to think we have been gaming together for 30 years now. Damn, that does not make me feel old, just blessed!
Anyway we grew up playing RPG's together and they both have enough experience and interest to let me know the truth, and if it stinks on ice, they will happily let me know. Barring disaster, my goal is to have a micro 8 page sample version of the rules available as a free download in November. My expectation is of the full game releasing in January of next year.
Also some fantastic new illustrations were completed this week for Roguish. I am very happy and honored to have a terrific number of illustrations from Mr. Richard Luschek. I specifically requested the illustrations be of scenes in silhouette. His illustrations bring a scene to life, and leave a lot of the details to your imagination to fill in which is the aspect of gaming I enjoy the most. Richard's illustrations are a perfect mirror of that sense of wonder.
You can catch a sneak peek of some of the recently finished illustrations on Mr. Luschek's blog.
Anyway we grew up playing RPG's together and they both have enough experience and interest to let me know the truth, and if it stinks on ice, they will happily let me know. Barring disaster, my goal is to have a micro 8 page sample version of the rules available as a free download in November. My expectation is of the full game releasing in January of next year.
Also some fantastic new illustrations were completed this week for Roguish. I am very happy and honored to have a terrific number of illustrations from Mr. Richard Luschek. I specifically requested the illustrations be of scenes in silhouette. His illustrations bring a scene to life, and leave a lot of the details to your imagination to fill in which is the aspect of gaming I enjoy the most. Richard's illustrations are a perfect mirror of that sense of wonder.
You can catch a sneak peek of some of the recently finished illustrations on Mr. Luschek's blog.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Freedom of choice, is what you got
The notion of freedom of choice is a dear one to me. Beyond simply being core to my belief system as an American and responsible for our success as a nation, it is core to my beliefs as a Christian. Anything that seeks to stifle that innate spark I consider anathema to anyone's potential happiness and success in life.
I was inspired by a post over at http://bloodofprokopius.blogspot.com/
The (as usual) thoughtful post was primarily about how he uses monster stat blocks.
This particular part though sparked my response:
Challenge Level — Frankly, I've never used this. The players know quite well that I don't dumb down or weaken the monsters in places they have no business being. Characters have been killed for not running away when they should have. The game is about choices. When I present to them a monster, it is what it is. The characters are then free to try their luck and skill or to run away and then face the consequences of their choice.
The notion of choice and how one exercises it is core not only to the success of the game, but to every life, and most importantly was given to us as a gift from God. When a game (or more recently our own government) endeavors to make everything equal and fair, the first thing removed is freedom of choice. In the case of Challenge Level, I too have loathed this mollycoddling stat.
There are some beasts the characters should run away from and if they choose not to then they suffer the consequences...and they LEARN! Part of the the freedom to choose is the notion and experience of exploration. In the game exploration is not limited to simply roaming of ancient halls and dusty crypts, it is the exploration of the boundaries of heroism, cowardice, friendship, and exploring the limits of a persons abilities through a paper avatar and some dice. The game in essence is a vehicle to explore your own personality in fantastic situations exploring all sorts of choices that you may never make in real life with the only victim being a sheet of paper if the choices are bad.
The challenge level stat is a reflection of socialized system game play: Provide a system of regulated choice to try and insure the characters always have a better than average chance to succeed at the expense of choice.
This system regulates and controls the level of danger, challenge, and uncertainty to maximize character success if you used "properly."
By adhering to challenge level you remove the most critical element of exploration: freedom of choice. The Referee is then limited artificially as to what they should use in created challenges, and the players choice to fight or not is also removed. When you know you have a better than average chance to beat any encounter, then you always fight.
Choice is about risk, and with risk comes the chance to succeed spectacularly or to fail miserably. Both ends lead to some of the greatest experiences in both gaming and life. Rags to Riches...and Riches to rags. Any system that seeks to Remove or unnaturally limit that essential part of the human experience given to us by God seems as if it must be a sin of some kind.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Does size matter?
