Bump in the Night

Old School Thoughts on Darkness, Delving and DM-ing.
Classic, White Box D&D can be described as a treasure hunter's game due to its mechanical emphasis on combat and the accumulation of treasure. The game has its roots in the tabletop wargame where simulated combat is the focus of play, but adds additional elements which make it more of a character driven story-like experience. The players learn of a potential treasure, perhaps guarded by a monster or lost in some ruined underground caverns and set out on an adventure to reclaim this legendary treasure. (I am thinking of Jason and the Argonauts and other Greek myths.)
The dungeon is often associated with early D&D and this is obviously not surprising given that its creators, Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax both ran their early campaigns centered on exploration of an underground dungeon of many layers (levels in game terminology). Dark underground halls where danger awaits and exciting rewards can be found offered many hours of play. The game encourages repeat visits to the underground as the accumulation of treasure and experience points leads to the characters leveling-up therefore enabling the now more powerful characters to delve into deeper dungeon levels where even greater monsters and treasures await.
In the original game rules, characters, even dwarves and elves, have normal human-like vision and are therefore reliant upon a source of light in order to see what is in front of them. Monsters who inhabit the underground possess a kind of "darkvision" giving them an advantage in their unlit environment.
The underground is a magical otherworldly place where strange things are common. This is part of the appeal - to enter an alien unknown world where dangerous and wonderful adventures take place, and to survive and return to the relative safety of the surface world where things are more normal. (It much resembles the classical journey of the mythical hero.)
It is the referee's job to describe this imaginary underworld and its monstrous inhabitants. Drawing on imagination and using spoken words and sometimes pictures and even miniatures, the referee must bring this fantasy setting to life for their players. In some ways this is easier if the referee leaves aside the visual aids and describes what other senses perceive. An odor, a change in temperature, a sound, a breeze, a light touch, even a sixth sense awareness of something watching you...these can help set the mood and build suspense.
The flickering, shadowy light of a candle placed on the game table can add to the "scary" mood if the modern electric lights are turned down a bit. Maybe drop the thermostat a few degrees to create a bit of a chill in the room. Arrange for a timely sound, or some low ambient "mood" music in the background and you have set the table for some "creepy" monsters to go bump in the night. Perhaps there is a good reason so many D&D sessions were played in one's basement back in the day!

In the Dark

Making the Most of Darkness
December 22nd was the winter equinox or shortest daylight of 2019. Winter in the northern hemisphere here on earth is related to the tilt of the earth and there being shorter days and less light from the sun.

Over the holiday I was reading the Basic Fantasy core rules book by Chris Gonnerman and was taken in by the game master information on city, town and village encounters. Mr. Gonnerman supplies two columns labeled Day Encounter, Night Encounter on the Basic Fantasy urban encounter table and points out that:

During the day, most towns will have people on the streets more or less all the time; the absence of people on the streets is often an indication of something interesting. By night, much of the town will be dark and quiet, and encounters will be mostly Thieves or other unsavory types; but near popular eating (or drinking) establishments, people of all sorts are still likely to be encountered.

The absence of light can significantly alter the nature of an encounter. This is true whether the encounter occurs in an urban setting or in the wilderness or underground. For those of us who do not possess an ability to see well in darkness, the challenge of dealing with a threat significantly increases in the absence of adequate light.

Darkness sets a mood. We are all accustomed to the very human experience of being unable to rely on our vision and for most of us vision enabled persons this can be disorienting and even frightening. As referee/ game master we can use this. A dark alley carries a distinct mental image (and emotional atmosphere), one which differs significantly from a sunlit open plaza.
In systems based on the world's most popular fantasy role-playing game, Light (and its inverse, Darkness) is a common magic spell - and for good reason. Casting light can turn a hopeless situation into one that is manageable. It can help the adventurers find their way and give them hope of success during an encounter. Likewise being in total darkness can blind and hinder leading to despair. (Light can even be an attack spell if successfully cast on the eyes of a monster.)
Artificial sources of light, such as magic, torches, lanterns and candles are a significant part of the resource management element of old school games. The ability to see in darkness is perhaps the single most defining feature of the dwarf and elf player characters - abilities which give them significant advantages in comparison with human characters. It is the nature of light, especially when originating from sources such as torch light, that it can be seen from a much greater distance than the area it illuminates, thus allowing observers hidden in the darkness to watch the coming and going of the torch-bearer. In a game where surprise is an aspect of the encounter mechanic this can be suspenseful.
If you find the idea of groping your way down dark corridors wondering what lurks beyond the limits of your vision unappealing this thought may hold no interest, but for me it is exactly the sort of horror story that I most enjoy. The monster once seen in the light of day loses much of its mystery for it is the as yet unknown on which our imagination works its most frightening magic.

Character Class

What Dragon Warriors has to teach us about building character.
Dragon Warriors is a fantasy role-playing game originally released in 1985-86 in six paperback books and reprinted in 2009 in a collected hardcover. The original Book 1, titled simply "Dragon Warriors", included the rules of the game and two character classes, the knight and the barbarian. Neither used magic, which was introduced in Book 2, "The Way of Wizardry". Familiarity with Book 1, which contains the combat and adventuring rules, is necessary in order to use the material related to "magic" user classes found in Book 2. By starting with the non-magic using classes of knights and barbarians, Dragon Warriors eases the new players and referee into the basics before adding the additional complexity of the magic rules, thereby establishing a progressive learning method for mastering the Dragon Warriors character classes.
I am of the opinion that the active player characters in a role-play campaign or adventure act in a manner similar to the protagonists in a play or novel. It is they who determine (through the decisions and dice rolls of the players) what will happen and when during play and just how the whole thing will turn out in the end. By establishing what character classes are available for play, the referee exercises some narrative control over the type of story which is likely to develop during that play-through of the setting material.
Knights and barbarians represent two archetypal warrior groups. The knight is chivalrous, civilized and can be expected to follow a certain established code of behavior. The barbarian by contrast is relatively uncivilized (by definition), but often follows customs and a rough code of honor. Both can be expected to demonstrate competency with their cultural weapons and to frequently resort to violence when confronted with conflict. The two classes do differ in significant ways, however, and these cultural differences can become significant if the players so desire. This may actually be a goal of the referee's setting, such as I have found to be the case in the published material of the Dragon Warrior's default lands of "Legend".
A group of player character knights can be expected to serve a feudal lord, undertake quests in order to right wrongs and bring glory to their names and to the court they serve. By contrast, a group of barbarian player characters might seek treasure for the sake of adventure or wealth and power so as to improve their station within the tribe, clan or barbarian kingdom. Knights are agents of the status quo, while barbarians can be a disruptive element. A player group which contains both knightly and barbaric warrior types may be in for a degree of internal conflict should certain situations present themselves during play. Situations which pits the chivalrous nature of the knight at odds with the barbarous tendencies of the barbarian.
By encouraging players to choose characters who have a religious or magical focus, not to mention the roguish assassin class, and the referee may influence the potential for an adventure of a much different flavor. I believe this can all be quite intentional on the part of the referee who designs and pitches the idea for the campaign, thereby the group is likely to be exploring ,many different aspects of the setting and all the while making the whole imaginary world seem that much more believable.

