Is There Anything Wrong with AD&D?

I came across an old website (last modified in 2002) explaining the problems in the AD&D system.  I have heard these arguments before, and to be frank, I've had a lot of the same concerns.  It's funny, though, that when I have sat down to work on developing a game system of my own, I often realize that solutions to apparent problems in the mechanics I am developing are dealt with easily by AD&D rules.  What I've found, more often than not, is that the seeming inconsistencies with the game are usually the result of my own misunderstanding of either the rules or the concepts behind them.  Furthermore, I also realize that despite my preference for older games, I am still a product of the threshold of fantasy storytelling as a preference to adventure gaming.  To be honest, most of the things that are criticized in the AD&D game come from a different style of play and the incompatibility of that play with older game systems.  Furthermore, the older style of play is seen as something that was less refined than today's style of gaming, when that simply isn't the case.  Others more insightful than myself have pointed out that contemporary roleplayers are unable to play in the old style while older gamers have no problem moving between the two.  To me, that suggests that the contemporary style is less refined than the older.

However, it is important that even us older roleplayers look back on the rules systems that we enjoy so much and remind ourselves why they worked so well in the first place and what their intentions were.  To that end, in the next few posts, I'll address some of the issues that Mark Damon Hughes points out on his website (the same one I mentioned earlier).  For the sake of argument, let this first post be a response to his Manifesto.  I believe that most of his criticisms result from a combination of 1) a lack of information about the function of the rules and 2) a completely incompatible playing style with vastly different expectations.  I do want to point out that Mark's criticism and commentary are neither ignorant nor inarticulate.  He makes some good, valid points (and as I said earlier, ones that I have made before, myself).  I even applaud his intentions of contributing to the ongoing process of refining and raising up the hobby.  He just wants something out of AD&D that isn't there and was never intended to be there.  Gary Gygax even noticed the perspective that Mark represents, and Gary had implied on more than one occasion that he intended the game to be played in a certain way that newer and newer players did less and less.  In short, AD&D may not stand up as a purely storytelling game (as the term storytelling is defined by contemporary rpg players), nor does it exist as the height of unadulterated combat-focused gaming.  AD&D is a roleplaying game, and the best of them. 

Related Links
Mark Damon Hughes: RPG: What's Wrong with AD&D?
Lulu download: A Quick Primer for Old School Gaming

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.

First Post - The Hobby

I believe that a hobby is an area to excel in. Whatever hobby we choose, if we choose one at all, we strive for creating something with skill and confidence. A hobbyist approaches their interest with passion and a critical eye, because elevating the hobby, either for themselves or for the hobby's overall community, is the primary goal. Even those hobbies that are entirely self-contained or have evolved into a form that is standard or static require the personal dedication of individual hobbyists to maintain a level of quality and craftsmanship. And really, it's the craftsmanship that goes into a hobby that is the end itself. Once long ago, the artisan created with his hands something of beauty and refinement, something that was both aesthetically pleasing and functional. The cobbler, the smithy, the tailor. In an industrialized age, faster production replaces time and skill, even if the end product is of a lower quality.

The Roleplaying Game is no exception. A single major corporation has assumed control of most of the hobby, turning it into an industrialized industry. Perhaps this is how it should be, or must be - progress will progress. Still, the small-press roleplaying game is suffering, both in sales and in development. However, most of the small-press roleplaying games are minimal, offering only a few core rulebooks and a handful of supplements. Of course the industry giant, with its ability to flood the market at a fast pace, is going to overshadow the basement-run small business. But the result of this is that the industry wanes, the hobby slows down, and ideas are either underdeveloped or have nowhere to go.

Regardless, I'm a hobbyist. I shied away from roleplaying for a while because I didn't like the state it was in. But I can't help it; I'm drawn to it. I have an itch to roleplay, create, write, develop, and watch an isolated group experience unfold. I have a need to contribute to this hobby despite how I currently feel about it because I know its potential and I enjoy it on a personal level. To that end, I'll be working on developing my own roleplaying game, while posting thoughts and ideas about roleplaying and roleplaying games here on this blog.

I hear people talk about roleplaying as a return to oral tradition, the passing around of stories around a primitive fire. I like that idea, and I believe that there is something to it. I tend, however, to avoid simple escape into fantasy to avoid thinking about the real world. Escapism should be a method of learning about the real world in an abstract setting or temporary space, much like real oral tradition. In those stories, there was always a subtle or subconscious relationship between the stories and the world outside. The listener would take these stories with them into the world and keep them in mind when they encountered real life situations. While full, isolated escapism can be an empowering thing in the real world, giving the participant the strength to endure a harsh world long enough to return to fantasy, it can also be an addiction and poor substitute for actually confronting problems.

This is all heady stuff, and I admit that I'm no psychologist or therapist. I don't intend to fix anyone's personal problems just by writing or just running a roleplaying game. But I believe that the more separated from reality a game (or anything for that matter: movies, television, books) becomes, the less easy it is for the participants to relate it to the real world. There may be no problem inherent to that issue, but for those who dedicate themselves so wholly to the hobby, like myself, their ability to comprehend and function in the world outside will slip away unless the hobby can reflect it in some way. This problem isn't isolated to roleplaying, though it gets the worst reputation for it. The same can be said for model train builders, coin collectors, and fantasy footballers. In fact, these other hobbies in and of themselves have almost no relation to human interaction outside their respective groups. Roleplaying, on the other hand, is all about human interaction, and if that interaction is abstracted and played with on an honest and realistic level, regardless of how many unrealistic fantasy elements are introduced, then the roleplayers have the opportunity to develop themselves and grow as human beings and members of the society as a whole.

Well, that's all I have for now. I have some ideas specific to roleplaying, particularly the aspect of the game I am writing, to discuss in later posts.