From Simple Beginnings

How Complex should the Game be?

The original three little brown books which gave start to the hobby of tabletop roleplaying are each relatively short volumes. Even taking the three volumes together with Chainmail, a supplemental tabletop miniatures rule booklet I feel is essential to have in order to make full use of the original fantasy game booklets, taken all together there are not a lot of pages. 

The original rules describe themselves as "guidelines" and the referee is expected to make many rulings (hence the assignment of the title "referee" to that role). In order for the game to work at the table, the referee has responsibilities for preparation of a map and giving some forethought regarding any missing rules (such as covering how initiative works). The text of the original volumes are all very brief, sometimes so brief that their meaning is open to interpretation (and many references are made to rules found in Chainmail). Again, the role of the referee is assumed in order to make fair rulings on whatever is lacking, either beforehand or during actual play.

This is how tabletop miniatures wargaming was approached in the 1970s and ODD is not unusual in this respect. (It can still work today, it's just that our expectations have changed somewhat.)

As has been noted elsewhere, Gary Gygax and TSR followed ODD with their publication of an Advanced system in which they sought to fill in certain gaps in rules and to add additional details, all in an effort to standardize play with an eye to tournament play. Also published during the late '70s is a boxed basic set aimed at introducing new gamers to the hobby. Meanwhile, the ODD system continued to be offered in a collectors box edition presumably because some players (myself included) continued to enjoy the original version of the game even after newer versions emerged. This has proved to be the case for many and ODD retains a loyal following up to the present day.  

In recent years there has been a resurgent interest in minimalist RPG rules. Several games have appeared which offer an enterprising referee the basic framework from which to formulate a unique tabletop fantasy game experience. Many of these products contain very clever variations on the traditional concepts found in more typical FRPs. Maze Rats, the Black Hack, and Tiny D6 all immediately come to my mind as I think about such minimalist products and particularly of the ones I have found to be most innovative and useful. Whether your taste runs to complex systems with many official options, and perhaps lots of crunchy rules, or to a minimalist game system that leaves lots of room to expand upon the rules as written introducing concepts of your own devising, today's RPG market likely offers what you are looking for. And if that is not the case, modification can perhaps lead you to (self) publish your own version of the perfect RPG system.