The title sums up my personal ideal for a D&D-based adventure game.
I'm chuckling here because both communities that I know read this blog - old school D&D and L5R - have a reputation for allergy to the Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Hasbro.
So let me hasten to explain. By "Wizards of the Coast" I mean the process followed in 3rd edition development. Stripping down, rationalizing, and examining every component of the game for a new generation of players, while keeping it D&D by sticking to such concepts as hit points, armor as hit chance reduction, levels, character classes giving fundamentally different play experiences, and the six stats.
By "Basic" I mean sticking to a rule set that puts simple, open-ended play and character mechanics ahead of endless customization and proceduralization.
The irony is that Wizards would have actually taken one look at the concept, said "This relies way too much on high-trust groups with creative players and GMs," and ditched it as not commercially viable.
Oh, and just in case it needs to be said, don't judge a box by its cover. That ain't what I'm talking about.
Nothing to lose but their lives (stakes)
38 minutes ago
You mean like Microlite 20?
ReplyDeleteDavid -
ReplyDeleteWell ... I'm almost with you there, except Microlite and its variants take liberties with the D&D core ideas (stats and magic in particular) that 3rd ed. development refused, and that I'm also wary of. Microlite is at heart a hybrid of D&D with The Fantasy Trip, and my attitude toward the latter has always been "game design tour de force but kind of meh as the basis for an actual campaign."
Wizards of the Coast is pure evil. Screw them and everything they stand for and promote.
ReplyDeleteAnd the comment section of a 13 year old blog post is the ideal place to make that announcement?
Delete