Recently, I got into the tabletop Dragon Age RPG from Green Ronin. One of the reasons I like it is because it invokes an old school feel, in presentation and play. This got me thinking about the old school renaissance again. Last year I was looking into this stuff, until I got sidetracked. But between really enjoying Dragon Age and seeing Swords & Wizardry (a retro-clone of OD&D--if your not sure what I mean here, check out this episode of TGTT) being run at the most recent Tucson RPG Guild gathering, my interest is piqued again.
If you aren't sure how to quantify what old school is, check out Matthew Finch's excellent A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming. If Matt's essay doesn't make you want to play in a dungeon crawl or build a dungeon, or at least make you think about the way your play, feel free to ignore my posts with the "old school" label.
On a related note, I picked up the PDFs of Goblinoid Games' Labyrinth Lord Revised (LL) and Advanced Edition Companion (there are free "no art" versions, but buy the full art versions--totally worth it). LL is a retro-clone of early-80s Basic D&D, and the Companion allows you to add AD&D-style character depth to the simpler basic rules. I had a customer service-oriented issue, which I brought up to Dan Proctor, the man behind Goblinoid. That was last night. This morning, he not only got back to me, but he totally solved my problem. I'm decently sure Dan had no idea who I was when he got my email, so I can only assume this is how he treats everyone. Either way, I told him I'd spread the word on his awesome service, so here it is. Thanks again, Dan!
Dan is the man when it comes to customer service; and he writes a mean book to boot! Glad to see you're digging LL and the Companion!
ReplyDeleteHey Steve, I'm also digging that art!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Labyrinth Lord link. I had seen it last year and meant to read it but got distracted by Savage Worlds.
ReplyDeleteI popped over the Matthew Finch's Old School booklet. That is a great read. THAT is how my group plays. His Zen moments are spot on. Rulings rule. Rules are guides not policemen. Zen #2 is fantastic. Describing not only what you are doing but HOW you are doing it is key in my book for excellent play and story. #3 is good. I like the Batman analogy. Player characters should not be invincible and should always have a chance to fail. Because failing can lead to great story and be fun. (Ask Timmy Whitebread. Ouch!) #4 - game balance. I never worry about this. Life is unbalanced and life is what you are playing when you are playing an rpg. Sometimes you need to run.
His tips for players and GM's are excellent. The best one - "Focus on making the situations fun, not on making them properly run."
Nuff said.
tomg
The DM who ran the Swords & Wizardry session at the Tucson RPG Guild, runs the regular campaign that I play in. He writes about the campaign and other old school gaming topics at on his blog: http://warlockshomebrew.blogspot.com/
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