Paul Czege on the wild energy of the itch.io ttrpg scene, or, "My Life With Itch"

[Morrus]

It might be true, it might be false - but since when has it become illegitimate or improper for an important creative figure in a field to exprss an opinion about where the future of that field is to be found?

Huh? Who said it was "illegitimate"? He can say whatever he wants. It's all good. All we said is we didn't understand what he said. Blimey, dude.

 

[pemerton]

Huh? Who said it was "illegitimate"? He can say whatever he wants. It's all good. All we said is we didn't understand what he said. Blimey, dude.

Sorry, I wasn't responding to you - I was rseponding to @Umbran's description of it as "self important" and "pretentious". Those seems like criticisms that don't aim at comprehsibility but propriety.

 

[Umbran]

It might be true, it might be false - but since when has it become illegitimate or improper for an important creative figure in a field to exprss an opinion about where the future of that field is to be found?

He can perfectly well express an opinion.

And I can perfectly well read it, and feel it comes off less like a humble opinion and more like a sales pitch, and express that opinion.

Quite frankly, if he'd said, "Hey, this place is really cool, and I think some extremely creative work that may well be important to the future of the RPG hobby is going on here," I'd not have batted an eye. If a place where he himself has published work (so, he has skin in the game), becomes a place where "the future paradigms of RPGs" (note, not some of the future paradigms, but, as stated, all of them) come from, I'm apt to engage a more critical reading.

 

[Campbell]

He is basically just trying to say that the platform is where all the experimental stuff that plays with the form is happening. It's the avant garde. He's saying the games are calling you to try new things and see where they lead. He is specifically speaking from the context of the indie community having become overly focused on Powered By The Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark games and becoming more focused on delivering full products than the early experimentation it was known for.

He's talking about the sort of creative energy the indie community had when Sorcerer, My Life With Master, Dogs in the Vineyard and Primetime Adventures were brand new. That same sort of erratic creative energy was also in place when Dungeons and Dragons, RuneQuest, and Traveller were in their formative years before it became the game industry.

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

"Incitement" is for me about inspiration. Beyond the Fence, Below the Grave, a game I discovered through the itch Folklore Jam, is a PWYW investigative RPG about Old Norse folklore.
https://t-akw.itch.io/beyond-the-fence-below-the-grave

It pits siedr, godi, skalds etc against otherworldly powers that threaten typical villagers. You're all experts in magic and the supernatural, and you need to eliminate suspects, visit realms of the dead and the trolls and spirits, and find the ritual that will stop the threat. It's a viking game that's not about combat, and I love it!

It inspired me to make my own supernatural investigator RPG, so I'd say it worked.

 

[Celebrim]

So we have a whole culture now for producing fantasy heartbreakers, or whatever the Forge inspired Indy version of that is?

(Actually, it's probably an 'Itchy' now that I think about it.)

I still think the world does not need another RPG system. You don't impress me with your high concept RPG. You impress me by writing an adventure that everyone talks about and wants to play.

(How's that for incitement?)

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

So we have a whole culture now for producing fantasy heartbreakers, or whatever the Forge inspired Indy version of that is?

Most of the folks on the itch gamedev community haven't even heard of the Forge. Paul is one of the few old-timers.

(Actually, it's probably an 'Itchy' now that I think about it.)

I still think the world does not need another RPG system. You don't impress me with your high concept RPG. You impress me by writing an adventure that everyone talks about and wants to play.

(How's that for incitement?)

Well Beyond the Fence, Below the Grave has one of the best investigative scenarios I've seen in a long time.

Saviors of Hogtown has a terrific trio of Dungeon World funnel adventures for 0-level peasants!
https://moth-lands.itch.io/saviors-of-hogtown

 

[Tun Kai Poh]

And I'll just add, for system-agnostic content, in addition to BJ's system-agnostic supernatural mystery Cockamania (in the original post), there's also a lot of system-agnostic one-pamphlet dungeons in this jam:
https://itch.io/jam/pamphletjam/entries

 

[pemerton]

There's always a slight irony in seeing critics of the Forge use the term "fantasy heartbreaker", which of course is a Forge-ism:

This essay is about some 1990s games I'm calling "fantasy heartbreakers," which are truly impressive in terms of the drive, commitment, and personal joy that's evident in both their existence and in their details - yet they are also teeth-grindingly frustrating, in that, like their counterparts from the late 70s, they represent but a single creative step from their source: old-style D&D. And unlike those other games, as such, they were doomed from the start. This essay is basically in their favor, in a kind of grief-stricken way.

Of course it's the fate - perhaps even the purpose - of the avant-garde to have their works and their ideas appropriated and bowdlerised.

 

[Manbearcat]

1) Czege's prose has never really moved me either way. I agree with @pemerton 's take on his disposition. Some folks get excited about things and express that fervor with language that follows through. I'm sure I do that sometimes (and likely, similarly get accused for being overdramatic and pretentious). Whatever.

2) However, Czege's My Life With Master is very moving...and awesome.

3) This site looks like its got some pretty inspired (tee-hee?) system-agnostic content. I'll have to make some purchases. Thank you for exposing it to me @TunKaiPoh .