Player vs. Character
"Challenge a player's skill, not his character sheet." says George Strayton in The Secret Fire. Tabletop role-playing games can do either. I have heard arguments in favor of both sides. Some players seem to prefer rolling against a number on the character sheet, others seem to prefer role-playing out the attempt to persuade the guards. Experience is how we level-up the character and make them better, but experience is also what happens to us as gamers the more we play the game.
As a referee I like to encourage people to role-play an in-game situation, partly because it is way more entertaining to me and the other players than consulting the character sheet and rolling a die. The more we play, the better our play becomes and the more we role-play the better we become at playing roles. The best advice I can give new players is to listen to the description and try to imagine yourself in the situation. Ask yourself "What would I do?" Eventually, you will get to the point you will ask yourself "What would my character do?"
Ask the referee, "What do I see?" a lot. Use your "I"s (play on words here!). Ingenuity; imagination; intuition; initiative; innovation; insight; improvisation; intelligence; information; investigate. Playing a game like Call of Cthulhu is good experience for all role-players because the game demands investigative skills. Ask around, gather information before you decide how to proceed. Use of those investigative player skills comes in very handy while playing fantasy RPGs as well. I encourage my players to make use of their teachers, mentors and sages; to visit the temples and libraries; to ask questions of the NPCs.
One style of play assumes the heroes will be able to stomp any challenge the referee throws their way. That seems unrealistic to me and I have a hard time with the verisimilitude of a game run this way. It seems much more believable that there are things out there beyond our abilities. Fear of failure should not be debilitating, but it should be in the back of a players mind. It adds some suspense and keeps the game challenging.
Knowing when to fight and when to run is one of those player "skills" that will come from interacting in a more realistic milieu with all levels of challenge. Working one's way up to being able to face a bad guy you once had to run from is high drama in my book. It's a "coming of age" story, which seems an appropriate theme given the assumptions of the game. Achieving mastery is a fundamentally satisfying experience. Why should we limit that to the character? Players should have the sense of mastery achieved through skillful play. It can be more than just rolling the dice well.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016
Thursday, May 26, 2016
In The Labyrinth
Metagaming released In The Labyrinth in 1980 and brought The Fantasy Trip line of products to the point of being a complete role-playing system. Previously they had released the Microgames Melee and Wizard separately which were a stand alone combat system and magic system respectively. In The Labyrinth says both those products are necessary to play as the rules for combat and magic are not repeated in this thin paper bound booklet.
In 1980 The Fantasy Trip had a lot going for it. The system, written by Steve Jackson who would soon found his own game company, Steve Jackson Games, was intuitive and clearly written. The illustrated examples were informative and the system had a tactical, wargames element to it that appealed to many. The Microgames came with hex map and counters, which were really required to make the best use of the system.
The group I gamed with in the early eighties played a lot of The Fantasy Trip. It hit the sweet spot for many of us with the right mix of complexity and ease-of-play. The writing had an elegance that isn't usually seen in a rule system. The play advice was well above the standards of the day and re-reading publisher Howard Thompson's GM advice section I am amazed at how succinctly (in 1980!) he captures many of the finer points of good GM-ing. Despite some issues, this early system holds up well in comparison with games written much later. I still play The Fantasy Trip in solo mode.
What The Fantasy Trip lacked was a boxed set presentation. The store, and we are talking bricks and mortar back in 1980, had to stock at least three products, the two Microgames and In The Labyrinth. An advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard soon made their appearance and that brought the core products up to 5 items. The consumer had to collect three to five separate items. All the booklets were paper covered and none had really durable covers. (In The Labyrinth is basically a magazine format.) The Microgames held up best, but that was probably due to their small pamphlet size format. A box containing all the core material in one or more booklets, a couple hex map sheets and the cut-out counters from the Microgames would have improved the game immensely.
After releasing eight solo MicroQuests and Tollenkar's Lair, a challenging group adventure for The Fantasy Trip, Metagaming closed shop in 1983. After trying to acquire rights to The Fantasy Trip, Steve Jackson took some of his best ideas from the system, added additional new ideas and presented the hobby with GURPS, a system with a large following and that remains in production to date. Steve Jackson Games put GURPS in a box. The first 2 Basic Set boxed editions came as two rule booklets (2nd Ed. had stiff card covers), a bundle of charts and hex maps and a set of cut-out Cardboard Heroes counters.
It Comes In A Box!
What's In A Box?
The Little Brown Books came in a box, a White Box! Well, maybe a wood-grain box with a white sticker if you happen to score one of the first three printings. (A fourth printing is the oldest copy I have been able to acquire.) There is some inherent joy about opening a box. Boxes contain things that are out-of-sight. Boxes are places of mystery. Boxes play a part in myth and legend, often containing things of great value. There is something special about a game that comes in a box.
There's a reason jewelers put rings in a box...opening the box is an event. Maybe not a huge event, but an event not to be entirely overlooked either. There is a moment of suspense before the box is opened and its secrets revealed when imagination soars and anything is possible. It seems fitting that the LBBs come in a box.
Did all this thought go into packaging the LBBs? A question not likely asked. My guess is "no, it didn't". Games often come in a box because it is a convenient method of delivery to the consumer. Breakfast cereal comes in a box for the same reason, and incidentally holds much less mystery! Retailers like the box. It sits nicely on the shelf, handles shrink-wrap well and keeps the contents together in one place. Most game boxes are of a uniform dimension, sized to fit on standard store shelving and can be turned with the big colorful side out to "feature" the product. When RPGs ported over to computers, they also adopted the boxed format for many of the same reasons.
Boxing the game allows the publisher to go with a less expensive rulebook format because it is protected by the box. It also allows for the inclusion of other game materials such as charts and tables, dice, character sheets, maps and counters/pawns/figures, and other play aids. Some boxed sets even include a cool pencil! The box (if big enough) is also an aid to players who have a ready-made place to store their game stuff and an easy way to transport same. The White Box has ample room for a few supplements and some dice.
Starting with the introduction of the Advanced Game Monster Manual, TSR started a trend in high-quality hard-cover game books. They are sturdy, hold up well to table use, set nicely on the bookshelf, in stores and at home, and lend the game an air of respectability as a real "book", not just a game. Yes, back in the 1970's a hardcover book imparted an inherent "worthiness" to its contents.
Today it is rare to find a paper and pencil RPG that comes in a box. Improvements in publishing have made big books, hardcover or soft, rather durable and inexpensive to produce (overseas). There are a few, notably beginner boxes and OSR retro products, that come in boxes, often including many of those play aids, dice and other extras a box makes possible. Regardless of how the game actually comes, there is some usefulness in the symbology of "opening the box".
The Little Brown Books came in a box, a White Box! Well, maybe a wood-grain box with a white sticker if you happen to score one of the first three printings. (A fourth printing is the oldest copy I have been able to acquire.) There is some inherent joy about opening a box. Boxes contain things that are out-of-sight. Boxes are places of mystery. Boxes play a part in myth and legend, often containing things of great value. There is something special about a game that comes in a box.
There's a reason jewelers put rings in a box...opening the box is an event. Maybe not a huge event, but an event not to be entirely overlooked either. There is a moment of suspense before the box is opened and its secrets revealed when imagination soars and anything is possible. It seems fitting that the LBBs come in a box.
Did all this thought go into packaging the LBBs? A question not likely asked. My guess is "no, it didn't". Games often come in a box because it is a convenient method of delivery to the consumer. Breakfast cereal comes in a box for the same reason, and incidentally holds much less mystery! Retailers like the box. It sits nicely on the shelf, handles shrink-wrap well and keeps the contents together in one place. Most game boxes are of a uniform dimension, sized to fit on standard store shelving and can be turned with the big colorful side out to "feature" the product. When RPGs ported over to computers, they also adopted the boxed format for many of the same reasons.
Boxing the game allows the publisher to go with a less expensive rulebook format because it is protected by the box. It also allows for the inclusion of other game materials such as charts and tables, dice, character sheets, maps and counters/pawns/figures, and other play aids. Some boxed sets even include a cool pencil! The box (if big enough) is also an aid to players who have a ready-made place to store their game stuff and an easy way to transport same. The White Box has ample room for a few supplements and some dice.
Starting with the introduction of the Advanced Game Monster Manual, TSR started a trend in high-quality hard-cover game books. They are sturdy, hold up well to table use, set nicely on the bookshelf, in stores and at home, and lend the game an air of respectability as a real "book", not just a game. Yes, back in the 1970's a hardcover book imparted an inherent "worthiness" to its contents.
