It’s taken me a year to finish two squads and an HQ figure but finally I have a fieldable “army.” Now to convince my group to try Rogue Trader…

I recently picked up an old boxed set of the first edition of Gamma World in part because the newest edition is going to be released today and in part because I remember it as a fun but bizarre read. I never played the game and always heard opinionated nerd friends describe the system as “broken” with the condescension that only opinionated nerds can muster up. Looking through the manual and finding gems like this:

suggests to me that they may have been right…. Still, There is much to like in its early rpg anything-goes setting. The mutations chart is a hoot, with adolescent favorites such as GAS GENERATION and OVERSIZED BODY PARTS checked with pencil marks next to them. The listed monsters include the awesome CENTISTEED (a centipede you can ride), the slightly less awesome HOPPERS (giant rabbits you can ride), and a whole range of mutated beetles and plants.

The edition coming out today uses the 4e rules-set combined with CCG booster packs which suggests a different sort of crazy, but I have to admit I’m curious to read its rules too. I wonder if the CENTISTEED passed the test of time or if it was excised along with the fun by WOTC. Harsh words from someone who has yet to read the new rules. I apologize.

The beauty of buying old used games is that you sometimes find early role playing artifacts long forgotten and buried between the pages of rulebooks. In this particular box set I found two gems. The first was a map of caves next to the “Great Creater.”

Strangely, I find myself wanting to clean up and embellish this map in photoshop. How many brilliant maps like this one were drawn (complete with misspellings) and discarded by inventive youths (bored out of their mind in home room) in the 70s/80s? The mind reels.

The second artifact was a character sheet for a mutated humanoid named “Nicadeemas.”

While this looks like an ordinary character sheet, one thing stands out in the upper left hand corner – the word “dad.”  Was character sheet intended for the father of the original owner of the box? Where are Mom and Sis’ character sheets? Did dad really play with the kid or was it just wishful thinking on his part? While today there are many gamer dads who blog the new experience of role playing with their kids and the creation of nerd generation 2.0, this simple sheet suggests that even back at the dawn of the hobby there were families that gamed together. This certainly wasn’t the case in my family and perhaps I’m over-reading this probably incidental marking; but the beauty of it is that while I paid for the Gamma World box, I got a fleeting glimpse of someone’s youthful imagination and love of the hobby.

What bits of other people’s past have you found in used games you have bought (or your own in games you had forgotten about)?

Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds by Gary Alan Fine is a great read for those of us who were gaming in the early 80s but were too young to have a larger sense of the hobby. I picked up this classic (written in 1983) from Amazon and I highly recommend it. It is a sociologist’s account of field work at RPG clubs in Minnesota – but more than that it’s written by a colleague of M.A.R. Barker so it’s a fairly in-depth and sympathetic account of role playing games. The systems it covers are principally OD&D, Chivalry and Sorcery, Traveler and Empire of the Petal Throne.

Chapters include coverage of RPGs as they existed in the 80s, player culture, the nature of the collective fantasy created by rpgs, and the dynamics of role playing groups. It also includes a great bibliography for further reading that includes everything from Huizinga’s Homo Ludens to citations from the writings of Gygax, Hargrave, Jaquays and other RPG leading lights. As an ethnography of gamers, I think it succefully captures the feel of play, including some cringe-worthy quotes from players. Reading it as a gamer, the book provides an interesting self-reflexive look at role playing that, while repetitive in places (this is academic prose after all), is compelling and helps us think through the history of gaming and our identities as gamers. Highly recommended bed time reading.

Speaking of Rip Van Winkle, the author of that fine story also gave us some of the earliest fantastic narratives in a critique of colonial encounter. Read the following excerpt and keep in mind that it was written 200 years ago… and it has lasers in it.

