Tenkar's Tavern: Thank God For E-Books, or My Desk Would Runneth Over

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Thank God For E-Books, or My Desk Would Runneth Over

If my slush pile of RPG related material waiting to be reviewed was physical and not virtual, I'd have one hell of a storage problem. Let's peek at what's on the plate:

Synapse
Weird Fantasy: Grindhouse Edition
Vornheim
Jungle Ruins of Madaro-Shanti (S&W)
Splinters of Faith 5: Eclipse of the hearth (S&W)
A Bunch of Stuff for Chronicles of Arax
Sword Noir: A RPG of Hardboiled Sword & Sorcery
Dark Ages Basic Rules (from White Wolf, and it's Free)
Beneath the Despairing Stone (C&C)
Shadow, Sword & Spell: Expert
Rapture: The End of Days (Theological SciFi Horror)

This list is off the top of my head. I'm sure I missed others. This weekend is already shot (my niece / god daughter is being christened tomorrow - woot!) but I'll be reading in my spare moments. It's a good thing I love to read... heh

Damn, that's an exciting list of gaming to have to read :)

1 comment:

CrystalApril 11, 2011 at 7:42 AM
Looking forward to the Arax reviews :)
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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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Saturday, April 9, 2011

Thank God For E-Books, or My Desk Would Runneth Over

1 comment:

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