Dungeonesque by Rogue Comet is one of the game products I brought home from Origins a couple weeks ago. I purchased it on impulse, drawn to the small ivory color box and the promise of yet another nostalgic old school version of role-play. Dungeonesque promotes itself as old school 5th edition. The folks at the booth selling Dungeonesque knew nothing about it, and I had read no reviews at the time, so I basically took a gamble, laid down my cash and walked away with what I hoped would be yet another hobby treasure.
Dungeonesque actually comes in two versions. One looks like the image above, contains four digest sized books and reminds me of White Box in appearance. The four volumes are titled Book 1: Characters and Combat, Book 2: Eldritch Wizardry, Book 3: Worlds & Adventure and Book 4: Concise Bestiary. The other version comes in a larger box, contains two letter sized books (Player and GM) and appears to suggest the Red Box version of Basic. Both are based on the 5th edition SRD. In the ivory edition you can play a cleric, fighter, rogue or wizard. The rules as presented here are very similar to WotC's current D&D Basic Rules which (along with the Dungeon Master's Basic Rules) is available as a free download on WotC's D&D website.
What sets Dungeonesque apart from the D&D Basic Rules is Book 3: Worlds & Adventure. In Book 3 the authors describe their version of old school play and give the referee some advice and a few tools to assist in running 5e as an old school game. (This to me is of course the most interesting part of the package.) Book 3 has a section called Rules & Tools covering "old school rules" which are presented as a group of houserules. The concept of "rulings, not rules" is discussed along with "non-balanced encounters", "roleplaying, not skill checks", morale, slow natural healing, death saves and character mortality. The idea that we "play to see what happens" in old school rather than lead our players through a pre-conceived story is explained briefly. Another section is devoted to converting 1e play aids for use with 5e/Dungeonesque. There is a section on "Hexcrawls" which are described as a common way to play "old school". Add a host of random tables and some treasure descriptions and we come to the end of Book 3. The use of random tables to generate encounters, treasure and other aspects of the game is also described as an "old school" method.
Mixed in along with the above "old school" elements are some stand-out anomalies, however. Book 3 suggests a "social contract" for the campaign in which each player along with the referee create a list of Yes and No world features thereby sharing the creation of the milieu so as to suit everyone (or no-one?). Another section takes an in-depth look at the use of montage rules in play. The inclusion of such player empowerment techniques seems markedly non "old school" to me. I understand and appreciate why later rule sets have become very lengthy and include rules for nearly every situation. I understand "balanced" encounters and player agency. To me that is not old school. Old school play is trusting the all-powerful referee to interpret and apply the rules in a fair and just manner while attempting to keep the game fun for everyone. Old school player agency is to "vote with one's feet". In other words, if the referee isn't fair, don't play again. Find a new referee (or talk out your differences).
I have not played using Dungeonesque, but I have attempted to run an old school campaign with 5e. Personally, that experience was unrewarding for me and therefore the players, sensing my lack of enthusiasm, lost some of their interest in playing as well. (For a top game, the referee has to be excited about running that game.) I find 5e characters overpowered and the rules too mechanical for my personal taste. If I had not started with White Box and continued to use the White Box game philosophy all these years, I would probably look at 5e differently. Part of my enjoyment refereeing is making up rules on the fly to handle situations where my players want to try something not covered in the rules as written. Therefore, the more complete the rules, the less fun I have.
No comments:
Post a Comment