On sandboxes and Wilderlands Part 2

Last week I wrote about the influences of railroad and sandbox campaigns.  It's important to understand that creating a sandbox was sort of implied by the original rules of D&D.  You built your milieu as the players expanded their explorations and what you ended up with was a fleshed out world.

Very early in the hobby's lifespan a company called the 'Judges Guild' began producing licensed material for D&D.  What could be considered the first third party publisher for the game, they crafted a number of products that have shaped many player's game worlds and is still used today as the setting of many campaigns.  If you're not new to the hobby, you already know all about this but I think it's important to write about here.  My continuing theme of blog posts that are upcoming will reflect this.

In case you don't know the famous campaign setting I'm talking about, it's the Wilderlands of High Fantasy.  Though this isn't a review (it wouldn't feel right to try to review a piece of history like this) I want to discuss what made this book so incredible at the time.

For those who could not draw maps very well or hadn't quite developed the imagination to build whole regions of a world, this book was great.  Right as you open the book you find tables for rolling your d6, to randomly create caves, lairs, dungeon dressing, and more.  The real chunk of the book though, is the details of the campaign world itself.  As opposed to today's modern technique of publishing a 300+ page campaign setting book and numerous supplemental material, the Wilderlands itself was a 30-odd page digest packed full of useful tables and information.  It had a few sister-books that detailed other regions of the campaign setting but those too were relatively thin books.

Of course when I use the word 'detailed', I do so carefully.  There isn't much detail to be found here at all actually.  What you find is listing of cities with some rough statistics, as well as lairs/caves/encounters with descriptive text of what is going on at that location.  Their keyed location on the enormous map that came with the book was a great technique.  Not only did you have a huge map of hexes ready-to-use, but you already had city names, adventure hooks, and more already placed and easily referenced.  As opposed to the book painstakingly describing each city and region, these details are largely left to the DM to flavor in the way they choose.  Is Telegonist of Kest the ruler because he used his magic to enslave the villagers?  Or is it because they revere him as a god?  It's up to the DM and the players to paint the story here.

What this has led to is a number of different 'Wilderlands' settings exist, each personalized by the DM.  One of these I'll be discussing in a future post, but I really think this was part of the magic of the Wilderlands.  Sure more material would detail the City-State of the Invincible Overlord and other areas, but this book by itself could be used for endless gaming hours.

Now the format of the book could be considered a little cluttered and disorganized to the modern eye, but I would still recommend taking a gander at the book's contents.  The best part is, it's still available as a PDF!  Not to mention a large sampling of other Judges Guild classics.

Whew, I still write a lot.  The importance of the Wilderlands as a ready-made sandbox will be illustrated more as I continue my theme of sandboxes and campaign settings on this blog.  Next post, I'll be reviewing a product very relevant to this blog post.  Should be fun.   

On sandboxes and Wilderlands Part 1

Happy new year everyone!  I'm a week late but hey, holiday travel keeps you busy.  Before the holidays hit my last blog entry was about a decent hex grid I constructed in order to create campaign maps.  There was a particular purpose for this, which will be covered in new blog entries forthcoming.  For awhile there is going to be a running theme to my blog posts, mostly to do with campaign setting design.  Also, as a new years resolution, I want to bring write more reviews for the blog.  I have a large amount of gaming material I could review, some that I've used in my games and some I've just read through.  I actually have a review in the works I hope to push out very soon.  ANOTHER resolution is to try to make my blog posts shorter and cut them up across several smaller posts for easier digestion.  We will see if I can keep to that, I'm very long-winded.

Now that all that is out of the way let's get into the topic at hand.  Lately I've been into sandboxes.  In the OSR world and old-style play there is a good amount of focus on the sandbox.  I experienced it a long time ago but in the modern gaming scene railroading seems to be pretty prevalent.  I liken it to the MMORPG scene, where games like WOW and SWTOR feel very railroad-y (or in mmo terminology, amusement park style).  You go where the game expects you to go and everyone is along for the ride too.  Compared to say, the old Star Wars Galaxies MMO around first release (which I LOVED), which was a sandbox.  You went where you wanted, when you wanted, and the most important part: you made your own fun. 

