Saturday Q&A (dec 9)

Phew, what a week.  We start with responses regarding the post Cold Start.

ViP writes:

"Could you do it? How would you do it? Would you change the name? Would you still include rules that you more or less accept but have never been keen about? Would you use all the classes, all the races, all the monsters?"

A very boring answer: I already did that with in '86 with a group of fellow middle schoolers who had not watched E.T., nor had any exposure whatsoever to the game. I just explained the concept as I had half-grasped it ("you pretend you are a hero or a magician and I describe what you see and you tell me what you do and I roll dice to see if you succeed and you can try absolutely anything and you kill monster and get gold to win"). The immediately agreed. No other justification was needed.

For an older crowd from 73, I would go with "Wanna try the game I learned from these guys at College X / University Y? It's all the rage up there!". That is exactly how it spread outside the wargaming crowd, and I don't see why it would not work with my version of the rules. The concept, by itself, is simply strong enough.

As for said rules, I would just start with quasi-Basic without the miniature wargaming legacy (speed and detailed encumbrance) and then let my own AD&D organically emerge from play, one ruling at a time, just like it did for our group the first time around. The name being the only perfect thing in this game, D&D it would remain. And I would definitely try and start playing right away :)

Sidenote: there are more time-travel/do-over movies and books than dice in my attic, (lots!) but on this particular theme I would recommend "Replay" by Ken Grimwood, from 1986 (1988 World Fantasy Award), a clear inspiration for Groundhog Day, with a dash of "Peggy Sue Got Married" nostalgia for mid-lifers like me ...



Sterling in Maine writes:

In the situation of returning to 1973 anywhere in the world, and as myself at any age, but with all of the knowledge I have now, “realistically” speaking, creating a role-playing game and trying to get other people to play would probably be low on my list. For the purpose of this experiment though, I think I could do it and have ideas about how to approach it. I should start by saying I have no interest in recreating D&D and teaching people how to play it, and that's not what I'm about to describe my strategy for. Rather, I'm interested in playing a game somewhat like the D&D-ish game I play today, but probably even less D&D-like. I hope this is close enough to what you had in mind with your suggestion, Alexis.

To maximize my chances of finding interested participants, I’d begin in a college town with easy access to a major metropolis and a nearby military base. I’d be a young adult so as to have reached the age of majority, but still have a good amount of time ahead of me.

Step one, join in with the local war gaming crowd, assuming there were a few players around, and if not, get a group going around ancient and medieval war games.

Step two, referee some battles where the participants have asymmetric forces and differing goals, such as the defending player has a much weaker force, but his victory condition is simply to keep the enemy from reaching the defenders' base line for 5 rounds. Play more games like this with more than two sides and with each knowing their own victory conditions, but not necessarily those of everyone else. After a few games I’d throw in referee-controlled elements that have no victory conditions, but have a well-defined modus operandi that the players are informed about and which is driven by dice or cards to ensure the referee is demonstrating no favoritism, either consciously or unconsciously.

Step three, introduce the idea of an ongoing campaign of linked battles if they hadn’t already heard of it, as Tony Bath had already published this idea in War Games Digest 13 years earlier in September of 1960. In the spirit of “starting cold” however, I’ll accept the challenge of introducing the idea to my war game group without referring to anyone else. Assuming that the asymmetric victory conditions met with interest for at least some of my fellow game players, suggesting some on-going, underlying reasons for these conditions should be an easy sell and marks the point where the players are assuming the role of a specific leader rather than just controlling armies as a nameless commander.

Step four, we start a fresh campaign with all of the players controlling a single “character,” each of whom we hope will eventually become a leader. We give this character a lot more detail, not the canned personalities and forces that we used in earlier steps, but with varying characteristics like melee and archery skill levels, health, command presence, and a background “education” in terms of what they learned in early family life and then some sort of training or apprenticeship. There also needs to be a mechanism for these characters to advance toward leadership somehow, so a system of experience and skills development needs to be included. I would invent these with the help of my players, but develop it like an experience point/level kind of system.

