The Sort of TTRPGs You Want More (and Less) Of

[Ovinomancer]

Fantasy F****** Viet Nam.

 

[DwarfHammer]

What is FFVN?



I'd love to see less judging of people by "I didn't play that way back then"... most styles of play existed by 1979... by '79, there were over a dozen RPGs in print, and several that had gone out of print. Including people doing Gor inspired D&D campaigns. Some people doing Theater of the Mind, others playing D&D as a minis-wargame, and most spots in between.

Call of Cthulhu was popular from release onward, and the Cthulhu Mythos was also a strong presence in AD&D... I didn't use much from it, other than illithids (aka Mind Flayers), but the '77 Monster Manual has a number of other references besides the Illithids. So, at least by '77, TSR was supporting the "D&D as horror game"... and it became much more open when Ravenloft was released in '83.


Even in its heydey, I can't recall anyone I knew actually playing the Spelljammer setting. When I gave a party a spelljamming helm, they never even tried going more than double bowshot range from the ground. Not just once, but three separate campaigns. But there are people who played it. I just couldn't meet any back in the day. I inherited my copies from a roommate who bailed...

thank you. And I will add that domains of dread is one of the best 2 rpg books ever written

 

[Son of the Serpent]

I'm going to guess it means Final Fantasy Viet Nam, but that's only a guess.

Or it could mean Frank Fell Very Neatly
Or Fluffy Feline Victory's Nigh
Maybe Fail Forward - Vote Now
How about Facebook Feed Verifies Nobody
Could even be Full Frontal Virtual Nudity.

Or something else... >shrug< ... I dunno...

Fluffy Feline Victory's ALWAYS Nigh

Their first conquest was the human home though that is still contested by doggos. Their absolutely uncontested domination of the internet would suggest though that their rate of progress on the whole is such that consumate comprehensive victory is indeed nigh. ⚔

 

[Zhaleskra]

Don't they already dominate the Internet? Haven't people wasted time they're supposed to be working to watch cat videos?

 

[JeffB]

I love the fact that Old School D&D is making such a huge resurgence... but it seems like so much of the OSR community is only into FFVN, grimdark, and horror gaming.

That's not what I played in the Old School.

The last several years of the OSR have moved off into the directions you state-or at least that's what everyone seems to be producing. The very early years of the OSR Blogosphere were very different. While I keep up with the OSR, I'm not really into the current state/direction either. There are some good message boards and MEWE groups out there that are OD&D/OSR but geared towards classic adventure gaming.

Of my original OD&D group back in 77/78- all of us ran very different games, but they were all "heroic" types of games-set against different backdrops- S&S, Medieval Fantasy Europe, Ancient Fantasy Japan, etc. We didn't get into any kind of dark fantasy- Elric perhaps being the darkest.

CoC is as grim/dark as I like to get. But for a Fantasy game- I prefer a heroic/classic (PG-13?) style game.

The real world/life can be grim and depressing enough- I don't find much fun delving into those themes for my gaming.

 

[aramis erak]

And I will add that domains of dread is one of the best 2 rpg books ever written

I would disagree with that...
see, any non-objective measure is inherently incapable of true consensus. I, for my part, would put the best RPG books totally away from D&D. WEG SW 1E and SW Sourcebook 1E are the ones I like best as reading material. Marvel Heroic RP as the best in terms of readability. And for best D&D books? I most enjoyed Council of Wyrms, Birthright, Dark Sun and DLA as reading material, and 5E PHB and the D&D Cyclopedia as best cores, Dark Sun and Spelljammer as best 2 settings for D&D by TSR... I can't even come up with a best subjective category.

And for objective measures?
We can see best selling in real numbers. It's probably the most objective measure available... in two styles. Number of sales - for which 5E core 3 is the top 3. And money made - probably the first three are probably still D&D 5E. We know that 5E is the best seller, having sold more cores than any other edition by year 2.
Most cited as inspiration is definitely going to go to original edition D&D, but second place is not so clear. (I'd argue that second place is probably the 3E SRD.)
Most played is pretty clearly 5E D&D. Ravenloft wouldn't even make the top ten.

Claims of what's best are so subjective as to border flame-bait.

 

[DammitVictor]

I'd love to see less judging of people by "I didn't play that way back then"... most styles of play existed by 1979... by '79, there were over a dozen RPGs in print, and several that had gone out of print.

I'm not judging people for how they played back in the day, or what they want to be playing now. I don't even want to see less of the kind of OSR they're interested in-- I'm just frustrated that it seems like the only game in town, and of those occasional moments when someone tells me I'm not "Old School" enough because I prefer higher-level, higher-magic games.

I want to see more of the things I am interested in, more of the things that remind me of the games I used to love. There's enough room in the community for both of us.

edit: As a matter of fact, you know what I just realized? Do you know what looks the most like "old school D&D" to me?

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

 

[Nytmare]

I don't know if there's something that I want to see more of MORE than I want to see the spectacular indy stuff that's already out there that's not D&D getting more press and publicity.

 

[univoxs]

More of everything. But I would like to see more original ideas.

In this current boom of licensed games, games as advertisement, and nostalgia games, what are the chances any new IP can really brake through? A lot of game ideas seem original but if I think about them, the influence is obvious. It can seem like every game wares its media influence on its sleeve, and that might be a good idea from a marketing standpoint. I am having a hard time thinking of a game that feels truly unique. I thought of one! Obsidian: Age of Judgement. Never got anyone to want to play it, but I have the book.

If there is a theme I want to explore, influenced by a book or show, there is ALREADY a game system ready to go for it and the books are fairly cheap. I am often buying new stuff for the fluff and the art now. I bought Alien. I didn't need it. Zozer's Hostile already existed, so did d20 future. We just played a ton of Warhammer 4th ed but all we did was convert stuff from 2nd ed because we ran out of 4th ed material quickly, so we could have just played 2nd ed anyway. Their main campaign Enemy Within is just an update of the old one and we have the complete set of the old one.

I don't look forward so much at the games coming out but often research the games from the past. There is a boat load of stuff I never played, and want to, not for the nostalgia, but because so much of it would be new to me. If you are looking for a new set of rules, or a new theme, go to say, nobleknight.com and dig around on their site. I find stuff there all the time I never heard of. There might already BE more of what you are looking for.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Don't they already dominate the Internet? Haven't people wasted time they're supposed to be working to watch cat videos?

I directly stated they already dominate the internet...