Play to Find Out

What makes this an exceptional game?
When we say that we play to find out, what do we mean? Find out what?
How many levels we can advance?
How much treasure and power we can accumulate for our imaginary heroes?
What lies at the bottom of the dungeon?
How our character will die?
It is perhaps this last question which Eric Bloat has on his mind while designing The Blackest of Deaths.

For me, The Blackest of Deaths title is a warning statement, not a goal of play. This is not a game about heroic player characters who show off their wondrous abilities while smashing their opponents in a manner suggestive of the Batman TV series of the 1960s. The Blackest of Deaths isn't Conan the Barbarian either. The Blackest of Deaths means this is a dangerous (in the sense of character death) game, so don't worry if your precious paper hero runs out of hit points.
The default setting of The Blackest of Deaths is populated with changeling, half-medusa, kobold, goblin, and serpent-men characters as well as the more common, dwarf, elf and human folk. Character classes include some familiar tropes, barbarian, warlock/witch and assassin, some less often seen such as beast master, gladiator and necromancer and a few original takes on the subject such as fortune hunter, monster slayer and street rat. There are no levels in The Blackest of Deaths - your character doesn't advance along a path to greater power. And that is the simple beauty (and greatest appeal) of The Blackest of Deaths.
So why play this game about "you do this thing and discover that thing, and eventually you will end up with a dead character"? We play to find out! - about all the stories that come about through play, that's why.
Without chasing the next level, we players are left to engage with the setting, explore what lies over the next ridge and investigate that mystery we herd about in the last village. We play to survive and to tell the tale of our adventures. With a new goal in mind, we experience the game in a new way.
There are a lot of new games being published these days. Few seem as revolutionary or have excited me as much as The Blackest of Deaths.

If Advanced Chainmail Existed

What? No d20?
Spellcraft & Swordplay is what author Jason Vey calls a "nostalgia" game because Spellcraft & Swordplay (S&S) does not seek to emulate an older edition of the world's most popular role-playing game, but rather to envision how the game might look today had its development followed a different path, that of the two d6 added together (2-12) mechanic rather than the d20 system.

Gary Gygax began to explore fantasy tabletop gaming with his Fantasy supplement to the Chainmail rules for medieval miniatures. Chainmail uses a number of d6 based mechanics and includes warriors, magic using wizards and mythical monsters - thus begins fantasy gaming in 1971. Spellcraft & Swordplay also uses the six sided dice and carries forward some of the better aspects of Chainmail.
Rolling two six-sided dice and adding them together results in the number 7 being the most rolled result in terms of probabilities, with the numbers 2 and 12 being less probable results. If not a true "bell curve", the random number distribution is at least triangular. Rolling two d6 seems less "swingy" and more "normal" to me and I am increasingly drawn to this mechanic as an alternative to rolling a d20 or percentile dice (d100), both associated with the flat distribution of outcomes.
Other aspects of S&S that I particularly favor, also drawn from Mr. Gygax's Fantasy supplement include rolling for magic and the general empowerment of the referee or gamemaster. Mr. Vey refers to his "Golden Rule" which states, "The Referee is the final word on any interpretation of the rules in the game." He goes on to emphasize, "It is up to the Referee how (or indeed, if) these rules are applied in game, altered, or ignored entirely." He goes a step further explaining that, "The rules in Spellcraft & Swordplay are deliberately minimalist, allowing a lot of room for development, interpretation and customization."
Spellcraft & Swordplay uses a spell casting system that combines elements of Chainmail and D&D. Memorization of spells is a thing in S&S, but so is rolling to execute the magic. Spell casters must roll 2d6 when attempting to cast a magic spell. The difficulty increases as the spells become more complex. Depending on the result of the dice, the spell may go off during the current turn, be delayed until the following turn, or fail and be lost from memory. It is a simple system that involves a lot of variability and I enjoy that.
The spell lists in S&S are tailored to each class and elite path with necromancers having a different list than wizards and druids a different list from priests, thus providing a nice distinction for each spell casting class. I find the descriptions of several spells to contain interesting new takes on traditional tropes. For example: Detect Evil allows the caster to sense the presence of supernatural evil, such as undead, but not evil characters of less than 8th level. Evil is one of three alignments in S&S and together with Good and Neutral (choose unaligned or balance) comprises the S&S alignment system. The author states that most folks are Neutral (unaligned) and mostly act in ways that are self serving, even when exhibiting so-called good behavior.
Like the world's first fantasy role-playing game designed and released in 1974 by Gary Gygax and David Arneson, Spellcraft & Swordplay uses the character class concept. Elite paths (Paladin and Ranger for Warriors) allow characters with exceptional abilities to be mechanically different from the standard class while retaining the basic four fantasy archetypes - Warrior, Wizard, Priest, and Thief. Character races in S&S seem more traditional (i.e. Tolkienesque) and include humans, dwarves, elves and halflings - only dwarves can see in total darkness. This is all just as I prefer my fantasy milieu, but if you prefer, the author invites you, as Referee, to invent additional character races and other content. The design philosophy of each referee making this game their own comes through loud and clear in Spellcraft & Swordplay.

The Flame Princess and Me

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Reading Lamentations of the Flame Princess for the first time was a shock. This was several years and two editions ago. The author's voice - and preferences - comes through loud and clear and I suppose one either likes it or one doesn't. Yes, James Edward Raggi IV is a somewhat controversial figure in our hobby. His game, Lamentations of the Flame Princess (LotFP), remains one of my favorite interpretations of the D&D system and his play philosophy has frankly influenced my entire approach to how best to play the game. So what is it about ...the Flame Princess that appeals to me so?
It's not the art. To be fair, the illustrations are quite good in quality in all the LotFP editions, but I would describe it as "edgy". The cover sports an 18+ Explicit Content warning. Enough said.
What I consider the good points are related to the game's emphasis on individualizing the setting with unique monsters and magic, keeping the magic "magical" and creating a "horror" experience.
LotFP is often described as being a house-ruled version of the B/X or Basic and Expert D&D game. It is a lot more than that however. It is perhaps B/X as seen through the personal lens of Mr. Raggi who describes his game as "Weird Fantasy". Mechanically LotFP resembles the Basic/Expert game - roll a d20 to hit, saving throws, basic character classes and so on. It is the philosophical differences that I find so appealing and which sets LotFP apart from the other old school games.
There are seven LotFP character classes: fighter, cleric, magic-user and specialist for human characters, and the classes of dwarf, elf and halfling. Only fighters progress in their ability to better  hit monsters. Clerics get their spells and turning and improve in these abilities as they advance. Magic-users progress in the number and level of magic spells they can know and cast. Specialists improve in their specialized skills such as bushcraft, sleight of hand and tinker. All skills are tested by rolling one d6. I really like the restrained, but traditional approach to the character classes that I find in LotFP. Each class is focused around the defining class ability. The fighter class fights well, etc. I like that.
Character hit points increase but stay relatively low (compared to other iterations of D&D), even at higher levels, which together with non-fighter characters never improving their to-hit ability at all means that even low level monsters remain challenging even as the characters advance to higher levels.
Monsters - there is no bestiary in LotFP. Mr. Raggi believes each referee should create their own unique monsters and therefore leaves this task up to us. Unique monsters and unique magic items are heavily encouraged with each having its own backstory. Discovery is a big part of every play experience of a LotFP campaign.
The list of magic spells has been modified and grognards will find a noticeable absence of the more flashy fireball and lightning bolt type of spells. This is not to say the magic-user can not research and develop such a spell, but it isn't to be found on the standard spell list. This results in a more subtle approach to magic and helps keep magic "magical". Divine casters will not find raise dead on their list either. In LotFP dead is dead. Hello to fear!
Oh, yes, and darkness is blinding because none of the characters (even dwarves) can see in the dark without a light source. Being in the dark can be scary again! (I like this idea so much that I have imported this into many of my games as a "houserule" because I believe in dungeon horror.)
I am on record as a fan of alignment in my games as I find that its inclusion adds a "right verses wrong" conflict and is one of the things which sets D&D apart from many other fantasy RPGs. In LotFP there are just the three original edition alignments, Lawful, Chaotic and Neutral. The rules state that most characters will be of neutral (self interest) alignment. Cleric characters in LotFP are by nature Lawful. Magic-users are chaotic because magic changes the natural order of things.
As a rules-as-written system, LotFP covers a lot of topics in its brief (168 pages) and to-the-point format. It does so while introducing some nice take-away concepts that are also useful for the home-brew fan. The specialist class is brilliant in that it allows for the player to focus their character build on a number of possible skilled archetypes including the classic woodsman/ranger or scout/thief while maintaining mechanical simplicity. The 1d6 specialist skill system replaces the often criticized percentile thief abilities table from older TSR editions and feels more "natural".
A clever and simple system for encumbrance eliminates the tediousness of keeping track of weight carried while allowing a degree of accountability in a genre where resource management is part of the game's challenge.
The current Player Core Book: Magic & Rules, pictured above, has been out since 2013. There is so much in playing the game of LotFP that I really like, but it isn't my go-to system. Due to some of the artistic content I find it an awkward book to hand to someone while saying, "Here look this over because I would like to play it."

