Kevin Crawford has written some fine game systems, Stars Without Number comes immediately to mind as well as this one. As he says at the beginning of the thin digest size booklet, Mr. Crawford wrote Exemplars & Eidolons (E&E) as a layout template for the Old School Renaissance. In order to have something to use as an example with the template, E&E was created. I can' help but think there maybe more to E&E than just that. It seems Mr. Crawford has something to say about gaming in general here...or maybe I am extrapolating.
E&E is a game easily recognized as having roots deep in White Box, but with a big new twist...twist of the dial, to borrow a phrase...it goes to eleven! OK maybe that's pushing the metaphor button, but E&E is all about high-powered characters from the moment they are rolled up. This is not traditional "zero-to-hero" play as White Box has sometimes been referred to.
Could Mr. Crawford be making commentary on the current state of the hobby and many of the most recent, popular systems? PC power creep has been occurring for a number of decades now. There is no doubt that players can enjoy playing a hero that from the moment he/she is rolled up is both powerful and nearly un-killable. It's fun to play a superhero or better yet, a godling.
I White Box the 1st level PC is little better than your average peasant in many ways. With half a dozen hit points or less, a single thrust from a goblin can end your days. But there is a big difference between a PC and a peasant, class abilities! White Box starts with a basis in reality and assumes magic is magical. Just casting a single spell is a big deal. Having a sword and armor set one apart from the "average" guy on the street. Clerical abilities are real miracles. This is fantastic stuff indeed.
Fast-forward to a state-of-mind where magical abilities are assumed, everyone is armed and dangerous and NPCs ride the elemental powered public transit to work. Standing out from the crowd means super abilities, great magic, great fighting prowess, amazing feats of superhuman strength, agility or speed.
PCs are above the norm, it just matters where the norm is set is your milieu. Is the norm a "normal" human peasant with maybe one good occupation skill. That is very different from the norm being other adventuring types, many having access to some form of magic and many being of non-human races. It all depends on how one sets up the milieu. By choosing to showcase a high-powered assumed milieu and super-human PCs in an old school looking product, Mr. Crawford has caused me to think about the contrast. I do wonder if that was his intention?
No comments:
Post a Comment