Today it is rare to find a paper and pencil RPG that comes in a box. Improvements in publishing have made big books, hardcover or soft, rather durable and inexpensive to produce (overseas). There are a few, notably beginner boxes and OSR retro products, that come in boxes, often including many of those play aids, dice and other extras a box makes possible. Regardless of how the game actually comes, there is some usefulness in the symbology of "opening the box".
White Box Family Tree
Growing Like a Metaphor
With roots firmly set in the hobby of wargaming where skirmish level games pit single figures against each other in man-to-man conflict requiring tactical decisions to be made based on "what would this man do?" and therefore encouraging identification with the individual playing piece, the White Box moved the wargame slightly in a new direction by borrowing the imagined setting not from a period in history, but rather from the setting of some fantastic story. The movement didn't stop there and what started as a new wargame using paper and pencil and miniature figures in a fantastic medieval setting would broaden to include much more.
So the trunk of our family tree is the Little Brown Books, the White Box, rooted in wargames and nourished by fantastic literature of all kinds. The first branches would be the tabletop RPGs that quickly followed the LBBs, often little more than houserules and variants on the original edition, sometimes taking the setting in a new direction, however, such as into space, or the old west. The idea of roleplaying a single character was catching on.
Boardgames have been a popular pastime for generations and wargames based on a map board and counters were popular at the time. The fantasy hobby tree sprouted a new branch as boardgames embraced the new concept of roleplaying with chits representing heroes who moved around a map board. Card games would quickly follow. Video games, still mostly of the arcade variety, grafted onto the new hobby and supplied its own branch. When the personal computer (PC of another kind!) became affordable, RPGs quickly made that jump. As the game components and platforms were changing also the genre and settings were changing. Supers, espionage, and horror games joined other RPG subject matter to cover just about any genre possible. Our tree now has a canopy.
New mega companies developed around especially popular products, such as Wizards of the Coast's Magic the Gathering collectable card game and White Wolf's World of Darkness brand of role-playing that often included live action games. The rise of the internet added yet another layer of branches to our tree as online communities discussed gaming and then massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft gained enormous popularity. Online communities have given rise to the Old School Renaissance (a resurgence of interest in older editions) and the story telling (narrativist in Forge terms) and Indie Press RPGs. Today virtual tabletops are allowing gamers from around the world to experience online much of the original feel that sitting around the dinner table rolling dice and playing White Box gave the grognards. Choices are everywhere. Desktop publishing, print-on-demand and crowdfunding are making it easier than ever for designers with good ideas to get their work into the hands of consumers and consumer feedback is helping designers improve their products.
That's our hobby's family tree and there seems no end in sight. The little branches and leaves are more numerous than ever, while the major limbs are supporting a variety of role-play gaming of various types, all coming together at the trunk that at it's core is the old White Box that started it all. When I stand back and look at it, it's pretty impressive where we have come as a hobby.
With roots firmly set in the hobby of wargaming where skirmish level games pit single figures against each other in man-to-man conflict requiring tactical decisions to be made based on "what would this man do?" and therefore encouraging identification with the individual playing piece, the White Box moved the wargame slightly in a new direction by borrowing the imagined setting not from a period in history, but rather from the setting of some fantastic story. The movement didn't stop there and what started as a new wargame using paper and pencil and miniature figures in a fantastic medieval setting would broaden to include much more.
So the trunk of our family tree is the Little Brown Books, the White Box, rooted in wargames and nourished by fantastic literature of all kinds. The first branches would be the tabletop RPGs that quickly followed the LBBs, often little more than houserules and variants on the original edition, sometimes taking the setting in a new direction, however, such as into space, or the old west. The idea of roleplaying a single character was catching on.
Boardgames have been a popular pastime for generations and wargames based on a map board and counters were popular at the time. The fantasy hobby tree sprouted a new branch as boardgames embraced the new concept of roleplaying with chits representing heroes who moved around a map board. Card games would quickly follow. Video games, still mostly of the arcade variety, grafted onto the new hobby and supplied its own branch. When the personal computer (PC of another kind!) became affordable, RPGs quickly made that jump. As the game components and platforms were changing also the genre and settings were changing. Supers, espionage, and horror games joined other RPG subject matter to cover just about any genre possible. Our tree now has a canopy.
New mega companies developed around especially popular products, such as Wizards of the Coast's Magic the Gathering collectable card game and White Wolf's World of Darkness brand of role-playing that often included live action games. The rise of the internet added yet another layer of branches to our tree as online communities discussed gaming and then massive multi-player online role-playing games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft gained enormous popularity. Online communities have given rise to the Old School Renaissance (a resurgence of interest in older editions) and the story telling (narrativist in Forge terms) and Indie Press RPGs. Today virtual tabletops are allowing gamers from around the world to experience online much of the original feel that sitting around the dinner table rolling dice and playing White Box gave the grognards. Choices are everywhere. Desktop publishing, print-on-demand and crowdfunding are making it easier than ever for designers with good ideas to get their work into the hands of consumers and consumer feedback is helping designers improve their products.
That's our hobby's family tree and there seems no end in sight. The little branches and leaves are more numerous than ever, while the major limbs are supporting a variety of role-play gaming of various types, all coming together at the trunk that at it's core is the old White Box that started it all. When I stand back and look at it, it's pretty impressive where we have come as a hobby.
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Good vs Evil
The Fate of the World
One story that can come out of White Box play is an epic good verses evil struggle where the fate of the world hangs on the outcome. I think of this as the Tolkien tradition. I love Tolkien, hobbits, Middle Earth, all of it, but the Tolkien Tradition is only one possible way to approach White Box play. White Box was written by gamers with a wide span of interests in history, and fiction and it was written to be able to play all of it. From the morally ambiguous historic crusades to the purity of Tolkien, White Box is first about world creation, what the authors called milieu.
Before play begins, even before any characters are created, the referee must build a world or setting for the coming action. Traditionally this has often been a dungeon, which has the advantage of being a very tightly defined setting not likely to get away from its designer; stone walls tend to limit options. But not all dungeons are alike beyond that point. Some are places of evil, some are not. Some are places of mystery, magic and treasure. Some are big puzzles, some tests, some playgrounds or underground amusement parks. The dungeon can be a floating spaceship, a pocket dimension or dreamland, or the sewers under a modern city. Imagination is the only real limit.
Going back to Appendix N (Dungeon Master's Guide) one sees the sources Gary Gygax listed as inspirations for the game. Through the Little Brown Books, Mr. Gygax and Mr. Arneson introduced the world to a new way to enjoy gaming, but also a new way to enjoy literature. Fantastic stories have been a part of our collective culture (often intermixed with religion) since the beginning. The LBBs give us a new way to experience those fantastic stories as we play out our tabletop adventures, chronicling the deeds of our imaginary heroes. Just what those stories will be is a cooperative endeavor between referee, who defines what the story is likely to be about and players who determine what the outcome will be.
Many game milieux have been created by drawing heavily on a setting found in a book. I wonder at the number of Hyborias and Middle Earths that have been re-created for game use. I myself have used each as a setting for at least one campaign and there are many other popular fantasy sources from which to draw inspiration. Today's referee can download a setting, pull one off the shelf of a local hobby store or create their own, drawing on whatever inspiration suits them.
Regardless if it is borrowed or invented, the referee sets the milieu and therefore determines what is in the shared imaginary world, who the protagonists are, and what conflicts exist. The rest is largely up to the players who control the main actors, the PCs. Epic good verses evil is a choice the referee may make, but unless the PCs take an active role, that may not be the story that develops. What if the hobbits decide the one ring is not their problem? Railroading is seldom a good choice considering everyone's enjoyment. However, by not taking care of the one ring, evil may win out and the PCs will have that to deal with...eventually.
Much of the fantastic literature which appears in Appendix N is way less a story of good verses evil than Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The sword & sorcery tales, of which there are many listed in Appendix N, generally lack this dichotomy. Often they are complex tales of heroes and anti-heroes who struggle with moral issues much as we in the real world do. Magic is often portrayed as dangerous stuff beyond man's understanding and ability to control. Occasionally the tales are of hopeless futility where humanity has no chance against the horrors that lurk just beyond. Any and all of these imaginings can be the focus of a White Box campaign.
How dark and desperate the milieu is, what role magic plays, how does faith come into the story? These and many other decisions are made before the first PC ability score is rolled. The epic struggle of good verses evil, where the actions and decisions of a handful can make a very real difference that effects the future of all of mankind can be a very satisfying fantasy. We would all like to think our actions have real meaning, that we can change the world for the better and that good triumphs over evil. (Some of us would just like to be able to reliably tell good from evil.) Therefore it seems no surprise such stories are popular fare, inside gaming and out.