When I think about the games I used to run when I was in high school and relatively new to the hobby, my adventures were very railroad-y.  This was okay, as my players were introduced to RPGs by me and it's all they knew.  A little structure helped them get their feet wet.  However, I didn't have much developed and had they wanted to go their own way I wouldn't have been able to do much.  There was a few occasions where I winged it, made up stats on the fly for things, but this was D&D 3.5 where things were supposed to be balanced.  Though those skills of crafting on the fly would help me today (throwing together HP, attack, and XP values), it didn't lend itself well to that system.

Paizo's Pathfinder Adventure Paths are pretty good railroad adventures.  Many of them allow for some sandboxing and working outside the rail-lines but there is always the overarching railroad.  Most published modules are like this, really.  There is an expectation of what is going to happen.  By contrast having a good sandbox developed means the world is at the player's feet and it is up to those players to 'make their own fun' and do what they want to do, not what you as the DM want them to.

Just some thoughts and for any grognard reading this I'm preaching to the choir, I know.  Long-winded again, but tune in next time when I talk a little more about sandboxes and one of the most famous old school settings in the hobby's history.

WotC announcement and what it means for the OSR

Yesterday, during my usual rounds of checking blogs and looking for GenCon news, I came across this post from Mythmere (Matt Finch).

It seems along with some D&DNext announcements WotC has stated that starting next year they will be releasing the back catalog of D&D products from 'all editions' in electronic format.

What?!

The first thing that that came to mind was "wow I can't believe they are actually doing something people want".  Now forums across the RPG community are discussing what this will mean, whether the electronic format will be PDF or some sort of other DRM format.  Even if it were the case, I think this is a great thing.  WotC will presumably be making available classic modules like the GDQ series and the original Ravenloft.  My heart flutters at the thought of Dragonlance materials being attainable.

Of course, a lot of this material is already available out there in the internet, but WotC is giving a legal path to getting these materials.  Having once removed their PDF materials years before, perhaps they have realized any lost revenue is already lost and it's time to get some sales.  I suppose this will be their revenue stream for the D&D brand while D&DNext is in development for 2 years.  I only hope the quality of whatever scans or re-doctoring they do is good.  I also hope they don't quit part way through this endeavor.  One has to ask, what qualifies as material that can be reprinted?  Are all the 2E splatbooks going to be released?  Does Basic/BECMI D&D count as an edition?  I guess we'll have to wait for more news.

All this said, this puts the OSR in a precarious position.  Those who have been using the original books for years will have access to electronic versions and other official material for their games.  This is mostly a good thing.  Though it will also mean a division and possible marginalization of those who have been independently writing their own old school materials that work with the game rules as represented by the retro-clones.  It will be a balancing act I think for those in the OSR.  For someone like me who hasn't experienced a lot of the old material first hand, I'll be heavily interested in checking out some of the iconic legacy items.

The final consideration is that for retro-clones.  In the past few years they have served as vehicles for developing material for the old editions of D&D and getting quality prints of said rulesets into gamers' hands.  My book shelf is already lined with some of them.  With this announcement one wonders what the future of these retro-clones will be.  With the 'official' versions available again in some format, some people may just use those.  However, until we understand what we can do with printing out our electronic copies or some Print-On-Demand solution, I think the print versions of the retro-clones may see a surge.   I know I'd rather have a book at the gaming table and the print retro-clones provide a cheap alternative.  If you were to buy the AD&D reprints, all 3, it would cost well over $100 US dollars.  By comparison, the OSRIC rulebook costs only $26 and contains most of the relevant rule information for that ruleset.

The way I plan on doing things is leveraging the compatibility of all the old rulesets.  AD&D and the original books (which are translated as Swords & Wizardry) are close enough in terms of rules that I can run nearly any Basic/BECMI or AD&D module with S&W.  I'll continue to support the S&W ruleset, while getting some of the materials from WotC.   

I was once loath to give WotC any more money after 4E came out, but it seems WotC is just wily enough to find a way.    

