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Saturday, 16 June 2018

Classic Rant: "Old School" vs. "New School"

So, I have an earlier blog entry where I've told my readers that they can post questions and/or requests for rant topics from me. I will periodically respond to any of these I think I can do a good job at answering. So if you have something you want to ask me, or ask me to write about, go to that entry and put your question/request in the comments!

Today, we have a question from Omer G. Joel: "I'd like to read your opinion about "new school" D&D, that is 3.5E/4E, as I got the impression (am I right?) that you are closer to the Old School in your tastes and views."



Thanks! And yes, if you've read my blog, and especially if you've read my RPGs, it's no secret at all that I am an old-school gamer, and I always have been.

That doesn't mean that I have a dislike for new-school, just that I prefer Old-School a bit more. Well, OK, a LOT more.

I started playing D&D with B/X/C/M/I and 1st edition. When 2nd came out in '89, I followed along with it. As much of a bad reputation as it has today, in its early days and to a teenage gamer, it looked a lot like the old edition only with a few slight improvements. It incorporated a lot of stuff that a lot of us were already doing.

Shortly after, the Rules Cyclopedia had come out. By that point I was just starting to get to the level of maturity where I realized that more rules doesn't automatically mean 'better game', and having always had a great liking for the old basic sets and for Mystara as a setting, I got totally hooked on the RC. It would be my de-facto D&D ruleset for many years to come, though I still played 2e when someone else was running it.

Of course, over the next few years, TSR started to fall into the sinkhole of its destitution of good ideas and allowing White Wolf to steal the 'vanguard' of the hobby from them (and being completely reactive by just trying to steal style and concepts from them). In other words, TSR started to suck. For a period in the late 90s I pretty much stopped buying RPG products altogether, though I kept running games. Eventually, the 'White Wolf' effect had so altered the hobby that it was becoming hard to even interact with players who hadn't fallen for the whole 'storytelling' bullshit and expecting that from their game experiences. There was a while there where I was only running Amber, and then when the Amber campaign ended, there was a period of six months where I didn't play/run RPGs at all. This was, by the way, the longest period of my entire life since starting in the hobby that I went without gaming.

Then 3e came along. And at first, it was great! People tend to forget just how strongly it was a repudiation of the "storytelling" pretentious White-Wolf nonsense. The 3.0 DMG was all but explicit about that, calling it a "kick in the door" style of gaming, in contrast to the storytelling stuff. It felt, in those very first couple of years, like it was a return not mechanically but conceptually to an old-school style. I got back on the horse, and ended up running a D&D campaign. I also got into the D20 system as a whole, running various other D20 campaigns (including a very long Star Wars campaign). But by around 2004 I was back to running D&D old-school (mechanically old school with the RC, I mean; I had always been running it with an old-school style), and I think my last D20 game (Star Wars) ended in 2008 or 2009.

So anyways, the thing is that there's more than one 'new school'. Old-school is pretty definable; though you could divide it into games that are MECHANICALLY old-school and games that are old-school in style. 'New School' has several different forms: there was the 'new school' of 90s games, totally affected by White Wolf's style. There is the new-school of the 2000s, which started with 3e/D20, and which is pretty much continued in many games today, including 5e. There's even the possibility of incorrectly defining the Forge/Storygames as yet another kind of 'new school', though in fact it is best defined as "a totally different hobby". Even so, you can still say there are new-school games that are RPGs but have allowed themselves to be influenced by Forge/Storygame thinking in some way.

If you like Old-School, you can pretty much just say "I like old-school". On the other hand, you can't just say "I like new-school" and take that to mean anything at all; the most likely reason to say "I like new-school" is if you're really making the statement that you don't like Old-school The second most-likely is as a statement to say that you like some games other than Old-school. New-school has no positive definition, it is only defined by what it isn't (old-school).

In terms of D&D, I think the differences between old-school and new-school (that is, what isn't old-school) became apparent over time with 3e, when it was obvious that things like the emphasis on balance, rules-mastery, and character-engineering gradually took away a lot of the old-school style from 3e and turned it into a very different thing. Something that to me seems bloated and far less effective at immersion than OSR games. 

4e obviously doesn't count, it was largely a forge-influenced hijacking of gaming, and failed miserably.

5e has tried to keep a lot of the better elements of 3e, but pushed even harder back toward the old-school style (I helped a little with this). It is simpler, less dependent on rules-mastery (that is, the player who has read every page of every D&D book is not going to have an insurmountably better-designed character than the one who hasn't), and leaves a lot more room for the GM to maneuver. It isn't an old-school game, but it's design is very strongly old-school influenced (by myself, among others).

