I did get some positive feedback and response, so I won't delete my blog. If even one person wants to use this site as a reference piece, for whatever reason or material, I'm not going to deprive them of that. I will probably post less frequently though. I have a job again, which is always nice.
Anyway, I'm definitely losing interest in any sort of publication process or sharing my rules in any sort of official way. It's become apparent to me that I'm so far under the radar, that even if I didn't do things the right way and just sort of shared my house rules as is, I don't think anyone important would notice. I'm by no means condoning copyright violation, or plagiarism; I just don't think I'm going to try very hard to be OGL compliant, or worry too much if I write something too similar to something else.
On to the point of this. For a while now, I've had this growing fascination with proto-Role playing games, if they can so be called that. I suppose, in my mind, since D&D was the first role playing game (that we acknowledge at least), any sort of dungeon crawling board game, or fantasy adventure game reminds me of D&D. Honestly OD&D was sort of proto-D&D to most people (to me it IS D&D, and everything else is derivative, but that's splitting hairs). I suppose I should say, then, that I've had a growing fascination with that early 70's, pioneering of fantasy adventure gaming.
Games like The Fantasy Trip, Dungeon!, and Arduin, have really been capturing my imagination and fascination lately. I've mentioned the Arduin Grmoires before, and it was most definitely my inspiration for my latest naming convention, and it is definitely a heavy (though not necessarily rules-heavy), in depth game supplement. TFT and Dungeon! on the other hand are very rules-lite, fantasy themed "games". Both technically qualify as board games, Dungeon! without a doubt, and TFT was a "micro-game". What I love about both of them, is that there rules fit into about 8 pages (or less) of digest sized booklet.
That's just Awesome.
A complete game, in so few pages, that provides near endless fun and possibilities, and to the creative and adventurous, a game that can basically be played like a role playing game if you really want. At the very least they satisfy that dungeon crawl itch, without being the hassle that a full role playing game is. OD&D is easy and simple enough, but you still have to have a dedicated play group, character creation, and lots of charts and tables, as well as some monster/treasure/spell descriptions that are quite lengthy.
A couple of guys have already taken a similar approach, namely Microtlie20 and Searchers of the Unknown, are two I know rather well. I'm thinking of taking the concept further. Not really making a role playing game at all, but just a game. You know, like monopoly, like you used to play when you were a kid. Before everything had to be serious.
I just want a game where I can kill stuff, take the gold, and kind of mind numbingly pillage the catacombs of the undead. Why not. I'm basically thinking of taking D&D (all of it) and just stripping away anything that's not directly combat or treasure related. Anything that can't be abstracted, or distilled to a useful game ability gets scrapped. There will obviously be specific mechanics laid out for certain dungeon situations, like traps, but there will be no attempt at all-encompassing or universal rules. There will also be little in the way of out of combat abilities, because it's just going to be game.
I'm still mulling over ideas, I'll post more as I work on it. I already have a mapping/movement system planned out, as well as ideas for the Thief, Fighter, Dwarf, Halfling, and Elf. Spell casters will be a bit of a problem, though I'm thinking of making them just buy scrolls and be done with it, as that's essentially what Dungeon! does, and it seems to work out well.
I'm thinking every creature will have a stat block that's just this: Hit Dice, Defense, Attack, Saving Throw, Experience Points. I'm not sure if I want to tie treasure to monster type yet; I'm thinking just a flat percent chance (or dice range) for every monster to have treasure, or something like that.
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