The Same Game

RPG Smash Up
A teacher once told a class that our history shapes our future, or something similar to that. My life in this hobby begins with White Box, which in some ways is a tool-kit for fantasy role-playing rather than a full-on game. Its popularity, or maybe the popularity of the idea it introduced, quickly led to un-official published alternative sub-systems which could be used with White Box, or conceivably any other RPG. Within six months of my introduction, my friends and I are experimenting with some alternative systems (Metagaming's Melee for combat) in our White Box play. As the Advanced volumes and Basic Set are released we incorporate them into our game. It's not uncommon for us to have the three Little Brown Books, the Blue Basic rules and one or two of the Advanced hardbacks all at our game table and to pick and choose among them during play. Any conflicts between the versions are settled by a referee ruling and we quickly move along.
That's my history. How it affects my future is a matter of continuity. Some say the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior and when it comes to my approach to role-playing rules I suppose this is true. I tend to play my games in the same way as I started out, combining a little of this and a little of that and mashing it all together. This is rather easy when it comes to class based d20-type fantasy games. Whether one adds in a skills system or not, prefers descending or ascending AC, uses three alignments or nine, it is all the same game in my world. In the early days there was some necessary practicality to this approach. The group I gamed with didn't all have the same game product. I had White Box, another had Blue Basic and yet another the Advanced Hardback. We all liked to draw from the material we had been studying at home and use our own books at the table. Each of the separate products has its own strengths and all seem incomplete without the others. Basic only takes a PC to third level and Advanced would appear one book a year over three years starting with the monsters. The PHB came next, but included rules we didn't really understand, so we ignored parts of it. The Advanced combat tables would be part of the final release, so until it came along we used the White Box combat tables and were quite happy with our game.
In the early days this was quite easy and caused us little trouble. Fortunately the basic system has remained very similar across all the early versions of Our Favorite Game. Published play aids labeled for one version of the game work quite well with any of the others. Eventually the group I most frequently gamed with in the '80s started to search for a better game system. One that would seem more realistic. We tried several because the hobby had by this time produced several good games, many with dissimilar, non d20 mechanics. My approach to RPG rules, is based on my experience with White Box, and continues to be one of borrowing and combining. I still think this way. It is very hard for me as referee to stick strictly to the rules as written. I much prefer to bring in a fun way of doing something from another game rather than struggle at the table figuring out the correct way according to the current rules. (This I believe at times frustrates some of my players.) Generally I find this approach works for me and seems acceptable to the folks I game with. Maybe they just know it is my style and tolerate me. Tolerance can be a good thing!
As a result I still refer to any class-based FRPG as playing D&D.