Running Adventures

Describing the Unknown
"You see a clawed hand reaching out of the shadows..." The role of the referee is to bring to life exciting adventures for the players. This is often facilitated by the use of colorful descriptions involving action.
"You enter a dimly lit room. While moving into the cold room, your nostrils constrict with a pungent smell of animal urine and damp straw. From the dark far corner you hear a rustling noise..." By describing the setting quickly and leaving much to the imagination, the referee is more likely to hold the players' attention and help them to identify with their characters.
"The light of your torch reflects from a pair of luminous round eyes, which rise slowly from the floor of the shadowy corner until they appear nearly man-sized tall..." Mystery is the goal. Let each player wonder what may be before them. Let them imagine what might be behind those eyes.
"Stepping into the light you see a sickly pale, skeletal figure with over-sized round eyes. As the mouth opens, long, dirty fangs and a lolling red tongue drip saliva..." Describing the monster rather than naming it keeps the mystery alive and makes the players work just a little harder at figuring out what they are facing. It helps to immerse the players into the scene.
"Among the gnawed bones, bits of rusted metal and dirty coins, your light suddenly reflects off a shiny ring..." Magic treasure should be described as unusual in mundane ways so that even without the use of a detection spell it is obvious there is more to this item than may be readily apparent. By not tipping their hand too soon, the referee heightens the anticipation and mystery and therefore the enjoyment of discovery.

The inspiration for these ideas and more comes from my reading of just one small section of the newly released Old School Essentials (an updated version of B/X Essentials) Retro Adventure Game by Gavin Norman at Necrotic Gnome.

Sandbox or Playground

A World of Opportunity Awaits!
It has become common to use the term "sandbox" to describe a certain old school style of campaign play in which the referee creates a setting and sets the players free in this setting to explore and follow their interests according to their own timing. It's an open world concept where there are things to interact with and adventures to be had, but there is no set plot or preconceived story. It may involve the referee furnishing the players a map, perhaps with hexes printed on it. Moving from hex to hex and rolling for encounters is termed a hex-crawl which can be a type of sandbox. The open world empowers the players to shape the game.
For some players presenting the "empty sandbox" where anything is possible can result in paralysis. The referee who places a map before the players which shows a village, a forest, a road, a stream and a castle and asks "What do you want to do?" may be asking a very difficult question.
Perhaps redefining the setting as a playground would be more appropriate. A playground typically offers a number of objects, clearly visible, which can be explored and interacted with in a manner that encourages use of one's imagination. Children develop elaborate narratives to go along with their playground adventures and I see no reason why our adult role-playing cannot offer a similarly rich and rewarding experience. By placing a number of easily recognized opportunities into our setting, things such as rumors, reward offers, a treasure map, help wanted, abandoned mines, ruins, and old legends, the referee can make things easier for players to decide what they want to do. Populate your setting with possibilities and inform your players that it is up to them to decide what they would like their characters to investigate further. If the players decide to ignore all of your "hooks" and go off on their own, perhaps for a walk in the countryside (or want to take over the local tavern) that is all the better. By providing a rich and varied environment you have set the stage for your players to explore and have adventures.

D&D is a GAME

Play Nice and Get Along!
People tend to forget that D&D, White Box, 5e and other role-playing games are just that - games. Nothing more. It isn't a story, or a movie, or a novel, or even a comic book, just a game. It isn't a lifestyle or a community, it's just a game we play sitting around a table, or online, with friends who also enjoy playing the game. It's shared entertainment.
Players roll dice. Sometimes the dice are in your favor and sometimes the dice are not. It is a game about rolling dice and winning stuff, or losing stuff. That stuff consists of imaginary coins, hit points, gold and gems, PC levels, magic items...even character death...and it's all just game mechanics. Nothing is real, except the fun and the friendships.
Whose game is it? I think it's everyone's game. Group ownership, shared ownership, is a tricky thing for some people to grasp. Gary seemed to think it is the DM's game (he says as much in his Advanced Edition Dungeon Masters Guide and elsewhere). Today's popular internet culture often says it's each individual player's game, in other words, it's your game. Then again maybe it's the license holder's game (many lawyers think so)?
Does ownership really matter?
It's a game that we play together for fun. None of the gold is real, we don't win or lose money playing a table-top role-playing game (I am glad we don't!). It just doesn't make sense to be selfish about our game.
It seems rather simple. Remember to play like you care about the others at the table. That is how friendships are eventually formed. It's also the best way for everyone at the table to enjoy each game.

