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Wednesday 14 January 2015

RPGPundit Goes Full-Grognard

I seem to have been talking non-stop about political matters these last few days of inter-netting; arguing with left and right alike (with the left about free speech, mostly; and with the right about Islam, mostly; though once in a while the opposite way round).  So today, I go back to writing about RPGs, and I'm going to say what might be the most Grognardy thing I've ever said.


First, some background context: I've played a lot of D&D over the years.  I've always played about four traveler games, which in comparison is not that much, but I'm totally familiar with the classic traveler system (and, once, with T20; and this time with Mongoose Traveler).

And getting ready now to run a Trav campaign, which is definitely just as old-school a thing to do as running an OSR D&D game, something struck me.
D&D was the work of genius that started it all, a ramshackle mess at first and never totally getting itself organized or streamlined, and representing the spirit of this kind of make-it-up-as-you-go school of design.






D&D came out in 1974.
Traveler came out in 1977.

So ready? Here it is: almost everything important in mechanical game design for RPGs was done by 1977.

Traveler is a streamlined masterpiece of a single-mechanic system.  Its simplicity and genius of design is almost a work of art in and of itself.




(even the style looks like it belongs in some kind of German School of Design)

But here's the really important part: I'm NOT saying what I said above as though D&D was the sloppy start and Trav the perfect end-point.  What I am saying is that those two games TOGETHER represent everything that is important in design: the DIY aesthetic and smooth sleek careful design on the other.

Pretty much everything that came after?  Redundant, or secondary.  The core concepts that actually matter are all right there, in two of the earliest games of our hobby.

RPGPundit

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13 comments:

  1. I loved playing Traveller, and I liked having the books on my shelf in their box. They made me feel smart.

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  2. Seems like I might have to try Traveler some time ...

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  3. I tend to agree with you, frankly. Traveler was sleek and beautiful and D&D was rough and ready, but presented itself as a huge open ended concept for GMs to build out from. I'm thinking of Gygax's introduction in Men & Magic where he says "this is just a framework for you to use as a guideline" (or something along those lines). Between the two you have everything you'd ever need - to build your own system. Which many GMs from the days of old did. I remember in fact every GM in my town had their own homebrew rules. And a lot of them were completely fantastic with great and original concepts I never saw again anywhere else (some kind of sucked, but that's to be expected). The best among them fused the design qualities of Traveler into the fantasy world concepts of OD&D, and as I recall those worlds were some of my favorite ever. Thanks for the reminder. :)

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    1. They make me think of something like the difference between an American sports car and a German one. D&D was made to be kick-ass and look kick-ass, Trav was made to look and act super efficient and stylish.

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  4. I'm guilty of not being a D&D fan. But Traveller has always felt 'Just Right' to me, at least in it's Classic and Mongoose versions.

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  5. OD&D's homemade design exceeds anything that followed...

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  6. Have you ever considered reviewing T5? I'd pay to read that. No really.

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    1. I review any print RPG book that's sent to me. So all you'd need to do is get the T5 publisher to send me a copy (like Mongoose did with their version of traveler, which I reviewed), or if you seriously wanted to, send me a copy yourself.

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  7. An article I wrote a year or so ago about the beauty of Classic Traveller as a game system:

    http://spacecockroach.blogspot.co.il/2014/08/on-beauty-of-classic-traveller.html

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  8. Yo, you got me interested in Traveller. But the difficulty is finding which game to use. There doesn't seem to be easy to understand clear editions. Can somebody point me in a good direction?

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    1. I'd recommend either The Traveller Book (from Classic Traveller), which is available on PoD, or Mongoose Traveller.

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  9. Original Traveller is wonderful. I miss my little boxed set. At least I have the Traveller Book, the "Classic Traveller" reprint, and Starter Traveller.

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  10. Thank you for your article (and you for yours, Omer). I've recently become interested in Traveller and ordered the Mongoose version. Seems I should get back to it now.

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