Are You Missing the Forest for the Trees? Plant an Orchard.

Recently, JB at BX Blackrazor wrote a long post (he does that) on why he doesn't like "rules lite" , primarily OSR/NSR style, games. Adam at Barking Alien wrote a reply on why he does like rules lite games (OSR or otherwise). I'm somewhere in the middle. 

I like enough mechanical crunch to make the game feel like I'm actually playing a game, not just doing some group story exercise with a bit of die rolling. But I don't need an excess of systems that bog down the flow of the game, either. Hence my preference for TS&R, where I take the simpler (but not rules lite) BX/BECMI D&D rules, and graft on the bits and pieces of OD&D, 1E, 2E, and even more modern games that I like to it. Along with a few of my own house rules, of course. Just enough complexity for me, without getting too burdensome to run.

That's all preamble to what I really want to write about today, though. These two posts, along with Adam's follow up on there being too much combat in old school fantasy games, got me thinking about something I'm sure I've addressed before, but probably years and years ago. 

One of the big strengths of original D&D and the Classic D&D line, in my opinion, is that is is explicit about the procedures for each stage of game play. Dungeon exploration turns -- spelled out and given a checklist to follow. Wilderness exploration -- also spelled out and given a checklist to follow. Encounters (both dungeon and wilderness) -- spelled out and given a checklist to follow. Combat rounds -- spelled out and given a checklist to follow. Reaction rolls and morale -- you get the idea. 

These are something that has been lost in a lot of newer games. Now, I haven't checked out every single OSR/NSR game out there, so I'm sure there are some that do these things. I know retroclones like Labyrinth Lord and Basic Fantasy still have these procedures spelled out explicitly. But WotC D&D, any version, really only does this for the combat side of the equation. And even then, some areas like Reactions and Morale are done away with for the most part. And it seems like many of the newer, rules lite games like Into the Odd, PbtA, and Black Hack derived games lack these as well (but I've mostly experienced these games from the player side, so I could be wrong here). 

I looked through my 1E books, and was surprised that the dungeon exploration turn doesn't seem to be spelled out explicitly anywhere. The process for wilderness exploration is described in the DMG (but not with handy checklists like BX and BECMI have), including for maritime, airborne, and planar adventuring. Combat procedures have maybe too much detail (those pummeling/grappling rules for example). But a simple explanation for the DM or players about how to structure an exploration turn for a dungeon seems to be missing. Maybe I was looking in the wrong place. Most of the guidance for that is in the PHB, but how to run a turn doesn't seem to be spelled out. 2E seems similar. Each individual mechanic is described with how it operates, but how they all fit together in the exploration turn or encounter seems to be more vague.

Procedures provide structure. Games need structure. Without structure, you can have game elements. You have mechanics for action resolution. You have mechanics for advancement. You have mechanics for spells/items/abilities. But you need a frame to hang them on. Without procedures for game turns, it's like you have a big box of LEGO pieces for your RPG, with an incomplete or missing manual to tell you how they fit together. 

Now, plenty of older games also fall into this trap. I'm loving playing and running d6 Star Wars, but while it gives you lots of good advice on setting up situations within the fictional world and a mechanic for action resolution, it is a little light on procedures for running non-combat activities. I get that combats need to be the one area of the game where the mechanics are most clear and transparent to the players, so they feel like they win or lose fairly. But the rest of the game should be transparent in that way, too. 

I know I've had times where a new player didn't understand how the procedures worked, and since they were joining my game which included veteran players, I didn't fully explain them. And then things are a mystery to them. I need to be more aware of this, and explain not just how to make a PC or how combat works, but how exploration and interactions work step by step. 

I like having those procedures spelled out, even if I don't always follow them to the letter. They are there when we need them. And of course, as old grognards, those of us who've been running these games don't need them spelled out. I know I personally used a lot of Classic D&D procedures when I ran 5E. The game lacks them, but I knew what to do because of my earlier gaming experiences. I imported the procedures that 5E lacked, but eventually tired of trying to shoe-horn in these elements to a game that fundamentally didn't want you to use that sort of procedure. WotC D&D, some old school non-D&D games, and a lot of the recent "lite games" seem, from my estimation, to want DMs to just present players with encounter situations and get to the skill checks/combat to resolve them. 

It's not railroad play in the traditional sense that players have no choice in what to do and where to go. But it is a sort of stunted play, where tactical choices are limited to "how do I do the most damage in this situation?" or "who has the best skill modifier to complete this task?" With set procedures, that are known to players as well as the GM, players can make more informed choices. GMs can tweak the procedures for special occasions, but most of the time will rely on them to keep the game moving. Players can engage in all the play-acting of their PCs they want during this, and that can be fun. But the procedures keep us from getting too bogged down in the role play or the mother-may-I style exploration interactions. 

Now I know some play these games FOR the role play. The more free "describe what you do, I'll tell you what happens" style play is also popular, and I can see why. I think it's good to have both in your games. But you need to enforce some order in the game to have choices matter. Procedures for exploration and interaction do that. I think it's a shame that most games have gone the path of only providing these procedures explicitly for combat. 

Individual game mechanics are like trees. An RPG that doesn't show you how the game mechanics connect and work together to make the game advance is like a forest. A game that connects and orders the various mechanics in a way that gives players choice and GMs flexibility to use or modify them as needed at the table -- that is an orchard. And it will bear the most fruit.  

You Don't Need to Use Them All

Two years ago, one of my players, Denis, was thinking about running a game. There was some light pressure from the group for him to give it a shot. He eventually settled on trying to run a Gamma World game, details here and here. 

