The OSR and My Horrifying Lack of Products

"The OSR is less about the rules and more about the products you use those rules with."--Tenkar's Tavern post, ENWorld Article - Is the OSR Dead?

Given the empty space on my single gaming shelf and my almost complete lack of use of purchased gaming products when I am GMing, it appears that I am somehow aberrant. Does this lack on my part exclude me from the OSR? If one takes Tenkar's ad hoc definition of the OSR to an illogical extreme, then yes. It is a good thing that stuff like this causes no loss of sleep on my part.

I am not going to quibble with Tenkar's definition because I think it is captures where the OSR is today. It is interesting that the focus of the self-identified OSR has shifted not-so-subtly from "process" to "product." It seems we have gone from rulings, not rules to products, not rules. Certainly there has been a desire from the beginning by many to create OGL-based rule sets that would, in turn, serve as platforms for other published products. 

I have good friends who are avid producers and consumers of gaming products. I am happy for them and excited to watch them benefit from their creativity and hard work. Technology has provided marketing and distribution solutions for both producers and consumers. Oddly enough, instead of jumping in myself, I find myself becoming almost Amish in my approach to gaming. No fancy cars or electricity for me.The more there is out there, the less I want it. I have purchased only those items (mainly rule sets) that I knew I would have to use for gaming sessions. But that has been it during this past year. No Kickstarters. No Patreon. No adventures or supplements. 

The funny thing is that I buy far too many books. I have thousands of them. Despite this, I am always buying more of them (mostly cheap used ones through Amazon). With music, I am both a consumer and a producer. I make money playing music but it just results in more musical instruments in our house. But when it comes to gaming, I just need my dice and a pencil. 

Improvisation

I have the feeling that when most people hear the word "improvise," they think of something that is the opposite of planning, as in "I didn't plan for it, I just improvised." In other words, improvising is the same as winging it. Following this logic, improvisation doesn't require work or planning; in many ways it is the opposite.

I think of improvising differently, perhaps because I have been playing music since I was a young child. As a musician, improvisation is an activity that takes skill and practice. To be good at improvisation requires an understanding of music theory (intuitive and cognitive), a good ear, and enough chops (skill on the instrument) to create the appropriate musical sounds on the fly. Each musician develops improvisation skills a bit differently. For me, it comes from time spent mastering various kinds of scales, rhythms and chord progressions (building on the blocks of melody, harmony and rhythm)--that it what I call "practice." It is very similar to drills performed by athletes. And it is different than learning and playing songs--I consider that "rehearsal." Important and necessary, but it doesn't develop me as a musician in the same way that practice does.

Disciplined Practice & Preparation: A Key to Improvisation

I am able to improvise as a musician because I prepare and practice. The musicality of my improvisation is a result of my understanding of music, a trained ear, and enough skill/muscle memory with my chosen instruments to create something interesting in the moment. When I do not put time and effort into practice, I quickly lose my creative edge and I have a harder time playing something interesting when I improvise.

I find the same thing is true when I am running a gaming session. I am able to improvise best when I am well-prepared and I have put in the necessary time to plan. I am able to draw upon the complexities of the world I am creating and the vast resources of gaming community to respond creatively to player activities during a session. That to me is improvising. I am not smart enough to run a good session by winging it any more than I can create an interesting guitar solo without practice.

I relearn this every time I run a session without preparation, as I have done the last few weeks in our Montporte Campaign. I have been run ragged by work and have nothing left in the tank to devote to preparation and planning. The less I prepare and plan and am forced to improvise, the less I am able to improvise effectively. I just end up drawing blank after blank. I notice myself struggling; it is probably not apparent to the players in any given session. However, there is a cumulative impact on not preparing that makes the sessions less interesting and challenging for players.

Like any analogy, there is a point where the analogy between playing an RPG and playing music breaks down. However, because both music and RPGs have elements of performance art to them and they are also typically group activities, there are a number of analogies that can be drawn. Improvisation is one such analogy.

