Build me a World worthy of Gaming

Advanced Editions and a Toolkit Approach

In my last post I spoke about spending considerable time this past year with the Advanced versions of the World's Most Popular Role-Playing Game and how impactful this experience has been on my opinion of the traditional FRP game. In this post I express some thoughts on a topic I consider central to the entire hobby - worldbuilding.

Most gamers, myself included have treated everything in the Advanced hardcovers (and by extension every other game) as being "on the table" and available for use by any player who thinks they would like to use it. Taken as a whole, that is an everything goes attitude. Until recently, I mostly looked at the Advanced game in just that way - include everything! 

It always need to be said, there is "no right way" to play a traditional FRP game - that would be counter to the spirit or stated intent in the rules. Each person who sets out to act as referee, judge or Dungeon Master is encouraged to do some work personalizing the game for their own use. In the words of AD&D designer E. Gary Gygax, "When you build your campaign you will tailor it to suit your particular tastes."

That also means take what you want, change what you will and leave the rest out. In other words, treat the published game as a toolkit. 

Do what? 

A toolkit like some "generic" system?

This comes as a bit of a revelation to me. Despite the fact that I started in this hobby with the original boxed three little brown books, which are very much a do-it-yourself extension of a miniatures wargame where it is expected that the game will be tailored to fit the particular needs of each wargamer. The original White Box edition offers at least three mechanical options for combat - two require the use of another product - Chainmail and its Fantasy Supplement. The last is the now ubiquitous d20 "alternative" system. It is expected that one will pick and choose, or perhaps combine the various optional mechanics, using one system for individual combat verses other man-like beings, use another verses beastly creatures, and yet another for mass combat involving small armies of combatants as well as characters. Chainmail also includes a separate "Jousting" mechanic for those formalized contests between mounted knights - a contest that plays a part in many literary sources and therefore can also inspire our gamer's imagination.

From its inception, the World's First Role-Playing Game takes inspiration from a variety of sources and therefore includes a number of seemingly disparate elements, especially regarding its list of monsters. Some creatures resemble monsters found in classical mythology. Some other monsters seem drawn from various works of fantastic fiction. Being able to play in games that are inspired by our reading is part of the game's appeal. Certain fictional works, especially the very popular high-fantasy sources, are especially well supported in the list, but taken in its entirety, the game is a large collection of nearly everything borrowed from everywhere. Even the first three Advanced hardcover volumes contain more spells, treasures and monsters than any single campaign is likely to make use of, even if the campaign is played for years. Why this has not occurred to me before is a wonder.

Players in this hobby seem to possess a nearly inexhaustible apatite for new character classes and new playable races, new spells and referees for new monsters and treasures as evidenced by the ton of supporting material that accompanies so many popular RPG systems. When added to the original abundant quantities of same, the resultant game system can quickly assume "unmanageable" proportions. I have stopped running more than one system after experiencing just such a problem with trying to manage the overwhelming amount of published material.

It now seems so obvious to me. The solution, to all this abundance. Pick and choose from the available material when we "build our campaign" and do so with no expectation that we have to "use it all" in every setting. Yes, even the amount of stuff found in those original rule volumes. 

The resulting campaign is likely to benefit from limiting its scope thusly. Only certain classes and races need be available as PCs. Characters can encounter only certain monsters chosen beforehand from the lists. By placing such limits on the campaign the referee or DM makes it both more internally consistent and more believable and also more manageable for their part - all while also making it more engaging for the players who now know what to expect and who/what they oppose.

The era of publication of the second edition of the Advanced game also saw the publication of a number of official settings (including the excellent Dark Sun setting material) which do just this - pick and choose as well as add some original material. Exploring the Dark Sun setting recently has suggested to me that there are many such examples. There is no reason that a homebrew (or even published) campaign cannot feature player characters, monsters and more that deviate from the standard rules. I am thinking of a homebrewed example where the PCs are heavily drawn from the Advanced cleric and paladin classes who will be fighting monsters that are primarily of the undead variety along with some associated cultists who worship undeath. 

Not every campaign has to include every imaginable thing just because there are game stats for it.