Thoughts on Old School Rules vs New

To follow up on a point I made in my previous 'Introduction' post, there is a fundamental difference between the way old school and new school rule-sets approach a character frameset.

When I first started playing RPGs starting with 2E Dungeons & Dragons, I had no real concept for how the game should be played.  I understood fantasy tropes to a point so when it came time to create my very first character, I tried to come up with something 'cool'.  Prior to me ever playing or understanding D&D my uncle Bob would tell me about how he and my cousins would stay up late at night when they were younger and play a game with dice and graph paper.  He had a character named 'White Cloud', a reference to his imposing stature and tendency to wear white shirts I would later find out.  When I made my first character I named him Gray Cloud as a tribute of sorts.  I assumed my uncle's character was good, but since my character was going to be a chaotic neutral thief, 'Gray' seemed more apt.  Gray Cloud wore a black trench-coat lined with daggers on the inside.  He had a preference for throwing daggers, or so I envisioned.

Since this was 2nd edition, there was no 'character builds' to look up.  I simply had his attributes and some of the Thief ability percentiles (open lock, move quietly, etc.).  When I joined the party the rest of the group were of varying levels but I was the squishy level 1.  I could count my hit points on one hand.  My friend Bruce was the DM and happened to roll his dice in front of us for the most part.  In my character's very first battle, against an ogre, my strategy of going for the backstab was a faulty one.  The ogre didn't like my backstab, not one bit, and proceeded to attack me.  Natural 20, in front of everyone. Bruce was ruling a natural 20 was double damage, and with that, Gray Cloud poofed into a very big puddle of blood.  Max damage was rolled.  Oh dear.  Bruce felt bad but hey, it happens.  I rolled up a new thief, a chaotic good one (karma?), presented myself happily to the party, and was accepted.  This character even got Gray Cloud's old stuff.  I liked that trench-coat.

No what does that experience have to do with my original point?  Well consider that experience.  I created a character with a concept (trenchcoat wearing knife thrower), he indeed had a bit of personality, did not use a 'build' as modern gamers would be used to, and he was unceremoniously obliterated in his first combat.

Had this experience been done in a modern ruleset, such as 3.5 D&D or Pathfinder, I would have been worrying about what feats and skills might have fit the character concept or abandoned it entirely to use a good 'build'.  I think the 'build' mentality comes from the fact 3.x plays well with a video gamer attitude and those who play WoW or Diablo will know that good 'builds' are the key to victory.

Modern gaming also seems to support the idea (at least PF does) that the characters should succeed because they are the player characters, the heroes, for which the story and world revolve around.  Granted this is usually left up to the DM, but the feeling I get from most others in the hobby who play PF is that is the standard.  A character is something precious with a detailed back story and likes/dislikes planned out far in advance of the campaign starting.

Of course, when such a character dies, the player is quite upset.  All that work for naught.  What if the solution is to just create the character and let the character evolve during play?  These days, when I roll a a character regardless of ruleset, I give him one or two personality traits and go with it.  As the game progresses and it turns out my character has some survivability, maybe I can expand his personality.  At low levels where characters are fragile, I think it's best to leave them as mostly blank slates, as I like to think I did for Gray Cloud.

I greatly enjoy the concept in Old School Rules that the PC's are just people, somewhat extraordinary, but aren't really heroes just because 'they are PC's and that's what PC's are'.  They BECOME heroes over the course of the game.  I've always been irked by players who create characters who happen to be 'royal heirs' or 'have an important destiny they don't quite understand'.  Really?  I'm sorry that pitfall was your character's important destiny.  I guess it's a matter of preference, but my characters have always been nobodies who just MIGHT achieve greatness. Might.  Probably not.  But might.

I think this is where the idea that Old School is typically more gritty than New School.  The Old School of Thought can maybe be a 'realistic' world where people die and so often, considering the dangerous circumstances of adventuring.  New School of Thought is that the game is the player's fantasy of heroics, where everyone gets what they want or close to it, in terms of storytelling.  I think both schools have their place and use.  This is probably why I will continue to play both Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder. 