–

From Washington Irving, A History of New York, 1809

Let us suppose, then, that the inhabitants of the moon, by astonishing advancement in science, and by profound insight into that lunar philosophy, the mere flickerings of which have of late years dazzled the feeble optics, and addled the shallow brains of the good people of our globe-let us suppose, I say, that the inhabitants of the moon, by these means, had arrived at such a command of their energies, such an enviable state of perfectibility, as to control the elements, and navigate the boundless regions of space. Let us suppose a roving crew of these soaring philosophers, in the course of an aerial voyage of discovery among the stars, should chance to alight upon this outlandish planet.

And here I beg my readers will not have the uncharitableness to smile, as is too frequently the fault of volatile readers when perusing the grave speculations of philosophers. I am far from indulging in any sportive vein at present; nor is the supposition I have been making so wild as many may deem it. It has long been a very serious and anxious question with me, and many a time and oft, in the course of my overwhelming cares and contrivances for the welfare and protection of this my native planet, have I lain awake whole nights debating in my mind, whether it were most probable we should first discover and civilize the moon, or the moon discover and civilize our globe. Neither would the prodigy of sailing in the air and cruising among the stars be a whit more astonishing and incomprehensible to us than was the European mystery of navigating floating castles, through the world of waters, to the simple natives. We have already discovered the art of coasting along the aerial shores of our planet, by means of balloons, as the savages had of venturing along their sea-coasts in canoes; and the disparity between the former, and the aerial vehicles of the philosophers from the moon, might not be greater than that between the bark canoes of the savages, and the mighty ships of their discoverers. I might here pursue an endless chain of similar speculations; but as they would be unimportant to my subject, I abandon them to my reader, particularly if he be a philosopher, as matters well worthy of his attentive consideration.

To return then to my supposition – let us suppose that the aerial visitants I have mentioned, possessed of vastly superior knowledge to ourselves; that is to say, possessed of superior knowledge in the art of extermination riding on hyppogriffs -defended with impenetrable armor–armed with concentrated sunbeams, and provided with vast engines, to hurl enormous moon-stones: in short, let us suppose them, if our vanity will permit the supposition, as superior to us in knowledge, and consequently in power, as the Europeans were to the Indians, when they first discovered them. All this is very possible; it is only our self-sufficiency that makes us think otherwise; and I warrant the poor savages, before they had any knowledge of the white men, armed in all the terrors of glittering steel and tremendous gunpowder, were as perfectly convinced that they themselves were the wisest, the most virtuous, powerful, and perfect of created beings as are, at this present moment, the lordly inhabitants of old England, the volatile populace of France, or even the self-satisfied citizens of this most enlightened republic.

Let us suppose, moreover, that the aerial voyagers, finding this planet to be nothing but a howling wilderness, inhabited by us poor savages and wild beasts, shall take formal possession of it, in the name of his most gracious and philosophic excellency, the man in the moon. Finding, however, that their numbers are incompetent to hold it in complete subjection, on account of the ferocious barbarity of its inhabitants, they shall take our worthy President, the King of England, the Emperor of Hayti, the mighty Bonaparte, and the Great King of Bantam, and returning to their native planet, shall carry them to court, as were the Indian chiefs led about as spectacles in the courts of Europe.

Then, making such obeisance as the etiquette of the court requires, they shall address the puissant man in the moon, in, as near as I can conjecture, the following terms:

“Most serene and mighty Potentate, whose dominions extend as far as eye can reach, who rideth on the Great Bear, useth the sun as a looking glass, and maintaineth unrivaled control over tides, madmen, and sea-crabs We thy liege subjects have just returned from a voyage of discovery, in the course of which we have landed and taken possession of that obscure little dirty planet, which thou beholdest rolling at a distance. The five uncouth monsters, which we have brought into this august presence, were once very important chiefs among their fellow savages, who are a race of beings totally destitute of the common attributes of humanity; and differing in every thing from the inhabitants of the moon, inasmuch as they carry their heads upon their shoulders, instead of under their arms have two eyes instead of one are utterly destitute of tails, and of a variety of unseemly complexions, , particularly of horrible whiteness instead of pea-green.