The Light in the Darkness

Does System Matter?
People seek various things when they sit down to play a role-playing game. Once upon a time I thought about the experience in terms of a fantasy based wargame, a tabletop game often played out in tunnels and caverns and other underground spaces using mostly our imagination. The investigation of a mystery, the collaborative process of telling an heroic story together through play, or just the fun of talking in a funny voice and pretending to be someone we are not, these are all aspects of role-playing depending on how we play the game.
Some systems are quite flexible and use some fairly generic mechanics, other systems specialize in delivering a particular type of experience for players. Most require some sort of judge, referee or narrator, but not all do. A recent vacation with friends included sessions of The Fantasy Trip using a programmed adventure published by Dark City Games that requires no referee and therefore allows all of the players to run personal figures. The Fantasy Trip by Steve Jackson Games is a tactical combat focused RPG system that can also be used for playing more social encounters using figure skills from In The Labyrinth (and without use of the tactical display and counters).
The same gaming vacation with friends also involved sessions of the King Arthur Pendragon role-playing game published by Chaosium. Pendragon, as it is often called, is a very different system from The Fantasy Trip (or D&D for that matter). The Pendragon mechanics focus on the personality of your knightly character including their passions, loyalties and hatreds. Chivalry, romance and above all, personal glory, is at the focal point of play. The narrator, or referee, presents a situation in which players attempt to interact with the referee's version of King Arthur's Britain in a manner that will achieve glory for their knight while navigating the game mechanically including d20 personality rolls which help determine their character's reactions and likely behaviors. Characters are expected to act in a knightly manner generally consistent with their virtues and vices, loyalties and hatreds. Pendragon includes no "intelligence" score because that aspect of character is determined by the player's own decision making.

Pendragon is a system designed for multi-generational play and romance, marriage and the siring of offspring, some of whom may become playable characters in the campaign, are all part of the game. The Great Pendragon Campaign, a separate volume that details events year by year from 485 to 566, is a great way to play King Arthur Pendragon. Each year may contain a single adventure worthy of the minstrel's song, or may involve little more than some dice rolled on a table to see who the character meets and at what chronicled event they are present. Meeting a lady (or gentleman), having a child, contracting an illness are all possible during a "year" of play. The legendary king and his court are of course the hub around which game events revolve. Drawing from the literary sources, especially Mallory's Le Morte d'Arthur, Pendragon and The Great Pendragon Campaign are designed by Greg Stafford to meld play with legend. Playing King Arthur Pendragon is a fun way to explore the magical setting of Camelot and Arthur's Britain and offers something unique in terms of tabletop role-playing.

In The Labyrinth

Steve Jackson's First RPG
I have been playing quite a bit of Steve Jackson's new version of The Fantasy Trip since its release earlier this year. The Fantasy Trip is a tactical RPG experience like no other of which I am aware. Based on the microgames Melee and Wizard of the late 1970's and using markers and hex-map terrain display, The Fantasy Trip rewards cooperation between players and tactical planning. It is a game that brings the role-playing experience to its audience through mechanics that are quick to learn and would be easily recognized by the tabletop wargamer, a demographic that made up a considerable portion of the tabletop gaming community in the late 1970's. With its re-introduction this year, The Fantasy Trip is once again readily available through Steve Jackson Games, and they are providing the system good support following the very successful Kickstarter.
In The Labyrinth uses a 3d6 roll under mechanic for combat and talent (think skill system) resolution. Armor reduces damage which is deducted from Strength. Dexterity is rolled against in order to strike an opponent and wearing heavy armor deducts from one's effective Dexterity thereby lowering one's chances to score an effective blow. IQ, or intelligence, is the third of the main three attributes and is used for Talents and Magic. Casting spells requires a Dexterity roll and burns Strength points as fatigue. A combination of damage and fatigue that lowers the figure's Strength to zero, that figure (as characters in TFT are called) drops unconscious. Should damage reduce the figure to minus one or lower Strength, the figure is considered "dead".
The arena tactical games Melee and Wizard introduce the basic rules for character creation, combat and magic and are stand-alone games in their own right. In The Labyrinth combines the rules from Melee and Wizard with additional material to form a complete role-playing system called The Fantasy Trip. In The Labyrinth can be purchased separately (as can most of the individually named products) or boxed together with Melee, Wizard and the Death Test solo and Tolenkar's Lair refereed adventures, markers, maps, dice and everything needed for play, all in the Legacy Edition Box.

In The Labyrinth hearkens back to the days when the role-playing hobby was new and as yet undefined. The Fantasy Trip gave us wargamers something familiar in that we played TFT using counters on a hex-map, counting hexes and moving our markers and rolling six-sided dice. Combat with the new element of magic thrown in was about all we wanted. As the hobby matured and we matured as role-players, The Fantasy Trip has taken on an additional dimension, that of social encounter and investigative play. And yes, The Fantasy Trip/ In The Labyrinth is a useful tool for enjoying those aspects of role-playing along with combat and exploration.
In The Labyrinth offers a complete RPG experience and a fun, quick playing, easy to understand game. The simple, yet elegant system developed by Steve Jackson during his early days as a designer, and recently improved upon in its new edition, does not disappoint.

Fanzines & Creativity

The Amateur Hobby Press
The Gongfarmer's Almanac describes itself as "A Free and Unofficial Zine for DCC RPG" and is a continuation of a traditional form of amateur press that predates the original role-playing game. Often referred to as "fanzines" such newsletters and digest sized periodicals have been popular with hobbyists interested in wargames and science fiction and fantasy literature since the age before the internet. Such printed correspondence provided the hobby with a means to share news and ideas and to establish contacts with others who shared a similar interest. Although less prevalent today perhaps, they do still exist.
The Gongfarmer's Almanac is has been around a few years, I have compilations of the Almanac from 2016, 2017 and 2018. Each compilation contains the volumes from that year and includes additional material that can be used with the old school inspired Dungeon Crawl Classics Role-Playing Game (DCC RPG) published by Goodman Games. Included are additional character classes, adventures, rule suggestions, interesting character sheets, maps and artwork, monsters, patrons and deities, all tailored for use by the DCC RPG player.
The booklet pictured above, Volume #5, 2019 of The Gongfarmer's Almanac, is devoted to playing a weird western (Mythos inspired) version of the DCC RPG. The volume includes some setting specific rules for adapting the DCC system to an old west setting and for playing a more horror style of game. New character classes include the Gambler, the Occultist and the Gunslinger and eight others. New rules introduce Madness and a Poker Deck for adding spell like effects to certain new player character classes. In true DCC RPG tradition a zero-level funnel is included to get things started.
Grassroots creativity, a do-it-yourself approach and shared enthusiasm for the hobby is evident on nearly every page of The Gongfarmer's Almanac. It brings to my mind memories of by-gone amateur publications in an era of self publishing of hobby related content meant to be freely shared and enjoyed. In many ways the internet continues to serve a very similar function, but for me there is something nice about the physical copy held in my hands. The Gongfarmer's Almanac is aimed precisely at one particular game, but a quick search will turn up other amateur zines, both digital and print available "at cost", that support our hobby interests and promote the sharing of our collective creativity.
And if you are not familiar with the term "gongfarmer", a quick web search will inform you. Hey, it's what I had to do!

