Tenkar's Tavern: Doomsday Book - Issue #4

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Doomsday Book - Issue #4 - Capsule Review

Another post reviewing yet another PDF magazine - What's up with that? Its real simple. Once you know how a certain issue of a magazine looks on the DX you have a reasonable expectation of how other issues of the same magazine will look. It helps the reader make an informed decision with his gaming dollars. Well, that and the Doomsday Book is available free from the Dragonsfoot website. I'll be aiming to review at least one piece of free gaming material each weekend. Today its the Doomsday Book.

The Doomsday Book was initially conceived as a Castles and Crusades Society fanzine, but it has also embraced system agnostic articles. The latest issue includes reviews, creating secret languages, weather for the world builder, a C&C character generator, some new C&C classes, new monsters, a full miniature sci-fi game with counters... its very full of gaming goodness and its free.

For C&C gamers I'd give it a 5, for other retro-clone players I'd rate it a 4.

DX-ability is a solid 5. It looks really sweet on the Kindle DX

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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Sunday, June 28, 2009

Doomsday Book - Issue #4 - Capsule Review

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