Tenkar's Tavern: Doing Less With More

Monday, January 10, 2011

Doing Less With More

Looking at my list of D&D games in one of my recent posts has led to the following decision:

It's time to pack up any and all that won't be seeing use from me anytime soon. Box them up and put them in the basement - above the flood line ;)

Those that will escape the purge:

Castles & Crusades - I do play it monthly - I'll pack up all but the Player's and the Monsters &Treasures books

Swords & Wizardry Complete - I like the rules presentation - Besides, its a recent purchase

Labyrinth Lord and the AEC - This is my current go to D&D variation

Everything else RPG related (aside from my Tunnels & Trolls and other solo gaming products) are going into storage. Besides, much of my gaming material is in PDF format these days anyway.

Maybe pruning the tree of RPG-ness will allow me to focus on - gaming. Go figure ;)

4 comments:

Greg ChristopherJanuary 10, 2011 at 7:29 PM
Didnt make the cut. :(
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TenkarJanuary 10, 2011 at 8:07 PM
I think u missed the fact that it's dead tree I'm packing up ;)

"Besides, much of my gaming material is in PDF format these days anyway."
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Greg ChristopherJanuary 10, 2011 at 8:22 PM
I was thinking you were going to be spending romantic evenings with those games that you did keep around.
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TenkarJanuary 10, 2011 at 8:23 PM
Well, if I can get the fiancée to game, that may just happen ;)
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Monday, January 10, 2011

Doing Less With More

4 comments:

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