“We have moreover found these miserable savages sunk into a state of the utmost ignorance and depravity, every man shamelessly living with his own wife, and rearing his own children, instead of indulging in that community of wives enjoined by the law of nature, as expounded by the philosophers of the moon. In a word, they have scarcely a gleam of true philosophy among them, but are, in fact, utter heretics, ignoramuses, and barbarians. Taking compassion, therefore, on the sad condition of these sublunary wretches, we have endeavored, while we remained on their planet, to intro duce among them the light of reason and the comforts of the moon. We have treated them to mouthfuls of moonshine, and draughts of nitrous oxide which they swallowed with incredible voracity, particularly the females; and we have likewise endeavored to instill into them the precepts of lunar philosophy. We have insisted upon their renouncing the contemptible shackles of religion and common sense, and adoring the profound, omnipotent, and all perfect energy, and the ecstatic, immutable, immovable perfection. But such was the unparalleled obstinacy of these wretched savages, that they persisted in cleaving to their wives, and adhering to their religion, and absolutely set at naught the sublime doctrines of the moon nay, among other abominable heresies, they even went so far as blasphemously I to declare, that this ineffable planet was made of nothing more nor less than green cheese!”

At these words, the great man in the moon (being a very profound philosopher) shall fall into a terrible passion, and possessing equal authority over things that do not belong to him, as did whilom his holiness the Pope, shall forthwith issue a formidable bull, specifying, “That, whereas a certain crew of Lunatics have lately discovered, and taken possession of a newly discovered planet called the earth-and that whereas it is inhabited by none but a race of two-legged animals that carry their heads on their shoulders instead of under their arms; cannot talk the lunatic language; have two eyes instead of one; are destitute of tails, and of a horrible whiteness, instead of pea-green-therefore, and for a variety of other excellent reasons, they are considered incapable of possessing any property in the planet they infest, and the right and title to it are confirmed to its original discoverers. And furthermore, the colonists who are now about to depart to the aforesaid planet are authorized and commanded to use every means to convert these infidel savages from the darkness of Christianity, and make them thorough and absolute lunatics.”

In consequence of this benevolent bull, our philosophic benefactors go to work with hearty zeal. They seize upon our fertile territories, scourge us from our rightful possessions, relieve us from our wives, and when we are unreasonable enough to complain, they will turn upon us and say, Miserable barbarians! Ungrateful wretches! Have we not come thousands of miles to improve your worthless planet; have we not fed you with moonshine; have we not intoxicated you with nitrous oxides; does not our moon give you light every night, and have you the baseness to murmur, when we claim a pitiful return for all these benefits? But finding that we not only persist in absolute contempt of their reasoning and disbelief in their philosophy, but even go so far as daringly to defend our property, their patience shall be exhausted, and they shall resort to their superior powers of argument; hunt us with hyppogriffs, transfix us with concentrated sunbeams, demolish our cities with moonstones; until having, by main force, converted us to the true faith, they shall graciously permit us to exist in the torrid deserts of Arabia, or the frozen regions of Lapland, there to enjoy the blessings of civilization and the charms of lunar philosophy, in much the same manner as the reformed and enlightened savages of this country are kindly suffered to inhabit the inhospitable forests of the north, or the impenetrable wildernesses of South America.

Thus, I hope, I have clearly proved, and strikingly illustrated, the right of the early colonists to the possession of this country.

–

Not only is this piece great because it has moon people on hyppogriffs shooting lasers, but through its satire it illustrates the importance of social power dynamics. Colonial relationships between states and peoples offer fertile ground for making up player character motivations. Are they allied with the colonists or against them? Do they have multiple allegiances? Can they play opposing factions against one another?

In the high fantasy campaign I’m currently GMing, one party member is an indigenous tribesman and another is a former military man who used to work to fight against tribesmen on the colonial frontier. Despite their differences, they have developed a working relationship and tentative friendship that has offered me lots of narrative hooks and challenges to both build and strain their relationship.

Do any of you use differences in political power, technological advantage, or epidemics in your campaigns? How has it played out?

I received a very special package from Finland yesterday.  I wasn’t expecting to receive this package so quickly, but thanks to the marvels of priority post it’s here just a few days after I pre-ordered it.

