The Second Half...

...of the Walking Eye podcast conversation between myself and Ron Edwards, with my friend Kevin Weiser acting as moderator, goes up today.  I have to admit, I am interested in hearing how it will sound, given that there's a lot we talked about - although not as much about the OSR as I might have liked.  Still, it was an interesting conversation, and I'm looking forward to talking with Kevin and Ron again in the future.

They just aren't the same...

Editorial note:  I wrote this blog post some time ago, but aside from a few minor editorial updates, it is still very much how I feel about the current hype around the "evolution" of D&D.

Don't mistake all of this for...

One of the comments made sometimes by fans of D&D 4th Edition is, "oh, it's so much more old school than 3rd Edition!"  This may or may not be true, but that doesn't mean 4th Edition is Old School.  In fact, there seems to be a fundamental difference between 4th Edition D&D and Original D&D, insofar as I could tell from observing a recent Lair Assault game session at my FLGS.

It may be a contrast in ideal types, but there is a distinct contrast between the "D&D-as-product-line" and "D&D-as-toolbox" approach.  D&D 4th Edition is clearly in the former camp, while 0e is clearly in the latter.  "Yes, but that change took place a long time ago!" someone might suggest.  That's true.  It's quite visible in Gary Gygax's editorial "Dungeons & Dragons - What It Is and Where It Is Going" which appeared in The Dragon #22, in February 1979:

"From a standpoint of sales, I beam broadly at the very thought of an unending string of new, improved, super, energized, versions of D&D being hyped to the loyal followers of the gaming hobby in general and role playing fantasy games in particular. As a game designer I do not agree, particularly as a gamer who began with chess...I do not believe that hobbyists and casual players should be continually barraged with new rules, new systems, and new drains on their purses. Certainly there will be changes, for the game is not perfect; but I do not believe the game is so imperfect as to require constant improvement."

...for this..

Broadly speaking, the history of D&D reflects this tension.  The successive editions of the game have been produced with a fair span of time between each edition - but as every edition has been produced, there have been questions raised as to the necessity of the new edition.  But what has also occurred over time has been the slow shift away from the "D&D-as-toolbox" approach.  I would submit that this shift has been detrimental to the creative process - and why 4th Edition and Original D&D are fundamentally different from one another.  Despite recent suggestions, I believe that 5th Edition will be no better at this than 4th.

...or this...

One might ask why this shift has taken place.  One reason is the pressure of commercialization, as noted above.  Another is simply the work involved in creating your own campaign, as Gary himself recognized:

"DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is like none other in that it requires the game master to create part or all of a fantasy world. Players must then become personae in this place and interact with the other populace. This is, of course a tall order for all concerned [emphasis added] — rules, DM, and players alike."

What's interesting is that even at this date, Gary did not see commercial products as being anything more than add-ons to existing campaigns, noting that "[m]odules and similar material will continue to be released so as to make the DM’s task easier and his or her campaign better."  At some point, modules themselves supplanted original campaign creation, dovetailing nicely with the previously-mentioned pressure to produce commercial products to maintain the company - and in so doing, making it strange for anyone to engage in their own creative visioning of the game through their own campaign.  That's what is really unfortunate.

...or your own work.

We've got top men working on that...

Ah, props in gaming.  Done right, they can add a lot to a gaming session.  Over time, I've created fake ID cards, accident reports, even a spy's briefcase right down to the unknown surveillance photos, cigarettes, and money (for the record, 20 Euros and 100 Rand).

But I don't think I've gone this far:

Panning for gold

I've recently joined a bunch of G+ communities and combined with some of the other fun I've had over the past while, I now have too many links to follow for gaming goodness.  Here are just a few of the links:

• Blade & Crown - a new RPG from Rachel Kronick.  Rachel is an old friend from the Twin Cities, and I know she does good work.  I had known Rachel through mutual interest in game settings like 2300AD and Tekumel, but Blade & Crown was something new to me.  I'm boosting the signal.
• Dave's Mapper - a resource for artistically-challenged referees like me.  I'm just starting to explore it, but I can tell I will get more use out of it over time, not just for D&D but also potentially for Traveller.
• DrawHexGrid 3.51 - in the past, I've used Incompetech's web-based hex paper generator, but DrawHexGrid looks like a way to get not only hexes but also numbered hexes.  If DrawHexGrid doesn't work for you, check out mkhexgrid as an alternative.
• Empire - "the board game from Reed College" - Empire was (and is?) a long-standing campaign game that originated at Reed College in Portland, Oregon.  It is another example of the sort of strategic campaign-oriented game which may have influenced later developments in wargaming and roleplaying.
• The Apocalyptic Post - issues 1-5.  For anyone irradiated with interest in Gamma World, this looks like an interesting resource.  I've downloaded a set and have begun reading.  Definitely something for use with Mutant Future.
• Classic Traveller supplements from Gamelords, available from Different Worlds Publications.  You can get them on CD-ROM from Far Future Enterprises - and you should!  But also pick up the original booklets for some awesome CT goodness.
• Judges Guild Ready Ref Sheets, also available from Different Worlds Publications.  While most of the rest of the Judges Guild stuff for D&D is sold out, apparently Tadashi Ehara still has this classic resource for sale - and for cheap!  There are other items for T&T and RQ, too.
• Mazes & Minotaurs - the Old School game inspired by Jason and the Argonauts and Homer's The Odyssey.  I'm not sure where I am going to put all the games I want to buy, but this one definitely has my attention.