Chainmail & ODD

Understanding White Box through the lens of Chainmail
Volume I of the Little Brown Books lists the Chainmail miniatures rules among the  "Recommended Equipment" for White Box D&D play. It should probably be mandatory and therefore included in the box itself. I did not process the Chainmail miniatures rules in 1977 when I acquired the original edition of the first role-playing game, nor did I see Chainmail for a number of years after that. Therefore, I devised my own interpretation of how to play this new game. I imagine it was just so for many who came to D&D in those days.
Gary Gygax is listed as a co-author of both the original fantasy role-playing game and Chainmail and one may presume the earlier Chainmail product may inform a complete understanding of the Little Brown Books. The subsequent D&D game perhaps represents a certain evolution of thought on the part of Mr. Gygax as he explored the fantasy game and may shed some light on how one might play the new fantasy game.
Taking the turn sequence as an example, we find that in Chainmail both sides roll a die with the higher score choosing to move first or second (after observing the enemy moves). After each side moves in turn, both sides execute artillery fire, missile fire and then melee, in that order. Since magic spells such as fireball and lightning bolt operate much like artillery in Chainmail, I assume we can fit it into the turn sequence after moves and before missile fire.
Magic spells in Chainmail are not the same as in ODD/ White Box. Each type of caster, Seer, Magician, Warlock, Sorcerer and Wizard in order of increasing power, has the ability to know a number of spells and a two-die casting mechanic is (optionally) used to determine the success, delay (it goes off next turn) or failure of each attempt to cast a known spell. Wizards may more reliably cast spells than those magic users of less power as indicated by having greater chances for the spell to actually go off and to take effect without delay. Spells are rated according to complexity and the more complex spells are more difficult to succeed in casting.
In the Chainmail mechanics of magic use and spell complexity we can see the early thinking of the author regarding magic in the fantasy game. Some magic users have greater power than others in terms of knowing more spells and in terms of having the ability to cast them more reliably. The magic spells themselves vary in terms of complexity. Both concepts will be represented with the term "level" in the subsequent D&D rules.
Alignment is a term that appears in the Little Brown Books, but not in Chainmail, however once again we can see a progenitor to this concept in the Chainmail Fantasy Supplement's "General Line-Up" table. The table lists the terms Law, Chaos and Neutral, which are used to categorize the fantastic creatures available for battle along opposing sides, Law verses Chaos, with the possibility that Neutral forces may show up fighting for either or both these sides.
Many of the game concepts such as the forces of Law and Chaos have their antecedents in popular fantasy literature. Chainmail specifically mentions Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions in connection with true trolls and Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone in the section on Magic Weapons and figures combining elements of the "hero" and "wizard". The fantasy supplement to Chainmail and its later cousin, D&D can be seen as game engines to assist players in further exploring the characters and themes they enjoy from popular science-fiction and fantasy stories.
Morale, movement, the effects of terrain, charging, the number of attacks per turn, figure facing and more, all of which shows up in the Advanced game rules, each has their beginnings here in the Chainmail miniatures rules. To be sure, much has been changed and added through the various editions of the world's most popular fantasy role-playing game rules, but the Chainmail miniature rules helps me to understand where it all began and informs how the White Box may be played.

Marvel Conan

An Interest is Born
My introduction to Conan The Barbarian came in 1973 thanks to Marvel Comics. Stan Lee and his comic empire have enriched the lives of many over the decades and I am certainly not alone. I had read many other comics prior to discovering Conan The Barbarian, with stories based on history and weird horror tales among my favorite. The above pictured Conan comic opened a new chapter in my reading interests. To be brief, reading Conan The Barbarian comics lead to the Savage Tales and Savage Sword magazines, and eventually to the collected Conan stories edited by L. Sprague DeCamp and published by Lancer/Ace in a cheap paperback form that was affordable even to a teenager of the 1970's.

I happened onto Conan The Barbarian in the middle of a multiple issue Roy Thomas adaptation of the story Hand of Nergal, which I later found in one of the Conan volumes edited by Mr. DeCamp (Lin Carter authored the short story Hand of Nergal from a Howard fragment). Drawn by John Buscema and Ernie Chan the images I found in those early issues of Conan The Barbarian helped me to imagine the world of Conan. The dynamic action depicted in those illustrations of course appealed to my teenage restlessness. The 1970's was a long-hair decade (my favorite band was Led Zeppelin) and the long black main of the Conan character made him someone I could identify with.
The Hand of Nergal story involves a decadent monarch manipulated by evil advisers, a captive princess, and demonic forces not meant for human understanding - all tropes that would form the impressions I have of swords & sorcery and fantastic adventure. My infatuation with heroic fiction, swords & sorcery and high adventure stories taken from Conan comics and pulp era fiction primed me for the next step to come, adventure gaming.

Four to five years later I had joined the ranks of growing D&D enthusiasts, thrilled to be playing out some of the ideas that I borrowed from those comics and stories. However you come to this hobby, whether through the stories involving a certain dark elf ranger or through a green-clad digital avatar, those early experiences probably continue to influence what you enjoy. My preference for dark fantasy and grim tales has continued to this day. Fortunately I have found many games that focus on the kind of stories I enjoy best. Through the hobby I have also met other players who share my interests and many have become life-long friends. That is a lot of value from a 20-cent comic.

Building a Sandbox

Start Small
One of the primary joys of being a referee or judge in a game is the design aspect where the game becomes a creative outlet. Creating a scenario, drawing maps, building a world, these are creative pastimes and the excitement and satisfaction of sharing my creation with others is a big part of what has kept me involved in the hobby for 40+ years.
The sandbox is my favorite method of world building. The term "sandbox" in adventure gaming refers to a setting where players can explore and interact with the imaginary world through maps, dialogue with the referee and the application of game/campaign rules. A referee map and good mental concepts of most aspects of the world is all that is really needed to get started. At first, the map can be of a relatively small area.

Remembering how far a group of adventurers can travel in a few days will inform the referee about how many miles ahead need to be planned. I usually like to have a vague idea of the "bigger picture" map so that NPCs may talk about the sea over there, the mountains that way, etc., but spending time drawing detailed maps of areas the players may never any show interest in can be wasted effort, effort better spent on thinking about the nature of your world - what kind of climate does it have?; what creatures inhabit it?; what is the society like?; religions?; technology and magic?.
Do you need a big bad? Not necessarily, especially not at first. I try to anticipate all the questions players may ask about the world and its inhabitants and drawing on memories of everything I have read, watched heard about or imagined, I work toward a mental picture of this bold, new world, this "sandbox". I listen to the players and try to incorporate what they are interested in.

Do not dump all this information on the players in the form of a long monologue or pregame document for them to read. Let the world information flow naturally as the players explore and ask questions. That is part of the sandbox experience - discovery! Instead, put a small map in front of them. The above image is a tactical map lifted from The Strategic Review (v1 no5) and shows a castle, small village, underground entrance/exit and an unexplained misty area. There is lots here to explore, should the players wish.
I like to start with a village, partly because there are NPCs to interact with and learn from in a village and partly to establish a relatively safe home-base, should the players desire one. Describe what they see, what kind of day it is, etc. Reveal to the players a few rumors including information leading to two or three adventures you have semi-prepared. Let them learn about one or two "good" deities that have local worshipers and perhaps the existence of one "evil" deity and one or two "monster" types that may pose a threat.
Conflicts are fuel for adventure and a good sandbox needs at least two or three factions that are in conflict. The presence of factions may offer the player characters certain opportunities. It's always up to them in a sandbox. Encourage the players to be creative. Once they have become acquainted with the new sandbox, ask them what they want to do. In a sandbox, the players often lead, the referee follows. It may be helpful, especially for players to whom the sandbox style game is new, for the referee to offer a starting encounter/ adventure, just to get things moving. And remember those rumors, wanted posters and job notices.