One story that can come out of White Box play is an epic good verses evil struggle where the fate of the world hangs on the outcome. I think of this as the Tolkien tradition. I love Tolkien, hobbits, Middle Earth, all of it, but the Tolkien Tradition is only one possible way to approach White Box play. White Box was written by gamers with a wide span of interests in history, and fiction and it was written to be able to play all of it. From the morally ambiguous historic crusades to the purity of Tolkien, White Box is first about world creation, what the authors called milieu.
Before play begins, even before any characters are created, the referee must build a world or setting for the coming action. Traditionally this has often been a dungeon, which has the advantage of being a very tightly defined setting not likely to get away from its designer; stone walls tend to limit options. But not all dungeons are alike beyond that point. Some are places of evil, some are not. Some are places of mystery, magic and treasure. Some are big puzzles, some tests, some playgrounds or underground amusement parks. The dungeon can be a floating spaceship, a pocket dimension or dreamland, or the sewers under a modern city. Imagination is the only real limit.
Going back to Appendix N (Dungeon Master's Guide) one sees the sources Gary Gygax listed as inspirations for the game. Through the Little Brown Books, Mr. Gygax and Mr. Arneson introduced the world to a new way to enjoy gaming, but also a new way to enjoy literature. Fantastic stories have been a part of our collective culture (often intermixed with religion) since the beginning. The LBBs give us a new way to experience those fantastic stories as we play out our tabletop adventures, chronicling the deeds of our imaginary heroes. Just what those stories will be is a cooperative endeavor between referee, who defines what the story is likely to be about and players who determine what the outcome will be.
Many game milieux have been created by drawing heavily on a setting found in a book. I wonder at the number of Hyborias and Middle Earths that have been re-created for game use. I myself have used each as a setting for at least one campaign and there are many other popular fantasy sources from which to draw inspiration. Today's referee can download a setting, pull one off the shelf of a local hobby store or create their own, drawing on whatever inspiration suits them.
Regardless if it is borrowed or invented, the referee sets the milieu and therefore determines what is in the shared imaginary world, who the protagonists are, and what conflicts exist. The rest is largely up to the players who control the main actors, the PCs. Epic good verses evil is a choice the referee may make, but unless the PCs take an active role, that may not be the story that develops. What if the hobbits decide the one ring is not their problem? Railroading is seldom a good choice considering everyone's enjoyment. However, by not taking care of the one ring, evil may win out and the PCs will have that to deal with...eventually.
Much of the fantastic literature which appears in Appendix N is way less a story of good verses evil than Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The sword & sorcery tales, of which there are many listed in Appendix N, generally lack this dichotomy. Often they are complex tales of heroes and anti-heroes who struggle with moral issues much as we in the real world do. Magic is often portrayed as dangerous stuff beyond man's understanding and ability to control. Occasionally the tales are of hopeless futility where humanity has no chance against the horrors that lurk just beyond. Any and all of these imaginings can be the focus of a White Box campaign.
How dark and desperate the milieu is, what role magic plays, how does faith come into the story? These and many other decisions are made before the first PC ability score is rolled. The epic struggle of good verses evil, where the actions and decisions of a handful can make a very real difference that effects the future of all of mankind can be a very satisfying fantasy. We would all like to think our actions have real meaning, that we can change the world for the better and that good triumphs over evil. (Some of us would just like to be able to reliably tell good from evil.) Therefore it seems no surprise such stories are popular fare, inside gaming and out.
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Murder Hobo
...and Beyond!
Not sure what it says about me, but I have always enjoyed the term "murder hobo" as used in reference to old school PCs, especially White Box, who have no connection to society, and no permanent home, and who seek treasure by killing monsters (defined as pretty much anyone/anything who has said treasure). The wandering lifestyle of the endless road has some romantic appeal, especially when one doesn't really have to live it. Imagine no ties, no responsibilities, no obligations, no time schedule, that's one form of fantasy, right there. To go where one likes, when one likes and do as one pleases. Now add a little magic!
Treasure is pretty much defined as wealth no one really owns. It's there for the finding. Maybe it's in the temporary possession of someone who stole it, or found it with no real claim to it. Or buried it long ago and left a map. Maybe it is just guarded by some creature possessing no real property rights to it, rather like a giant crow that accumulates shiny objects. Winning the treasure by one's brawn, or better yet, wits is the object of the game, it earns experience points which can be used to level-up and grow stronger, so as to be able to take more stuff from yet bigger monsters. It's the "rags to riches" story with a twist. That is definitely one way of looking at the game and one I shared for a number of years. One of my early referees would call me and my friend "The Hack and Slash Brothers", and I loved it! Even though I had some inkling it wasn't a compliment. He was hoping to run a world where adventure could involve intrigue, and mystery, politics, and skulduggery. We just wanted to kill monsters and grab treasure.
My referee friend was not alone in his desire for more. The game that started as a dungeon delving one-off was soon to grow into campaigns involving PCs with connections to the wider world (all make believe of course). Game designers soon gave the hobby products, including Chivalry and Sorcery and RuneQuest, that assume from the start players will play with characters who are tightly intertwined with the society in which the game takes place, thereby offering social adventure as well as exploration of dungeon, wilderness and urban environments. Progression up the social scale, accumulation of relationships and obligations and memberships in cults, secret societies and organizations of power become just as much a goal in the game as accumulating wealth and glory.
In my personal hobby journey, I credit the game Call of Cthulhu (CoC) with teaching me there could be fun in more than playing a murder hobo. Chaosium's CoC was written by Sandy Petersen in 1981. I bought my first edition at GenCon the year it was released and instantly my gaming was changed. In CoC one plays an investigator of the supernatural (usually during the 1920's). The investigator has ability scores and skills and hit points and something new (at the time at least), sanity. Yes, the PC can go insane from being exposed to too many things "man was not meant to know". It was great fun. Suddenly solving mysteries by talking to NPCs, getting the police to arrest bad guys by presenting them evidence of wrong doing, was perhaps more important than combat. Playing CoC I learned to "play a role", to develop a character other than my own alter ego, to speak as that other person, to make decisions I thought they would make, and to act insane at times when the PC's sanity (or lack of) called for it. (It of course made me a much better referee as well.)
Today I see White Box and the hobby in a different light from those heady days of hack-n-slash. I see it as about world building, exploration and discovery. I see it as about playing a role different from myself. I see it as about investigation, building relationships, obligations, social standing and being a part of a shared fictional society, culture and world. And I still see it as killing monsters and taking their stuff. It's all of those things and more. It's getting together with friends around a table, joking and laughing and together making stories happen, both real and imagined. It's about meeting new people and sharing ideas. It's about self expression and entertaining others. It is about what you want it to be.
Not sure what it says about me, but I have always enjoyed the term "murder hobo" as used in reference to old school PCs, especially White Box, who have no connection to society, and no permanent home, and who seek treasure by killing monsters (defined as pretty much anyone/anything who has said treasure). The wandering lifestyle of the endless road has some romantic appeal, especially when one doesn't really have to live it. Imagine no ties, no responsibilities, no obligations, no time schedule, that's one form of fantasy, right there. To go where one likes, when one likes and do as one pleases. Now add a little magic!
Treasure is pretty much defined as wealth no one really owns. It's there for the finding. Maybe it's in the temporary possession of someone who stole it, or found it with no real claim to it. Or buried it long ago and left a map. Maybe it is just guarded by some creature possessing no real property rights to it, rather like a giant crow that accumulates shiny objects. Winning the treasure by one's brawn, or better yet, wits is the object of the game, it earns experience points which can be used to level-up and grow stronger, so as to be able to take more stuff from yet bigger monsters. It's the "rags to riches" story with a twist. That is definitely one way of looking at the game and one I shared for a number of years. One of my early referees would call me and my friend "The Hack and Slash Brothers", and I loved it! Even though I had some inkling it wasn't a compliment. He was hoping to run a world where adventure could involve intrigue, and mystery, politics, and skulduggery. We just wanted to kill monsters and grab treasure.
My referee friend was not alone in his desire for more. The game that started as a dungeon delving one-off was soon to grow into campaigns involving PCs with connections to the wider world (all make believe of course). Game designers soon gave the hobby products, including Chivalry and Sorcery and RuneQuest, that assume from the start players will play with characters who are tightly intertwined with the society in which the game takes place, thereby offering social adventure as well as exploration of dungeon, wilderness and urban environments. Progression up the social scale, accumulation of relationships and obligations and memberships in cults, secret societies and organizations of power become just as much a goal in the game as accumulating wealth and glory.
