Blast From The Past

No, I am not talking about Dio again.

Last Friday I didn’t get to blog (or write!) as much as I would have liked because I hung out with my old buddy Rob. Rob and I first met in preschool at the age of 4 and we went to the same Catholic grade school till 8^th grade before going our separate ways in high school. We saw each other a little during those years, and after college we had a brief music collaboration (I’ve sang with/for a half dozen or eight bands over the years…hey, Seattle, remember?) in a little rock outfit I like to describe as Gothic-Funk. I don’t remember if it had a name, we never got through more than a few jam sessions before the drummer got married (or something similar) and the keyboardist went off to grad school or some such.

Anyway, Rob joined a monastery (I like to say he became a priest, but he really was only a “Brother” of the Dominican order), and Friday was only the second time I’d seen him since 1997 or so. Ah, Facebook…so nice for re-connecting...

Rob is no longer with the Dominicans…he’s kind of on a temporary, self-imposed exile from the Church while he gets his head on straight. Trying out life in the “real world” so to speak (though still under vows) while he decides whether he truly is called to the ministry. I mean, he’s certain he’s called to a spiritual life, but perhaps not as a monk.

So we had a beer (and a whiskey) over lunch and talked about things and what’s been going on, and I revealed all about my newly re-claimed interest in RPGs and blogging, etc.. and he is totally down! Which is to say, supportive and encouraging.

Not to mention, more than a little interested in doing some play-testing and/or Old School gaming.

Totally cool…another adult that wouldn’t mind getting together (except these days I’m better at setting up Social Contract…ha!). Rob was never much of a D&D player…coming from a family of deeper religious fervor than my own (did I mention the priest thing?) I think he and his parents were smart enough not to take the whole "D&D is the Devil" -thing too seriously, but wary enough not to touch it themselves with the proverbial ten foot pole.

Though he did play on occasion…generally with horrific (for his character) results.

See, there is nothing "gamist" about Rob. Wait, let me back-up a moment. While he was not much of a D&D player, there were plenty of games he and I DID play. Old School (original black book) Traveller, which he owned. Star Wars D6 (which I owned). The James Bond RPG (which his FATHER owned, being a Bond aficionado). And war games too, including the original Starship Troopers, and Axis & Allies. I’m sure there were others I’m forgetting, too.

In fact, I am pretty sure that Rob is responsible for my introduction to West End Games in general, and one of the folks responsible for me not being totally TSR-centric (the other would be my buddy Scott, whose love of FASA games like BattleTech and Shadow Run also helped me “break the mold”). For that, I salute the guy heartily.

Now back to what I was saying…there’s nothing gamist about Rob. I told him about my reading and research into RPGs and gaming over the last few years, including a lot of the theory-hammer stuff from over at the Forge, and Rob was immediately intrigued. He himself always had a difficulty with the “traditional” game-play of many games (ESPECIALLY D&D). We both agree the guy’s creative agenda is of the narratavist variety, perhaps with a little "sim" thrown in for flavor. But this makes perfect sense.

After all, Rob was always interested in telling stories. He is/was a writer (of the creative variety) from a young age, using his paper route money to buy a typewriter for himself early on so he could work on short stories. In high school he submitted regularly to publications and writing contests, and (I believe) the need for telling a good story led to him having (in RPG game play) a distinct “um, I really don’t know what to do here” paralysis. If you see the POTENTIAL of RPGs to tell “collaborative stories” but the rest of your party is simply trying to overcome an obstacle, whatcha’ going to do? Well, in practice, you usually become the fodder/distraction/human sacrifice the rest of the group needs.

The idea of playing a game that actually addresses premise (a la Sorcerer) or that rolls dice to determine success of a goal rather than a task (a la Maelstrom) was a mind-opening idea to ol’ Rob. It got him a little excited.

Of course, Rob is a geezer like me (he turns 35 this month) so his mind of course wanders to the “good old games” of yesteryear. “You know what I wouldn’t mind playing sometime?” he asks. “Traveller. I really thought that was a great game with a lot of potential.”

So I quickly whipped out my copy of Mongoose’s new edition of Traveller. “It’s much like the original version we played as kids, except you’re not nearly as likely to die during character creation.” Rob thought THAT was a novel innovation in and of itself. We may have to re-boot Fromo’s Freebooter and set sail across the warp waves sometime in the near future. I mean, Rob is still writing after all…maybe a little freeform RPG play will provide him with some good fodder for HIS new blog.

On the other hand, maybe we’ll be doing other things together. Rob just bought a new base guitar deciding he wanted to get back into music again while he’s outside the quiet confines of the monastery. Maybe I need to go get a new mike and PA.