Mythic Britain

How important is setting?
If you are like me, it's very important, perhaps more important than system or characters because setting defines everything. The setting is the framework on which everything else hangs. Setting defines various aspects of who the characters will be. Setting describes the laws of physics and magic if any. Setting establishes the geography and nature of the place where the action of play will take place.
What happens when not enough attention is paid to setting? For me it is a loss of verisimilitude and enjoyment. Inconsistencies in the setting tend to result in a surreal feeling, which may be the goal in a dreamland, but otherwise it just feels disjointed and random (in a bad way). Decisions made with regard to the setting can greatly influence system choice as well. Some systems work best under certain assumptions and produce certain kinds of results during play. Matching the setting and rule systems can greatly aid play.
There are many published settings. Some claim to be system neutral, although I still argue that they work better with some rule systems than with others. Like most in this hobby, I have my favorite published settings. The Design Mechanism published Mythic Britain during their RuneQuest 6 days and have made minor adaptations to fit their current system, Mythras.

Mythras is a d100 roll under skill-based role-play system. It has similarities (and differences) with other popular d100 systems including Basic Role-Playing, Call of Cthulhu and RuneQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. The Design Mechanism publishes a number of setting books for Mythras and has more in the works. Among the historic (Mythic) settings currently available are Constantinople and Rome.
Mythic Britain is set in a dark age fantasy Britain with Merlin, Arthur, druids and Saxons. Mythic Britain is divided into two parts, the setting material proper and a series of adventures that can be run separately or combined campaign play. As with the other setting books in the Mythic series, care is taken to present a believable world with much that seems familiar and expected. But this is "mythic" history so the fantastic and supernatural also plays a significant role in the setting. In Mythic Britain the authors draw heavily on folk tradition and the Camelot, King Arthur legends, making use of the unknown nature of the dark ages and occasionally borrowing from the fictional Arthurian traditions to weave a rich tapestry that is both familiar and surprising.
The legend of King Arthur and his knights of the round table has inspired imaginations for centuries. The Arthur presented in Mythic Britain is more Celtic war chief than high medieval king. Roman Britain is a memory allowing for a renewal of many of the old Celtic ways and the new Saxon invaders bring yet a different pagan belief than the one that existed before the Romans brought Christianity to the isle. The druids, long suppressed by the now-absent Romans, have re-emerged and the mythic spirits and forces of the land, fey, dragon and demon, have found renewed strength in their struggle to fill the power vacuum.
The stage is set. The cast is assembled. It is up to you to determine what dramas will play out in your Mythic Britain.

Advanced Dungeons &... Conan!

Sword & Sorcery AD&D
There are no elves in Conan's Hyborean Age. The world R. E. Howard created for his barbarian hero is very similar in most ways to our historic Earth Europe, Asia and Africa. Superimposing the fictional map of Hyborea onto the globe of Earth one can easily see the similarities. Howard seems to have used various ancient cultures as the model for his Hyboran Age civilizations. As a result, the Advanced Game rules require a bit of tweaking in order to reflect the sword & sorcery setting of  Howard's Conan.
The licensed Conan modules that TSR put out for AD&D in 1984 included a few pages that suggest modifications to the official rules in order to better enjoy the feel of the Conan movie world depicted on the module cover. All characters are human and there are no alignments. Clerics are not included because as the module states, priests in the Conan stories are more like the game's magic users and the gods are basically uncaring so there is no magical healing.
Howard's setting is a scary place and mechanics for fear are suggested. Certain horrific creatures, sinister magic effects and supernatural forces can trigger a fright check, which if failed will result in the character becoming immobilized with fear and unable to act. Heroism and luck are considerably prevalent in the Conan stories and the module introduces rules for using Luck to fuel acts of heroism that may seem beyond our human capacity - forming the stuff of legend, as it were.

Each of the two modules in my collection offer pre-generated characters of levels in the teens. The named characters include Conan, the Cimmerian and other characters who appear in one or more of the stories found in the Lancer/Ace Conan collections. CB2 - Against Darkness includes the only magic user and it is interesting to note the absence of fireball and lightning bolt in the character's spell list. Magic in Howard's Conan stories is more illusion, summoning and divination and this is reflected in the modules.
Playing a fighter, thief, assassin, or magic user in these Conan modules, using the AD&D rule modifications gives players of the world's most popular role-playing game a solid taste of sword & sorcery style heroics. The adventures are for high level characters and therefore have the superheroic feel one would expect when battling demonic forces, diabolic serpent men and the evil manifestations of an ancient godling.
Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson created a masterpiece of versatility in their original game. A major strength of D&D/AD&D is its ability to used to successfully play so many different worlds and its modularity lends itself to modifications and houserule changes which may be used to further tailor the rules to a specific setting. The Conan modules illustrate this strength well.

Conan Role-Play

The Long Reach of Conan
Having recently discovered some older volumes of the Conan stories, collected and added to by L. Sprague De Camp in the Lancer/Ace paperbacks printed during my youth, I have been rereading these edited versions of stories including those penned by original Conan creator Robt. E. Howard, those "finished" by either De Camp or Lin Carter, and those Conan stories written by De Camp and Carter featuring a version of the Conan character somewhat different (more morally ambiguous?) than Howard's depiction of the noble savage.
The influence and impact of the Conan character and stories on the role-playing hobby has been immense. Gary Gygax mentions "Howard's Conan saga" in his 1973 Foreword to the original edition fantasy role-playing game and he and co-creator Dave Arneson are both known to have enjoyed the character. Conan is mentioned on the back cover of first edition of RuneQuest published in 1978. Conan is noted in Tunnels & Trolls as the inspiration for the warrior class in that system.

Over the decades since Mr. Gygax wrote that Foreword, Conan has been the subject of a number of supplements and game systems. In 1982 the film Conan The Barbarian was released starring body builder Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role. TSR sought to leverage the popularity generated by the film with the release of a line of playing aids featuring the character Conan.

Once the fantasy role-playing hobby had gained popularity, it was perhaps natural that a game bearing the iconic character's name would appear. TSR released a boxed Conan role-playing game in 1985, and Mongoose published their version of a stand-alone Conan role-playing game as part of the d20 Open Game License influx.

In 1989 Steve Jackson Games acquired a license to produce Conan products for its popular GURPS role-playing system. A setting book and several adventures, two bearing titles borrowed from Howard's stories were published and are still available as dital downloads from Stev Jackson Games.

Currently, Modiphius offers a 2d20 Conan game and several supplements featuring the character and setting created by Robert E. Howard.

The great barbarian's influence in role-playing goes way beyond the games that have bore his name, however. You may indeed play a heroic barbarian by many names. Indeed, there are many fans of the barbarian motif and a number of excellent role-playing games are currently available for those not needing a licensed product.

The muscled, mostly naked barbarian warrior popularized by images of Conan through pulps, comics and films have become an RPG industry standard and are used over and over to market products suggesting to prospective consumers a connection with the heroic adventure and excitement commonly associated with the Conan stories.