Resisting Impulsive/Compulsive RPG Purchases

Back when I was in my late 20s, I lived for a time in northern Minnesota, along the north shore of Lake Superior. The area is absolutely gorgeous and I would move back there in a heartbeat if I had the chance...Anyway, while I was there, I spent a lot of time hiking, cross country skiing, and snowshoeing. I also took up fishing (or rather returned to it, as I fished a lot as a young child). I soon learned that fishing was not a cheap activity. It wasn't like it was when I was a kid, where I could bring home a bucket of panfish with a can of worms and cheap fishing pole. I needed all sorts of things just to get started--poles, reels, lures, jigs, tackle boxes--not to mention the need to have a boat, regular boat motor, trolling motor, floatation devices, sonar fish finder. I choose to be on good terms with boat owners, as I couldn't afford to drop the cash needed for even a small boat. Oh, I almost forgot the need for a trailer and a four-wheel drive truck. At the end of the day, you could buy a giant pile of Mrs. Paul's best for the price of catching one walleye.

One of my very wise fishing buddies made the simple observation that most fishing equipment is designed to catch fisherman, not fish. I think about that little gem on a regular basis as I am involved in a number of fun activities where I could easily spend way beyond my means (much to my wife's dismay). I play music (easy to drop $2K on a decent bass or $300 on an effects pedal). I read (and collect) history books and most of the topics I enjoy are only published by university publishing houses (not cheap). And then there is gaming. If you are reading this post, you need no explanation as to how easy it would be to drop a couple hundred on gaming stuff.

I have lived with myself long enough to know that when it comes to music equipment, books, and gaming stuff, I can very impulsive. Nothing like walking into a music store for a $10 instrument cable and walking out with a $600 guitar. Working in the nonprofit sector and having kids in college requires me to be bit more responsible than that.

Back in Minnesota, I would look at the fishing tackle and ask: (1) Do I actually need this to catch fish? (2) Do I need to buy this today or can I think about it for another day? I do the same thing with gaming stuff. The fact is, when it comes to gaming, all you really need is a set of dice, a pencil, and some blank paper.

It isn't that I don't ever buy gaming stuff...I do. And sometimes I buy a lot of it. And sometimes I buy things and then think the next week, what did I need with that? But I do try to avoid that sort of buyer's remorse. I think the main thing is knowing myself and not necessarily trusting that overwhelming urge to buy the latest game product. I try to only buy things I know I will actually use in the next six months.

I use online wish lists to keep me from online impulse purchases: When I feel the urge to buy something and I cannot think I will immediately use, I put it on a wish list and give it the highest priority. Almost always, I find myself going back to that list a month later and lowering the priority. My online wish lists are filled with thousands of dollars worth of stuff that I thought I had to have but then discovered I didn't really need. I figure I get the fun of shopping without an attack of buyer's remorse.

Truth be told, I have a lot of books that I will never read and piles of gaming stuff that  I will never use [Shhhh! Please keep that to yourself, as this is something I don't want to admit to my wife more often that absolutely necessary]. There a plenty of things that could have remained on a wishlist instead of being purchased by me. Lots of things sitting here that make me wonder, "Did I really pine and swone for these things?" This being said, a certain red five string bass has been sitting on my wish list for a good long time and Father's Day is just around the corner. Come on now, Daddy looks good in red.

The Dungeon 2: Comparing GURPS and D&D on Dungeon Design

My very first view of a dungeon via Dr. Holmes' edition of Dungeons & Dragons

I have been working my way through the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy material and I have also been following Peter D's Dungeon Fantastic and Patrick's Renovating the Temple. While I cannot speak from personal experience, it is clear to me that running a GURPS fantasy dungeon campaign is not only doable, it could be very groovy. That being said, it is also clear to me that Dungeons & Dragons is a hand-to-glove fit for dungeoneering while GURPS requires a few tweaks. Despite the need for tweaking, GURPS offers up an approach to dungeon adventuring that Dungeons & Dragons cannot readily duplicate as it allows the GM to set aside the most fundamental controlling element of dungeon adventuring in D&D.