Okay, that's enough rambling for now.  A lot of this is anecdotal and somewhat opinionated, I'd love to hear others' thoughts.  

An Introduction

Hello!  Somehow you have stumbled upon this blog and it is my duty to introduce myself as well as the purpose of this blog.

Though there are many tabletop RPG blogs out there, the most fascinating to me have always been the OSR blogs.  For those not in the know, OSR stands for Old School Renaissance or Old School Rules.  I could try to explain the OSR movement in depth but I think this post at Hack & Slash does a great job.  There is also a great definition of terms here.

Most of those who write those blogs are veterans of the hobby, having played over the course of many decades.  I, on the other hand, have only lived a little over two.  I'm one of the ever growing number of new-grognards.  Those who may not have been around for the Old School Rules but find that they work wonderfully to meet our gaming needs.

Many of my blog posts will be about the OSR and the products and projects associated with it.  I must admit though that I still have connections to modern rulesets and may include thoughts and opinions on various other things.  I have been a pretty loyal fan of Paizo Publishing the last few years and have been playing Pathfinder almost exclusively until the OSR movement came to my attention.

I think this sums things up, feel free to check out other posts on this blog.  For those a little more interested in me, read on as I describe my gaming history and why OSR is such an amazing thing.

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My first interaction with D&D came when I somehow got one of my parents to purchase the 3rd Edition (3.0) starter set from the local book store in the mall when I was much younger.  I had no true knowledge of D&D at the time but the cover (adventurers busting through a door running from a red dragon) seemed pretty awesome and still has an impression on me.  I sort of understood the rules, but alas had no one to play with.  The set came with punch out tokens that I still have on my bookshelf today.

It wasn't until a few years later in high school that I approached a few people from school who I knew to have been playing the game.  By this time I had learned a lot about the hobby via the internet but had yet to play.  Those people became great friends and I still miss playing D&D with on Sundays.  Having moved to the West Coast from PA, I don't get to see them often.  The oddity was that though 3.0 (and soon to be 3.5) were the current editions of the biggest name in tabletop RPGs, my group played 2nd Edition.  This seemed to be because one particular friend had a big box of the books, gathered over years of play by his dad and uncle.  My starter box was left in my closest (though I still have the original dice) as I learned and played 2nd Edition for awhile.

I think this had an impact on my expectations from an RPG.  2E was an evolution of AD&D 1E, with only some slight differences.  The problem was that I did not have the books themselves, so it was hard to keep up with things or get a strong knowledge of different concepts with no book to refer back to.  With my paltry income as a youth I purchased the 3.5 core rulebooks, and from there spent years playing 3.5 in the rest of high school and college.  I even ran my own games for quite awhile.  Managed to get a number of my high school's football team into the hobby, much to my delight.  It helped that I played football and it was a small school.  The Lord of the Rings films were a nice incentive as well.

Eventually 4E was released and I, like many others, chose not to jump ship.  Though many people had spent many years with 1E and 2E before the change to 3.x, I had only spent a handful of years enjoying the system before it stopped being supported.  I didn't like the rule design of 4E either.  It was then that Paizo and Pathfinder hit my radar and for the past few years I've been supporting them and the system.  I've been to PaizoCon 3 years in a row and plan on continuing to do so.

The only thing was I always had an itch for something I couldn't quite describe until now.  Something I had missed since my first foray into gaming.  It was the free-form playing, the reliance on character action and not just character sheet.  It was the story being created by the players and characters.  Characters who are not invincible superheroes but slightly above average folks doing some amazing things.  I'll write more about this in my next post, but upon realizing OSR was the road to this feeling, I've acquired a print OSRIC book, the AD&D re-prints, Dark Dungeons, and soon Swords & Wizardry.

I plan on running S&W games soon, with Pathfinder and S&W being my main rulesets going forward.  Both games offer different experiences and I see value in both.

If you made it this far, I commend you.  Thanks for reading, I hope this post clears up who I am as a gamer.  If this blog interests you, be sure to check out the other OSR blogs and websites!