Rogue Games Tabbloid -- June 6, 2009 Edition

6 June, 2009

Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected]

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Why Not AD&D;? JUN 05, 2009 05:50P.M. ROGUE FEED One of the questions I get asked a lot is why I am playing OD&D/Swords & Wizardry rather than AD&D. I think that’s a perfectly reasonable question, because I’ve admitted on numerous occasions both my fondness for AD&D and my willingness to use a lot of the supplementary material for OD&D, which brings the game well within spitting distance

Possible Dwimmermount Changes JUN 05, 2009 02:15P.M.

of its descendant. Given that, why not just go whole hog and play AD&D? As Session 13 looms this weekend, I’ve begun contemplating several small changes to the Swords & Wizardry rules. All of these changes are the result of my having observed, over the course of three months, how the rules as written have played out in my own campaign. In every case, the changes I’m considering are small and have more to do with the “texture” of play rather than any serious belief that rules X or Y are “broken.” That is, I want to build upon the feel that has already grown up in the campaign by slight changes to rules that, in my estimation, run counter to that feel.

I have a couple of responses to this question, but the first one is that I simply prefer the lack of assumptions that comes with playing OD&D. Were I to play AD&D, it would be “AD&D minus,” which is to say I’d be excising many elements from the published rules and would have to make a point of telling my players what parts of the game I wouldn’t be using. When I play OD&D, I play “OD&D plus,” where I tell my players what things I’m adding to the three little brown books. Now, this may seem like a distinction of no consequence and perhaps it is. Yet, I can’t deny that, from my own perspective anyway, playing a “plus” game is conceptually simpler than a “minus” game, since there’s no confusion in reading about class X or spell Y in the Players Handbook, getting all excited about it, and then being told by the referee, “Sorry, I don’t use X and Y in my games.” One of the reasons I’ve been so down about supplements is that I feel they often create expectations in the minds of players that put undue pressure on the referee to accommodate them. Certainly the mere existence of a new class, spell, or magic item doesn’t put a gun to a referee’s head, but I know from experience that many players nevertheless assume that, if it’s in an official game book, it ought to be in the game too. I have very reasonable players and yet I still wish to avoid that.

Ability Score Modifiers: Having a maximum +1 bonus for scores 13 or better isn’t working for me. While it’s nice that the rules work against the perceived necessity for very high ability scores, it’d still be nice for a little more mechanical differentiation between, say, having a 13 Strength and a 17 Strength. What I might do is introduce an expanded table that applies only to a character’s Prime Attribute, so that Fighters get more Strength options and Clerics more Wisdom options and so on. Experience Bonus: Again, I appreciate the way that the rules of Swords & Wizardry try to eliminate dump stats by making Wisdom and Charisma important to determining a character’s XP bonus, but I’ve found it somewhat nonsensical in play. In addition, a character with a Prime Attribute, Wisdom, and Charisma 13+ gets a 15% XP bonus, higher than what’s possible in OD&D. I’m considering going back to OD&D’s Prime Attribute 13-14 = 5% bonus and 15+ = 10% bonus and leave it at that.

The second reason I’m not playing AD&D is that I think the baseline level of character ability in AD&D is much greater than I feel comfortable with. Hit Dice are all greater than in OD&D, for example. Ability score modifiers are all generally higher. There’s also the explicit assertion that characters who lack scores of 15 or higher in two or more abilities are somehow sub-par. There is throughout the game a subtle but pervasive power inflation compared to OD&D and it no longer suits my tastes as far as fantasy gaming goes. That’s not a condemnation of AD&D’s approach by any means, but rather an acknowledgment that, for all the tweaks I am making to OD&D, I’m still a good distance away, both mechanically and philosophically, from it.

Variable Weapon Damage: I have to admit I miss using more than just D20 and D6 in play. In addition, I’m finding that the lack of differentiation between one-handed weapons irksome. I can certainly see why OD&D moved away from universal D6 damage over time. There are other, bigger changes I might consider introducing at some point, but, because they’d represent fairly significant shifts in the reality of the campaign setting, I’m holding off on introducing them until I can do so with a minimum of disruption.

And that’s the long and short of it.

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected]

6 June, 2009

ROGUE FEED

Rogue Games PDF Brick and Mortar Pledge

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JUN 04, 2009 02:02P.M.