Way back in the 80's a friend of mine had these tiny little RPG books. I mean so small they were dinky! A small booklet roughly the size of a playing card and sold in a resealable bag. It was Dinky Dungeons! There were a couple adventures and a Dinky Kingdoms supplement as well. With 2 stats and 3 classes (one class was my most hated the bard) it turned out to be a hell of a lot of fun! Don't remember it? Check out a good review here.
In fact part of the inspiration for making the modules and supplements for my own game in a small pocketmod format comes from my fondness of the Dinky Dungeons unique packaging and presentation.
So after the flash back, let's flash forward A gentleman named Chris Nail is revising and reinventing Dinky Dungeons...I believe he is going to call it Dinky Dragons! The site is up and you can check out all sorts of cool stuff including a random character generator!
He has the beta version of his rules available if you contact him. Due to travel and work on my own game, I have not had the pleasure of playing his updated version yet, but the rules are as simple and far more interesting than the original! Definitely a great set of rules to get new people or young people playing, or just a fun night storming the castle.
Check out Chris' site, if for no other reason than to support another DIY gamer making his RPG a wonder of simplicity and creativity.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Best of the Best: 80's scifi-& fantasy movies
With the wife out of town visiting her dad, I have time to write and revel in my own top 10 list of 80's scifi/ fantasy films. You may disagree, and that's fine, you are wrong. Note, I am not including any films from the major series of the era Star Wars or Star Trek. My plan is to watch every single one over the extended holiday, and wallow in some classic films. Without further yammering, here it is:
#10 BEAST MASTER -The two ferrets were really cool
#9 TRON- Killer light cycle races and the tanks are still kick ass
#8 EXCALIBUR-Unforgetable armor and the music Carmina Burana is EPIC
#7 DRAGONSLAYER-Still one of the best and I'd like to see it remade
#6 FLASH GORDON-Absolutely love it and I know you just heard in your mind "FLASH...AAAAAHHHAAAAAAAH....king of the IMPOSSIBLE!" I had high hopes for the TV series, man that was a pile of crap
#5 THE LAST STAR FIGHTER- completely over looked classic that really deserves a lot more love than it gets. Grig is one of the best sidekick characters ever!
#4 RED DAWN - I am still awaiting my chance to hold aloft an AK-47 and shout WOLVERINES! over the burn out hulk of a Russian APC.
#3 BLADE RUNNER- Rutger Hauer wrote the last lines of the film his character Roy Batty says when he dies. How fraking cool is that?!
#2 ALIENS- Hands down the best scifi military adventures EVER, I can't think of a film that beats it.
#1 CONAN THE BARBARIAN - Let me tell you of the days of High Adventure...
Honorable mention that just missed the cut:
Clash of the Titans, Enemy Mine, Terminator, Legend, Ghost Busters
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Fork in the road
My recent post regarding my view about OSR gaming caused varied responses. I blame myself for laying my thoughts out in too strident a fashion for good general discussion to take place.
So to remedy and clarify:
Revisiting the past to park in it, rather to learn and then move on does not further, nor build upon the great works of the past. I am not saying there is not fun to be had nor, much to learn. Clearly given the breadth of blogs, and products, surrounding OSR materials there is much to be loved. I too share the love, and support it by purchasing many of the great OSR products out there. They are a great resource and nice mirror to the past, but they are not the end of the road.
Change is the essential part of long term survival for anything. Those people, systems, and cultures that fail to adapt and changes are relegated to the dustbin of history. Our own lives are one series of changes leading to (ideally) our own betterment. Sure its nice to have a mom around doing housework, fixing dinner, and making the bed, but it sure puts a crimp on the old love life. It's great to go back and visit the folks for a few days, but once you have made your own way in the world, and live your life your way, being home really isn't being "home." Home is a nice place to visit, but I don't think you'd want to live there anymore. Even if the basement is spacious. So however naive that may sound or seem, I think it is also true for gaming.
