News in Productivity

Johnny Rook Games is a go!

I've joined forces with someone to start a publishing company, and the first product is now for sale!  The 1e module Watchtower on the Hill can be purchased through Lulu, and the basics of a website have been put together.

When my business partner first approached me about a publishing company, it was several years ago, and the idea felt more like a pipe dream.  The more we talked about things, though, the more we liked the idea and thought we could realize it.  Even though we were woefully low on start-up funds, we talked about producing a game and threw some ideas back and forth.  We wanted to develop a full product before we tried to sell it.

Our biggest problem had been trying not to reinvent the wheel.  Every time we came up with a solution to a problem with game mechanics, we realized that it had been done already (or better) by previous products.  Then we saw what was happening in the self-publishing world and how that was being used to put out 1e material.  We were hooked in an instant, and we devoted our time to producing a few things for the growing community of traditional role playing enthusiasts!

Now, we still have a few tricks up our sleeves.  We spent a lot of time working angles, altering rule sets, clarifying mechanics, and tweaking what was left.  While the products we're putting out now are intended to be compatible with the OSRIC rules, we still plan on including original material.  It will be an evolutionary process, as we tidy up loose ends and fine tune the rules we've been working on.  In production right now is a new campaign setting that will include much of the hard work we've been putting in over the last few years.  These are products not for us, but for the hobby, and we can only hope that our small contribution helps push the hobby forward. 

This blog will continue as a separate entity from the Johnny Rook Games company, as I meditate or play around with ideas or games that have little or nothing to do with what the company publishes.  Go out and play games, everyone, and bring some new players into the fold.  Good gaming to you all!

Important Links:
Lulu
Johnny Rook Games
Watchtower on the Hill

Downtime

I wonder how odd it is to be writing about role playing games (on an admittedly low level of regularity), when I haven't played a game in over six months, and haven't played regularly in years.  I also wonder how much interest I really have in playing anymore, when the hobby has changed as much as it has.  On a deeper level, how much of my own attitudes toward the current trends come from nostalgia for something lost rather than as a critique of what is?

Despite the growing Traditional Gaming Movement, I don't see the hobby having much growth.  Most of the new products that spring up in support of refurbished old game products still carry the weight of postmodern computer gaming identity.  That is, the modules are designed with the writer's AWESOME STORY in mind rather than playability, and the smell of over-the-top 'dungeon-punk' (I wish I had coined that phrase) still lingers on those virtual pdf pages.  Small-press D20 books are on the wane, small-press old-school books are on the rise (at least in the print-on-demand internet markets), but nothing seems to be reaching out to new players.  It's all about sustaining what current players want to play.  And with simulations of Original D&D and First Edition AD&D, Second Edition is grossly underrepresented.

I know at least one person rejecting 'retro-clone,' the term that has been circulating among the adherents, as he wonders why we are referring to traditional gaming as such, or as 'old-school' style, when very little actual role playing occurs in this new style.  The shift, it seems, from playing the part of a type in favor of playing the part of an individual, is at the core of this difference of philosophy in games.  Based on what I have seen and experienced with contemporary art and literature, not to mention popular media, I agree with the objections to contemporary gaming.  It is more of a challenge to play the part of The Fighter than to play the part of Giaccomo Fenderharp, Battlesinger and Bladespinner.  I don't even know what the hell I just said, but I'm sure someone will think they can make that idea awesome with a bit of personalization.

This is a lot of the reason I don't play much anymore.  I can't find anyone that shares this philosophy of gaming.  Individuals are incredibly unreliable, while archetypes are as dependable as Old Faithful.  Deep in the pits of the Underdark, surrounded by beasts that have not seen the light of day for centuries, I cannot rely on Giaccomo Fenderharp for combat support.  I honestly have no idea what he can do, and I can't trust how necessary I am to him, since anything I can do, he can do better.  I would rather trust the longsword of Robert the Fighter, whose survival depends on me as much as mine depends on him.

OSRIC vs. AD&D, part II

My last post was my impressions of AD&D 1st edition, by way of character creation.  For this entry, I'll go through the OSRIC rules and make a character that way.  There are no statistic block standards for any of this, but the presentation needs to be modified somewhat from the standard AD&D form to allow for player-necessary information that doesn't show up in standard published statistics blocks and to highlight slight differences between OSRIC and AD&D.