To begin with the title, I love it. Lamentations of the Flame Princess is wonderfully anomalous name in a sea of “x and y” titled retro clones. Given the author James Raggi’s interest in Metal it makes sense that the name reminds one of old band names like Estuary of Calamity or Cradle of Filth and immediately evokes a fantastic setting. Who is the Flame Princess and what does she lament? You can’t not want to know.

Packaging: Shipping was insanely fast and great care was taking in boxing the game for transit.

Tightly packed

Production Values: The box itself is of the same heft as those put out by large-scale game publishers, but the attention to detail and the art is simply outstanding. When the cover art of a game makes you want to play it, you know the producers have succeeded in making something special. The rules booklets are almost as sturdy as the OD&D ones, but much better looking.

LotFP Box

Content: The first thing you encounter in the box is a warning and a welcome. The warning is a tongue in cheek caution about the purported hazards of role playing games that reads as an homage to the moral panics surrounding D&D in the 1980s. The welcome maps out the contents of the box and directs readers with differing levels of familiarity with the genre to the most appropriate books – handy for those who want to jump directly into play. This is followed with a note on the exclusive use of the masculine pronoun in the text which while playful becomes problematic with the use of the term “girls” to discuss the presumed absence of women gamers. Aversion to politically correct language is understandable, but if we want to grow the hobby then this sort of detail does matter. That said, there is a positive example of a female gamer in the tutorial.

Under the Hood

The Tutorial book:  At a substantial 50 pages, this book is well written and well edited, provides one of the clearest examples of play I have read anywhere; not only in terms making game mechanics understandable, but also in its description of an adventure setting. This includes a choose-your-own-adventure type scenario that gives a sense of dungeon delving, mapping conventions and a fun to read example of party play. While interior art is nearly absent in this book, the lively prose keeps the reader engaged.

The Rule book: I think a playtest will be required in order to speak to the mechanics of the game, but they read as straightforward and simple retro rules: Elves, Dwarfs and Halflings are their own classes; Alignment is limited to 3 categories (good and evil are absent); There is a substantial list of equipment (including everything from lard to a seafaring frigate); Certain types of treasure count towards XP; And, rules for combat are streamlined but they include sections for a variety of situations including parrying, morale, mounted combat, and grappling.

At first glance, the most revolutionary thing I found in the rulebook was an indexed character sheet that references the pagination of the relevant rules. This is a remarkably straightforward and effective way of quickly making the game understandable to newcomers – it seems like a small thing but why hasn’t this always been the way game developers do it? Simple but brilliant.

The Magic book: This book is workmanlike with a 52 page collection of Cleric and Magic User spells. The cover art on this book is among my favorite in the box, but the interior art is a bit of a mixed bag. This doesn’t detract from the overall book as the boxed sets that this game is modeled on are infamous for giving us crazy art. For example the image on page 7 looks very “War of the Worlds” with giant tripod robots with tentacles (which I found jarring) but I think the intent was to evoke a Weird Fantasy setting as opposed to an ordinary High Fantasy setting.

The Referee book: This serves as an optional GM’s guide but is in many ways the heart of the set. It is here that the Weird in Weird Fantasy is fleshed out and explained. Put simply, Weird Fantasy takes the players from conventional situations and introduces them to great perils that undermine their sense of security in the world their characters inhabit. The normal gives way to the dreadful and with this shift characters are on their way in their adventures. Monsters are rare and, well… monstrous. There is no “monster manual” per se but the book gives advice on the creation of monsters specific to any given campaign.

Raggi’s Weird is more than simply a translation of Lovecraft into Tolkien. My read is that the goal of Weird Fantasy role play is to highlight the uncanniness of the beasts, cultists and locations that the players will encounter in order to increase their sense of danger, wonder, and ultimately, their emotional investment in the game.  An additional “Recommended Reading” pamphlet serves to introduce players to a selection of horror and fantasy greats. And, although the list focuses principally on early 20^th Century writers, China Mieville’s New Weird writings seemed like a notable absence in this bibliography – I realize that lists of this sort are meant to be evocative and incomplete but he seems like a great fit for the genre.

