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.

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.

Exemplars & Eidolons

OSR Turned Up to Eleven!
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?

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).

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.

In Houses, you play a noble. A character with a past. A character with a family, with

vassals, 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.

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.
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. 

Straight Outta Lankhmar

Inspiration from Fritz Leiber
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.

Rolemaster

The Game with all the Charts
According to gamer legend, back in 1974 Pete Fenlon was playing a new game with friends at the University of Virginia. I am told that in those days White Box came in a wood-grain box with a white sticker on the front describing the "Rules for Fantastic Medieval Wargames Campaigns Playable with Paper and Pencil and Miniature Figures". Maybe taking his cue from the implied setting of the new rules, my understanding is that Mr. Fenlon ran a campaign set in his version of Tolkien's Middle Earth. Like many early gamers, Mr. Fenlon seemed to have a strong background with paper map wargames (he was an officer in the University Simulations Club according to Wikipedia) and having considerable talent as a map maker, he produced some very nice Middle Earth maps that stand up well to this day.
Being a bit younger, I was a mere high school student in 1974, I had no knowledge yet of White Box. I had discovered wargames, however. Having started my hobby with the boxed map wargames of the Avalon Hill Co. and Simulations Publications Incorporated (SPI) a few years earlier. I met several like-minded hobbyists thanks to the efforts of a local hobby shop owner who took pains to connect us (and thereby increase his sales, no doubt) and in addition to paper map wargames, we played historical wargames with miniature figures, WWII micro-armor, Mini-Figs Napoleonics and Panzerschiffe warships. It would not be until after I entered college that I would discover White Box.
Mr. Fenlon, together with some of his gaming friends at the University of Virginia, decided to form a company and publish some of the "house-rules" that had developed from their play sessions. In 1980 Pete Fenlon, S. Coleman Charlton, Kurt Fischer and maybe a few others, formed Iron Crown Enterprises, better known as I.C.E., and published Arms Law, the first of their alternative systems that could conceivably be used with games like White Box. It was at this point that I had my introduction to I.C.E. and Arms Law by a fellow college student and gamer who was from Maryland. He brought the new zip-lock packet of charts back to school with him and we gave it a try. I had some experience using an alternative combat system, Steve Jackson's Microgame Melee published by Metagaming. While Melee had seemed a simplification in many ways, Arms Law seemed rather more complicated than white box as I recall. Looking at the product today I am not sure why as it is fairly straightforward.
I.C.E. continued to release products including those Middle Earth maps that Mr. Fenlon drew which were published starting in 1982 when I.C.E. acquired a license to produce game materials with the Middle Earth label. The company also published Rolemaster that year which was a boxed system combining Arms Law, Claw Law, Spell Law and Character Law. A somewhat simplified version of the Rolemaster system was released with the Middle Earth label and called Middle Earth Role Playing or M.E.R.P. for short.
Having graduated from college, joining the "real world" (reluctantly, I might add) and looking for more "realism" in my role-playing, I recall giving both Rolemaster and M.E.R.P. a go. Of the two I prefer Rolemaster as it is a bit more detailed and complete in my view. Game system choice is a group endeavor if one is part of a regular gaming group and our group eventually settled on RuneQuest as our preferred more "realistic" system. I continued to lobby for White Box and throughout the years the group has agreed I could run my occasional White Box games. Compromise is an important aspect of group dynamics as well.
The Rolemaster system created by Pete Fenlon, S. Coleman Charlton and friends grew to be one of the major rule systems in the hobby, has arguably influenced later systems such as 3rd Edition, and remains relevant as I still draw upon my Rolemaster and M.E.R.P. materials to this day. Rolemaster, like many games, has gone through several editions and is still available in electronic form, although the original I.C.E. fell victim to bankruptcy about the time the Lord of the Rings film franchise took off. I.C.E. published a number of Companions and other supplements for Rolemaster during the peak years and the system acquired a reputation for complexity.
As with many games, my favorite version of Rolemaster is the 1st edition originally released in 1982 (pictured above). There are a number of reasons for this, nostalgia no doubt being one of them. The components, charts and booklets, in the original boxed set are high quality and not yet combined into single volumes as was done in later editions. Arms Law and Claw Law are on several separate charts, all printed on good quality parchment card stock. Spell Law consists of more such charts and three individual parchment spell books, one each for Channeling, Mentalism and Essence. Character Law is a more conventional staple bound book. The 1st edition system itself seems straight-forward and easy to understand. There is a lot of detail, supplying the illusion of "realism" many of us desired in the '80s, but it is mostly a logical and intuitive rules system with (to my knowledge) the first universal maneuver mechanic (a maneuver chart, of course). I have always found Rolemaster in this edition to be quite manageable. The proliferation of skills and subsystems would come later during the era of the Companions. Like many gamers, I bought the newer editions as they came out and in the spirit of White Box, I added what I liked to "my version", but really for me the later editions seem to lack some of the appeal of the original.