Robertus Cordner: 1st-level Human Cleric; Strength 13, Dexterity 14, Constitution 16, Intelligence 7, Wisdom 18, Charisma 15; Hit Points: 3; Age: 22; Armor Class 4; Alignment: Neutral Good
Equipment: Scale mail, medium shield, heavy flail, sling, pewter holy symbol, heavy boots, tunic.
Physical Description: Slim; Height: 5'7"; Weight: 170 lbs.

Organization: I organized the statistics block above in pretty much the order that the OSRIC document walks a reader through character creation.  The only real difference is that the standard ability list (Strength, Dexterity, etc.) is organized before race and class, while I list them here afterwards.  Note the location of Age in the stat block above.  For most purposes, age tends to be almost unimportant or overlooked, and anyone else would shift it to the Physical Description area.  However, the OSRIC book puts an emphasis on age as related to class, rather than only race, and beginning age generation is listed there.  The AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide emphasizes age that way as well, but that information rests exclusively in the DM's tome.

Another thing a few purists might notice is how the standard ability list is out of normal order.  This actually makes a big difference when it comes to random character generation, and it can mean the difference between a character becoming a wizard or a thief, for example, because those prime-requisite scores are in different locations.  Robertus, up above, would have become a clumsy, durable, dwarf fighter if the order was standard.  However, this is only impportant in individual cases, and wouldn't make much difference to the way the game is played.

There is no dungeon master's section.  After years of play, like I said in my last post, the idea of one person controlling all information has become unrealistic.  The OSRIC rules, though, are not intended to be a complete and polished game in itself.  It is a collection of rules found in other places, gathered together for ease of reference, not necessarily for ease of use.  There are no collective tables that show me comparative bonuses and penalties of one race compared to others, either for ability scores or class limitations.  There are no tables that do the same thing for each class's armor and weapon permissions, hit dice, or weapon proficiency slots.  Scrolling through the OSRIC material to compare one thing to another to help make a desicion takes a long time.  This is a collection of rules for people who already know the rules.

There is also a tendency to organize things (spells, classes, treasure) alphabetically.  This, too, gets in the way of functionality.  When I'm looking at a choice between many spells of the same level, it is much easier to see them all in the same spot, rather than spread out all over the spell section.  When I have to scroll through a computer document, rather than flip through pages of a book, the problem increases.

Ironically, the only thing arranged by type is the monster section of the OSRIC rules, which was arranged alphabetically in the 1st edition Monster Manuals.  I suspect this has something to do with avoiding duplication of organization methods, but it is also a reflection of organizational and categorical style found in D20 products.  In fact, all of that alphabetizing of other sections is a D20 method of organization.  Despite the rules being similar to 1st edition, then, the organization in OSRIC suggests that those rules will be used in a different way - the D20 way.  A quick look at the new 1st-edition supportive material that is being published lately (under the 'compatable with OSRIC' banner) confirms that.  There is something about these products that make them decidedly NOT 1st-edition AD&D products, and the rules deviations are only a small reflection of that.

What's missing: It hadn't even crossed my mind until one of my cohorts pointed it out to me, but I found out later that the OSRIC set is missing rules on grappling.  For a player well-versed in the rules already, as this document seems to be directed to, that isn't much of a problem.  New dungeon masters or players, though, will find that the rules are either incomplete or rather bare-boned.  The response to this is two-fold: 1) the rules are left open so that interpretation of what rules are present can fit the situation; and 2) the compilers of OSRIC may have left out material they didn't care for or were afraid of crossing copywrite laws with.  What is most disturbing, though, is the lack of the monk character class and psionics.  Regardless of how poorly done one may claim the psionics rules in 1st edition (and 2nd) AD&D were, exclusion of them, and thus the monk character that possessed them, damages the general tone and overall atmosphere of an authentic 1st edition replication.

One more thing that bothers me is a result of avoiding lawsuits.  In an effort to not reproduce the AD&D method of organization for fear of copywrite infringement, the character classes are no longer organized by classes and sub-classes.  The paladin and ranger were sub-classes of the fighter, druid a sub-class of the cleric, illusionist a sub-class of the magic-user, and assassin a sub-class of the thief.  These are small distinctions when the rules still follow those general categories (the rules often repeat phrases like "uses the fighter's 'to-hit' table").  However, it does damage the new player's ability to think in those terms, and it adds a lot of extra material that doesn't need to be there.

