Snarf Zagyg
Notorious Liquefactionist
Four months ago I started this series, and then ... eh, stuff happens. But if you didn't read the first post, this post won't make a whole lot of sense. So, I highly recommend reading the prior history of D&D Multiverse here:
www.enworld.org
Now I'm returning to the subject to get back and address the issue I left unresolved:
In the next post I write, I will discuss, a little more, about the foundational weirdness of D&D and why we should want to continue that with 5e.
In order to really dig into this, I'm going to be making generalizations; please note that all people are different, and all tables are different, but it's very difficult to discuss things without being able to refer to a general "gestalt."
That said, I am already acknowledging that whatever I write, yes, of course you and your table do things differently.
Now ....
1. OD&D and Gygaxian 1e Were Too Weird to Live, and Too Rare to Die
One thing that I think often gets lost when discussing early D&D is how truly bizarre it could be. And the reason for this is that it wasn't "pure." It wasn't just Tolkien-esque high fantasy. Nor was it simply appropriated Howard/Leiber swords & sorcery. It wasn't extrapolated wargaming. And it wasn't the myths of a particular country.
It was all of it, and more. Because there were no particular preconceptions as to what had to be in D&D, or what had to be excluded. Where did your monsters come from? Well, anywhere! Little bit of Arabian mythology? Put in a djinn. Want to put in a little John Carter homage? How about some carnivorous apes, or giant white ones? Did you see some cool toys? Why not a ankheg, or an owl bear? Do you like 50s monster movies? How about some giant ants? Rakshasas, dinosaurs, critters from Japanese or Irish or Egyptian mythology? They were all fair game.
Everything was put into a blender, and became "D&D."
And it was the same with the remainder of the core rules; holy knights on steeds bound by oaths (Paladins) and wandering martial artists (Monks) and vaguely-Celtic spellcasters (Druids) and organized groups of killers-for-pay (Assassins) all hobnobbed in the same general vicinity. Any type of thematic weirdness was quickly covered up in the general concept of D&D.
These ideas were further explored in the overall weirdness that we saw in early D&D; early modules referenced dinosaurs, space travel, and parallel or pocket universes.
As recounted numerous times, the earliest adventures run by Gygax himself had PCs crossing over to Boot Hill or Isle of the Ape (King Kong, dinosaurs). Entire sessions could revolve around the party ending up on the spaceship Warden from Metamorphosis Alpha. I don't want to continue belaboring this point (since that was largely what the first post was about), but weirdness was baked into D&D's core from the beginning.
2. Experimentation and the Prime Material Plane
Part of the reasons that experimentation and "remix culture" was so built-in to D&D from the beginning was because of the general acceptance of the Gygaxian multiverse. As the 1e DMG put it- all worlds, and all possible worlds, were contained within the prime material plane. This had some profound ramifications-
It meant that your home campaign and mine, both set in Greyhawk, contemporaneously existed side-by-side (and that would allow players to bring PCs from one home campaign to another).
It also meant that, for example, all the Gamma World campaigns also existed in the prime material plane.
And our "Earth" (aka, what we would now call D&D Modern) existed.
And Alice in Wonderland's universe.
In short, the PCs could travel to any possible reality. This sort of free-for-all also extended into the printed material- such as spaceships (Barrier Peaks) and Alice in Wonderland (EX1 and 2) and even the various planes referenced in Q1. It was even relatively common for home groups to use a "cafeteria" approach to employing Deities and Demigods or its antecedent OD&D supplement.
These same feelings- what we would call "the streams being crossed" was also just a general part of the gestalt of that era. It was common to see fantasy works which had "modern people" placed in Fantasy settings (e.g., Stephen Donaldson) or technology that was indistinguishable from magic (Julian May) or parallel universes (Zelazny). Over time, however, and especially with the increased settings in 2e, that feeling calcified.
First, as the Prime Material plane became ... less interesting. Focus shifted to the outer planes, or to a specific campaign setting (such as Planescape).
Second, as specific campaign settings became the locus of creativity; in other words, instead of having more generic "D&D" settings with expansive weirdness, you began to get more focused settings with specific rules. Dark Sun is amazing, but it also relies on specific rules to make it amazing.
3. Weirdness and 5e
This is where I get to the more interesting, and likely controversial, part of my general thoughts; what does any of this have to do with 5e?
Here's the thing- there are times when I feel that for some people, OSR (and OD&D / 1e specifically) is viewed as a reaction to 5e.
I’m old! And I’m not happy! And I don’t like things now compared to the way they used to be. All this progress — phooey! In my day, we didn’t have these cash machines that would give you money when you needed it. There was only one bank in each state — it was open only one hour a year. And you’d get in line, seventeen miles long, and the line became an angry mob of people– fornicators and bards, mutant children and soulless, dead-eyed elves— and you waited for years and by the time you got to the teller, you were senile and arthritic and you couldn’t remember your own name. You were born, got in line, and ya died! And that’s the way it was and we liked it!