I liked 3e in its very nascent period. I like 5e today, and hope it won't eventually follow the same (flawed) evolution that 3e did.

There's a lot of other new-school games I like a lot. Amber is obviously one of them, and Lords of Olympus is proof enough of that. More recently, I've run a couple of different FATE-based games (Starblazer, and ICONS). When you take out the more storygame-influenced junk from the system, FATE isn't bad at all.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Quiete Apple + Gawith's Commonwealth

(Originally posted March 10, 2016)
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Friday, 15 June 2018

What is Involved in an "Anderson-esque" Lords of Olympus Campaign?

So I've had a few people asking about my latest campaign of Lords of Olympus.




First off: yes it's full. No it's not online, it's in person like I always do it. No, there's not a space, not even if you fly all the way down to Uruguay for it.

Now that this is out of the way, here's a few more questions, that came up after my first play posts.


1. You mention one player won the auction for immortality. I have never played LoO, so please excuse my asking: Is Immortality a power you can buy?

In Lords of Olympus, the bidding war is for only the four ability scores. However, GMs are encouraged that they could add other items to the bidding war to suit their campaign. In my campaign, since the PCs are staring out low-powered and without access to divinity, having one player already be divine would be a tempting option, and indeed it was.




 2. What I'm also interested in is how you handle the growing-into-godlings thing. How do you manage that? Can the players buy powers during campaign? Do you guide them towards opportunities to gain powers? 

The players will be able to buy powers during the campaign, based on what they've been roleplaying. I don't guide them inherently; in my experience PCs have little trouble with seeking out power all by themselves.

3. What do you mean exactly by "Anderson-esque"?

In the post where I'd explained my plans for this Lords of Olympus campaign I talked about it being "Andersonesque".

Andersonesque means the campaign will feel a little bit like the worlds created in the films of Wes Anderson.  So what features does this type of campaign have?

Quirkiness.



Eccentric people with weird projects.




Dysfunctional families.



Fathers and Sons.



Whimsy.



Recurring actors.



Nostalgia or retro-style.



Story-within-story.



Defining or understanding Family.



Clippy dialogue.



Appreciation of art or beauty in weird ways.



Finding or losing love.



Incredibly self-obsessed characters.



Idle wealth leading to weird behavior.



People wearing funny uniforms.




 Men wearing shorts.



The ridiculous being treated as if it's totally normal.



Exceptionally mature children or teens.



Exceptionally immature adults.



Bill Murray probably shows up at some point.




RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Mastro De Paja Bent Apple + Country Doctor
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Thursday, 14 June 2018

Video: Things They Taught You Wrong on Purpose!

Today's video, the first in a series where I talk about common ideas about playing, GMing and designing RPG/D&D material that newbies are routinely taught wrong (often on purpose).  Check it out!



(also guest-starring both my cats)

Tell me what other things you think gamers are taught wrong about playing, running or designing the game!


RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Volcano + Blue Boar
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Wednesday, 13 June 2018

Secrets of the Nethercity Kickstarter

Hey everyone; I'm trying to catch up with the RPGPundit Presents work, so for today I'm just going to point you toward Autarch's latest Kickstarter: Secrets of the Nethercity!





So what is this?

It's basically a new megadungeon, though Autarch insists on calling it a "kilodungeon" because they're worried people will complain that 240 rooms is not enough to constitute a megadungeon. Frankly, I think that 240 rooms is like a sweet spot of "really big dungeon but not so stupidly big that you'll never use it all unless you dedicate an entire campaign just to that".

It's also got new monsters, items, classes (for ACKS of course, though the whole OSR is pretty interchangeable), and a new city (Cyfaraun). The city and the sewers below it will get expansions if the kickstarter reaches stretch goals.


Maybe the most exciting thing I noticed about it is cartography by the excellent Dyson Logos!

Also some great art credits.


Anyways, it sounds like a great OSR product in the classic vein, so if you're interested check it out.

Note: this is not a review, as I have no special information about the product besides what's on the Kickstarter. Nor is this an ad: I am not involved in the project nor am I being paid in any way for posting this. I just wanted to give a shout-out to the great Alex Macris and support his latest endeavor.


RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Neerup Poker + Country Doctor

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Tuesday, 12 June 2018

Courtly Events and Intrigues for Your Medieval-Fantasy Game

This week, we present to you a set of 30 adventure seeds. For $1.99 you get a 16 page sourcebook with 30 (to pick out or just roll a d30!) different situations of courtly intrigue. 