In my personal hobby journey, I credit the game Call of Cthulhu (CoC) with teaching me there could be fun in more than playing a murder hobo. Chaosium's CoC was written by Sandy Petersen in 1981. I bought my first edition at GenCon the year it was released and instantly my gaming was changed. In CoC one plays an investigator of the supernatural (usually during the 1920's). The investigator has ability scores and skills and hit points and something new (at the time at least), sanity. Yes, the PC can go insane from being exposed to too many things "man was not meant to know". It was great fun. Suddenly solving mysteries by talking to NPCs, getting the police to arrest bad guys by presenting them evidence of wrong doing, was perhaps more important than combat. Playing CoC I learned to "play a role", to develop a character other than my own alter ego, to speak as that other person, to make decisions I thought they would make, and to act insane at times when the PC's sanity (or lack of) called for it. (It of course made me a much better referee as well.)
Today I see White Box and the hobby in a different light from those heady days of hack-n-slash. I see it as about world building, exploration and discovery. I see it as about playing a role different from myself. I see it as about investigation, building relationships, obligations, social standing and being a part of a shared fictional society, culture and world. And I still see it as killing monsters and taking their stuff. It's all of those things and more. It's getting together with friends around a table, joking and laughing and together making stories happen, both real and imagined. It's about meeting new people and sharing ideas. It's about self expression and entertaining others. It is about what you want it to be.
Friday, May 20, 2016
GURPS
I love GURPS...I really never feel comfortable with GURPS. Both statements are true. This is a post I have put off for some time, because it's complicated when I think about GURPS, which has been the case lately, probably in connection with The Fantasy Trip. It's all tied together. In this post I will try to sort out my thoughts and feelings about GURPS. If it sounds like a romance, it kinda is.
I believe it was the summer of 1978 when I purchased Melee (and maybe Wizard) at the local Tin Soldier hobby store in Centerville, Ohio (a suburb of Dayton). I quickly learned to play Melee as it was a clearly written combat mechanic using hex map and counters. The characters were referred to as figures, like in a miniature wargame. Compared to White Box, which I had been struggling with since Christmas, Melee was easy, intuitive and quickly mastered. There were solos for Melee as well, so I could actually play when my friends weren't around. One of the guys that refereed regularly for us started using melee in place of the combat mechanic in White Box with good success.
Metagaming tried to turn Melee and Wizard into a product line to compete with the new AD&D and it didn't seem to work very well. The Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard books didn't add much of value in my eyes and came as flimsy paper covered staple bound volumes (which creased badly on store shelves), hardly the physical presentation of TSR's hardcover volumes. Metagaming went under and with it The Fantasy Trip line.
Author Steve Jackson knew he had designed a good game system and when he formed his own company, Steve Jackson Games, started working on the system that is with us today as GURPS. I still see Melee in GURPS, but it's wrapped in a lot of additional rule mechanics. The 1st/2nd Edition boxed Basic Set (pictured above) doesn't have magic, neither did Melee. Magic gets added with another product, the Fantasy supplement for GURPS and Wizard for Melee. Still, GURPS Basic Set from the beginning was two volumes of rules, with an extensive point-buy character generation system built around Strength, Dexterity (and Intelligence) like Melee (Wizard) and adding skills, advantages and disadvantages in an effort to round out the character. GURPS came along in the mid eighties when we were all obsessed with realism is our game and GURPS tries very hard to be very realistic. It's transparent realism...stuff you can see, so there is lots of detail. It can be overwhelming, even in the 1st/2nd Edition rules. Third Edition added more and Fourth Edition (current) added even more. I wonder how "newbie" friendly GURPS is today? (I seem to be digressing)
The point buy system, all the skills, advantages, disadvantages, quirks, etc. that can add and subtract to the PCs total value make chargen almost a game in itself and the way to win at it is min/max power gaming the character sheet. The only way I know to prevent this is for the referee to closely supervise chargen. The wealth of supplemental material that has been written for GURPS makes for an almost limitless number of rule variations that are available. GURPS is truly a toolbox from which the referee can pick and choose to assemble the desired game system. So many choices!
Overwhelmed, that is what I can easily become. I have learned to fight the urge to master every supplement, even the "core" supplements. My approach to GURPS these days is to start really simple... Melee simple... and add things in as I find them desirable. It's my way of managing the nearly unmanageable. GURPS covers almost every genre in role-playing/adventure gaming, space, horror, fantasy, etc. It makes it easier for me that I am really only interested in fantasy.
Time to bring it all together, metaphorically. The romance started with a summer of Melee. I still see that beautiful simple game system when I look at GURPS. Now GURPS is all grown up and in its desire to be everything, it can be overwhelming. It can be what I don't want as well as what I do want. With work it will still gives me what I like, but it always feels just on the verge of getting away from me. And I am never satisfied with it. I keep wondering, "What if I try this?" or "I wonder if there is a better way to do that?" GURPS is always growing and changing, forcing me to grow and change too or feel left behind.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Upon The Wind
Dark City Games Newest MicroQuest
Sky pirates! Upon The Wind starts simply as do most of Dark City Games' fantasy adventures. You are waking, bound and held on a sky ship manned by pirates. The ship is in some sort of storm and many of the pirates are falling overboard. Once the battered sky ship makes it through the storm, which appears from this side as some sort of portal, you have shed your bonds and can confront the pirate kidnappers.
Once the pirates are dealt with you discover the ship is in need of repair and you are adrift in a very unfamiliar environment. There seems to be no ground beneath, only endless mists. There are floating islands, skisles, above and below you and several other disabled sky ship wrecks. Perhaps the skisles are inhabited? What might be found on the wrecks? Is it possible to return through the portal? I won't spoil the story, but it's easy to imagine the possibilities.
Upon The Wind is a complete fantasy adventure and like all Dark City Games, can be played solo or as a group. It comes with a versatile hex map or display and a sheet of cut-out counters as well as the journal size game booklet itself. The game comes with everything you need to play (except 3 d6s) including a few pages of rules at the back. The rules, called Legends of the Ancient World are very close to those written by Steve Jackson under the collective title The Fantasy Trip. As such, I see the Dark City Games offerings as a welcome continuation of the tradition of the MicroQuest.
The Death Test booklet is set up much like other solo adventures with numbered paragraphs. Entering a room prompts setting up the display and playing out the encounter/combat (Death Test is a fightin' experience). The Fantasy Trip rules support tactical decisions and over the many replays, both solo and with friends, I have developed my favorite tactics for each of the encounters (I finally figured out why pole-arms were so popular). Once the battle is won, you receive your reward (if any) and move on to the next paragraph/encounter. At several points there are choices to make and mapping the labyrinth certainly helps. Obviously I think Death Test has good replayability.
Death Test was followed by other MicroQuests put out by Metagaming, most notably Death Test 2 where you discover the ruler has even deeper dungeons to test your mettle. With the demise of Metagaming, both The Fantasy Trip and MicroQuests went out-of-print. However I kept hackin' and slashin' my way through the Death Tests as I still to this day find the game enjoyable. Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon Dark City Games. As soon as I downloaded and played their two free solos I knew an old friend had returned.
Grab your halberds and let's enter Death Test (or Dark City Games).
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
More Thoughts on Game Design
Chaosium's Goals for RuneQuest
As I continue to anticipate the release of Chaosium's RuneQuest later this year (probably after GenCon as they will have all the 2nd Edition reprint stuff from the kickstarter for sale at GenCon I am guessing), I contemplate design choices and how different an animal RuneQuest is from White Box. Chaosium's stated goals (as found at http://www.chaosium.com/blog/designing-the-new-runequest-part-1/) for the new RuneQuest are:
I have struggled as a referee and as a player with immersion, but more in the sense of trying to create an immersive experience through mood, detail and imagination and through identification with one's character rather than through incentive game mechanics. My experience has actually been that only when the mechanics become so second nature, only when they fade into the background can the game experience become immersive. To be honest, I haven't played much with "incentives for character immersion". With the exception of a few Pendragon sessions some 30 years ago, I may not have even encountered a system that makes much attempt at this goal.
Understanding what the developers are going for with a game design is sometimes immensely helpful. White Box was such a radically different game to me at first that my friends and I really struggled to "get it". There are other games that have stretched my abilities to understand, Luke Crane's The Burning Wheel comes immediately to mind. I read and re-read The Burning Wheel until it all finally made sense (-btw- I really love The Burning Wheel), but it was so completely new to me that it was hard to wrap my mind around how it was supposed to work. Reading the designer's intent for the game can be very helpful in the learning process.