Using GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1e as my points of comparison, I have made the following observations:

• GURPS DF characters start out tough (250 points) compared to AD&D 1e characters (1st level). 250 points is considerably tougher than the average low-skill militia guard whereas a 1st level character in AD&D 1e has only the slightest edge against a similarly armed 0-level human.
• GURPS characters do advance and gain in strength but this is nothing like the huge power increase that AD&D 1e characters experience.
• GURPS character advancement is gained per session for good play whereas character advancement in AD&D 1e is based on experience points gained through slaying monsters and bringing home treasure.
• Encounter planning for AD&D 1e is simple as hit dice are an accurate measure of power. In GURPS, the ability to move and attack is maybe the best reflection of power but it is much more difficult to assess and compare (at least it is a challenge for me as a GURPS newbie). While old schoolers often mock the concept of encounter balance, the basic design of an AD&D 1e dungeon is built around it. It is a basic necessity.

I have summed up this comparison as a visual (very much a handwaving exercise):

Hidden in plain sight is the fact that the design of a traditional megadungeon and the most fundamental aspect of AD&D 1e, character advancement, are mirror images of each other. Monte Cook made "Things get more dangerous as you go deeper" is #1 Assumption when creating his Dungeon-A-Day project a few years ago. That is not merely a dungeon design convention, it a reflection of the most intrinsic element of the D&D  game system (regardless of edition). It is really a necessity. 1st level characters have no chance against even the wussiest of creatures on the 10th Level Wandering Monster Table.

AD&D 1e character level advancement (the reflection of power) generally matches the encounter difficulties as one goes deeper in the dungeon because it has to. It is the way the developed and it is the way the game works. 1st level characters may survive an encounter with an angry elder titan, their survival is based on running and avoiding (not that this is a bad thing). My point is that the most basic element of dungeon design, Things get more dangerous as you go deeper, is not just an adventure design approach, it is a reflection of how the game system works.

A dungeon that is actually designed around GURPS can start with different assumptions. To be sure, GURPS characters do advance in ability, but it is their starting point that is the primary determinant to their toughness.  A 250 point character and the GURPS system provides the GM (and the players) with a lot more freedom for encounters than is really possible with AD&D 1e. As a consequence, there can be a lot more variety (and surprises) to dungeon design. GMs do not have to adhere so closely to Things get more dangerous as you deeper.

This is a very elementary conclusion; one that is, in the words of my old physics textbook, "intuitively obvious to the casual observer." There are a lot of the observations that could be made and implications drawn. I am interested to gain a deeper understand and also have the opportunity to actually play GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. I have the thought of tweaking GURPS DF along the lines of my first dungeon experience with the Holmes version of Dungeons & Dragons, at least in terms of class and race, but I am not ready to be a GURPS GM quite yet but I am getting there.

Dragon's Lament

I have read a couple of interesting posts recently about the wussitude of AD&D dragons (see Beedo's post here and Peter D's post here). I can remember my gaming group coming to the same conclusion back in 1977 as we were reading through our brand new copies the Monster Manual. It seems like the game's namesake--a monster that should have been at the top of the food chain--was a bit of a powderpuff (this assumes that one avoided the breath).

Our solution, at the time, was to revamp the hit points of the dragons in the following way: Instead of dragon hit points being based solely on age (X hit points per die, where X is the growth stage of the dragon), we counted original system as additional hit points added to the hit points that we rolled.

Consider the following table, which uses a red dragon of average size (10 hit dice). The column on the left shows the hit points for each dragon age, using the dragon hit point system on page 29 of the Monster Manual (AD&D 1e).

The column on the right takes the hit points in the left column and adds them to the hit points rolled for the dragon (10d8). On average, 45 more hit points are added the dragon at each age level. The example in the table uses the 1d8 average roll of 4.5 hit points and multiplying by 10, which is the number of hit dice. In game play, the 10d8 would, of course, be rolled and then added to the hit point "bonus" for appropriate dragon age.

The Purpose of It All

"ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS is first and foremost a game for the fun and enjoyment of those who seek to use to use imagination and creativity... ...the reader should understand that AD&D is designed to be an amusing and diverting pastime..." AD&D 1e DMG p. 9


I don't usually quote Gygax as Holy Writ, but I do find this little gem to be useful when I find myself getting sucked into gaming as more than gaming. I try to game with the intent of finding fun, enjoyment, amusement, and diversion. It is why I don't waste time or energy in gaming polemics or edition wars. Life is hard enough without fighting about a game with elves, flumphs, and funny dice (There is a Wikipedia entry for Flumph...how groovy is that?).