D&D was simpler then. There wasn’t all this concern about fun! It my days, we didn’t need to have fun. When you started playing D&D, you were given a few scrap pieces of paper and some pencils and told to start mapping. You wouldn't be told piddly little details like distances and directions by the DM. If you tried to ask how big a room was just so you could map it and find your way out, well, you'd be attacked by an ethereal mummy just for showin' that DM up! And that’s the way it was and we liked it!
D&D was a carnival! We entertained ourselves! We didn’t need youtube to learn how to play D&D or fancy figur-eeeeeens to visualize the battle. In my day, there was only one way to see how the battle was going — it was called ”Stare at the sun!” That’s right! Our theater of the mind was really theater of the sun. You'd just stare at it until you eyeballs burst into flames! And you thought, “Oh, no! Maybe I shouldn’t have stared directly into the burning sun with my eyes wide open.” But it was too late! Your head was on fire and the rest of your party was roastin' marshmallows over it. And that’s the way we played D&D and we liked it!
Ahem. Different rule-sets do play different, but while the older rulesets can be used for "dungeon crawls," it truly does them a disservice given that they were used for so much more than that, even at the time. More importantly, it ignores the many things that 5e is doing right!
One thing that is certainly true today is that we have a lot more influences on culture and on the game. For example, it is much easier and more common for players to want to base characters off of anime, or any one of a number of diverse sources that weren't commonly available in the 70s and 80s (with a few notable exceptions like Battleship Yamato, Robotech, and G-Force). But while the overall diversity in that sense has increased, I would say that the specific tolerance for those things that break the verisimilitude of a campaign setting has greatly decreased.
For example, I would say that it very common to see people on forums today make comments like, "I don't like science fiction in my fantasy." Or, "I don't let people bring their own characters into my campaign."
To put this in a more specific context:
In OD&D/1e terms, you might have a campaign setting that was generally medieval tech, but an individual might have a firearm or even a laser rifle.
In 5e, it is generally seen that the campaign setting itself would have to allow the specific tech for most DMs to approve it.
In short, while I think that overall 5e has done an amazing job of incorporating numerous diverse cultural cues and viewpoints, the one thing it is not so great at is allowing the "weird" exception. Something which has long been baked into D&D's DNA.
Anyway, I realized the other day that I never finished the prior post, so I'm throwing this out there for discussion in a little more half-baked fashion than I normally do. Have at it!
D&D 5E - The D&D Multiverse: The Weird Go Pro (Part 1)
Good artists borrow, great artists steal. I have been thinking about the speculation for upcoming campaign settings, and specifically about the desire for a Planscape, or a Spelljammer, or a Planjammer type of setting to provide some type of interstitial connection between the various settings-...
www.enworld.org
Now I'm returning to the subject to get back and address the issue I left unresolved:
In the next post I write, I will discuss, a little more, about the foundational weirdness of D&D and why we should want to continue that with 5e.
In order to really dig into this, I'm going to be making generalizations; please note that all people are different, and all tables are different, but it's very difficult to discuss things without being able to refer to a general "gestalt."
That said, I am already acknowledging that whatever I write, yes, of course you and your table do things differently.
Now ....
1. OD&D and Gygaxian 1e Were Too Weird to Live, and Too Rare to Die
One thing that I think often gets lost when discussing early D&D is how truly bizarre it could be. And the reason for this is that it wasn't "pure." It wasn't just Tolkien-esque high fantasy. Nor was it simply appropriated Howard/Leiber swords & sorcery. It wasn't extrapolated wargaming. And it wasn't the myths of a particular country.
It was all of it, and more. Because there were no particular preconceptions as to what had to be in D&D, or what had to be excluded. Where did your monsters come from? Well, anywhere! Little bit of Arabian mythology? Put in a djinn. Want to put in a little John Carter homage? How about some carnivorous apes, or giant white ones? Did you see some cool toys? Why not a ankheg, or an owl bear? Do you like 50s monster movies? How about some giant ants? Rakshasas, dinosaurs, critters from Japanese or Irish or Egyptian mythology? They were all fair game.
Everything was put into a blender, and became "D&D."
And it was the same with the remainder of the core rules; holy knights on steeds bound by oaths (Paladins) and wandering martial artists (Monks) and vaguely-Celtic spellcasters (Druids) and organized groups of killers-for-pay (Assassins) all hobnobbed in the same general vicinity. Any type of thematic weirdness was quickly covered up in the general concept of D&D.
These ideas were further explored in the overall weirdness that we saw in early D&D; early modules referenced dinosaurs, space travel, and parallel or pocket universes.
As recounted numerous times, the earliest adventures run by Gygax himself had PCs crossing over to Boot Hill or Isle of the Ape (King Kong, dinosaurs). Entire sessions could revolve around the party ending up on the spaceship Warden from Metamorphosis Alpha. I don't want to continue belaboring this point (since that was largely what the first post was about), but weirdness was baked into D&D's core from the beginning.