Role-playing

It's more than doing "the voice".
The game Dave Arneson and Gary Gygax published as Dungeons & Dragons in 1974 had grown out of their experience with wargames. At first it was man-to-man conflict with a referee or judge to apply the rules and keep the game moving along. Figures received names, and therefore the beginning of personality. Mr. Arneson came up with a mechanism (or three) for advancing the power level of figures who survived battles. Experience with the game Diplomacy had given many of the players practice in "speaking in character", negotiating alliances, making deals and threats, all as part of a game. The self contained dungeon exploration game idea was also circulating at the time, as evidenced by it being talked about in some of the fanzines. Gary Gygax and friends brought these ideas together in the original little brown books and sold them as the world's first published role-playing game. The game quickly gained acceptance and a new hobby began.
Learning to play the game in the mid 1970's is commonly held to be nearly impossible without someone who is experienced with the system acting as teacher for the uninitiated. The rules presented in the original three little brown books are somewhat cryptic and incomplete, requiring additions in terms of both mechanics and insight. Rather than being a completely negative feature, the freedom offered by their being suggestions and guidelines and somewhat incomplete ones at that encouraged the creative enhancement that led to so many new versions of role-playing.
At first conceived of as a type of wargame, original D&D and the many new adventure or "role-playing" games that soon followed mechanically focus mostly on combat. Chivalry & Sorcery (1977), Traveler (1977) and RuneQuest (1978) were early systems that presented the players with something more than fight, loot and level up. Asking the question: "What do characters do while not adventuring in dungeons?" games such as these gave context to the imaginary lives of the PCs by discussing society and the character's place in their make-believe world. Background, social class, birth rank and family ties, grounded the character and formed connections that are then leveraged through role-play, thus adding a new social dimension to the game.
Investigative play, such as that emphasized in Call of Cthulhu (1981), added additional mechanics and brought yet another dimension to playing one's character in the game. Personality and sanity are perhaps more important in Call of Cthulhu than combat skill because many of the "monsters" are virtually beyond the reach of mankind. Solving the mystery and preventing the worst case scenario become the goal of play rather than killing monsters and taking their stuff. Knowledge becomes more powerful than weapons in such a game and connections with NPCs and setting organizations can greatly aid the players in solving mysteries.
Giving the character personality may start with a name, a background and a distinctive accent or vocal tone, but motivation, belief and connections to the social fabric of the setting are what brings the character to life as an entity distinct from the player. Rounding out the character, getting to know who they are and how they think and behave, what they value and believe to be true is getting inside your character and really playing a role. "What does your character know?" "How would your character feel about what is happening?" "What motivates your character?" These are questions that a role-player asks.
A distinctive physical description and a unique voice may signal the character is an individual much like their name does. It is often entertaining to see the character depicted and hear the voice of the character when they speak, but this is entertainment, and not the same as role-playing. We actual humans are more than our name, hairstyle, dress and accent...that is just the superficial aspects that are immediately apparent to any casual acquaintance. Getting to know a person means learning what they are all about, their story, as it were. Real people are complex interactions of their history, beliefs, values, motivations and more.
Whether the character develops as he/she/they are played or appears full blown in the author's mind, knowing who they are and how to portray them through play adds an extra dimension to the shared fiction and helps the players discover a game within the game. Is it necessary in order to have fun? No, of course not. Many have enjoyed the hack-n-slash element of the hobby at its most basic tactical combat level. Killing make-believe monsters is fun. Grabbing imaginary loot and leveling one's character is rewarding play. But the potential exists for the game to be so much more.

The Three Estates

History & RPG
I don't back a lot of Kickstarters, but occasionally something comes to my attention that I think is

"must have". I recently kicked in on the new edition of Chivalry & Sorcery and am starting to receive the first fruits of that expenditure. Chivalry & Sorcery is a game that has been on my favored list from the first moment I discovered its existence. As a devotee of feudal history, I am drawn to all things that model that particular interesting and alien time period. While many fantasy games borrow the trappings of medieval western Europe, very few attempt to model its society. C&S was perhaps the first exception.
Obviously, we live in a world much different from that of the middle ages - "a world lit only by fire", as it was termed. Our understanding of the world, and our societal values, even our assumptions of what is true and just, differ quite significantly from that of medieval Europeans. Realism in gaming is to some extent a fool's errand, but for those of us who enjoy playing in an alien environment and exploring what it might be like to exist in a different time and place, the historic feudal times is as exotically different as any fantastic imagining.
Historians have described the organization of medieval European society as "The Three Estates", the nobility, the church and the peasantry, in other words, the people of war, people of faith and people of labor. Society paid strict attention to one's station in life and it was your station rather than your deeds that defined who you were, what privileges you enjoyed and how you would be treated. For the most part there was no social mobility. The station your parents existed in determined your position in society, for life. Only by joining the church could one hope to change their station in society, but the church practiced its own strict internal hierarchy. Money bought you little in terms of status and its accumulation was looked upon with suspicion and sometimes, contempt.
Role-playing is a unique kind of game. It encourages the player to adopt the point-of-view of a character in an imagined setting, for fun and entertainment. It allows us to explore what a life quite different from our own might "feel" like. It is a shared form of mental escape or make-believe with game rules and parameters. Part of the fun of role-playing is experiencing novel and heroic (or slightly scary!) thoughts and collectively making up stories about the lives of imaginary characters - all from a safe distance, of course.
Tabletop role-playing comes in many flavors. You can play virtually any kind of sentient being you like and be from any setting that could possibly be imagined - or you can play a human physically much like us in many ways, except they are from a past time and place such as medieval Europe, Africa or Asia. This type of role-play requires a bit of effort in terms of research and "getting into character" by trying to think like a person from that time might have thought. Part of the reward of this type of role-play comes from the satisfaction of "doing it well" by self-limiting our play to that which is consistent with our understanding of the behaviors and beliefs of the historic period - that is by staying "in character".

Game Mastering

The Art of Running the Game
Referee, world-builder, record-keeper, the person behind the screen is the unsung hero of the game. Mr. Gygax made it just so, and tells us as much in his Game Masters Guide, for without the GM putting forth effort even before play begins, there is no game. To view the job as merely one of necessity is an injustice, however. Taking one's turn behind the screen can be, and should be, quite rewarding.
Acting as the impartial adjudicator of the rules governing play of the game is the role of the referee. In a role-playing game, as in table-top wargaming with miniature figures, it falls to this individual to set the parameters for play and to describe the scenario. Keeping track of important game information is another task that this person usually assumes. Record keeping is especially important in campaign play where details are carried forward affecting future game sessions.
Fairness and consistency in the interpretation and application of the rules is important and forms the basis of the trust that must exist between the referee and the players. It is the basis of the referee's legitimacy. The responsibility of enforcing the rules makes the referee's word final during the game. To avoid disputes is why the game has a referee.
The game master or dungeon master creates the context for play. Whether that involves drawing a map on grid paper, setting up replica terrain, or merely describing the surroundings and situation in which the players are to imagine their characters, the game master devises the world in which the game's action will take place. In a role-playing context, it also falls to the referee to play the part of all the characters not controlled by the other players.
Keeping record of the passing of time and the achieving of goals is also the responsibility of the referee or game master. Recording hit points, experience and treasure is a part of the game and forms one element of the multi-tasking experience of the game master. If campaign play is the goal, it becomes important to keep records not only of how much time passes but also what non-player characters have interacted with the player characters, and what knowledge of the setting has been revealed to them. Details are what brings the imaginary world alive and consistency across sessions is highly desirable.
This all may seem like a big responsibility and one that is often underappreciated, but it is great fun to watch the game you have set up unfold during play. It is only through the interaction of the players that a world you created really comes to life. And players will surprise you, entertain you and at times frustrate you. Remember, it's all in an effort to have fun together playing a game everyone enjoys.
It is important to note that the referee of a role-playing game is also a player. The referee or game master is there to have fun too. Not by killing or humiliating characters, but by seeing the setting they have worked to create come alive through play and provide entertainment for others. The referee desires for the players to have fun and it should be the case that players also make an effort to see that the referee has fun as well. It's just part of being a good player to do your part to help others have fun too. Think of it as one element of "mastering the game".

