I have recently been engaged in drafting potential new race as class possibilities to effectively 'test' in my first run of Labyrinth Lord. Difficulties have been abound, as expected as I undoubtedly lack the experience to even begin considering homebrewing rules, but sadly, you do not know me very well and I am one prone to attempting to run before I can walk - and often found crawling to the finish line.
Ignoring the above, what's the problem? Why am I even considering creating a new race/class? Creating a setting and the potential for storycraft is the single greatest pull for me; I want to create worlds and incorporating a race in which players may choose to permeate and naturally evolve my creation just strikes me as something magical, something unique - something I really want to do. I'm here for the open creative process of people absorbing what I have created for them, digesting what's happening around them and injecting their own story within my own - just saying it makes me excited. My mind melts with excitement and potential as I have filled page after page with ideas I would one day like to give life to, but only to become immediately lost within my own sense of direction; at what point does something seemingly within the OSR become something totally different?
The OSR is not dislike many other movements which may fall into the category of a simple preference for an activity or way of things long passed - nostalgic preferences in which there are often two distinct groups. In this context, I propose the nostalgia gamer and the retro gamer. The nostalgia gamer I would define as one who is in love with the period, the art, the styles and the themes which define their own individual piece of history which they seek to recreate, or perhaps never stopped playing. This is more often than not the period of a players first encounter with a game, their first high to which no other product is likely to recreate, so why leave? The retrogamer on the hand, simply prefers the brand of gameplay offered in older carnations of roleplaying games as such a period offered a game which is seemingly disconnected from its' contemporary offspring. The nostalgic is drawn by a longing to rekindle or maintain past experiences, the retro gamers' interests on the other hand are systemic and offers greater freedom for the individual to modern age with free licence to innovate.
I ask you to take this feeble stratification lightly as it is not only feeble, but also highlights a characteristic of mine in which I often perceive such choices in equal measures of black or white. Most gamers may place themselves upon the multiple shades of grey where as I strictly feel compelled to place myself at one end of the spectrum as if fully appreciating either would require my outright absolutism; either step exclusively into the institution of the old school or burn it down and begin the slow process of culturing it in your own image.
Somewhere within this rambling my problem may have reared its ugly head. I find myself hopelessly interested in the OSR. From within a hobby I do not know and from past-times that will never be mine, I have felt nothing but an overwhelming resonance with the game, creating for it and communicating with it's people. In contrast, I then flip the coin I find myself heading in a direction which seeks to potentially destroy the fabric and pillars on which - in my mind - the OSR was built to serve.
I guess my fears may be quelled in a question to my 8 followers (you know who you are!). How do you consider your own creative licenses when it comes to modifying your systems? To what degree do you prioritise Gygaxian input to your systems or settings to that of your own? Or to coin my piss poor definitions: Are you a Nostalgic or Retro?
*EDIT* Brendan's Nalfeshnee Hack lies partially to blame for this post as it marginally blew my mind as I -for the first time- considered an OSR rehash of 4e.
I can't say that I am a nostalgic, because I started with Second Edition in the 90s! The OSR systems I am most interested in right now (B/X, OD&D, and their clones) are for me (mostly) new territory, though 2E is probably closer to older games than it is to Third Edition and later. So I guess that makes me a retro. I say "mostly" because I did have a copy of the Rules Cyclopedia back then, but I never treated it quite as seriously as 2E at the time.
ReplyDeleteRegarding creative license, I think it is unlimited, with one caveat. That is the social nature of the game. It's important to keep what your players want in mind. Awesome classes that never get played, for example, are not very awesome (though they can still be fun to design). Also, the default classes of D&D become a set of shared assumptions that everyone can bring to the table. If players need to read and absorb 50 pages of house rules (or setting details) before even playing, that can be a major hurdle.
(By the way, thank you for the kind words about my 4E experiment.)
Personally, I prefer to k.i.s.s. - keep it simple stupid - all these rehashed rulings can do no more other than to add fuel to raging arguments from players who prefer system 1 to system 2, and don't want to play system 3. Plus it's a big drain on the money bag.
ReplyDeleteI use basic systems where ever possible, and therefore that allows me more free range to dabble in 'tweaking' should the need arise.
Role playing, for me, isn't about the rule book, it's about the players' immersion and enjoyment for an evening of high adventure, excitement and danger, not stopping every 10 minutes to look up rule 16,page 125, paragraph 3, line 42... grrr!