Today I am pondering a year of social distancing and the fact that it has been more than 12 months since I was last able to play an in-person game. The role-playing hobby remains immeasurably interesting to me, but I have engaged with it quite differently this past year. Firstly, I have learned to play online using Discord. I have experimented with Roll20 and have found that for me the virtual tabletop adds little to my personal enjoyment above that achieved with Discord alone. I attribute this to my preference for the "theater of the mind" style of play (and while physically gathered around the gaming table).
The first edition of the Advanced game is mostly the work of a single designer, E. Gary Gygax and it demonstrates much about the man and his attitudes regarding how the hobby should be enjoyed. As a designer, Mr. Gygax places much of the control of the game in the hands of the Dungeon Master - a new term which he practically invents to describe the role previously referred to as the "referee" or the "judge" of the game. In his three Advanced hardcover tomes, Mr. Gygax in turn is speaking to the player, offering his advice to that audience, and to the Dungeon Master whom it is obvious he holds in the greatest regard. For Mr. Gygax the Dungeon Master is the "creator and ultimate authority" of the game. This is emphasized by parceling out many of the game's essential rules for exclusive inclusion in the Dungeon Masters Guide and cautioning non-DMs to refrain from reading said DM Guide lest they discover too much and thereby lesson their enjoyment of the game; in his words "by taking away some of the wonder that otherwise arises from a game that has rules hidden from participants."
The second edition of the Advanced game takes a somewhat different approach to inclusion and represents a shift in game philosophy. Credited to David "Zeb" Cook as 2e designer, the second edition Players Handbook expressly aims to place all the rules necessary to play the game into the hands of each player participant. The second edition retains the three volume format of 1e including a dedicated DM Guide, but rather than containing essential rule systems, the 2e DM Guide is devoted to providing additional options, explanations and advice for setting up and running the game at the table. It is also a far less "essential" tome than its 1e predecessor in my opinion.
OSRIC, the Old School Reference and Index Compilation is a simulacrum version of the 1e Advanced Game using the Open Gaming License and Standard Reference Document. OSRIC is a single volume of just over 400 pages which combines the essential material found in the original three hardcovers. OSRIC is a complete game and its stated goal is to provide a mechanism for authors to design and publish for sale modules written for the first edition Advanced Game - that it can be used at the table to run said game is a plus. OSRIC is not an exact restatement of the original however, and it contains various system interpretations based on what its authors consider the most common ways the original version was actually played. These are informative and interesting to consider, even if it isn't the way I recall playing my Advanced game.
Reading about games, watching online video streams featuring others who are playing their games, and the occasional solo RPG session have also scratched my gaming itch in the absence of the usual face-to-face gaming, conventions and visits to the game shop. Do I look forward to the return of in-person gaming? Absolutely, yes! But I have used the enforced "distance" to broaden my experiences engaging with other aspects of the hobby and learning is always a plus.
During this past year I have spent a lot of time with the Advanced version of the World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game and have acquired an increased appreciation for that version of the game, including how it can add to my enjoyment of the hobby. Like many things in America today, the Advanced game now exists in several versions, because we are all about having choices. The versions I have include 1e, 2e and OSRIC, and I have spent hours and hours this past year delving into each of these. As a result, my appreciation for them has never been greater.
During the past year I have gained appreciation for each of these Advanced versions of the World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game and have come to consider them among the best FRP game products available today. Reading each has deepened my understanding of the others and I feel that each of the three versions contributes something unique and of great value to the hobby. I consider the time spent reading and thinking about these three variations on a traditional approach to tabletop role-playing in fantastic milieux a fortuitous opportunity which I am likely to continue to make good use of.
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