As I continue to anticipate the release of Chaosium's RuneQuest later this year (probably after GenCon as they will have all the 2nd Edition reprint stuff from the kickstarter for sale at GenCon I am guessing), I contemplate design choices and how different an animal RuneQuest is from White Box. Chaosium's stated goals (as found at http://www.chaosium.com/blog/designing-the-new-runequest-part-1/) for the new RuneQuest are:
In approaching the design of the new edition of RuneQuest, we had four over-riding goals:It is this last goal that seems most interesting. Providing "incentives for character immersion" is not a phrase I hear often. The above quote points to the game Pendragon, authored by Greg Stafford at Chaosium, which uses a system of opposed personality traits or passions to connect the character to their society. Certain passions are held as virtues by one in-game culture such as Christians and others by another such as pagans. Therefore a good pagan might well act differently than a good Christian when both are confronted by the same situation. The game incentivizes role-playing the good whatever.
- Set RuneQuest firmly in Glorantha.
- Maintain backwards compatibility with RuneQuest 2 - in particular with the adventure scenarios and campaigns that were rereleased as a result of the highly successful RuneQuest Classic Kickstarter in late 2015.
- Bring the Runes directly into the game mechanics - the game is Rune-Quest after all! And at the same time, make it more fun to use Rune magic as an initiate: Rune Magic had to be replenishable somehow,
- Provide deeper incentives for character immersion into the setting, to fulfill the promise of Greg's original Dragon Pass campaign from the early 1980s. The acclaimed computer game King of Dragon Pass provides a rich immersive Gloranthan experience: we want to achieve something as deep as that in the tabletop RuneQuest game. The gold standard for doing this is, of course, Pendragon, a rules system that has strongly influenced my approach to game design and play.
I have struggled as a referee and as a player with immersion, but more in the sense of trying to create an immersive experience through mood, detail and imagination and through identification with one's character rather than through incentive game mechanics. My experience has actually been that only when the mechanics become so second nature, only when they fade into the background can the game experience become immersive. To be honest, I haven't played much with "incentives for character immersion". With the exception of a few Pendragon sessions some 30 years ago, I may not have even encountered a system that makes much attempt at this goal.
Understanding what the developers are going for with a game design is sometimes immensely helpful. White Box was such a radically different game to me at first that my friends and I really struggled to "get it". There are other games that have stretched my abilities to understand, Luke Crane's The Burning Wheel comes immediately to mind. I read and re-read The Burning Wheel until it all finally made sense (-btw- I really love The Burning Wheel), but it was so completely new to me that it was hard to wrap my mind around how it was supposed to work. Reading the designer's intent for the game can be very helpful in the learning process.
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Some Thoughts on Game Design
RuneQuest Clarity
Reading about the work going on over at Chaosium (http://www.chaosium.com/blog/designing-the-new-runequest-part-3/) on the new RuneQuest project has me thinking about design philosophy and how some games are designed to support one style of play while others are designed with a different style in mind. I have mentioned before how RuneQuest 2nd edition play followed on White Box after some years and became my "second love". RuneQuest was both familiar as a fantasy role-play game and something totally new. It was not class based, made use of an extensive skill list, allowed every character to cast some relatively low powered magic, used a d100 percentile system and was tightly linked to Glorantha (Greg Stafford's creation), which is a myth-based society in which named gods play a significant role.
Coming at RuneQuest in the early 1980's is very different from looking at it now. Our game group had mostly played White Box and its immediate successors, games often directly linked to White Box in terms of game design, games like Gamma World, Boot Hill and of course, AD&D. Steve Jackson's The Fantasy Trip was somewhat different, as was Tunnels & Trolls and we played them as a group for a while (I still play them, mostly solo). RuneQuest felt like a major departure, however. Much like it's cousin, Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest is skill based. At the time we were first grasping this I don't think I had made much out of this fact. Traveler by GDW had introduced the idea of skills and we had played at some Traveler for a time (it never caught on with us). It is only in retrospect that I consider the skill-based approach as radically different from White Box's implied competency.
White Box has no list of skills until one adds in the thief class, and even then the skills are tied to that class, rather as an anomaly in my opinion. Suddenly with RuneQuest the ability to read one's native language and understand it is a skill, with a chance of failure. So is riding, map making, oratory and other activities that we either role-played out or assumed the adventurer knew how to do competently. If there was any doubt about the ability, a roll verses one of the attributes or a saving throw gave an acceptable result. It is interesting to note that looking at the 2nd edition RuneQuest character sheet, several of the listed skills are those very thief abilities which appeared in Supplement I, spot trap, disarm/set trap, hide in cover, move silently, climb, lock picking and pick pockets.
At the time we were learning RuneQuest, we probably gave little thought to game design or why certain choices might be made by the authors. In fact I recall struggling to play RuneQuest just the way we had played White Box; that is to say, dungeon delving. RuneQuest clearly has other goals in mind which today I see.
So what are some of those goals? In their own words:
An "aha" moment here as I adjust to this alternate reality. Suddenly games like Rolemaster, 3rd Edition and Pathfinder make more sense from a designer's perspective. Understanding that is useful for a player perspective.
Logically speaking, the same is true of White Box, just in reverse. The rules of White Box are not the boundaries of play. They merely provide examples and techniques to handle some aspects of play. And the answers to in-game dilemmas are often not on the character sheet...so look elsewhere!
Reading about the work going on over at Chaosium (http://www.chaosium.com/blog/designing-the-new-runequest-part-3/) on the new RuneQuest project has me thinking about design philosophy and how some games are designed to support one style of play while others are designed with a different style in mind. I have mentioned before how RuneQuest 2nd edition play followed on White Box after some years and became my "second love". RuneQuest was both familiar as a fantasy role-play game and something totally new. It was not class based, made use of an extensive skill list, allowed every character to cast some relatively low powered magic, used a d100 percentile system and was tightly linked to Glorantha (Greg Stafford's creation), which is a myth-based society in which named gods play a significant role.
Coming at RuneQuest in the early 1980's is very different from looking at it now. Our game group had mostly played White Box and its immediate successors, games often directly linked to White Box in terms of game design, games like Gamma World, Boot Hill and of course, AD&D. Steve Jackson's The Fantasy Trip was somewhat different, as was Tunnels & Trolls and we played them as a group for a while (I still play them, mostly solo). RuneQuest felt like a major departure, however. Much like it's cousin, Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest is skill based. At the time we were first grasping this I don't think I had made much out of this fact. Traveler by GDW had introduced the idea of skills and we had played at some Traveler for a time (it never caught on with us). It is only in retrospect that I consider the skill-based approach as radically different from White Box's implied competency.
White Box has no list of skills until one adds in the thief class, and even then the skills are tied to that class, rather as an anomaly in my opinion. Suddenly with RuneQuest the ability to read one's native language and understand it is a skill, with a chance of failure. So is riding, map making, oratory and other activities that we either role-played out or assumed the adventurer knew how to do competently. If there was any doubt about the ability, a roll verses one of the attributes or a saving throw gave an acceptable result. It is interesting to note that looking at the 2nd edition RuneQuest character sheet, several of the listed skills are those very thief abilities which appeared in Supplement I, spot trap, disarm/set trap, hide in cover, move silently, climb, lock picking and pick pockets.
At the time we were learning RuneQuest, we probably gave little thought to game design or why certain choices might be made by the authors. In fact I recall struggling to play RuneQuest just the way we had played White Box; that is to say, dungeon delving. RuneQuest clearly has other goals in mind which today I see.
So what are some of those goals? In their own words:
The RuneQuest percentage skills character sheet elegantly serves non-combat roleplaying through these two important design rules:In the above Design Rules I see evidence of a different "philosophy" than that I usually talk about in connection with White Box. RuneQuest is a different game indeed and it is all making sense after 30 years...hey, I can be a bit slow! The rules define the boundaries of play and look for the solution on the character sheet. It looks a lot more like play inside the box than outside the box.
- RPG Design Rule a: "If it's not in the rules, it's not in the gameplay." [ie, player knows it's not an important thing to think about]
- RPG Design Rule b: "If, in a scenario crisis, a player can't find problem-solving tools on their character sheet, they won't look elsewhere for them." [ie, When players are flummoxed, they look to their character sheets for inspiration. And they won't be inspired to use any tool they don't find there.]
An "aha" moment here as I adjust to this alternate reality. Suddenly games like Rolemaster, 3rd Edition and Pathfinder make more sense from a designer's perspective. Understanding that is useful for a player perspective.
Logically speaking, the same is true of White Box, just in reverse. The rules of White Box are not the boundaries of play. They merely provide examples and techniques to handle some aspects of play. And the answers to in-game dilemmas are often not on the character sheet...so look elsewhere!