The Tower of the Stargazer: This introductory adventure provides a clear and coherent delve that looks straightforward enough for newcomers but still has room for expansion from more experienced referees. It includes helpful meta-commentary throughout that will help new referees to run the game and better understand adventure design. Also, the map of the adventure’s seven levels is nicely executed and very legible.

Weird New World: Some RPGs include an introductory adventure, but Lamentations goes on to provide a sandbox campaign setting for larger exploration as well. This supplement is highly evocative. Locations are sketched out only briefly requiring Referees to make the setting their own – but as a whole it provides a nice starting point for a campaign. It has an interesting arctic maritime theme (allowing you to use that frigate you bought) and climactic zones that make travel itself a challenge. The large continent sized hex map is keyed to forty encounter areas. Two of these encounters are fully mapped out making them stand apart from the rest. While they might be helpful to a ref short on time, I found them to be less inspiring than the briefer area descriptions and less well done than the tower of the stargazer. I recognize this is the point in a way- Weird New World is supposed to be a framework for adventures not a collection of mapped out scenarios. But this is also why I think these “micro-dungeons” seem a bit out of place to me.

Extras: The small pencil included speaks to attention to detail but marks up the box in transit and seems like a liability rolling around in there with such beautiful books.  The dice are good quality and look nice but their small scale makes them more of a curio than anything I would use in regular play (they would slip too easily from my cheeto crusted sausage fingers). Still, their inclusion along with graph paper speaks to care taken in the production of the boxed set. Moreover, this set of nice extras serve as “Old School” props that set the tone for the type of play Lamentations encourages.

Summary: I think Lamentations of the Flame Princess is a shoe in for the best game Ennie of 2011. I’ve seen the game referred to as a premium product because of its price of 58 Euros, but I actually think that for what you pay you get a solid bargain. For less than the price of two hardback manuals you get everything you need to run a game and two adventures. I will likely order a second set and will take it by my FLGS and encourage them to order it as well. If you are looking for a retro game to play or if you just collect great looking games, then get this one while you can!

This is a blog dedicated to the thoughts and opinions of a role playing Rip Van Winkle awakening from an ancient slumber and returning to gaming after a twenty year hiatus.  When I last gamed regularly, the first editions of both Champions and Warhammer Fantasy Role Play were my group’s favored games. We also played this new thing called Warhammer 40k: Rogue Trader that seemed wonderfully retro in that it harkened back to the skirmish-rules roots of the hobby. We dismissed the newfangled 2^nd edition of Dungeons and dragons as a cheap ploy by TSR to sell books. And, we were stunned when Steve Jackson Games was raided by the Secret Service. It truly was a different world:  the Soviet Union still existed, the WWW was yet to be born, and Wizards of the Coast hadn’t gobbled up the industry.

In the early 1990s, I moved far from my home town (which coincidently was also home to Wee Warriors, where I got my first exposure to D&D as a kid).  Doom supplanted RPGs, and the arrival of online gaming meant that I could still play with my oldest friends even though hundreds and often thousands of miles separated us.

More recently, I made my home in yet another place. And, with this move came with a strong desire to return to traditional RPGs as I built my local community. Online, I found the “OSR” community to be the most vibrant, interesting, and (given my background) relevant source of inspiration with a real DIY gaming ethic. In person however, the gamers I have met and friends I have made are younger and have a different sense of the hobby.  Playing with them I have come to enjoy some new games as much as I enjoyed the old ones. Trading card games and 4E D&D are still anathema to me, but I consider myself an “old school” gamer even as I have a blast GMing Pathfinder. I love the Arduin Critical Hit Table and I’m intrigued by Prestige Classes.

Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself.  This blog will do the same as it covers a range of subjects – principally RPGs and Skirmish games – and is intended to serve as a conduit for conversations with “OSR” bloggers and other gamers.

Does this make me an OSR poseur? I think it might.