Too Much Stuff? JUN 04, 2009 05:22P.M. Am I the only one having a hard time keeping up with all the new old school products coming out these days? I’m not complaining exactly, because it really is awesome to see so many terrific adventures, monster books, collections of house rules, periodicals, and other collections of miscellanea. I suspect the last 18 months have seen the most old school gaming products published since the demise of TSR. That most of them are the result of individuals or very small companies is even more remarkable.

As you know James and I have made our pledge known to the game when it comes to our PDFs. Hell we put the pledge front and center on our website. Well today we have added another bullet to that pledge, and this is one that has been in practice for awhile, but today James and I are announcing it for one and all. If you buy a physical book of Rogue Games in a store, we’ll give you the PDF free of charge. All you need to do is email us proof that your purchased the game, and the PDF will be sent your way.

That said, I increasingly find myself swamped by the output. I still haven’t read all the way through issue 4 of Fight On! and issue 5 is already out. People keep sending me products to review and, while I am grateful for this — really, I am — I can’t help but be struck by just how much there stuff is out there nowadays. And the sad thing is that I use so little of it in my ongoing Dwimmermount game. With the exception of the Swords & Wizardry rulebook, I don’t think there’s a single recent product I keep at my table while playing. I probably refer to Supplement I: Greyhawk or the Moldvay/Cook rules more often than I look anything I’ve bought or been given in the last year or so.

Evil Hat has been doing something similar, and we join them in this pledge of ensuring all gamers get access to the games they want. In addition, Rogue Games has been working with Myriad Games in New Hampshire who are seeking every one of their customers who previously purchased any Rogue Games‘ games, and we have been sending them their PDF copies. This is a partnership that has been a great experience for us. It has been so well received, that starting today, Rogue Games will work with any game store to have this program in place.

I don’t think it’s a bad thing that old school publishing is so active these days, but I do sometimes worry, in my darker moments, if we’re not just recapitulating the history of the hobby in condensed form: creating a glut of products that will, of necessity, be mostly read rather than used in play, in the process sapping our creative strength and laying the groundwork for a huge crash in the near-future. Perhaps not. I don’t know. All I can say is that I now spend an inordinate amount of my spare time reading new old school products so that I can review them in a timely fashion. I also know that I now have more such products than I will ever use. I have to wonder if maybe the old school renaissance has become too focused on publishing as an expression of its creative vitality at the expense of actually playing these games and sharing our love of them with our fellow gamers.

ROGUE FEED

REVIEW: Obregon’s Dishonor JUN 04, 2009 01:07P.M.

I am by nature a pessimist, so don’t take me too seriously. Please.

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected]

6 June, 2009

character of Carcosa — something I think the setting desperately needs. The cartography is functional but not especially inspiring, reminding me a bit of the kinds of maps I remember seeing in old Judges Guild products, so take that as you will. Obregon’s Dishonor begins in a Green Man mining town, where the characters make the acquaintance of a Purple cyborg named Bothess, who wishes to employ the characters for a mission of utmost importance to her. She’s the last surviving member of a mercenary company led by a Lawful Red Man sorcerer named Obregon. Obregon was a rare individual whose strength of will enabled him to use sorcery not for selfaggrandizement but to do battle against the Great Old Ones. Though honorable, Obregon was also naive, training an Orange Man named Darsiaas in sorcery without recognizing that his apprentice lacked his strength of will. Once he realized his error, Obregon sought to destroy Darsiaas so as to right his past misdeed. In trying to do so, Obregon succeeded in stopping the summoning of a foul being — the Shambler of the Endless Night — but at the cost of his own life and soul. Bothess wishes to free Obregon’s soul from its eternal torment by enacting a ritual and asks the PCs to join her in doing so. What follows is a quest to find the item necessary to enact the ritual and free Obregon’s soul, with the bulk of the initial action taking place in an ancient Jale Man stronghold/monastery, inhabited by a variety of creatures and hazards, as well as much treasure. Once the PCs have the item, they can then help Bothess to perform the ritual and free Obregon’s soul. It’s here that the adventure takes a twist, as things the PCs had been led to believe to be true turn out not to be, precipitating a difficult choice on their parts. The players will be forced to choose between several unpalatable options, none of which is “right” and any one of which will result in consequences they may not find acceptable. In this respect, I think Obregon’s Dishonor does a good job in presenting the harshness of Carcosa without reveling in nihilism. One of my complaints about the original product was its bleakness. This adventure is not bleak, but it does show that heroism in a world ruled by the Great Old Ones and their mortal minions demands sacrifices from all concerned. There are no unblemished happy endings.