Friday, May 13, 2016
The Solo FRPG
Electronic and Pencil & Paper
Gaming is a social thing for me. I love the face-to-face element of our hobby. To me there is nothing better in life than setting around a table with good friends playing a game we all enjoy. My best friends are gamers and they are the best part of my life. Reading is my preferred entertainment when I am not able to get together with friends. Sometimes I get the urge to play a game when no friends are about and that often means reading my way through a solo game module or gamebook. Occasionally I play a FRPG on the computer.
Dragon Quest games on the DDS are portable FRPG fun and can be taken most anywhere. They have the advantage of reminding me of some of the first FRPGs I played on a computer, example Ultima III. So there is a bit of a nostalgia factor. Oblivian and Skyrim are beautiful games that visually take me inside their open world set-up where I can explore and discover and I always come away from a session of playing with fresh adventure ideas for the tabletop FRPGs. I have played some of the MMORPGs (such as World of Warcraft) with friends and they can be fun as well. Not as much fun to me as physically sitting around the table with friends rolling dice, but not a bad experience.
When feeling the urge for some solo gaming I am more likely to grab one of the pencil and paper solo adventures and entertain myself with it. Over the years, I have accumulated several solo modules, most with good replayability. Historically speaking, as far as I know Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Games wrote the first fantasy roleplaying game module for solo play. It is called Buffalo Castle and makes use of the Tunnels & Trolls rules. Buffalo Castle is a very fun module and I have played it dozens of times over the years. Flying Buffalo has published a number of other solo adventures for Tunnels & Trolls (now in a deluxe edition) and I have many of them. They are some of my most well used game products.
The Tunnels & Trolls (T&T) solos use a numbered paragraph system offing the player various choices. Some choices lead to combat, which can be deadly and I have lost many characters in the T&T solos. An early project for Steve Jackson (who later founded Steve Jackson Games) was a T&T game called Monsters, Monsters where the players reversed the tables and played the monsters using T&T mechanics. Mr. Jackson must have liked the idea of the solo adventure because he has produced several of his own over the years. Starting with his days working with Metagaming, he wrote The Fantasy Trip Microgames Melee and Wizard and several Microquests including the excellent Death Test and Death Test 2 solos. The Death Test solos make use of a tactical display (paper map and counters) and the Melee/Wizard rules. The solos are designed for a single character or a party and can be played as a group game without a referee. The emphasis is on combat which in The Fantasy Trip system is both quick and intuitive and rewards strategy and coordination among characters. Replayability is very good.
Steve Jackson Games produced GURPS and an early sourcebook for Conan and the fantastic world of R.E. Howard. I have four pencil and paper solo books for GURPS set in the Conan milieu. GURPS carries forward many of the basic mechanics of The Fantasy Trip and therefore also lends itself well to the solo game. In the Conan solos, the player can play the part of Conan or substitute one of your own PCs as the main character. The settings of the solos are similar to stories R.E. Howard wrote, therefore seem consistent with the fictional tradition.
Across the Atlantic another Steve Jackson and his partner Ian Livingston wrote The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the first of the long line of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks which have become immensely popular on both sides of the ocean. Before the improved graphic quality of consul gaming developed, the Fighting Fantasy and other single player adventure gamebooks introduced many new enthusiasts to the hobby and gave those of us already initiated additional solo outlets for our enjoyment.
The popularity of Death Test and The Fantasy Trip solo has spawned Dark City Games. Continued interest in the Melee/Wizard system and the successful release of several new solo products means Dark City Games can continue to produce for us new solo adventures in the Microquest style of Death Test. The Fantasy Trip rules, themselves long out of print, can be used to play the new solos or Dark City Games own free Legends of the Ancient World rules can be used. Either way one plays, the adventure mods are entertaining and offer tactical challenges and great replayability.
The modern gamer has many options for entertainment. While I personally prefer face-to-face play around a table, many hobbyists are finding the online virtual table to be their preferred method of gaming. Additionally, there are a number of MMORPGs and computer and consul games that offer good RPG entertainment. I see them as all connected to the original White Box which first introduced the RPG concept. Combining my love of reading, exercising my imagination and fantastic adventure gaming, the pen and paper solos are one of my favorite aspects of the hobby.
Gaming is a social thing for me. I love the face-to-face element of our hobby. To me there is nothing better in life than setting around a table with good friends playing a game we all enjoy. My best friends are gamers and they are the best part of my life. Reading is my preferred entertainment when I am not able to get together with friends. Sometimes I get the urge to play a game when no friends are about and that often means reading my way through a solo game module or gamebook. Occasionally I play a FRPG on the computer.
Dragon Quest games on the DDS are portable FRPG fun and can be taken most anywhere. They have the advantage of reminding me of some of the first FRPGs I played on a computer, example Ultima III. So there is a bit of a nostalgia factor. Oblivian and Skyrim are beautiful games that visually take me inside their open world set-up where I can explore and discover and I always come away from a session of playing with fresh adventure ideas for the tabletop FRPGs. I have played some of the MMORPGs (such as World of Warcraft) with friends and they can be fun as well. Not as much fun to me as physically sitting around the table with friends rolling dice, but not a bad experience.
When feeling the urge for some solo gaming I am more likely to grab one of the pencil and paper solo adventures and entertain myself with it. Over the years, I have accumulated several solo modules, most with good replayability. Historically speaking, as far as I know Rick Loomis of Flying Buffalo Games wrote the first fantasy roleplaying game module for solo play. It is called Buffalo Castle and makes use of the Tunnels & Trolls rules. Buffalo Castle is a very fun module and I have played it dozens of times over the years. Flying Buffalo has published a number of other solo adventures for Tunnels & Trolls (now in a deluxe edition) and I have many of them. They are some of my most well used game products.
The Tunnels & Trolls (T&T) solos use a numbered paragraph system offing the player various choices. Some choices lead to combat, which can be deadly and I have lost many characters in the T&T solos. An early project for Steve Jackson (who later founded Steve Jackson Games) was a T&T game called Monsters, Monsters where the players reversed the tables and played the monsters using T&T mechanics. Mr. Jackson must have liked the idea of the solo adventure because he has produced several of his own over the years. Starting with his days working with Metagaming, he wrote The Fantasy Trip Microgames Melee and Wizard and several Microquests including the excellent Death Test and Death Test 2 solos. The Death Test solos make use of a tactical display (paper map and counters) and the Melee/Wizard rules. The solos are designed for a single character or a party and can be played as a group game without a referee. The emphasis is on combat which in The Fantasy Trip system is both quick and intuitive and rewards strategy and coordination among characters. Replayability is very good.
Steve Jackson Games produced GURPS and an early sourcebook for Conan and the fantastic world of R.E. Howard. I have four pencil and paper solo books for GURPS set in the Conan milieu. GURPS carries forward many of the basic mechanics of The Fantasy Trip and therefore also lends itself well to the solo game. In the Conan solos, the player can play the part of Conan or substitute one of your own PCs as the main character. The settings of the solos are similar to stories R.E. Howard wrote, therefore seem consistent with the fictional tradition.
Across the Atlantic another Steve Jackson and his partner Ian Livingston wrote The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, the first of the long line of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks which have become immensely popular on both sides of the ocean. Before the improved graphic quality of consul gaming developed, the Fighting Fantasy and other single player adventure gamebooks introduced many new enthusiasts to the hobby and gave those of us already initiated additional solo outlets for our enjoyment.
The popularity of Death Test and The Fantasy Trip solo has spawned Dark City Games. Continued interest in the Melee/Wizard system and the successful release of several new solo products means Dark City Games can continue to produce for us new solo adventures in the Microquest style of Death Test. The Fantasy Trip rules, themselves long out of print, can be used to play the new solos or Dark City Games own free Legends of the Ancient World rules can be used. Either way one plays, the adventure mods are entertaining and offer tactical challenges and great replayability.
The modern gamer has many options for entertainment. While I personally prefer face-to-face play around a table, many hobbyists are finding the online virtual table to be their preferred method of gaming. Additionally, there are a number of MMORPGs and computer and consul games that offer good RPG entertainment. I see them as all connected to the original White Box which first introduced the RPG concept. Combining my love of reading, exercising my imagination and fantastic adventure gaming, the pen and paper solos are one of my favorite aspects of the hobby.
Thursday, May 12, 2016
Some Useful Ideas from E&E
Borrowing from Exemplars & Eidolons
Supposedly written so that author Kevin Crawford had a game to demonstrate his old school layout template, Exemplars & Eidolons (E&E) incorporates a number of techniques to empower the PCs in a traditional White Box-ish ruleset. Many of these mechanics are what I call houserules when I have used them in the past and several will be recognized by any gamer as having been around a while. Mr. Crawford brings them all together and takes his game to the next level, that of legendary heroes who can romp through the highest level dungeons of old, even when first rolled up.
Roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die, add the rest and assign the total to an attribute. If you don't have at least one 16, drop the lowest score and replace it with a 16. The 4d6 method has been around at least since Mr. Gygax offered it to us in the original GM Guide, but the rule of 16 is new to me. Attribute modifiers go up to +3 as in later editions. Starting hit points in E&E are class maximum plus constitution bonus, a "houserule" I adopted long ago.
E&E departs from traditional white box in offering a thief-like rogue, but no cleric class. Fighting men are warriors and magic users are sorcerers. Each class has a distinct "Fray Die" which is a d8 for warriors, a d6 for rogues and a d4 for sorcerers. The Fray Die is rolled damage each turn in addition to any other damage delivered through combat. It represents something like the general mayhem the character creates while in a "Fray", I suppose. It also means that each PC is doing damage every round regardless.
"Legendary heroes don't count coppers." writes Mr. Crawford, and E&E dispenses with the bookkeeping of coins. Wealth is accounted in terms of "Wealth Points" which represent significant amounts of cash, a horde. A single wealth point can secure any and all common weapons, armor and gear a party my need. Experience is awarded for achieving significant milestones and are relative few in comparison to white box. In E&E 44 exp gets you to 9th level.
It's all about the characters in E&E. While White Box may be about world building, exploration and discovery with an emphasis on combat skill and obtaining coin, E&E is about the awesomeness of the PCs. Players are encouraged to write background sentences about their PC and Facts. Facts are simple statements about a character that can be invoked much like Aspects in FATE to grant the PC advantages.
Gifts and effort are two other features that set E&E characters apart from the common man. Gifts are chosen from either a general set of Gifts or the list of Gifts peculiar to each class. They operate something like Pathfinder and 5th Edition Feats and allow the PC to perform astounding deeds. Effort is an in-game resource that is spent to activate a Gift. Some Gifts grant the ability to cast magic spells. As expected in a game such as E&E, spells are both powerful and readily available - resting 15 minutes and some meditation will restore the sorcerer's spell energies.
Rather than provide a detailed bestiary, Mr. Crawford discusses type of monsters and offers some examples, thereby ensuring that each referee populate his/her milieu with creatures of their own liking. Starting with the monster section and continuing through the last quarter of the booklet, Mr. Crawford gives his GM advice, which is my favorite part of E&E. Kevin Crawford really understands good game design and it shows in these pages. I particularly enjoy his comments under the headings Mythic Foes and Adventures and Influence.
In E&E Mr. Crawford serves up a teaching document to help others create their own darn good old school FRP. The stated purpose is to provide an organizational template (complete with art like the pic above), but I see much more here than that (although he does a good job there as well). E&E makes some good observations about the way we play our game and offers some excellent advice on gaming in a style that I especially enjoy. There is a lot to like in E&E, even if I never play it as written.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
Closeted Gaming
...and other nerd nonsense
Remember the days when you hesitated to tell people about your hobby? I do. Not at first though. Way back in college when my friends and I were trying to figure out this new game that came in a White Box and which consisted of several little brown books that somewhat looked like professional journals, except for the amateurish art on the covers, it seemed something cool to do. Like we were out front on a future trend. I was a college athlete, had a girlfriend, got good grades, went to young republican meetings on campus and I also played D&D. Cool wasn't much of a concern. Not everyone who played the new game was like me, but all were welcome who shared an interest in the game. Hobbies are like that. It was a popular pastime for many college students and nothing seemed weird about it.
Then that TV movie showed up and I still hold a slight irrational grudge against Tom Hanks. All of a sudden people had questions about the hobby I was enjoying and they weren't just curiosity questions, they were fearful, judgemental questions. I started to dread talking to people about my hobby and would go out of my way to avoid the subject. I saw many of my friends do the same thing. We were becoming a secret society of sorts because we did something we didn't like to talk about outside the initiated group of fellow hobbyists.
What seemed like a conspiracy against the hobby was developing as churches got involved and media coverage seemed all negative. Those were the dark years and many of us gamers were driven into the closet. I also quit going to church. At best the hobby was seen as nerdy, because being smart and creative and using one's imagination couldn't be "normal". At worst, it was playing a game some said might endanger one's soul and mark you out as someone who threatened society. What? Really? Those of us who played the game through those years knew better and felt on the defensive. Fortunately saner minds would prevail.
Eventually things changed. The sensational stories all proved false, the haters were revealed for what they were and most importantly, being smart, creative and imaginative is being recognized as good qualities to have. Computers have helped this change as those same qualities are an asset in developing skills with the new technology which have changed how almost everyone works and communicates. By the time "Big Bang Theory" showed popular media characters playing D&D, it was kinda cool to do so.
I am older now and maybe that plays a big part in my being open about my gaming interest. I think society has done some shifting too. The popularity of consul gaming, collectable card gaming and Euro boardgames have all helped to "normalize" playing games as a hobby. Harry Potter and the Tolkien movies have brought many of the fantasy RPG tropes into common awareness. We could argue the relative merits of all the changes that have occurred in our society in the past 45 years or so, but I am thankful that my friends and I can openly discuss our hobby these days without fear of being judged (much) because of it. I think there may be a wider lesson here, but that isn't the purpose of this blog.
Remember the days when you hesitated to tell people about your hobby? I do. Not at first though. Way back in college when my friends and I were trying to figure out this new game that came in a White Box and which consisted of several little brown books that somewhat looked like professional journals, except for the amateurish art on the covers, it seemed something cool to do. Like we were out front on a future trend. I was a college athlete, had a girlfriend, got good grades, went to young republican meetings on campus and I also played D&D. Cool wasn't much of a concern. Not everyone who played the new game was like me, but all were welcome who shared an interest in the game. Hobbies are like that. It was a popular pastime for many college students and nothing seemed weird about it.
Then that TV movie showed up and I still hold a slight irrational grudge against Tom Hanks. All of a sudden people had questions about the hobby I was enjoying and they weren't just curiosity questions, they were fearful, judgemental questions. I started to dread talking to people about my hobby and would go out of my way to avoid the subject. I saw many of my friends do the same thing. We were becoming a secret society of sorts because we did something we didn't like to talk about outside the initiated group of fellow hobbyists.
What seemed like a conspiracy against the hobby was developing as churches got involved and media coverage seemed all negative. Those were the dark years and many of us gamers were driven into the closet. I also quit going to church. At best the hobby was seen as nerdy, because being smart and creative and using one's imagination couldn't be "normal". At worst, it was playing a game some said might endanger one's soul and mark you out as someone who threatened society. What? Really? Those of us who played the game through those years knew better and felt on the defensive. Fortunately saner minds would prevail.
Eventually things changed. The sensational stories all proved false, the haters were revealed for what they were and most importantly, being smart, creative and imaginative is being recognized as good qualities to have. Computers have helped this change as those same qualities are an asset in developing skills with the new technology which have changed how almost everyone works and communicates. By the time "Big Bang Theory" showed popular media characters playing D&D, it was kinda cool to do so.
I am older now and maybe that plays a big part in my being open about my gaming interest. I think society has done some shifting too. The popularity of consul gaming, collectable card gaming and Euro boardgames have all helped to "normalize" playing games as a hobby. Harry Potter and the Tolkien movies have brought many of the fantasy RPG tropes into common awareness. We could argue the relative merits of all the changes that have occurred in our society in the past 45 years or so, but I am thankful that my friends and I can openly discuss our hobby these days without fear of being judged (much) because of it. I think there may be a wider lesson here, but that isn't the purpose of this blog.
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Exemplars & Eidolons
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?
Friday, May 6, 2016
Merchant Class
A Modified Thief
The Greyhawk thief class is the basis for a homebrew merchant class I will be using this weekend in my Dreadmoor campaign. I have mentioned often White Box's adaptability and how I enjoy creating new additions to White Box. I believe that the character classes available in a campaign help shape what kind of adventure stories are likely to come out of the campaign by determining who the main players are. By adding a merchant class I am effectively saying that adventures in commerce are going to be a part of this campaign. I might mention that this is in response to a player who regularly is trying to make small amounts of coin by selling things regardless of the class he is playing.