Rick Loomis

On Friday, August 23, 2019, just one day short of his 73rd birthday, Rick Loomis passed on to whatever awaits good gamers once their spirit departs this mortal realm. In 1972 Mr. Loomis founded Flying Buffalo Incorporated (FBI) and has continued to contribute to the hobby in several ways up to this year. Rick's Flying Buffalo published many games over the decades including Tunnels & Trolls, which many claim to be the second role-playing game ever published, his play-by-mail game Starweb and the popular card game, Nuclear War. Among his many firsts, Rick Loomis authored and published the first solo module, which he titled Buffalo Castle, as a way to play Tunnels & Trolls without a group. Rick Loomis stands as one of the early pioneers of our hobby and although my personal interactions with him amounted only to brief encounters at his convention booth, my memories of Rick are all positive and cherished.

Shadow World

Emer Atlas and Eidolon City
A really enjoy discovering new worlds, therefore I read setting books. Shadow World is a setting that has been around for decades having its origins in the Rolemaster material released by Iron Crown Enterprises (I.C.E.) as far back as the 1980s. Shadow World is still supported by Iron Crown and new products continue to be developed and released for the Shadow World setting.
Setting material can easily be adapted for any role-playing system because maps, descriptions and ideas transfer across system regardless. The fact that I like Rolemaster does not hurt the appeal of these products for me, however. I read and borrow from a lot of setting material which I never run as written. It's part of my enjoyment of the hobby.

Two of my recent Gencon purchases are Eidolon - City in the Sky, and Emer Atlas III - The Southeast. The Shadow World is a science-fantasy setting with a floating city and airships. Alien technology accounts for much of the more fantastical elements, but magic certainly abounds as well. The Eidolon location is actually a twin city, Sel-Kai, an earth bound settlement built on a number of islands and criss-crossed by water canals (similar to Venice, Italy). Sel-Kai is where the lower classes dwell and Eidolon, which is "the city above", was built using advanced technology and is floating in the sky above Sel-Kai. Eidolon is where the upper classes reside. Class politics as well as trade and exploration are integral to the Eidolon culture.
Eidolon is located to the northeast of a continent called Emer. The Southeast of that continent is the subject for the second of the Shadow World volumes I have added to my Shadow World collection this year. The Southeast is host to an ancient, mostly lost, civilization centered on elemental magic and demon summoning. It is home to secret societies, dragons who live as humans, a unique race with retractable talons, and an ancient artifact that could change the future of the planet. With lost ruins, tropical jungles and volcanoes to explore, this atlas presents a vast canvas on which many adventures (some starting in Eidolon?) may play out.
Setting can be more important than the rule system or characters in shaping the flavor of play. A setting is the stage and the assumptions about what is possible which allows the action to take place. Characters are the actors and without them there is nothing in the way of game play happening, but I have run various characters through the same adventure and noted that the setting places all the characters in a similar situation with similar options thereby playing a large part in what is likely to develop. Each session is a unique combination of characters, rules and setting which often produces something surprising and fun. Finding out what will happen and how is fun. For me creating the setting is also part of the fun. Books such as these are aids in that process.

1974 Character Class

Less Is More
When it comes to fantasy role-playing games we all have our preferences. Some like classes, some prefer the freedom of a classless system. Some think alignment adds an important element to the game, some prefer to not use it. Some like rolling dice to randomly create their character, some prefer a point-buy system so that they can deliberately design their character. Some prefer a system with comprehensive rules for everything, while others prefer less rules and more freedom for the referee/GM to make rulings as needed. While there seems to be no "right way" to play, most of us have a favorite way to play.
I can only speak for myself, and state my own preferences which is generally for less when it comes to most aspects of rules for role-playing. Occasionally I enjoy a rules heavy system such as Pathfinder 2e, Hackmaster 5 or some other thick tome system. The more complex games do have their appeal. There is something satisfying about learning and mastering a complex system and developing strategies which take advantage of the opportunities presented in the rules.
More often than not after a brief sojourn into such rule complex systems, I return to a state of rest where I am perhaps most comfortable and familiar - that of simplicity. I recently ran a session of Call of Cthulhu without opening a rule book or consulting a chart or table and frankly, I find that appealing. It's comfortable. CoC uses an intuitive d100 percentile skill mechanic system that rarely requires more than the information on the character sheet. It is an investigative game that often leads to someplace scary and in the best sessions, players become engaged and maybe a little spooked. There was no combat in this session because the players choose to leave that option on the table and avoid face-to-face confrontation with "the thing in the dark".
The imagination can dream up much better fiction than I can describe, or draw, or paint, or act out. A few words of suggestion from the referee are often enough to get our thoughts rolling and for the players create the scene in their own heads. This works especially well for horror because once the monster is seen, some of its scariness abates. It is no longer as "unknown" as before.
Defining a thing limits it. Everything we know about something eliminates several possibilities which we now know are not true of this thing. Defining a thing breaks it down and allows us to form strategies using what we now know to be true. Knowing allows us to form and test hypotheses. It suggests what may be possible and pushes aside what may not be possible.
One aspect of RPG systems that use the class and level mechanic is that they define characters by their class. Some systems use a broad approach to class, such as The Fantasy Trip which has heroes and wizards, those who don't cast magic spells and those who do. The Original FRPG, which I refer to as White Box, offers the player a choice of three classes for human characters, fighting man, cleric and magic user. There are three non-human options drawn from popular fantasy fiction, elves, dwarves and hobbits/halflings. The non-human characters all have limits on how high into levels they may become. all may be fighting men and elves are an early form of dual class fighting man/magic user.
With just two or three classes from which to choose and no feats or skills to pick from, ODD players are encouraged to individualize their character in other ways. This is where the creativity comes in. Character description can include distinguishing physical features, distinctive dress, signature weapons or equipment and catch phrases that all help define the character's uniqueness in non-mechanical ways. Flavoring the character in such a manner can result in them becoming much more memorable than the mechanical feel of any special build in more complex systems and has more in common with the way an author builds a character in a novel or the way that film character's are portrayed in Hollywood.
I have always enjoyed a "blank slate" where the possibilities seem endless, and I have the freedom to take my imagination anywhere. As I imagine the early days of the hobby, I think on conversations that may have occurred between players and referees about characters and new classes. I imagine the birth of the thief class, the barbarian class, the paladin sub class and more, all originating from a character concept and the creative collaboration between player and referee. This appeals to me on several levels. Less can lead to more.