I know this is what happens when I get to the end of the semester, but I am looking forward to the holiday season break.  I've got a lot of reading and game writing to do.

Just over three years and still growing!

In the beginning: Madison Games Day 2010

Back in September 2009, I moved to Madison, Wisconsin.  I had been hoping for some time to join the fabled Dungeon Masters Association at the University of Wisconsin.  Alas, that was not to be, as the DMA had folded just a few months before I arrived.

So I decided to start Madison Traditional Gaming - a group for people who wanted to play Old School RPGs.  After a somewhat shaky start (there were three people at the first meetup including myself), we've grown from a small number of gamers to several regular campaigns, three established referees, and about two dozen regular players and attendees.

For some time, I've wanted to write a series of blog posts about setting up a club and keeping it going.  I think this is important because there's a recurrent theme on the web and in the OSR that "it's just too hard to go out and find players for a game."  I think that's just not true, if you go about it creatively and with an open mind.  Hopefully, some of the things I have learned over the past three years will be useful to others who are looking for other gamers.

Ron Edwards, the Walking Eye, and me!

Some of you might be familiar with Kevin Weiser's podcast, The Walking Eye.  Kevin's an old friend from Iowa State, and some time ago discovered I was involved in the Old School Renaissance.  It also happens that he knows Ron Edwards fairly well, so he thought it might be interesting to do an interview with both of us, talking about The Forge and the OSR and things related to all that.  So we did that.  It was a lot of fun!  Looks like the podcast will be available on Tuesday.  I'm hoping I don't sound too bad - we'll see!

Dwimmermount play

Over the past few months, I've been playing in James Maliszewski's Dwimmermount campaign on Google+.  We've tried to meet every other week for two hours, but it has been difficult at times to get everyone together.  But it has been very fun - and interesting - to see how everyone plays D&D slightly differently from each other.

Case in point: last night, in our fifth session, we discovered a small band of orcs.  Two of them were carrying a coffer of gold, and the rest were acting as guards.  We gained the surprise on them, but before my slightly wisdom-impaired warrior could charge to the attack, the magic-user in the party cast a Sleep spell and the orcs all keeled over snoring.  That's where things got interesting:

• What to do with the orcs?  In my gaming experience, the solution was simple.  The orcs were asleep, therefore go amongst them and administer a coup de grace to all of them, i.e. slit their throats.  But several of the other players seemed to have a different idea: tie up the orcs, strip them of arms and armor and leave them.  One of my compatriots argued for taking them back to town and turning them in to the local authorities.  Another idly suggested taking them back as "arena slaves."  I argued without success that all of these options seemed pretty weird, but I didn't press the point.  The orcs were tied up and stripped of their gear.
• What about the coffer of gold?  Although my character, Talys, was a fighter, I said that he was going to check for traps on the coffer and attempt to pick the lock.  One of the other players said, "But there isn't a thief in the party!  You can't check for traps!"  I demurred, saying:
  
  "That's not an Old School way of thinking about it.  Here - Talys will use his dagger to check along the edge of the coffer, seeing if there is anything suspicious.  If not, he will use the dagger tip to pick the lock.  If that fails, we can bash the lock open."
  
  Fortunately, James informed us that the coffer had only two simple hasps, and those were not locked.  I suggested placing the coffer so that it opened up facing a wall, which several of my fellow party-members thought was a bit paranoid.  Quickly enough, however, we opened the coffer using two spears, one from each side flipping the cover back.  Voila! Many, many gold pieces.  While the gold was being divided up, I said that my fighter was going to search for secret compartments in the coffer; there were none.

What made me think about it all afterwards was that we all came from different traditions when it came to how to do things.  The question about the sleeping orcs showed a lack of agreement about what "orcs" were really like and how "civilized" society viewed them.  The question about opening the coffer revealed several different sets of assumptions about how things worked in the game.  What was fascinating about this was the range of expectations about what was the "right" course of action to take.