One can still play an enjoy the old Atari 2600 today and many of the games are still fun. In fact compared to the hottest Xbox 360 games, some 2600 games are even better! The old school Nintendo games from the 8 bit era are still fun, and clearly have play value as even Nintendo lets you buy and download a lot of those classics again! The old game are fun and have value, but they are not the end of further development. Wolfenstein 3D is a great first person shooter, and from it came Doom, which led to Hal-Life, and then to Halo. Each is still a first person shooter and you can have fun with any one of them, but I would not stop at any one of them, and I look forward to playing what comes next! New does not always mean better. That is true for anything from a new system grown out of the OSR movement...to the OSR material currently being produced. I beleive new does mean a stretching of boundaries and a reshaping of what we know or expect, and that to me is a good thing.
From wargames and miniature war games came role playing games. The various systems of RPG gaming has changed from the three little brown books into a thousand or more variations and off-spring. I like the OSR movement and its revival of the core elements that got people playing originally: the sense of wonder, freedom, exploration and fun! All this from a few tiny books and a handful of dice.
The OSR movement is a grass roots counter, or reaction to the current vogue of multiple 200 plus page tomes of rules from major publishers. I think this is good for the hobby and good for gamers. I voice my concern in saying, I hope it simply does not stop there. I hope the core elements of game play rediscovered from a less rules bloated system can lead to new games and systems expressing it without being tied down to, constrained by, or pigeonholed mechanics from using the OGL/D20 centric system.
If one is happy on the path of OGL/D20 OSR game play, terrific for you! You found your chest of gold at the end of the quest and need never look further. You chose that path that suited you well, but I my friend, am not so lucky. My feet are still restless and I think there is a lot of trail left to cover. I like where your path has lead you to rest, but I should like to walk further on, and I do not believe I will travel alone.
| Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, | |
| And sorry I could not travel both | |
| And be one traveler, long I stood | |
| And looked down one as far as I could | |
| To where it bent in the undergrowth; | 5 |
| Then took the other, as just as fair, | |
| And having perhaps the better claim, | |
| Because it was grassy and wanted wear; | |
| Though as for that the passing there | |
| Had worn them really about the same, | 10 |
| And both that morning equally lay | |
| In leaves no step had trodden black. | |
| Oh, I kept the first for another day! | |
| Yet knowing how way leads on to way, | |
| I doubted if I should ever come back. | 15 |
| I shall be telling this with a sigh | |
| Somewhere ages and ages hence: | |
| Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— | |
| I took the one less traveled by, | |
| And that has made all the difference. | 20 |
| --Robert Frost |
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
I call shenanigans
The current Olde School Renaissance movement reminds me of the emperors new clothes, so I'll go ahead and be the mouthy little brat who says as much. There is some strutting about of I created this or that, but is it original and new? Nope, decidedly not. It is new material for an abandonware system. In some cases its a simple new coat of paint on the old jalopy. For sure there is a lot of good material and excellent resources being developed for a much beloved system...but where is the original? Where is the new creation from the old framework? OSR is simply a back tracking down a well worn path. Reprinting older material as new in an effort to rediscover the RPG has as much depth as a Texas puddle.Using what's come before as a foundation to build something new makes sense. I do not see the new creation though, at least yet, from the seeds of the OSR movement. I see a lot of folks rediscovering the simpler game play of yore, and in some cases new eyes seeing role playing in this new light. That's all though, and honestly that's not enough.
It is not enough to sustain or to even grow interest in RPG gaming as a hobby. Revisiting the past to move forward makes sense, but revisiting, then settling in for a nice winter's nap is foolish. It's like peeing yourself in a navy blue suit, sure it makes you feel warm, but nobody really notices. Right now I see a lot of pleased fellows in blue suits, and it makes me nervous.
So will the OSR movement give birth to a new lite RPG rule set for the masses to enjoy? A "from the people, by the people, for the people" system that is rules lite, accessible and expandable? I like to think so, and I am working on my own stab at it. Otherwise there are going to be a lot folks standing around in wet navy blue suits stinking up the joint. Pardon me while I go change...
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