Tired of  having your characters delving in dungeons and tombs? Want a break?
Or maybe your game is high-roleplay already, but you want to add some more medieval-authentic flair to it?

In either case, RPGPundit Presents #35: 30 Courtly Events and Intrigues is just for you!

Each event is different from the other; have your players work as spies, diplomats, babysitters for young and misbehaving aristocrats, agents of dueling houses, and much more.  Each event has one or two paragraphs detailing the basic scenario and then various bullet-points detailing the possible twists and turns the scenario can develop.


So if you want some highbrow Medieval-Authentic intrigue and action, be sure to pick up RPGPundit Presents #35: 30 Courtly Events and Intrigues on DTRPG, or via the Precis Intermedia Webstore.



And while you're at it, be sure to pick up the rest of the great supplements in the RPGPundit Presents series:


RPGPundit Presents #1: DungeonChef!

RPGPundit Presents #2: The Goetia  (usable for Lion & Dragon!)

RPGPundit Presents #3: High-Tech Weapons


RPGPundit Presents #5: The Child-Eaters (an adventure scenario for Lion & Dragon!)









RPGPundit Presents #17: The Hunters (an adventure for Lion & Dragon!)




RPGPundit Presents #21: Hecate's Tomb (an adventure for Lion & Dragon!)














Stay tuned for more next week!



RPGPundit

Currently smoking: Brigham Anniversary + Image Latakia




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Monday, 11 June 2018

Wonders of the World of the Last Sun is now in Spanish!

I'm super busy today with Mason stuff, but you can check out RPGPundit Presents #34: Wonders of the Last Sun in Spanish now, on DTRPG, or at the precis intermedia website.



You can also get the original English Version here!

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Moretti Rhodesian + Country Doctor




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Sunday, 10 June 2018

Lords of Olympus Play Report #1!

Yesterday we played the first session of my  new Lords of Olympus campaign.  But instead of telling you about it myself, I'm going to let one of my players tell you; as a play report that he's issuing in order to get bonus points.

So here we go:





The Olympian Chronicles.

Our adventure starts as a small, impoverished house in the Cairo of No-Tutankamon Earth is visited by an old, grim man, leaving behind a letter for the professional treasure hunter Paneb, which contains instructions, straight from his newfound father Hades, to go to a specialized school that would help him understand his mysterious powers.Of course, the letter included a small apology for being absent...His son´s entire life.




Ralph Ipswich, the descendant of the legendary hero of Albion and a promising magic student, is told by his parents that he was adopted, and is due for a much more important fate. Taking a vapor train, and guided by the  Scotsman Smiley, he adventures himself towards Hecate's School of Wizardy, where he meets Paneb for an unlikely mind reading encounter, making the first group of today´s session.



Meanwhile, on Uruguayan Earth, Guillermo Hudson, a masterful and asocial hacker working for the police in Montevideo, and Arrit Peanutbutter, an unusual girl who takes care of animals in the zoo and just ate a very strange golden apple, are visited by Elon Musk, riding on his solar powered space travelling machine, looking for promising individuals with special abilities to fight evil.




Rodolfo Nievi, alias Fito, an Argentinian hacker, biker and whiskey lover, who lives in Climate Change Earth (an earth struck by constant climatic catastrophes) receives an anonymous mail by a strange alias, which invites him to a special mission, with a big pay and the suggestion of information about his origins as a possible reward. He takes a ticket with a false id to a remote place in Africa ad is met by Lutumba, an agent of Elon Musk, who offers to take him to Elon´s secret base.

An unlikely alliance forms as they are taken Elon´s super headquarters in the frozen wastes of
Antartica. Now Elon has assembled Fito, Guillermo and Arrit, and is trying to unite them as part of his Super Team(and our second, group of heroes):  the EM MEN!





Far away, Helena, a mysterious 16 year old from Maine with the power of precognition, Corey, a 18 year old metalhead from who was raised by a strange magic cult, and Aetos, the current emperor of the Grecoromanic Empire in 2637, suddenly wake up in a strange new world called "the City".  Ruled by an elusive figure called "The Architect" , the City is a small island where individuals from distinct worlds were imprisoned because someone wanted them "Removed" from their realities. While not hostile to them, even offering them an easy and problem free life, their assigned guardians, Haqim and Habiba, tell the Godlings that no one has ever escaped the island, uniting the third group in a common goal: Escape.