All-in-all, it's nice to see 1st-edition material in use again, but I wonder about how it's being used.  If these rules are only going to be presented in the same way that 4th edition D&D is, and suggestions to use those rules in the same way, then why do we need a reprint of an old edition at all?  I contend that it is possible to do something else, and perhaps to respark an older method of play, but I don't know if anyone is open to the idea or would even know how.

Happy New Year, Happy New Characters

With a new year comes new possibilities.  I have been watching the Open Gaming License and retro-clone for a while now, and I thought I would do something special.  For the first post of the year, I will make two characters, let the dice fall where they may, one using First Edition AD&D, the second using the OSRIC rules that are an attempt to simulate (partially) the first edition rules.  It should be noted that the rules do not entirely match up, with some variation in character advancement and experience award, but I will do my best here.  I believe the OSRIC rules have later 1st edition Gygax rules sets in mind, rather than early stuff.  I have to make an effort to recover the orange-bound first edition players and dungeon masters manuals to help verify similarities, but for now I'm using the black-bound original cover books.

This post will be the AD&D character, the next post, in a day or two, will be an OSRIC character.  Once I go through both processes, I'll have something more profound to say about the similarities (besides the obvious ones) and differences between the two products.  I hope to discover something shocking!

Product: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook
Date: 1978 (6th printing)
Product #2: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide
Date: 1979 (Revised Edition)

Ailell Ruadh: 1st-level fighter/1st-level magic-user, elf; ST 12, IN 15, WS 13, DX 17, CN 13, CH 16; AC 5 (Dex, studded leather armor); Move 9"; HD 1; hp 2; #AT 1; Dmg 1-8 long sword, 1-6 short bow; SA spells (Jump, Read Magic, Shocking Grasp, Write), elf abilities; AL CG.
Equipment: Belt, Cloak, High soft boots, Iron rations (1 week), Large belt pouch, Large sack, Light riding horse with saddle and harness, Long sword, Oats (1 week horse feed), Rope (50'), Short bow and 2 dozen arrows, Saddle blanket, Small saddle bags, Studded leather, 4 gp.
Weapon Proficiencies: Long sword, short bow, staff, dagger; Secondary Skills: No skill of measurable worth; Age: 210; Height: 4' 8"; Weight: 98 lbs.

It took me almost an hour to make this character, partially because my first-edition character-making skills are somewhat rusty.  I noted that a lot of the character creation material is in the Dungeon Masters Guide.  Ability scores, for example, are discussed in the DMG to some extent, and the options are given to the DM as to which method to choose.  Because I wanted a fairly random development of character, I chose method III - roll 3d6 6 times for each ability and save the highest of each set.  That gave me a character with some high stats!  I was dismayed that I missed qualifying for a paladin by one point on Charisma!  Spell selection, too, was determined by random table in the DMG, but the rest I chose based on the scores I had generated and the fact that I didn't want to make another thief. 

My hit points were low (again!) and I didn't have an outrageously high Constitution to fix that problem.  This character is pretty well equipped, but could die easily in the first encounter.  It's a dangerous world out there!  Those high ability scores can only protect a character so far (in this case, with a two point bonus to AC).

At any rate, I see a tendency to keep some information out of the hands of the players.  Remember, this is a time when the world was created and designed by the DM, who was solely responsible for knowing the rules.  This gave the DM power to fudge those rules from time to time, usually in the player's favor (who wants their hour-long created character to come to a quick end on the first adventure?).  This also gives the players more focus on the story, moving through the world, and not worrying about a list of numbers or list of abilities.  Instead of only thinking about what their stat block tells them they can do, the players would actively engage the world and make decisions based on that engagement. In time, of course, players became knowledgeable of all the rules.  Maybe it was a little naive to think that everything would be kept secret from players, especially if they all had dreams of becoming DMs some day.  I suppose it did cut out the rules lawyers (and what a pain they can be), but I'm sure just as many DMs played the part of tyrant god-king too often...

All-in-all, I do know that this character (and the Basic D&D character I made for my last post) needs to find a party before he runs off into the unknown.  I see him as being a bit apprehensive in his early adventuring days, leaving some work to others, and he'll have a longer road to travel for advancement.  But that's an elf for you.