Tenkar's Tavern: Game On! (Tunnels & Trolls)

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Game On! (Tunnels & Trolls)

Last nite was the first session of the online, chat based, Tunnels & Trolls game being run by Scott over at the blog HUGE RUINED PILE. It's in my blog list to the left (links are a PITA with the iPad). Scott has a nice write up of last night's session, so I won't bore you with a retread. Suffice to say it was a most excellent gaming session.

My son, he who is to shortly turn 18, stopped at my desk three times to comment:

"I thought you said you were playing a game? All I see is chat. You call this a game?"

Three times. I actually think he is interested. Fantasy Grounds he understood as a game interface, and he dismissed it as boring. Entirely chat based he found intriguing enough to stop at least 3 times to read the chat and comment about the game (or lack there of).

I think I may be able to draw him to the Darkside ;)

3 comments:

Joseph BrowningMay 18, 2011 at 1:47 PM
I just played my first solo T&T adventure yesterday thanks to your blog. I died quickly. :)
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TenkarMay 18, 2011 at 2:38 PM
Joe, I hope you at least had fun ;)

T&T Solos can be fairly lethal, especially with the rarity of healing. The whittle down factor can be a real biatch.

Some of the new solos are a bit better... balanced? survivable? I'll have to do a post dealing with that when i can
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Joseph BrowningMay 18, 2011 at 2:42 PM
I had fun, alright. I just need to find another 30 minutes or so and head back in and see if I can survive with a new guy beyond 5 areas. :)
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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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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Game On! (Tunnels & Trolls)

3 comments:

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