The Allure of Advanced Rules

When I first started playing table top, my introduction was Battletech. If you are familiar with the game you will know it has rules covering every action possible. Especially when you add in supplements like Tactical Operations, you truly do have a system with rules covering every conceivable circumstance. Therefore, when I got into role playing games, I assumed I needed a system that did just that. Most systems however were extremely complex or didn't make much sense to me.

At the time, 4th Edition was the current version of Dungeons & Dragons, so I looked into it. The game just didn't make much sense to me. The way the rules were laid out, and the powers and abilities were not logical to me. I was used to games that tried to be realistic, so having a powers system just felt strange, and wasn't something I wanted. After all, I was doing Viking Age reenactment back then, and I wanted a game that accurately portrayed combat.

Then I stumbled upon Runequest, and Basic Role Playing. It was brilliant! Everything you could possibly want to do was handled by a skill or attribute, and they were all rated as a percent chance. Roll under the percent score, and you succeed. It was a fantastic system, and to this day my preference for any game that is not medieval or fantasy. I had a lot of fun with Runequest, and played that almost exclusively.

I could remember back in my child being enamored by Dungeons & Dragons though. The episode of Dexter's Laboratory, with his miniatures and charts, and the magic of it all. Of course any other pop culture references made it seem all the more intriguing, such as on the Simpsons (or after I already was playing AD&D and saw it on Freaks and Geeks). I don't remember exactly why or how, but that intrigue lead to me searching for the original version of D&D. Sadly, I don't even recall where I discovered Swords & Wizardry, it may have even been a random google search one late night, but I found it. I was amazed.

Such a simple game, with so few rules conveying everything I need to play a fantasy adventure game. The artwork of the Swords & Wizardry: White Box rules I found were so retro, yet sparked my imagination so vividly. With that, I started one of my best long running campaigns, and of course many one shots and late night games with random friends.

It was such a blast, and when I found out I could use material from a variety of games and sources, I went mad with delight. However, I still stuck with OD&D. Why add a Barbarian class, when there's already a Fighter? I added the Thief because it was a fantasy classic, and I felt it was different enough from the Fighter. In those days, I only added spells, monsters, and treasures, not caring about properly converting. After all, with such as simple and low-power baseline, balance isn't really a concern. What's the harm in giving my 1d6 hit point players a +1 sword? They couldn't hit anything anyway.

Eventually I came across a copy of 1st Edition AD&D, and it re-ignited that intrigue I felt when I was a kid, and when I first found Swords & Wizardry. It was familiar, and I was already so comfortable with the OD&D rules, that adding the few tidbits found therein, seemed like no big deal. Drawing connections and acknowledging similarities I began to imagine the ways I could bridge the gap between editions, and make a unifying game (much like 5E said it was going to do).

Now, when you're playing a game, you (or at least me) start to think that it's the rules that make it fun. After all, with out the rules you'd just be playing pretend (I now realize the most noble of pursuits). If rules didn't matter, you could just play Monopoly like a dungeon crawl, right? At this time, in the late 2000's, early 2010's, there were so many cool retroclones, and supplemental materials. All of those lovely games and publications, had such "fun" rules. Rolling different combinations of dice, and "customizing" characters with special abilities felt "fun".

That's when the poison struck. For the last few years I had the game design bug. I mean if some rules were fun, wouldn't more fun rules be better? Don't get me wrong, this can be true, and some games do it really well. Battletech, as I first mentioned, really does have some cool rules. Some simpler games even, like Greymatter with it's variety of classes and races provide an excellent and elegant framework for adventuring.

Now a days though, it seems I've come full circle. I want a game that's about exploration, and problem solving. Why do I need a Barbarian Class? Why do I need more systems and sub systems? Aren't attack rolls, saving throws, and hit points enough? This doesn't mean I'm going to just play straight White Box (though I may), and I'm not completely averse to some extra character options, but I'm definitely more interested in a simple game.

Stay Zen my friends.