I don't know where to start with this one. I'll just dive in: I don't think my generation can play old school D&D. I think I've talked about this before. Playing yesterday really cements my thought on this. I tried running a really Arneson-style, weird fantasy game yesterday. I pretty much turned into rules light Pathfinder.
Don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun yesterday. Taking inspiration from a lot of the games I heard about in the great lakes area, especial Dave Arneson's games, and really taking to heart the little quip (I think it's in the LBB's) that players can play WHATEVER they want, I let the player's have at it.
One player had a really cool idea, that was truly new and unique: She played an old testament Angel. Not like a beautiful person with wings, but the sphere of rings, on fire, covered in eyes. It was interesting to referee her actions, but over all it was cool. We decided she was made of ectoplasm, a sort of ghost, and that all her attacks were essentially unarmed, and just her shaping her ectoplasm in creative ways.
However, everyone else was just modern fantasy tropes: A couple "benders" like in Avatar (a fire bender and air bender), a Witcher (like Geralt), a Werwolf, etc. I have no problem with this, but I think I'm just tired of "creativity", because it's not feeling very creative. I don't blame the players, and we all had fun, but I think people now a days just aren't well read enough to play old school D&D, in this style. The media everyone is exposed to is just over the top, fireball slinging, magic as technology stuff. It's fine if that's what you're into, but there's already Pathfinder and Exalted if you want to play Medieval X-Men.
Which leads me to something that's been bugging me lately: Dungeon World and D&D 5E. I've heard so many reviews, and play reports of these games, that really bug. They talk about how creative they get to be, and how it's so "roleplaying" focused. How they don't have to just attack in every encounter. My two thoughts are: Why not just play old school D&D? The other thought: How is playing a fireball shooting, flying Druid creative, when everyone is doing that?
I don't know, I could go into a long rant, but I think anyone who would read this blog already feels the way I do about this. People can say that old school D&D is written to vaguely or obtusely, and that DW/5E is great because it really codifies the "game as a narrative experience", but all of the OSR games, even Microilte74 (for example), and the numerous blogs and player's have been saying this for ages. I just don't get it. It just annoys, because for the longest time, the OSR was treated with a lot of hostility from mainstream gaming, now they're hijacking our playstyle and claiming it for themselves, acting like they're so innovative.
The thing is, they're not playing old school. They're not being creative. They're just playing Super Heroes in Medieval Times. Sure you're describing your fire attack with a lot of detail, but you can't think to hide in the pile of leaves? Or run a rope across the causeway to trip the enemy as they run by? I'm not being very creative right now, but I think you'll get my point.
Just as one example, I read a Dungeon World play report where the players had rigged a "Magical electricity bomb" to a ballistae. How is that creative? You're just using Magic to replace technology, making EMP artillery. One of my players rigged a ballistae to shoot nets. I think that's a bit more creative: It's solving problems within the confines of the scenario you are placed into.
Anyway, I think I'm just kind of going to give up on running old school D&D in any sort of "creative" or "imaginative" way. At least on the player's side. I've decided I'm either going to run more historical games in the future, because I enjoy them, or run by the book OD&D/AD&D if I really want fantasy. I'm just tired of this generations interpretation of fantasy and adventure. At least I know I enjoy running pseudo-historical games, and I can get into that. With OD&D/AD&D by the book, I may not get to play Arneson, Arduin, or even Runequest syle games with Psychotic Duck men, and half-Alligator-half-Frog races, but I could at least throw them at players as monsters. Maybe forcing players to be confined to more "human" roles would encourage them to actually think outside of the box.
I'm also just kind of sick and tired of magic. A purely medieval game would certainly solve that problem, allowing me to slip in magic on my own terms, making it rare and truly special. If I ever do run fantasy games in the future, I actually think they will look more like the Witcher or Dark Souls series. Those are honestly a couple pieces of modern fantasy, that I think hit the root of what makes old school so fun. They are difficult, and you're character isn't some superhero, just a guy trying to survive. I've always enjoyed magic from games like the Witcher more anyway, such as in Runequest, or the Sword of Truth/Legend of the Seeker series. I think a Wizard's fire ball shouldn't be a firestorm of Hell on Earth, just a fire ball. That's plenty fantastic in and of itself.
More so, I think I'd like to actually start running some games that are actually different than what everyone else offers now a days. I had hoped that could be OD&D the way it was played back in the day. I still could, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Carcosa, and many other OSR games, show that's still viable. It just seems to me (from play experience now) that it's entirely up to the Referee to make it work, and honestly I just don't see enough people now a days understanding those kinds of games. My first play group understood it pretty well, but then again we all grew up on the same shows, books, and even did Medieval reenacting together.
I think I want to make some interesting campaign settings I haven't seen yet, like a blend of Samurai and Vikings, or make a Medieval RPG that sticks around for a while. I think Ars Magica is gone, and games like Blue Rose are cool, but I haven't heard anything from them in a while, though I think Dark Albion may be what I'm looking for. More importantly, I want to start making settings/adventures/games that emphasize the fantasy materials I grew up with: Robin Hood, Arthurian Legend, Fairy Tales, Historical Fantasy, Redwall, etc...
Anyway, stay Zen guys.
No comments:
Post a Comment