One amazing feature of the table-top role-playing game hobby
that developed in the time that I was away is the absurd number of D&D
clones available now. Thanks, guys, but vintage rules are freely available
already for those of us who do not already have them stored in old boxes.
There are dozens of these things. Rather than designing new
games with better rules, gamers seem to have made a small industry of amateur inferior
products based on the original amateur inferior game. It’s like rolling to
check for traps over and over and over…
There is something fun and fresh about amateur products.
They do not carry the plastic reek of corporate greed. Yet, as I read about the imploding
OSR scene, it turns out that they are no more immune to the bane of corrupt
leadership and factionalism than TSR was back in the early days that some
gamers remember as sunny, happy times.
Take Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Am I the
only one who can’t help laughing at this game? It’s like “This is Spinäl Tap”
but unintentionally. If you are having fun playing it, I’m happy for you. But all
you’re doing is playing old-time D&D. The LotFP rules are literally just a
rewritten and slightly pared down old version of D&D. I found a freely
available pdf version without the art and it’s one of the least impressive
games I’ve ever seen. Sure, the designer went all out on that summoning spell.
I understand that the version with the art has images that are supposed to
shock and titillate, expressing the jaded mood intended for this particular rerun
of the clunky old game. I can understand the wish to buy a game just for the
mood evoked by the art, but we have the internet now, so why should I pay for a
book of those images? In any case, LotFP is not how I’m going to
introduce my kids or their friends to role-playing games: wonky rules with
embarrassing images! I find it strange to retype D&D, add grotesque and racy
pictures, and treat it like a new game. We could already do games like that
with B/X D&D already. Heck, we already did, a long time ago.
If you want rules-lite old-fashioned adventure gaming, try Tiny Dungeon D6 2e. It works like a charm. It is made for house rules and DM rulings and you can attach any pictures you want to your setting. It is perfect for the OSR style of play.
I don't play Lamentations but I've read more than one review comment on how the Fighter is the only one that goes up in combat ability and the thief is the only one with skills that can get better. This simple change is likely to change the way the game plays over time.
ReplyDeleteInteresting! Maybe the clones should indicate up front which genes they have engineered and what changes in game play should be expected due to that. Otherwise, they present a bewildering mass of reprinted old stuff retyped and sold for new dollars.
DeleteFor somebody like me, who hates character classes as a concept and as a game mechanic, it sounds as if this "fix" to the game makes my problem worse.
My point of view should not stop others who like the game from playing. I wrote this post after discovering for the first time just how many D&D clones there are.