2. Experimentation and the Prime Material Plane
Part of the reasons that experimentation and "remix culture" was so built-in to D&D from the beginning was because of the general acceptance of the Gygaxian multiverse. As the 1e DMG put it- all worlds, and all possible worlds, were contained within the prime material plane. This had some profound ramifications-
It meant that your home campaign and mine, both set in Greyhawk, contemporaneously existed side-by-side (and that would allow players to bring PCs from one home campaign to another).
It also meant that, for example, all the Gamma World campaigns also existed in the prime material plane.
And our "Earth" (aka, what we would now call D&D Modern) existed.
And Alice in Wonderland's universe.
In short, the PCs could travel to any possible reality. This sort of free-for-all also extended into the printed material- such as spaceships (Barrier Peaks) and Alice in Wonderland (EX1 and 2) and even the various planes referenced in Q1. It was even relatively common for home groups to use a "cafeteria" approach to employing Deities and Demigods or its antecedent OD&D supplement.
These same feelings- what we would call "the streams being crossed" was also just a general part of the gestalt of that era. It was common to see fantasy works which had "modern people" placed in Fantasy settings (e.g., Stephen Donaldson) or technology that was indistinguishable from magic (Julian May) or parallel universes (Zelazny). Over time, however, and especially with the increased settings in 2e, that feeling calcified.
First, as the Prime Material plane became ... less interesting. Focus shifted to the outer planes, or to a specific campaign setting (such as Planescape).
Second, as specific campaign settings became the locus of creativity; in other words, instead of having more generic "D&D" settings with expansive weirdness, you began to get more focused settings with specific rules. Dark Sun is amazing, but it also relies on specific rules to make it amazing.
3. Weirdness and 5e
This is where I get to the more interesting, and likely controversial, part of my general thoughts; what does any of this have to do with 5e?
Here's the thing- there are times when I feel that for some people, OSR (and OD&D / 1e specifically) is viewed as a reaction to 5e.
I’m old! And I’m not happy! And I don’t like things now compared to the way they used to be. All this progress — phooey! In my day, we didn’t have these cash machines that would give you money when you needed it. There was only one bank in each state — it was open only one hour a year. And you’d get in line, seventeen miles long, and the line became an angry mob of people– fornicators and bards, mutant children and soulless, dead-eyed elves— and you waited for years and by the time you got to the teller, you were senile and arthritic and you couldn’t remember your own name. You were born, got in line, and ya died! And that’s the way it was and we liked it!
D&D was simpler then. There wasn’t all this concern about fun! It my days, we didn’t need to have fun. When you started playing D&D, you were given a few scrap pieces of paper and some pencils and told to start mapping. You wouldn't be told piddly little details like distances and directions by the DM. If you tried to ask how big a room was just so you could map it and find your way out, well, you'd be attacked by an ethereal mummy just for showin' that DM up! And that’s the way it was and we liked it!
D&D was a carnival! We entertained ourselves! We didn’t need youtube to learn how to play D&D or fancy figur-eeeeeens to visualize the battle. In my day, there was only one way to see how the battle was going — it was called ”Stare at the sun!” That’s right! Our theater of the mind was really theater of the sun. You'd just stare at it until you eyeballs burst into flames! And you thought, “Oh, no! Maybe I shouldn’t have stared directly into the burning sun with my eyes wide open.” But it was too late! Your head was on fire and the rest of your party was roastin' marshmallows over it. And that’s the way we played D&D and we liked it!
Ahem. Different rule-sets do play different, but while the older rulesets can be used for "dungeon crawls," it truly does them a disservice given that they were used for so much more than that, even at the time. More importantly, it ignores the many things that 5e is doing right!
One thing that is certainly true today is that we have a lot more influences on culture and on the game. For example, it is much easier and more common for players to want to base characters off of anime, or any one of a number of diverse sources that weren't commonly available in the 70s and 80s (with a few notable exceptions like Battleship Yamato, Robotech, and G-Force). But while the overall diversity in that sense has increased, I would say that the specific tolerance for those things that break the verisimilitude of a campaign setting has greatly decreased.
For example, I would say that it very common to see people on forums today make comments like, "I don't like science fiction in my fantasy." Or, "I don't let people bring their own characters into my campaign."
To put this in a more specific context:
In OD&D/1e terms, you might have a campaign setting that was generally medieval tech, but an individual might have a firearm or even a laser rifle.
In 5e, it is generally seen that the campaign setting itself would have to allow the specific tech for most DMs to approve it.
In short, while I think that overall 5e has done an amazing job of incorporating numerous diverse cultural cues and viewpoints, the one thing it is not so great at is allowing the "weird" exception. Something which has long been baked into D&D's DNA.
Anyway, I realized the other day that I never finished the prior post, so I'm throwing this out there for discussion in a little more half-baked fashion than I normally do. Have at it!