Obregon’s Dishonor is the first — and, so far, only — support product for Geoffrey McKinney’s Supplement V: Carcosa, published last fall amidst a great deal of controversy in the old school community. I am, however, happy to report that this 36-page digest-sized adventure module is not similarly controversial, containing little that should offend the sensibilities of anyone who appreciates the tropes of swords-and-sorcery literature. Indeed, author Cameron DuBeers has done such a thoroughly good job of presenting the Carcosa setting as a quirky, if dark, pulp fantasy setting that I once again can’t help but think the original product would have been benefited from a similar approach. Be that as it may, I can say without hesitation that Obregon’s Dishonor is a largely unobjectionable scenario whose strengths highlight the possibilities inherent in the Carcosa concept and whose weaknesses have nothing whatsoever to do with any moral questions it raises.

Obregon’s Dishonor is definitely not for everyone. Even without the specific content of the unexpurgated Carcosa that offended so many people, it’s not a family-friendly product. I said earlier that it contains little that would offend those who appreciate swords-and-sorcery literature and that’s true. It does, however, contain a fair bit of sexual imagery, some of it in my opinion prurient (and puerile), even by the standards of the genre. I was often reminded of Heavy Metal comics from the 1970s, which, again, may or may not be a good thing, but it’s worth bearing in mind.

Of the module’s 36 pages, approximately 20 contain adventure text, not including a two-page, removable map. The remaining pages are given over to an index, an author’s introduction, pregenerated PCs, a new NPC class (the witch), new monsters, and other similar content. The text is presented in a straightforward fashion, using a single column. Unlike Carcosa itself, there wasn’t much of an attempt to imitate the style of OD&D supplements, which leaves the book feeling “flat” in my estimation, as its layout is neither interesting in its own right nor as a recreation of the 1970s. The book contains three pieces of art by Andy Taylor, one of which is the cover illustration. I have to admit I wasn’t especially fond of the cover, which, like the layout, felt flat, whereas the two interior pieces are quite nice and do a good job of evoking the alien

As an adventure, Obregon’s Dishonor does an excellent job of demonstrating the possibilities of the dark science fantasy setting of Carcosa. Whereas the original supplement suffered, I think, for providing little direction as to how one might use its material, this adventure has no such problem. It’s a terrific model for referees and players alike, showing one possible way to interpret Carcosa and make it the locale for exciting adventures.

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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [email protected]

6 June, 2009

That’s not to say there are no problems, because there are, chiefly the prominent role played by Bothess. Aside from her highly sexualized portrayal (which, I grant, is a deliberate choice by the author rather than a flaw per se), she’s a bit too vital to the adventure’s action. She provides lots of exposition and backstory to the player characters and, while provisions are made in the text for her possible demise, it seemed clear to me that her death would likely present problems in using the module as written. In truth, I think Obregon’s Dishonor would have benefited greatly from the removal of Bothess and the rewriting of the module to give the PCs a less overt segue into its events. Despite it all, there’s a lot to like here. Cameron DuBeers does a good job of presenting a playable version of Carcosa, one that feels both less bleak and more in line with “traditional” swords-and-sorcery than did the original product. The module’s a bit rough around the edges in places, but the strength of its ideas shine through. I’d love to see the further development of this interpretation of Carcosa. With a bit more spit and polish, I think we have the makings of something remarkable here — but we’re not there quite yet. Presentation: 6 out of 10 Creativity: 7 out of 10 Utility: 5 out of 10 Buy This If: You’d like to see an interpretation of how to use Carcosa as a swords-and-sorcery setting Don’t Buy This If: You have no interest in Carcosa or are easily offended by sexual imagery

This issue contains posts from between Jun 04, 2009 06:28a.m. and Jun 06, 2009 02:36a.m.. Visit the Rogues on the Web: http://www.rogue-games.net

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