By this point, I’d say we’re playing an RPG, and we’d continue to develop more rules to simulate obstacles to characters becoming leaders, acquiring holdings, and developing economies to support their ambitions for conquest.

Would I call it D&D? Certainly not. Would it include the rules of D&D that I more or less accept, but am not keen on? No, it would be our own freshly developed rules for our game. Would it include the trappings of D&D like classes and races and monsters? No. The idea of base training that’s class-like, yes, and some mythological and folklore creatures and superstitions made real, but not the cartoonish menagerie of the Monster Manual or adoptions from Middle Earth, Melnibone, Hyboria, Nehwon, or whatever. Or maybe it would. I’d be just one of the creators of this new game, so I can only guess at where it would end up based on what I think I’d contribute and resist including.



JB in Seattle writes:

This is a terribly difficult thought exercise, just causing me stress thinking about it. Knowing something of the history of the world from 1973 till now, I'd feel some responsibility to have a greater impact on helping avoid some of the tragedies and terrible things. Even on my own life...could I stop my three year old self from breaking his leg, or mentor my younger self over the years with all the knowledge I would have LIKED someone to provide me (making my life quite a bit easier)? Or my brother's? Or my mother's?

*sigh* Decisions.

And yet, I understand your thought exercise is supposed to pertain to D&D. And D&D really is my area of expertise (much more so than international relations and crisis solving). So, I'll stick to that.

Firstly, knowing the game is in development, I would attempt to join TSR and subtly influence the shape and make of the company. Preferably I could find work in the design team, but just getting in and trying to run games with the OGs would (possibly) be enough. A module here or there, and then (perhaps) a chance to write a regular (or semi-regular) essay in Dragon, the...only thing equivalent to a blog at the time.

None of which might have any impact on the direction and eventual collapse of the company, mind you (which is fine) but it MIGHT be able to get some "stuff" out into the universe, philosophy-wise, which could shortcut the learning of later generations, and put to bed some of the wilder ideas of D&D and role-playing. Even if I were to get canned from TSR in one of the inevitable, business-related purges, I'd hope that I'd done enough to be one of the "celebrated OGs" in the 21st century...not because I need to be invited to sit on panels and conventions or anything, but so that my ideas, built on a lifetime of gaming experience, would at least be respected and worthy of consideration.

Jesus, after all, is only the third most important person to the foundational teachings of the Catholic church (after St. Paul and Thomas Aquinas). I don't have to be Gygax or Arneson or (even) Hickman or Mentzer. But it's no joke the impact those closest to the "roots" of the hobby exerted...and continue to exert...through their early contributions. I'd like to think that in your limited time travel scenario, I could find a way to be a contributor to the hobby, and hopefully one who could make a lasting impact, given what I know NOW.

Answer to the above: I’ll address my response in a new post that should appear this evening or tomorrow, as I find time.  Meanwhile ...

OhioHedgehog writes:

I know you've discussed the idea of the changing price of milk depending on birthing season. Wondering if you've considered doing the same with fruits and vegetables? I know there was a lot of pickling or brining done and was toying with the idea of limited seasonal food availability.

Answer: There are dozens of ways to play that game. The Renaissance-medieval world was very seasonal, from crops to fishing, with additions like the cost of firewood or, as Clarice would know, the cost of fresh lamb meat. It's fun to consider the possibilities, but wow, what a headache that would be to create a meaningful chart for different climates and geographies.

OhioHedgehog:  I was kinda thinking I've already got the climate/geography question answered with my "what's produced where" table. This would just add a "when" to add some color and variety to what the locals are eating in a given month. Rhubarb giving way to apricots to apples to pears to nothing in the depths of a northern hemisphere temperate zone winter. But I'm guessing you're right. The game might not be worth the candle.

  _____

Thank you for your contributions.

If readers would like to reply to the above, or wish to ask a question or submit observations like those above, please submit  to my email, alexiss1@telus.net.  If you could, please give the region where you're located (state, province, department, county, whatever) as it humanises your comment.

Feel free to address material on the authentic wiki, my books or any subject related to dungeons & dragons.  I encourage you to initiate subject material of your own, and to address your comment to others writing in this space.