Rock! ; )

Saturday Morning Philosophy

Well, I had a large post planned out for this morning, but after picking up coffees I realized I forgot all about the Greenwood Car Show...I may have to cut this one short.  It's a beautiful, sunny Seattle day, and the beagles smell something in the air.  That's 'classic car,' fur balls.  Yes, you guys get to go for a walk.

Anyway, after reading over my half-baked level post of yesterday afternoon, I really believe there's something to it, but it needs to be fleshed out a bit, with a little research.  I'm not nearly the RPG historian Mr. Maliszewski is...all I've got is the copyright dates on my own games.

Sooo I am going to draw a line in the sand...a line between the end of the Age of Old School RPG creation and the beginning of the "New School."  That line is 1983, and it sees the birth of the first honest to goodness New School game:

James Bond 007

The James Bond RPG represents quite a few things that will become staples of New School game design.  Certainly some of this stuff was showing up (briefly) in the transitioning games that are published between 1979 and 1982 (as RPGs pushed away from their wargaming roots), but these things culminate in James Bond.  I remember being, frankly, blown away when my DM introduced this game to me...and not just because I was a huge James Bond fan at the time.  Let me see if I can list all the points:

• Licensed intellectual property.  Yes, other, earlier games borrowed heavily from outside IP (Stormbringer  and CoC were both published in 1981), however no prior game had used an IP type that was so popular and recognizable to the mainstream to draw in fans of the IP, not just role-players (another friend of mine had this game and all its supplements because his non-gamer father collected James Bond memorabilia).  It also put out adventure modules and such based directly on the films. Note: not all New School games take this approach (referred to as "high concept simulation"at the Forge) but NO Old School game does.
• Point buy character creation.  Players have more ownership of their character (and thus more investment and attachment) than games where characters are created randomly.  Randomly created characters MAY grow to be loved by a player or gaming group, depending on actions that happen or occur in actual play.  Characters that are tailor-made by a player carry with them an expectation of "specialness" that can be disruptive to actual play depending on how the play works out.  Except in retro-clone games, all games published these days have some sort of "character customization" present in the generation process.  Old School games, players were lucky if they could choose their Class AND Alignment.
• Skills, Skills, Skills.  I don't think I've posted on this particular topic yet, but I've grown to loathe skills in most (if not all RPGs).  All they do is define and pigeon-hole what your character can do, instead of allowing the referee to make judgments based on circumstances and common sense appropriate to the game world/type.  Older games had skills (even AD&D's "secondary skills" and Top Secret's "areas of knowledge"), but were never as integral to game play.  Rune Quest in 1978 had skill use that moved to a "unified game mechanic" but if it's anything like Chaosium's Stormbringer (I've never run or owned RuneQuest) the selection of skills is NOT as readily handed over to the player.  "Pigeon Hole yourself," says James Bond.  This feeds into character ownership listed above.
• Fewer Resources To Manage. Just what it says. You could still be counting bullets, depending on how cinematic your GM, but other things are starting to go away...hit points for example.  New School gaming moves away from the board game/war game aspects of the Old School...that's just how it is.
• Presence of Metagame Rules and Resources. Hero Points aren't a new concept (see Fortune in Top Secret) but they are moving away from Old School gaming where "you die, you make a new character."  In Top Secret, these "extra lives" feel like an Old School resource concept that allows a mission to continue.  In James Bond, they feel like a resource that allows a player to keep a beloved, investment-laded character alive.  Also, unlike TS Fame and Fortune which have finite limits, Hero Points are awarded by the GM.
• Subjective Experience Points awarded based on Game Play.  The method of character advancement is determined subjectively by the GM based on how players "perform." This is a huge move away from Old School gaming where bonuses or penalties might be assessed, but you would still advance if you performed the specified tasks (finding treasure in D&D, turning in artifacts in Gamma World, using skills in Stormbringer, training in Dragon Quest). 1982's Star Frontiers, a transition game, is the first place I see this mechanic, and it was always a downer.  It specifically sets the groundwork for the use of "force" (or "railroading") in RPGs.  Which lastly leads us to...
• Emphasis on Plot Over Play.  Old School games do not mandate the fate of the free world hinges on whether or not your players succeed...certainly you can write that into the game, but it's not necessary.  Most Old School games allow players to wander about, handling (or failing to handle) missions/adventures as they please.  Even the introduction to Top Secret (Operation: Sprechenhaltestelle) is a spy's sandbox town. New School play does not have this freedom of play.  Characters, after all, have to mean something in New School play...they have to MATTER.  To my mind, this is where the idea of "it's just a game" starts to break down.

Old School gaming can be defined...and maybe I'll try listing that in my next post.  But now the wife AND the beagles are anxious to go for a walk, so I'm signing off!