Post by Fenway5 on Jan 10, 2015 10:35:05 GMT -5
Robert Saint John posted an interesting addition he believes is needed in the HOW revision. What do you think?
Chiming in a bit late here, Chris, but I wanted to get TTT before I even started to give this some thought. Now that's done, and after browsing through it and refreshing my mind on the contents of Magi Carta, I'm totally on board with slimming down the core book and making it more affordable.
Taking those in reverse order, I've found it's easier to get players to buy into new systems (especially indies) when I can just gift them the book, or at least have a small stack at the table. I'll do that for around $10, but not so much for $20.
As for slimming, you know me: Metagaming Old School. It's amazing how much game you can get out of 20-30 pages. Melee+Wizard was pretty powerful. Holmes D&D at 48 pages, Moldvay at 64, even moreso. I think that Basic D&D (5E) at 100+ pages is too much, and many Quick Starts these days are too little.
I love HOW Core, but with MC and TTT and others out now, this is the perfect time to take a fresh look and find that perfect balance between "up and running in 15-20 minutes" and "enough for many sessions of a variety of play." From there, players can expand on their own or look to the advanced supplements, much like ITL, AM and AW back in the day.
The other thing is to use the available space to show how HOW is its own thing, how it has its own feel that is different from D&D, the various old school clones, 13th Age, C&C, etc., and even TFT. My feeling is that that is done through the prose, the art, basic character options, and the spells and monsters included. Example, Lamentations of the Flame Princess imparts an atmosphere that makes it feel (and play) so different than, say, S&W or any version of D&D. Back in the day, TFT felt so much different than T&T, D&D or RuneQuest (all different from each other), and it was much more than just system. Perhaps the choices you make now can help create a light implied setting and atmosphere, just like TFT and Classic Traveller (1-3 only) did. Does that make sense?
I'll put it another way. TFT adventures like the Death Tests or Treasure of the Silver Dragon didn't *feel* anything like what was coming out of TSR. There was something about Gargoyles, Octopi with swords and 7-hex Dragons, and spells like Summon Myrmidon, Illusions and Dazzle that made TFT "not D&D". In Classic Traveller, the early Third Imperium was barely defined, but defined just well enough to be Dumarest and Flandry, not Kirk and Skywalker. At the same time, we had to wait awhile for TFT:ITL, and we expanded it on our own, probably made it more like D&D for a bit. With Traveller, we couldn't resist setting it in a galaxy far away. And in both cases, as more supplements came out, we would pick and choose and make the games and setting our own. With MC, TTT and other supplements like Cauldron, we have those tools in advance for HOW. But I'd love to see HOW have a different starting point that was both easier to jump into, but still implied a fantasy universe that was all its own. Swords & Sorcery? Low Magic? Magic Everywhere? Humanocentric, or a conflict between two major races (those above against those below?)?
Chiming in a bit late here, Chris, but I wanted to get TTT before I even started to give this some thought. Now that's done, and after browsing through it and refreshing my mind on the contents of Magi Carta, I'm totally on board with slimming down the core book and making it more affordable.
Taking those in reverse order, I've found it's easier to get players to buy into new systems (especially indies) when I can just gift them the book, or at least have a small stack at the table. I'll do that for around $10, but not so much for $20.
As for slimming, you know me: Metagaming Old School. It's amazing how much game you can get out of 20-30 pages. Melee+Wizard was pretty powerful. Holmes D&D at 48 pages, Moldvay at 64, even moreso. I think that Basic D&D (5E) at 100+ pages is too much, and many Quick Starts these days are too little.
I love HOW Core, but with MC and TTT and others out now, this is the perfect time to take a fresh look and find that perfect balance between "up and running in 15-20 minutes" and "enough for many sessions of a variety of play." From there, players can expand on their own or look to the advanced supplements, much like ITL, AM and AW back in the day.
The other thing is to use the available space to show how HOW is its own thing, how it has its own feel that is different from D&D, the various old school clones, 13th Age, C&C, etc., and even TFT. My feeling is that that is done through the prose, the art, basic character options, and the spells and monsters included. Example, Lamentations of the Flame Princess imparts an atmosphere that makes it feel (and play) so different than, say, S&W or any version of D&D. Back in the day, TFT felt so much different than T&T, D&D or RuneQuest (all different from each other), and it was much more than just system. Perhaps the choices you make now can help create a light implied setting and atmosphere, just like TFT and Classic Traveller (1-3 only) did. Does that make sense?
I'll put it another way. TFT adventures like the Death Tests or Treasure of the Silver Dragon didn't *feel* anything like what was coming out of TSR. There was something about Gargoyles, Octopi with swords and 7-hex Dragons, and spells like Summon Myrmidon, Illusions and Dazzle that made TFT "not D&D". In Classic Traveller, the early Third Imperium was barely defined, but defined just well enough to be Dumarest and Flandry, not Kirk and Skywalker. At the same time, we had to wait awhile for TFT:ITL, and we expanded it on our own, probably made it more like D&D for a bit. With Traveller, we couldn't resist setting it in a galaxy far away. And in both cases, as more supplements came out, we would pick and choose and make the games and setting our own. With MC, TTT and other supplements like Cauldron, we have those tools in advance for HOW. But I'd love to see HOW have a different starting point that was both easier to jump into, but still implied a fantasy universe that was all its own. Swords & Sorcery? Low Magic? Magic Everywhere? Humanocentric, or a conflict between two major races (those above against those below?)?
