The NYT illustrated the problem with a sports analogy:

When the N.B.A. adopted the 3-point shot in 1979, purists cried foul at rules changes, just as many D&D devotees dismissed the rules of the game’s fourth edition as dumbed down, overeager to mimic multiplayer online games like Warcraft — and favoring killing over the role-playing and storytelling roots of Dungeons & Dragons. Some began playing other role-playing games like Pathfinder, which won over disgruntled players.

It winds up highlighting a number of the key complaints heard on blogs for the last few years. Mike Mearls posted an announcement following the article, stating that:

We want a game that rises above differences of play styles, campaign settings, and editions, one that takes the fundamental essence of D&D and brings it to the forefront of the game. In short, we want a game that is as simple or complex as you please, its action focused on combat, intrigue, and exploration as you desire. We want a game that is unmistakably D&D, but one that can easily become your D&D, the game that you want to run and play.

I think this is a fantastic sentiment; and yet, I have no idea how you construct a game that accomplishes such a feat. Furthermore, I wonder if you should even attempt such a thing, as everyone’s tastes are different.

For example, I agree with much of the arguments against 4e but that doesn’t mean that I’m only interested in “old school” games. I appreciate games from various decades (OD&D, Savage Worlds, Star Wars d6, etc.) and all of them have one overriding trait in common: they are all rules light. I’m not certain how you create a game that would entertain people like me as well as the hardcore crunch players who like all the fiddly bits you find in a 4e campaign.

The only solution would seem to be the “options” method. If you start with a basic core set of rules that are lightweight and easy to use, you can then add options to the system in order to increase the level of detail as desired by the game master. Ironically, that’s sort of what TSR produced with 2e, before the game began to fork uncontrollably.

Yet, whenever I come across a Star Trek clip I find myself studying the possibilities and wondering if there isn’t a way to make it work. After all, there’s few better examples of high drama in science fiction than the Wrath of Khan. It has everything a futuristic adventure should — space & personal combat, NPC/PC conflict, and scientific underpinnings.

The Scimitar was originally given to the Archdruid Leofrick by the Nymphs of Gallish in exchange for acting as guardian of the river. It remained within druid society for nearly four hundred years until it was stripped from the dead body of the Great Druid Namist who was decapitated during a battle with the Wyrm Tycus.

No one knows how long Tycus kept the artifact buried in his hoard, but the blade eventually surfaced during the Bauwater Rebellion when Arthur the Crocked attempted to use it to claim “supreme executive power.” The rebellion was squashed by a counter-rebellion led by a peasant hero named Dennis, who immediately returned Bauwater back to an “anarcho-syndicalist commune.”

As with other objects in Bauwater, the scimitar was treated as community property and used by each adult on a bi-weekly rotation until the town was sacked by troglodytes. The blade has not been seen since.

The Scimitar of the Nymphs acts as a +2, +3 vs. aquatic creatures weapon. It also confers the ability to breathe and move freely underwater.

I x 2 ___ ___
III x 1 ___

Over the last year, a diehard core of Firefly fans have been working to pull together a new film based on the franchise entitled Browncoats: Redemption.

While it lacks the polish of the original series, it does continue the idea of a group on the fringes of society who are eking out a living transporting cargo. The reason Whedon’s series makes for good inspiration is because he either turns hauling cargo into an adventure or uses it merely as a way of moving his characters around in order to put them in harms way. If Browncoats follows this pattern it will be worth watching for ideas.

In fact, I see the basic ruleset as being synonymous with OD&D when it comes to house ruling and setting. As I’ve mentioned before, I seldom use the Third Imperium. But how I’ve used Traveller goes beyond changing the setting — I’ve stripped out interstellar travel and used it for an Earth-based Blade Runner game; I’ve taken out space travel and limited the tech level to create modern espionage games; I’ve created a pulp horror/science fiction smorgasbord; not to mention changing the shape and scope of any given campaign in order to create unique space opera or hard Sci Fi sagas.

With Mongoose’s relaunch of Traveller, you can see evidence of this as publishers begin to pull together setting books outside the long-standing norm. I should also point out that Mongoose has effectively left the core mechanics as they were but have added updated equipment books and technological tweaks without upsetting the balance of the game in the least.

The beauty of the game is no different than the clones we love so much. If you don’t like something, change it. The system underneath is solid and can do far more than allow players to explore the Third Imperium.

Butler

A household can be a very disorganized place. If a character wanted to deal with all of the aspects of handling the day to day issues of retainers, they’d just be bosses instead of explorers. A Butler (sometimes called a Steward) acts as head of the household and interacts with the staff so the master of the house doesn’t have to. If there are at least three different types of retainers (not counting sailors or mercenaries), then a Butler is necessary or everyone’s morale drops by one.

I’m sold.

Seriously though, from what I can tell there is enough of a new approach (and flavor) to the game to warrant picking up the full copy. Plus, I happen to love boxed sets.

Even though I’ve not read enough of it to give a full review yet, I have to admit that I’m having the same problem that I have with Ravenloft. The setting is eschewing traditional fantasy motifs in favor of stereotypical gothic horror elements. I find this trend rather odd as I would expect that anyone buying a horror supplement for a fantasy setting would expect just that – horror in a fantasy world. Instead, in each of these cases, the entire world is built around gothic horror conventions with standard C&C (or D&D) characters shoved into the mix.

I ran several mini-campaigns of Ravenloft when it was first released. The games were constructed in such a way as to almost preclude any form of traditional fantasy tropes. I understand the appeal of the gothic/Victorian setting; Victorian fiction is still a favorite of mine. But for a fantasy-based game, I didn’t find the idea to be nearly as appealing.

I eventually wound up creating my own setting with the elements I had hoped Ravenloft would offer. The process I wound up taking was to design a standard fantasy kingdom with the typical elements – the usual classes, races, etc – but with a flavor of horror that provides a slightly different taste to the adventures. The entire setting was constructed to use undead of varying degrees of strength as the defining thread. As the campaign progressed, the adventurers were slowly uncovering ever-greater dangers that are lurking within the kingdom.

Which leads me to ask, if you use horror in your fantasy games, how do you go about integrating the two?

I still have moments of glory but they’re far fewer than they used to be when I was in my twenties (or a teenager). If I compare the campaign building I do now with what I created fifteen or twenty years ago, you can see an obvious trend away from fantastic and towards realism. See, I can’t even talk about it without using academic expressions!

Anyway, my question is: for all you gamers-of-a-certain-age, how do you combat Adult Onset Imagination Disease?

Random Bar Mate
11 Criminal
12 Bureaucrat
13 Corporate Executive
14 Student
15 Law Enforcer
16 Traveller
21 Politician
22 Doctor
23 Philosopher
24 Real Estate Agent
25 Scientist
26 Athlete
31 Lawyer
32 Computer Tech
33 Pharmacist
34 Firefighter
35 Musician
36 Reporter
41 Engineer
42 Photographer
43 Banker
44 Pilot
45 Belter
46 Farmer
51 Veterinarian
52 Robotic Tech
53 Religious Prophet
54 Graphic designer
55 Teacher/Professor
56 Social Worker
61 Taxi driver
62 Museum Curator
63 Salesperson
64 George Carlin impersonator
65 Warehouse worker
66 Economist