Starting with the thief class as it is presented in Supplement I Greyhawk (it seemed the best fit) I am retaining some thief elements such as hit points, but altering most. Charisma is the prime requisite for a merchant. Alignment can be any. Being a frequent traveler and caravan master, a merchant may employ any weapon and make use of leather armor and shield. Skill with weapons would seem to be on par with the thief class and therefore I treat them as thieves regarding to-hit numbers. Merchants would not be able to cast any spells, even off scrolls, but are generally able to read maps and at 3rd level are familiar with most trade languages (wisdom test). Humans are unlimited regarding level in the merchant class, dwarves may be merchants but are limited to 8th level due to their coarse nature. Hobbits/halflings may be merchants, but are limited to 6th level due to their aversion to travel. Elves generally show little interest in commerce.
The special ability of the merchant is in "the art of the deal". While any character may bargain for goods and services, the merchant excels at this skill. Therefore the merchant adds his/her level to any charisma check as a bonus when bargaining. The merchant's generally high charisma score entitles them to benefits when dealing with hirelings such as caravan guards and porters. Merchants use the thief experience/level table (with appropriate name changes, of course). Like thieves, merchants advance in combat like clerics and saving throws are the same as magic-users.
As an additional custom ability I have assigned the following to this particular "merchant trader" known to produce small charms (for sale) which, whether slightly magical or only placebo in effect, which seem to often work toward the desired outcome...at least initially. So as a special ability said trader may create/sell/use a number of "+1" charms per day equal to his level. The "+1" effect is on a single die roll and thereafter any effect the charm has is purely in the mind of the user/observer. In other words, it works once then is merely an interesting trinket (with possible sentimental value).
The Greyhawk thief class is the basis for a homebrew merchant class I will be using this weekend in my Dreadmoor campaign. I have mentioned often White Box's adaptability and how I enjoy creating new additions to White Box. I believe that the character classes available in a campaign help shape what kind of adventure stories are likely to come out of the campaign by determining who the main players are. By adding a merchant class I am effectively saying that adventures in commerce are going to be a part of this campaign. I might mention that this is in response to a player who regularly is trying to make small amounts of coin by selling things regardless of the class he is playing.
Starting with the thief class as it is presented in Supplement I Greyhawk (it seemed the best fit) I am retaining some thief elements such as hit points, but altering most. Charisma is the prime requisite for a merchant. Alignment can be any. Being a frequent traveler and caravan master, a merchant may employ any weapon and make use of leather armor and shield. Skill with weapons would seem to be on par with the thief class and therefore I treat them as thieves regarding to-hit numbers. Merchants would not be able to cast any spells, even off scrolls, but are generally able to read maps and at 3rd level are familiar with most trade languages (wisdom test). Humans are unlimited regarding level in the merchant class, dwarves may be merchants but are limited to 8th level due to their coarse nature. Hobbits/halflings may be merchants, but are limited to 6th level due to their aversion to travel. Elves generally show little interest in commerce.
The special ability of the merchant is in "the art of the deal". While any character may bargain for goods and services, the merchant excels at this skill. Therefore the merchant adds his/her level to any charisma check as a bonus when bargaining. The merchant's generally high charisma score entitles them to benefits when dealing with hirelings such as caravan guards and porters. Merchants use the thief experience/level table (with appropriate name changes, of course). Like thieves, merchants advance in combat like clerics and saving throws are the same as magic-users.
As an additional custom ability I have assigned the following to this particular "merchant trader" known to produce small charms (for sale) which, whether slightly magical or only placebo in effect, which seem to often work toward the desired outcome...at least initially. So as a special ability said trader may create/sell/use a number of "+1" charms per day equal to his level. The "+1" effect is on a single die roll and thereafter any effect the charm has is purely in the mind of the user/observer. In other words, it works once then is merely an interesting trinket (with possible sentimental value).
Houses of the Blooded
The Anti-D&D Game
Houses of the Blooded (Houses) is an indie press RPG written by John Wick (Legends of the Five Rings and 7th Sea). It is set in the mythical antediluvian age before Atlantis sank and centers on a magic-using race called the ven. Mr. Wick cites the original RPG as an influence, but not in the usual manner. He states:
Almost everything that’s true about D&D is untrue in this game. In D&D, the most common kind of character is a wandering nomad who lives outside the law, an adventurer roaming the countryside, scouring dungeons, killing monsters, gaining treasure and weapons so he can kill bigger monsters. Cities are little more than outdoor dungeons and characters rarely—if ever—encounter the upper class or deal with politics.
Expressing a desire to round out the fictional world of the adventurers, including an effort to fit them into a functioning society where intrigue, politics and tragedy all play a part in the game is not unique to Houses. Chivalry & Sorcery and Runequest were early RPGs that recognized White Box's emphasis on combat, acquiring treasure and leveling up and added guidelines for social standing in the case of C&S and tribal and cult membership in Runequest thereby rounding out the make-believe world of the PC somewhat.In Houses, you play a noble. A character with a past. A character with a family, withvassals, responsibilities and duties. The Law is an ever-present factor in your life. Because you are a noble, “treasure” really has no value for you and problems such as “wandering monsters” are problems for someone of lesser status to handle. Someone you can hire. Someone expendable. And rather than living in a bubble immune to the effects of political scheming, your character lives in a world that looks like a bastard child of Tanith Lee and Niccolò Machiavelli.
Houses is multi-generational and like another multi-generational RPG, Pendragon, character aging, marriage, family and heirs are often of more in-game importance than developing skills in magic or combat. Unlike Pendragon where the PC is a knight of Arthur's realm, the PCs in Houses are ven nobility, decadent, self-serving and treacherous. Houses is strictly narrativist as written and PC success or failure determines who gets to describe the outcome, the player in the case of success or the narrator (referee) in the case of failure.
Of course there is no reason why White Box can't include a realistic, rich urban environment filled with upper class NPCs and PCs who deal with politics on a daily basis. There is no reason said upper class PCs can't have henchmen and hirelings to do their dirty business. A noble PC whose "adventures" are found dealing with family, land, office and lineage is certainly within the possibilities of White Box, modification of the basic game being an assumption. One of the main reasons I enjoy reading other games is finding inspiration for White Box and one of the reasons I love White Box is its inherent adaptability.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Straight Outta Lankhmar
Abraham Lincoln is credited with saying the best part of a life is one's friends and I consider Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser the best of fictional friends. Lankhmar is the fictional city and country or city state in which the sword wielding duo meet and have many of their adventures. Mr. Leiber may have coined the term Sword & Sorcery, although he wasn't the first to write such fantastic fiction. His "Swords" stories are among the best, combining light-hearted humor and some of the best prose to be found in any genre, Mr. Leiber continues to inspire me 35-plus years after I first read the Lankhmar "Swords" books.
Having spent last week with two friends I met through gaming some 45 years ago, friendship is foremost on my mind. Although we are separated geographically by several intervening states and have been for some years, we manage to get together a couple times a year for extended visits and lots of gaming. Guys that I originally struggled alongside to learn the secrets of White Box and other games, we now play mostly boardgames, ones with a strong role-playing feel. I am impressed with how the concepts of character development and party adventuring have been ported over to boardgames focused on characters who go off adventuring in a fantastic milieu. Some like Runebound are competitive, while others like Mistfall are cooperative. All owe their existence to White Box.
I generally prefer face-to-face gaming and therefore spend little time these days gaming on the computer. The PC, and later game consuls, have introduced role-playing to many and provided tabletop gamers already familiar with the RPG concept an opportunity to play solo or now online with others from around the world. Early games such as Wizardry and Ultima with limited graphics have been replaced by visual extravaganzas such as Skyrim and Diablo, but they remain role-playing in a fantastic world of make-believe.
Mr. Leiber's Lankhmar, city of ten thousand smokes, is the model city for games like White Box and has been an inspiration for fantasy game cities since City State of the Invincible Overlord was published by Judges Guild (including a couple direct references such as Cheap Street and The Silver Eel). The roguish Gray Mouser is most certainly an inspiration for the Thief class in Greyhawk and is directly listed as an inspiration for the Rogue class in deluxe Tunnels & Trolls.
In the "Swords" (titled "Swords Against Death", "Swords and Deviltry", etc.) books, heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser adventure across a world of make-believe, outwitting wizards and thieves (sometimes), encounter aliens and ancient mysteries, cross seas, descending to the bottom for one adventure, climb mountains, dabble in religion, magic and romance, all while enjoying a familiar rivalry that seems to bring out the best in both. Artfully written by an author steeped in theater, the tales excite and entertain while prompting in the reader a desire to "play the part". Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser remain very human, with emotions and petty desires with which we can easily identify. They often defeat their foes with a combination of skill, wit and luck...usually the latter. Through thick and thin, the duo remain fast friends in a way that celebrates friendship and reminds the reader what a wonderful thing good friendship is.
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