That game never got off the ground. For Denis, he felt that there was too much pressure to compare to others in the group who have years or even decades of experience running games. 

At the English camp we were teaching at through most of August, several guys were asking Denis and I about our games (some are former players, some just curious about RPGs). Denis mentioned that one of the main reasons why he never got his GW game going because the random encounter tables seemed overwhelming. 

I instantly understood what he meant. Random tables like those in the books require the referee to be familiar with most of the creatures in the book. And with all the mutations in GW, that may make it overwhelming. If you only need to worry about a few monsters you've placed in a dungeon, plus whatever powers your players have for their characters, it's not as overwhelming. If everything in the book is on the table, it's a lot to deal with. 

I told Denis that he should try to run the game, but just drop random encounters. The look of relief on his face was noticeable. I think he had been in the mindset that the game has rules for this, so he needed to use them. But that's not true. 

You don't need to use all the rules to run a fun game. Especially when you're just starting out. I ignored lots of rules when I was just starting out as DM nearly 40 years ago. And the games were fun, and challenging. Once you are comfortable with the basics of the game, and with planning and presenting adventures, the more complex stuff can be added back in.

First Draft Complete

I've finished the first draft of my Treasures, Serpents, & Ruins Game Master Guidebook. Well, not technically the first draft, but the first completed draft. I made three or four abandoned starts at it before I got the book I wanted. And I've still got to write the Afterword. But pedantics (yeah, I know that's not a word) aside, the first complete draft is done. I've got all the explanations of game play, advice to the new (or new to OS game style) GM, game systems for dungeons, wilderness exploration, town adventures, domain administration including warfare, planar exploration, and high level epic quests. I've also got a fairly lengthy section on alternate or optional rules and suggestions for limitations or allowances to make the game fit the GM's campaign world and preferred style of exploration-focused play. 

I've got to get my notes organized for the next Star Wars game coming up in a week and a half, but after that's done, my game time will be devoted to reading carefully through this whole 128 page document and revising/editing. Then I'll format it, and I should have it up on DriveThru some time this summer. 

Once it's up, I'll also make a condensed Rules Reference book, with just the rules and system guidelines that can be easily used at the table, without all the explanations for new GMs. Experienced DMs who aren't curious about my gaming philosophy and don't want to bother with yet another explanation of how to play the game, but just want something to use to check the rules, this will be the book for you.

 I also want to do a few updates to both the Ruby and Jade players' books, based on play at my game table and also a few mistakes I've found here and there. And that will make TS&R complete...until I decide to add a Middle Eastern/African fantasy supplement, or a pulp sci-fantasy supplement, or a Pre-Columbian Americas supplement, or an Australian/Oceanian supplement. Potentially. I'm not as well versed in the myths, legends, or history of some of these other areas as I am with European and Easter/Southeastern/Central Asian myths, legends, and history. 

Anyway, it will be a complete fantasy heartbreaker soon.

TS&R GM Guidebook Progress

In the past week or so, I've made some good progress on my TS&R Game Master Guidebook.

I finished up rules for naval mass combat (modified and simplified from those in the module M1 Immortal Storm), wrote some general guidelines for high level epic quests, and revised the section on artifacts. I still need to write up some more sample artifacts. I had an example of creating an artifact from an earlier draft, so that got a touch-up, and I have a list of legendary items from various myths and legends that I plan to give the 1E AD&D treatment, describing the item and its purpose, but leaving the specific powers and drawbacks to the individual GM. 

Oh, and now I'm working on describing the Planes of Existence. 

Once I get the artifacts and planar stuff done, all I have left to do is outline some optional or alternate rules (like suggestions for different ways to do energy drain attacks, or using X in d6 for Thief Skills instead of percentages, or optional rules for multiclassing, or using BX/BECMI style race-as-class). I do have 1st drafts for some parts of this last section done already, as the ideas come to me. 

Once that's done, I was planning to put in a section with quick reference charts from around the book, but I realized that I already intend to release a simple rules reference book for more experience GMs, so this might not be necessary. It would be roughly the same thing, and since the majority of people will own these as PDFs, it might be easier to have quick reference stuff in one document window and more detailed rules explanations in another. 

Once all that's done, I'll give everything an editing pass, and see if I can get someone else to read through it as well. Sometimes I get to rambling and over-explain things, or make an assumption that some point is obvious and don't explain it well enough. When I'm teaching in class, I can tell from student reactions that this is happening and correct myself. When I'm writing, I don't have that luxury. So a pair of fresh eyes or two will help me to improve and clarify things a bit. 

The book chapters are: 

The Basics: what is an RPG, how do you use these funny dice, what is the reward-feedback loop, player-centered play, etc.

Running the Game: How to manage character creation, how to manage a game session, procedures for dungeon/wilderness/town-social exploration, rules for combat, advice on adjudicating rules.

Preparing the Campaign: How to set up a campaign, create a home town, create dungeons, wilderness, NPCs and factions, and how to bring it all together into a campaign world.

High Level Games: Running domains, mass combat, magical research, epic quests, planar adventures, artifacts. 

Modifying the Game: Advice on limiting races/classes/spells to fit the campaign, optional rules, alternate rules systems. 

If I can keep up the pace over the next week (the final week of winter break for my university), I may be able to knock out the first drafts of the sections I still have to write. Then, if I can find a few people to give me some feedback, I will hopefully get this thing ready to release sometime over the summer or fall of this year, along with the Rules Reference book. And then I can consider compiling everything I've put out for TS&R into a print-on-demand volume, and also work on player and monster books for other genres besides Euro-fantasy and Asian fantasy.