On Hecate's School of Wizardry
Looking at our wizarding heroes, Both Paneb and Ralph are now introduced to Hecate s school of Wizardy. Paneb is trying to make contacts inside the school, including the famous BOLT-0, master of occultism (but unable to cast any spells, due to his claw-hands and the fact that he's a robot); and the school board director, Aleister Crowley. He makes a deal with BOLT-0 to obtain some illegal human-fat candles that would supposedly help him contact Hades in exchange for a future favor, but the ritual simply fails miserably. Influenced by his newfound teachers, Ralph learns of the possibility to become immortal, and dreams of a future with enough time to do all that he wanted.

Both also have the chance to meet Paredolia (a crazed conspiracy theorist magician obsessed with associating object between each other) and Apophenia (an actually grounded person), children of Morpheus and Iris. But something wrong is going at the school. Paneb is warned by an unknown stranger to escape the school and get to the caves, which the school has claimed many students have disappeared in.This is further complicated by a living shadow's assassination attempt on Paneb!

As they defeat the shadow and the teachers question their students about the incident, Paneb reveals that he had attempted a ritual with candles of human fat. While Aleister Crowley is sure the ritual was just a fluke and had nothing to do with the living shadow´s attempt, he demands to know who gave him the candles. Thinking it as an act of vengeance, Paneb decides to blow the whistle on BOLT-0s human-fat candle smuggling activities, effectively ending his long teaching career as he is dragged away swearing vengeance through his robotic speakers.






On The EM Men Earth

Assisted by the amazing Sea Goat (a man with the head of a goat, and swimming powers), Cyclopes (a humongous Cyclops with a visor), and Daffyd (just a regular dude) the EM Men are tasked to destroy the evil Twitter corporation's secret headquarters, on the inside of an active volcano.Everything seems fine, but our heroes are yet not accustomed to the suits.

The day before the raid, Fito befriends the mighty Cyclops and Guillermo hacks through Elon's files, they both learn about the existence of at least 52 different earths, that Arrit is immortal (and she tells Sea Goat about the Golden Apple she ate, given to the old man who cared for her by a mysterious stranger with sad eyes), and that Elon is actually the son of the mighty forge-God Hephaestus, and bears the title of God of Innovation.

As they charge in on the evil Twitter corporation, they find out that Twitter was preparing a death-ray to subdue earth`s population. As they fly down with Jetpacks into the insides of the volcano, they fight off some half-human half-shark mutants with lasers on their heads. 



While the Uruguay and Argentina team-up of Guillermo and Fito deliver powerful kicks and lasers, Arrit Peanutbutter literally tears the brain of one of the sharks out of their head, showing off her incredible might. They finish off the job as Elon rushes the team out of the almost exploding volcano, but Sea Goat is nowhere to be found...



On the Architect´s City

As they are received in the City s strange culture and hospitality, Helena, Corey and Aetos find out about the Resistance, the City's subversives, they claim a mysterious prophecy about the Lady of the Moon who would help the immigrants to the city finally escape, destroying the "thunder that created the world"; and are viewed by the City´s guards as terrorists,. Using their psychic powers to communicate, the three Godlings have managed to feign submission on the outside, but started scheming to ally themselves with the Resistance and find a way to return to their own worlds.



Worried about her parents, Helena uses her power of scrying to contact them from the distant earth, discovering they are likely are not even in the same planet. They confess to them that she was adopted, given by a strange organization that later just seemed to vanish into thin air. Aetos looks deeply into the cultures of the City, and used his shape changing powers at camera blind spots in his room to learn the forms of some of the City´s high ranking politicians and Habiba, Aetos own "care taker".

Corey and Helena managed to have a brief contact with the elusive leader of the Resistance, who told them that one of them might be the child of the prophecy, and asked them to wander around the bazaar on the following day so they could speak more. Meanwhile, Aetos has infiltrated and seduced his way to information about the architect in the City s high society, learning the place where they meet with their ministers, and the cave where apparently the immigrants arrive.

What is Elon Musk true purpose? Is the Hecate School of Wizardy really the learning place they claim it to be? Will the Godlings be able to escape the trappings of the Architect´s city?

Only Fate truly knows.

*****


So that's it for the play report. Keep in mind it was written by Aetos' player. So there's some things other players might have done in private that he doesn't know about. Likewise, things are being reported from his perspective, and there's a few details he left out (like how Aetos' careful 'infiltrating and seducing' the high society of The City largely involved him having sex with extremely aged bureaucrats of both genders.

But on the whole, a good introduction to the first session of what is going to be a very weird campaign.


RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti half-volcano + Blue Boar


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